Taunt (16 page)

“
I
thought human politics and wars didn’t have anything to do with the
supernatural element,” I said with a frown.

“
They
don’t, but some of the human wars have been instigated by
supernatural beings. Some demons in particular flock to war and
strife; they thrive on it. But many countries have a Council-type
leadership, or else share one with a number of countries. Also,
there are higher powers, a step above the Councils. They rarely
interfere, though. In fact, none have in my lifetime. I’m not even
totally sure they still exist, to be honest.”

“
My
head really hurts now.” I pressed my palms against my
temples.

We chatted for a
few more minutes before Peter and Carl joined us. Esther liked to
gossip, so I didn’t have to contribute much.

“
How
are you feeling?” Peter asked me, trying to keep a straight
face.

“
Great, no thanks to you.”

“
Sorry, but at least it took your mind off things for an hour
or two.” He looked pleased with himself.

I made a face.
“Yeah, only because I was unconscious. Is Eddie going
mad?”

“
Gabe
talked to him. He probably won’t murder you now.”

I wondered what
had Peter in such a good mood, then realised that he enjoyed the
drama. I could live without it.

“
Maybe
you two could persuade Ava to let me do her a favour,” Esther said,
but her eyes were fixated on Carl.

“
You
could always give her a few hints on dealing with Gideon,” Peter
muttered.

“
You
have no proof, Peter. I told you already,” Aiden said, surprising
all of us except Esther with his presence.

“
I
know. But how do we get it? What kind of proof do we need? I mean,
Gideon set up a whole trial against Ava without any proof at all,”
Peter kept going.

“
But
he has witnesses,” Aiden reminded him.

“
So
does Ava!” Peter insisted.

“
Actually, I don’t,” I said. “I’m the only one who was there
when I killed Maximus, I was the only one when I was attacked by
that last vampire, and I’m the only one who heard from Becca’s
mouth about the injections coming from Spain and the fact Gideon’s
crowd was after me. It’s my word against theirs.”

Peter rubbed his
face, looking tired all of a sudden.

Esther looked on
sympathetically. “We want to know about the formula, too, but you
know we can’t help you without any evidence.”

I wasn’t looking
at the door when it opened, but the hairs on the back of my neck
stood up. That nauseous feeling swept over me again, and I turned
around slowly, half expecting to see the dead shifter returned to
life.

Instead, I saw a
Guardian, the one with black eyes, the one who filled me with an
abnormal amount of horror when I looked at him. As sure as I was
that the spectres surrounding Eddie were souls, I knew that this
Guardian had evil in his heart. The darkness seeped from him and
made me want to vomit. I couldn’t fathom how the others were so
unaffected by his presence.

“
Need
me for anything else?” he asked Aidan, but he looked in my
direction. I glared back at him, unwilling to let him see how much
he intimidated me. I had gotten the same feeling from the dead
shifter. It couldn’t be a coincidence.

“
No,
that’s fine. Head home, Coyle. Get some rest.” Aidan grinned at the
Guardian like he was his greatest friend. I winced when he put his
hand on the man’s shoulder. If they were friends, then I couldn’t
exactly tell Aidan about the way Coyle made me feel. I had no proof
or theories, I just knew there was something about Coyle that
reminded me of the shifter right before he attacked
Esther.

I felt better as
soon as Coyle left, but shaking that unexplainable fear was harder
than it should have been.

The shifters
chatted with us for a while, but all I wanted to do was go home.
They hadn’t figured out why one of their own attacked Esther, and
Aiden periodically asked me questions about the incident. It was
like he kept expecting my story to change. It had, but not in a way
I could put into words that he would understand. I wanted to go
back to my own home, but it was Eddie’s place I had to return to
that night.

Aiden drove me
back, then distracted Eddie long enough for me to go to bed without
having to deal with him. I spent most of Saturday morning avoiding
Eddie, but the growling of my stomach soon sent me skulking
downstairs and into the shop.

“
What
on earth are you doing behind the counter?” I asked, astonished to
see Carl instead of Eddie behind the till. Eddie smirked at me from
the bookracks.

“
I
told you I left my job. I needed work, so Eddie offered me some
work. Cool, eh?”

“
Cool?” I leaned with my palms on the counter. “Are you
completely mad? You cannot trust Eddie! You have a life. A
safe
life, Carl. Go back to it, and stop all this nonsense.
I don’t have the energy to worry about you right now.”

“
That’s rather judgemental of you, Ava,” Eddie said, but he
didn’t sound upset or angry. Not that I cared.

“
Give
me a break for a change,” Carl shouted, his nostrils flaring with
anger. “I’m not a child. We’ve already had this conversation. I
know you had to look after me for a while, but you don’t anymore.
In fact, by the looks of things, you need more looking after than
me.”

“
You
arsehole!” I called over my shoulder as I stormed off, my hands
itching to slap him. Eddie followed me into the back room and
calmly made some coffee.

“
Why
don’t you take it easy, Ava? This isn’t your biggest problem. In
fact, this isn’t your problem at all.”

“
Why
on earth did you give him a job?”

“
Would
you rather he asked Daimhín for one? Because that was his plan.
He’s trying to help you. Can’t you see that? He doesn’t know what
else to do. He isn’t Peter; he doesn’t know his way around. He’s
trying his best. Maybe you should take help where you can get
it.”

I made a
disgusted noise. “He isn’t trying to help me. He’s acting like a
child pretending to be a superhero or something. That isn’t what
this life is. There are no heroes, and he’ll end up just like the
rest of us.”

Shaking with
anger, I sank into a chair and folded my arms. I wasn’t even sure
if I was angry because I was scared for me or Carl. Maybe it was
guilt. After all, he had only been dragged into this world because
of me. Who said Arthur would have killed him? For all I knew, he
would have taken a quick drink then altered Carl’s memory of the
incident. Not for the first time, a little twinge of guilt said I
had done the wrong thing by Carl after all.

