by Jessica Gunn
I didn’t need to ask, even when Bria grabbed a syringe from a drawer and filled it with liquid from the vial.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
“Bad,” she said as she depressed the syringe. Liquid spurted out the top. Then she jabbed it directly into Kian’s neck. “I don’t know if he’s been using Demon’s Blood again recently—like yesterday, recently—or if this is his body reaching for it as a result of being used to healing fast because of it in the past, but this isn’t just a withdrawal.”
As soon as the demonic poison was in Kian’s bloodstream, his shakes stopped and his breathing evened out.
“Infection is absolutely in play here,” Bria said. She dropped the syringe on the counter, then righted herself by Kian’s bedside and hovered her hands above his wound. “That combined with the wound itself is bad enough. His body was reaching for something it was used to but no longer had. If you hadn’t made it here, he would have died, Ava.”
I swallowed hard and shut my eyes. He would have died.
Just another loss on my hands.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
A soft light blue ether glowed from Bria’s hands. “Don’t apologize to me. Whatever happened last night, you should have come to Fire Circle Headquarters. My understanding is that most of the time, demons won’t follow us here.”
“This one would have,” I said. “For what we found.”
She frowned but didn’t take her eyes off Kian. “What do you mean?”
A flash, a memory imprinted in my soul, zipped across my mind. Of running back to my team’s house with my old team right after our mission gone wrong. Right after we’d discovered Talon’s plans to turn Ember witches into demons, to force the transformation with poison instead of waiting for Autumn Fire to do it with magik. Jeremy’s decision to go home instead of to Fire Circle Headquarters was the same exact reasoning I’d always had for retreating to Hunter’s Guild instead of Headquarters.
You don’t fuck with Talon. And if you do, you don’t lead them to everyone else.
The location of Fire Circle Headquarters wasn’t by any means a secret. And it didn’t have protection magiks like the Guild.
For thousands of years, Hunter Circles Headquarter buildings went untouched, just like, for a long time, Hunters didn’t go after the lairs of Old Ones. We didn’t go after Landshaft or other demon strongholds.
Then, two years ago, everything had changed.
“Ava?” Bria asked.
“I’ll tell you when I tell Dacher,” I said, my voice low. “This is about to get so much worse than we could have known.”
Dacher’s only response to my admittance of where Kian and I had been last night was several long blinks. Like it either hadn’t surprised him, or us going to Crimson was so much less insane compared to everything else going on at Headquarters that it simply didn’t matter.
Ben, on the other hand, cursed and ran an angry hand through his hair. Krystin gave him a sidelong look of pleading. I’d both heard and seen the results of Ben’s short temper. Dacher had only called the two of them into this meeting because of Ben’s candidate status, and Krystin had been with him at the time.
“Do the two of you want to be killed by Talon?” Ben forced his words out through gritted teeth. “Because if that’s the case, you can leave Headquarters if you want. Move out, get a new apartment away from the protection Headquarters offers.”
“Ben,” Dacher warned.
Ben shot him a glare before jolting, realizing his mistake. “Sir—”
Dacher lifted a hand. “Just stop, Ben.”
Kian lifted tired eyes to Dacher. Bria had mostly healed him, but he’d need a long, uninterrupted rest to fully recover. “We only went because we didn’t want to get anyone else involved or hurt. Which is the same reason I agreed with—and still support—Ava’s decision to stay at Hunter’s Guild overnight instead of risking Mason and his group following us here.”
“Not that it matters,” Krystin said. “Darkness is getting braver and braver about coming onto Headquarters territory. Especially ours.”
“It’s not even Darkness,” I said. “It’s Talon.”
Krystin and Ben exchanged a look. She said, “It’s a byproduct of what Lady Azar was doing. Talon isn’t the first to show up here and attack. Lady Azar wasn’t even the first.”
“Kinder had her own reasons,” Ben said.
