Hunted

“Only the weak and incompetent summon more powerful beings to fight their battles,” she snapped, then shifted closer to him. “And if you ever call me sweetheart again, fiend, I’ll send you to Tartarus so fast they’ll be picking pieces of you off the walls for centuries.” She threw a look at me over her shoulder. “He’s all yours, Cardinal.” Then she stepped out of his way.

For one brief moment, Gavyn leered at her. “I hope you and I meet again, sweetheart. I’d love to show you a thing or two that would make your head spin.” He sauntered past Esras and me. “Stay here, old man. My business is with the lovely Lilith.”

Esras hesitated and glanced at me.

“I’ll be fine,” I reassured him. Gavyn’s arrogance was annoying, but he only ever acted cocky when he had the upper hand. He knows where the Summoners are, I telepathed Esras. Just give me a minute with him.

He nodded, but he didn’t like it. I hurried after Gavyn.

“Scram, minion,” he ordered when he entered Jethro’s office and saw the bartender.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the bartender snarled. “Jethro doesn’t allow your kind in here.”

Gavyn smiled. “My kind? I thought this,” he waved, “was a sanctuary for all Nephilim, good or bad.”

“Except bottom-dwellers like you,” the bartender retorted.

Gavyn’s eyes flashed. He studied the bartender, his lips curling up. “You know what I miss? The old days, when we tied traitors to rocks and set vultures on them for eternity.”

“And soul-suckers were sent to rot in Tartarus for eternity,” the bartender retorted.

In a fraction of a second, Gavyn’s hand moved and a sizzling, red energy ball materialized above his palm.

“Enough. You,” I nodded at the bartender, “go back to the bar.”

He scurried out of the room.

“He was being insolent,” Gavyn said, the energy ball fizzling out.

“What’s wrong with you? You know the rules. You can’t touch Neutrals under our protection, or all bets are off.”

He smiled though his gray eyes remained cold. “You’d test my brother’s loyalty by attacking me to protect that nobody?”

“He’s not a nobody, and Bran would understand.”

“Would he?” Gavyn’s eyes glistened. “I don’t have time for this. I have things to do, places to go.” He glanced over his shoulder at Esras. “Do you mind?” The he flicked his finger and the door slammed shut on Esras’ face.

I frowned. His energy powers seemed to have grown stronger. First an omni energy ball, now a show of telekinetic ability. “What do you want, Gavyn?”

Gavyn’s eyes narrowed as he studied me, his head cocked to the side. “There’s something different about you.”

What? I wanted to ask, but I hated discussing anything personal with him. Besides, there was enough weirdness that came with my new powers I really didn’t want to know. “Where have you been? Bran’s been looking for you for two days.”

“And he almost got killed, thanks to you. I’m getting strange vibes from you that are very intriguing. What have you been up to? I know we haven’t seen each other in a while, but the changes in you…” his eyes narrowed and he added slowly, “I can now see what my little brother sees in you.”

Ew. The thought that Gavyn found anything remotely attractive about me made me want to throw up. “Why is it my fault Bran almost got killed?”

Annoyance flashed in Gavyn’s eyes. “He was in trouble, I contacted you but you chose to ignore me. But that’s yesterday’s news. He’s okay, for now. In fact, he was here earlier. I can still feel his energy.”

“I don’t like being accused of things I haven’t done, Gavyn.”

“This time, you’re guilty as charged, but I’m in a good mood and would rather talk about you and this new vibe—”

I waved my hand without meaning to and sent him upward and backward until his back slammed the door and his feet dangled several inches off the floor. “I’m not in the mood for your stupid games either, Gavyn. Start talking.”

Furious didn’t begin to describe the expression that flashed on his face. “Put me down!”

“Tell me what you’re talking about. What trouble was Bran in? When did you contact me?”

“Don’t be hotheaded, Lilith. You touch me again and you, your minions, and everyone in this building go poof. You didn’t think I’d come here alone, did you? Put. Me. Down.”

I did a psi scan to confirm his words. There were demons outside, on the ground and on the roof of the building. I wasn’t sure whether they were regular demons or the Tribe, but I refused to show Gavyn that his threats worried me.

I guided the power buzzing on my back to move to my right hand, just like Master Haziel had taught me. My fingers tingled as the ancient writings appeared on the surface of my skin. Then my hand started to glow.

“What in Tartarus is that?” Gavyn asked.

“Start. Talking.”

Uncertainty flickered in his eyes, but then his smugness returned. “Go ahead. The Tribunal will only bring me back,” he bragged.

There was that word again—the Tribunal. What did it mean? “No one returns from Tartarus.”

“That is where you are wrong, little sister. Not only will I come back, but I’ll be stronger. On top of that, you’ll have to explain to my brother why you sent me there in the first place.”

Bran. If only Gavyn wasn’t his brother. I let him go. He landed on the floor like a cat, adjusted his blazer, and brushed off his shoulder. Another smug grin touched his lips.

“What is this new power you have?” he asked, staring at my hand.

I willed the writings from my hands. They disappeared along with the glow. I took a step away from Gavyn. “I think you should leave now.”

“Okay, if you insist on knowing the truth,” he said flippantly. “I got your phone number through your human medium and sent you some text messages.”

My mind raced as I tried to recall what was in the messages from Kylie.

Are you with Bran? The first one had said. Kylie often checked if I was alone before asking me over to her place. I’d responded with a “no”. I hadn’t read the next two messages because of the meeting.

Get over here now, I need your help… The last text had sounded so much like Kylie, I hadn’t bothered to finish reading it. It never crossed my mind to wonder why she hadn’t used abbreviated texts like she usually did.

“Why couldn’t you be clearer? I thought they came from Kylie, and she thought her brother sent them.” I was yelling by the time I finished.

“Clearer? What part of ‘get over here now, I need your help stopping Bran’ wasn’t clear,” he snapped, losing his cool too. “Or ‘Bran needs you’?”

Guilt washed over me. I shouldn’t have ignored the rest of the message, or the previous ones. “What happened?”

“Oh, now you want to know?”

“Just. Tell. Me.”

He made a face. “He pissed off a few club owners while searching for me, got into a few fights. I couldn’t help him because I was in the middle of an important meeting, so I contacted you. By the time I finished, which was a few minutes ago, I learned he wanted to meet me, which as it happens works perfectly with my plans. I want to see him too.” His expression grew serious. “In fact, I have a proposal for the two of you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Really?”

“Listen first before you blow me off. Join me.”

“Excuse me?”

“You and Bran should leave the Guardians and join me.”

He had lost it if he thought we could ever do something so stupid. “Why would we do that?”