Touching Fire (Touch Saga) (43 page)

“
We were able to get some information from the Tracker,” Ashton began, his voice painfully tight. “We thought you would be interested in hearing it.”

“What kind of information?” Isaiah asked and got a look from Ashton that could have carved open a bull from a hundred paces.

“He confirmed that Garrison is behind the attacks.” He moved around the sofas to stand next to his wife, who had yet to move. “The one you experienced at the base near
Golden
was a test of sorts, which I suspected when I heard he’d sent a Tracker to try and get you. It made no sense. He clearly knew you were dangerous. He even warned his men to keep their distance and not approach you individually, so why would he send a simple Tracker. They don’t wield any real power. Now I know. He wanted his men to see what they were up against. Although, I don’t think he was counting on the Tracker being so stupid.”

I could only shake my head in confusion as I let this bit of information sink home.
“Killing Isaiah was part of his plan?”

“
No. He told his men to get their hands on Isaiah and use him as a lure to get you. He was their main target. He probably figured he could get you to do whatever he wanted once that was accomplished. The Tracker wasn’t supposed to do what he did though. Stabbing Isaiah wasn’t part of the plan. Also,” Ashton went on as he lowered himself down in the armchair Archer was so fond of and folded his legs. “You were right that, up until the attack on the military base, he had no idea where you were. The attacks on the other provinces were just a precautionary measure. It was a way to flush you out. Although, I don’t know what he would have done if you had left the country entirely. I’m sure he wouldn’t have stopped at Canada.”

No. Garrison wouldn’t have stopped for anything. He would have torn the entire world to pieces in order to find me.
I knew that as completely as I knew my own name.

“Where’s the Tracker now?” I asked.

“He’s in a safe place,” Ashton replied. “I’m not done questioning him. There were things he said that…” he trailed off, rocking his head slowly from side to side as a look of deliberation passed over his face. “He told us about the injections.” Ashton looked at me. “Garrison
has
been injecting his men with something that makes them faster and stronger. I want to know more about that, but the Tracker didn’t know anything else about it.”

“What about the werebeasts and the automatons?”
I asked.

Ashton shook his head. “He doesn’t know about this. I’ve concluded
that those never left their trial runs. If they were in this limbo place, maybe Garrison was never able to get them to work,” he explained when I frowned in confusion.

“How were you able to make
the Tracker talk?” I wondered. “I mean if you can’t hurt him, I didn’t think he’d roll over so easily.”

A cold little smirk lit up Ashton’s face. “
There are ways to terrorize a person without ever laying a finger on them. I am in possession of a great number of inhuman horrors.”

I couldn’t help it, I chuckled. “I don’t doubt it.” I cleared my throat. “So w
hat are you going to do with him once you get all your answers?”

Silence.

Ashton studied at a spot on his knee and I felt my heart sink into my gut.

“You’re going to kill him.” It wasn’t a question.

“What would you have me do, Fallon?” Hazel eyes rose up and pinned mine. “Let him go so he can return to Garrison and continue his hunt to find you?”

“I thought you
couldn’t harm humans!” I protested. “Garrison has people who can erase memories. Can’t you do something like that? Make him forget.”

Ashton shook his head. “
Unlike Garrison, I don’t have an arsenal of mutants at my disposal. And you’re right. I can’t harm humans, but that doesn’t mean I can’t let them die.”

“No!
You can’t do that!”

“This is a war, Fallon!” Ashton snapped back. “People are going to die. People are going to get hurt. Some of those people will be people you love and care about. No one is safe until this is over.”

“Then make it over!” I shot to my feet and paced the side of the coffee table. “Why can’t you kill Garrison? If you have all this power, if you can transport yourself from place to place, find
him
!”

“
I can’t kill him, just like I can’t kill the Tracker. I can find Garrison. I can walk straight up to him and no one would be able to stop me. But I can’t just reach out and put a dagger through his heart, as much as I would love to.”

I frowned. “Then how are you going to kill the Tracker?”

“Like I said, I can let him die.”

I dropped back into my seat. “You’re going to let him starve
.”