Krystin nodded. “But she’s the reason Lady Azar knew it could be done. And because she did and because until her death she led Landshaft, they’re all going to start testing our limits. Dacher, I’d suggest you let the other Circles know they need to up security.”
“Mason didn’t follow us out of Hunter’s Guild this morning though,” Kian said. “He wasn’t even there.”
“Which means he wouldn’t have followed us last night and that I almost got you killed for nothing,” I said. I’d traded the safety of Headquarters and all our injured and poisoned Hunters for Kian’s life.
A dangerous path to walk.
Brian and I had never gotten to that point when we’d dated. There was never a single moment where my duty to the Fire Circle was put in jeopardy because of my love for him. So maybe it wasn’t really love. Because within three months, I was willing to risk Headquarters for Kian.
I glanced at him for a single moment. His attention wasn’t on me, so I had all the time in that moment to study him. This man that had once been my rival in Midnight’s fighting ring. Somehow, my unwanted partner had become so much more.
“From the sound of what you found at Crimson,” Dacher said, “he and Talon are likely preparing for some sort of assault. Whether that’s the completion of their program ahead of Autumn Fire or an attack on the Circles as they once planned is anyone’s guess. But either way, we’ll need to be ready.”
“It’s the former,” Krystin said, her unfocused eyes staring past Dacher to the wall behind him. For a moment, her eyes dropped to a safe behind his chair. Then she swallowed hard. “It’s got to be.”
Ben’s expression faltered for a moment. “What do you mean?”
Krystin blinked and looked to him, then Dacher. “Mason isn’t in charge, not of Talon, right? He might be heading up the Ember witch operation, but it’s Jerrick who’s calling the shots. And Jerrick used to be Lady Azar’s right-hand man in Shadow Crest. But he wasn’t at Alzan, or he’d have died in that battle.”
“So?” Ben asked.
“He’s using the same plan she did,” Krystin said. “Develop the poison, combine it with Autumn Fire to amass a massive army between Autumn Fire and All Hallows’ Eve, and then…” She shrugged.
“Then what?” I asked.
“Mason said their target was the Neuians,” Kian said.
Ben shook his head. “But Talon’s initial target when your team got stuck in their crosshairs was the Fire Circle.”
“It’s both,” Krystin said, her eyes growing wide. “They’re going to go after both the Fire Circle and the Neuians on All Hallows’ Eve, when magik is at its strongest. I have to tell Areus,” she said, making for the door. “Or Shawn does. Someone.”
Ben reached out for her. “Krystin.”
She shook her head. “No, Ben. It’s happening. If not now, soon. That war Karen warned us about. The big one. The final conflict. And it’s starting with Talon.” Krystin glanced at Dacher. “I need to go, sir. Maybe Areus and the Alzanian High Council have a solution we can use.”
Dacher nodded grimly. “Fine. But don’t you dare work more magik than you need to get there.”
“I’ll be careful.” Then Krystin was gone.
I wasn’t entirely sure what had happened. The look the three of them shared held the weight of a million unsaid words. But when I glanced back to Dacher, his dark, fallen expression was more troubling than any I’d seen on him before.
“What is it?” I asked.
“The Ether Head Circle is sending a containment team,” Dacher said. “We have long surpassed the numbe
r of Hunters we can take care of here. And every hour we come closer and closer to having to take in members of the general public who have been hit with the poison.”
“What?” Kian hissed.
Dacher nodded. “Some are magik-users who didn’t even know they had magik. Others are the people who ran into Veynix’s venom by accident. We’re doing the best we can, but the Ether Head Circle’s team will help transport Hunters to their infirmaries and containment areas.”
“And create cover stories,” Kian guessed.
“Yes, that too,” Dacher said. “If Talon wanted to start the final conflict, they might just succeed. Except this time, when Darkness and the Hunter Circles are at full-out war with each other, it’s going to involve human civilians too.”
My stomach dropped. “What do you mean?”
