If she’d Claimed him fully and he passed, she’d live on but she would, without a doubt, go nuts. It could even trigger her into becoming a Ghoul.
That was why the faculty kept mated students apart. We were training to be soldiers, and although my Pack and, I’d begrudgingly admit Frazer’s too, were fucking good, we were still trainees. Accidents happened when you were sent into a warzone.
Mated females who were disconnected from their Chosen were known to make Vlad the Impaler look friendly.
Whole wars had been started on the back of a mourning female grieving her lost Chosen.
I rubbed my chin as I contemplated Stefan, wondering if their unease really was feeding my own, and I had to think that it might be.
I’d expected this moment to feel validating. We’d been working for months for this chance. We’d spent the past few weeks working behind the scenes on intel that would feed this mission, and we’d been training to be the best we could be.
Before Eve had come along, we’d eaten, breathed, and slept this mission.
Now? Shit had grown shaky and I wasn’t happy about it.
Not happy at all.
When the door opened and Eve wandered in, her nose in a book as per fucking usual, I wanted to grit my teeth at the sight of her. When I saw Stefan stuff the soap he’d been whittling under a cushion, I shot him a look and he just frowned at me.
Why was he keeping that little habit of his a secret from her?
I didn’t know and wouldn’t find out. Stefan could be a close-mouthed shit when it came down to it.
Nestor didn’t stop playing but his tunes turned less melancholic, a change in the melody making it more upbeat, and Eren stopped eating pure sugar.
Because she made them feel better just by being in the room? Or were they hiding their nerves from her?
As I stared at them, looking at the men I knew as well as I knew myself, I had to accept that she made them feel better.
Stefan, before he’d started whittling, had been playing with his fingers. Cracking his knuckles, his unease making him rap the tips against the sofa.
Nestor’s music had changed, but I could sense the move hadn’t been a conscious decision, because I could hear the undertones of the song were the same as what he’d been playing before but it was just brighter, bouncier, somehow.
And Eren?
Well, he wasn’t eating. Instead, he’d curved his arm around Eve when she took a seat beside him. Her dark hair gleamed against his olive skin, and I hated that I noticed that. Hated, even more, that I saw her honey-colored eyes soften as she looked up at him and over at Stefan and Nestor. Me, she avoided like the plague.
As I stared at her, the woman who was a thorn in my side, I found myself, for the first time in forever, grateful that she’d given my brothers some peace.
This was the calm before the storm, after all, and if this was the last time we saw her, I’d remember her with thanks for this moment. A moment of respite before we were shipped off to a war that no one except the creatures and the Ghouls in this world knew we were battling.
10
Stefan
Over the hustle and bustle of boarding the plane, I eyed my brother—Dre looked like he could take off without the plane to carry him to Aboh. “You’re looking on good form, man.”
Dre grinned. “I fucking feel it.” He bounced on his toes. “My knee hasn’t been aching either.”
Though they’d released him, we’d been concerned sick bay wouldn’t sign off on him leaving with us for this mission, so I grinned back and we bumped fists. “Awesome.”
His eyes narrowed a second as the early evening sky gave way to the sharp lights on the plane as we ascended into the cabin. “Your back?” he asked quietly.
“Fine.” It wasn’t. It was aching like a bitch but I was getting used to it. In a strange way, it was helping my pain tolerance grow.
Considering what I’d be doing with the rest of my life, I didn’t think that was a bad thing. If I had a higher pain threshold, it would only serve me better along the years so I wasn’t about to complain.
As we boarded the plane, I’d seen Eve standing over by the gates. I wasn’t sure why it hurt me so much to see her standing by herself, but it did. And she was still there. Standing alone, in the growing shadows, watching us leave her.
I wanted to raise my hand to her, wanted to see her smile, but she wouldn’t see me on board. I was too far away and the windows were too small.
It didn’t stop me from watching her beautiful face as we taxied down the runway though. I only stopped looking down at the school when we were up in the air, Nigeria our destination.
Nestor shot me a knowing look when I finally stopped peering out of the window. “She’ll be okay,” he told me.
“I know she will.” And I did. If anyone was in danger, it was us. But it didn’t stop me from feeling guilty about leaving her.
She was my mate.
We weren’t supposed to be parted, but here I was, voluntarily leaving her. It sucked, but this was something I had to do.
More practice meant the readier we were for active duty. And the more prepared we were, the safer we’d be in the long run. Considering her safety and mine were intertwined, that made this shit a priority.
It helped that Eren looked just as guilty as I felt. I knew he was close to her, and even though that surprised me because Eren was pretty closed off, I figured it made sense. There was something about Eve that got under your skin.
Hell, if she was anything like her original namesake, it was no wonder Adam was a sucker for her.
I knew I felt that way about my woman. The need just to make her fucking smile could consume me. Then, of course, Dre would look at me and shake his head at me in disgust. I’d been trying to learn how to school my features, because I figured I had a certain expression on my face when I was thinking about her. It was an expression he’d come to read easily which was a testament, I guessed, to how much I thought about her.
