"Next door, safe and sound," Zac sighed, walking past the two vampires towards the minibar.
"It's a synthesized silver thing that Regulus had made up a few years ago," Nye explained. "It'd put a plain old regular vampire down for a week. In the Hunter's case, maybe a day or two tops."
Zac rattled through the empty bottles and hissed. There was no alcohol in sight and he might just break something before he found it in himself to calm down. With Coraline's power flowing through him, he didn't want to take any chances.
"Nothin' better happen to her because of it," Tristan was almost yelling at Nye.
Zac turned sharply, striding up to the knight a look of pure anger on his own face. "When this is done, can I trust you to help her take down the Coven?"
"I know I will," Nye said, glaring at the knight.
"Fine," Tristan spat, backing down. "I'm doin' it for her, not you."
"I know you think I'm a selfish bastard, Tristan," Zac said. "But I have my reasons a million times over."
"She'll never forgive you."
"Perhaps, perhaps not. If one person understands sacrifice, it's Aya. In time she'll understand."
Nye clapped Zac on the shoulder, sensing his uneasiness. "C'mon mate. Lets get this show on the road."
Throwing one last glare towards Tristan, Zac strode from the room, Nye on his heels. There was no use stretching it out, no use buying time. The sooner it was done, then the sooner the threat would be eliminated.
Regulus was about to die and he wouldn't even see it coming.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
When Nye pulled up in front of Regulus' house, Zac looked up at the building with a sudden sense of dread. He didn't remember the house being so imposing first time round.
"Keep it together mate," Nye said, opening the car door. "It's D-Day."
He conjured up an image of Aya, holding it in his mind for a moment and he could almost believe she was there with him. For her, he thought, for Sam, for Liz, for Gabby. So they can be safe. Getting out the car with a grimace, he slammed the door shut and followed Nye up the path.
The spy didn't knock on the door, pushing it open like he owned the place. The lights were on in the foyer and for a moment the house seemed empty, but in a blur of darkness, the Three were suddenly there, surrounding them with a snarl so ferocious they sounded like rabid animals.
"What the hell, Maddox," Nye spat, shoving the assassin, who had stopped directly in front of him.
"I went over your head," he said darkly, cocking his head to the side.
Nye stepped forward, coming an inch away from Maddox's face. He was eerily calm and in no way threatened by what he obviously considered his subordinate. "I don't remember you being such a pansy boy, Maddox. You sounded like a pathetic lap dog just then."
This seemed to piss the assassin off big time. "I can still rip your head off."
"I don't remember you being such a kiss-ass, either."
"It's over, Nye. Regulus knows about him," he pointed at Zac, who stood behind them, tense and ready to kill if it cant to that. "And he knows about you."
"About me?" the spy scoffed. "And what exactly does he know about me?"
"Traitor," Pyke glared.
"Traitor?"
"We can take you down, if that's what you really want," Rix said, the threat clear in his voice.
"Three against two isn't that bad," Maddox sneered.
Zac went to step forward, but Nye held up a hand to stop him. "Age has nothing to do with it, neither does strength. It doesn't matter one bit who we were before or after. It matters who we are now. You all know I could rip through you and come out the other side unscathed. Hell, Zac could with one arm tied behind his back."
"Then why don't you, Nye."
Nye pointed to each vampire in turn. "Her Majesty's assassin. Her Majesty's executioner. His Majesty's bodyguard. What makes you think that you're any less disposable now then when you all served the Tudors? Kings and Queens seek to rule the world and Regulus sees himself to be King of the vampires. What a gaff. Have each and every one of you lost yourselves so much you can't see what he's planning?"
"We have our orders and we have our duty," Rix said.
Nye laughed, stepping away from Maddox. "He's going to be nothing but ash in the next ten minutes and if you don't want to end up in a neat little pile right beside him, I suggest you leave. Now."
"What the hell has happened to you?" Pyke exclaimed. "Four hundred years, mate. Four hundred years we've fought together and now you take his side after five seconds?"
