Taliesin Ascendant (The Children and the Blood) (33 page)

“Oh, come on. You really expect us to believe you’d… what? Commit suicide?” Quinton sneered. “Over a human kid?”

Cole looked over, meeting the wizard’s eyes. “Try me.”

“Fine,” Vivian interjected before Quinton could speak. She rested a manicured hand on the man’s arm, stilling him. “Keep the girl.” The woman smiled. “You’ll see, Cole. We’re not your enemies.”

He couldn’t answer. Somewhere between the truth he wanted to speak and the lie he needed to say, the images of the night his mother died rose like a wall too high to overcome.

Shaking, he turned away, his hand still rubbing Lily’s shoulder.

The trees parted beyond the limousine’s smoked windows, revealing the gravel stretch of a small airport. Steel shelters covered private planes at the distant end of the runway, and closer by, a concrete block of a building waited. A handful of vehicles peppered the unmarked parking lot, though their owners were nowhere to be seen. Several rusted vending machines stood sentry along the building’s front wall, their faded paint still trying to shine in the morning light.

Bouncing over the rough terrain, the limo rounded the concrete building. Through the windows, Cole could see the shadowy forms of the people inside.

One of them turned as the limousine drove by. Cole tensed, his heart rate spiking.

“What?” Vivian asked.

Behind the cover of the smoked windows, Cole watched Keller study the limo, and then motion to his companions.

The limo continued on. Cole’s gaze went to Lily, though his thoughts were elsewhere.

“Cole?”

He didn’t answer. Two separate groups had been asking about him, Magnus had said. And obviously, one of them worked for the Blood. He began rubbing Lily’s shoulder harder.

Vivian tapped on the divider between the back seats and the driver. The blackened window rolled away.

“Thomas,” she said, her eyes still on Cole. “I think we have a problem.”

She rocked slightly as the vehicle accelerated up onto the tarmac and then curved toward the far end of the runway. As they came to a stop, Vivian threw open the door, while Quinton reached toward Lily.

“Back off,” Cole warned, the motion snapping him from his thoughts.

“Hurry up, then.”

Cole watched the wizard clamber out. Wordlessly, he drew the staff closer and then awkwardly scooped it and Lily from the seat. A small jet waited outside the limousine, its engines already powering up. Without a word, Quinton snagged Cole’s arm as he climbed out, pulling him toward the plane.

“Faster,” the man growled.

Tugging away from him, Cole looked back at the building on the other end of the airstrip. He could see people running, while a car charged past them from the parking lot.

The Blood killed Lily’s family, he reminded himself. And Taliesin killed his. But between the two groups…

Magic crackled around the wizard’s hand. “Now,” Quinton ordered, his gaze on the people rushing their way.

Grimacing, Cole shifted Lily in his grip and then headed for the plane as Thomas sped off in the limo.

Vivian looked up from buckling herself into the cramped quarters of the jet’s interior as he came inside. Bent nearly double, Cole barely spared the woman a glance. He set Lily in a seat away from the wizards, and then lowered himself down next to her. Strapping in, he turned to the window.

The car was coming. Half a dozen men ran in its wake.

Quinton slammed the door. “Go!” he shouted at the pilots.

They didn’t need the order. A shiver went through the plane as it started moving and then gravity pushed Cole deeper into his seat as the jet rapidly picked up speed. Outside, the car veered sharply, trying to cut them off.

The plane swept past the sedan and raced down the runway.

Cole turned away. The Taliesin were a known evil. At least more than the Blood right now. And Quinton’s lies didn’t matter. When Lily woke up, they’d get out of here.

He’d figure out what to do after that happened.

The plane shook and jumped, jerking from more than velocity. Pale-faced, Vivian watched the windows while in his seat, Quinton glared at the cockpit, visibly willing the pilots to go faster.

Cole ignored them all as he reached over, rubbing Lily’s shoulder again. Boneless, the little girl slumped in the seat, one thin arm around the staff. Slow breaths rose and fell in her chest, their pace unchanged by the jostling around them.

Frustration and powerlessness swelled at the sight. Nearly half a year of running, and now this.