I tried to remember my desire to make her happy over the three hour journey, tried to remind myself that I wasn’t abandoning her forever, just for three days. But as we approached Aboh, I knew I had to switch my brain off, because I couldn’t stop thinking about her sorrowful features as we took off.
We’d sold it as a vacation, except this was anything but. We’d been training for months for the opportunity to make it out here again, and I wasn’t about to let the team down by not having my shit together.
“Alpha Units, you’re point on this mission. Care to share?”
Merinda’s attitude usually sucked, but there was a glint in her eye that spoke of her excitement for the games ahead.
It was messed up to consider it a game, but this was going to be our life. For a very long time. You either went big or went home, and we’d had no home since our parents or care-givers had rejected us for being too fucked up in the head.
Because I could understand her excitement, I grinned at her. We were all ready for this mission, whether we wanted to accept it or not, and from the grim look on his face, Frazer wasn’t.
After glancing at the Sin Eater for a few seconds and spying his agitation from the way his usually expressionless features were puckered in a scowl, I got to my feet, feeling the mantel of power slip over my shoulders with an ease I hadn’t anticipated.
Quickly clearing my throat, I stated the facts, “Aboh is a city in the Delta State of Nigeria, and more importantly, it’s the center of the Aboh Kingdom with the king actually living in the city.
“Reconnaissance makes me think that’s what gained the Ghoul’s initial interest. We all know they’re whores for royalty.” Nestor nodded at me from the back of the plane where he’d been setting up a projector. Pointing to Onitsha, a city that was farther up the river just north of our destination, I explained, “Aboh is only small, but Onitsha is close by. They’ve been heading down the river, hitting cities and towns with no rhythm or rhyme, but we think Aboh is the end goal.”
“Why?” Merry barked, her tone no nonsense.
Nestor nodded at me, and a picture of a rig flashed on the screen. “Aboh has been looking for more crude oil since the sixties when they staked out their initial well. Rumor has it, they’ve just struck big and several executives are en route to try and get the king on their side.”
“Ass-licking is due to commence any time soon,” Eren slotted in, making us all grin.
“There are several cities like Aboh,” Merry pointed out. “What makes you think it’s their end goal?”
Nestor zoomed in on the church that was on the outskirts of the city. As far away from the river as could be while still within the city limits. As the Beta and Omega Units looked over the white clapboard building, I shot Nestor a look and the screen changed. I did this one more time after they’d scanned the second Mission.
“Three Catholic churches in the area?” Jason inquired from the Omega Unit.
The Beta Unit consisted of the dudes we considered our enemies, but the Omegas were guys we were friends with. Jason and Frazer spoke for their teams because they were both Sin Eaters.
“Yeah, unlike most cities in the area, there’s a heavy Catholic presence in Aboh.” I stood back to look at the three churches and stated, “The population doesn’t require three churches, but they have them nonetheless.”
A house of worship flashed up on the screen, and on its clapboard front, there was a sign. The Order of Lazarus Welcomes You.
Lazarus. Ha. The Ghouls had been using his name for years to hide their dirty dealings. The Order of Lazarus was a front the nests used to gain information from locals.
“Can the class tell me why Ghouls attack cities such as Aboh?” Merry asked, her tone mocking.
“Because they consider them low stake with high reward. Little to no media coverage in the West if there’s a mass slaughtering,” Dre explained, his tone free from expression. Like he was talking about a day at the zoo, not the mass murder of hundreds of innocents. “Plus, if this place is as isolated as say Okene, then they could do what they’ve done before. Eradicate the entire population, take the place of any and all officials in the city, and reap the rewards of the oil company execs that are on their way.” He pulled a face. “Plus, if you send in some low-level grunts into a mission like this, if they feed well, you come out with more rational soldiers. That’s something that can only really be done in a battle.”
Merry got to her feet. “Well done. You hit the nail on the head.”
Seeing story time was over, I retreated to my seat and waited for her to give us further instruction.
Dre slapped me on the back and I grinned at him, both of us pleased that we’d figured out what the fuck was going down. We’d spent the past three weeks trying to paint a picture on what was going to happen in Aboh. The council had received information that a Nigerian river town was going to be hit at some point in the near future, and we’d had to figure out which one it was from the chatter we’d been given access to.
“From our intel, we’ve ascertained the nest is led by Juliet McAllister.”
I shot Dre a look and saw he was equally as pleased with that news.
“The bitch is a slippery motherfucker and she’s personally escaped my form of redemption three times.” That had us wincing, because Merry had a reputation that was hard-earned.
Juliet, if she only knew, had a target on her head with Merry’s signature beside it.
“Anyone know anything about her?” she tossed out to the units.
Frazer’s tone was grim as he stated, “She likes to surround herself with grunts, has a small council that she usually distrusts, and handles most things like an autocracy.
“If her intention is to go in there and take over the local council, it wouldn’t be the first time she’s done it. But, from what I remember, her nests have always been on the smaller side. To capture a city the size of Aboh, she must have been on a recruiting drive.”
Caelum only saved so many. Even though the instructors and Nicholas’s team tried, there were a lot of creatures who slipped through the net.
Without the support and training found at the Academy, seven out of ten kids turned Ghoul. Those statistics were not in our favor.