Dacher sighed, defeated. “Thousands of years ago, when Darkness started the First War by taking out the Powers’ city of Alzan, the general public didn’t know about it. And they certainly didn’t have the technology to spread word if they did. Now…”
Dacher shook his head. “If the normal world, the civilians, find out about Darkness and the Hunter Circles and magik, there’s no telling how they’ll react—even with Hydron’s partnership with the federal government. The war might be four-sided this time, human governments and military included.”
Chapter 20
“They know a massive war is coming and claim their hands are tied,” I said as I paced the distance between two opposite walls in the meeting room.
Kian, Will, and I had taken up residence in one of the extra meeting spaces on the third floor over an hour ago. Dacher’s words had done nothing to settle any worries I had about what Kian and I had discovered at Crimson. The Ether Head Circle sending representatives was icing on the damn cake.
“It might be for the best,” Will said, ever unaware of the full score of the war. Will had never been a Hunter until Veynix had returned three months ago. And even then, he’d been in recovery and unable to start his training period. He didn’t know, and his optimism because of it was almost inspiring.
Almost.
“How?” Kian asked. “I’m not saying rushing in headfirst is the best approach here, but if we let Darkness and Landshaft build their army, we’re just as screwed as we were before.”
I nodded. “Kian’s right. The Fire Circle’s hesitation is what almost cost the Powers Alzan last year. If we’re going to stop the Trade, it needs to be now. Before whatever Dacher and the Ether Head Circle are afraid of happens.”
Will sunk down into a seat and held his head in his hands. “Sounds like that’s already happened.”
A knock sounded on the door. Will lifted his gaze as Brian swung the door open.
“Hey,” he said. “I was told you guys were in here.”
I scowled, but Will was the first to speak.
“What the fuck do you want?” he asked.
I winced at the sharp tone of Will’s voice. “Will.”
He shook his head, then glared at Brian. “No. I thought you were okay before. I was okay with you dating my best friend. But then you go and play dead? Return like nothing happened?”
Brian lifted his hands. “Not all of that was my choice.”
Fair. That part was true.
“And the stuff that was ‘your choice,’” Will said, air quoting him.
Oh boy. He was entering big-brother mode. I laid a hand on Will’s arm. He froze under my touch, his body going rigid.
“Cool it,” I said to him. “We’ve made our peace.”
“Well, I haven’t.” Will’s jaw locked and his teeth gnashed together, grinding loudly. His fingertips began to glow with a dim red-orange ether.
Brian’s expression hardened. “Then get on with it, Will. We have more important things to talk about.”
I looked to Kian, who just sat in his chair, watching the scene unfold with an amused curl of his lips. He was enjoying this.
“More important than Chris’s life?” Will spat. His use of my former name—well, nickname—sent chills scattering down my body. Had anyone else done it, I wasn’t sure how I’d react. But Will’s use of my former name only reminded me of the bad night. The night neither of us has spoken about since. “More important than her grief over you and Jeremy, Liz and Em? You’re a fucking coward, Brian. A coward and a bastard, and that’s all I have to say to you.”
Will’s tone turned downright cold, but his body relaxed the more he spoke. When he finished, I slid a hand along his, interlocking our fingers so he knew I was there.
“It’s okay, Will,” I said. “Thank you.”
He turned to me, his glare softening into a look only best friends could share. “I’d do anything for you, you know that. More than this asshole ever did.”
I gave Will a small smile. “I know.”
“Can we move on now?” Brian asked, coming farther into the room.
I winced. “Poor choice of words.”
“No one’s ‘moving on,’” Will said. “Not until Talon is gone.”
“They never will be,” Kian said, amusement gone from his eyes at Talon’s name. “Not unless something’s done about it.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Brian said. “If I’m allowed to speak.”
“Jury’s still out,” Will said.
I sighed, exaggeratedly, to let them both know they were being ridiculous. “What, Brian?”
