Taken (Ava Delaney #4) (19 page)

“I came to tell
you about Maeve. She found your friend. She’s hurt. Trapped. She’s
trying to find out more.”

My stomach
turned violently. “Emmett, as soon as you learn anything, tell me
straight away. I need to tell people. To help her.”

“I will, but
it’s hard for her. He always calls her back.”

“Maybe I can
help with that,” I murmured. Eddie obviously needed to concentrate
to use his power. It was a conscious, purposeful act. If I could
persuade Carl to distract him, maybe it would give Maeve enough
time to find Esther, if that was even possible.

I called Carl
and quickly explained the situation.

“You sure about
this?” he asked.

“Not
completely, but it’s worth a good effort. Please, Carl. For
Esther.”

“I wasn’t going
to say no,” he said impatiently. “Tell the… person to hurry. He’s
not stupid.”

I could only
wait and see what happened next. I couldn’t see Maeve or Esther,
couldn’t control their fates. While I waited, I tried to explain to
Peter that his son had certain gifts, but he didn’t seem to
understand.

“How? How can
that be possible?”

“Maybe it’s
something in his bloodline,” I ventured. “Don’t take this wrong,
but Daimhín once told me that Yvonne’s blood didn’t appeal to her.
And yours doesn’t exactly get my juices going either. She also said
that humans used to be bred for taste, or something like that.
Maybe others had some kind of a protection in their blood.”

“How so?”

My voice rose
in excitement. “What if there’s something that makes humans less,
um, tasty? As in, something special. Or at least, the possibility
of something special. And the ones who don’t have it are more
appealing.”

“What do you
mean, something special?”

“You remember
the story Shay’s nan told us about the gods and special water and
protection? I asked Eddie about it. He didn’t seem surprised. Maybe
Emmett’s bloodline is special, too. Maybe it’s some ancient form of
protection. Maybe because it’s on both sides, it’s stronger in
Emmett.”

Peter looked
absolutely disgusted. “I’m really uncomfortable with this
conversation.” He turned to gaze at me after a couple of seconds.
“So, what? You don’t like my blood?”

“All of what I
said, and this is what you take from it? It’s good, I swear, but
I’ve never been crazy thirsty for it or anything. Not like with
Carl.”

He glared at
me, and I knew I had handled it badly. “Look. Can we get back to
what’s important? For whatever reason, your son has abilities that
most people don’t. And somehow, whoever took him knew that was a
possibility. They took him just in case he did something good.
Which he does, by the way, they just didn’t realise it. Or he hid
it. I think someone down there helped him hide it.”

“Down
there?”

“Hell. Well,
assuming it’s hell. It makes sense to me now. Maybe the brethni
were telling the truth.”

“Brethni?” He
sounded completely confused, and I felt a pang of guilt at keeping
him out of the loop so much.

“Moses told me
those things in the warehouse are called brethni. I’m not sure what
that means, but he seemed to think they were good people.”

“The drug
dealer thinks they’re good people?” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“This is getting twisted, Ava. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to
think.”

“Just listen
then. Remember I told you that I thought Eddie was using power from
trapped souls? Turns out, I was pretty much right. Maeve has been
following me around since the first time I met Eddie, but in a good
way. She’s warned me of danger lots of times. I think she kind of
likes me. Anyway, Emmett can see her and talk to her, and he said
she’s able to find out what’s happened to Esther, but Eddie keeps
pulling her away. So Carl is currently distracting him.”

“Eddie won’t
like that.”

“So he sacks
Carl. Win-win.”

He grinned.
“You have an evil streak running through you, Delaney.”

“Let’s hope
you’re wrong. I’m still not to the point. There’s something else
Emmett can do. I can’t tell if it’s the same as what Eddie’s doing,
but he can kind of make the things he sees obey him somehow. He
seems to realise it isn’t something he should take advantage of,
but it’s also the sort of thing that would make him attractive to
the kind of people who buy children at the slave market.”

He nodded,
finally letting it all sink in properly. “So we need to protect
him.”

“For as long as
it takes. And that might mean no revenge for you.”

His gaze caught
mine. “That’s not an option.”

