Irulan began to draw the fingers of her left hand together to form a fist, but I reached out and touched her arm. "You don't need to do that. I'll go into his head and find what we're looking for," I said.
"You think Tristan hasn't planned for that? He taught us all to shield," said Aurieux on pained breaths.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Then drop them. If Tristan questions you, tell him I broke through them."
Aurieux shook his head in exasperation, "That'll never work. Tristan won't buy that."
"Tristan will buy anything you tell him when it comes to me and my abilities. By now he knows I drained four of his children, so he’ll expect a boost in my power."
Irulan smiled, "Everything she says makes sense, Aurieux. Give us what we want, and we can get you to the CMS to get the medical attention you require."
With a sigh of defeat, Aurieux opened his mind to my probing. I caught flashes of rituals. So much darkness surrounded his mind that I had a hard time focusing. I inched through the turmoil until I saw what he was still trying to hide from me. Tristan had four nests in the city, including a nest of Deadborns created for the sole purpose of food. Young innocents turned against their will, and then kept in line with promises of power when a fictitious new age of the 'Reign of Vampires' began.
I shook my head, trying to make some order out of the clustered images I was receiving. "He's not strong enough to handle the power, so he feeds from his children," I stated quietly to myself. I pushed harder, drawing the scenes from Aurieux's conscious that he begrudgingly allowed me to see. I saw Tristan's frustration as each of his attempts to become the 'Vessel of Ancient Power' failed, and I felt his excitement as he found a way to twist Soul Fire into something it was never intended to be, a horribly painful weapon wielded only in close proximity. I took in glimpses of every atrocity Aurieux helped Tristan commit until I finally hit pay dirt.
"We've got him," I said. "I know where he's making camp." My mind jumped back to what I'd learned about the faux Soul Fire, and then added, "The spell Aurieux used can only be executed by someone close. Someone in the CMS was responsible for those deaths.” Irulan didn't look surprised, and Priest looked down right pissed.
"Irulan, my phone, please.” She passed me my phone, and I called Marcus instead of Descantes as he had directed me to do the night before. Marcus answered on the first ring as always.
"What do you have for me now, Trumaine?"
"There's a rat in the CMS here. The spell used on Amanda Jones is a proximity spell. I was wrong about the sire's link. Someone in that building killed a fellow Sentinel, in cold blood, to keep her quiet.”
Marcus's voice gave no hint as to whether he was surprised or not. He merely replied, "Continue."
I pressed on, "We've got the location of Tristan's primary stronghold, and the reason behind the increase in Deadborns.”
"Put me on speaker, Trumaine," Marcus said when I was done. I did as he asked and his voice filled the muggy southern air with the powerful timbre of an Alpha. "First, let me admit that I was skeptical about the combination of the three of you, but you've done exceptional work. As for this situation, inform Descantes of nothing, string him along anyway you can. I'm calling my superiors and requesting an outside investigation of Charleston's entire operation. If anyone needs medical attention, go to a private doctor. Am I understood?"
Irulan and I cut our eyes to Aurieux. I shrugged my shoulders and mouthed 'lucky guess' as Marcus continued. "If you've got Tristan's location, and feel confident that you can end this, then move on him as soon as possible. Drop the tracker before you do. I'm past caring about what Descantes wants."
I had the tracker off my neck and crushed between my fingers before he'd finished the sentence. "All of you be careful," was his only warning before ending the call. As I looked at Aurieux, his head slumped over and started rolling from side to side on his neck.
"He needs a doctor, guys, he doesn't look so good," I said before I picked his head up, only to have it fall back down into a limp sway.
Priest scoffed and gave him a little shake, "This fucker just tried to kill us, why should we care what happens to him?"
I held up my hand and clicked off on my fingers, "One, we're the good guys, it's our job. Two, we're healed. No harm, no foul, right? And three, there's more information in his head waiting for me, he just passed out before I could get it."
"Speak for yourself," Priest countered as his face shifted and he ripped a hole big enough to put my fist in right out of Aurieux's chest.
"What the fuck!” I yelled. Irulan and I jumped back to avoid the spray of blood that watered the grass beneath us. Priest let the twitching body fall to the ground, and he kicked it aside as if it were nothing more than a discarded bag of trash.
I charged Priest and shoved him backwards. "That was completely uncalled for! I told you he was still useful to us."
Priest planted his heels into the ground and pushed me back. "And I said speak for your damn self, Trumaine. Yeah, you got stabbed, but you were never in any real danger of dying. He damn near killed me! By our laws, his life was mine to do with as I saw fit. Don’t you act all sanctimonious, not after the shit you did at that warehouse.” I drew back and knocked Priest dead across his jaw, sending him flying ten feet through the air. He landed on his ass with a bounce, and I was on him in a flash, picking him up, so I could knock him down again.
