Read Online Taste (Ava Delaney #5) by Claire Farrell - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Claire Farrell
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Council have these same tattoos. Then there was the brand on the back of his neck. Slave market markings, same as Val and Emmett. So we’re back to that idea again.”
He was silent for so long that I asked, “Are you there?”
“And it got in? By itself?”
“Yeah, I think the lock is broken now. It could be the reason Folsom was murdered, because his protection is gone or something. I don’t get it, but that’s not even the point. We have to move them now.”
“Moving that many wanted people will be difficult,” he said slowly.
“I know, but we’ve no choice. If the beasts came… if they got into the sanctuary… I can’t let that be an option. We can’t afford to wait around for somebody else to sneak in, particularly if the Council are involved. So do you know anything?”
“My hand wasn’t involved in this. I’ll suffer if your people are injured. I’m not that masochistic, Ava.”
“Have you heard anything about this tattoo artist? Or some kind of group within the Council’s staff?”
“I haven’t. I’ll dig up whatever I can, but this is all news to me.”
“Maybe you haven’t been paying enough attention,” I said. “This is big and twisted, Gabe. I can feel it. We’re uprooting trouble, but the people in the sanctuary need this funeral, so we’re doing it.”
“If you insist,” he said. “I’ll organise it for tomorrow. Be ready for my call. It has to be brief, I’m afraid.”
“That’s fine. They just want a chance to say goodbye.”
“They?”
“Okay, I do, too. But I want them in safety before the beasts come.”
“You’re really this concerned about the BVA?”
I exhaled loudly. “Abso-fucking-lutely. This is real, Gabe. The vampire queen and her seer are running scared, so don’t doubt that this is happening. The beasts will go after anything even remotely like you and me. Don’t forget that. Be careful.”
“I’ll need to know where they all are,” he said. “Your humans. In order to keep an eye on them.”
I hesitated, still afraid to wholly trust him.
“I can stay with them,” he pointed out. “You might feel safer if you bring me to them and refuse to let me leave.”
“Possibly.”
“I’ll get organised around here. Try to get all of your humans in the one place if possible.”
Shit. That meant my grandmother, who was not exactly easy to be around, and a policeman who didn’t even know about the supernatural world. How was I going to pull that off?
And what if Mrs. Yaga needed more energy to protect my friends? The thought of letting her touch me—letting her take from me—made my skin crawl.
I called Shay and asked him to meet me at my house in a couple of days. I would think of something to tell him before then.
Nancy, my grandmother, would be difficult. The last time she had been in possible danger, she refused to come with me, instead choosing to stay in a hotel. If there were beasts coming, I didn’t want her to be anywhere with lots of people unless I was there to protect her. I might have felt anger and bitterness toward her, but a tiny part of myself couldn’t let her be harmed, no matter what she had done.
I headed to her home, dreading the conversation. Her reactions were unpredictable, something I was beginning to blame on her age, and I wasn’t sure if she would come with me, or if I could have her near me for any length of time without murdering her. I was only partly joking about that.
A familiar sick feeling came over me when I reached her neighbourhood. It had been my neighbourhood, too, but the place never managed to feel like home to me. There had been too many wrongs done to me there, too much isolation and rejection. It would always be a place that made me feel uncomfortable at best and paralysed me with fear at worst.
The door was ajar when I got to her house, and my stomach dropped to the floor. Not again. Please, not again. No more dead bodies of people who couldn’t defend themselves. I couldn’t
He was silent for so long that I asked, “Are you there?”
“And it got in? By itself?”
“Yeah, I think the lock is broken now. It could be the reason Folsom was murdered, because his protection is gone or something. I don’t get it, but that’s not even the point. We have to move them now.”
“Moving that many wanted people will be difficult,” he said slowly.
“I know, but we’ve no choice. If the beasts came… if they got into the sanctuary… I can’t let that be an option. We can’t afford to wait around for somebody else to sneak in, particularly if the Council are involved. So do you know anything?”
“My hand wasn’t involved in this. I’ll suffer if your people are injured. I’m not that masochistic, Ava.”
“Have you heard anything about this tattoo artist? Or some kind of group within the Council’s staff?”
“I haven’t. I’ll dig up whatever I can, but this is all news to me.”
“Maybe you haven’t been paying enough attention,” I said. “This is big and twisted, Gabe. I can feel it. We’re uprooting trouble, but the people in the sanctuary need this funeral, so we’re doing it.”
“If you insist,” he said. “I’ll organise it for tomorrow. Be ready for my call. It has to be brief, I’m afraid.”
“That’s fine. They just want a chance to say goodbye.”
“They?”
“Okay, I do, too. But I want them in safety before the beasts come.”
“You’re really this concerned about the BVA?”
I exhaled loudly. “Abso-fucking-lutely. This is real, Gabe. The vampire queen and her seer are running scared, so don’t doubt that this is happening. The beasts will go after anything even remotely like you and me. Don’t forget that. Be careful.”
“I’ll need to know where they all are,” he said. “Your humans. In order to keep an eye on them.”
I hesitated, still afraid to wholly trust him.
“I can stay with them,” he pointed out. “You might feel safer if you bring me to them and refuse to let me leave.”
“Possibly.”
“I’ll get organised around here. Try to get all of your humans in the one place if possible.”
Shit. That meant my grandmother, who was not exactly easy to be around, and a policeman who didn’t even know about the supernatural world. How was I going to pull that off?
And what if Mrs. Yaga needed more energy to protect my friends? The thought of letting her touch me—letting her take from me—made my skin crawl.
I called Shay and asked him to meet me at my house in a couple of days. I would think of something to tell him before then.
Nancy, my grandmother, would be difficult. The last time she had been in possible danger, she refused to come with me, instead choosing to stay in a hotel. If there were beasts coming, I didn’t want her to be anywhere with lots of people unless I was there to protect her. I might have felt anger and bitterness toward her, but a tiny part of myself couldn’t let her be harmed, no matter what she had done.
I headed to her home, dreading the conversation. Her reactions were unpredictable, something I was beginning to blame on her age, and I wasn’t sure if she would come with me, or if I could have her near me for any length of time without murdering her. I was only partly joking about that.
A familiar sick feeling came over me when I reached her neighbourhood. It had been my neighbourhood, too, but the place never managed to feel like home to me. There had been too many wrongs done to me there, too much isolation and rejection. It would always be a place that made me feel uncomfortable at best and paralysed me with fear at worst.
The door was ajar when I got to her house, and my stomach dropped to the floor. Not again. Please, not again. No more dead bodies of people who couldn’t defend themselves. I couldn’t
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