Taste (Ava Delaney #5) (2 page)

He laughed softly. “Strange. When we’re discussing a house full of special children. Yes, there have been strange behaviours. There have been nightmares. They’ve been in Hell, Ava. Of course there have been nightmares.”

“Well, what are you doing about it?”

“Ah.” He slammed his glass down. “This isn’t about them. What’s wrong with your child?”

“He’s not mine,” I snapped. “And there’s nothing wrong with him.”

“Ava…”

“Fine. I’m a little worried about him. He’s having some kind of night terrors, and Val told me they’re given something in the market, something that stops them from talking. I think he needs to talk about it, but I don’t know…”

“He’ll forget. He’s a child.”

“What if he doesn’t? What if all of them are affected by their time there? What if this is a mess waiting to happen? This whole thing has been a time-bomb since you decided to keep the children for yourselves.”

He pushed away from the bar, looking wearier than ever. “The entire world is a mess, Ava. You can’t clean up all of it.”

“But we could prevent some of it.”

His eyes narrowed. “Perhaps it’s too late.”

“Did something happen?”

He shrugged. “There have been arguments. Some fights. The other children are unperturbed, so perhaps it was a normal thing in the market. I admit I was concerned by the viciousness of it, but as Fionnuala has taken to saying, we will have some fierce Guardians in the future.”

My stomach turned. “Not if I have anything to do with it.”

“Ah, yes. Here they come. The empty threats again. Face it. You are tainted, you have no power, and there is nothing you can do.”

I smiled. I would prove him wrong. I would prove all of them wrong. There were lots of things I could do.

Chapter Two

I awoke during the night to an empty bed. I threw on a jumper and checked on Emmett. He was sound asleep, so I headed downstairs. I found Peter sitting at the kitchen table, cleaning and polishing knives.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, putting on the kettle.

“Who said anything was wrong?”

I glanced at the clock. “You’re in my kitchen at three in the morning with a stack of daggers in front of you. Obviously,
something’s
wrong.”

He leaned back in the chair and stretched, one knife still in hand. “Go back to bed, Ava.”

“Did something happen today? With Emmett’s family?” I turned back to the kettle, but a dark thread of doubt wound its way into my heart.

“No. Nothing new anyway. They want
normality
for him. Same as you.”

“So what’s with the ’tude?”

He heaved a sigh, threw down the dagger, and rubbed his eyes. “I wasn’t prepared for this.”

I gestured around the room, panic gripping my insides. “
This
, this?”

“You, Emmett.” He shook his head. “Living here, being a dad again, giving up everything I’ve known for years. I wasn’t ready. Some days it’s hard to adjust. Some days…” He slowly rested his palms on the table as if he might explode with any sudden movements.

“Some days what?”

“Some days I look out the window and wish I was out there. Some days I’m so fucking bored that I want to kill… just for something to do.” He gazed at me with wild eyes, wild and despairing. Not a good combination.

I moved closer to him, keeping my eye on the daggers. “It doesn’t have to be one extreme or the other.” When I straddled him, he didn’t react in any way. I gripped his cheeks, forcing him to look at me. “What is it you need?”

He grabbed my backside, his fingers kneading me. “I don’t know. And that’s what scares me.” He ran his hands up my spine and rested his cheek against my chest. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. To Emmett. To any of us. I don’t know how to hold in what I am. I don’t know how to fake it.” His voice shook.

I kissed the top of his head, caressing the back of his taut neck. I didn’t have the words to make him feel better, and his frustration rolled off him. It was hard for him to fit into the little box I had created for him, but Emmett had to come before his urges. Emmett had to be number one, or the kid would be lost. I knew what it was like to fake it. I wore a mask most days. I would pull Peter through anything if he let me.

“There’s a lot coming our way,” he whispered.

“But not today.”

He raised his head to look at me, and I wanted so badly to heal the pain in his hazel eyes. But what ailed him was complicated, and sometimes talking didn’t help. When I kissed him, it was different. Not him taking something from me. Not aggressive. Not dominant. Deeper, softer. He showed me his vulnerability for the first time, letting me share it.

He carried me up to bed, and my hope sparked again.

***

I waited until he had fallen asleep to put away the weapons, counting like a prayer.