The Three were staring Nye down like he was the most despicable thing they'd ever seen. To them he was every bit a traitor for helping Zac. They were in every way thugs under Regulus' control. They were vampires and relished in it.
Nye was frozen to the spot, not in fear or anger, but it was like he was standing in the center of a hurricane. Calm and still. Now Zac understood why they had been so afraid of him, why they defaulted to his say so. In this moment Nye was unpredictable and he would be capable of anything and the Three knew it because they had seen it.
"Get out of here." It was so quiet, Zac almost missed it. How four words could be so full of anger and mercy at the same time, he had no idea, but he knew that he was glad Nye was on his side.
Maddox faltered, his expression falling slightly into something akin to fear. Rix grabbed his arm, pulling the assassin back. And just like that, the Three backed out the door and were gone.
"Remind me never to piss you off, " Zac murmured.
"Consider yourself reminded," he replied, inclining his head towards the stairs. "We've been made, so now or never."
Regulus had not come downstairs to confront them and Zac should have been worried, but there was nothing they could do about that now. He was upstairs waiting for an audience, just like the king he deigned himself to be. They would be walking into a trap, but the point of no return was long gone. Zac pushed open the door to the study with a violent jab, sending it inwards with bang.
"Zachary," Regulus said, the calm in his voice unnerving. He was in the chair he'd first saw the Roman in when he'd come to the house after killing Garrett. And now he sat as he was then, superior and callous, a glass filled with sickly brown spirits in his hand. A sneer crossed his face as he laid his dark eyes on the vampire behind him. "And Nye. How nice of you to pay me a visit."
Zac didn't hesitate. He strode into the room Nye on his heels. "Enough," he said. "Just enough."
"And why are you here? By that charming look on your face, Zachary, I can take a wild guess and say you're displeased with me."
"I'm not here to argue about why," Zac spat. "I'm here to end you."
Regulus rose from his chair, his eyes never leaving his. "And how do you suppose you're going to do that?"
Aya had told him that all it took was a touch. If Regulus made to kill him, then he would get a very nasty shock.
"You think you have it all tied up in a neat little package," the Roman sneered. "Beware the Coven, Zachary. They're not what they seem."
"And I guess you would know all about that," he replied. "You've never been able to get inside to get what you want."
"And what might that be?" Zac didn't reply to this, instead clenching his jaw. "Oh, come on," Regulus continued. "You must have some idea. Otherwise you wouldn't be so worked up about it."
"We know the Coven is trying to wake the Original Witch. It won't work. I'm here to stop you and Aya is going to stop them. It's over."
"You think they're trying to wake the Original Witch?" Regulus scoffed. "Are you stupid?"
Zac didn't understand. He couldn't help but come to the conclusion that the Roman was bluffing. Stalling. "Then what are they trying to wake?"
The Roman began to laugh, shaking his head. "Something else."
He almost hesitated in his desire for more information, but he took a step forward, refusing to believe his lies anymore.
"Do it, Zachary," Regulus goaded him on. "Rip my h
eart out. I dare you."
And that's exactly what he did. Zac flew across the room with alarming speed and plunged his hand deep into the Roman's chest, the power Coraline had given him shocking through his arm and into Regulus' heart.
He didn't know whether it was the fact that the Roman didn't defend himself or the peculiar feeling of his dose of Celestine power, but his eyes widened with shock. Regulus drew sharp breaths through his teeth, his eyes dark and threatening and for a moment he actually looked pleased, but Zac was in no way capable of noticing. In that moment he was not himself.
Was this how Aya felt when she dissolved a life in her hands? How she felt when a founder's heart turned to ash in her delicate hands? If it was, then he finally understood. The ash that was Regulus' heart ran through his fingers like the finest sand, the sand of a white beach, but this sand was black. Blackest death.
