Absolution

by Susannah Sandlin

  Glory watched both men struggle with that choice, but what kind of choice was it? From what she knew of them, they’d both try to sacrifice what they wanted to do with what they thought they should. “Before all this stuff with Aidan’s brother and Will’s father started, were you happy in Penton? Both of you?” She shifted her hard gaze from Mirren to Will.

  They stared at her as if she’d grown an extra head. “Of course,” Will said. “Aidan had this vision of what Penton could become, and we all believed in it. It was the first place I’d ever felt at home.”

  Mirren didn’t say anything but had focused on the cheap green carpet at his feet.

  Glory couldn’t believe both of them were being so indecisive. “Then isn’t it worth fighting for?”

  Will scrubbed both hands across his face. “Yeah, but I don’t know if we can win.”

  Mirren stood up and edged around Will’s chair to grab his bag, then picked up the scabbard and swung the strap over his shoulder. “I don’t, either, but it’s time to make a stand.”

  CHAPTER 34

  Most of them had stayed. Un-freaking-believable. Mirren stood in the middle of Aidan’s living room and looked out the window at the steady stream of cars driving in the direction of the Penton community center. Aidan had called a town hall meeting for ten p.m. He’d gotten word out: anyone who wanted to stay in Penton had to agree to go into Omega, if necessary.

  They all knew what Omega was. While they’d been in New Orleans, Aidan and the scathe members had gone door to door, explaining what the shelter was and how it might work. And how it could get them all killed.

  Those who weren’t willing to live underground and risk getting skewered—maybe literally—by the Tribunal would be unbonded and given free rein to go wherever they wanted, both vampire and human. Only fifty had taken an out, leaving about fifty-five vampires and seventy humans. That was about twenty-five more people than Omega was set up for, but Mirren figured, after tonight’s meeting, some more would decide to go.

  The only requirement for those who left Penton behind: a wiped memory. For them, Penton no longer existed. All they had left was a big chunk of time where they couldn’t remember where they were or what they’d been doing. Penton couldn’t risk another betrayal, intentional or not.

  Now, Mirren and the other lieutenants waited for Aidan to finish a phone call with Margaret Lindstrom, their surprising new ally. Thank God the woman could at least feed them info on the Tribunal. What Matthias had planned on his own, no one knew.

  For most of the two days since they’d been back from New Orleans, Glory had worked with Mark and Melissa Calvert, going house to house during daysleep hours to make sure the fams and their bonded family members knew the score, finding out any special needs they might have in terms of food or medications and making the run to Atlanta to buy supplies. By the time Mirren rose each evening, she’d have been in the kitchen, filling the house with the smells of meat and sugar and butter. He didn’t deserve her, but he couldn’t imagine life without her anymore.

  As much as part of Mirren wanted her safely away from Penton, he knew his mate well enough to not suggest her leaving anymore. And, yes, Glory Cummings was his mate. It might have happened by accident, but he had no desire to get out of it. They’d stand or fall together.

  Besides, she was still a danger to Matthias—maybe even more so now that he had so much to lose. Mirren wanted her close to him, not vulnerable and alone. He’d protect her or die trying.

  He’d been obsessively checking their bond ever since she’d left with Krys to help the Calverts’ meet and greet at the community center. Aidan had thought people would feel more comfortable, less jumpy, if they saw the loved ones of the scathe leaders already there. Hannah, whose creepy, cryptic visions told them only that Omega would come into play, was sitting in the corner, staring into space. He hoped to hell the kid wasn’t getting more bad vibes from the universe.

  They were down another lieutenant. Randa sat in the corner of Aidan’s living room, being questioned by Will and not happy about it. She’d shown up last night, oozing wounds from silver bullets courtesy of Matthias’s men in Virginia. Tanner had been killed, and only Randa’s military training had gotten her out of the estate grounds alive. She and Will had been arguing and trading insults for a half hour, and Mirren was going to have to slap the shit out of both of them if they didn’t shut it.

