The Revenge (The Sentinel Series Book 3)

by Holly Martin

  I stood up shakily. The drugs had done nothing for my exhausted state. I hadn’t slept, I had been unconscious, so now with the drugs still somewhat present in my body, I was feeling worse now than I was before.

  ‘I’m going for a walk,’ I said quietly.

  ‘I’ll come,’ Seth said.

  Lucas stood too, knowing where I was going. ‘He might not want to see you right now.’

  ‘I have to see him Lucas.’

  He nodded. ‘I’ll come with you.’

  We walked down the stairs in silence. There were simply no words. We walked outside and I wondered where Eli had buried her, where was a suitable place for the body of the one you love.

  ‘This way,’ Lucas said, indicating the forests. I followed him into the trees and we walked for a few minutes. We soon came to a glade painted a red hue with the sun setting above us, and under the branches of a large towering elm, stood Eli, his back towards us as he stood over a mound of freshly dug earth.

  I stopped for a moment. Then walked forward to Eli’s side. My vigilant Guardian, didn’t even notice my approach. I took his hand and squeezed it gently and he looked down at me in agony.

  ‘Eli, I’m so sorry…’ I whispered. There were no words I could find to convey how sorry I was. How sorry that he and Alexandria had come into my life, because without me, none of this would ever have happened.

  ‘Don’t be,’ he said, his voice raw with grief. ‘She should have died months ago, when she fell in that barn, you saved her, you gave me more time with her, I’ll always be grateful for the extra time I had with her.’

  I stood at his side for a while, until the sun had set completely and the trees around us was lit with a silvery glow.

  I turned to go, sensing that Eli needed more time alone with her, but then I turned back. ‘If you want to leave Eli, I’d never hold it against you.’

  Eli actually gave me a tiny smile at this. ‘She’d kill me if I did,’ he sighed heavily. ‘I just need a few hours Eve.’

  I nodded and walked back out the forest, with the warm strong hand of my husband, firmly enclosing mine. Lucas walked with us, when we reached the fort, I held back.

  ‘Lucas, I’ll see you back inside in a bit, I just need some time alone too.’

  Lucas looked between me and Seth, hoping I didn’t actually mean alone, I wrapped my arm round Seth, and happy that I was safe, Lucas left.

  I wandered round the back of the fort, Seth’s arm tightly round my shoulders. We lay down on the grassy slopes, looking up at the stars.

  ‘What do Guardians believe happens to us when we die?’

  ‘We get put in the ground and rot,’ Seth said.

  I rolled towards him, lying my head on his chest, he wrapped his arm tightly round me. ‘Really, no after life, no heaven, hell, no reincarnation, nothing?’

  ‘Remember the Guardians are logical, not emotional. They believe in what they can see, what is proven, not what could be.’

  I sighed heavily.

  ‘What do you believe, Eve?’

  ‘I don’t know, I’ve never been very religious. I like the idea of spending eternity wrapped in the arms of the one I love, that sounds like my idea of heaven. Lying on a beach with you without fear of being attacked, just lying there kissing you, holding you, until the end of time. I like that.’

  ‘I like that too,’ Seth said, quietly.

  We were silent for a while, listening to the quiet around us.

  ‘Why didn’t you kill Noah?’ I asked.

  Seth was silent, confused by my question.

  ‘I don’t mean I wanted you to kill him, of course I didn’t. It’s just that I thought you would. When Mia attacked me in Cyprus your first instinct was to kill. Why didn’t you kill Noah?’

  ‘Because it wasn’t Noah’s fault, it was Adam, I knew that, I just had to stop him, not kill him.’

  I smiled as I curled up into his chest. ‘You know, you’ve often said you don’t think you’re good enough for me because you’re only half Guardian, but when it mattered most, it was your human part that was more important.’

  Seth stroked my head. ‘What do you mean?’

  I leaned up on my elbow to look at him. ‘When my life was in danger, you still saved me, reacted with the strength and speed needed and expected from a Guardian, but you made an emotional choice to stop Noah and not kill him. In the end, it was your emotions that saved him. That’s what I fell in love with, the part of you that thinks with your heart not your head.’

