Empower (16 page)

The last of the daylight had just disappeared behind Manhattan’s skyscrapers and Lincoln stood with Gray and me a few blocks down from the building we were targeting on 46th Street. Mia and two conductors lurked behind him as he shoved the earpiece and mic in my direction.

‘Put them on.’

I glared at him as I snatched them,
walking down the road a little to fit them – and put some distance between us. He was really starting to test my patience. And worst of all, I was mad with myself for being so completely affected by his nearness while he was so clearly immune to mine. Especially when I needed to be on my game.

I took a minute to get myself under control, pushing my emotions back. The city was abuzz in the way only Manhattan can be. Taxis dominated the traffic and lights flickered on in office buildings, where people would continue working long into the evening. Shadows loomed, moving towards me like creeping memories, just waiting for me to step into them, to ensnare me.

I jolted myself away from my thoughts and walked back to the group.

‘There’s a perimeter set up in the block surrounding the building and we have people on the neighbouring rooftops. Get in, do whatever it is you think you can do and get out. If I tell you to abort, you get out of there immediately, no questions asked. Do you understand?’ Lincoln ordered.

‘Of course,’ I said. Gray cleared his throat, and though he nodded I could see his nostrils flaring. Gray did not take orders well.

‘You have thirty minutes, starting now.’

‘We have an hour,’ I corrected.

‘I reconsidered. If you haven’t achieved anything within thirty minutes you’re just kidding yourselves anyway. Thirty minutes, and that’s it.’

Desperate for some form of mediation I
glanced at the conductors. ‘Are you supporting this?’

The female conductor – I didn’t know their names – crossed her arms. ‘If it were up to me, you wouldn’t be going in at all.’

Mia remained noticeably silent with her eyes cast down.

Perfect.

‘I can see why you keep them around,’ I said to Lincoln.

‘Yes.’ He crossed his arms with a look of satisfaction. ‘As opposed to your fan club they actually understand rank.’

I shook my head. ‘They’re not my fan club, Lincoln. They’re my friends. They were yours once, too.’

He pressed his lips together, his eyes flicking to Gray. ‘Many things were mine once. You’re down to twenty-six minutes.’

I swallowed and started to walk. ‘Let’s go,’ I said to Gray, who was already beside me.

‘You’re going to have to deal with that, you realise,’ he said as we made our way to the side of the ten-storey stone building.

‘He hates me, Gray. And he has every right. It won’t help him to try and deal with anything at this point. I’m just here for Spence.’

‘Yeah, well, I wouldn’t mind if you clarified my role in all of this if you get a moment. I actually value my life.’

Gray was pointing towards the alley that ran behind the building when Lincoln’s husky voice sounded in my earpiece.

‘I don’t hate you.’

My breath caught hearing the unmistakable pain that accompanied each tight word.

Shit.

I’d totally forgotten we were
wearing mics.

‘And I can assure you that I am well aware that you are only here for Spence. And
exactly
what your role is in all of this, Gray. So while we
all
appreciate hearing your conversation I would be immensely grateful if we could please get on with the task at hand.’

Kill. Me. Now.

Gray cleared his throat uncomfortably and mumbled, ‘Sorry ’bout that.’ Then he looked at me guiltily and pointed to his mic. ‘Forgot,’ he mouthed.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened them I started walking again. ‘We should move around the corner,’ I said, humiliated and desperate to end the conversation that Lincoln and God knows who else was listening in on.

We chose a well-shadowed area at the back of the building and began to climb the wall, leaping between windowsills, using the stonework as footholds to scale the building. It wasn’t overly difficult. I considered what Lincoln had said earlier, referring to Gray as my partner. I could see how that would hurt, thinking I had replaced him as my Grigori partner – even though that was not the case at all. We worked together but in no ways like a partner team.

And then there was the kiss. It had helped me gain an edge in the fight against Lincoln, sure, but if I’d known what Gray was up to I never would’ve agreed.

I brushed that thought off quickly, telling myself that there was no way Lincoln would think there was more to the kiss than tactics. But maybe Gray had a point. Maybe I should at least set Lincoln straight on the partner issue.

