Tempt (Ava Delaney #3) (10 page)

I
whispered to Peter. “You can deal with the other thing,
right?”

“
Of course. You be careful,” he warned, staring at Gabe with
suspicion in his eyes.

“
My car’s around the corner,” Gabe said once we got outside.
He laid his hand on my lower back to guide me.

“
You mean we’re not flying, angel?”

“
I’m looking forward to the day you mature, Ava Delaney,” he
replied.

It felt creepy being alone with him. I couldn’t forget about
the time at the trial when he’d stared into my eyes and roamed
through my mind and soul, filling me with light. He was beautiful,
even though his human appearance was an illusion. Peter was right.
I
did
stare at
Gabe pretty often. I couldn’t let myself forget how cruel he was,
how uncaring. I hadn’t figured out why an angel was a part of
Ireland’s Council, but he didn’t seem to particularly enjoy
it.

“
She’s at a clinic belonging to the Council,” he said,
starting the car. “You probably won’t be able to see her for long,
but she should be able to let you know where Becca was last
seen.”

“
That’s not why I wanted to see her,” I said.

“
It should be,” he replied, his voice hard and cold. “Becca
needs to be brought in. It’s gone on for too long now.”

“
Capturing her is obviously too risky. Killing her won’t be
easy, but it’s a better solution.”

He
grunted noncommittally.

“
Has the investigation in Spain dredged up anything yet?” I
asked, wondering if he had a different story from
Daimhín.

“
It hasn’t even started,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll see
justice there, but the vampires know the world is watching now.
They should behave for a while, at least. What about you? Any
sudden urges to wipe out the entire human race?”

I
snorted. “Humans? No. Vampires and angels on the other
hand…”

“
I had forgotten how delightful you are,” he mocked. “I must
admit, I’ve been expecting a visit from you.”

“
Why? You’re not exactly fun to be around,” I
blurted.

He burst
out laughing. “Right you are. I meant I expected you to ask a
million and one questions about yourself, your mother, everything
you learned at the trial.”

“
I figure I’ll hear anything I need to know,” I said, moving
as far away from him as possible. “I don’t trust you to give me the
right answers.”

He glanced at me, looking solemn. “I
will
answer your
questions.”

I
shrugged. I had too many questions. Nobody could answer them all,
and I wasn’t convinced I even wanted the answers, not after reading
some of the books in Eddie’s shop.

“
Have the vampires accepted you yet?” he asked, the change in
subject surprising me.

“
That’s not something that will ever happen. But Daimhín
decided to pay me for the last job I did. She even said she’s glad
she hasn’t killed me yet. Big emphasis on
yet
.”

“
That’s acceptance. In a way. I have a couple more jobs lined
up for you, after Becca has been dealt with. If Daimhín hassles you
about that, set her on me.”

I felt a
little confused at the gentle tone of his voice. Maybe he wasn’t as
heartless as I thought. Although I might have been mistaking the
gratitude I felt at being distracted from what had happened back at
Peter’s home. “Um, thanks.”

Gabe
pulled onto a quiet street that didn’t look as though it could
house anything supernatural. When he turned to me, my stomach did a
tense little flip.

“
Someday, I’ll need you to pick a side. If I know you’ll be
behind me, I’ll treat you well. I’ll make sure you’re looked after.
Do you understand me?”

I stared
at the blankness in his eyes, wondering what exactly he was hiding.
Everyone kept talking about picking sides and paying back favours
at some point in the future. What on Earth were they all preparing
for?

“
I’ll bear that in mind.” I quickly got out of the car. No way
was I committing to things I didn’t understand. Again.

Gabe led
me into a small building that gave me the impression of a hospital,
but a hidden one, like a safe house or something. A receptionist
with platinum-blond hair and weird purple-toned skin grinned madly
at Gabe and led the way to Esther’s room, despite Gabe telling her
three times that he knew where it was.