Closing his eyes, he cursed himself as he fought to calm down. He was a bastard for thinking it, for considering it. Magical powers or not, she was a kid, not a weapon. And he wouldn’t be a monster. Not like the Blood, whoever they actually turned out to be. Not like the Carnegeans, with their casual cruelty in the name of history.

He glanced over as magic flared around Quinton’s hands in response to a sharp lurch of the plane.

Not like them.

Shaking his head, Cole turned back to the window as, with a jolt, the jet left the ground and launched into the sky.

The cell phone buzzed on the mahogany console table, its sound like a large hornet in the quiet hotel suite.

“Yes?”

A moment went by. The call ended. Brogan’s gaze slid to his employer.

“The Taliesin have him,” he said quietly.

There was no answer. His hands folded loosely and his leg crossed before him, the suit-clad man sat as he had for the past hour, watching the highway beyond the hotel window from the vantage point of a wood-framed desk chair.

“Keller questioned the human authorities at the airport,” Brogan continued. “They’re taking him to Croftsburg.”

Silence followed his words. For his lack of reaction, the man could have been sleeping, though Brogan knew that was far from the case.

“Sir, you know they wouldn’t take him to a city unless–”

“I know.”

Brogan let the soft words end his own. After years of serving the king of Taliesin, he knew the man well. He could feel the orders coming.

“The council is there,” Jamison said, still watching the traffic. “They’re going to use him to buy protection and then make him disappear. Again.”

On the highway, cars flew along, racing each other for the exits. In the hallway, a maid’s cart squeaked as it rolled by.

The chair creaked quietly as Jamison turned.

“Call everyone,” he said, no trace of emotion in his tone. “Tear the city apart. Whatever it takes, Mason.” He paused. “Before they hide him again.”

Brogan nodded, but the motion was lost. Without another word, Jamison stood and left, the bedroom door shutting behind him.

Silence fell again. Thoughtfully, Brogan picked up his phone and then glanced back toward the other room.

Croftsburg. Despite the danger, he knew Jamison wouldn’t stay behind. Not when they were closer to his son than they’d been in years. But protection wouldn’t be hard to arrange, even on short notice. Their people had long since perfected ways of keeping their presence and any necessary violence far beneath both Merlin and Taliesin’s radars.

Though there was Ashley to consider.

Idly, Brogan turned the phone over in his hand. Last word they’d received from Harris put the girl in the city. But that was days ago. Obviously, she could have relocated since then.

His gaze rose to the mirror above the console table.

Melted skin covered the left side of his face, and a milky eye stared out of the glistening mess. On half his head, his hair was shaved. On the other, nothing would ever grow again.

The corner of his twisted mouth pulled up in a smile as he thumbed on the phone.

*****

“So…” Crystal began with forced casualness as she picked up a piece of gravel from the rooftop. “Where’re we headed?”

“South, I hope,” Ashe said distractedly, her eyes on the boy creeping toward the edge of the office building. On either side, a pair of wizards shadowed his movements, their watchful gazes on the old business district around them.

As he neared the ledge, Ghost crouched low and then peered down at the street. Seconds passed and then he inched backwards, straightening only when several yards separated him from the open air.

He glanced to her and shook his head. Ashe sighed.

“Why south?” Crystal asked, tossing the rock aside as they rose from their places by the air conditioning units at the center of the roof.

“Because that’s where the Blood were last time I saw them,” Ashe answered, watching Nathaniel. Motioning her to stay back, the man left the cover of the massive units, his gaze sweeping the neighboring rooftops. Emerging from the opposite side of the air conditioners, two other guards did the same.

Silence followed her words. Ashe glanced back to see the twins sharing one of the countless enigmatic looks they seemed to possess.

“What?” she asked.

“It’s nothing,” Crystal said. “There was just this place down south we heard about. Like a colony of cripples or something.”

Ashe paused. “The Abbey,” she supplied, keeping her voice lower than she hoped Nathaniel could hear.

Crystal blinked in surprise. “Yeah, have you–”

“Do you know if it’s still there?”

The girl hesitated, and then regret crept onto her face. Ashe’s chest tightened. Stone-faced, she waited for the words.