"Our laws do not apply when we're on the job, and you know that. It was made clear before you ever put on that signet for the first time.” I turned and stalked back towards Irulan, yelling the entire way. "By Gia, I should have known it would only be a matter of time before you showed your true colors, Priest. I should never have never even considered the thought that you actually planned to help further this operation.” I looked at Irulan, who was kneeling beside Aurieux. She shook her head no, and I knew my hopes of finding out anything else about Tristan's plans had just died with him.
That destroyed any type of camaraderie that had developed between Priest and me these past few days. My suspicions about his true motives were firmly entrenched in my mind again.
Priest silently came up behind us, stopping a few feet away from me. He asked, "What's next, Trumaine?”
I rounded on him, my voice dripping with anger. "Don't talk to me! The only thing you need to do is nod when I give orders, orders that you will follow to the letter, without question.” I turned and headed back towards the main house, jumping the twenty feet over the densely packed trees instead of going through them this time. When I got to the car, I paused to look up at the brightly lit full moon and took a deep breath.
Everything led to this moment - the years of trying to outrun my past with Tristan, all of the horrible things I had done in the name of love and all of the self -loathing I felt because of it. I realized that as long as he was somewhere out there alive, I would never trust myself not to become the monster he tried to make me. Why? As much as I hated him, a part of me would always love him because he was my first real love. I was terrified that my love would be his ticket back into my life. He had to die, because that was the only way I could ever truly live.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Irulan and I made it back to the car ahead of Priest. I slipped into the passenger seat and leaned my head back against the cool leather, content to let Irulan drive so I could concentrate on the task of formulating a game plan. As Priest reached to open the door to get into the back seat, I hurriedly locked it. He could have easily ripped the door clean off the hinges, but he would never do that. "I don't want to share the same space with you right now, Jacob."
Priest looked as if he'd swallowed a cow whole. I hardly ever called him by that name. "This really isn't that serious. We got Meriwether's location. Anything else we could have gotten from Aurieux would have been irrelevant to our case."
To me, those sounded like the words of a man with something to hide. "Remember what I said about orders," I instructed as I motioned Irulan to start the car
so we could get going. She reluctantly put the car in gear and backed into the street. I reached over and put the address I had retrieved from Aurieux into the GPS system. According to the GPS, we had a seventeen-minute drive ahead of us.
Irulan checked her rearview mirror to make sure Priest was keeping pace with us before turning up the radio to make sure he couldn't hear what we were saying. "Aren't you being a little harsh, Valeria?" she asked. "I mean, yeah, he's annoying, but up until now he hasn't given us any reason not to trust him. To be honest, I understand his anger. I was ready to kill the bastard myself for that stunt he pulled in the club."
"It's not about whether he was justified or not, because he was, completely. It’s about blatantly disregarding a direct order. I have to be able to trust him and know that we've got the same agenda, especially now."
Irulan pressed the issue farther, "Do you think that maybe you want to doubt him and you're using this as a reason?”
"I don't care what the reason is, the doubt is there now, and that's the end of it. Can we please move on to the situation at hand? We need to be ready when we get to Tristan's base of operation.” We pulled to a stop at a red light, and Priest skidded to a stop behind us.
"Don't all three of us need to be privy to this conversation, Val?” I guessed she had a point, so I reached over with a finger and undid the lock. Priest hopped into the back seat without a sound, and I picked up where I left off.
"As far as I could tell, he's staying in an apartment building. According to Aurieux's memories, it's three stories high. The lower levels are two huge apartments, while two large studios take up the last floor. Apparently he's keeping house above one of his nests, likes to keep the food handy.” The light changed and we sped forward, moving closer and closer to the coming fight with trepidation raging in us all.
We had all seen the horrors that he was capable of, and now sitting in the car, I faced the fact that Irulan was the only one that was capable of defending herself against the power he now possessed. I felt sorely outmatched in one sense but confident in another. He'd gone to the trouble of having the dampening net placed around me when he could have easily tried to have me killed instead. Aurieux had admitted Tristan wanted me alive. I was counting on any feelings he had left for me to allow me to get close enough to deliver a kill strike.
We got within a few blocks of Tristan's location when I had Irulan pull into a convenience store. "This is close enough. If we go any farther, we run the risk of being heard as we pull up.” We got out and went over our entrance plans. Depending on how many Newborns were at the location, we might need Irulan to get rid of some of the opposition before Priest and I entered wherever we could. Irulan tried to give me her jacket, but I declined. I didn’t need the long sleeves hampering my movements.
I raced through paths of approach, trying to map a route that would reduce our chances of someone hearing us, but with a building full of Vampires all possessing enhanced hearing, those chances were slim to none. Irulan and I could shield our auras against detection, and, since Priest was a Deadborn, I was hoping the Newborns would shrug off his approaching aura. But they could hear our footsteps once we got within a block of Tristan's apartment. Irulan and Priest both noted the look on my face, and Irulan questioned the reason behind it. "Are you sure you're ready for this? It's still not too late to turn back if you want to."
"No, it's not that," I said. Then an idea popped into my head. "Irulan, how much can you lift when you're traveling through the air?” I asked because the strength of the spell depended on the strength of the person that cast it. I was almost certain that Irulan could carry us all, but I needed to be sure.