Two
large men guarded the room, but Gabe bade them to move. “She has a
few minutes,” he told them.

The room
was empty except for Esther, who lay on a bed with ugly green
sheets. Her eyes snapped open, and she breathed a sigh of relief
when she saw me.

“
I’m so sorry,” I said, hurrying over to the bed.

“
It’s my fault.” Her bottom lip quivered a little. “I really
messed up. I thought I could do better than you and Peter. I
thought we would be chasing her, but she turned around and chased
us instead. Illeana’s gone. She was… she was my friend.”

She
sounded almost delirious, so fast were her words. The siren,
Illeana, had been useful for tracking down information in the past.
I felt a twinge of regret that a friendly face was gone
forever.

“
How are you feeling?” I asked, glad she hadn’t held the night
we hunted together against me. “What happened?”

“
I’m fine. They’re just taking this too seriously. At the
time, though, it freaking hurt. She got her claws into me, bit me.
She nearly drained the life out of me. I was in animal form, yet I
literally couldn’t move. It was terrifying, to have no control. She
spat out my blood, Ava. I mean, it’s not like she did it for food.
That I could understand. But she wanted us all dead. I lost my
silver when I shifted, so I was a free dinner. I couldn’t talk
until a couple of hours ago. They thought I was a
goner.”

“
Where did she get you?”

She
opened the buttons of her pyjamas with shaky fingers and showed me
a couple of deep wounds on her chest. “They won’t cover them
because they keep applying some sort of cream every fifteen
minutes. I think they’re afraid the poison will still take hold.”
She laughed weakly. “That’s all I need.”

I
self-consciously rubbed my own leg. I hadn’t even thought of
Becca’s poison having an effect on me.

As
Esther began to tell me where Becca had been the night before, the
door burst open, and Aiden stormed in. I straightened at the fierce
look in his eyes when he spotted me, slowly moving away from the
bed as his eyes seemed to turn catlike.

“
You!” He pointed at me, livid with rage. He came right at me
and shoved me against the wall. I didn’t object because I knew how
worried he was for his sister. Besides, nobody seemed to think of
me as someone with actual feelings and pain receptors. Or a girl,
for that matter.

“
Aiden, stop,” Esther said, but he ignored her.

“
If you had just done your job in the first place, this
wouldn’t have happened!”

He
pushed me again, but a huge wave of nausea drew over me, and I
doubled over in an effort not to puke.

“
I’m talking to you! This is your fault!” Aiden shouted as
Coyle entered the room. Straightening, I avoided Coyle’s eyes and
tried to act as if he had no effect on me.

“
Maybe so, Aiden, but if you push me again, I’m going to punch
you right in the face,” I hissed, more annoyed since the dark,
angry energy filled the room, probably thanks to Coyle.

Aiden
looked surprised and took a step back. Esther whispered something
to him, but I was too busy swallowing down the bile in my throat to
listen.

“
Why haven’t you taken care of this yet?” Aiden asked, still
vibrating with anger.

“
If it was that easy, it would be done by now.” I held myself
up as tall as possible in front of the gigantic alpha. I wouldn’t
have bet on winning a fight, but I wouldn’t cower in front of him,
either. Plus, I was pretty certain he hated that in a
person.

“
Calm down, boss.” Coyle laid his hand on Aiden’s shoulder. I
glared at the Guardian for a couple of seconds and immediately
regretted it. How could nobody else see the rotting decay behind
the man’s smile?

“
I’ll see you later, Esther,” I said, gritting my teeth. “I
have stuff to do.”

Aiden
and Coyle followed me out of the room, and Gabe got in my way so I
couldn’t leave.

“
You done here?” he asked me, never taking his eyes off the
men.

“
Yeah, I can make my own way back,” I said, needing to get
away from everyone.

“
Not feeling sick, are you, darling?” Coyle’s pleased
expression sent goosebumps rushing to the surface of my
skin.

