Hunted tgl-3 (21 page)

I sighed. How many times did we have to go through this? “Bran chose to be with the Guardians. No one turned him. And we have nothing to do with their disappearances,” I added firmly. “I’ll talk to the Hermonites before we leave.”

“Do you think that’s wise?” Esras asked.

“They are our allies, Esras. Of course we have to calm their fears or they could turn against us. With Jethro gone, that seems more likely than ever.” I turned my attention to the bartender. “Did Cardinal Bran sleep here?”

“No. He was in and out of here yesterday during the day. He told Jethro he was searching for his brother. He came back an hour ago, changed his clothes and was about to leave again when I told him Jethro was missing.” The bartender pointed at a scrunched-up black T-shirt and pants at the foot of the couch.

I picked them up with the tips of my fingers. They were filthy and smelled. Beside them were a plastic bag and several price tags. I glanced at Esras. “What do you think?”

He lifted the shirt, then the pants. “The dirt covers the front of his shirt and pants, which means he was on his stomach, either lying down or crawling.” He sniffed them. “Smells like sewer.”

If Bran had spent the night in some rat hole, it might explain why I’d tossed and turned all night long. I’d felt his discomfort. I glanced at the bartender. “Did Cardinal Bran say where he was headed?”

“No. Are you going to find them?” the bartender asked hopefully. “Jethro means a lot to us. This bar is a refuge for my kind, and half the people in the bar have called this home, just like Cardinal Bran has.”

“I know. Why don’t you go back to the bar and tell them I want to talk to them? They have to know we would never hurt them or turn our backs on—”

Several pings hit me at once.
What is it?

A demon is here, and he insists on talking to you
, Solaris telepathed.

I stepped into the hallway and frowned. All the three Guardians had their weapons pointed at…Gavyn? Dressed in white slacks and a matching blazer over a light blue shirt, his silver hair cropped in layers, he looked like he’d just stepped out of a country club.

He smirked and waved like we were best buds. The tingle at the base of my spine shot up my spine.

“Hey, little sister,” he said. “What are you doing in this dump? With the Tribunal’s army hunting your kind, I thought you’d be hiding with the rest of the Guardians.”

Tribe…Tribunal? The two words sounded almost alike. Did they mean the same thing? I had no interest in asking Gavyn because he’d only gloat and piss me off more. Already, I wanted nothing better than to wipe the smug smile off his face, but Bran would never forgive me.

I struggled to calm my mind and bring my powers under control. It wasn’t working. The power pulsing up and down my spine needed an outlet.

“What do you want, Gavyn?” I called out, fear of hurting him keeping me in the doorway.

“You and I need to talk. Alone. Tell your new minions to,” he wiggled his fingers, “move out of my way.”

“I don’t think so,” I said, aware that Esras had followed me. He stood protectively behind me, tension shooting from his body.

“Scared to be alone with me, little sister?”

“Yeah, scared for you, and I’m not your sister.”

He cocked his brow. “What? You’re not going to be mated with my brother? Last time I checked, the sun rose and set on him. You even saved my life from your malevolent sister. That’s the kind of thing you do for family, or family-to-be. By the way, I never got around to thanking you for that.” He touched his chest and bowed. “Thank you.”

No matter how annoying he was, I had to remember he was Bran’s brother. I focused on controlling my powers until the tingle on my back receded.

Meanwhile Gavyn lowered his head to peer into Solaris’s eyes and whispered, “How do you feel knowing your precious Chosen One is the reason you are being hunted, sweetheart? Why do your people have to suffer because of her? First Valafar and his raid, and now the Tribunal and its, uh, what do you Guardians call its army again? Yeah, the Tribe, the mighty Guardians’ worst nightmare.”

Seriously? He was like a child sometimes. When he didn’t get his way, he threw tantrums by saying the dumbest things. Solaris didn’t need him egging her on. “Let him pass.”

Instead of obeying, Solaris hissed out a breath. “What are you talking about, demon?”

He smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know? Move aside like a good little Guardian.”

“Only the weak and incompetent summon more powerful beings to fight their battles,” she snapped, then shifted closer to him. “And if you ever call me sweetheart again, fiend, I’ll send you to Tartarus so fast they’ll be picking pieces of you off the walls for centuries.” She threw a look at me over her shoulder. “He’s all yours, Cardinal.” Then she stepped out of his way.

