Tithes

  “And you got attached,” he guessed.

  “She was my little noodle,” I said, pouting when he laughed. “And that was the second time Phoenix… never mind. This just feels so wrong. I don’t know this witch. She said her coven can find out where the baby was born in a week or so. And maybe she can, but that’s plenty of time for the place to find itself suddenly abandoned.”

  “The children’s home is pretty safe.”

  “That’s because of the children. They won’t even know she’s there. Maybe I should ask Noah to keep an eye out.”

  “He would do that.” He paused, his searching gaze studying my face. “When the witch knocked me down with magic, you did something, right?”

  “More like I stopped something.” I blew hair off my face. “The magic here wanted to punish her, and I stopped it just in time in case the baby got hurt. I’m not even sure how. Maybe they’re right. Maybe the baby is safer with them.”

  “Seems like I’ve missed a lot.”

  I gave him a sheepish look. “I’m sorry about everything with Emmett and Nick and that stuff,” I said. “I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. You know I love the kid. I just wanted to help another kid, too.”

  “I do get that. But I came home to see one of the people I hate most next to my bleeding kid. I about lost my mind.” He pressed his lips together as he considered his words. “If the cul-de-sac didn’t try to punish Nick that day… look, I know Emmett probably had his side of the blame, too. He’s been going around with a big guilty head on him.”

  “That’s because Dita’s mad at him.” I kicked his shoe. “You still mad at me?”

  “Don’t have time to be. Tell me everything that’s happened.”

  So I did. I talked about everything I could think of. Every time I went through the list, I felt as if I were missing something.

  “So you think somebody’s been slyly targeting the people you know?”

  “It’s more like a subtle headfuck,” I said. “I mean, I don’t know if it has anything to do with the baby at all, and it likely doesn’t, but I feel like we’ve had this invisible enemy for a while now. Somebody who isn’t ready to show themselves. And I’m not sure if I want to wait around for that.” I sighed. “Keeping the baby here was probably the selfish thing to do.”

  He reached out and touched my arm. “If you say that the baby was meant to be here, then I believe you. I’m on your side.” He let go. “What now?”

  “Now?”

  “You’re not giving up, are you?” He smiled. “That’s pretty unlike you.”

  I stared at my hands and thought about it. “I can’t stop the government from taking a baby. Legally, the child has nothing to do with us.” I looked up and held his gaze. “But there are more important things in the world than the rules. I’m supposed to watch out for that child, and if the witches will take at least a week to figure out one stupid spell, then I’m going to have to be faster. Whoever lost that child will be looking for her.”

  “And where better to look than the children’s home,” he said. “If I had lost an important child, someone who could draw attention to a business I want kept secret, then I would do whatever I could to get them back. And I would start by watching the important players. Phoenix, the rest of the Senate, the school, the home, and this place.”

  “Here?”

  “Like it or not, you’re important. Remember, we all of us helped fight back against the slave market. We’re all linked to that event. If anyone is going to stop a slave trader, it’s likely to be someone who did it before.”

  “So they could have been watching us all along,” I said. “All this time, though? Why not attack us, get rid of us altogether?”

  “Playing it smart.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “Taking it slow.”

  “Like an ancient would.”

  He nodded. “This is a long play, right? Maybe this notion you have about our bad luck being manufactured is a long play, too. Yeah, seriously, if I was going to take over Fionnuala’s business, I’d be a fool if I wasn’t watching the people who stopped her in the first place.”

  “So Phoenix could have just sent out a Bat Signal, you mean.” I hesitated. “Think he did that on purpose? He wants the slave trader more than he wants to protect the baby, I think.”

  “His children were taken from him for a long time,” Peter said, and I heard the tightness in his voice. “I can’t say I’m not on the same page. Emmett was taken from me, too. I want to destroy whoever has taken over the business. But we need to be smarter than last time.”

  “No loose ends,” I said. “I don’t suppose VBI is free to take up a job for me.”

  He grinned. “On this, we’ll even work for free.” He took my hand. “Listen, things are awkward, and I know that, but this… this is bigger than us. Bigger than most things.”

  “We screwed up somewhere,” I said. “Let someone get away.”

  “And now we can’t trust anybody,” he said. “But we can trust each other, right?”

  I held his gaze. “On this, we’re all we can trust. I need to find the baby’s mother. Anything that could lead me to her is worth following. We have a week before the witch gets her way. If she succeeds, she’ll find her way to Mac’s seat on the Senate. I think we can safely say we’re not going to be her allies. Even when you hate me, I still don’t want anyone to hurt you. That witch is not welcome here.” And I meant it, felt the notion travelling outward as though it were a command. I shivered at the sensation. It made me feel powerful.

  “Then we had better get moving,” Peter said. “This was always our battle. We just didn’t realise we hadn’t finished it.”

  * * *

  I loitered outside Daimhín’s home, hesitant to meet with the vampire queen. She was on the Senate and couldn’t be trusted for a multitude of reasons, but she was ancient. She could be involved. It would make sense. She didn’t exactly have morals or scruples.

  A shifter greeted me at the front door. I’d learned her name was Lorna, and that she was a likely candidate for alpha should the seemingly cursed position come open again.

