Tainted

  “Oh, shut up, you tedious pain in the arse. What are you going to do? Bore us to death? Get to the point already.”

  With a dark laugh, Seth flung Adam away. The angel hit the wall and slid to the ground, groaning. Jessica didn’t run to him. I wanted to throw up. I glanced at her, but her face was a mask. And for the first time, I wondered if my own father had suffered before Seth murdered him. Rage trickled through my veins, and Jess glanced at me as she felt the shift in the air.

  The basement doors swung open, and vampires flooded in.

  “Parker!” Lorcan called. “A little help here.” He swung his sword, and the glyphs glowed green.

  Parker, who had been kneeling beside Adam, stood and raised a fire between us and the vampires. Two ran straight through then rolled on the ground, screaming as they burned to ashes. None of the others made an attempt to pass the fire.

  “Looks like you’re outnumbered,” Lorcan said, circling Seth.

  Seth laughed. “By half-breeds. And Jessica is worth ten of each of you. Except perhaps you, Ava. Or at least, you in your prime. You’ve wasted your gifts. Such a pity.” He tsked sarcastically.

  I whipped out the two daggers Peter had loaned me. I twisted my wrists, moving the daggers constantly as I joined Val and Lorcan in their dance around Seth and Jessica. “Jess, you have something that belongs to me.”

  “If she can wield it, it belongs to her.” Seth smiled indulgently at the girl. “Jessica has a lot of talents I can make use of. They just need the right focus.”

  “Leave her alone.” I was panting because the air was growing thin with the fire slurping up all the oxygen.

  We had to finish dealing with Seth before Parker stopped his fire. I looked at his panicked face. If he could stop it.

  Seth sidestepped toward Val. She swung her mace, and he ducked. At the same time, he swung his leg in an arc, kicking her so hard that she fell into Lorcan, bowling him over, too. The two jumped back to their feet, wiping sweat out of their eyes.

  Enraged, I rushed to help. Jess knocked me aside.

  I gazed at her in despair. “Don’t do this.”

  Her lips twitched. “This is what I was born to do, Ava. Watch me do it.”

  “I told you that you had a choice. You—”

  Seth ran at me. I tumbled out of his way and crossed my arms to slash out with both daggers. I barely sliced his arms. He belted me across the face with the back of his hand, and I staggered backward but managed to stay on my feet. Jess shoved him away from me. She was determined to deal with him herself, but Seth seemed to barely notice her.

  Val held Jess back from Seth while Lorcan swung his sword, cleaving through Seth’s shirt and leaving a thin strip of red. Seth roared and kicked Lorcan away. Val swung her mace again, sending blood and bone gushing from his shoulder. Horrified, Jess backed away.

  Taking advantage of his new injuries, I twirled my leg around, aiming for his knee, but he jumped over my foot. He dodged Val’s mace and kicked my cheek, knocking me to the ground. He leapt on me and pinned my wrists. When he twisted my arms, I was forced to let go of the daggers. Jumping up and over me, he kicked the daggers away. He ducked under Lorcan’s sword on his way to Val.

  She head-butted him then roared. His nose crunched, and blood poured. He swung his fist once, twice, then grabbed her mace. He pressed the end into her eye. As she howled with pain, he wrenched the weapon out of her hands. The basement was filling with blackening smoke. Seth knocked out Val and moved on to Lorcan

  “Jess,” I panted, “you have to get out of here. The fire… you and Parker… run!”

  “Dad—”

  “No time. Just go!”

  Lorcan made another attempt to strike Seth. The vampire ducked and moved quickly out of the way, tripping Lorcan as he went. He turned back and pushed Lorcan’s face into the ground. He gripped the half-fae’s neck tighter and tighter, his fingers digging into the soft flesh. I leaped for the sword, but before I could pick it up, a blast of fire hit Seth in the back.

  With a snarl, he whirled around. Steam rose from his back as his clothing burned, revealing reddened skin. He was hurt, but he was healing quickly.