He didn’t mention it the next morning, but he spent the day outside with Emmett and Dita, and every now and then, I caught him staring into the distance. Each and every time, my stomach dropped.

My imagination went into overdrive, so I waited until Carl came over before I went to see Eddie as I had planned.

“Keep an eye on him, okay?” I warned Carl at the door.

“What’s going on?” He looked better lately, as if his body had finally begun to heal. Sometimes the scar tissue never healed.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s going stir crazy, probably. Being here, not being out there.”

Carl’s expression turned stern. “You mean he’s getting agitated because he can’t hurt something. Ava, I don’t like this.”

“What’s not to like? We all go through things, Carl, and we’re all still here because we have each other to help us through the bad days.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m worried he’ll take it out on the wrong person. Maybe he needs to work off some steam.” He gave me a pointed look. “Before it’s too late.”

I frowned. “What? Let him go back to what he’s been doing since Emmett was taken from him? Making enemies everywhere? He has his son to think about now.”

“
You’re
making enemies.”

I grinned. “But I’m making bigger allies.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, we’ll see where that gets you. Eddie’s getting antsy, speaking of allies and enemies.”

“Yeah, well, I get held up here sometimes. I haven’t been to the sanctuary all week either. Anything strange at the bookshop?”

He shook his head and moved into the living room to sit down. “Marina’s been in and out. Doing something witchy, I suppose. Sometimes I think I can smell it. Ever since…” He shook his head. “I’m pretty sure she’s using magic at his place.”

“Black magic.” I shivered. “Gross.”

He raised a brow. “Because Helena told you so?”

“Don’t talk about her like that. She helped me. She helped Emmett in Hell. It’s not her fault that her children and husband were stolen from her. I don’t blame her for anything she did.”

“She tried to use you. You keep forgetting that bit.”

“Everyone tries to use me. It’s figuring out what they want me for that’s the problem.”

“You have issues,” he said. “You can’t live life expecting people to use you.”

I stared at him blankly, and he threw his hands up in the air. Carl was like a brother to me, but he aggravated the crap out of me half the time.

He sighed. “We seriously need to deal with this self-esteem thing. Stop trusting people who admit to using you.”

I had a feeling we weren’t talking about Helena anymore. “Well, whatever,” I said. “I believe her about Marina. There’s something way wrong there.”

“You think Helena never used black magic?”

“She said she was Wiccan. That’s not black magic.”

“She might have been Wiccan in theory, but she stole years. That’s time, Ava. Life. Can’t do shit like that without using black magic.”

I made a face. “Stop trying to taint my memories, please.”

He grinned, a flashback to the old Carl. He was the most resilient of all of us. No matter what he went through, there was a light-heartedness inside him that couldn’t be snuffed out. “Go see Eddie. Calm him down. He’s as paranoid as you.”

“Funny. You gonna work with Emmett?”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking of new stuff to try. I’m actually enjoying it. Maybe I should have been a teacher.”

“Okay,
sir
. Try to make sure Emmett learns something other than filthy limericks today, yeah?”

His neck and ears turned red. “One mistake and it’s forever held against me.”

I reached up to ruffle his hair. “Get a haircut, old man.”

“Bitch,” he muttered, and I blew a kiss at him as I walked away.

On the way to Eddie’s bookshop, I remained hyperaware. It had begun for real when Emmett arrived—that tense, permanently on edge feeling—and it hadn’t shown any signs of dissipating. I constantly watched out for ways the boy could harm himself, even ridiculously impossible ones.

I held my breath as I entered the bookshop, preparing to be assaulted by the typical salt and smoke scents of magic. The Keeper of Gods watched as I approached the counter, his keen blue eyes taking in my mood.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, sounding as if he already knew, which wouldn’t have surprised me.

“Nothing new,” I replied, picking up an old book and flipping through it. I made a face at a particularly nasty-looking demon and dropped the book in a hurry. “Light reading?”

He shrugged. “Bedtime stories help me sleep. Where have you been?”

“You know, watching over the boys and all that. Any news?”

“Yes, actually. You need to keep in touch more regularly. It wouldn’t do for you to get cold feet now.”