For one brief moment, Gavyn leered at her. “I hope you and I meet again,
sweetheart
. I’d love to show you a thing or two that would make your head spin.” He sauntered past Esras and me. “Stay here, old man. My business is with the lovely Lilith.”

Esras hesitated and glanced at me.

“I’ll be fine,” I reassured him. Gavyn’s arrogance was annoying, but he only ever acted cocky when he had the upper hand.
He knows where the Summoners are
, I telepathed Esras.
Just give me a minute with him
.

He nodded, but he didn’t like it. I hurried after Gavyn.

“Scram, minion,” he ordered when he entered Jethro’s office and saw the bartender.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the bartender snarled. “Jethro doesn’t allow your kind in here.”

Gavyn smiled. “My kind? I thought this,” he waved, “was a sanctuary for all Nephilim, good or bad.”

“Except bottom-dwellers like you,” the bartender retorted.

Gavyn’s eyes flashed. He studied the bartender, his lips curling up. “You know what I miss? The old days, when we tied traitors to rocks and set vultures on them for eternity.”

“And soul-suckers were sent to rot in Tartarus for eternity,” the bartender retorted.

In a fraction of a second, Gavyn’s hand moved and a sizzling, red energy ball materialized above his palm.

“Enough. You,” I nodded at the bartender, “go back to the bar.”

He scurried out of the room.

“He was being insolent,” Gavyn said, the energy ball fizzling out.

“What’s wrong with you? You know the rules. You can’t touch Neutrals under our protection, or all bets are off.”

He smiled though his gray eyes remained cold. “You’d test my brother’s loyalty by attacking me to protect that nobody?”

“He’s not a nobody, and Bran would understand.”

“Would he?” Gavyn’s eyes glistened. “I don’t have time for this. I have things to do, places to go.” He glanced over his shoulder at Esras. “Do you mind?” The he flicked his finger and the door slammed shut on Esras’ face.

I frowned. His energy powers seemed to have grown stronger. First an
omni
energy ball, now a show of telekinetic ability. “What do you want, Gavyn?”

Gavyn’s eyes narrowed as he studied me, his head cocked to the side. “There’s something different about you.”

What?
I wanted to ask, but I hated discussing anything personal with him. Besides, there was enough weirdness that came with my new powers I really didn’t want to know. “Where have you been? Bran’s been looking for you for two days.”

“And he almost got killed, thanks to you. I’m getting strange vibes from you that are very intriguing. What have you been up to? I know we haven’t seen each other in a while, but the changes in you…” his eyes narrowed and he added slowly, “I can now see what my little brother sees in you.”

Ew. The thought that Gavyn found anything remotely attractive about me made me want to throw up. “Why is it my fault Bran almost got killed?”

Annoyance flashed in Gavyn’s eyes. “He was in trouble, I contacted you but you chose to ignore me. But that’s yesterday’s news. He’s okay, for now. In fact, he was here earlier. I can still feel his energy.”

“I don’t like being accused of things I haven’t done, Gavyn.”

“This time, you’re guilty as charged, but I’m in a good mood and would rather talk about you and this new vibe—”

I waved my hand without meaning to and sent him upward and backward until his back slammed the door and his feet dangled several inches off the floor. “I’m not in the mood for your stupid games either, Gavyn. Start talking.”

Furious didn’t begin to describe the expression that flashed on his face. “Put me down!”

“Tell me what you’re talking about. What trouble was Bran in? When did you contact me?”

“Don’t be hotheaded, Lilith. You touch me again and you, your minions, and everyone in this building go poof. You didn’t think I’d come here alone, did you? Put. Me. Down.”

I did a psi scan to confirm his words. There were demons outside, on the ground and on the roof of the building. I wasn’t sure whether they were regular demons or the Tribe, but I refused to show Gavyn that his threats worried me.

I guided the power buzzing on my back to move to my right hand, just like Master Haziel had taught me. My fingers tingled as the ancient writings appeared on the surface of my skin. Then my hand started to glow.

“What in Tartarus is that?” Gavyn asked.

“Start. Talking.”

Uncertainty flickered in his eyes, but then his smugness returned. “Go ahead. The Tribunal will only bring me back,” he bragged.