Or maybe I shouldn’t.

Maybe I should just let him
think what he wanted to.

It might make it easier for him – hating me. Maybe that’s why he’s been able to move on so completely.

‘Head in the game,’ Gray murmured behind me as we slid through a top-floor window. I looked down suddenly, realising I hadn’t even noticed we’d climbed the entire building.

I nodded quickly, silently chastising my runaway mind.

We climbed into an open-office workspace filled with sleek glossy desks and Aeron chairs – the type my father had obsessed over when he had his own office in the city. Clearly this company was doing well.

While I wiped my dirty hands on my black jeans we moved towards a doorway at the back of the room and found a small kitchenette. The area was deserted but all the lights were still on. Someone was home.

‘Do your thing, princess,’ Gray said, keeping a lookout.

‘I really wish you wouldn’t call me that.’

Gray grinned. ‘And I wish I was lying on a beach in the Caribbean.’

I rolled my eyes but I was already concentrating on the well of power in my stomach. I mentally willed it up and out of me, sending it through the building.

I didn’t like using my Sight. But I’d also made a point of learning how to control it in small doses. On some levels it had been successful and become a handy surveillance tool. I could scope an entire building, or even a city block, with little more than a thought. But still … I was ever aware there was so much more in me that remained unexplored. And at that very moment, I could feel the power
surge through me, as if it were looking for somewhere to go or even … for something specific to do.

Mum’s warnings on the matter had been clear. She wasn’t certain, and I continued to doubt her suspicions, but she believed that there was a chance that I was some kind of evolution-in-progress. As angels had learned to fall to earth and become human, I might be the first human who could evolve into an angel. She constantly warned me not to separate from my corporeal body for long, fearing that the lure might become so intense that I could forget to return, and I would lose myself.

Just the possibility that she might be right was enough for me to limit the use of my Sight, despite the pull.

The furthest I ever ventured was in that time just before sleep when my soul took over and sought him out.

And that was never a conscious choice.

Using my Sight, I roamed the levels of the building, quickly identifying a number of humans. There was, however, a darkened area on the level below us, which gave me a chill.

I returned to my body.

‘There are about two dozen humans in the building. Half a dozen on this level and I think they’re the ones we want. There’s also a dark zone,’ I said thoughtfully.

Gray was staring at me and I hit him on the shoulder, breaking him out of his daze. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘It’s just, you’re one weird lass, you know that, right?’

‘What’s a dark zone?’ Lincoln asked in my ear, causing goosebumps to rise on my arms.

‘Something I can’t see through. It could be titanium.’

‘Hiding exiles within it?’ he shot back.

‘Possibly, but I can’t say for sure, and anyway, it’s a small area. It couldn’t be hiding an army or anything.’

‘I don’t like it. You should come
back out,’ Lincoln instructed.

I looked at Gray and he pointed to his watch.

‘We still have fifteen minutes. Out,’ I said, pulling free my earpiece and shoving it in my pocket. He could listen in all he wanted but I couldn’t do this with him talking to me. ‘Tell me if he says anything worthwhile,’ I said to Gray.

‘Right now he’s using several four-letter words,’ Gray said wryly before leaning close to whisper in my ear. ‘Do you think there
are
exiles in here?’

I nodded.

Gray threw a little bounce into his step. He was in the mood for a fight. I smiled at him. I was too.

It didn’t take long for us to make our way down the corridor and towards what looked like a large boardroom. Through the glass doors we could see close to a dozen humans, sitting in an Armani, Prada and Gucci showdown of who had the slimmest tie and shiniest shoes. Chloe had been spot on; clearly these people were wealthy. And they didn’t display that distant unaware look that usually accompanied humans under exile control. They looked motivated.

Time wasn’t on our side thanks to our clock-keeper outside, but Gray and I settled back out of sight behind an open doorway and waited for a few minutes. It paid off when we saw two of the humans leave the boardroom and come towards us. We let the two men walk straight by us into a nearby office.