Merry nodded. “The last time we clashed, Juliet had around eight hundred Ghouls, and she’s stayed under the radar for long enough that she’s maintained that nest. Nigeria tends to produce a lot of creatures. For the exact reason Caelum is close by… it’s something to do with the Romanche Gap in the oceanic trenches.” She shrugged, but pointed to one of the churches Nestor still had on the screen up ahead. “We think this Mission is one of the ways she’s recruiting as well as listening to low-level chatter. What people will confess can be worth a lot of money if you have a Ghoul as a priest.”
“She’s high-functioning then,” Jason said grimly.
Merry’s upper lip curled in a sneer. “As high-functioning as these fuck ups can be.” Her gaze cut to me. “What’s the plan, Alpha Unit?”
“Intel shows that the oil company execs are due to arrive within the next three days. The title of king is actually more than just a useless name holder. He holds full sway over the local political sphere. But his mother has been at the local hospital in Onitsha. She had a heart attack and has been there for the past three weeks.”
“Let me guess,” Merry inserted. “She came home today?”
I nodded. “Exactly. If the nest was waiting to strike, I know I’d strike tonight.”
“Good work,” Merry told us.
“Thanks.” I grinned at her, then with a nod at Nestor, he switched the screen to a map again. “There are arterial roads, mountain passes as well, but they’re difficult to get through. Especially with the numbers required to overtake a city this size.”
“The river?”
“Yeah. It’s unlikely they’re going to try to get in another way.” I pointed to the docks. “Low security docks, we figure that’s their entry point.”
Merry clapped me on the back. “Then that’s where our central team will be. You okay with me handling the rest?”
That alone told me we’d aced our fucking assignment. Wide-eyed, I just said, “Of course.” It wasn’t like we didn’t know this was our bike with training wheels on, and that she had already figured this out before handing it over to us, but it still felt great to know we’d been on the right track.
She smiled at me, which was pretty spooky coming from her, then turned to the rest of the plane. “We have a hundred soldiers on board, and four hundred already infiltrating the town.
“To be frank, we’re outnumbered so expect a bloodbath. Not just on the Ghouls’ side. To our gain, most of her army will be low-level grunts. They shouldn’t be anything we can’t handle.” She pointed to a few areas on the map. “We have teams on lookout along the river. Alpha, Beta, and Omega Units will be scattered there, waiting for the initial landing, but expect to be withdrawn if the Ghouls decide to come in by road.
“We go big and we go home, you hear me? Units work together to incapacitate and capture as many as we can.” She shot Jason, Frazer, and myself a dirty look. “If, like last time, I see anyone trying to kill as they go, there won’t be a next time, do you hear me?”
The three of us winced because we’d each been guilty of that.
“We’ll be landing in twenty minutes. The sun will set in an hour. Are we ready?”
A hundred voices hollered that we were, and for the first time since take off, Eve was nowhere in my thoughts.
❖
Nestor
There was a weird scent in the air when we disembarked, and after a few seconds, I recognized it as the rivers. They had a unique smell that always made me want to gag. I didn’t know how the locals could live near the waters the way they did, and could only assume they didn’t smell it anymore.
How that was possible was one of nature’s jokes.
It was like how Jason, the Omega Unit’s Sin Eater, didn’t know his feet were
fucking rank. His socks would kill more Ghouls than his soul would, that was for damn sure.
The plane had come down on a flat chunk of land that, until last year, had been used for farming yams. They’d wrecked the soil, though, and while that was a shame for the locals, it meant we didn’t have to get on a boat to cross the river to reach Aboh.
The river was wide and housed small islets, but there were no bridges that connected one side to the other. It isolated the city in a way that made it looked like it was a bow-tied gift to Ghouls.
As I peered up overhead, I could feel the ticking of time as it began to count down toward sunset. I was sensitive toward the rising of both the sun and the moon. Not simply because of my body clock, but because as a gouille, I was born for these nighttime missions.
I wouldn’t shift, my skin wouldn’t be impenetrable until graduation, but everything else about me was gouille. Even when it was a Vampire day like today, my gouille was there, ever present. Watching over things and disliking my need to feed.
Our Alpha Unit scouted over the jetty, which was closing for the day. We figured this was where the initial boatload of Ghouls would touch down because it was easiest.
Ghouls weren’t the cleverest of God’s creatures. Especially the grunts Juliet McAllister surrounded herself with. They were numbskulls, pretty much like lemurs just waiting to be guided to a cliff they could walk off.
Only once they’d made it up the ladder did they start to show any signs of intelligence, and that could take a while. For a Ghoul to feed wasn’t an easy thing, and it took specific sustenance to keep several souls in line. I didn’t even want to imagine what Juliet had to eat to be high-functioning. It creeped me out just thinking about it.
While Dre and Stefan argued about positioning, I ignored them both. My gouille worked in ways their souls didn’t, and it automatically helped me ascertain the best locale for monitoring the area.
My body also shut down in a way theirs never would. Gouilles that were in ‘active’ mode didn’t use the bathroom, had no need for food for up to four days, and were capable of staying in one position for a hundred hours or more.
Seven Wishes: The Caelum Academy Trilogy: Part ONE Page 20