“I’ll wait a few days, but we need to come up with something bigger. Something better. We need our answering shot to be the last shot.”
“That’s impossible.”
“And yet it should always be the plan. You wanted me in this, Eddie. Now I’m in it. Why are you complaining?”
“I’ll discuss it with Marina and the others,” he said. “I want to take them down as much as you do.”
“The mission is still the same. They’ve just sped up matters. I have to go. Do what you have to do. I’m going to do the same.” I hung up before he could protest again.
“Lorcan, can you round everyone up?” I asked. “I want everyone to hear this.”
My friends and most of the rebels gathered in my living room and kitchen, bodies pressing against each other uneasily as they all waited for the final word.
“So Quinn brought me to the Council,” I said, sitting on a window ledge so everyone could see me. “We spoke to Koda, and he admitted he was the one who sent Illeana on her secret missions. He had a flash drive with information, but he was poisoned and murdered while we were there. Quinn left me alone for a minute, and three assassins came, and one… Coyle got to him before I could stop him.” I bowed my head. “I should have fought harder. They destroyed the flash drive, and while two escaped, Coyle was killed by Aiden after Koda told him that Coyle had likely tried to kill Esther. They spoke about a shared mistress, but it was confusing, and it doesn’t confirm much, other than the probability that our enemies are keeping secrets from each other.”
Everyone looked at Esther, but she just raised her chin.
I nodded at her and continued. “Quinn and I left, but we know that Gabe, Eddie, and Marina were all attacked today. Whoever had Koda murdered is out for all of us. The most important part is that this means there’s a free seat on the Council. Whoever is put into that seat will make all of the difference. I don’t think we should let it get that far. I think we need to move as quickly as possible. Koda wasn’t prepared to fight back. He cowered, and he was murdered for it. We can’t let that happen to us. We need to control this situation as much as possible.”
“Shay and Moses both said they haven’t seen or heard of anything unusual going on,” Carl announced. “That means that so far, they’re sticking with people who have been involved for a while.”
“Or that humans don’t matter much,” Val said. “But perhaps the arrests mean something.”
“Are we safe here?” Ry asked. “I mean, really safe? What if they send more assassins next time?”
“They have to be running out of these dudes,” I muttered. “We need Phoenix. He might know something.”
“We can’t trust him,” Lorcan said, a nasty look on his face.
“We don’t have a clue who we can trust,” I admitted. “What are all of your thoughts? Should we try to attack everyone on the Council, or wait and verify who’s involved?”
“We can’t attack innocent people,” Margie cried, looking horrified.
“Are any of them innocent, though?” Val asked. “They’ve all committed crimes.”
“Esther,” I said, “I’m going to need you to get in touch with your brother. I understand how you’re feeling, but he knows something.”
She hesitated. “I’ll try, but he doesn’t trust me anymore. I don’t trust him.”
“Listen to me,” I said, slipping off the window ledge to face her. “You’re strong enough to do this. And maybe Aiden sees things a little differently now.”
“Because Coyle tried to have me killed,” she said in disgust.
I nodded. “Under somebody else’s orders. Maybe they tried to enlist him, and he had second thoughts or something. Maybe he wanted to back out, and they thought they’d use you to convince him. You said yourself that your Guardian circle wasn’t in the loop. What if… what if Aiden was still protecting you, and the others didn’t like it?” I said.
She shrugged. “I’ll try to contact him, but I can’t guarantee anything will come of it.”
“Okay, great,” I said. “We have Gabe and Eddie there to let us know what happens with the empty seat. Moses and Shay can tell us if their orders are changed from above, and the reporters we helped in the church are being extra vigilant when it comes to supernatural news stories. Our eyes are wide open. They shouldn’t get much past us now.”
“We still need to check out that tattooist,” Carl said.
Val nodded her agreement.
“Be careful,” I warned. “It’s not a good day to piss people off.”
