I ignore her complaint and turn my attention back to the fingerprint now showing on the hilt of the knife. I pull out my phone, snap a picture, then email it to myself before uploading it to the fingerprint database. Luckily, as an investigator, I still had access to certain Guild databases. Plus, Tony had fixed our computers so they could access a lot more than normal investigators.
Minutes later, the screen of my phone flashes up with a small box telling me that exactly zero matches were found. I sit behind my desk as Silas casts me a look of exasperation.
“It was worth a try,” I say to her. “He’s got to mess up one day.”
Silas moves to throw herself on the nearest sofa just as Aylesbury walks through the door, his mouth wide as he yawns. He comes to a stop at the side of his desk and narrows his eyes.
“What?” I ask.
He narrows his eyes further. “What? Seriously, Red! I get woken up at the crack of dawn after only maybe two hours sleep because you apparently need a babysitter again.”
“If you and Bastian hadn’t plotted behind my back to capture Vex then perhaps you would still be in bed,” I counter, standing from my desk.
“Shit! How did you find out?”
Silas jumps up from the sofa, Aylesbury jumps about a foot away from the desk. He’d obviously not noticed her lying there. I chuckle as he grabs his chest.
“Bloody pixies!” he says, coughing to muffle the words.
Silas moves around the sofa to stand in front of Aylesbury. “I am a full-blooded Fae, you imbecile!”
“No full-blooded Fae is as short as you, therefore you must be a Pixie,” he says, pushing her away. She must have opened her mouth to speak again because he suddenly slams his hand against her face and says, “Let’s agree to disagree then, shall we?”
He releases her then steps around her to say, “So how did you figure it out?”
“We didn’t exactly, but we have been sneaking around The Manor enough to know you were in on whatever Bastian had planned,” I tell him, moving to stand in front of the desk.
Silas walks over and visibly tenses up before saying, “Those plans may have ruined the only chance I had to get my sisters back.”
“Why, what happened?” Aylesbury asks.
“Vex didn’t turn up. He just left a note saying that we couldn’t trap him, and he would be in touch.” I motion to the desk behind me. “We came back to find the contents of my desk on the floor and this note pinned to the desk by Rozen’s dagger.”
He moves to pick up the note. “Did you test the knife?”
“Yeah, there’s nothing in the database but then that would depend on which one of Vex’s souls touched the dagger. I can only assume the one that brought it here wasn’t anyone with a Guild record.”
“So back to square one then,” he says before swinging his head to the door.
“Scarlet!” I hear Bastian roar as the door is ripped from its hinges and crashes to the floor with a loud bang. Bastian steps over the door and stands in front of us, his black eyes blazing with the fury of a thousand suns. “What have you done now?” he manages to grate out, his chest heaving, making his muscles strain against the confine of his clothes.
Chapter Three
I stand, looking at the destruction of my office door and just gape at Bastian as he narrows his eyes at me, the vein in his temple pulsing as he rakes a hand through his shoulder-length dark hair. With his eyes constantly all black when he got angry, the resulting look in his eyes was positively terrifying.
It takes me a few moments but when I finally get over the shock of his entrance I say, “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about?”
He sighs deeply, his jaw clenching before he releases it and says, “So you haven’t made a deal with Vex?”
“Nope.”
He takes a breath, clenches his fists, then eyes the trashed computer on the floor at the side of my desk. His anger slightly abating. “What happened here then?”
“Vex left another message,” I say to him, trying my hardest not to react to his current attitude problem.
I pass him the piece of paper and I can tell that even Aylesbury’s impressed I’m not browbeating Bastian over my door.
Bastian reads the small note and says, “I think you had better log on to the interweb.”
Aylesbury moves over to his desk avoiding the door and begins to log into his computer. I follow him and purposely step on to the door to reach the side of the desk, as I reach Aylesbury, I throw a look at Bastian that promises retribution. His jaw clenches shut, and he rolls his eyes.
As Aylesbury navigates his computer and Bastian moves to join us, I look up to see Silas watching Bastian intently.
“Why is she staring at me like that?” Bastian asks me.
“I’d say, from personal experience, she’s plotting your demise. At this point, I may even help her do it,” I say with a smile.
Aylesbury looks up from the computer and says, “What am I looking for?”
“Just click on the National News page,” Bastian answers.
As soon as the page loads a live newsfeed begins the banner scrolling across the screen saying, Breaking news! The Council back inter-racial team for the up and coming games. Aylesbury clicks a few icons and the video feed begins playing from the beginning.
“Good morning. I’m Alicia Stevens with National News and I’m speaking to Summer Winterborn, Guild Councillor for the Fae. Summer has released a statement to the press regarding her stance on how the only way to battle rumours regarding the Fae’s elitist attitude towards other races is to prove they no longer hold this attitude.
Summer, can you tell us how you plan to prove to the public that the Fae have a more progressive attitude than the one currently portrayed?”