Pulling his hand away, he felt numb waiting for the inevitable. The Roman's dead body slumped to the ground, whatever life that had been lingering in him, finally seeped away. Zac looked down at his sickly grey corpse and couldn't comprehend why he wasn't laying on the ground next to him. Whatever strength that was keeping him upright dissipated and he felt his knees connect with the floor, and everything suddenly seemed so far away.
What was the point of life if it could be thrown away so heedlessly? Zac'd taken so many lives and he could say that it was because he couldn't control himself, that it wasn't his fault, that he didn't know. But that would be a lie. He was a killer and a murderer and no better than Regulus. He was glad to die. That was why he was so disappointed when he didn't.
"Zac, you're fucking alive," Nye pulled him to his feet. "Fucking smile or something. If I had confetti, I'd throw it over you."
But, Zac couldn't say anything. His throat had closed over in grief and disbelief and all he could think about was Aya. How he'd loved her and left her alone while he came here to die. And he was still alive.
"Aya," he managed to get out. "I have to go…"
"Mate," Nye laid a hand on his shoulder. "Tristan's got it. I don't like the guy much either, but he loves her, too. He's got it."
Zac could only manage a nod to that one. "The Three?"
"They'll keep," the spy said and looked back at Regulus' desiccated corpse. "We've gotta do something about that first." Nye reached into his pocket and handed Zac his cell. "It's not the plan anymore, but I guess this is a call you want to make."
Underneath Highgate Cemetery there was a small network of catacombs, full of mass burials from the last few hundred years. A place like London, so full of people and life, it became necessary to begin storing their dead underground simply because there wasn't enough room above. There were tunnels like these underneath modern cities that had been built up over medieval fortresses all over Europe. Plague, sickness and overpopulation filled the halls of the dead more readily than anything else.
Where some catacombs Zac was aware of had walls upon walls of stacked human skulls, this one was said to have stacks of coffins. And those coffins wouldn't have stood the test of time very well. After talking to a surprised and relieved Gabby, they'd dumped Regulus' body into a simple pine coffin and brought it across town to South London to one of it's most notoriously haunted cemeteries. Stick him in the most obvious place and hopefully he would stay hidden until they could find a more permanent resting place.
The night was almost pitch black around them, the sky was clogged with clouds and little light reached them from the few security lights that were scattered around the cemetery. Nothing was moving inside the walls, making the looming feeling of death even more intense. Zac hesitated at the opening of the catacombs not liking the damp musty smell that seeped from below.
"Defying the National Trust, huh?" Nye quipped behind him. "This place is protected and somehow I think they don't take new burials down there."
"The perfect place to put him," he replied. "There are forgotten corners down there that even the historians are loathe to venture."
"Do you believe in ghosts?" the spy asked, gravel crunching underfoot as he shifted nervously.
"Really?" Zac's eyebrow rose, his breath vaporizing on the air.
"This place is creepy."
"Are you scared?"
"What's scarier than a vampire?" he winked. "Let's just dump him and get gone from this place."
Breaking open the lock with a twist and shoving open the door, Zac led Nye down into the catacombs and into the darkness. They hadn't gone far when Zac sensed her presence almost immediately. It was so familiar there was no mistaking it. He bade Nye to put the coffin down and walked forward into the darkness and embraced Gabby, who emerged from the shadows.
"Well, this is an unexpected welcome," she laughed nervously.
"Did you have something to do with this?"
"With you being alive? I'd just stepped off a plane when I got your call. Whatever went down, I have no idea."
"Maybe it was the Celestine thing," Nye said.
"And who are you?" Gabby asked, frowning at the appearance of another vampire.
"Gabby, this is Nye. He's one of us," Zac gestured to the older vampire, who winked at the witch.
"Gabby?" Nye asked. "What's that short for?"
"Gabrielle," she replied, eyeing him.
"Gabrielle is better. That's a real woman's name."
"Well," Gabby laughed, "I can see why you two are friends. You go together like peas and carrots."