  “You’re not expected,” she said.

  “Something popped up. Didn’t expect to see you still working around here.”

  She shrugged. “It’s a job.”

  “How do you find the new alpha?”

  “He’ll do.” She cocked her head to the side. “For now.”

  “He’s not like Mac.”

  “That’s never a bad thing.” A growl emitted from her throat. “Keeping captives was a lowly, despicable act.”

  “Because they were shifters.”

  “Because they were people,” she said, looking disgusted. Then the cunning returned to her gaze. “Why do I feel as though I just answered a question you were afraid to ask?”

  I grinned. If the shifter knew that Daimhín was running a slave trade, she would be the first to jump ship. “Thanks for the help.” I let myself into the house, much to the chagrin of a pale human volunteer running to greet me.

  “This isn’t a good time,” he said breathlessly, following me as I strode toward the living room.

  “Never is.”

  But when I stepped into the room, a noticeable charge of tension surged. Daimhín looked rattled, and when she saw me, she repeatedly smoothed her trousers with hands that I could have sworn were shaking. Eloise, the vampire child, was curled up on the sofa, smiling as she stroked Jules’s hair. He lay next to her, his eyes half-closed.

  “Am I interrupting something?” I asked.

  “Storytime,” Eloise said brightly before jumping to her feet. “Race you, Jules.” The pair ran away like children, and Eloise’s unsettling giggles echoed through the room.

  “Can I help you?” Daimhín asked sharply. “You weren’t invited. You can’t just barge in here like… what is it, Miss Delaney? Can’t you see I’m busy?”

  She didn’t look particularly busy. I cleared my throat. “Are there any ancients in the country
that I should be worried about? Ones like Fionnuala, maybe? Ambitious and greedy, for example.”

  Her gaze widened, and her lower lip trembled. “An ancient? Why… why would you ask that? What have you heard?”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Looks like you’re the one with a story.”

  She waved a hand, hurriedly regaining her composure. “I merely thought… it is nothing. Eloise’s stories are often without context or logic. More often than not, her words are meaningless. Perhaps her powers are waning as she ages.”

  “On the lookout for another psychic?” I asked coldly. “Another slave?”

  “Eloise is not my slave.” She bared her fangs. “She’s my subject. Why do you ask of ancients? What have you heard? People talk to you, do they not?”

  “Not as much as they should. I was just feeling as though somebody might be… interfering in my life.” I couldn’t let her know exactly what I worried about. “I’m thinking only an ancient would be that crazy.”

  “I know nothing of new feuds against you, if that’s your query,” she said, relaxing a little. Something was most definitely up with the vampires. “If I hear anything, I’ll pass word on to you, and I expect you to do the same.” She glared at me. “Are we understood?”

  “Is somebody messing about with you, too?” I asked.

  “Not yet,” she said. “One must never be too careful.”

  She had retreated behind her carefully prim mask. I wouldn’t get anything else out of her. Then I thought of a question I could safely ask.

  “Hey,” I said. “There’s still an empty seat on the Senate, right?”

  She snorted softly. “If you think you have a chance of claiming it, you are sadly misinformed.”

  “You’re probably right. It wouldn’t be smart to sit next to so many enemies. Will it be filled?”

  “We need to fill it soon. There are a number of candidates. Few interest me.”

  I moved to the doorway then hesitated. “I heard a rumour that a witch might be next in line.”

  She released an undignified sound. “Witches again. Some on the Senate are pushing. There is a coven headed by a pushy, arrogant witch. She’s made some friends, I believe.”

  “Her name wouldn’t happen to be Clementine, would it?”

  She sat up straight. “Have you crossed paths?”

  “Crossed is one word for it.” I scowled. “I don’t like her much. Has she offered you anything?”

  “Nothing I want,” she said slowly, taking care with her words. “She did what she had to do for her ambition. She has no love of my kind.” Few did.

  “I haven’t had any good experiences with witches,” I said. “If there’s anything I can do to get in the way of her taking that seat, let me know.”

  “A bid for it yourself would be the only obvious option,” she said.

  I turned my back and left. That was a step too far.

  8

  I stood at the back of a church I had once promised myself I would never again step inside. The old priest was gone, but my memories lingered. Worrying about attending Mr. O’Brien’s funeral had kept me awake all night, but sometimes, facing the past wasn’t as scary once I stopped running from it. I forced myself to walk into the church, to look directly at familiar faces, and to remember the things that had gone before.

  My stomach didn’t turn; my breath didn’t catch. The accusations made under that roof when I was barely old enough to understand them could no longer touch me. I was okay, and it wasn’t a lie. I made mistakes—everyone did—but I liked the person I had become. Accepting myself for who I was dimmed the memories and made the opinions of others matter a little less.

  The funeral should have made me sad, but it was more of a revelation than anything else. Halfway through the mass, Wes glanced over his shoulder and caught my eye. He looked surprised to see me.

  Afterward, he found me in the crowd and looked me over with concern. “I didn’t think you’d come,” he said. “How was it for you? Are you all right?”

  I smiled. He had changed so little. “I’m fine. How’s the shoulder?”

