we’re doing great,” I lied. “All right then. I’ll speak to you soon. I love you Alex.” “Love you too Mum. Bye.” The phone clicked and she was gone.
I didn’t allow myself to sleep that night for fear that The Sorrow would be in my dreams. I went into school Tuesday morning tired and bleary eyed. Mikey didn’t even bother to ask, he knew he wouldn’t get anything out of me. Maths dragged and I fled the room as soon as the bell rang, heading for Science and praying that at least one of them would be there. I took my seat, nervously tapping a pen against the table. After a few minutes, people began to filter into the room.
Neither Gabriella nor Rachel came through the door.
About a quarter of the way through the lesson, a jaded looking Miss Cleveland came in and informed the class that Miss Steele was ill and that we would be watching a televised lecture on physics instead. The caretaker wheeled in a TV and activated the DVD player, before switching off the lights and shutting the door behind him. As expected, no one paid the slightest bit of attention to the TV. An absent teacher meant a licence to talk. Not having any desire to participate, I sank my head into my bag. I heard Elliot say something to me from behind and I just grunted a muffled response.
There was a click of the door, followed shortly by a thud next to my ear. I lifted my head up and I almost cried out for joy when I saw that it was Gabriella’s bag making the noise. But it was replaced by dread when I noticed how dishevelled and drawn she looked. Her hair was tied back but several strands were loose, sticking out at various angles. There were dark bags under her eyes and her face looked pale. I knew without asking that my bad feeling had been justified. “Ella, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” I whispered as she slumped onto the seat. She shook her head. “What happened?”
“Not here.” She pointed towards the door and stood up. I clambered off my stool, almost knocking it over in the process. People looked ready to start making suggestive noises, but cut them short when they noticed how distraught she looked. We walked to an alcove in the corridor. Gabriella’s eyes were brimming with tears. She took a deep breath. “It’s Sophia. She’s really sick.” I didn’t know how to correctly respond. My mouth flapped open and shut a few times before I could speak. “I don’t understand.” “She’s been bitten.” “Oh my god. By what?” “A Bloodseeker.” My brain was spinning with questions. I tried to grab hold of them one by one. The first one was obvious. “But she’s a Chosen. I thought we were supposed to be immune to bites?” “We can’t be turned. But she’s contracted Heptacemia.”
Haven’t read it. “What’s that?” “It’s an extremely rare blood disease that we can catch from Vampire bites.” “Is it curable?” “Normally. But because she’s so young and only half Chosen, her immune system is too weak to fight the infection properly.” My mouth gaped open. “But she’s going to get better right?”
Gabriella’s shoulders slumped. “We don’t know. She’s in so much pain. And she looks so frail.” Her voice cracked. “Alex, I think she’s going to die.” Tears slipped down her face. I pulled her into my arms and smoothed her hair. I shut my eyes and thought about the poor little girl, with the sweet smile and rosy cheeks, writhing in pain as an infection slowly killed her. I forced the images from my head. It didn’t bare thinking about. Gabriella pulled away from me and wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands. “Can’t the Coven cast a spell or something?” I suggested. “They’re going to try. Rachel’s gone through the Veil to collect some ingredients for it,” she sniffed. A sudden fear gripped my chest. “But what about The Sorrow, isn’t that where it’s heading?”
Gabriella gave a weak smile. “I told her everything. I think her actual words were The Sorrow can piss off, I’m going anyway. As far as I can tell, Faru hasn’t sealed it yet. I guess he will once she’s back.”
“So what happened anyway? I’ve been so worried about you.”
Gabriella ran a hand over her face, it was a sharp harsh movement, she was clearly beyond tired and stressed.
“A few hours after you left, the Coven foresaw a Bloodling attack on a house a few miles from the Warren. I should have called you back, but I didn’t — I’m sorry. To be honest I was still angry with you…and myself a bit for how I reacted.”
“Don’t worry about that now. Go on.”
“Sophia sensed them. They were hiding in the attic waiting for the owners to return home from a night out.” She shrugged. “It was easy, we arrested them no problem.”
“So what went wrong?”
“As we were leaving, we were ambushed by the SOS, dozens of them. We were outnumbered and outmatched. We managed to escape, but Sophia got cornered by a Bloodseeker. Midnight pretty much tore the thing in half, but not before the bastard got his fangs into her.” She paused, harshly tugging out a strand of hair that had slipped onto her face. “Alex, it was a setup.” “You mean there’s a Rogue in the Warren?” “There has to be. It’s the only explanation. They knew we were coming.” I blew air out through the side of my mouth. “That’s the last thing we need.” We stood in silence for a moment before I asked. “Can I come and see her?”
“Of course. We can head together later. Selene and the Coven have requested to see you today anyway. To be honest the only reason I’m here is to bring you in.”
“Surely Faru could have just done that link thing with me like he did before, you didn’t need to come here.” As I said the words, it dawned on me that all my frantic call attempts could have been avoided. The communication is two way — I could have linked with him. I groaned internally.
Gabriella shifted her gaze down to her hands. “Okay, I needed to get out of there, in case…you know.” She lifted her head up. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes. “Does that make me a bad person?”
“No, of course it doesn’t…it makes you human.”
She looked relieved. “Thanks. Listen, I also came here to apologise. It was wrong for me to act the way I did. I was terrified and overwhelmed by everything.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s me who should be apologising — what I said was completely out of order. And as for going behind your back, I promise I will never do anything like that again.” I held out a hand and tried my best smile. “Friends again?”
Gabriella knocked my hand away and wrapped her arms around me. She pressed her cheek against mine and I felt the warm dampness of her tears on my skin. As I breathed in her wonderful scent, the knots in my stomach unravelled and all of the fear slipped away as if it had never existed.
I turned down the Soulfire song blaring from the car speakers and glanced at Gabriella.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier. If there really is a Rogue in the Warren, why not force Bargheist to give up who it is?”
“That’s yet another reason I think there is one. He was deported back to Pandemonia just before the ceremony started. The trap happened what — six hours later? I would say that’s about the perfect amount of time for a message to be passed on and for an attack to be set up.” I indicated and overtook an old couple in a Beetle. “They knew you wouldn’t be able to question him about anything.” “Exactly.” “Which also means that they must be close by.” Gabriella raised her eyebrows. “I don’t follow.”
“Think about it. If they were able to setup an organised attack like that within a relatively short window of time, there must be a base nearby.”
“Alex, you’re a genius! Of course they would need somewhere to meet safely. If we can find that base, we can take them all out.”
“Yeah, but how do we do that?”
“That’s the hard part.”
We drove on in silence for a while. The Audi raced along the duel carriageway. Under Gabriella’s instruction, I came off onto a country style lane and followed signposts towards an area called the Warrens. The name sounded so innocent and normal. Like hiding in plain sight.
A thought occurred to me. “Do you think the attack was meant specifically for Orion?” I asked.
“I think so. It’s common knowledge that Orion is the first response team for Chapter Hill. Echo and Trojan back us up if it’s a big mission or handle specific jobs, like the occasional infiltration or protection- like they're doing with your house. The rest of the Guardians generally work further afield. Plus…” She cast an odd glance in my direction. “What is it?” “Well, there’s been this feeling I can’t shake. But I didn’t want to worry you.” “You’re worrying me now! Tell me.” “I think the trap was meant for you.”
I stared over at her. A juddering under the wheels warned me that I was drifting off the road. I steadied the car. “Why do you think that?”
