The Awakening (11 page)

Aed stumbled back with a gasp, blood running from
his mouth. Zac reached up to his neck, feeling the wound, edging along the
wall, putting distance between them. The sting began to subside as he began to
heal, but his heart still thudded a billion miles an hour.

"What's this?" Aed asked, his eyes
looking glassy.

Zac didn't answer. The guy was mental
and
angry. He wasn't dealing with that.

With a strangled cry, the hybrid fell to the
ground, clawing at his throat and Zac just stood there in shock, watching Aed writhe
like his blood was boiling. What the hell?

"You have her blood," he coughed, blood
splattering on the cobblestones. "You would poison me?"

Zac shook his head, as he watched the hybrid vomit
up everything that he'd just drunk. It must be his Celestine blood. Well, at
least the hybrid wouldn't be chowing down on him anytime soon. He had that
going for him.

"You love her…" Aed said in disbelief.
"You love
her
?"

Zac didn't know what the hell Aed had learnt from
his blood since he'd just thrown most of it up, but he hoped that was it. He
hoped the hybrid learnt nothing at all, but that part was out of his control.

"Yes, I love her," he replied, standing
over him. "What's it to you?"

The hybrid roared in anguish, stumbling his feet.
"How dare she get to love when they took everything away from me." He
lunged forward again, but stumbled to the side, his shoulder slamming into the
wall.

If Zac was getting out of here in one piece, it had
to be now and it had to be fast. He took a few steps backward, but Aed grabbed
him by the scruff of the neck, throwing him halfway down the lane. Rolling to a
stop, he sprung to his feet, but the hybrid was already on him. A shoulder
slammed into his gut and he was on his back. Fisting his hand into the hybrid's
hair, he slammed Aed's head into the wall with all his strength, the sickening
crunch of bone echoing through the close air of the lane.

He grunted in surprise as the life began to bleed
from his red eyes until he fell limply onto the cobblestones. Zac scrambled
backward, putting as much distance between them as he could. Shit, was he the
luckiest son of a bitch ever, or what?

Aed was dead for now, but who knew for how long?
The more Zac thought about it, the more he thought it was the fact that Aed
still couldn't understand what he had been turned into. That'd been the only
thing that'd saved him. If the hybrid had of been in control, he would've been
deader than dead.

While the going was still good, Zac disappeared
into the night, leaving Aed to wake up on his own. After leaving a winding path
behind him to throw off the hybrid from his scent, Zac wasn't expecting the
welcome wagon to be out in force back at the apartment and he was definitely
not expecting Maddox to be hovering outside.

When the assassin laid eyes on him he jumped like
he hadn't expected Zac to find him out there. "What the hell happened
to you?"

"I didn't think you'd show," Zac said,
leaning against the wall.

"Thought I'd miss out on something
juicy," he replied, narrowing his eyes at the blood stain on Zac's shirt.
"Looks like I was right."

"I ran into the hybrid on my evening
walk."

"He took a piece outta you?"

"Don't worry, I got him back." He glanced
at the entrance to the apartment and back to Maddox. "Haven't gone up
yet?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

He shrugged and glanced over his shoulder.

"Still undecided? Or still worried that you're
pledging some kind of allegiance to the guy who kicked your ass?"

"You beat me fair and square…that time."

Zac laughed and shook his head.

Maddox shifted uncomfortably. "You're not the
most tactful of guys, but you're trying, which is more than most do. Giving up
is easy. Going on is harder."

Zac didn't have to ask to understand what Maddox
meant. A respect had emerged between them since he'd beat the assassin's ass
fair and square. Now he was the one people looked to as an example. Crazier
shit had happened.

"We better go upstairs and wait for the
others," he said, pushing off the wall. "I take it you're in?"

"I suppose I am. The others are already
here."

Zac raised an eyebrow. What was that about crazy
shit?

"I saw them go in a while ago," Maddox
explained with a shrug.

Zac looked the assassin over and wondered about his
demeanor. Something had changed, but at a time like this, he wasn't going to
look a gift horse in the mouth. Maddox was in and he was going to take it.
"Then you better come in for a beer before they drink them all. I know I
need one."

CHAPTER TWELVE

Zac stared out at the dark London sky and sighed.
He had a lot to be depressed about, but no time for it.

"Cheer up, sad sack," Nye said behind
him. "Does your neck still hurt from being a hybrid's chew toy?"

"No. It's fine." That was last night's
excitement. Tonight, they stood in the apartment that had once housed the Six
and it already had a different feel about it. This place had been claimed for
another purpose now. Hybrid Revolution HQ. He'd won the Three's trust and they
were all finally together in the apartment below, brought up to speed and
waiting for the next move. Whatever that would be.

