Zoey Avenger (Incubatti Series Book 2) (30 page)

“Sorry, Declan.” Unable to help her amusement, she stretched forward to search his pockets for his cell and grabbed it. “If you want lessons in how to be a vigilante, I can teach you how not to get caught by a half-dead Halfling.” She grinned.

She stood, gazing down at his still form, uncertain what to think of what he’d been doing, except she didn’t think him capable of something like this. It melted the icy wall she wanted to remain between them, the one that kept her from getting hurt again.

He really meant it; he loved her enough to break his own rules. The idea of cool, calculating, super-leader Declan in a mask made her want to laugh again.

“By the way, Declan. I won’t be coming over tonight,” she said in a syrupy voice. She lifted the car keys she’d fished out of his pockets. “I’m also taking the car, sweetie. I’ll make sure someone comes to get you.”

One of his hands moved, a sign the buzzer was losing its effectiveness fast on the powerful incubus. Zoey backed away and lifted the car keys, pressing the alarm button to find out where he was parked. A horn blast came from about two hundred yards away through the forest.

She drew to a stop. “Okay. I can’t leave without saying this,” she said, more entertained than she could recall being recently. “Strike two, Declan. You definitely win this round purely on entertainment value.”

Spinning, she raced through the trees to the car waiting for him, not surprised to see it was a rental. Zoey hopped in and began driving, not about to risk being caught after zapping and taunting him. He was likely to take it as an invitation that she wasn’t yet ready to give.

She flipped through the contacts in his cell and found the number for her second favorite incubus, Wes, a man deemed the calmest by his brothers who she nonetheless always managed to make hostile. She tapped the contact.

“Wes,” he answered gruffly.

“How’s Lydia?” she asked.

“Zoey? Why do you have Declan’s phone?”

“Answer my question, and I’ll answer yours,” she retorted.

“She’s stable. It’s taken all day to get her that way, so I’m not about to hand over the phone for you to rile her up.”

Zoey breathed a sigh of relief. “Declan’s a quarter of a mile from the raid you all did against us earlier today. He’ll need a ride.” She hung up, grateful Lydia was okay, and texted Liam with instructions to have Vikki call her on Declan’s phone.

She halted the car at a stop sign and looked around. The area was quiet with no sign of other vehicles. Zoey put the car in park and scrolled through the contacts in Declan’s phone curiously, not surprised to see he was on first name basis with every member of the Incubatti and Sucubatti Councils. Doubting Declan was going to keep his phone active long, she sent numbers of interest to herself via email, finishing just as the phone rang.

Zoey put the car into gear and answered.

“Zoey?” Vikki was suspicious.

“Yep!”

“What happened? Where the fuck are you? Whose phone is this?”

“Omigod, mom.” Zoey rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. I ended up in a tree and couldn’t move until I healed. This is Declan’s phone. How’s Chrissy?”

“Grant has her under house arrest. They interrogated her and turned her over to him.”

“Is she okay?” Zoey asked, anger stirring at the thought of Cambions terrorizing her friend.

“Yeah. Enforcer boys talked to her before turning her over. Tiff’s there to keep guard along with one of the Incubus brothers. She’s really upset, though. Said she told them everything.” Vikki sounded troubled.

“Might not be a bad thing,” Zoey said, considering. “They’re sort of enemies with Olivia, too.”

“I guess they offered to let Chrissy use their labs to figure out the Halfling and Rogue issues.”

Zoey gripped the steering wheel harder. “I don’t like the idea of turning over our resident brain to the Incubatti.”

“That’s what I said. But Chrissy wants to do it so she has the equipment and peace she needs.”

Zoey wanted to refuse out of emotion, knowing Declan probably had a hand in this somehow and was manipulating the situation. The side of her forced to become a leader knew they needed a better solution than stealing energy drinks from Olivia every time one of their girls started going crazy. Not to mention the core Team Rogue members destined to suffer blackouts without the antitoxin to counter what their bodies produced.