“Hello, Ms Stevens, firstly I’d like to thank you again for inviting me here. We have decided this year to back the first ever inter-racial team to attend the Enduring Tournament which I believe the public refer to as the Fae games. We believe that this should help fight against the rumours that the Fae are less tolerant of those from different or mixed-race backgrounds. In fact, our team captain is our very own Beast Master and his new wife, Scarlet Dawson, will also be taking part.”
I share a shocked look with Bastian before turning my attention back to the computer screen.
“We all know who the Beast Master is, but can you tell us why it was so important to choose Bastian Night and Scarlet Dawson?”
“As you are all aware Bastian is a Lycan, in fact, one of the strongest ever recorded, who better to represent the Lycan race, Scarlet, however, is a different story, she is a very rare Hybrid. She is of Fae, Human, and Nymph descent. I believe their team alone will cover a wide range of diversity.”
“Surely sponsoring an inter-racial team in the most dangerous games in history would have the opposite effect to what you desire?”
“Quite the contrary, I have every faith that my team will win—
I reach over Aylesbury and close the screen down, not wanting to hear any more of Vex’s bullshit.
Aylesbury turns to look at me as Silas moves over to stand in front of Aylesbury’s desk, her mouth hanging open in shock. I look at Bastian, then say, “What does he have to gain from entering us into that brutal game?”
Bastian says, “If he thinks I will let you do this—
He stops speaking and turns to the door, Aylesbury must have heard something too as they both rush to the hole where the door used to be. As much as I want to follow them, I’m slightly afraid as to what I will find. Last time Bastian did that, Aylesbury had been dumped in the alley bleeding to death.
Bastian and Aylesbury both move slowly out of the doorway to investigate the noise when I hear a chuckle behind me, A very evil and familiar male chuckle.
“I’m hoping by now that you have discovered what I have in store for you, Scarlet my dear,” Vex says as I turn around to find him standing in front of my desk, playing with the dagger that I had left there.
I instantly call Neria and move to stand with Silas in front of Aylesbury’s desk. Before I have a chance to reply, both Aylesbury and Bastian rush back into the office and skid to a stop in front of us.
“If you so much as move or teleport into Scarlet’s space, I will make sure there is nothing left of you to bury,” Bastian growls at him.
“Ah, the famous Beast Master, the things I could do with the knowledge I’ve acquired about you,” Vex says rather smugly.
“I have nothing to hide, so your threats mean nothing to me.”
“What I’ve learnt would suggest otherwise.”
“Look, as interesting as this little interlude is, why are you here, Vex?” I say, stepping between Bastian and Aylesbury.
“I have come to offer the terms for the release of your brother and the traitor’s sisters.” Bastian takes a step forward, so I grab his arm. Vex smiles at the interaction then carries on. “Don’t worry, Scarlet, now I know you can’t wield the stone, I no longer need you by my side. Instead, I have other uses for you. Firstly, I will release your brother to you once I have the stone in my possession.”
“And I have told you numerous times, I don’t have it. I’m guessing now its buried somewhere under thousands of tons of earth,” I say to him, tensing slightly from the blatant lie.
I watch anger cross his face before he relaxes his features into a smile. “I’d love to know just how your mate managed to find the place.” I see Bastian grin from the corner of my eye. “Secondly the prize for The Enduring Tournament this year is a very rare artefact, so rare that this is only the second one known to have ever existed. You will win the games and bring me the prize, then I will release Silence’s sisters.”
“And what makes you think I’ll agree to that?” I say to him while trying to stop Bastian from taking another step.
“I know your brother has been lying about the fact that he was under my compulsion. It seems he is stronger than I first thought,” Vex says, pulling out his phone and turning the screen towards us. “Say hello to your brother, Scarlet.”
On the screen a bloodied figure is being filmed, pacing a small cell. He grasps the bars in front of him and narrows the eye that isn’t swollen shut at the camera. “Scarlet? Is that you?”
“Jared, I will get you out of this I promise,” I shout at the phone.
“I’m so sorry, Scarlet, you know I didn’t mean—
Vex turns off the video feed and says, “I’m willing to give you your brother back the minute you start the Games but, Silence’s sisters will not be released until I hold the prize in my hands. You can pick your own team but the four of you plus Jared must take part. If any of your team dies, I will inflict an injury upon Serenity and Harmony. When you win, I will be waiting at the finish line with Serenity and Harmony to claim my prize.”
Vex teleports out of the office as soon as he finishes speaking, leaving us all staring in silence at the space where he’d been.
Chapter Four
I turn to Bastian, barely containing the anger bubbling inside me. “You want me to close the office down?” I ask him again as he fixes the door back in its frame.
“No, I’m asking you to move your office temporarily to the ground floor of The Manor.”
“I know you want to keep me safe but at this point what’s that going to achieve?” I ask him, standing defiantly in front of him, my head tilted up as he towers above me.
He finishes fixing the door and stands in front of me. “I may not be able to control a lot of things at the moment, but I can control this, and you are not working somewhere where that maniac can just teleport in, especially when the person that is in this office the most is my sister!”
“What I don’t understand is what makes The Manor any different?”
“I had the entire ground floor blanketed in a null shield,” he says with a smug smile.
I throw my hands up in the air before turning around to grab some files. “Next time lead with that.”