“Keeping Emmett
safe is the
only
option.”

He exhaled
harshly, stretching forward as though he had been running. “Shay’s
been asking questions.”

I flinched at
the sudden shift in subject. “So?”

“So he’s the
one who convinced me to come and see Emmett. But how did he know
Emmett was here?”

“Emmett
answered the door, thinking it was pizza. He knows not to do it
again.”

“No, I mean,
why was Shay here at all?”

I shrugged.
“He’s kind of nosy. He wants to know what’s really going on. I’m
starting to think we should tell him. He has eyes and ears in
places we can’t go, and he might be able to find out who owns the
Gardaí.”

“You think
someone owns them?”

“Definitely.
Things I’ve heard make me feel that the Gardaí are connected with
the Council.”

“How so?”

I rubbed my
cheeks. Where to start? “Well, for one, there are drug dealers
working for other beings. That dealer, Moses, told me that Illeana
was checking up on him, that he gets left alone as long as he stays
in line. He made it sound like she was doing it on behalf of
whoever he works for.”

“Can’t you get
him to talk?”

I shook my
head. “He’s too scared of them. I mean, he probably doesn’t even
know who’s on top of the chain, and Illeana could have been lying
to him. Plus, people like him are kind of in a cushy position right
now, and they get away with murder with the police. Why? Because
the police are already owned. Shay was moved to a different station
to get him away from your case, Peter. I’m pretty certain about
this.”

He stared at me
for a few minutes. “Everything’s connected,” he whispered.

“True enough.
We just need to find the root of it all. Kill the root, and all of
the branches will die.”

“I’m up for
that.”

I didn’t tell
him all of my suspicions, about how much of our lives I suspected
had been interfered with. He wasn’t ready for that, and I wasn’t
ready to deal with his rage when he did find out. I would keep that
secret for as long as I could.

Maeve didn’t
take long. I didn’t know how she got around in the spirit world,
but apparently, they had shortcuts. I had considered using the
other planes of existence to try and move further around myself,
but I wasn’t keen on getting stuck again. In fact, I had grown
afraid of pushing too far.

Emmett’s
expression was solemn as he relayed Maeve’s message. “She said the
girl is hidden with two others, but they’re surrounded by people
trying to hurt them. The people can’t break the barrier, but she
said they will find a way eventually.”

“Who are the
others? Other Guardians?”

“A brother and
sister. They’re not Irish, she said.”

“Holy sh…
sugar. Lorcan and Lucia? They must be hiding in their place. Wait.
They’re surrounded? Why? What’s happening?”

He blinked
fast. “War.”

Peter tried to
stop me from leaving. “I’ll get Carl to come over. I’ll come with
you.”

“No. Keep
Emmett safe. You said it before. They know my weakness. Everyone
does. He’s at risk because someone’s trying to shut you up. I’m
going to get Carl to bring Nancy here. You all have to stay here.
Do you understand? I can’t go out there worrying about you lot as
well.”

“Nancy?”

“I’m not going
to let my grandmother die because of me. No matter what our issues
are, she’s still family, and I won’t let them take her. Something
terrible is coming, Peter. This is the only place you’ll all be
safe. Mrs. Yaga made sure of that. I can’t concentrate on what I
have to do unless I know you are all here.”

“We’ll stay
here,” he said reluctantly.

I hugged Emmett
before leaving, hoping I was right and that he was safe. I made
phone calls on the way, tried to cover all of the bases, and headed
to an emergency meeting I arranged with the Council.

They weren’t
going to be happy.

Erossi didn’t
show up. Neither did the witch. I thought that significant. Eddie
was there, and I avoided eye contact with him as much as possible.
Carl had left the shop in Eddie’s absence, and Eddie was probably
not going to be overjoyed by that.

It was late
evening by the time everything got settled and whoever was going to
turn up arrived. We met in a white-walled room and sat around a
circular table, many pairs of suspicious eyes on me.

I sat forward.
“I have news about Esther.”

Aiden began to
say something, but Gabe stopped him. “What news?”

“She’s alive,
but she’s hurt. Trapped. She’s stuck with the people who hosted me
when I was in Liverpool.”