  His handsome face transformed, and his fangs became crooked pillars that his lips could barely cover. His skin grew mottled with patches of green and red, making him look more like something demonic than a vampire. His muscles bulged beneath the remnants of his ruined shirt. He went down on all fours, his eyes on Parker.

  Parker sent another fireball his way, but the boy was weakening. The fire was taking too much out of him. Sounds of a fight came from beyond the fire, but I couldn’t see a thing past the flames.

  My cough turned into a body-racking hack, and that drew Seth’s attention. His red eyes fixed on me, and the fear ran down all of my limbs. I knew at that moment that I never wanted to meet Lucifer.

  With an animal-like sound, Seth flew at me. I jumped out of the way, and he almost ran straight into the fire. Almost.

  He skidded to a stop at the edge of the fire. With a howl of rage, he spun and rushed at me on all fours, his long claws leaving deep depressions in the floor.

  I dove for Lorcan’s sword. My fingertips grazed the handle as those claws sank into my calves and dragged me away from the weapon. I could hear Seth panting in his eagerness to bite me. I smelled my own blood before I even felt his fangs penetrate my skin. I tried not to scream, but the pain was like no other. Instead of teeth, it felt like nails hammered into my flesh, hot metal searing skin and crushing bone.

  He caught my eye as he drank, and I briefly wondered if he was trying to teach me some kind of lesson, but then I saw how cloudy his eyes had turned. I felt myself weaken and knew he was growing stronger by the second.

  Another fireball flew at us, but Seth was ready. He released me and rolled out of the way. The fire barely missed me. Then, the ball was absorbed back into the fire as if it had never been there at all.

  Seth rushed at Parker, practically drooling in his yearning for more—more blood, more darkness, more death, more chaos. His movements grew sloppier as my blood apparently took effect.

  “No!” Jessica screamed.

  She moved to stand in the path of the very first vampire, doing exactly what she had been told she was born to do. Her eyes gleaming bright red, she shoved Seth with both hands. He flew across the room and crashed into a pillar. It cracked, and dust fell from the ceiling. Seth calmed a little, growing more human and attractive again. But his face was still smeared with blood, and his fangs didn’t quite disappear.

  “Impressive,” he said. “This is why you’re an important part of my army, Jessica. You’ll be a leader. A general on the battlefield. A killer of angels, the very beings who ruined your life.”

  “No,” she snarled. “You ruined my life. You’ve ruined so many people’s lives. No more.”

  My dagger glowed blue in her hands. I held my breath as I crawled toward Lorcan’s sword. He stirred and opened one eye. I held my finger to my lips.

  Parker threw four more fireballs at Seth, in rapid succession. After the last one, he slumped to the floor, spent. During that time, Jessica swiftly circled the vampire, hitting him, kicking him, and scratching him.

  But Seth kept laughing, even when my dagger burned a hole in his stomach. “Keep trying! Maybe one day you’ll even succeed.”

  He was playing with her. As soon as the fireballs stopped, he pounced, catching her off-guard. She fell heavily to the ground, struggling to get away from him. The fire was dying out behind me as Parker slowly lost consciousness. Lorcan’s sword glistened as I raised it high, getting a feel for the weight of it. Jessica fought like a wildcat. Seth bit her wrist as she struck him. He latched on as she squirmed, pure terror in her eyes.

  “Jess!” I shouted.

  She took one look at me, and her panic fled. She drove the dagger into his side, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was too consumed with the taste of her blood.

  Sweat rolled down my back. The sword seeme
d to lighten in my hands as I approached Seth. He had killed our families and destroyed our lives. I thought of the photo of my parents I had found and of Jessica’s face when she told me she had never had a real home. I thought of every single friend who had died because Seth had unleashed the beasts on the world.

  Tears rolled down my cheeks as I came up behind the first vampire. He tore himself away from Jessica and looked at me in surprise. I raised the sword higher, and he started to move, but Jessica pinned him into place, fiercely holding on.

  I swung the fae sword at Seth’s neck. The blade sliced clean through, as if that was what it had been made for. His head flew off his shoulders and rolled into the fire. I watched it burn, the eyes still wide open. His body was melting, turning into some kind of gooey mess. Daimhín had warned me to tear every piece of him apart, so I stabbed his disintegrating body, feeling my guilt and anger releasing with each strike.