Ashton shrugged, so nonchalantly that I almost threw up. “If that is how he ends.”

“That’s disgusting,” I choked. “He’s human. He probably doesn’t even know what he’s doing. Garrison probably has him brainwashed.”

My father sighed. “This is war, Fallon.
I can’t let a prisoner go, not now. It would be a sign of weakness.”

I couldn’t believe what he was telling me, and with a straight face. I couldn’t believe he cared so little about life. War or not, if we didn’t protect those who couldn’t protect themselves, what did that make us?

“Let me talk to him. I know that if I could just—”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“But I know I can convince him—”

“He’s not a pet, Fallon. You can’t train him to be obedient. He is a killer. He nearly killed you. He will go on killing if he’s released. That is how Garrison trains them.”
Ashton sighed. “Perhaps it wasn’t wise bringing this matter to you.”

I ignored the jab. “How do you plan on doing it? Killing Garrison,” I said when he tilted his head in question.
“If you can’t touch him, how do you plan on stopping this war?”

The hard, cold glare in his eyes nearly froze me to my seat. “I will do to him what he’s done to me.” He was on his feet before I could ask him what that meant.
“And I
will
kill him and he will suffer like he has never suffered before. I swear on this.”

Chapter
23

Ashton stayed the night. It should have been surprising, but it wasn’t. He sent the rest of us off to bed like naughty children and dominated the sofa. I wasn’t sure where Celia was going to sleep until Ashton spoke up.

“Fallon, can Celia bunk with you?”

Uh…

“Sure?”

What else was I supposed to say? No? I was already in deep water and the fact that he was barely overlooking what he’d walked in on … I basically had no choice.

Celia followed me without a word
. I followed Isaiah and Isaiah followed Archer. It was a long line of shame, or so it felt like. Archer disappeared into his room, slamming the door behind him. Isaiah paused on the threshold of his and glanced back at me. He grinned in a way that made me flush before ducking inside and shutting the door. He was definitely not taking this seriously.

“I’m not.”

I made a face at his door before walking through mine. Celia slipped in after me and I shut the door.

“This is it,” I said. “What side do you want? I’m not picky.”

“The left, please,” she said, moving to that side. She perched on the edge and began removing her towering heels.

“I’d, uh, offer you something to wear, but I kind of don’t have anything. I mean…” I glanced at the closet full of my mother’s old things. She would probably fit something in there.

“I am all right,” she said, setting her shoes carefully aside. “And I thought Acheron brought you clothes yesterday.”

I laughed. “Only if I was a doll.” I gestured to the backpack at the foot of the bed. “If it’s not pink, it’s tiny.”

Celia grimaced. “That sounds like him. Well,” she tucked her legs up beneath her as she leaned against the pillows. “If you like, I might be able to convince him to let us shop for a few hours tomorrow.”

“Really?”

She shrugged, a ghost of a smile playing around her lips. “You need clothes, unless you wish to remain forever wearing Isaiah’s.”

I looked down at the sweats. “They’re actually kind of comfortable.”

She made a humming sound, but it was the mischievous glint in her eyes that brought the color to my cheeks. “Well, I leave it up to you. I personally would love the company. Lally is still so young and it would be nice to shop with another woman for a change.”

“Yeah,” I said at last. “Shopping might be fun.” Something I hadn’t had in eons. “Do you think it’s safe?”

A dainty hand flicked at me dismissively. “Of course. It will be but a few hours. We won’t even be missed.”

True to her words, the next morning, Celia went right up to Ashton and stated she was taking me shopping. As I expected, Ashton protested
by stating the obvious.

“It’s not safe.”

“I will be with her the entire time,” Celia promised. “Fallon and I both need a little girl time.”

Ashton sighed. “Take Archer.”

“Me? What did I do?” Archer protested, looking horrified.

“
We will only be gone a few hours, two at the very most. The girl needs clothes, Acheron!”

“I got her clothes,” Ashton stated, sounding amusingly insulted.

Celia raised an eyebrow. “Darling, please. I love you, but I would never wish your taste in fashion on even my worst enemy.”