Truth was, he missed Aya. He wondered what she was
doing, where she was. If she'd found it in herself to go home and face her
past. He hoped so. Of course he missed the life he'd tried to forge back in
Louisiana and his brother, Sam, but that was a dream still somewhere in the
future…if they had a future.

"You look like you need a beer," Nye
said, opening the refrigerator. "And it's a Christmas miracle. There's
still a six pack in here."

They sat together at the kitchen table, drinking in
silence. He gathered their next step would be tracking down Gabby. If anyone
knew what to do next it would be her. She did have Alisandra's grimoire or
at least he hoped Aya had gotten it to her.

"Do you feel that?" Nye asked, breaking
him out of his depression.

"What?" As soon as he asked it, he felt
someone coming up the stairs.

"Someone's coming."

Casting out his senses, it was unmistakable. There
were only two people he was able to recognize by sense alone and one of them
was coming up the stairs. When he left her he thought it was going to be years
before he'd get the chance to touch her again, but he supposed their hybrid
situation didn't factor that in. Nye went to stand and he grabbed the
spy's arm, pulling him down. "It's Aya and Tristan."

"How the hell do you know that?"

"It's one of the great mysteries of the
universe." Still, he wasn't prepared when she walked through the door, all
blue eyes and back hair and his heart did this thing in his chest he wasn't
expecting. When her eyes met his, he knew. He'd never let her out of his
sight again.

Standing abruptly, it didn't register when his beer
bottle fell from the table and smashed on the floor. Nor did he notice when Nye
gave him a look that said he was mad. He was across the room in two seconds
flat.

"Aya," he whispered, a hand caressing her
cheek.

"Hello, Zac," she said, smiling.

He pulled her roughly towards him, his lips finding
hers, drawing her desperately into his kiss. It didn't matter one iota that
they were being watched. She kissed him back just as forcefully and he was
alive again. She made him 
alive
.

"Get a room," Nye yelled.

Zac felt Aya's lips curve into a smile at the cocky
vampire's jibe. He pulled away and grinned.

"I wouldn't mind that," she whispered,
winking.

"I'm so glad to see you, you have no
idea."

She placed a cool hand on his cheek, her eyes
running over his features. "I can feel it."

"What?"

Her face split into a grin and she grabbed his
hands. Zac knew Aya had a sense for emotions, but his state of mind? That
was new. She'd forever be surprising him. She pulled him towards the table
where Nye now sat with Tristan, and his hands tingled with her touch.

"I gather you lot are here because of the
mental fairy," Nye said, handing Tristan a beer.

"How much do you know?" the knight asked.

"Enough to know he's a few sandwiches short of
a picnic and a homicidal maniac."

Aya glanced at Zac and he grimaced. Clutching his
hand she asked, "What aren't you saying?"

"I had a run in with the local mental
case," Zac said.

"Aed?" Tristan asked. "He's here?"

Shrugging, Zac said, "Was, is…perhaps. He
accosted me in the street yesterday. Said I stunk like the Celestine with the
dark hair." He glanced at Aya.

"You stink like me?" She cocked her head
to the side.

"So he said."

"I hope it's a nice stink."

"Like rose petals."

"Ugh," Nye said. "Give us a break,
mate."

"He bit my neck..."

Aya turned sharply and pulled at his shirt.

"It healed," Zac said, pulling her hands
away. "He seemed to be able to read me like a book from a drop,
though."

"What did he learn?" Tristan asked,
glancing toward Aya.

Zac was suddenly glad that he'd stopped her from
telling him how she could be killed. If Aed had learned that… "He knows I
love Aya. That's all he seemed to be interested in. If he saw anything else, I
don't know."

"He wants me anyway," Aya said, the way
she held herself betraying her doubt. She didn't need to doubt his love.
"If he knows about your feelings, then I don't see any different
consequences."

"We saw him a few days ago," Tristan
said.

"Where?" Nye asked.

"We went to Grasmere," Aya began, "I
went home and when I came back, he was waiting for me."

"Tore the locals to shreds in seconds,"
Tristan said with a shiver.

"My power was useless," Aya said with a
sigh. "I tried to stop his heart, like I did with the other founders, but
he just came back."

"What's his game plan?" Nye asked.
"He can't be wandering around having a grand old time for the hell of it.
If I was locked in a magical fairy dust slumber for three thousand years I'd
want to crack someone's skull open."

"Yeah," Tristan said, "but who's?
Arrow's the only Celestine left. The war between their kinds ended a long time
ago."

"He's after revenge, that much I could glean
from Grasmere," Aya butted in. "He had a good time showing us his
power, but he wandered off after that."

"He is a little insane," Tristan added.
"Seemed with it one minute and off with the fairies the next."

Nye almost choked on his beer and slapped the
table, bellowing with laughter. "He is a fucking fairy, mate."

