Hunted

“It is the only way to stop the Tribe.”

Maybe he wasn’t crazy. “What do you mean?”

“All this mess would have been avoided if Bran had done the right thing and accepted his responsibilities as the leader of the Hermonites.” His voice dropped. “The truth is out, Lilith. The Tribunal knows how he ‘won’ the battle on Jarvis Island.”

The hollow feeling I hated settled in my stomach. A little over four month ago, Valafar had staged a fight- till-death combat on Jarvis Island and told the demonic world the winner would become their leader. At the same time, he had manipulated us, dangling the list of the humans who’d sold their souls to Bran until Bran signed a contract and joined the combat to win it back. I did not remember the details of that night, but Bran had filled me in. I had had no choice but to help him win. My participation, a secret among the Cardinals, had been known by only three demons—Valafar, who was dead, my sister and Gavyn. Even though Gavyn hadn’t been able to attend the event, Bran had told him afterward.

“How could you use what Bran told you in confidence against us?”

“I didn’t.” A weird expression crossed his face. “I mean, I did it to help you. Besides, that was just the first evidence we presented to the Tribunal. There’s more. You and your grandfather brainwashed Bran and made him switch—”

“Bran chose us,” I snapped. “I’m getting tired of your people saying we influenced his decision.”

“That’s your opinion. The fact remains that the switch is a first in the history of the Nephilim. The Tribunal wasn’t sure how to deal with that, until we told them about the Specials. Those children will cause an imbalance of power in the Guardians’ favor. And last, you decided to help soulless degenerates from the human cesspool. There are rules, Lilith. When humans sell their souls, they belong to us. You are not supposed to give their souls back.”

I couldn’t come up with an argument against the things he’d said. We were guilty. No wonder the Goddess wanted us to find the Summoners to avoid annihilation.

“Who summoned the Tribe? The Order? Can we meet with it?”

“Those feeble-minded members of the Order cannot agree on anything, let alone a historic moment as the summoning.” He smiled smugly. “I formed a new council and summoned the Tribunal. Then the Tribunal sent its army to fix things.”

I swallowed, refusing to panic. “Fix how?”

“Hunt you guys down and make Bran take his rightful place with us. If he can’t, then you must take his place. You both won, so technically you should be co-rulers. The Specials must be returned to us. However, if you and Bran join me now, the Guardians can keep them. Oh, and no more helping humans. We’ve recovered our losses over the last two weeks and even acquired new ones, so we are even. The bottom line is if we get you and Bran, we can ask the Tribunal to rescind its orders and send the Tribe home.”

He was nuts. There was no way I’d ever willingly join the dark side. On the other hand, if Bran were in danger… Unfortunately, he would do the same to protect me. There had to be a way to stop the Tribe. But what if Gavyn was lying to manipulate me?

“When do you want an answer? I mean, can we sit down and discuss the details with your council?”

Gavyn chuckled. “Nice try. You can meet the council after you agree to join us.”

“Where? Mount Hermon?”

“The assistant manager who gave you that name is in Tartarus. Don’t worry about the details. I’ll finalize them with Bran.”

“With both of us,” I corrected him. “Did your council kidnap Jethro?”

He cocked an eyebrow, the gesture so like Bran’s it annoyed me to see it on his face. “You ask way too many questions, Lil.”

“Did you?”

“We didn’t kidnap anyone. They volunteered. You have your army of Guardians willing to die for the cause, and now we have ours.” He smirked as though he knew his words would shut me up. “One little personal piece of advice, Lilith. That new ability you have can be very tempting to a power-hungry demon, so be careful who you show off to, especially when you meet my council.”

I stared after him, surprised. He’d just warned me. Now why would he do that? He opened the door and disappeared out of view. I thought I heard him say something to the others, but I was busy replaying the conversation I just had. It was crazy, yet everything made sense, especially the way the Tribe only came after us, never the senior Cardinals.

I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding, my gaze meeting with Esras’. Behind him stood Solaris, Lunaris, and Lucien. They slowly entered the room.

“You heard?” I asked them.

“Everything,” Esras said. The other three nodded.

“Are you going to consider their offer?” Solaris asked. “Take one for the Guardians?”

I shot her an annoyed look. “Of course not. You can’t believe anything Gavyn says. He’s mean and manipulative.”

“What if he was speaking the truth?”

“Not now, Solaris,” Esras warned.

“Why not? The CT ordered the portal closed and hundreds of SGs are being asked to put their lives in danger for something her team did. What if she and Llyr can stop this nightmare?” She faced me and raised her brow.

Put that way, it made sense to give in to Gavyn’s diabolical plan. “I don’t know, Solaris. Maybe we will. I have to talk to Bran and my grandfather about all this before…” I cleared my throat, refusing to give in to my emotions. I hated Gavyn Llyr.

“So who really won the battle on Jarvis Island?” Solaris asked.

Part of me wanted to blow her off, but another realized the truth would eventually come out. “Bran did, but I helped him during the last fight.”

“So it’s true, the two of you won?” she continued

I shrugged. “Something like that. Let’s go. I have to talk to Jethro’s Neutrals.”

The others started out of the room, but Solaris wasn’t done. “So the demon wasn’t lying. You two are co- rulers, king and queen of the Hermonites.”

“Shut up, Solaris,” her sister snapped from the doorway. “I swear, sometimes I wonder what goes on in your head.”

“We now know why they are after us and we will stop them,” Esras said. He shot Solaris a glance. “Cardinals don’t run or throw their own under the bus, Solaris. We find out the Tribe’s weaknesses, and use them to our advantage.”

“One thing still doesn’t make sense,” Lucien said. “Tribunal means court, right?”

Esras and Lunaris nodded. Solaris didn’t bother to respond. She was probably thinking up another line of attack.

“Why would a demon court decide our fate?” he asked.

Silence followed his question, but with it came another possibility. “If they have a Tribunal who decide their cases, then we probably have one too,” I said. “We could have a rebuttal for the accusations leveled against us.”

“Maybe the Senior Cardinals have answers,” Lunaris said.

“Master Haziel, not the seniors,” I said.

“Then let’s go home. I’d like to know if a Tribunal can really bring people from Tartarus like he claimed,” Solaris added. “It might explain why a Guardian saw Valafar. Maybe their Tribunal brought him back.”

I inhaled, then exhaled slowly. Of all the things Gavyn had said, that worried me the most. No one was supposed to escape from Tartarus, yet he had said their Tribunal could bring demons back.

“We can’t go home yet,” I said. “We must find Bran before Gavyn does.”

Solaris eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“He’s likely to do exactly what you want—sacrifice himself.” To save me.