Guardians (Seers Trilogy) (43 page)

“Informant? What’s his name?” It was as if my brother already knew the answer; he was just seeking confirmation.

“Peter. Peter Keegan.”

Patrick’s eyes darkened.

Jack rapped his knuckles on the table, deliberating. “So they’re waiting there, for your word. What will they do if you don’t call soon?”

“The Demon Lord is impatient. They won’t wait long. They’ll kill who they can and then leave. They’ll be expecting my call any minute now.”

“But Kate is still alive?” Patrick asked again.

I nodded, confident. “She’ll be one of the last to go, I’m certain of it. The Demon Lord will find it poetically justifying if she’s the last to be killed. He probably wants her to see her sisters in captivity.”

“So what do we do now?” Maddy asked grimly.

“We have to move quickly,” Jack reasoned. “There isn’t time to call for reinforcements. We can call Terence, let him know what’s happened, but we’re not going to get much help from the Guardians. I could ask Jason to meet us at the warehouse, but it would be suicide. We already have too many mortal people in the situation as it is.”

“We need a plan,” Patrick mumbled, almost to himself.

“Getting inside the warehouse will be impossible,” Jack said. “They’ll know we’re coming.” Patrick shot him a piercing look, and Jack continued quickly. “I’m not saying we abandon them, obviously. But if the Demon Lord brought so few, they must be exceptional fighters.” He sighed. “If only we could get to Toni and Claire—free them. Then we’d have a fighting chance at getting the Seers out alive.”

“How can we get that close?” Patrick muttered.

I hardly knew my own words because my voice sounded so different from this morning. So level-headed. “I can call him. Tell him I have the twins. That you’ve surrendered. I can bring you upstairs, tell him Yuri is in the car with the girls. He wouldn’t suspect anything. That would get you into the room with them.”

Patrick was nodding, acutely aware that time was short and options were limited.

Jack looked uneasy. He spoke to the others, though he wasn’t really trying to keep his words from me. “Can we trust him? The Demon Lord’s right hand?”

They waited for Patrick. His eyes were on mine. “He saved the twins. ” He glanced around at the others. “He’s my only way to Kate.”

It wasn’t the most inspiring expression of trust. I was his only way in, so he would
have
to trust me. Logically, I knew I had to earn his trust. And I had a long way to go.

Maddy frowned. “What about me? I’m coming, right?”

“No.”

She looked to Patrick, her eyes flashing. He continued firmly. “I know you want to help Claire, but this is too dangerous. Jack’s right—this is no place for mortals. Besides, someone needs to stay with the twins. I need you here, Maddy.”

Jack faced me for the first time. “Look, no offense, but . . . Honestly, how do we know we can trust you?”

I wasn’t offended. After all, he had good reason to be wary. I was almost glad he was wary—one of them should be. What if they
couldn’t
trust me? What if—when I got back with my master—I reverted to my old thoughts? What if whatever had driven me to save the twins was fading already?

Henry Bennett had assured me the choice had been mine. And maybe that’s what frightened me the most. It was now up to me. Every second of every day, I was going to have to choose. My redemption could only come through my actions.

Jack was still waiting for some kind of answer, some assurance I was no longer an enemy. I wasn’t sure what to tell him. How could I convince him when I wasn’t even totally sure of myself?

Patrick spoke quietly, his words sure. “He won’t betray us, Jack.”

Jack and I both looked at him.

Patrick’s eyes were on mine. “I
do
trust you, Sean.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted that responsibility. Yet . . . it felt good. I didn’t want to disappoint him. I swallowed and pulled out my phone.

I had a call to make, whether my newfound conscience was ready to face my personal demons or not.

I dialed. My old master’s voice filled my ear. “Yes?”

“It’s done,” I said, staring at the table, avoiding the hard eyes on me. “We have the twins and O’Donnell. We’re returning now.”

“Good.” The Demon Lord sounded pleased. “And he surrendered?”

“Yes. As well as another Guardian and a Seer.” I could see Jack’s body tensing at my words—my heart pounded in response.

“Excellent. Bring them all. We’ll be ready to go when you get back. Thank you, Far Darrig.”

I waited until I heard him hang up before disconnecting. I met Patrick’s stare. “He’ll be waiting. We need to go.”