He glowered at her, then at me like I somehow had a hand in insulting him. “
Celia, you know you can’t just—”

“Two hours, darling. I promise.
Thank you!” She pressed a kiss to his cheek, even though he hadn’t said a word in agreement. “We will be back before you know it.”

Ashton’s gob
-smacked expression would have been entertaining if it hadn’t been mirroring my own. And like him, I wasn’t given a chance to get in a word edge wise before Celia had me by the arm and was dragging me, by force, out the door at a near run. I barely managed a wave in Isaiah’s direction before we were bolting down the dusty corridor.

“Quickly before he gets his jaw off the ground,” she said with an almost endearing giggle.

Chuckling, I fell into step with her as we ran out the door to the pretty BMW parked out front. We threw ourselves into our seats and had just strapped in when Ashton and Isaiah appeared at the top of the stairs. Celia gave them a little finger wave before stomping down on the gas and shooting us out of the driveway.

I couldn’t stop laughing. The look on Ashton’s face was priceless.

“He’s going to kill you,” I said, finally catching my breath.

Celia glanced through the rearview mirror
, grinning. “Oh, I believe it.”

I sat back in my seat. “
I had practice this morning. I guess it’s okay if I miss one day. I really do need clothes.”

“You can still make it. We really won’t be that long.”

I frowned as we reached the magical mountain wall and Celia pushed the button to let us out. “Are there any stores open?”

We slipped through the opening and started down the woodland path.

“There are a few,” she said. “Nothing too extravagant, I’m afraid. But you have no plans to hit the runway in Paris, do you?”

I snorted. “Right, because that’s even a possibility.”

We drove in silence until we reached the highway. She turned right.

“Fallon,” she said softly. “I want to apologize to you about my behavior the other night. I know it was appalling. I feel horrible about it.”

I shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. It was a stressful day for all of us. Besides, you saved my life. It’s kind of hard to hold a grudge after that.”

Celia
chuckled. “The mortal world always brings the worst out in me and I am just ashamed of how I acted.”

“How come you don’t like it?”

She sighed. “It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just the filth that loiters here that makes me cringe.”

“Lilims?” I wondered.

She shot me a quick sidelong glance. “Has Acheron told you about them?”

“Kind of. We didn’t go into details, but I got the gist of it.”

A sound of disgust escaped her. Her knuckles went white around the wheel. “Repugnant worms.” Whoa. Someone had some serious hate issues. “They will do anything to get their hands on Acheron, or any Sire.”

“Why?”

“Power. They believe they were created first.” She barked a cold laugh. “Sin has been around for eons before they crawled out of the filth they were created from.”

“And what exactly are they?”

“They have many names. The Dark Children. Spawn of the Devil. Demons.”

I
exhaled sharply. “I am so never getting used to all this. I can’t believe there are demons out there.”

“Are you
really so surprised?” she teased. “Of course there are demons. There are angels. There are fairies and goblins. There are beings that you have never even heard of. All our worlds are separated only by a maze of doors.”

“The nexus.”

“Yes, and they simply loathe us.”

“Why?”

“Why because everyone believes in sin. Who believes in demons and fairies? That is how they get their power, the belief of mortals. It is why they, unlike us, are allowed to wander this realm so freely. While we are a direct threat.”

I cleared my throat. “And vampires? Do they exist?”

Celia looked at me. She blinked, then she burst out laughing. “You are such a laugh, Fallon.” Yet she never answered my question. “Oh, your father meant to tell you last night. I suppose he was deterred by, well, you know. But he wanted you to know he was unable to find the bag of clothes you requested.”

Amalie’s diary!

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the car was still there, but all the contents were gone.”

My heart skidding in my chest and I kicked myself for not having asked Ashton myself. “Does the military have them?”

She shrugged a slim shoulder. “Perhaps. But there is no hope of finding
them if they do.”

Oh God no … I lost Amalie’s diary. I lost the only thing connecting me to her. How would I tell her that her worst fears and wishes were now in the hands of strangers?

“Fallon? Are you all right?”