“I hate these kinds of decisions,” Zoey said vehemently.

“How’d you get Declan’s phone?”

Zoey smiled, unable to quash her amusement at what her soul-mate was doing. “You won’t believe it. I’ll tell you when I get there. What site are we at?”

“We ran out of pre-planned positions,” Vikki admitted. “Find me where we met when we were kids.”

“Headed there now. Ditching this phone in case I’m tracked.”

“Got it.”

Zoey hung up and threw the cell out the window. The smile remained on her face throughout her trip south into DC and to the playground where she’d met Vikki when she was ten. The bittersweet meeting spot was where she ran after learning that Declan had cheated on her and also where Team Rogue was born.

Zoey pulled into the parking lot and silenced the car before getting out. She went to the edge of the playground and stopped, gaze taking in the unusual shapes the equipment took at night. Scattered clouds covered the half moon above, giving the place an eerie feeling.

A lot had happened since she’d last found her way here, sobbing and hurt. The memory of her pain remained, and her smile faded.

There couldn’t be a world where she and Declan were together every night. At least, not as long as they were enemies by day. The more logical of the two, he had to know that. What made him think it was possible? What made her want to believe him, when she knew better?

Zoey sat on one of the old railroad ties repurposed as a border separating the woodchips of the playground from the parking lot. When she’d left Declan this morning, it had been with a great deal of confusion and pain, need and fear. At the moment, those sensations were faint, and the one thought at the forefront of her mind was that Declan always surprised her. She’d been amazed to learn of the depths of his devotion to a woman he’d known three days when they completed their rite. Outside of the cheating incident where he wasn’t fully in control, he’d remained loyal and supportive, albeit in secret.

If she let herself fall into his arms and world, he’d never let anything touch her and would protect her against everything and everyone.

But I have a greater purpose. One that didn’t involve hiding behind a powerful incubus. Equally devoted to her and his job, he’d thus far managed to hang onto his life while discreetly supporting her. She didn’t want to know what he would choose, if forced to make a public decision between his soul-mate and his society.

Her choice was clearer. Team Rogue had to exist. Someone had to stop the Cambions protected by the Incubatti and the Sucubatti manipulation and killing of Halflings. No part of her doubted she did the right thing in forming Team Rogue, though her feelings about Declan were harder for her to understand.

“Not that I want one,” she murmured, hardening.

“Want what?” Vikki’s silent approach came from behind her.

“I have no idea,” Zoey said ruefully.

Vikki sat beside her. “You smell horrible.”

“Chrissy dropped a grenade on me.” Zoey twisted her head to sniff her clothing. She was used to the mix of smells but even her nose crinkled as she took a huge whiff.

“You are so fucking lucky,” Vikki said with a shake of her head.

“Chrissy blowing me up is lucky?”

“Maybe not that part. But you surviving is.”

“Did you think it’d be like this last time we were here?” Zoey asked, eyes lingering on the jungle gym where she’d hidden. “As wanted fugitives hunted down by our soul-mates, humans and every other supernatural creature in the world?”

“Sorta, yeah,” Vikki admitted. “Actually, I’m not sure I cared what happened as long as we were all together.”

“It’s more complicated than I thought it would be.”

“But we’re doing it,” Vikki pointed out. “I mean, you’re cracking skulls with Olivia and Declan. Chrissy found out how Olivia is hurting Halflings and the rest of us are eliminating Cambions right and left. There wouldn’t be people hunting us down if we weren’t fucking good.”

“Yeah.” Zoey rolled her shoulders back. Pride bubbled within her. “We are fucking badass, aren’t we? It’s hard to think about that when I’m so frustrated all the time.”

“You solved the money issue. We need to sort a few more things, and we’ll be fine.”

“Like how to neutralize Olivia.”

“You think she’s the key?” Vikki glanced at her.

“I think she’ll kill more people and blame me until someone takes me out,” Zoey replied quietly. “I’m terrified to think of what Bio-Mom will do if she catches you or the others. Terrified she’ll soon own my mind and make me do more terrible stuff.”