“From my own idea? No chance.” A shiver ran down my spine nonetheless. Making a deal with Eddie Brogan to take down the Council had been brave, but not necessarily smart. “So what’s the news?”

He smiled, brimming with excitement. Unusual for Eddie. “Turns out I’m not the only one irritated by the Council. You can add consultant number two to the list.”

“Who? Reuben?” The creepy old vampire knew Eddie well, but I hadn’t assumed they were friendly.

“Reuben’s gone. I doubt he’ll be back,” he said dismissively. “Not until there’s a clear victor either way.”

“Between who?The Council and us, or the Council and the BVA?”

“The vampires. I would bet he’s been called into service by Winston. The British vampires need all of the ancients they can get their hands on.”

“Do or die,” I said. “Daimhín reckons she needs to keep out of the way, too.”

“She hasn’t lived this long by making foolish decisions. But no, I’m talking about Elathan. He’s on board with a fresh start. Bad blood between him and Fionnuala, you understand.”

“Elathan? The demon who was kicked out of Hell?” The one Esther always called hot.

He rubbed his nose. “Technically, yes. He’s extremely old, one of the last of his kind actually. He’s been displaced a number of times by those who aren’t comfortable with his power. He’s a little bitter, and we can use that.”

“I’m not comfortable with his power either. What is it he can do?”

Eddie’s smirk made me squirm. “He’s a little too persuasive. Technically, he’s a consultant only so they could keep an eye on him. He isn’t permitted to use his
techniques
. He’s strong-willed, a decent warrior, and he has connections. He has nothing to lose and a lot to gain. Or
regain
, as the case may be.”

My heart thudded. “He wants to go back to Hell?”

“No, no. The fae sent him there long ago. He was one of the original fae. A different bloodline. When Fionnuala’s ancestors invaded, he was sent to Hell because they didn’t know what else to do with him. Of course, he made enemies in Hell, too, and eventually, he was spit back out. The Council had no choice but to deal with him. That was a long time ago, and Elathan’s an expert at keeping under the radar. If I know the Council, they’ve already forgotten what he can do. Which works for me.”

“What is it you want?” I blurted. “What do you get out of this?”

“Power. Power is all I need to get what I want. I’m a man of simple tastes, Ava. I don’t need a lot to survive.”

I thought of his sparse bedroom, how the only decoration was a painting of a woman. There was nothing else to mark it as his, aside from the living book of magic hidden in his drawer. I believed he didn’t want a lot, but the things he wanted weren’t necessarily safe for the rest of us.

“You’re not planning on enslaving the world or anything, right?”

He laughed, his eyes gleaming. “I don’t need to do that. I just need a little bit of power.”

A shiver ran through me as a cold breeze blew against the back of my neck: Maeve, one of the spirits he had trapped to use for his own needs.

Eddie straightened, looking annoyed all of a sudden. “If you don’t have any news, then you should get home. Wouldn’t want to leave your boys unprotected.”

I wasn’t about to volunteer the fact that they weren’t there. Eddie had a knack of making the most innocent sentence sound like a threat.

***

That night, Emmett crept into my room in the middle of the night and shook me awake.

I pressed my hand against his forehead. “You okay?”

He nodded, but there was pain in his eyes.

“Can’t sleep?”

He shook his head.

“Want a hot chocolate?”

“Yes, please.”

We managed to sneak downstairs without waking Peter. I made us some hot chocolate and waited for him to talk.

“The woman came to see me,” he said at last, licking chocolate from his lower lip. “Maeve.”

“Oh.” I sat up straight. “Is she okay?”

He shook his head again. “I think she’s sad. Or maybe angry. She keeps saying it’s dangerous to help him. That it’s getting closer to the end. She scared me.”

I wrapped him in a hug. “She didn’t mean to scare you. She’s just worried about me.”

“I’m worried, too. Don’t do dangerous things, Ava. Stay home with me. We’ll be okay. We’ll forget about everything else.”

“Emmett, I need to keep you safe.”

His forehead creased into a frown. “But who will keep you safe?”

“I can take care of myself, but there are people who will help me. Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing, Emmett. I have a plan. There isn’t anything that I can’t get myself back out of. And when I’m done, we’ll have a normal life.”