Brian leaned against the nearest wall and ran a hand over his mouth. His other arm, the twisted one, hung at his side. Maybe that was why Brian had never come back. I hadn’t seen him really use that arm the few times I’d been around him this week. Could Brian even go out hunting anymore? Without magik he’d never had, that’d make him essentially useless to the Fire Circle.
My eyes flitted to Kian, just for a moment. I knew that was Kian’s biggest fear, being taken out of commission. Watching it be played out in front of us in Brian was terrifying for me too. I might not have always loved the way the Fire Circle handled things, or me, but to not be a Hunter… or to be one, but be useless in a fight… I couldn’t handle that, not after everything I’d seen.
“What I’m about to tell you is sensitive information,” Brian said. “But I think it’s essential to what’s going on here.”
“So spill it,” Will said.
Brian nodded. “Hydron is starting to step away from the Headquarters side of things and become more under the control of the federal government. They still don’t know about the other three Hunter Circles, or really the depth of the war between us and Darkness. Somehow, the Water Circle and the Hunters within Hydron’s ranks are managing to keep that a secret.”
Kian’s mouth thinned, his lips pressing together in a hard line. “Then why lean more on the government than the Circles?”
Brian’s gaze traveled to Kian. “Because of exactly what we’ve been seeing in the Fire Circle over the last two years. Clearly, war is coming. And to be fair, though a lot of the resistance to acting and putting a stop to Darkness’s plans was mostly due to Jaffrin and his ties to the Neuians, the government doesn’t know that. What they see is an organization unwilling to act. But if we gave them all the information, if we told them every last detail about Darkness and the war, the power demons and magik-users have to completely destroy this world, they’ll come after us before we’re able to win against Darkness. They’ll see all of us as a threat rather than some of us as evil and the others as allies.”
Brian pushed himself off the wall and crossed his arms. “Hydron wants to put a dent in Landshaft before anything else happens. And because the Hunter Circles have repeatedly resisted this very action, they’re going to do it alone and with very little Hunter support.”
My breath hitched. “Wait. You mean Hydron is literally going to go in with guns blazing?” A human contingent with all the firepower of human weapons.
Brian nodded. “Yes. And depending on how they go about it, it might be a suicide mission.”
�
�They could just drop a bomb on Landshaft,” Kian commented darkly. “I’d almost be okay with that.”
I turned on him. “Except for all the innocents trapped there for Autumn Fire.”
“Exactly,” Brian said. “Which is one of many reasons the Hunter side of Hydron both opposed the plan and is also no longer a part of it.”
Guns in the Hunter Circles weren’t common. A lot of teams and freelancers chose not to use them because of the attention they drew with sound. There was also the greater chance of having to explain yourself away to police if discovered with a weapon like that. Knives could be hidden. Magik could be quelled. And it wasn’t like demons needed weapons like that when each and every one of them was born again with demonic magik. Then there was this whole honor thing that came with using what most referred to as a coward’s weapon in a war of magik and blades.
“From what I understand, anything short of a bomb isn’t going to help their cause at all,” Will said, then he looked to me. “Landshaft is an entire city filled with demons, right? Thousands and thousands?”
I nodded. “Yeah. That’s why the Hunter Circles never bothered before. Even if we had a means of wiping them all out at once, there are the innocents to consider along with aura sickness. But I guess Hydron has the latter taken care of too.”
Kian leaned far back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Hydron’s still got the right idea. Much as I hate to admit it.”
Will shot him a surprised look. “Excuse me?”
“Kian’s right,” I said, meeting Will’s stare. “If we let Mason and Talon hide out in Landshaft and complete whatever it is they have left to do, they’ll build an extremely powerful army of volatile Ember witches. Meanwhile, we’ll keep losing magik-users and Hunters to them because of it. And when they’re finished destroying the Neuians—if they succeed—they’ll come for the Hunter Circles next.”
“Or the Powers,” Kian said.
“Or they’ll come for us first, then the Neuians,” Brian said. “That’s the more likely scenario. Then they’ll have control over all the world.”