I let out a
whoosh of air and tried to calm down. “Look,” I said. “Just tell
him you made a mistake, that you don’t need any help
here.”

“
But I
do need help,” Eddie said, keeping his back to me. The cold
presence blew over me in continuous ripples. I ignored it. It was
time for me and Eddie to talk.

“
I
don’t trust you for a second,” I told him. He didn’t respond. “For
God’s sake, Eddie. At least try to explain yourself.”

He whirled
around. “Explain what, Ava? The fact that I’ve protected you every
step of the way? Put my reputation on the line to help you? When
are you going to grow up and stop being so ungrateful?”

My hair blew all
over my face, and everything in the room rattled as his anger grew.
I steadied myself, preparing for a bigger backlash of power. Morbid
curiosity made me want to see exactly what he could do.

Eddie lifted his
arms, filling the air with a major scent of magic. I stood my
ground and pushed out my other senses, feeling his power. I saw it
clearly. He was blessed with it, but not born with it. It wasn’t
part of him, yet he held it tight. Stolen power.

I pushed further
than ever before, past the walls I’d never dared climb. I moved
onto yet another level, and the world gained a new light. I blinked
a few times, getting used to the change. Then it all became clear.
I saw what could only be described as souls surrounding Eddie. They
were stuck to him, clawing at his sleeves with translucent
fingers.

My eyes widened
in shock and fear, but I couldn’t move to save myself. They were
all over him, open-mouthed with silent cries. Of everything, that
was the last thing I expected to see. Of everything, it was the one
sight that horrified me most.

I watched as he
gathered up energy that leaked from the souls and forced it against
me. It drained from the souls in vivid colour, but flung toward me
a murky grey. On this level of being, I managed to use my other
senses to put up a barrier against him, sickened by what fuelled
his strength. The defence was automatic, instinctive, and useful.
This was a new playing field, and I had the best toys.

The barrier
flinched as the force hit. It trembled, but didn’t shatter. Eddie
frowned with confusion and gazed at his hands, his disbelief almost
comical. I realised I was the only one who could see the barrier.
My otherworldly sense could keep me safe; for the first time, I
truly explored the potential of my unnatural gifts.

I felt strangely
excited by the idea that I was using a hidden talent, and I was
even more thrilled by Eddie’s surprise. A dull shuddery feeling
inside echoed around because of Eddie’s power, or at least, the
source of it. I held up the barrier, seeing Eddie trying
again.

I actually
grinned as I felt my own power surge through me. I never knew I
could use it in such a tangible way. I’d never tried to figure it
out before, never stretched the limits, never indulged in it for
long. I had never seen the beauty of it.

Eddie’s arms
moved again; the souls wept silently as he sucked their energy to
him. I ached for every one of them, even as their power was flung
toward me. The barrier held, but then, I hadn’t expected it to
falter; I knew my strength was capable of withholding against
whatever Eddie controlled. He and his actions mystified me. He
gained some strength from them, but surely he already had some kind
of power in order to contain the souls in the first
place.

Sweat rolling
down his forehead, Eddie panted and leaned against a counter. The
danger gone, I lowered the barrier hesitantly.

“
What
the hell was that?” I hissed, for the first time feeling confident
that I had the upper hand.

“
I
could say the same thing to you.”

“
I
will never trust you, Brogan. Not ever.”

He shrugged. “You
will. I know it. You’ll know what you need to know at the right
time, and you’ll see where I’m coming from, and why I’ve done
everything I’ve done. Stop fighting me, Ava. We’re on the same
side, I promise you. If you work with me, I’ll help you with the
Council, and I’ll keep an eye on Carl.”

“
What
about Peter?” I asked.

“
I
would never hurt him. I need him, too.”

“
Conveniently forgetting the time you tried to choke
him?”

He shook his head
and spoke earnestly. “I was merely proving a point that time. You
don’t know, and you refuse to just take things as fact. I can’t
explain every little action to you in incredible detail. This is
how it is; that should be good enough for you.”

“
Well,
it’s not good enough! Of course it’s not! I have to know why. I
have to! Why I’m like this, why these things happen, why all of
this is happening!” Everything in my heart was a question and
always had been. I had never known enough.

“
If I
thought you could handle everything, then you would know
everything. Now is the time for you to focus, not worry about a
million irrelevant things.” Eddie slumped into a chair. “Trust me
for now. I swear to you that I’ll protect Carl. But only if you
help me whenever I need you to, no questions asked.”

My stomach
churned. Once again, my actions were being tied to Carl’s safety.
How on earth could I keep protecting him? Why should I? Even after
everything we had been through, I barely knew him, yet I kept
risking everything for him. I felt like he was my younger brother,
even though he was older. He just seemed so silly and impulsive
that I couldn’t rely on him to look after himself. But the favours
to Eddie were stacking up.

“
I
hate you,” I said, and got up to leave the room, but before I
walked away I felt almost certain I saw a glimmer of sadness cross
his face. I hesitated for a second, then joined Carl in the shop. I
waited while he served a rare customer then faced him.

“
Okay,
I’m sorry,” I said. “I was being a bitch, but I still think you
should go home to your family, to your fiancée, to your safe life.
It’s crazy for you to risk a chance at normality for this shit.” I
gestured around us and hoped he would understand, but the frown on
his face deepened.

“
Just
because you think normal is good doesn’t mean the rest of us have
to. You think I’m warped, but you’re the one who can’t be happy
with what you are! How dare you talk down to me about wanting
something different when that’s what you’re all about? Whether you
like it or not, I’m in this. I’m helping, and I’m a part of
something, so suck on that one, Ava Delaney.”