Jack blew out his breath. “Not much of a conversationalist, huh?”

“Not with me,” I said.

“Kate?” The words seemed to slip out of my brother of their own accord. His whole expression was edged with desperation. “Did he say anything about Kate?”

I shook my head but spoke before his forehead could wrinkle too severely. “It’s a good thing he didn’t mention her, Patrick.” Hope sparked in his eyes, though he still didn’t look convinced. “If he had,” I continued, “it would only be because she’s dead.”

His jaw flexed tightly. He stood. “Time to go. They’re all waiting for us.”

Jack stood as well, offering to call Charlotte Bennett to let her know that by the time she returned, he and Patrick would be gone. I moved to take Yuri’s body to the SUV, and Patrick followed me without a word, as if guessing my thoughts. Or perhaps he just wanted to keep me in sight.

I frowned but pushed the back door open, hooking my fingers around the edge so it wouldn’t swing back on Patrick as he exited behind me. I wondered—transiently—if I should tell him about Henry Bennett’s voice, if that would help him trust me. Even as I thought it, I knew I wouldn’t. Maybe someday I could tell him about the incident, but the time didn’t feel right.

Feeling. Something I hadn’t done for so, so long. I almost wondered, for the briefest of moments, if regaining my humanity was worth the worry, fear, and pain.

M
y brother’s gaze
was fixed on the highway. Now that we were off dirt roads we were making better time. Still, nowhere near fast enough.

She was alive. She had to be. Sean said she would be. I had to believe she would be.

In the backseat, Jack was on the phone with Terence, updating him on the situation. I glanced fleetingly toward Sean. He hadn’t said a word since we’d climbed into the SUV, and his silence was adding to my growing nervousness. Between the panic and fear I felt for Kate and the hope and confusion I felt for my brother’s sudden transformation, I was fast dissolving into a frantic, fidgeting mess. Since I couldn’t do anything for Kate at the moment, I tried to focus on the man seated beside me.

When I’d first come face-to-face with my brother after thinking he’d been dead for the past two hundred years, I hadn’t been able to find a trace of humanity in him. There wasn’t a shred of Sean’s personality inside the Demon called
Fear Dearg
. But today, as I’d watched him wrap Jenna’s arm, as I’d looked into his eyes when I could have ended his life, I’d seen my brother.

Sean was alive. I was sure of it now. This man was a hardened version of Sean—one who had gone through terrible hardship and lived in so much evil he would never be the carefree brother I used to know. But the light had returned to his eyes. He was no longer the empty body of
Fear Dearg
. He was my brother. He’d had the opportunity to shoot me; I’d seen the gun. He could have stopped me. He could have hurt the twins—he’d played with them instead, defended them. He could have completed his mission, but instead he’d saved us all from another Demon.

If these actions didn’t merit trust, I didn’t know what should.

Thinking of my father’s letter, I marveled at his wisdom.
You cannot hate what you love.
The truth of that eternal statement was now clear to me. I loved Sean. I could hate his actions. I could hate everything he’d done. But I could never hate
him
.

The twins were certainly taken with him. Especially Jenna. When she’d called him her guardian angel, my brother looked more than a little overwhelmed, but his eyes had brightened. That small interaction alone had me confident he could be trusted. Though I wasn’t sure how, a little girl had managed to enter his heart and change it. She would never know how grateful I would always be.

But what had started him on this path to change? What had triggered it?

Jack was still on the phone behind us. I cleared my throat; Sean tensed in response. I kept my gaze focused out the windshield.

“So,” I began slowly, unsure. “What changed your mind?”

“Hmm?” Sean pretended to be more absorbed in driving than he actually was. I knew, because a muscle in his jaw ticked—a nervous reaction he’d had for as long as I could remember.

Somehow, knowing he was nervous as well made this easier. “In Vegas, you were . . .”

“Consumed with hate,” Sean supplied when my words drifted. He shifted behind the wheel, fingers curling tightly, but he didn’t elaborate.

“So what happened?” I prompted quietly. “How could you . . . change so much?”

Sean’s eyes flickered toward me. He pursed his lips, then took a deep breath. “After Vegas, I . . . I was plagued by thoughts. Memories of you and home, mostly.”

“Plagued?”