“We’ll be fine,” Carl said. “Nobody in their right mind would attack Val. I’ll just hide behind her.” He winked at me as she rolled her eyes.
Carl and Val left to check out Finn’s info. The rest of us discussed possibilities and ideas and plans for the next hour. Then, Gabe and Elathan showed up, both looking worried.
“What’s going on?” I asked, holding my breath at the surety that bad news was coming our way.
“Koda’s death has been announced. They’re calling it a murder, a tragedy. There’s a lot of talk about Koda being a hero and about the things Koda would want to happen now,” Gabe said.
“Okay,” I said, confused. “So what are the worried faces about then?”
Elathan cleared his throat. “The thing is, they’re not saying it happened the way you’ve told it. In fact, there’s been no mention of Coyle at all.”
“Oh, great,” I muttered. “I’m the killer, aren’t I? They’re putting it at my feet.”
“No, actually…” Gabe looked uncomfortable.
I had a sinking feeling as Elathan turned to face Esther.
Elathan said, “They’re saying Aiden murdered Koda. He’s in the cells. They aren’t bothering with a hearing. There’s going to be a trial in a couple of days, as soon as Fionnuala gets back from the UK.”
“What are you on about?” I asked. “She’s already here.”
Elathan shrugged. “Nobody’s seen her. We’re being told she’s rushing back after hearing of her beloved Koda’s passing. She’s hoping to be the one who passes the sentence. Rumour has it that there will be an execution. I’m sorry, Esther. I know that—”
She shook her head. “No, there won’t. I promised Ava I was going to speak to Aiden and find out what he knows. I’m still going to do that.”
“How?” Ry asked. “He’s in the cells, Esther. You can’t just walk in there. They’ll take you down with him.”
She squared her shoulders. “I’m not letting him die in there. I’m not letting the Council take his life for something he didn’t do.”
“What’s your plan?” Elathan asked patiently, as if he were speaking to a child. “What are you going to do, Esther?”
“I’m going to break him out,” she said, jutting out her chin. “And I’m pretty sure you’re going to help me.”
He sucked in a breath and cocked his head. “You know what? I need to know what Aiden knows as well. I want to know what’s been going on amongst the Guardians while the rest of us have been looking the other way. I will come with you. I’ll help you break Aiden out of the Council’s cells.” He shook Esther’s hand.
Was I the only one who remembered how incredibly dangerous that plan was? And then my eyes fell on Leah, the teenage girl who had escaped, and suddenly, the plan didn’t seem so impossible, after all.
But there was one small hitch.
I didn’t want Aiden to live.
Chapter Thirteen
I left Esther excitedly discussing her plan with Elathan and walked with Gabe to the mouth of the cul-de-sac.
“So how’s the atmosphere?” I asked.
“At Headquarters? Headless chickens running around with no leaders. Erossi’s pretending to be in charge.”
I swallowed hard. “Will we have to kill him?”
“Erossi? He won’t bow down to anyone, and there’s not much chance of him working with ordinary humans, so we’ll likely have to deal with him.”
 
; He said it so offhandedly, as if taking a life was nothing. I had done the same thing so often that I was a tad surprised by my loud conscience making me uncomfortable. If Erossi attacked us, then I would have no problem taking him out. If he didn’t, that muddied the waters somewhat.
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “So what’s coming our way, Gabe? What was Koda talking about?”
“The babbling of a dying man isn’t something you should concern yourself with.”
“Don’t give me that. What’s happening? What was he afraid of? What has you so depressed?”
He glanced at me. “Maybe we shouldn’t fight this. Maybe we should let everything run its course.”
“What? After all of this? We can’t stop now. We won’t survive giving up the fight. What’s with you?”
“Maybe the alternative will be worse,” he ventured.
“How can humans possibly be worse than Erossi?”
“I didn’t mean the humans. Some things should stay hidden, Ava. What if we’re opening Pandora’s Box?”
“I don’t understand.”
He nodded. “I know. What’s the plan?”