  Seth was silent, obviously digesting this.

  ‘Come on, Lucas wants to talk to us about the rules.’ He stood up and I clung to him, still wrapped round his neck like an oversized scarf as he started walking. He laughed. But the laugh sounded wrong after the day that we’d had, as if it didn’t belong.

  I hopped down from him, frowning and Seth saw it. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘No don’t be, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard you laugh.’

  Seth pulled a face. ‘I’ve not had much to laugh at recently.’

  I linked hands with him. ‘And I’m sorry for that.’

  Seth smiled and wrapped his arm round me as we walked.

  Once back in my bedroom, my Guardians were all waiting for me. My personal guard was looking a bit depleted now, only Lucas and Mason stood for the original five. I swallowed a lump in my throat.

  Lucas stood. ‘Well now we know that Adam is going to try to attack her using other Guardians, I’ve come up with a few rules. Seth, you are the closest to Eve, so it is quite likely he will target you. For that reason, you are not allowed to sleep at the same time as Eve, it’s too risky. You can sleep in the mornings when Eve is up, but only when she is out of the room. When you wake, you will only be allowed out of the room once you have communicated telepathically with the Guardians outside her room, and they are happy that it is you.’

  Seth nodded.

  ‘Whoever is positioned outside her room, will not allow anyone to enter, at any point. We are going to limit the Guardians who are allowed access to this corridor. The smaller the circle, the less chance for mistakes. For now, it will just be us, and Eli. No Guardlings. We will obviously take shifts so we all get some sleep, but we need to be extra vigilant and know who is sleeping at any one time.’

  Lucas paused and then addressed me. ‘Are we going to continue with the sedation?’

  I shook my head. ‘No, if I had been awake last night, I could have shielded myself, I could have stopped Noah and … Alexandria before they got hurt.’

  I could have healed her, before it was too late.

  ‘Ok, and I’m going to be in here as well,’ Lucas said, deliberately not looking at me.

  My face fell. ‘I’m going to have two people watching me sleep?’ Creepy.

  Lucas nodded not bothered at all by my complaint. ‘We need to be able to wake you if he takes you…’ he trailed off thoughtfully.

  ‘You just need to restrain me, you know when it’s me don’t you and when it’s him?’

  Lucas nodded. ‘Yes your signal is dulled somehow, I can sense him in there with you.’

  ‘So as soon as you sense him, pin me down, don’t let him do anything, don’t even let him move.’

  ‘But we want something to get him out, something that will discourage him from coming back,’ Lucas said.

  ‘We can try the shower, a dose of cold water should do the trick,’ Seth said.

  Nice. Every time I fell asleep I was going to be woken by being drenched in cold water.

  Lucas nodded his approval. ‘That’s a good idea.’

  I smiled wryly, clearly Lucas had chosen to ignore my sarcasm in his head. Lucas flashed me a small smile, but then it was gone.

  And so it was, later that night, that Noah and Philip stood outside my door, whilst Seth and Lucas got themselves comfortable to watch me sleep. Seth sat on the bed, next to me, but didn’t lie down in case he fell asleep. Though I knew Seth would never let himself, he wasn’t going to take any chanc
es. And Lucas as promised, sat in the corner, resolutely not looking at me.

  I wrapped my arms round Seth’s waist and lay my head on his stomach. I was really tired now, I hadn’t really slept the night before, being unconscious didn’t count as a restful state.

  I fell very quickly asleep and found myself on my beach in Mexico, but I was only there for a few minutes before I woke, cold, wet and shivering on the floor of the shower. Seth towered over me, his hand hovering over the controls ready to douse me again.

  I rolled onto my back, wiping the water out of my eyes. ‘You enjoyed that, didn’t you?’ I muttered.

  A tiny smile played on Seth’s mouth as he looked at Lucas. I saw Lucas nod and Seth scooped me up and carried me back to the bed. He wrapped a blanket round me and held me in his arms.

  ‘What happened?’ I shivered.

  ‘Not a lot, we didn’t let him, he appeared, struggled against me and I brought you in here and dumped you in the shower.’

