Gauntlet Rite of Ascension (30 page)

              “I know you got me by the short hairs. Just humor me, you can always run me through in a second.” I answered, keeping my posture non-threatening.

              She looked at me for a few seconds, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. I could almost see her thoughts as she tried to figure out of I was trying to trick her.

              “Alright, ask me yer question.” She said finally.

              Keeping perfectly still to make sure she didn’t stab me in the throat I asked, “What do you think of Vicktor?”

              “What kind of bone headed question is that?” She answered.

              I kept looking at her openly, trying to show I was completely serious.

              Again she studied me, trying to find a hint of deceit.

              “He’s a pain in the arse. Dangerous aye, he lets the Pack wallow in their Beast’s primal urges, allowing them to engage in hedonistic acts that only fuel the wild nature of their animals. He’s no friend to the O’Sullivan clan, I ken tell ye, if ye try and repeat that to anyone, I’ll cut yer tongue out and feed it to me piggy’s.” She answered.

              It was the last part that convinced me. Anyone can talk about how bad Vicktor is, but only someone who understands how dangerous going against him can be would be worried about making sure he didn’t know. It also showed that maybe there was a chance that she was involved in more than just talking against him; maybe she was prepared to move against him.

              During her answer I pushed the Beast to focus on her words, her breathing and her person as a whole. I looked for anything that would tell me she was deceiving me. My instincts were hit with the powerful and clear understanding that not only did she feel this way; she had deeper emotions that were in line with her words that she kept repressed.

              “I was up there placing a transmitter/receiver on the highest point.” I answered.

              “Why?” She asked, never letting the sword tip waver.

              Her scrutiny intensified as I saw her forehead wrinkle between her eyes in concentration. It was cute.

              “I am monitoring the comings and goings of the Den’s perimeter, seeing if anything untoward is happening.” I said, letting the truth of my answer fill my words.

              “Why?” she asked again.

              Now it came to it, up until this point, I could probably still have kept myself out of serious trouble if it was found that I had placed monitoring equipment on the Den. All that showed was paranoia. Nothing against that, but this next part is where the real threat lay. Once you start accusing the Pack leader of collusion with vampires you really have nowhere to hide.

              I took a deep breath, worried that she might be tricking me somehow, waiting until I reveal my thoughts only to haul me away to Vicktor.

              Only I didn’t think she would, her countenance was one of hostility, but not manipulation. She wasn’t going to turn me in, I don’t know how I knew this I just did. I had a hard time trusting someone just based on a feeling, but trusting your intuition was as big a part of embracing the Beast as being able to shape-shift.

              “Abaddon and I have reason to believe Vicktor is working with vampires, we don’t know why, but hope we can find evidence of what he’s up to with surveillance cameras.” I said, waiting for the hammer to fall.

              She stared at me for a few more seconds before she sheathed her sword and shifted her weight to one leg, placing a hand on her hip; a small mischievous smile grew on her red lips.

              “No shit Sherlock.” She said, smiling broadly.

              My mouth dropped open before I closed it in an audible clack of teeth.

              “You knew?” I asked, stunned.

              “Aye, my papa and Abaddon have been in contact about it. My father tells me everything. Why do ye think we are here so early?” She said.

              “Then why did you treat me like that? Like I was hostile?” I asked.

“A girl’s gotta have some fun, dontcha think?” Her smile turned from something beautiful to radiant, it lit up her face and momentarily stunned me.

“Well, shit.” I said, realizing I was the last to know.

“My father and Abaddon have been arguing about O’Sullivan leaving the Pack to form its own fer hours now, he sent me off to fetch ye.” She told me.

“Also, if I were ye I’d keep my mouth shut about you know what. The walls tend to have ears around here.” She added.

“No shit Sherlock.” I said and smiled.

She met my smile with one of her own, tinged with a glint in her eye that made my face flush.

“Lead on.” I said to her, sweeping my hand out in front of me.

“Yer not still stinging from that walloping I gave ye, I imagine?” She asked, walking past me.

“As I recall, if it wasn’t for your dad you would be having dinner with me tonight.”

“If yer lucky enough to be Irish, yer lucky enough.” She said with the air of reciting a poem.

“What does that even mean?” I asked, teasingly.

“It means ye will be at my room, tomorrow night at seven sharp to do as I please.” She took the lead as we went back down the steps, entering the Den.

“As ye wish m’lady.” I said mimicking her accent.

She turned to me with a look that said she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

“It is often that a person’s mouth broke their nose.” She said and winked at me.

I laughed for the first in months, feeling some of the pent up tension in me evaporate. We settled into an easy silence and I let her lead me through the Den’s winding corridors to where her father and Abaddon were waiting for us.

              “So, are you nervous about the Rite?” I asked her as we walked.

              She walked for a few moments in silence. I began to think she wasn’t going to answer.

              “Sure, but I have prepared myself.”

              “I didn’t really mean that. I know you are skilled with the blade. I was talking more about what you will be facing. I don’t think we’re going to be competing in a hammer throw contest.” I said.

              “I can handle any overgrown puppies they throw my way.” She said with a smirk.