“
How about you keep out of my way?” I tried to calm my heaving
stomach.

“
So grumpy,” Coyle said, and the laughter was obvious in his
voice. My fangs shot out of their own accord, but I didn’t care.
Aiden held out his hands, immediately exerting his will. No way was
I succumbing. I felt it, though, the otherworldly dominance that
made him so powerful amongst his own kind. On any other day, I
would have backed down under it. Coyle’s sickening energy weirdly
gave me the strength to stand tall.

“
Am I missing something here?” Aiden asked, stepping in front
of Coyle.

A
legitimate growl came from my throat, surprising me more than
anyone. I pointed at Coyle, wishing a long sharp spike would shoot
out of my finger and stab him in the eye. “Ask him,” I said, and my
voice didn’t sound like me. “What’s the use of being a shifter when
you have no sense of what’s around you?”

I glared at Gabe before I left because if
I
knew that Coyle was suspect, he
had to know, too. Saying his powers didn’t work on Earth was a
cop-out, it had to be.

Outside,
I inhaled deeply before setting off in a run. I had a lot to
do.

I
decided Carl was fine under Eddie’s supervision and texted Peter to
let him know I wouldn’t be back. I couldn’t concentrate long enough
to deal with what might be going on with Carl. Aiden’s anger had
pissed me off, but deep down, I knew he was right. It was all on
me. People kept dying because I wasn’t doing my job. I had to take
care of Becca, once and for all.

Once the
Coyle-induced sick feelings disappeared, my anger took over and
released a rush of adrenalin. Without breaking a sweat, I ran home
and prepared. As soon as the vampires awoke, I would
hunt.

I took
as little as possible with me—my dagger, a silver chain, a silver
belt I wore that was better suited to chaining up an animal. Seeing
Coyle again had reinforced what I was up against. Evil. The only
way to win was to fight fire with fire. I had to face my fears and
turn to the one thing I had sworn not to touch. Blood. Reuben had
been right about it being the thing to give me an edge on Becca. I
had to grow up and stop letting my phobias get people
hurt.

The
bagged stuff wasn’t as good as a fresh source, and I had to admit
that Reuben’s words had tormented me. I already knew fresh blood
tasted good, so how amazing was blood taken from the source at the
point of death? The cooled bag in my fridge had arrived, courtesy
of the Council, weeks ago. I hadn’t had the heart to waste it by
throwing it away—or so I told myself—so I had kept it. Just in
case.

Working
up the courage, I drank as quickly as possible, ignoring the
slightly medicinal aftertaste. The blood was cold and thick and
pretty unpleasant, but I felt the boost almost immediately. My
nerves settled, my senses seemed to clear a little, and I felt
stronger. If my stamina kept up, then all would be okay.

Buzzing
with excess energy, I skipped around my flat, gearing myself up.
Near sunset, I headed to the last place Becca had been seen and
tried to follow the faded traces of her scent before the vampires
awoke. Like Becca, the trail seemed to just die in the daylight. I
couldn’t figure it out.

Darkness
finally came, and I took full advantage of my other senses. I
needed to use them more often, to hone them, to figure out how to
push my limits even further. I had no idea if more was possible,
but I hadn’t hit a wall yet. It all seemed too easy for me, if I
ignored the nosebleeds and the part where I’d managed to get myself
stuck in another plane of existence.

I
thought about my earlier losses of control, with Peter, Carl, and
then Coyle. I needed to get used to reining myself in, needed to
embrace the things I could do, instead of running away from them.
To really push myself, I had to open up. That thought scared me
more than anything else, partly because I was afraid of what I
might find.

I
scanned the city as far as I could without passing into that sticky
level again. I kept running and searching, determined to work at it
until I found Becca. She seemed to wake slightly later than the
vampires. I wondered if someone hid her in the daylight, but she
kept her distance from the vampires, while I was watching, at
least.