  Finally, Aidan finished his call and joined them in the living room. He’d spent his daysleep and the first hours after dusk in Atlanta, making financial arrangements for the people who were leaving. He still wore a tailored navy suit and white shirt. He’d ditched the tie, which hung halfway out of his coat pocket, but he still looked seriously uncomfortable. Or maybe just stressed out.

  “Here’s the latest.” Aidan poured a finger of whiskey and stood in front of the fireplace, which put them in a loose semicircle. “Meg Lindstrom says the Tribunal doesn’t want its hands dirty, so Frank Greisser has given Matthias permission to do whatever he wants and leave them out of it. Makes it trickier for Matthias but safer for the Tribunal if he screws up. The main targets as far as the Tribunal is concerned are Mirren and me. But Meg says she’s heard—and this won’t come as any surprise—that he wants Glory and Will as well, both of them alive, if possible.”

  “He wants Glory alive?” Mirren had been sure she’d been on the top of the hit list with Aidan and him.

  Aidan nodded. “Renz kept a lot of notes in his desk, apparently, including the fact that Glory’s telekinetic. Our traitor went through the desk and turned everything over to Matthias, plus gave a statement before disappearing a wealthy man. Meg figures Glory’s abilities have made him more determined to use her. I’m guessing he also thinks Glory’s a means of keeping you under control if he gets the chance to recruit you instead of kill you.”

  Mirren knew Glory would rather die than let Matthias anywhere near her, especially if he wanted to use her to get to him. For the first time since New Orleans, he felt the cold, gray mist of the Slayer settle over him, and now, for the second time in a week, he embraced it. Soon, he’d have to wear the mantle of the gallowglass once again, with higher stakes than any he’d ever faced. He wouldn’t go into it blindly.

  “What’s the plan?” Mirren leaned against the wall beside the front door, hands in his pockets. “When do we need to start getting people into Omega? It’s gonna take a while to get that many people moved and settled.”

  Aidan nodded. “Is it ready to go, Will?”

  Will was whispering furiously at Randa, whose face was almost as red as her hair. Mirren didn’t think he’d ever seen a vampire flushed before—or burning with anger, more likely. That woman had a temper.

  “Will!” Aidan slammed his whiskey glass on the table next to his chair, and Will looked up, startled. “You and Randa can argue with each other later. We need an update on Omega before we leave. As in now.”

  Giving Randa a narrow-eyed glare, Will stood up and moved to the other side of the room. “It’s ready. The last furniture was moved into the suites just before we left for New Orleans. Food and water’s in. Ventilation. We have three entrances. First one is off the community center, and second one’s beneath the old Baptist church—both of those use a grid-based floor hatch like we have on our personal safe spaces.”

  Aidan nodded. “How easy are they to spot?”

  “Not easy at all. They’re well camouflaged, but that also means they’re small—the one at the church is beneath a pew and will require some furniture removal. So Mirren’s right. It’ll take a while to get everyone down there.”

  Getting more than a hundred people down a couple of shoulder-wide hatches would be a nightmare. Mirren tried to gauge the time it would take and didn’t see how it could be done in fewer than three or four hours, even if they limited what people could take down with them.

  Which meant they needed to start tonight. Matthias had held off two days; it wasn’t realistic to think he’d wait much longer before
making his first assault.

  “Tonight,” he said. “We need to start getting people down there now.”

  “Agreed.” Aidan ran his hands through his hair, a sure sign the man was stressed. “Where’s the third entrance, Will?”

  “In the woods near the Georgia state line, with a tunnel that leads in. That one’s our fail-safe, in case we need to escape Omega for some reason. But it’s virtually impossible to find unless you know what you’re looking for. I need to take each of you out there, show you how to locate it.”

  “We do that tonight too. Whoever wants to go into Omega now, we can let Krys and Glory oversee one entrance, and Mark and Mel the oth—”

  What the hell? Mirren staggered against the wall and had to prop a hand on the windowsill to keep from losing his balance. “Something’s wrong.” He felt for his connection to Glory, and it was there. It was strong. But she was trying to tell him something.