“Perhaps not the best word.” He frowned. “I tried to push them away. But I couldn’t. I tried to focus on how much I hated you . . . But it didn’t work. Not for long, anyway. And then, today . . .” He swallowed hard. “When Avalos killed that girl, Lee . . . I felt something I haven’t for a long time. Guilt. Regret. A lethal combination. And when I was ordered to go, Kate, she . . .”

I realized my hands were shaking. I tried to steady them by rolling them to fists.

Sean must have caught my reaction to hearing her name. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t—”

“No. Please, I . . . I want to know what happened.”

“My master . . . the Demon Lord, he ordered me to go, to get the twins. On my way out, Kate begged me not to go. She said she’d been to see Father.”

I nodded, trying—and failing—not to imagine Kate’s distress and grief at that moment. “Yes. She did. I had her deliver a letter. He sent one in return. When all this is over, I’ll show you.”

He sighed. “Patrick, I don’t know if I can do this. Be forgiven. I’ve done some . . . unspeakable things.”

“We’ll figure this out,” I insisted firmly. “Together.”

My brother bit his lower lip. “He would have mentioned if he’d killed Kate—over the phone. She’s alive.” He exhaled sharply. “She has to be.”

Not the most encouraging thing he’d ever said to me. Not the most threatening, either. Still, my reflexes had me reacting, grabbing his arm without thinking, my whole body going hard with fear. “Do you know something you’re not telling me? Is Kate all right?”

But Sean just shook his head. “I don’t know. But we’ll be there soon. Another twenty minutes.”

I swallowed with difficulty, forcing my fingers to uncurl and release my brother. I settled back against my seat and turned to look out at the rapidly passing landscape.

Please, Kate, hold on. I’m coming. I’m coming.

***

Three blocks from the warehouse, Sean steered into an alley. He cut off the gas and twisted around to look at me and Jack equally. “I’m going to have to tie you up here, just in case someone is waiting downstairs for us.” He hesitated, but only momentarily. “I’m going to have to knife you. It’s the only way they’ll believe you’ve truly surrendered.”

I nodded, accepting his words easily. I would take a thousand knives, if it helped me get to Kate.

Jack sighed behind me. “I’m getting too old for this sort of thing . . .”

Sean opened his door, and I pulled in a deep breath as he rounded the hood. I pushed my door open and climbed out before he’d come to a complete stop. Jack was right behind me, a thick roll of silver duct tape in hand.

He passed it to my brother. “Found it in back, by Yuri.”

Sean took it easily and Jack—glancing one last time at me for silent confirmation—turned his back on the Demon, wrists pressed together.

“Hold them a bit apart,” Sean instructed. “You’ll want some flexibility so you can get free.”

Jack complied, holding his wrists about two inches apart, and Sean began to tie him with a proficiency that could only come from repeated practice.

Finished in less than thirty seconds, he asked, “How does that feel?”

Jack tested the binding, moving his hands together to disguise the looseness. “Good,” he grunted. “Not too strong, but believable.”

Sean turned to me and I twisted around without hesitation. While he bound my hands, I closed my eyes briefly.
Please, please, let me be able to trust you,
I mentally begged. If I’d come this far, only to fail . . . I needed to save Kate. For the moment, nothing else mattered. I had to get her out of there alive. If I was unsuccessful, I would be failing not only as her Guardian but also as the man who loved her. Both failures would be unforgivable.

“How does it feel?” Sean asked me.

I tugged my hands and felt the tape strain against my skin. Perfect. A bit of fidgeting, and I was confident I could free myself. “Good,” I said, turning back around to face him.

Sean gestured with his chin to the car. “Your knives are in there?”

I nodded and stepped aside so he could fish the blades out. While he did, I spoke. “Will one knife be believable enough?”

I thought I heard Jack groan.

Sean didn’t look at me. “It’ll work. They may stick you with another before we have our moment.”

“We need to make sure we know where all the Seers are, before we make our move,” Jake reiterated.

Sean straightened, holding two knives. I recognized both as mine. His eyes were hard on mine—determined. “I’m sorry,” he said.

I tried to roll my shoulders, but they were too constricted by my tied hands. “It doesn’t matter,” I said.

Sean still grimaced. “Do you have a preference of where?”