“They’ve
kidnapped her?” the demon asked. Elathan, I remembered.

“No. They’re
slaves. The vampires own them. But they’re part-fae, and they’re
good people.” I ignored Fionnuala’s telling glare when I said
part-fae
. “They have a place that’s protected, kind of like
the magic over the trial.”

“Impossible,”
Fionnuala said.

Koda, looking
dreadful, silenced her. “Now is not the time.”

“Anyway,” I
continued, feeling a little nervous. “The place is protecting them,
shielding them, but they’re surrounded. I’ve heard there’s a war
going on, and that getting her back in one piece is practically
impossible.”

“How do you
know?” Aiden asked.

I felt Eddie’s
curious gaze on my skin. “I… I can’t say.”

“And we’re
supposed to believe you?” Aiden sounded incredulous, and I didn’t
exactly blame him, but I couldn’t reveal what Emmett could do.

“This is
ridiculous,” Fionnuala said.

“Oh, give it a
rest.” I was frustrated and annoyed. I couldn’t think of a way to
help Esther, but they probably could, if they would just believe
me. “Why would I make this up? I got a tip, okay? I’m not telling
you anything else about it. But Esther needs help, and you should
all probably face up to the fact that the BVA are about to roll
over the UK. If they win, they’re coming here next. You can bet
your arse on it.”

“She’s right.”
A shiver ran down my spine at Daimhín’s words. It was bad enough
having a creepy demon and a creepy ancient vampire in the room
without my creepy ancient vampire boss showing up as well.

“I thought you
were out hibernating, or something,” I blurted in my
nervousness.

She narrowed
her eyes at me. She was accompanied by Yvonne, her day assistant
and Emmett’s aunt. Zion, her rather large and impressive bodyguard,
stood behind her. Eloise, the child vampire who also happened to be
a seer, and Jules, my least favourite vampire ever who had a major
yen for my blood, stayed by the door.

“Eloise had a
vision,” Daimhín announced. “And plenty of confirmation has come
through. There is indeed a war going on, and we have little hope of
surviving it if we don’t act now.”

There was a lot
of discussion after that, most of it pointless arguing.

“I don’t trust
her,” Aiden said.

Gabe stared at
me for long, awkward moments before finally declaring himself on my
side. I let loose a sigh of relief and waited patiently for the
arguing to stop. Gabe rarely failed to get his own way.

“I need to
return to my coven,” Daimhín eventually declared. “I will take the
tainted one with me.”

“I’ll take her
home,” Eddie said softly.

“Why would you
do that? She’s my employee. Come along.” Daimhín clicked her
fingers, and I and her entourage followed her like trained puppies.
What my life had come to…

In the car,
Daimhín gave me one of
those
looks. “Is it true? You found
the boy alive?”

“What boy?
Emmett?” Yvonne asked. Daimhín knew and hadn’t told her. Ouch.

“Yeah, it’s
true. Someone put him in our path, trying to cause more problems,
but it worked out.”

“They’ll try to
take him if he’s alive. They would rather him dead than allow
another to have him.”

“Who
are
they?” I asked.

“Whoever took
him. It’s what I would do.”

Her words
chilled me to the bone, but I had to think straight. “What about
Esther? Any suggestions?”

“Leave her
there. It might teach the shifters some humility. As for the
British vampires, it may come to us having to leave the country
rather than get involved.”

“Why would you
leave?”

“The Council
will expect our assistance. Winston will give us the chance to
stand next to him. Both would result in our final deaths. We will
leave if he tries to take Ireland. You may join us.”

“Thanks, but I
still need to find a way to—”

“The darkness
rises,” Eloise said. “She’s hiding in darkness. One pocket is
always connected to another, and the key to the door is tainted by
blood. The only way to reach her is through the darkness. The
smallest mice can make it through the shadows unseen.”

“What do you
mean? Can I get to her somehow?”

“Eloise, what
have I told you?” Daimhín chastised.

“He’s alive.
And nobody told me?”

Yvonne’s
delayed reaction grated on my nerves. “Well, if you would answer
your goddamn phone every once in a while, you might have known
already.”