Emerge- The Betrayal

by Melissa A. Craven

  “Everything all right with you?” Allie lifted her head to meet his gaze.

  “Things are just … weird.” He gave her a hesitant smile that sent a pang of worry through her.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Not really.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes

  “I miss you, Aidan.”

  “I miss you so much, Allie. You have no idea.” He held her even tighter.

  “I can’t wait until you’re home next semester.” She didn’t like the way the color drained from his face at the mention of his homecoming. Has he changed his mind?

  “May I join you?” Navid’s voice echoed from the sky like a soft breeze.

  “Of course,” Aidan called, looking relieved for the interruption. Allie’s heart plummeted to her toes, worried there was something Aidan wasn’t saying.

  “Hello up there.” Navid appeared along the trail below.

  “Come on up,” Allie said. “I’ve been working on the interior, come see.”

  Navid climbed the ladder to join them.

  “Aidan, always nice to see you,” Navid said. “How is school?”

  “Busy. I love it.” He stood to greet her father.

  “I see you’ve added some furniture.” He eyed the bed with a scowl. “I like the drapes and the white lights around the ceiling. Care to make any of it permanent?”

  “Yes, please,” Allie said.

  Allie watched the flash of green fire in his eyes, the telltale sign of his power, as he circled the room, making Allie’s finishing touches permanent fixtures of her dreamscape.

  “Navid.” Allie rolled her eyes when the bed vanished, and a hard bench stood in its place. “That was for me.” She gestured at the books stacked on the nightstand. “I spend a lot of time here, relaxing and reading.”

  “You have a nice chair for that. But how about a swing down below?” He gave her a mischievous smile.

  “As long as it’s comfortable, Dad.” Allie tried to hide her smile. “You sound just like my … other dad.”

  “That’s why I chose him.” Navid reached to tuck an errant curl behind her ear. “He’s a good man who has adored you since the moment he laid eyes on you. I wanted you to have a good father figure.”

  “Now I have two.” Allie leaned against Navid, draping her arm over his shoulder.

  “I’ll be waking up soon,” Aidan said. “Time to go.”

  “I hate that we only overlap for such a short time. I wish I could enter the dreamworld when I’m awake like Navid can.”

  “I could teach you if you really wanted to learn. It won’t come without sacrifice, though,” Navid said.

  “That would be amazing.” Allie beamed at Aidan.

  He returned her enthusiasm with a broad smile. “That would give us a lot more time together. You know I miss you like crazy.” He glanced down at her.

  “Me too.” She leaned into him for another hug.

  “Good night, Allie. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  “A moment, Aidan?” Navid asked, a serious tone entered his voice. “I have a favor to ask.”

  “Uh, sure.” Aidan shrugged and followed Navid back down the ladder. “Sweet dreams, Allie.” He winked as he disappeared down below.

  Allie watched as the two walked along the pathway through the jungle, lost in their own conversation. She wasn’t sure she liked it. Judging by the look on Aidan’s face, he didn’t either. He looked upset. Maybe even a little angry.

  She loved Navid, but dad talks with her boyfriend were definitely Carson’s territory.

  A moment later, Navid vanished, and Aidan turned to wave as he faded back into the waking world.

  “What was that all about?” Allie recreated a mental image of the bed she’d chosen for her tree house, bringing it into existence again. She flopped down onto the heavenly soft mattress and reached for one of her books. But she couldn’t relax.

  Cold dread crept up her spine. Something was on Aidan’s mind. Something he wasn’t telling her.

  Chapter Nine

  Aidan

  Cologne, Germany, November

  “Excellent,” Wendy praised. “You’re kicking ass, my friend. I’m so glad you decided to stay. I knew you couldn’t leave. Certainly not to go home and chase some tail.”

  Aidan stopped playing, dropping his bow at his side. “Never speak that way about Allie again.” He glowered at his mortal friend. “Leaving her was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I’m still not convinced I made the right decision.”

  “You’re still not thinking about going home are you?” Wendy frowned.