Aya shook her head at the spy. "Point is, he
could do anything. We know he has a motive for revenge, but that's all we know
about him."

"And he could do absolutely anything,"
Zac finished her thought.

"He has the power of resurgence. That's
worrying enough."

"Zombies?" Nye exclaimed.

"I wouldn't go that far." Aya snorted.

"He's looking for his sisters," Tristan
added. "He only mentioned it once before focusing on something else."

"Sisters?" Zac asked. "There's more
of them?"

"They were called the Children of Lir. There
was Aed, his older sister and twin girls. It's a story still told in Ireland
today," Tristan explained.

"Do you think the spell woke them all
up?" Nye asked, his expression falling. "One's bad enough."

"I don't think so," Aya replied. "I
wouldn't know how to find them even if they were still bound. That's a power
that died the day I was turned. Besides, I think Regulus was hunting them. Aed
said that the only way he was going to be killed was by an Original's
hand."

"Fuck," Zac said. "That must've been
why he was so intent on getting into the Coven."

"Why would've he bothered?" Nye asked.

"The all powerful Regulus would've been
threatened by the reemergence of a family of founding hybrids."

They sat in silence for a while, letting everything
sink in.

"Have you heard from Gabby?" Aya asked.

"Not recently," Zac replied, his brow
furrowing. "I got a message from her a few days ago. All it said was
'hybrid'. Then nothing but radio silence."

"What's she doing then?" Nye asked.

"Hopefully trying to find a way to kill Aed
before he kills us all."

"Then that should be our next move," the
spy said. "Find Gabby and then figure out how to kill the psycho fairy, or
at least trap him again if there isn't a way."

"I agree," Aya said, deep in thought.
"We can't go after him without knowing more. He and I are evenly matched
strength wise, at least I think we are."

"Even with your mystical blue power?" Nye
asked. "I mean, he can raise the dead, but your power is different
right?"

"Yes, it's different. But Aed was created. I
was turned. That fight is over before it's even begun. Together is the only way
we have a chance. We have no Original vampire. There has to be another
way."

"Your power is cancelled out," Zac said.
"You cancel out each other's power to zero when used against each
other."

"Yes, it seemed like it."

"Well," Zac said with a snort. "No
use worrying about it tonight. Tomorrow I will try and contact Gabby. One step
at a time."

"Aye," Tristan said with a sigh. "In
the mornin'."

As the vampires began to disperse for the evening,
Zac took Aya's hand. There were too many questions left to be answered between
them and he was dying to touch her again. Without a word, he led her back
towards the room that he'd taken when he first got here, back when he was under
Regulus' thumb. There would be no sleep tonight, not for them.

Zac closed the bedroom door behind them as Aya
wandered around the room, looking out the window, over the tiny balcony
and across the low-lying urban sprawl that was Camden. His hands slid over her
waist from behind, pulling her body against his.

Aya knew that their relationship had started out
all wrong. She'd tried to possess him and he in return. They were both the kind
of people who could never belong to anyone else, but when they were together it
just fit. Whatever happened next, it would be as equals.

"I didn't expect to see you again so
soon," he murmured, pressing his lips against her neck.

"I wanted to," she replied. "I
wanted to find you the moment you left, but I understand. I hope you're not mad
with me for showing up unannounced."

"It's understandable, considering."

Closing her eyes, she breathed in his scent,
letting it wash over her until there was nothing else. He was
different since the last time she'd seen him. Just a week ago, he'd still been
a tangled mess of emotions. Now, he seemed…
together
.

He turned her around to face him, his eyes
searching hers like he was trying to find the answer to some unasked question.
She knew the one she wanted to say aloud, but was still too wary of letting it
be heard.

"Helping them, helped me," Zac whispered,
seeming to understand what was in her heart. "I know what I need to do
now. I know who I'm meant to be."

"Who you always were underneath that asshole
of an exterior."

"Ouch."

"Still could have done without the
Three."

"We need them if we're going up against Aed.
We're not enough even with them."

"I still don't trust them."

"The Three have agreed to help us," he
shrugged. "They needed something to work towards. They're not Regulus'
lackeys anymore."

"What about Regulus' network?"

"What do you mean?"

"You killed him, couldn't you take it
over?"

"I suppose I could," he said. "But,
I'm not a puppet master. I'm a lone shark."

"Hey," she nudged him.

"Okay, okay, we're Bonnie and Clyde."

"Bonnie and who?"

He frowned, shaking his head. "Never
mind."

She pressed her lips to his and her
circled his arms around her, closing the gap between them.
They stood and kissed for what felt like an age before parting. Undressing each
other, they fell back onto the bed, thoroughly reuniting again and
again. Afterward, they lay together, limbs tangled, listening to each other's
heartbeats.