Zoey Avenger (Incubatti Series Book 2) (16 page)

Zoey was a tool, a weapon, and nothing more, one that knew how dangerous she was and also who could help her.

A trickle of anger slid through him, aimed at himself for sleeping last night and at her for not having the sense to come to him and knowing that he cared enough to do whatever it took to protect her from Olivia.

If he didn’t act, he risked being removed from the position of Chief Enforcer.

Turning to face the silent room waiting for his decision, he directed his attention first to the watch commander. “Issue an order to bring in Team Rogue. Alive. We need to question them to uncover my father’s whereabouts. Wes” he faced his brother “contact Tommy and have him do some digging. I also need an appointment with Olivia.”

“To coordinate efforts?” The eldest Councilmember, Chandler, asked.

“Yes and because I suspect she had a hand in this.” He glanced at Paul as he spoke. The Cambion leader was a little too smug. If he weren’t on the Council with the ability to block his efforts, Declan would haul the asshole into interrogation and beat the truth out of him.

“That’s quite an accusation, Declan,” Chandler said gravely. “Tread carefully.” He didn’t, however, forbid Declan from pursuing, a subtle sign Declan took to mean that the Council had their suspicions about the kidnapping.

“I always do,” Declan said. “Everyone out.”

The Incubatti members trickled out, except for the center’s staff, his brothers and Chandler. The Councilmember approached, assessing Declan’s features.

“I mentioned it before, but I am not the only to have a concern about your conflict of interest, Declan.”

“There is no conflict of interest,” Declan replied coldly. “I will find my father and who is behind this.”

“The videos seem pretty evident to me.”

Fear slid through him. “Eliminating Zoey will not stop what’s happening. The Sucubatti are playing nicely in the sandbox on the surface while they’re working hard to undermine us, even working with the Cambions to do so. This struggle isn’t new. It’s been this way for a hundred years,” Declan continued. “Our world is changing, Chandler. It’s a reality neither Council wants to admit. We’re already at war, and this is another stage.”

“If that’s the case,” Chandler replied, moving close enough for only Declan to hear him. “Then Olivia is winning. The Councils will never openly declare war for fear of what happened a hundred years ago. Keep that in mind when you talk to Olivia. Any conflict between us will never elevate, and you’ll not have the Council’s support, if you decide to accuse the IAB openly of conspiracy with the Cambions. If anything, they’ll replace you. Expect me to be in your business until your father is returned. I know you will do what you must to have him returned.”

Declan clenched his fists. His father had warned him that the politics of being the Enforcer Chief were muddy. Just how messy was becoming clearer.

“One final thought, off the record,” Chandler continued. “Don’t let Olivia win. We won’t declare war, and the Sucubatti don’t want to admit they’re in the middle of an angry hornet’s nest. Someone has to deal with this shit and make it disappear, and that someone is you.” The Councilmember offered a smile and headed towards the door. “I’ll expect progress reports twice daily.”

“Yes, sir,” Declan replied. He waited until the door closed behind the Councilmember before releasing a loud curse. “Fuck!” He wiped his mouth, edgy, restless, worried.

“You are so good,” Aiden said. “You don’t want to know what I would’ve told that asshole.”

Declan ignored his brother, struggling to rein in his emotions before he did or said something stupid. He faced the videos again and checked Zoey’s mind.

There were no lingering emotions that indicated she knew what happened, which meant she’d have no idea where Ethan was. His anger dampened, and he cursed himself once more for taking a sleeping pill instead of remaining aware to prevent this from happening. Every time he lowered his guard, Olivia pounced.

The automatic door slid open, and Liam walked in, fire in his eyes. “Vikki’s gone,” he reported of his soul-mate. “She flipped out after she saw the video. I explained to her that you wouldn’t jump to conclusions, but she didn’t listen.”

“Can you track her?”

Liam nodded. “Once she leaves the compound, yeah.”