Vikki shook her head. “Chrissy will stop that. If we go after Olivia, we gotta destroy everything she’s doing. The Halfling program, her link to the Cambions. We’re gonna need some real firepower.”

“Or the money to buy it,” Zoey said with a smile.

“Or a certain set of Enforcer brothers to clean up their society while we do ours.”

“That won’t happen.”

“Yeah.” Vikki sounded disappointed. She pulled out her phone and silenced a phone call. “I swear Ginny can’t take a hint. If I’m not answering, I’m busy.”

“Oh, and when I don’t answer?”

“You have to answer. You’re the leader of Team Rogue.” She placed the phone face down on her thigh. “Anyway, tell me what happened with Declan.”

Zoey explained about the man in the black mask. By the end of her tale, Vikki was laughing so hard, she was in tears. Zoey grinned, once again astonished by Declan’s sudden decision to color outside the lines.

“You zapped him!” Vikki finished laughing and wiped her face. “My god I envy you so much! You know how much I’d love to zap Liam?”

“Trust me, no more than I wanted to Taser Declan.”

“You guys uh, talk more?”

“No. Not sure I want to at this point. Kinda need space to think.”

“I get that.”

Zoey was quiet, pensive. “I guess we can send Chrissy to them. As long as they know I will kill every last one of them if a Cambion gets within ten feet of her.”

“And I’d help. I think that can be arranged. You sure?”

“I think so. I mean, I don’t want my mind to disappear in three weeks. I’d like to see where things are going. I want to see the world change because we’re able to make it better,” Zoey said, sighing. “Then my mind can disappear.”

“Chrissy will have a solution by then. Worst case, you’ll have Declan to counter it,” Vikki said.

For a price. Zoey didn’t think she’d ever pay the cost for her ultimate safety, because it meant walking away from this path. “We’ll see,” she said vaguely. “Let’s go.” Zoey rose and stepped over the tie, headed towards Vikki’s car.

Vikki followed, glancing at the screen of her cell. “Oh.” She missed a step. “I swear to god we can’t go two seconds for a peaceful chat without the world ending!”

“What’s up?”

Vikki tossed her the phone and trotted to her side of the car. She opened the door and slid in.

Site compromised. Fifteen Halflings taken. The rest of us were off site when IAB came. Being tracked. Move now.

Zoey’s blood ran cold. Her breath caught in her throat, and she reread Ginny’s message twice before dropping into the car. “Tell me there was something wrong with the site or comms and we didn’t get sold out by one of our own,” she whispered, staring at the message.

“I chose the site and set up the comms,” Vikki said grimly. She slammed the car into gear and tore out of the parking lot. “We’ve suspected for a while that someone was selling information to the IAB. The warehouse fire, Olivia’s lab.”

Zoey rubbed her face, disturbed by the idea that a Halfling had turned against her own kind. Her energy was waning after the taxing day. She texted Tiff a warning to grab Chrissy and run. “I had hoped that wasn’t the case. Is it my fault for not taking it seriously?”

“I think you’ve done an amazing job. We started with no money, no weapons, no place to live, no operations center or support or guidance of any kind. Hell, we started with six of us and grew to fifty.”

“Then lost over twenty five in two days,” Zoey murmured.

“Makes it easier to feed everyone.”

Zoey snorted, amused. “I guess I use to feel like the number of Cambions we killed was a measure of success. I’m not sure how to measure our success now.”

“Don’t think about it. Just focus on what’s next.”

“Like how we free fifteen Halflings from Olivia.”

“I think you had the right idea. This shit won’t stop until she does. We can expend our resources going after them or we go after her once and for all with everything we’ve got,” Vikki said.

Zoey sank into silence, mind on the Halflings Olivia had captured. She didn’t want to think about what Olivia might do to anyone associated with her. The idea of hurting her own kind made her stomach knot. She’d fed them a dream she truly believed in. If it killed them following her, was she to blame?