  “He’s dead,” Jessica said, sounding as if she couldn’t quite believe it.

  I stopped, panting, and realised she was right. He wasn’t getting back up. I helped Jessica stand, even though I could barely stay on my own feet.

  “Gross,” she muttered as she looked down on Seth’s pulverised body.

  “Get Parker to stop the fire before we pass out, too.”

  She ran over to Parker. My chest grew heavy. It hurt to breathe. Lorcan was unconscious again, and Parker wasn’t stirring. I wasn’t sure Val’s chest was moving at all.

  My fingers began to sting. I looked down at the sword. The green glyphs had turned crimson. I dropped the weapon and stuck my fingers in my mouth. I whistled as loud as I could, hoping somebody would come and help us.

  I stumbled over to Jess and wrapped my arm around her. “We did it,” I whispered.

  “Parker,” she said hoarsely, weakly slapping his face, “wake up. The fire’s killing us, Parker. Wake up before it’s too late. Parker!”

  She laid her head against his chest. I wanted to cry for her, for her lost future. I wanted to cry for both of them.

  Squeezing my burning eyes shut, I stroked Jessica’s hair. I couldn’t stay awake any longer.

  ~ * ~

  “She’s waking up,” Shay said. “Ava, you okay?”

  I tried to open my eyes, but they burned and watered too much. Somebody wiped them with a cloth. I tried again. I saw Val and Shay on either side of me.

  “Hey,” I croaked. “You okay? What happened? Did everyone make it?”

  “Lorcan and the kids will be fine,” Shay said.

  “I have a headache and a lump on my head the size of a fist,” Val said. “But the smoke did little to me.”

  “How did the fire get put out?” I asked, remembering everything in a rush.

  “Parker’s heart stopped with the exertion,” Shay said. “The fire died with him. The paramedics brought him back. Jessica and Lorcan are still unconscious.”

  “And Adam?”

  “His injuries are a little more serious,” Shay answered. “But I think he’ll be okay.”

  “Is Seth dead?” Phoenix demanded. “We saw no body.”

  I jumped. I hadn’t heard him approach. “Lorcan’s sword cut right through him. If it weren’t for everyone else… Neither Jess nor I could have fought him alone. It was madness, the angels’ ideas for that kid.” I lay back and stared up at the black sky. I was outside in clean air, but breathing hurt. My lungs felt as though they were full of dirt. Ambulance lights flashed nearby.

  “It’s over,” Shay said.

  “Until the next problem comes along.” I blinked rapidly, trying to stop my vision from going hazy. “Shay, the new initiative can’t do things like this, not unless they want to be just like the old Council.”

  He nodded. “I know.”

  “But there has to be a way both worlds can work together.”

  “I don’t know.” He glanced up at Phoenix. “I don’t know that any of us are right for this job.”

  Lorcan moaned, and everyone ran over to check on him. After a few minutes, he made a smart remark, and I relaxed again.

  It took a lot longer for Jessica and Parker to wake up. I was pretty sure if we had all been pure human, none of us would have survived.

  Epilogue

  Shay forced us all to spend a night in the supernatural clinic—just in case. Adam stayed there for a few days. He was mostly exhausted, and I was pretty sure that could be blamed on the entirety of his life. All of that stress and running and worrying was over. Jess wasn’t a monster, and the real monster was dead.

  Back home, I looked through my living room window at a clear sky. The storm was over—at least, that one was. I wondered how many people would come and need me to interfere with the balance in order to help them. I wasn’t Mrs. Yaga, and the rest of the Eleven would have to come to terms with that. I needed to set some things straight.

  I left before anyone else was awake. I liked the cul-de-sac at dawn. It was quiet and peaceful and mostly felt like home, except the protection was still tarnished. I needed to make sure it stayed a safe place.

  I called Mr. Breslin on the way. I woke him, but he seemed pretty alert by the time he let me into the office.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” His thick white eyebrows furrowed. “You are still… new.”