Before the door swung closed, my foot was stopping it and Gray had his arm around the
first human’s neck from behind. I followed in time to see the second man already with his hands raised in surrender. They didn’t scream or try to fight.

I hesitated. Alarm bells were already going off.

They’re expecting us.

I looked at the man standing with his hands up. He was calm. No more than forty and typically good-looking in a tall, neat, tailored kind of way. He wore a gold ring on his wedding finger and on the desk before him was a framed picture of him with a woman and two children.

He smiled in a businesslike manner, one that said he was a smooth talker and accustomed to getting his own way. But his eager eyes told a less predictable tale.

‘He told us you might come. I’d hoped I’d be the one to get to see you,’ he said, his eyes skimming me and lingering on my wrists. ‘He wants you to know that he’s looking forward to seeing you.’

I knew he was talking about Sammael. I remembered that Lincoln was listening to all of this.

‘Where is Spence?’ I demanded.

The businessman smiled again, well aware he held a trump card. ‘He has your friend and he wants you to know that if you want to see him again he will be in New Orleans the night before the next full moon,’ he replied.

Gray groaned.

I glanced at him but he just shook his head. ‘Nothing good ever happens in New Orleans.’

Gray nudged the first human towards the door. ‘Let’s take these two back with us. They clearly know more, and Lincoln wants to question them about the tournaments.’

‘It’s all him, isn’t it?’ I pushed, keeping my eyes on
the man behind the desk. ‘Sammael? He’s running the tournaments through your companies?’

The man shrugged. ‘There are a lot of wealthy people who are willing to bet large amounts of money. It’s profitable entertainment.’

I stared at him in disgust. ‘Humans
go
to the tournaments? Willingly?’

He nodded and pointed to his computer. ‘Live feeds. One of which you two starred in recently, if I recall.’

They’d watched us in London. But that realisation paled in comparison to the appalling reality of what was going on in the tournaments. ‘You watch people slaughter one another?’

He smiled coolly. ‘They are all willing participants. We merely provide the arenas.’

‘And what about the humans who are murdered for sport?’ I spat out. ‘Are they willing participants too?’

The businessman’s expression did not falter, not even for a second, and it made me sick.

Does he even
have
a conscience?

‘Violet, we should move them out of here,’ Gray said.

I nodded, stepping closer to the businessman, but before I had a moment to react, he raised his hand, revealing a gun we hadn’t spotted. He aimed it straight at Gray and fired, and I gasped when I saw he’d shot not Gray but the other human right between the eyes. In the time it took to look back at him, he had the gun to his own head.

‘Wait,’ I said, holding up my hands. ‘Don’t!’

‘Death is no longer of consequence. He
has promised our ascension regardless of our crimes,’ the man said, right before he killed himself.

‘Oh my God,’ I said.

Gray was already moving, grabbing my arm. ‘Not God’s work, Violet. This is something else. We’ve got to get the hell out of here before they all come running and start offing themselves.’

I gaped at Gray. Did he really believe the other humans would do the same thing? I was damn sure I didn’t want to find out. We hurried towards the corridor and headed back through the communal work area to the window we’d left open.

‘Oh, and by the way,’ Gray said. ‘You were right. This is definitely a trap.’

‘Gotta love being popular,’ I said.

‘Say that again in about ten seconds,’ he said, looking over his shoulder.

Two exiles were behind us, moving in fast.

Working in practised sync, we spun to face the threat, Gray automatically lining up with the one on the right while I continued backing up, drawing the attention of the one on the left. The latter wore a business suit and looked unnervingly like Agent Smith from
The Matrix
.

Weird.

He took off at a run, heading right for me. When he got close enough I kicked his chest hard, halting his momentum. He quickly corrected his balance and spun, grabbing me by the shoulders and throwing me so hard I smashed right through the tenth-storey window. As I fell through the air I tried to right myself, and using my speed
and strength I managed to get into a good enough position to roll through the impact of landing.

But that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt like a bitch. Especially since a large shard of glass had joined the party and embedded itself in my shoulder.