  ‘You’re such a gentleman,’ I mumbled.

  Seth kissed my forehead. ‘It worked didn’t it?’

  I sighed, as I shifted the blanket off me and dried my clothes, sucking the water out of them, and using heat to dry them.

  I lay down again. I couldn’t go through this every night. I closed my eyes as Seth lay down tentatively next to me.

  But the next thing there was a great commotion outside.

  I scrabbled off the bed and ran for the door, but as I opened it Seth suddenly caught my arm and somehow managed to get himself between me and the corridor, without me even seeing him move.

  I could see round him though. Rhesa was on the floor, Philip and Noah holding her down, as she snarled and kicked against them.

  I edged round Seth and as she spotted me, her attempts to get to me became more frenzied, desperate. Then her struggling subsided a little.

  Mason appeared out of one of the rooms and raced up the corridor. I knew he was coming to help his wife, he looked furious at her treatment, but I didn’t expect to see him yank his knife out of his belt as he ran. Suddenly fearful that he would kill Rhesa in the same way that Eli had killed Alexandria or kill those that were holding her down, I propelled an energy force down the corridor, sending him flying into the wall.

  He looked stunned for a moment, but then scrabbled up and started running for us again.

  ‘Adam’s in him,’ Rhesa said, looking fearful. ‘Noah, stop him,’

  Noah hesitated, looking between the husband and wife, wondering who to restrain.

  I was pushed back into the room hard, as Seth ran out to meet Mason, followed closely by Lucas. I quickly ran back to the door to see what was happening, I could see Seth and Lucas pinning Mason down, Seth had him by the throat as Mason struggled and screamed against him. Rhesa struggled against Noah’s grip and I wasn’t sure if she still had Adam with her or she was struggling to help her husband. Noah’s grip didn’t relent.

  Ethan threw open his door, right behind Seth, but as soon as he took a step into the corridor, Seth turned and slammed him into the ground, Lucas readjusted his grip on the struggling Mason.

  His attention drawn by the commotion, Isaac appeared from one of the other rooms, running up the corridor to join in the fray. It was only at the last second as Isaac drew close to me that I saw the furious hatred in his eyes and I threw him into the wall in a furious rage, pinning him to it, with my power. He struggled against my hold, but I didn’t let him go.

  It was at this moment that Eli entered the corridor. He stood staring at the commotion in horror for a moment and then raced towards us. He slowed when he got to me, though he looked angry, I somehow knew it was Eli and not Adam. Though I quickly raised my shield just in case I was wrong.

  ‘Good God Eve, I leave you alone for a few hours and look at the trouble you get yourself into,’ Eli muttered, looking around at the chaos, Rhesa, Mason, Ethan and Isaac, pinned to the floor and walls.

  I turned my attention back to Isaac, the fight seemed to have gone out of him now, he just hung limp against the wall, scowling at me as he waited for me to release him. I didn’t. I looked at Rhesa and Mason, neither seemed to be struggling now. Ethan hadn’t struggled at all.

  ‘Lucas, can you feel him?’

  Lucas shook his head, still holding down Mason. ‘But it doesn’t work like that with the Guardians, I can feel him in you, because I can feel you. It’s different with this lot.’

  ‘So how do we resolve this then,’ Mason said, dryly, lying calm on the floor. ‘Are we going to stay like this all night, because if we are, could I ask for a blanket and a pillow?’

  Rhesa laughed and I saw her and Mason exchange a smile.

  ‘Yes,’ Isaac said, coldly. ‘I wonder if someone could get me a sandwich, as well.’

  I tentatively released Isaac from his position on the wall, though I kept my shield raised and quickly raised it round the other Guardians in the corridor.

  Mason, Rhesa and Ethan were also tentatively released as well.

  We all just stared at each other for a moment, looking suspiciously at those who had tried to attack us, wondering if the threat was really over. But when no one made a move against me, knowing that Adam had little or no restraint, I released my shield.

  ‘Was he in all of you?’ I asked my four attackers.

  Mason, Rhesa and Isaac nodded, though Ethan shook his head. ‘He wasn’t in me, I just came out to see if I could help.’