I decided I didn’t have the energy to try to work out one of Gabe’s riddles. “I’ll probably have to find Cam and suck up to him to figure out how he got Leah out of the cells. I know Val did the heavy lifting, but she didn’t take that wrist tag thingy off Leah. Esther won’t want to accidentally kill her own brother.”
“Elathan can release it with ease,” he said, waving his hand. “More importantly, Esther won’t want to? Does that mean you’re not going?”
“He wants me dead. He almost killed me. You had to save me from his plans. How am I supposed to help free somebody I don’t think should be free?”
“You’re not coming?” a shocked voice asked from behind me.
I turned slowly, feeling uncomfortable as soon as I met Esther’s eyes. “I’m helping, okay? I just don’t want to be there.”
“What are you talking about?” she demanded. “You have to be there for me.”
“But, Esther, I don’t want to free him. He deserves to be there. He tried to have me killed, and he betrayed you in the worst possible ways. I’m not on his side because he suddenly had a last-minute change of heart and did something right.”
“But he didn’t kill Koda. You were there! You saw! How can you let him die for something he didn’t do? How is that any different than what’s happened to the rest of us? He’s in trouble, Ava. He needs me. And I… I need you.”
I frowned, staring at my feet. Maybe I didn’t like what was happening, but there was still that all-consuming, soul-crushing need to punish him, to see him get what he deserved. But he didn’t deserve to die for murdering Koda. He had taken care of Koda’s murderer, and that had been extremely hard for him to do if the way he reacted afterward was any sign.
“I don’t think he’s worth the risk,” I said softly. The pain in her eyes shot me through the heart. “But you are, so I’ll go.”
She flung herself at me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders to pull me into a hug. Her fear and guilt overwhelmed me, but I patted her on the back. I knew what it was like to worry, and Esther was one of my closest friends. I had to be there for her; if we didn’t have each other, we would all be lost. Freeing Aiden would be a major operation, a dangerous one, and we needed strength behind us.
Elathan walked over and stood behind her, looking entirely unconcerned. “We’ll be in and out, break a few necks, home for dinner. What do you say?”
Sending Esther off with a risk-taking daredevil of a demonic entity was probably not going to be my best plan.
“Can you get your circle behind you?” I asked her. “Quinn was there. She knows what happened. And there’s a chance the shifters will be loyal to Aiden rather than the Council. You need to be sneaky about this, Esther. You need to convince people that Aiden’s worth starting a war over. This could be their reason for siding with us, their reason to fight.”
She stared at me, and I realised she hadn’t known she would have to persuade people to help her brother.
I squeezed her hand. “Get them on board, and we’ll come up with a workable plan.”
She nodded, still holding on to me as if for support.
Gabe watched us with a strange expression in his eyes. “I’m going to check on the bar and then see if there’s any news at Headquarters. We’re still waiting for Fionnuala to show up.”
I let go of Esther, annoyed by Fionnuala’s secrecy. If Phoenix was back, then so was she. And if she didn’t want anyone to know she was back, then she was getting something out of it. Freedom? The clarity of not having the blame over her head? Whatever was really going on, we needed to figure out where Fionnuala was before we broke anyone out of the cells. We needed people to see she had already returned.
“I’ll go with Esther,” Elathan said. “We might as well get started on this right now. Gabe, stay connected with me. Timing is important.” He nodded at Esther. “We should hurry before the official story gets too imprinted on people’s minds.”
They left together.
“What do you think?” I asked Gabe.
“About helping Aiden? It’s a fool’s errand.” He hesitated. “But there might just be something to this family idea you have here.”
I gazed at him in surprise.
“I should go,” he said. “Time is ticking. Are you coming with me?”
“Can’t. With Val, Esther, and Carl gone, I need to stick around. Just in case.”
He glanced down at my wounded side. “Are you capable of fighting right now?”
“I’m doing much better,” I said firmly and escorted him to his car before he could ask any more questions.