I didn’t speak. I couldn’t.
Why hadn’t I taken it out? Why hadn’t I gone back for it when I had the chance? Why hadn’t I hidden it somewhere safe rather than in my duffle?

“It’s all right,” Celia soothed. “We will get you new things.”

She didn’t understand. How could she? She had no idea what was in that bag and I couldn’t tell her.

I was still lost in an ocean of my own self-loathing when the car rolled to a slow halt alongside a curb. I managed to blink out of my dilemma to glance at our ruined surroundings and frown.

We were on an abandoned street. The shops here were boarded up, some had their windows broken, others were painted with graffiti, but they all had one thing in common. They were empty.

I looked to Celia. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything here.”

Yanking the keys from the ignition, Celia chuckled. “No. I have to see someone very quickly. I won’t be but a moment.” She raised those feline eyes to me. “You are welcome to come.”

Curious, I nodded and followed her from the car.
She rounded the hood and motioned for me to follow as she led the way down the sidewalk. Her heels were the only sound in the otherwise chilling silence. I stuffed my hands into the pockets of Isaiah’s sweats to keep them from trembling. Bits of debris and garbage rolled at our feet the further we went.

“What are we doing here again?” I asked.

“Just visiting an old friend,” Celia answered without slowing her stride.

I couldn’t imagine what sort of
friend
lived in such a place, not that it was my place to judge. All of Canada probably looked like this. What were people supposed to do? It wasn’t their fault.

Finally, after nearly ten minutes of walking
, we came to a bricked building. It was as worn down and desolate as those around it, but it was in reasonably good condition. We made our way down the narrow alleyway running between the shop and the store next to it. I cringed at the rancid stench of festering sewage and rotting garbage. By the time we turned down a set of metal steps leading into the basement of the shop, I was barely keeping my stomach down.

A bell jingled overhead when Celia pushed the door open. She squeezed her tiny frame between a set of bookshelves on either side of the door. Row upon row of shelving lined the entire room, making the size of it impossible to determine. A thin opening wound its way to somewhere at the back.
But all I could think was how it stank of dust and dead things. Not comforting.

“Wait for me here, will you?” Celia said. She never glanced back to see if I would as she continued onward, leaving me alone with weird things floating in jars.

There were all manner of things lining the shelves. Bugs, dead birds, captured butterflies beating their pretty wings against glass, snakes, a rat, and eyeballs floating in green liquid. There were severed hands and amputated toes. There were livers, spleens and intestines. It was a house of horror. Definitely the sort of place idiot people went into and never left. If it were a movie, I would be yelling at the idiot to run. Instead, in true horror movie fashion, I moved deeper into the maze. I even considered calling out for Celia. I was already on a bad roll. What difference would one more stupid act make? But I didn’t.

“
You are being unreasonable, Alwin,” I heard Celia croon. “We had an agreement.”

“It changes!” squeaked another voice. “Too
much heat. Too much. Can’t do it. Nope.”

“Alwin.” There was a scuffle, the
scrape of a heel on concrete. “Please do not test my patience. I came all the way here to see you. I will be most displeased if you do not keep your word.”

“Can’t. Nope.”

I heard Celia sigh. “What a shame. I will have to take my business elsewhere it seems. Perhaps your brother.”

“
Fiete?” the voice squeaked.

“
Perhaps. He has expressed a great deal of interest in what I possess.”

More and more, it was beginning to sound like a badly clichéd movie. I could have been totally wrong, but I just wanted out of that place and away from those jars.
So, I did the logical thing. I moved closer.

I saw Celia first. She stood with her back to me, small hands pressed into her hips. In front of her was a
tiny man, barely coming to her waist and wearing puke yellow from head to toe. He was fretting anxiously, wringing his hands and shifting from foot to foot. I couldn’t see his face, but I couldn’t help wonder if he’d escaped from Santa’s workshop.

“What do you say, Alwin?” Celia coaxed. “Do we have a deal?”

The bouncing from foot to foot escalated until it looked as though he was doing a jig. “The girl,” he squeaked. “The girl. Nope. Too much. Too strong.”