"Peas and carrots?" Nye exclaimed. "Who's the pea and who's the carrot?"
Zac stifled a groan and ignored him. Turning his attention back to Gabby he asked, "What are you doing here?"
"When I knew you'd go after Regulus, I had to be here to make sure. This Coraline woman, she may have given you her power, but I wasn't convinced that he would actually die. For real. That's why I'm here."
"Ahh," Nye said. "You're here for the autopsy."
"And a little bit of witchy concealing," she winked at the vampire, her disposition towards him softening. "With my help, no one will ever find what's left of him."
"So, let's chuck him in a hole and sprinkle fairy dust over him already."
"It's not that simple," she said, her eyes raking over Nye's face.
"See something you like?" he asked, running a finger across his scar.
"I'm not into vampires."
"What do you mean, it's not that simple?" Zac asked, defecting the conversation back to more important things than Nye's vanity.
"Coraline isn't as strong as Aya. I have to make sure he stays dead."
"Oh, he's dead," he rolled his eyes. "I felt the ash fall through my fingers."
"Regardless, concealing him will take time."
"Fine."
"Down here," she gestured for them to follow, holding up her cell phone to light the way. "It's dark and miserable. The perfect place to stick a dead founder."
"I like her," Nye said from behind.
Stopping in front of an alcove, Gabby pointed to an empty shelf and the two vampires set the coffin down.
"I need to watch him for a while to make sure," she said. "I will find you when I'm ready."
"Don't leave it too long," Zac said. "I don't like the idea of leaving you alone down here."
"I won't," Gabby smiled, placing a hand on his arm to reassure him. "It's good to see you again."
"And you, Glinda."
She laughed, shaking her head. "What the hell are you waiting for? Go get her."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Aya.
Zac saw her in his minds eye, lying peacefully on the bed at the hotel where he'd left her. She'd given herself to him and now he'd made it out the other side alive. He was alive. She would tear shreds off him when she woke. He wasn't sure what he was more afraid of, that he'd angered her or that he was still alive. Or that she would never forgive him. Somewhere along the line he'd seemed to have done just that for her. She'd said some horrible things back in Ashburton. He'd thought she'd betrayed him a
ll that time and it had driven him straight to Regulus. And the things he'd done...
He ran a hand over his face and sighed.
"Mate?" Nye asked, glancing at him out the corner of his eye. The spy was driving them back to the Ritz at top speed, which seemed to be the only way he drove in the first place.
"I'm fine."
"We're almost there," he replied, flicking the indicator on and taking a sharp left.
Zac knew there was only one other moment in his life where he'd felt this anxious and that was when Victoria had left him dead in their town house in New Orleans. The subsequent flight to the manor felt very much like this drive across London and he couldn't help the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. She was okay, Tristan was there to protect her. She was okay.
As soon as the car came to a halt in front of the hotel, Zac shot from the car and barely heard Nye calling out after him as the spy tossed the keys to the valet. He was at the elevator, pushing the button a million times before he could catch up.
"Zac," he said.
"I've got a feeling," he replied, as the doors swished open.
The attendant eyed them as they got in, "Four again?"
Zac nodded sharply and they began to ascend, his stomach churning. With a sense of deja vu, Zac pushed through the door as it began to slide open and strode down the hall, Nye on his heels. Without stopping to knock, he pushed the door to Aya's room open and his heart sputtered and almost died.
If he could see the room around him, he would know that it was trashed. Furniture was splintered, glass was smashed and there were holes in the walls. But, all he could see was that she was gone.
No.
Zac roared in agony and his eyes settled on Tristan, who was laying in the middle of the floor, covered in blood and very much dead. Not true death, he wasn't desiccated in the slightest, more the temporary kind. He went to grab the knight from the floor and shake him alive, but strong hands held him back.
"Settle down," Nye pushed him away. "He fucking loves her too, you know. Don't put this on him. Look at the room, Zac. Look at it."