“I’m sorry, I don’t,” Crystal said. “We never heard more than rumors in the first place.”

Remembering how to breathe, Ashe turned away.

“But maybe we could check?” the girl continued. “Ghost and I always wanted to go if, you know, it was real and all. If you know where it is, maybe we could stop by?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Ashe lied distantly, heading for Nathaniel as the wizard motioned her onward.

“So when are we leaving?” Crystal asked, following her across the gravel.

“Tonight. Unless something changes, anyway.”

She ignored the silence behind her this time as she came up to the wizards. Checking around again, Nathaniel gestured for two of the guards to take the lead as they started across the rooftop.

For the past few days, they’d been searching for the Blood constantly, but despite the cripples’ help, they hadn’t found a single one. Merlin and Taliesin, on the other hand, were everywhere. Staying mostly out of sight, the Merlin seemed committed to quietly hunting her and, most likely, the cripples alike. Meanwhile, Taliesin had nearly reached the point of walking the streets openly, and their numbers seemed to increase with each passing hour.

It worried Elias. She wasn’t sure what it did to Nathaniel.

On some level, she supposed she’d wanted to find the Blood in Croftsburg for the pure sake of dragging them back and proving to the council once and for all that neither she nor Carter had been insane. And that Darius was a lying bastard. Seeing the looks on the council members’ faces might’ve been nice, though being able to stop simultaneously hiding from the wizards of Merlin, Taliesin and the Blood would have been lovely too. But they’d lingered in the city almost longer than Elias could stand, and even she could admit it was probably time to go.

Elias already had a trio of cars prepared, ever since the conclusion of yet another ‘discussion’ several days before. They’d leave Croftsburg after dark, heading in three separate directions, with the goal of meeting back up at a destination the other two drivers wouldn’t know till Elias called them. She hoped she could convince him to head south without having to resort to playing queen on the matter. But given that finding the Blood was her priority, not his, she wasn’t entirely sure.

The building came to an end, and like its neighbor they’d just left, the roof butted up against the old brick edifice next door. Without pause, she followed Nathaniel up the rusted ladder bolted to the adjacent building’s side.

She grimaced as she crested the rooftop. The building overlooked an alley, which would force them to return to street level in order to cross. The whole point of searching along this stretch of shorter buildings was to give the twins the best chance of spotting the Blood wizards, but the surrounding rooftops and ambush possibilities left Nathaniel and the guards tense as hell, and descending through crowded offices and stores to reach the street just made it worse.

Crossing the asphalt expanse, she avoided the pools of standing water drying in the sun and then crouched dutifully away from the edge, knowing that approaching any closer would only annoy Nathaniel beyond measure. Moving ahead, Ghost and the guards inched toward the open air and checked the ground below.

A heartbeat passed. Ghost shook his head again.

Burying a grimace, she started toward the access hatch set into the roof.

A crash echoed up from the alley.

Turning sharply, Ashe hurried toward Ghost, barely noticing Nathaniel’s angry look as she reached the edge.

The building door was open wide and a Taliesin wizard was scrambling up from the wet concrete. His hands and feet propelling him equally from the broken ground, he lunged toward the alley exit, but before he made it a step, magic burst through the doorway, striking him in the back and catapulting him into the opposite wall. Limply, he crashed to the ground and then weakly tried to rise, the fear on his face visible from the rooftop.

Another man emerged from the building.

Ghost gasped and backpedaled. Ashe froze, suddenly uncertain what to feel.

Nathaniel glanced between them and the man below. Incredulity fractured his stoicism, but he didn’t waste any time in snagging her arm and yanking her out of sight.

She tugged away, glaring, and then crept back to the edge. Radiating displeasure, Nathaniel followed.

Though he appeared completely human, the man gave the ends of the alleyway a cursory glance and then stalked directly toward the wizard lying in a pool of drain pipe runoff. Frantically, the Taliesin tried to climb to his feet, magic flickering around him.

A swift jolt of electricity curtailed his effort. With a cry of pain, he crumpled to the concrete.

The Blood wizard spoke, his words unintelligible over the distance. Desperate contempt twisted the Taliesin’s face. He spat a response.