  “No.” Aidan flipped through his sheet music for their next piece. He loved practicing with Wendy, but she was pushing too far into his personal life.

  “You haven’t told her yet?” Her eyes widened in disbelief. “You are going to end up in the dog house if you don’t come clean soon.”

  “I will. I just need to do it in person over Christmas break.”

  “Bad idea. A lot can happen in a few weeks. If she finds out you’re stringing her along, she’s going to flip her shit. Long distance doesn’t work, Aidan. Do both of you a favor and just rip the Band Aid off already.”

  “It’s not like that with her,” Aidan said. “She isn’t just some high school girlfriend I haven’t had the balls to break up with yet.” But there were no words a mortal like Wendy could understand that would explain how deeply Aidan loved Allie. “Let’s just practice.” He lifted his bow to his instrument and began to play the first few notes of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor.

  “Tell her,” Wendy insisted. “Tell her now.”

  Aidan walked through the quad later that evening after his quartet rehearsals ran late. He normally called Naomi and waited for her to pick him up, but tonight he was anxious to see her and didn’t want to wait, it was faster just to walk home. The cold air made his breath come out in puffs of white fog. Shoving his free hand deeper into his pocket, he quickened his pace. Aidan loved every minute of his life here in Cologne. The music. The creativity and camaraderie among students talented enough to truly push his limits. The musical side of Aidan was thrilled about staying. But he wasn’t looking forward to telling Allie. It would break her heart—hell, she probably already saw it coming. But if he knew her as well as he thought he did, then she loved him enough to give him this, and she would understand about Naomi and his need to give their Syntrophos bond the time it deserved.

  Or she’s going to think I’m trying to break up with her? Ever since he’d bonded with Naomi, Aidan had kept his thoughts closely guarded to protect Allie’s feelings. It wasn’t that he had bonded with a Syntrophos—Allie wouldn’t have a problem with that. It was that his Syntrophos was Naomi and that Allie would have to share him with her for the rest of their lives.

  That, and I’m a coward. But until he saw Allie face to face, he had to keep his new bond a secret from everyone. Allie deserved to be the first to know.

  Aidan shook himself out of his thoughts. Something wasn’t right. He stared around the quiet campus. Moonlight shone brightly over the quad but the shadows seemed to cling to Aidan. The fresh fallen snow crunched under his boots, but his Immortal ears picked up another sound. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled with awareness. He quickened his step, cursing himself for allowing the Immortals following him to get so close. He knew better than to let his guard down.

  “Aidan McBrien”? The voice rang out in the darkness.

  I am such an idiot. He should have waited for Naomi. That was why she was in Cologne in the first place, to be another set of eyes and ears watching over him. Aidan wasn’t even properly armed. He reached for the dagger concealed at his waist, as he slowly turned around.

  “Not to worry, son,” the second Immortal said, her accent distinctly American. “We’re here on Senate business. We just need to ask you a few questions.” The man’s polite tone did nothing to ease his fear as two red dots came to rest over Aidan’s c
hest. Both agents held their magnetized weapons at the ready.

  This is bad. Aidan was an unknown Immortal and had never registered with the Senate. The fact that these officers knew his name meant he was out of time, and things were about to get real.

  “I think maybe you have me confused with someone else.” Aidan held his hands up, giving them an affable smile. “I’m Darius McBrien. I do have an uncle by the name of Aidan. Perhaps I can arrange a meeting.”

  “Nice try, kid. If you’ll come with us, I’m sure we can clear up this matter quickly.” The woman stepped forward, lowering her weapon, and Aidan took a few steps back, preparing to make a run for it.

  “Let’s not do this the hard way, son,” the good cop said, his voice meant to be friendly and reassuring, but the dot on Aidan’s chest said he would shoot if Aidan made another move. “We’ll give your guardian a call when we get to the local precinct. But for now, we have to arrest you.”