              I could tell through the bluster that there was a small thread of worry. Her body language exuded calm confidence, but I detected a slight scent of fear of what she might face. She knew Vicktor was crazy and dealing with vampires, that kind of person was capable of anything.

              I hadn’t really thought about it, but she was a big target as well. Her dad was the leader of a large clan that had been rumored to be thinking of leaving the Pack and making Vicktor look bad. Vicktor might very well be planning on making her an example just as I’m sure he wanted to do with me.

              Eavan knew this; she was smart enough to have put this together a long time ago. We were almost in the same situation; she was as worried as I was; only she hid it much better.

              “C’mon, were here.” She said as we came to her father’s room.

              We went inside and saw Abaddon and Oengus sitting at a table talking loudly, both arguing heatedly.

              They each had their hands on large mugs that they would periodically drink from. Oengus sat back, keeping one hand on his drink while Abaddon was leaning forward, obviously pushing the conversation.

              “You know the time is now, Vicktor is corrupt and dangerous. The fact that he has central power is too much for one man to have. We see how easily it can be abused. The answer lies in spread out packs that each can decide what’s best for themselves, leaving the main Pack weakened and less influential.” Abaddon said.

              “I already said I agree with ye, the question is more about timing. There still is a chance the Pack can be salvaged.” Oengus answered.

              They both stopped seeing us come in. Abaddon sat back in his chair, admitting a stop in the argument.

              “Aye, so I see ye found the lad.” Oengus said.

              “I found him climbing the antennae array like a chimpanzee.” Eavan said teasingly.

              “So you placed the cameras successfully?” Abaddon asked me.

              “Yes, they should be sending the signal to Max as we speak. Hopefully by tomorrow we can get something.” I walked into the room and sat down at the table, Eavan did the same.

              “So that’s the plan? Use some wee little cameras to take down Vicktor?” Oengus said skeptically.

              I looked around and saw the same device we had in our room. It gave off a slight buzzing sound also. We were free to talk openly here.

              Abaddon began to speak when I answered instead.

              “That’s part of it. We need to make sure Vicktor is shown to be working against the Pack or else run the risk of just dividing the Pack further.”

              “And ye think some cameras will do that?” Oengus continued, showing contempt for the whole idea.

              “I think they’ll help. I know some of you older guys hate technology, but you got to get with the times.” I said.

I don’t know why but his attitude struck me wrong and I felt my blood pressure rising.

              Eavan leaned back like she was expecting a large explosion. Abaddon had gone completely still.

              “Say ye get yer precious video evidence. What then, are ye gonna have a trial? Are ye gonna play lawyer and convict Vicktor to community service?” Oengus asked, his voice had slowly risen to where he was almost yelling.

              “Yes, I’ll show the Pack what he’s been doing.” I answered back. I was struggling to control my anger. I knew the plan was solid, but Oengus seemed too thick to understand.

              “As ye know, we older types don’t understand technology as well as ye young pups. Say Vicktor claims the video is a hoax; say he convinces us old farts that you made it all up. What then!” Oengus had risen off his seat and had both hands planted on the table leaning towards me.

              “Then I’ll challenge him to back up his claim, as Pack law states, if he feels I am lying then he can prove it. If he accepts I’ll show I’m trustworthy by ripping his heart out, if he refuses then I’ll show how weak he is and not worthy of leadership by ripping his FUCKING HEART OUT!”

              By this point I had also planted both hands on the table and was leaning forward both of us facing each other, neither of us backing off.

              I saw a deep yellow infuse Oengus’ eyes and I swore his face rippled as he began to undergo the change.

              The room was deathly silent. Eavan had pushed herself back and instinctively placed a hand on her sword. Abaddon still was an unmoving statue, watching, waiting.

              Oengus bowed his head and I saw his body rise up and down. At first I feared he had started to shift and would attack. A second later I heard the deep rumbling of laughter coming from his barrel chest.

              Oengus raised his head and I saw a large grin splitting his face.

              “I just think ye might lad, ye just might.” He said.

              “Sit down boy, have a drink, we have much to discuss.” Oengus said.

              I sat down and looked at Abaddon, he nodded once and Eavan stood up to get us all a drink.

Chapter 28

              We sat around the same table, but by now we were all slightly bleary eyed and our speech was beginning to slur. The Beast did wonders for our health, it healed our wounds and gave us enhanced senses and speed, it made us almost immortal.

One weakness it had was alcohol.

              I don’t know if it was because consuming alcohol was a decision we willingly made and therefore was part of the whole control factor or if alcohol was just one thing our bodies couldn’t burn off fast enough.

              Whatever the reason, we were all pretty drunk.

              The only exception was Eavan. She sat across from me with a sly grin, like she was in on a joke only she knew about.

              We soon had explained the plan and had discussed the different aspects of it. Oengus seemed to like most of it, but he did have a few suggestions that were good and offered his assistance which we accepted over a large drink and a few Irish toasts. Oengus had a toast for everything.

              After that we got into the status on other clans and small packs, discussing who we could count on and who we should be wary of. Most of it was the same stuff I learned from Katrina, but Oengus always seemed to know just a bit more than I had been taught.