  “I need to know for sure what’s happening with the protection over us, and I can’t let them set a precedence of telling me what to do. I should be an equal if I’m part of the gang now. Just because I’m the new kid…” A sudden chill ran down my spine. I was gambling on coming out on top. My luck didn’t always hold.

  “If you’re sure…” He hesitated. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re right. I doubt Baba Yaga expected anything less from you.”

  “We killed the first vampire,” I said. “That’s going to upset some people.”

  “One thing at a time.” He patted my shoulder. “Let’s face this battle first.”

  Nodding, I followed him down the hallway and the stairs. He waited while I stood outside the room again. Sometimes I dreamed of the room, dreamed I was trapped in a crystal in the dark, never able to change the world around me. And maybe that was what Seth had meant when he said I wore my bounds well.

  Squaring my shoulders, I stepped into the dark room and approached the crystal. I placed my hand over the surface, letting the magic curl against my skin. There was something good about the feeling. I had been through so much in my life. The oath I had taken, the one hundred years I had sworn, didn’t feel like a burden. I wanted to protect my people. But I also needed to protect them my way.

  I slammed my hand down on the crystal and instantly found myself sitting in a chair, surrounded by the others. Their presence was clearer. I could focus more, maybe even see shapes, heights, and weights. Maybe someday, I would finally see who the Shepherd really was.

  “Again?” Judge sounded pissed. “We’re here again, already?”

  “Perhaps the Matriarch has something she needs to tell us,” Death said.

  I could tell he already knew. He was waiting to see what I would do about it, how I would handle it.

  “The protection slipped,” I said. “I need it back.”

  “Why would it slip?” Knowledge asked in an accusing tone.

  “I killed the first vampire.”

  A couple of them gasped.

  “And a lot of people are very fucking happy he’s dead,” I snapped, unable to bear it any longer.

  “Others won’t be impressed,” Birth said evenly.

  “I’ll deal with that when the time comes. I helped my first lost soul. I stopped her from turning to chaos. She’s alive. She made her own choices, and I helped her. She doesn’t have to run anymore, doesn’t have to—”

  “And perhaps the angels won’t like that,” Warden said.

  “Then they can come at me, too,” I said. “This is how I help people. I’m not interfering for my sake. Sometimes, I have to get bloody to help somebody. Sometimes, I just have to scare the shi
t out of whatever is coming. And sometimes, I have to figure out for myself how it is I can help someone. I don’t have a fucking clue what I’m doing half the time, but I’ll learn… as long as you let me do it my way. I can’t be bound by these stupid rules, always second-guessing myself and wondering if I’m breaking some obscure stupid-arse ancient law of some kind. I don’t want to keep coming here and asking for permission before I make a move. I have to live in my world, and I have to deal with the things that come in a way that actually deals with them. I didn’t kill Seth for me.”

  “He killed your parents,” Silence said. “His death doesn’t work for you?”

  “He killed people I’ve never met.” I took a deep breath. “I am who I am. If you don’t like that, then let me go. Break the contract, and we’ll all move on. But just remember. You need eleven. You either have to put up with me, or else weaken everything.”

  “You would do that?” Slave sounded excited. “You would dare upset the balance and risk a demonolatrist calling forth from the darkness?”

  “I’ll take my chances,” I said firmly. “Especially now that I’ve seen how easily my untouchable status can be taken away. But if you keep me, then this is how it’s going to be. I’m going to do my thing without any interference. I mean, if I’m about to unleash Hell on the world, then maybe give me a heads-up, but if I’m stopping an ancient being from kidnapping teenage girls, then butt out of it.”

  “The last Matriarch—”

  “I’m not Baba Yaga. I’m Ava Delaney. And I don’t give a shit what any of you think. I did something good, and that’s all that matters.”

  Silence actually laughed. “This is the fresh start we need.”

  Judge huffed. “You’re not serious.”

  “She interfered,” Birth said. “An actual attack wasn’t made against her territory.”

  “A significant threat was made,” Warrior said. “Are we supposed to stand by and let ourselves be threatened?”