  “On what charges? You have the wrong guy.” Aidan stood still, taking stock of his situation. The quad was completely deserted at this hour. Among the unnatural shadows, it was likely no one would see or hear it if shots were fired. No witnesses would see them drag Aidan to their waiting car. Panic gripped Aidan in its clutches as the shadows darkened and swept across the quad.

  “Your brother, Darius McBrien, is currently in Cleveland Ohio, enrolled as a student at the Cleveland Institute of Art. He is also nine years your senior.”

  “Your information is wrong,” Aidan insisted, clutching his knife in desperation. He could not let this happen. Aidan blinked furiously trying to make his brain work, but something about the darkness left him disoriented.

  “Don’t make us shoot you, sohn,” good cop said in his clipped German accent.

  Aidan eyed the shadows creeping closer, taking a hesitant step back.

  “Not another step,” the woman said as she directed the shadows to envelop Aidan. Her gift dulled his senses and slowed his thoughts. His grip loosened around his dagger and Aidan dropped his only protection into the snow.

  Fire! Aidan remembered too late. He could do something with fire. He looked down at his hands, hoping to find the answers there. His shoulders slumped in defeat. There was no way out of this. He couldn’t string two coherent thoughts together.

  “I’m Lieutenant Sinclair, and this is my partner, Lieutenant Schreiber,” bad cop said, as she placed a pair of slim magnetic cuffs around Aidan’s wrists and patted him down for concealed weapons. She also relieved him of his phone, violin case and the knife he’d dropped. “The Senate has charged you with failure to register your identity and your abilities as our law demands of all its Immortal citizens.” She tucked his belongings into his violin case, tossing the knife on top of his instrument.

  Aidan grasped at the power slowly slipping away from him as the magnetic force took effect. Coupled with Sinclair’s darkness, Aidan found himself confused, weaponless and powerless, and he was going to jail. He glanced around, desperate for help as they marched him across the campus to a waiting car.

  Dad is going to flip.

  “Watch your head,” Lieutenant Schreiber said as they shoved him into the backseat.

  “Where are we going?” Aidan demanded. “I’d like to ask my … my brother to join me. He’s my guardian while I’m at school.” Aidan shook his head, trying to clear the shadows from his mind but they clung to him like honey.

  “This is just a routine questioning. Nothing official. No need to drag your brother out of bed this late.”

  “You can’t question me without my guardian present,” Aidan insisted. “I know my rights.”

  “You are not a registered citizen. You have no rights. But if you cooperate, you may have a phone call once we get to the precinct.”

  Aidan stared out the window into the dark night, his heart hammering in his chest. He was in way over his head this time.

  “Where are you taking me?” Aidan demanded. Once the agents had him safely restrained, the confusion lifted from his mind replaced with a delayed sense of panic. If he had any hope of getting out of this, he needed a plan. Quick.

  “We told you twice already, the local precinct,” Lieutenant Sinclair said.

  “Then why are we leaving the city?”

  “This is Eastern Europe, son,” Schreiber said. “It’s not like the States. Immortals have to keep a lower profile this close to Coalition territory.” The Coalition headquarters were in Vienna, Austria, less than ten hours from Cologne.

  “Our offices are on the outskirts of the city,” Sinclair supplied. “We’ll be there soon.”

  “I should call my brother to meet us there.”

  “You’ll get your phone call once you’re booked.”

  “Senate law says any Unproven Immortal has the right to have a parent or guardian present before questioning,” Aidan said, desperate to get in touch with Scott as soon as possible.

  “You are in Germany,” Schreiber said. “A long way from America.”

  “Senate law is the same world-wide. You claim I am not a registered citizen, but in this case, that doesn’t even matter. I’m only eighteen.” They didn’t need to know he was mere weeks away from his nineteenth birthday.

  “For someone who has spent his whole life hiding from the Senate, you sure know an awful lot about our laws.” Sinclair turned in her seat to face him. “Maybe you’ve forgotten, but that law is subjective to the situation and is left to the arresting officers to determine.”

  She had him there.