There was that word again—the Tribunal. What did it mean? “No one returns from Tartarus.”

“That is where you are wrong, little sister. Not only will I come back, but I’ll be stronger. On top of that, you’ll have to explain to my brother why you sent me there in the first place.”

Bran. If only Gavyn wasn’t his brother. I let him go. He landed on the floor like a cat, adjusted his blazer, and brushed off his shoulder. Another smug grin touched his lips.

“What is this new power you have?” he asked, staring at my hand.

I willed the writings from my hands. They disappeared along with the glow. I took a step away from Gavyn. “I think you should leave now.”

“Okay, if you insist on knowing the truth,” he said flippantly. “I got your phone number through your human medium and sent you some text messages.”

My mind raced as I tried to recall what was in the messages from Kylie.

Are you with Bran?
The first one had said. Kylie often checked if I was alone before asking me over to her place. I’d responded with a “no”. I hadn’t read the next two messages because of the meeting.

Get over here now
, I
need your help
… The last text had sounded so much like Kylie, I hadn’t bothered to finish reading it. It never crossed my mind to wonder why she hadn’t used abbreviated texts like she usually did.

“Why couldn’t you be clearer? I thought they came from Kylie, and she thought her brother sent them.” I was yelling by the time I finished.

“Clearer? What part of ‘get over here now, I need your help stopping Bran’ wasn’t clear,” he snapped, losing his cool too. “Or ‘Bran needs you’?”

Guilt washed over me. I shouldn’t have ignored the rest of the message, or the previous ones. “What happened?”

“Oh, now you want to know?”

“Just. Tell. Me.”

He made a face. “He pissed off a few club owners while searching for me, got into a few fights. I couldn’t help him because I was in the middle of an important meeting, so I contacted you. By the time I finished, which was a few minutes ago, I learned he wanted to meet me, which as it happens works perfectly with my plans. I want to see him too.” His expression grew serious. “In fact, I have a proposal for the two of you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Really?”

“Listen first before you blow me off. Join me.”

“Excuse me?”

“You and Bran should leave the Guardians and join me.”

He had lost it if he thought we could ever do something so stupid. “Why would we do that?”

“It is the only way to stop the Tribe.”

Maybe he wasn’t crazy. “What do you mean?”

“All this mess would have been avoided if Bran had done the right thing and accepted his responsibilities as the leader of the Hermonites.” His voice dropped. “The truth is out, Lilith. The Tribunal knows how he ‘won’ the battle on Jarvis Island.”

The hollow feeling I hated settled in my stomach. A little over four month ago, Valafar had staged a fight-till-death combat on Jarvis Island and told the demonic world the winner would become their leader. At the same time, he had manipulated us, dangling the list of the humans who’d sold their souls to Bran until Bran signed a contract and joined the combat to win it back. I did not remember the details of that night, but Bran had filled me in. I had had no choice but to help him win. My participation, a secret among the Cardinals, had been known by only three demons—Valafar, who was dead, my sister and Gavyn. Even though Gavyn hadn’t been able to attend the event, Bran had told him afterward.

“How could you use what Bran told you in confidence against us?”

“I didn’t.” A weird expression crossed his face. “I mean, I did it to help you. Besides, that was just the first evidence
we
presented to the Tribunal. There’s more. You and your grandfather brainwashed Bran and made him switch—”

“Bran chose us,” I snapped. “I’m getting tired of your people saying we influenced his decision.”

“That’s your opinion. The fact remains that the switch is a first in the history of the Nephilim. The Tribunal wasn’t sure how to deal with that, until we told them about the Specials. Those children will cause an imbalance of power in the Guardians’ favor. And last, you decided to help soulless degenerates from the human cesspool. There are rules, Lilith. When humans sell their souls, they belong to us. You are not supposed to give their souls back.”

I couldn’t come up with an argument against the things he’d said. We were guilty. No wonder the Goddess wanted us to find the Summoners to avoid annihilation.

“Who summoned the Tribe? The Order? Can we meet with it?”

“Those feeble-minded members of the Order cannot agree on anything, let alone a historic moment as the summoning.” He smiled smugly. “I formed a new council and summoned the Tribunal. Then the Tribunal sent its army to fix things.”