Irulan smiled as she grasped where I was heading with the question. "I can get all three of us there, no problem, but the sight of three people flying through the air is sure to draw attention, that's not exactly stealth."
"It's stealth if you can glamour us into looking like a flock of birds or something.”
Irulan waved us into a tight formation. "Your eyes, Val. I'm gonna have to modify the glamour covering myself, so my eyes are gonna be a lot brighter.” I lowered my films and took a position on one side of her with Priest taking the position on the other. "It'll be a lot easier to maintain the three of us if you two take a lower center of gravity," Irulan said. Priest and I both went down on one knee and leaned forward on the palms of our hands. I felt the tingle of her magic as her glamour settled over us and then we quickly rose through the air on a column of air. The column felt so firm beneath us, I had to look down to make sure we weren't still on the ground.
We moved swiftly through the air, gliding by buildings, and passing over cars entirely unseen. Her glamour was working perfectly. She brought us within fifteen feet of our destination and held us in a position that was level with the top living area.
"You're on, Valeria," she said quietly, trying to avoid the group inside hearing her. She dropped the glamour that surrounded us, so she could restore her own, and I retracted my films. The night came alive to my eyes as I slipped into UV sight. I scanned the building a floor at a time and was shocked at the abundance of cool blue outlines I saw behind the walls.
I hastily gave report. "We've got at least twenty-seven Deadborns on the first floor alone, fifteen on the second,” I said. "Another eight on the top floor. I also see about six warm bloods, but they could be anyone. I won't be able to confirm Tristan's presence until I feel his aura or catch his scent. When I stop shielding, our cover is blown."
Irulan sighed with a grim-looking smile on her face, "I guess I'm up."
She raised her hands in front of her with the palms facing the sky. She then began waving her fingers slowly, as if she were calling someone to her side. The air around us began to stir, raising my hair, causing it to whip around my face. Soon after Irulan began, shrill cries of pain began coming out of the apartment building.
Vampires began pouring out of every available exit they could find. They ran out of doors, and flew through windows, screaming in agony as their flesh shriveled, blackened, and turned to dust before our eyes. She told me she had some control of a Deadborn's faculties, but I never imagined she could accomplish anything like that. "What the hell, Irulan?"
When she looked down at me to answer, her bright green eyes had darkened to a hunter green shade, and they swirled and flashed as if thunderstorms were hiding behind them. "I'm calling them to dirt, Valeria," she replied in a voice laced with strength. "Sending them to their final death, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” I looked over at Priest who watched the ordeal with shock in his eyes. For the first time since we began this, he realized just how dangerous Irulan could be. I swear he was scared shitless by what he saw.
She made quick work of the Deadborns and by the time she was done, she had decimated over half of their numbers single-handedly. I dropped my shield and pushed my conscious ahead of me searching for Tristan. I didn't have to push far to find him, or it. Tristan’s aura slid against mine, sending a shiver down my spine. Once I got confirmation that he was inside, I spared the smallest of nods for Priest, then drew my blades. I sprang forward, sailing through the air, and smashed through the nearest window, landing with a roll.
The harsh, artificial light didn't slow my advance one bit. My films dropped instinctively the moment I crashed through the glass pane. By the time I came to a stop, four more Deadborns had meet their demise at the edge of my swords. I jumped to my feet and spun my body in a circle, raising my knee to catch a charging Gullah in the torso. As he fell, two more Deadborns took his place, but their bodies evaporated to ash even as they ran. Irulan was floating right outside the window, clearing as many of them out of my path as she could.
I ran through the cloud of remains, jumping over overturned furniture, dodging flying fists, and avoiding various other body parts aimed in my direction. I heard the cries of Tristan’s children, paired with grunts from Priest as he fought behind me, but my attention focused on a door at the end of the room. I felt Tristan�
�s aura behind the closed door, and cut a path through anything that was in front of my trying to get to it.
When I got within feet of the door, it burst open and more Vampires began pouring out. I heard the sound of something cutting through the air and two of them fell dead at my feet with thin stakes protruding from their chest. Then from out of nowhere, a charging vamp caught me in the midsection, sending us both flying backwards.
"Lights!" I yelled, fully frustrated. My eyes were beginning to feel the sting of the florescent lights despite my films. I brought my elbow crashing down into the back of the vamp, trying to break his hold. When that didn't work, I brought both my blades together through his neck. The lights died with a stream of sparks just as the head fell to the ground beside me.
I rolled the body off me and flipped myself upright, finally able to see clearly. There was a line of Wolf Shifters, all in half form, blocking the doorway that lead to where I felt Tristan. Priest came up on my left with two jagged cuts across both of his cheeks. He panted, "Need some help?” I didn't have the luxury of doubt right now and quickly nodded yes. We flashed forward, barreled into two of the Shifters, and sent them flying backwards into the wall. After that, the surprise that our speed offered us was gone.
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