“Zoey knows about her condition. She won’t let Vikki get hurt.” Declan glanced at his watch. It was tracking his soul-mate the way it should.

“Condition?” Liam repeated. “Is she ill?”

Declan looked up, surprised his brother didn’t know the real reason why Vikki was there. He hadn’t told anyone but his father. It wasn’t his place to reveal Vikki’s secret.

Apparently, Vikki hadn’t said anything either.

“That’s for her to discuss with you,” Declan said.

Liam frowned. “Declan, what’s wrong? Is it the Halfling curse?”

Dammit, Vikki. There were days he wasn’t certain whose soul-mate was more stressful: his or Liam’s. “Talk to her, Liam. It’s nothing life threatening, or I’d tell you.”

Liam appeared ready to argue, when Wes interrupted.

“Tommy says to show up today. It’s chaotic over there and Olivia won’t risk turning you away,” he reported, lowering his cell phone.

“Meet me up front. I’ve gotta grab my cell.” Declan strode towards the door, not looking forward to the talk he had to have with the woman who was almost certainly behind all of this.

He trotted back to his suite, unable to sort through his feelings about what to do about Zoey. He could locate her no matter what. But what did he say when he did? How did he keep Olivia and Paul, both of whom were waiting for him to slip up, from finding out, if he hid her?

Stepping into his room, he stopped inside the doorway, senses picking up on the presence of someone who didn’t belong. Vikki was in the far corner. The door slid closed behind him. 

Accustomed to working around predators and being one himself, Declan assessed she was wound tightly enough to snap. He slowed his motions out of instinct and forced his energy to stay as calm as he was not.

Crossing to the crystal tumblers and decanter of vodka on the tiny breakfast bar of the kitchenette, he waited until he’d poured himself a shot before facing Vikki. The Hunter was tense, her pretty features stormy and green gaze on him.

“She didn’t do it. I don’t care what’s on the videos,” she started.

“I believe you,” he replied. “But she has a problem that’s only going to get worse.”

“It’s not her fault!”

“Vikki, I understand.”

She waited. When he didn’t expand on his words, she sighed in frustration. “You’re going to hunt her down anyway, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he replied. “She’s dangerous to herself and everyone around her. I understand acting while not in control of one’s actions, and I know my people want her in chains or dead. I can’t let that happen.”

Vikki was studying him. “So it’s true. You didn’t know you were fucking Heidi. Olivia drugged you.”

“I was not in the right mind, no.”

“Why didn’t you tell Zoey?”

“Why didn’t you tell Liam you’re pregnant?” he countered and then sipped his vodka.

Vikki’s blank look made him cock his head to the side. She was hiding something.

“This is different,” she said, recovering. “You need to tell her. Do you have any idea how much she’s hurting?”

“Every minute of every day. Just like I am,” he replied softly. “I don’t want to lose her. What’s your rationale?”

“Liam doesn’t want kids.”

Her candid answer surprised him. “Why did you ask him? Just tell him you’re having one,” he said, unable to help the amusement that slipped into his tone. His older brother could be overbearing, even towards him. “Isn’t that usually what Team Rogue members do anyway?”

“Sometimes it’s not that easy.” Vikki appeared troubled for a moment. She shook her head, refocusing on him. “If you do anything else to hurt her, I will still hunt you down and make your life hell.”

“You would be hard pressed to outdo my current hell.” Declan opened a drawer in the desk near the kitchenette. “I issued an order for you all to be brought in by any means necessary, which includes my brothers hunting down their mates.”

Vikki glared at him. Before she could retort, he held up a hand.

“You’ve got a ten minute head start.” He tossed her three of the armbands that blocked the wearer from the influence of sex magic.

She caught them, eyeing him, as if suspecting he was tricking her.

“Nine minutes and fifty seconds,” he said with a glance at his watch. “Don’t get caught, Vikki. There’s no get out of jail free card this time.”