That left me in the cul-de-sac, twiddling my thumbs and feeling wretchedly useless. With Val gone, I needed to stay behind and keep an eye on Leah, but I was desperate to get out there and do something. Waiting for everyone else to get stuff done wasn’t my idea of fun. I sat on my gate, just to be outside, and Lorcan soon joined me. I quickly updated him.
“Doesn’t feel good, does it?” He gestured toward me. “Being left behind.”
“Never has,” I said. “Do you ever regret coming here, Lorcan? I mean, meeting me, making that deal, and going to the sanctuary. Do you ever feel like it was all pointless? You haven’t been free yet, you know?”
“There are different kinds of freedom,” he said, hopping onto the wall to sit next to me. “What’s happening here is my choice, mostly. I mean, I could take Lucia and leave. We all could. But where would we go? What would we do? Being here feels like the right path for us. We’ve chosen to see this through. Why are you so down?”
“We’ve lost so many people, either from death or from them walking away. It feels pointless sometimes. Every time I help somebody, I drag them into a worse situation. It’s like danger follows me around like a tornado and sucks up everything in its path. I’m a disaster to know.”
“This isn’t worse for Lucia and me. We met our parents.”
I looked askance at him.
He shrugged. “I might not like the man, but I can’t deny he appears to be our father. The biggest questions in my life were answered when I laid eyes on each of my parents.”
“But there are bigger questions now. And that’s my point. Maybe if I left everything alone, none of this would have happened.”
“The major points would still have happened. Just a little differently. What would you have changed?”
I stared at the sky, feeling a shiver run through me. “If I had left Carl to the vampire, if I had walked away, I wouldn’t have met Peter or Eddie or Daimhín. I wouldn’t have made deals with Eddie, wouldn’t have worked for the vampire queen, wouldn’t have gotten caught up in vampire politics and arrested by the Council. I wouldn’t have met Gabe or Esther or anyone.”
“And you wouldn’t have lost Emmett.”
I frowned. “He’s safe now.”
“But what would have happened to h
im if you hadn’t searched for him? And the beast would still have come,” he said softly. “This last war would have come, and it wouldn’t have been so successful for our side. Maybe this was all meant to be, but it’s not over yet.”
“So what else is coming?” I whispered. “Koda and Gabe had given up, and I can’t see what could possibly be worse than this. That’s the terrifying part: something much worse seems to be around every corner.”
He reached out and took my hand. The warmth of his skin was comforting because there had been a chill surrounding me for a while.
“Maybe you’re right,” I said after a moment. “Maybe I am on the right path. But what if I’m not the right person? What if I’m not cut out for any of this?”
“You’ve gotten us this far,” he said. “And your actions gave the entire country a fighting chance. Surely you see that.”
“I’m tired of fighting. I’m sore and exhausted, and I don’t seem to be recovering no matter what I do. That’s never happened before.” I touched my side with my free hand.
His fingers tightened around mine. “You’re not healing?”
I shrugged. “There’s something wrong with it.”
“Let me see.”
“I like you, Lorcan, but I’m not stripping in the street for you.”
The corner of his mouth tugged upward, but he had fear in his eyes.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m just having a bad day. I have all these decisions to make, and I don’t know what’s right for everyone.” I tried to smile, but my lips kept trembling.
He jumped off the wall and surprised me by kissing my cheek. “Do what’s right for you,” he whispered, and he walked away.
I wandered around the cul-de-sac after that, feeling unsettled. I was full to the brim with what-ifs. What if I had stayed with Wesley? What if I hadn’t met Peter and Emmett? What if, what if, what if. Would I be hurting? Would I be scared? Or would I have had a relatively normal life?
And what would I have done, if anything, about the serial killer that had been running around Dublin? About the army of similar creatures who invaded Ireland? Would I have known to fight? Or would I have hidden away in fear? Would I still be that cowed creature who allowed humans to hurt her rather than reveal her true strength?