  Seth blushed. ‘Sorry, buddy.’

  Ethan shrugged, clearly not bothered about being thrown into the floor.

  ‘He’s upped his game,’ I muttered. ‘Is there no way you guys can feel each other, to know if he has gone or not.’

  They all shrugged, they were in the dark as much as I was.

  ‘We could try communicating telepathically with each other but we really have no way of knowing whether the person that answers is the Guardian or Adam,’ Noah said.

  I sighed and returned back to the bedroom. They all followed me in, and sat on chairs and sofas around the room.

  Eli and Seth stood at my side.

  I turned to Eli. ‘Are you ok?’

  He nodded and I hugged him, he held me tightly against him for a while. Then I went to sit on my bed.

  We sat in silence for a while. Sleep seemed very far away now. Noah and Ethan slipped out at one point and returned a few minutes later with a stash of food. We ate, in silence at first, but then quiet little conversations started to punctuate the room. No one made a move to leave, they were just happy to stay there all night if necessary.

  But despite my determination not to sleep, especially if no one else was, it soon crept up on me again, and leaning against the headboard I fell asleep. But this time I didn’t end up on my beach, determined to stay awake, I stood in limbo, watching through my eyes as Adam took control once more.

  As he sat up, my Guardians suddenly became alert, silent, a few of them getting to their feet. Adam looked round and seeing that he was in the company of eight guardians, he left as soon as he arrived, with a groan of frustration in my ears.

  I laughed as I regained control, which did nothing to alleviate the wary concerns of my Guardians. I cuddled into Seth’s arms and closed my eyes again.

  ‘Is Adam here?’ muttered Isaac, from somewhere behind me.

  ‘Well if he is, he’s getting very friendly,’ Seth said, kissing my forehead.

  I smiled. Something told me, after tonight’s disappointment, that Adam wouldn’t be back, well for tonight at least. And tomorrow we would have to come up with a plan.

  Chapter 20

  I woke up the next day to a heated discussion in the room. I knew I had only slept for an hour or two but it seemed that all my Guardians had stayed vigilant all night. No one looked injured and a quick head count revealed that everyone was accounted for. Philip had joined them as well.

  I sat up and Seth flashed me a quick glance but somehow he must have been able to tell it was me as he linked his hand with me
and carried on talking.

  They were evidently discussing different ways round tackling the problem. Isaac it seemed wanted to go out and search for Adam and kill him, effectively ending the problem once and for all, if only it was that easy.

  ‘It’s not good, we are supposed to protect her, and Adam is hurting her in the one place we can’t follow, the one place we can’t protect,’ Mason said.

  ‘We need a Guardian in her dreams, to kill Adam when he appears,’ Noah said.

  ‘I wish I could take you guys with me,’ I said.

  ‘What about Cain?’ Lucas said.

  ‘What about him?’ I asked.

  ‘He can enter dreams, he could protect you, or at least teach you how to fight Adam while you sleep.’

  I thought about this for a moment. Cain. The Oraculum. I didn’t want to see any of them again. They had ordered me to be killed, and although Cain had saved me, he was still one of them. But Lucas was right. Cain was really the only one that could help me, he was the only other person I knew who could enter dreams like Adam could. I had entered Seth and Lucas’s dreams but only when I was under medication. I hadn’t had a chance since I’d come back to practice that particular skill and I didn’t fully understand how it worked.

  I suddenly remembered what Leon had said when I last saw him, that when I went to Cain for help he would see me then. At the time I had been adamant that I never wanted to see the Oraculum ever again, but now I was prepared to do anything to stop this torture. Would he want to help me though? The Oraculum had chosen Adam as their new Sentinel. Although Cain had left the Oraculum because of their lack of support for me. Would he care about me now when he had someone else to do the job I was created for, the one I never wanted?

  ‘You could ask him,’ Lucas said. ‘He can only say no.’

  ‘I don’t know where he is. I haven’t seen him since that night the Oraculum broke, I don’t think he wants to see me.’

  ‘He can’t see you, not since Persia put that block on you, he wouldn’t be able to find you,’ Noah said.