  Aidan had put his hands to his head. “Krys is…” He stopped, his features scrunched in concentration. “Matthias is here, at the community center. He’s—”

  The muffed sound of an explosion jarred the house, and Will ran for the front door.

  “Don’t.” Mirren jerked him back and eased the window blind enough to see out the window. Flames and smoke were visible over the tree line. His bond to Glory was intact; she was alive. They needed to strategize, not panic.

  “Fire downtown.” He turned back to the others. “Matthias probably has people watching the house so we can’t go piling out the front door. Aidan, we need to use one of your safe exits.”

  “I have a tunnel from my suite that goes to the clinic. Everybody armed?” He looked around at the knives and guns—and Mirren’s sword—that came out of pockets and holsters and scabbard. “Let’s go.”

  Aidan shifted the tiles to open the hatch; then Mirren led the way into the basement. They waited while Aidan relocked the top hatch. “No point in making it easy for them to follow us,” he said, crossing the basement rec room to unlock the emergency tunnel exit.

  Just as he’d pulled the hidden panel open, another explosion jarred the house above them.

  CHAPTER 35

  Glory fought her way blindly through choking black smoke, seeking fresh air. The community center had become an inferno, filled with screams and pushing, shoving people. What had happened to Krys? Mark and Melissa?

  As she struggled in the direction of what she thought was the nearest exit, she called to Mirren inside her head. Mates of master vampires were supposed to be able to do this, Krys said, but Glory still wasn’t clear on what a master vampire was. Things had been moving too fast for her to learn what being mated meant.

  All she knew was who’d caused this disaster. Matthias Ludlam had appeared at the front of the filled community center banquet hall a few minutes ago, preaching like he was the messenger of God Himself, telling people if they’d leave Penton now, they’d be safe. Insisting that Aidan and Mirren were common criminals who were going to be executed. Saying that, vampire and human, their only hope of survival was to make their escape before the Tribunal learned their identities.

  Glory had been trying to build her power while he talked, hoping to hit him with the big amplifiers set up in the back of the stage. She didn’t think he’d seen her. But before she could get the amps moving, Matthias ducked out a back exit. Around her, people had begun milling and murmuring, trying to decide what to do. Then the world had exploded around them. She’d been caught in the stampede at first, carried along with her feet off the floor. Then she got pushed aside as people clamored for the back exit that led to Penton’s main street.

  Feeling ahead of her into the smoke, she stumbled over someone on the ground, a man covered in ash and blood. Squinting, she recognized the wavy blond hair before she made out his features.

  “Mark!” She knelt next to him and tried to yell and slap him into consciousness, but he was out. Was he breathing? Maybe, but she wasn’t sure. Damn it, she couldn’t leave him. “Help me!” She grabbed the arm of a man stumbling past. At first, she thought he was going to shove her away, but he finally turned, and she saw it was Jeff, her boss at the superette. A jagged cut slashed across his forehead, and blood ran down his face.

  He blinked at her in recognition. “Glory?”

  “It’s Mark—can you help me get him out?” Glory shouted to be heard, then hit the ground as another explosion rocked the building, sending a storm of debris down on their heads. She crawled on top of Mark and sheltered his face as much as she could.

  The rain of ash and concrete subsided, and Glory raised her head, searching the area around her for Jeff. She finally spotted him. He was struggling to sit up, but when he did, he crawled toward her. “Let’s get him out of here!”

  Each of them managed to get one of Mark’s arms draped across their shoulders, and together, they got him up and dragged him, head lolling, toward the exit. Glory smelled the door before she saw it; the smoke burned her lungs less, the gasping of air eased. And, finally, cool night air.

  They stumbled onto the sidewalk to the side of the community center building, which had been a squat, ugly rectangle before the explosions. People still stumbled and fell out of its entrance, unrecognizable in their coats of ash. All that was left of the building now was a pile of brick and ash, with occasional jets of fame still licking the sky.