Understanding, tinged with fear, crept through her features. She snapped one band around her arm and stalked out of the suite.

Declan tossed back the rest of his vodka, poured another shot, and downed it just as quickly. The liquid warmed his throat and thawed the frozen stiffness of his chest enough to breathe deeply once more.

Aware his brothers were waiting, he set the tumbler down and left, unable to stop thinking of how he was going to handle the latest crisis with his soul-mate in a way where she didn’t die and he wasn’t rendered powerless to help her.

Chapter Twelve: Framed

Zoey killed the Cambions and succubae that came to Lydia’s sister’s then made her way towards the secondary emergency rendezvous point, where the team would have gone after her warning. To her dismay, the abandoned building in the slums of Baltimore was vacant. No trace of Hunters’ magic was anywhere. She entered through the rear entrance, senses on full alert.

The building was rotting from the inside out, the floors coated in dust, rubble, nails and abandoned office furniture. No footsteps were visible from the light trickling in through one window covered in graffiti. Pausing to listen, she assessed that the team had taken refuge at an alternative site.

Rather than leave any trace Cambions might be able to track, she left the building for the alley beside it and pulled out her phone.

“Zoey.”

She whirled, heart slamming into her chest and knife in hand. “Fuck, Chrissy!” she breathed. “You’ll get killed sneaking up on me like that!”

“Ginny said you’d come here. Everything okay?” Chrissy crossed her arms, clearly expecting bad news.

“I dealt with it. We need to get the Professor, though. He stayed behind while I scouted ahead. You alone?”

“No.” Chrissy tossed a thumb over her shoulder. “Grant Brown refuses to let me out of his sight until he verifies that certain proprietary property hasn’t fallen into hands it shouldn’t.”

“Persistent,” Zoey grumbled. “Where’s Ginny?”

“They split up again. Ginny took west DC and Tiff east, in locations different than yesterday. They’re being pretty heavily tracked by Cambions, we think on behalf of the Sucubatti.”

I thought Declan bought us some time. Her instinct wriggled, warning her something had changed. “This is getting old. How can we kill bad guys if that bitch Olivia won’t leave us alone?” Zoey didn’t expect a response and started past the tall human towards the direction she indicated. “Set off the electro-thing. It should distract them long enough for us to regroup, plan and scatter.”

“I set it on a timer. If they have it in a compound with no wifi, I’m not sure if I’ll be able change it.” Chrissy had her iPad in hand and was tapping commands to her latest creation. “No wifi. Can’t change it.”

“When is it supposed to go off?”

“Tonight at midnight.” Chrissy drew a deep breath. “Zoey, we kind of have another problem. A bad one.”

“We’re getting good at problems.”

“Heidi was found dead this morning, and someone kidnapped Ethan.”

Zoey froze. “What?”

Chrissy cleared her throat before continuing. “We’re kind of being blamed.”

Zoey faced her, stunned by the news. Her thoughts flew first to the Professor then to Declan. She knew firsthand how close the super-incubuses were to their father and that Ethan himself was a clandestine advocate for what she was doing. Taking him out of the picture seemed like something Olivia would try, a warning to his sons, but Heidi? She was Olivia’s loyal lapdog. Zoey had a reason to hate her, though she doubted anyone else did.

“Hence the sudden pressure,” Chrissy added. “I have some bad news about your tests, too.”

“Stop there.” Zoey held up her hand. “I don’t give two shits about my tests! I sleep for one night and the world goes even more to shit! What the fuck happened?” She began walking again, her sense of urgency rising.

“Well …” Chrissy drifted off, lowering her iPad. She trailed. “Nobody really knows. Our people were all over the place last night. Five never reported to any rendezvous site. We heard about Ethan from Vikki and Heidi by intercepting communications.”

“She means she was in my office when I got the call,” Grant said, appearing from around the corner of the alley.

Zoey almost snapped at the liaison but managed to swallow the retort. With some agitation, she yanked off the band and tossed it to him.