It takes an hour to pack up the essentials and leave notes on the doors and website saying where Scarlet James Investigations will be temporarily based. I had to agree with him that if we were going on this suicide mission then Raven would be better protected working from home. I could only hope Vex didn’t plan to kidnap or kill anyone else that I knew whilst we were off on this crazy mission of his.
Within another hour, Aylesbury and Raven are both sitting at their new desks researching as Silas and I pace back and forth thinking of a plan of action. The office we are in is three times bigger than my own. It has six desks, all placed in line with the walls, two facing the door, two facing the massive bank of windows, and two on the wall at the side of the windows. A huge, round, meeting table was placed in front of the windows that look out over Rick’s bar. Grouped in the centre of the office were three fabric sofas around a circular glass coffee table. The circle of glass is placed over an artistic design of different metals twisted together.
Everything in this room is brand new and highly expensive, which made me wonder if Bastian had planned to ask me to move my office at some point in the future.
I stop pacing and stare at the metal legs of the table as an idea begins to form. “The Fae have an aversion to iron. Vex is part God, part Fae,” I mutter to myself, staring into space. “Get Bastian and meet me in the lounge in a few minutes,” I say before racing out of the room.
I run up the stairs and into Bastian’s bedroom. Two nights ago, I had decided to move into Bastian’s room. It felt safer and I was still a little wary of sleep after my time spent in Vex’s prison. Bastian, however, hasn’t slept there since my return, unfortunately, I have no idea why and he keeps managing to find ways to avoid being alone with me.
Last night, I decided to snoop through his things. I found a few interesting items, one of which I grab from the drawer inside his closet. I tuck it into the waistband of my trousers then settle my shirt over it.
I step out of the bedroom and run upstairs to the lounge. Having beaten everyone here I begin to pace in front of the sofas, stopping when I notice Jinx, curled up on the far seat. She opens her eyes and gives me the cat version of a scowl, then shuts her eyes again. She’s obviously still annoyed that I made her stay behind this morning. I consider myself dismissed and continue pacing.
Bastian arrives first. He frowns at me and says, “You’re up to something.”
I grin at him as the others walk in. Silas and Raven sit on one of the sofas, and Aylesbury sits on the arm of the sofa nearest Silas, I’m pretty sure he’s sitting that close to her to rile her up. She really doesn’t seem to like him very much. I find it quite amusing to watch, considering everything she had put me through at school.
“Bastian, what do you know about The Enduring Tournament?” I ask him. He’s been around the longest, so he had to know more than the rest of us.
“Every century the Fae sponsor teams of their strongest and brightest people to battle towards a very big prize. The Tournament usually includes battles to the death which gives the winning team a clue to help them reach the next leg of the race.” He narrows his eyes at me when I smile.
“Raven, what did you manage to find out on the interweb,” I say, turning my attention to her.
“Pretty much the same as what Bastian said. I did find out that usually out of a team of ten, only four to six members survive and only two teams in the last millennia have completed the games with all their members.”
I turn back to Bastian, “Are you going to stop us doing this?”
“Normally I wouldn’t let the whims of a mad man dictate what I can and can’t do. But I know that if I try to stop you, you will only go behind my back and do it anyway.” His fully black eyes narrow at me. “I have one condition. I pick the remainder of the team.”
I think about it for a few seconds; he has access to some of the most savage members of society, so it would only benefit us having him pick the remainder of the team.
“Agreed,” I
say before turning my attention to Aylesbury, “What did you manage to find out?”
“Each team is to make it from one side of a portion of faerie to the other side. This usually takes days, sometimes weeks. Campsites are set up for the contestants at random intervals and within these periods of rest no team can harm another otherwise they are instantly disqualified, however, anything goes when not at camp. During this rest period, a member from each team is called to a small arena within the campsite to fight against each other, preferably to the death, to gain a clue to help them on the next leg of the journey.” He sighs then says, “Red, you and Silence aren’t fully immortal yet. You especially could die from a small wound because you aren’t even healing normally.”
“Don’t worry, I have that covered,” I say, brushing off his words.
“So, what’s your plan. You’re far too eager to take part in something that could potentially kill us all,” Bastian says.
“This,” I say as I remove the object from my waistband.
“A gun. What the hell is a gun going to do, Red?” Aylesbury says, his mouth hanging open a little as he watches me.
I turn slightly to see Bastian watching me a little puzzled. “Exactly whereabouts did you find that, wench?”
“Your bedroom,” I say with a grin as he takes a step towards me.
“Why were you snooping around my room?” he asks, taking another step towards me, I can see the anger beginning to rise in him.
“Who let her have a gun?” I hear Steve say as he walks in with Cain and Dante.
I look down and realise I’m now pointing the revolver at Bastian. The guy infuriates me so much that I hadn’t even realised I’d raised it to point at his chest. I drop my arm, tucking the gun back inside my waistband and turn my attention back to the others as Steve moves to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. It already feels like it should be three in the afternoon not eight in the morning. I had a feeling it was going to be a very long day.
Rage (Scarlet Dawson Book 3) Page 2