  “Keep that in mind and if you cooperate, maybe we can talk about that phone call,” Lieutenant Schreiber added.

  Defeated, Aidan sat back against the leather seat, wondering if he could make a run for it once they stopped. But that idea came to a crashing halt when they approached the gates of what looked like the mansion of a foreign consulate. Armed guards patrolled the perimeter of the tall iron fence. Running was not an option. He would have to wait for Liam and his tracking gift to figure out he wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

  Why wasn’t I paying attention? Aidan wanted to punch something. If he’d seen it coming a moment sooner he could have at least tried to reach Allie through their connection.

  The guards waved them through the gates, and Aidan willed his heart to stop thundering in his chest. He could not afford to be the scared eighteen-year-old kid he suddenly felt like. He needed to be the confident, powerful Immortal he’d trained all his life to be.

  Lieutenant Schreiber drove down the winding lane lined with trees and topiary shrubs trimmed in exotic shapes and sizes around fountains and garden sculptures. They rounded to the back of the rambling brick mansion and down a steep, snow-covered hill to a utilitarian building obscured in the shadows.

  The jail.

  “Out,” Sinclair barked as she opened the rear door for Aidan. “And don’t try anything stupid.”

  Aidan didn’t know what to expect when he stepped through the front door, but the bustle of activity was a surprise. It was well past midnight, but the precinct was alive with officers blaring out orders.

  “This way.” Sinclair guided Aidan to a dark, quiet room where she removed his handcuffs, replacing them with a more potent magnetic collar.

  “Strip.” Schreiber barked as Sinclair left the room, closing the door behind her.

  Aidan stared at his surroundings, at the camera equipment and stark white walls. “Excuse me?” Aidan thrust a nervous hand through his hair.

  “Remove your clothes, sohn. Every stitch.”

  “No thanks.” Aidan stood, his back ramrod straight. “It’s rather cold in here.”

  “Don’t waste my time. If you want to call your brother, we have to book you. And to book you, we need photographs.”

  “So take a mug shot.”

  “This isn’t a simple mortal arrest with mug shots and fingerprints,” Schreiber said patiently. “You are not registered and we have no record of your abilities. We will start with photos of your identifying features,
but before this night is over, you will be a registered Immortal citizen one way or another. Now strip.”

  Aidan fumbled with the buttons of his coat.

  Schreiber snapped his fingers. “Don’t make a meal of it. I don’t have all night.”

  “Sorry, I don’t make a habit of undressing in front of strange men.” Aidan reluctantly slipped his sweatshirt over his head, letting it fall to the floor with his coat.

  As Schreiber took pictures of his face, Aidan shivered, partly from the temperature of the room and partly from humiliation. The lieutenant took pictures of Aidan’s tattoos and other identifying marks on his body, including close ups of his eyes and hair. He even recorded Aidan’s measurements and scribbled notes in a file.

  “Get dressed,” Schreiber finally said, taking a seat to watch Aidan dress.

  Aidan’s face burned with anger and embarrassment as he struggled into his jeans, feeling violated. He just wanted to go home and forget this ever happened.

  “My phone call?” Aidan crossed his arms over his chest, trying to rub some feeling back into them.

  “Soon,” Lieutenant Schreiber said, guiding him to another room across the hall. Sinclair waited with a slice of pizza and a coke for Aidan.

  He refused to touch it.

  “Let’s get the paperwork out of the way, and then you can call your brother,” Sinclair said. “Full name?” She sat poised with an iPad to take his answers.

  “Aidan McBrien.”

  “Full name, Aidan. Middle names, etc.”

  “Aidan McBrien.”

  “Don’t you have an uncle of that same name?”

  “I do.”

  “So you are Aidan McBrien II?” She looked up expectantly. “Is there a middle name?”

  Aidan sat back with his hands in his in his lap and his mouth shut. They would have to work a lot harder if they expected him to talk.

  “Answer the question.”

  He shrugged. “After I talk to my brother, you can have all the answers you want.”

  “Age?” She moved on to the next line of her form.