  They gently lowered Mark onto the grass near the sidewalk, and Glory dropped to her knees beside him, her heart threatening to explode just like the building behind them. In some warped way, she could understand Matthias and his vendetta—it was all about power, and for some men, power and control were everything.

  But all these people had done nothing, and she didn’t think she’d ever felt such fury or such impotence. Even when her family had treated her like crap, she’d been able to stand up, take charge of her life, and walk away.

  Glory—can you hear me?

  Startled, Glory fell to her butt on the damp grass. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Mirren?

  We’re almost there. Where are you?

  She glanced around to try to figure out where she’d ended up. Corner of the community center, nearest the clinic. It’s Matthias. The concentration required to clearly send thoughts, combined with the smoke, made her head feel as if it were about to split into pieces, but at least she knew Mirren was coming and he was OK.

  Who’s with you? His voice was faint, but she could understand him—not so much hear him, exactly, but sense the meaning more than the words themselves.

  Mark. He’s hurt. No one else. Jeff had stumbled off in search of his own family.

  Stay where you are.

  Then he was gone, almost as if part of her had dissolved. The smoke was dissipating, and around her, Glory could see others sitting or lying on the ground, dazed. And there, in the center of Main Street, at the crossroads that led to the mill in one direction, the clinic in another, she saw Matthias.

  Glory stretched out on the ground beside Mark, using his body as a shield and raising her head just enough to peer across his chest. Matthias stood astride the centerline of the intersection, flanked on either side by a half-dozen men. The one next to him held Melissa in a firm grip with a knife at her throat. She was struggling, but the guy didn’t budge—vampire, then. He was too strong to be human.

  Mirren. She had to warn him.

  I hear you.

  Matthias is in the main intersection with an army. He has Melissa. Oh, God. She saw another struggle going on behind Matthias. And he has Krys. Krys was fighting as best she could, but the two vampires who had her were more amused than truly fighting back. They were playing with her, shoving her back and forth between them, putting their hands in places where, if he got the chance, Aidan would dismember them for it. Glory might help him.

  Maybe she could create enough of a diversion to give Aidan and Mirren and the others a chance. But she couldn’t do it from here, hiding on the ground behind Mark. She had to get closer but still st
ay out of Matthias’s sight. He knew what she could do now.

  I’m going to make a mess, she warned Mirren.

  No! Stay where you are. We’re at the clinic. Almost there. Who knew the man could yell that loud inside her head?

  Gonna buy you some time. Expect flying objects.

  Glory ignored the growling, sputtering voice inside her head and studied the space between her and Matthias. Maybe thirty yards. The evil SOB hadn’t even broken a sweat, and not a feck of ash seemed to have marred his pristine white shirt. Well, she could remedy that.

  Matthias had his right side to her as he watched the road leading from the clinic. Aidan’s house was also in that direction, and Glory saw more fames faring upward from that way. Matthias was burning the town, and Glory felt the onset of tears sting the back of her eyes. Damn him.

  She couldn’t tell what was on fire—the clinic, from which Mirren and the others would be coming, or Aidan’s neighborhood. She hoped it was the neighborhood. Houses could be rebuilt. Towns could be rebuilt. It was the people who mattered, and the one who mattered most to her was in a tunnel beneath the clinic.

  Crawling on her hands and knees, occasionally dropping to her belly when Matthias’s head turned her way, Glory was thankful for the stretchy sweater. It didn’t make her look her thinnest, but it did give her plenty of fexibility in her movements. She angled her progress to place her behind Matthias and finally came to a stop behind a fire hydrant. It would give her a bit of cover so she could close her eyes and concentrate.

  She hunkered behind the hydrant and tried to shut out the shouting, burning, crying. She imagined the things, placing them in her mind. She was aware of another explosion, a lot of shouting…and then silence. Utter silence. Confused, she opened her eyes and peeped over the top of the fire hydrant.