  He rotated it. “Itchy. Better than the alternative, though, right?”

  I looked from side to side. “Where’s Diane?”

  “With my mother.”

  “Ah.” I grinned. “I probably shouldn’t say hi.”

  He smiled back. “Only if you’re brave.”

  “She seems nice.” I ducked my head. “And you look happy. I’m glad.”

  “What about you?” he asked, guiding me out of the church. “Anyone nice hanging around? Are you happy?”

  We paused at the gates outside the church. “I’m happy, Wes. I—”

  “Ava!”

  I looked around and noticed Shay jogging toward us. I did not need to speak to him when I was still pissed about Noodle. “Shay,” I said coldly. “Wes, you might not remember Shay from the other day, but he’s in charge of investigating what’s happening around here. If you have any questions, he’d love to answer them. It’d be useful if you could come up with any info on the gang, by the way. Times they appeared, when it started, how many people would turn up, that sort of thing. You never know what might be helpful.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Wes said.

  “Great. I’ll be in touch.”

  I turned to leave, but Shay called my name again. “Ava, wait,” he said. “I know you’re concerned about the—”

  “Don’t.” I held up my hand and clenched my fingers into a fist. “I do not want to talk about that.”

  “If you’d let me explain…”

  “There’s absolutely nothing you can say to make what Phoenix did okay. Nothing.”

  “She got out,” he blurted when I turned away again.

  “What?” I snapped over my shoulder.

  “The shooter. She got out. Before I got a chance to interview her properly. Something went wrong; somebody made a mistake. Her file was mixed up with somebody else. I don’t know yet. Bail was posted. Big numbers. Somebody paid it, and now she’s gone.”

  “Of all the…” I glared at him. “Tell me you know who paid.”

  “Not a clue,” he said. “There was some kind of clerical mix-up, and—”

  “You mean like the mix-up when people’s calls for help went unheard?”

  Wes folded his arms. “Maybe the papers need to hear about this.”

  Distracted, Shay turned to placate Wes. I gave Wes a grateful smile and made my escape. Peter was waiting in his car for me around the corner.

  “Everything okay?” he asked when I jumped in next to him.

  “Peachy. Can you give me a lift to the offices? I need to speak to Breslin.”

  “Of course. What’s going on?”

  “The shooter vanished.”

  “Wasn’t she arrested?” He started the car. “Did she escape?”

  “There was some mix-up, and she was bailed out. Lots of money. Nobody knows who bailed her out or where she is now. They hadn’t even managed to ID her yet. So that’s bloody fantastic.”

  He drove away, a muscle in his cheek twitching. “Think Breslin can find out?”

  “Here’s hoping. It just proves that whoever she works for is wealthy. Or her parents are trying to avoid a scandal. And now she has the chance to go after Wes again.”

  “Val and I can check in with the neighbourhood,” he said. “And I’m sure Wes has IAs patrolling the streets.”

  “Quinn might know more.” I aggressively pressed buttons on the radio to change the station. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. Any time I feel like I’m getting somewhere on something, it all goes up in flames.”

  “Somebody will spot her,” he said. “There’s no need to worry about her. She’s more likely to go after you than Wes.”

  “Yeah, well, next time she comes at me, I won’t be calling Shay for backup. I’ll tie her up in my kitchen and make her talk.”

  He grinned. “She really got under your skin.”

  “You know I hate s
mug people. And trust me, this girl was smug.” I sighed. “I hope Noodle’s okay.”

  “I hope they give her a better name.”

  I smacked his arm. “It was just a nickname. Are you busy this afternoon?”

  “Not really. What do you need?”

  “After Breslin, I want to go back to Dave’s garage. While I talk to Noah, can you have a chat with Dave and see if you can get anything out of him, like when his business started to fail?”

  “I can try.”

  And if Moses came up with something on where the gang got their guns, it might give us something else to work on.

  My solicitor, Martin Breslin, was in the office when I arrived. His secretary was on maternity leave, and I had organised for a young man named Alex to take over. I had met Alex when he was an unwilling volunteer to a sleazy vampire coven, and he had found trouble with potential employers after his picture was used in a newspaper article discussing “disenfranchised youths turning to the dark side,” which was a pile of crap. Surprisingly, Alex was turning out to be an eager and efficient worker who had a tendency to idol-worship everyone he met.

  He opened the door, seemingly overjoyed to see us. The broody facade was long gone.

  “How’s Crystal?” I asked him as he led us to Breslin’s office. His girlfriend had been a victim of the same vampires he’d lived with, and he had remained with them to ensure they didn’t kill her. I blamed at least a portion of his stupidity on how anaemic he had been at the time.

  “She’s doing great.” He shot me a hopeful look. “Maybe you could help her with a job this summer, too.”

  I grunted noncommittally. I had to stop organising work for people before that turned into my full-time occupation.

  In Breslin’s office, Peter and I each took a seat across from the old man whose sole employer had only ever been the Matriarch of the Eleven, regardless of who held the position. I had sort of inherited him, but I was grateful for him.

  “Alex has been doing wonderful work,” he said. “May he sit in for this visit?”