Anomaly (Causal Enchantment #4)(7)
No one uttered a single word.
I leaned in to Caden for comfort. This all sounded both drastic and impossible. But if these last few months had proven anything to me, it was that nothing was impossible.
Turning to Sofie, Mage pushed, “It is your call. Do we act now or wait?”
Sofie’s pale eyes locked on a spot on the wall, her face its natural stony mask as she pondered the grim options. Like soldiers waiting for direction, no one said a word, the entire group waiting on Sofie to give the order.
Did she like being the leader in all this? Back when she was more focused on the urgent need of freeing her sister, she’d demanded everyone’s allegiance—binding promises of loyalty. Only a week ago, everyone here was at odds with everyone else, ready to attack and kill at the slightest provocation. Would those allegiances hold tight, with what was to come?
That allegiance certainly hadn’t kept one vampire from betraying Sofie. The vampire who, in his seething hatred for me after discovering I’d hidden Veronique’s dire situation at the hands of the witches, had killed me. If not for Sofie’s deal with the Fates, I would not have come back.
“What will we do about Viggo?” I said, pulling every eye to me, that same mix of curiosity and wariness in them that I’d seen since waking up.
“Good question,” Mortimer said. “We know that he is out there and he will not go quietly.”
“He thinks Evangeline’s dead. Let’s keep it that way,” Sofie spat.
But Mortimer argued anyway. “You think his need for revenge has stopped at her? You know him as well as I do. He will hunt each and every one of us, one by one.”
“So let him come,” Galen retorted. “I’ll be ready.” From what Lilly had told me, Galen was their tactical expert. While other immortals, Viggo and Mortimer included, had enjoyed lavish homes and private jets, Galen prided himself in infiltrating various high-level military groups to learn what he could about weapons systems and classified capabilities. He had the knowledge and means to get us into almost any human defense system.
A mirthless smile touched Mortimer’s lips. Those two would never get along. “And will you be able to defend both yourself and Celine at the same time? Because hurting her to destroy you will be Viggo’s end goal.” Near-black eyes swept over the group. “All of you would do well to remember that. I, for one, am terrified. There is a maniac somewhere out there with a hit list and all of our names are on it. The love of my life is on the top of it. Viggo will not think twice about killing Veronique for revenge.” He cleared his throat twice, one of Mortimer’s few tells that his emotions were getting the better of him. “I have half a mind to take her and run to the most remote spot in the world to live my life in peace.”
“I am well aware that we have not seen the last of Viggo. I will deal with him when the time comes. Quickly and without mercy,” Sofie snapped. “Let’s focus our efforts on the real issue at hand.”
From the corner of my eye, I caught Lilly’s lips purse. There was a long list of people who wanted to deliver Viggo’s death to him. Sofie, for a hundred and twenty years of misery. Lilly, for the murder of her mother and theft of her ashes.
And me, for my mother’s murder.
But Sofie was right. Stopping the fledglings was probably more critical than exacting revenge on Viggo right now.
Mortimer’s long finger jabbed the air. “Fine, but if there is so much as a hint of him, I am taking Veronique and I am leaving. Understood?”
Sofie blinked once. I supposed that was the only answer she’d give.
I heard a faint clank of metal behind me and my head instinctively whipped around, timed perfectly with Caden’s. I smiled. Finally, we were in the same league.
The two figures standing side by side at the mine entrance widened my smile. Not because their arms were laden with metal coolers from their blood bank run, but because these were two friends who I’d previously lost and who’d since been returned to me.
Though the Fates had saved me at the hour of my human death, Fiona had been left in a charred heap in Viggo and Mortimer’s Fifth Avenue palace after the first sorceress attack. It was only because of Sofie’s deal with the Fates that my friend was now watching me through those mesmerizing violet eyes.
“Everyone’s out. Every last blood bank in New York City has been tapped,” Bishop announced, his muscular arms bulging through his light T-shirt as he held the metal cooler in the air. Fiona held an identical cooler. “We’re better off hitting up the hospitals outside of the city. Their supply is pathetic, but it’s better than nothing.”
Bishop winked at me as they passed, already having forgiven me for my part in the deception back in Paris. Thank God all those perverse delusions had been wiped out of his head the moment the spell had been broken. I had yet to ask him if he’d told Fiona. I worried what she might do when she found out that her very attractive eternal boyfriend had kissed me and had wanted to do a lot more. Would it damage our friendship?
Another problem not worth worrying about right now.
My ears picked up on a strange and very irregular heartbeat behind me. Spinning around, I saw Kiril standing in the entranceway in his human form. “Is that normal? His heart, I mean.”
“Yeah, all of them sound like that. It’s good. That way you won’t accidently bite them,” Caden said with a sly smile, “because they bite back.”