Arcane Inc.: Books 1-4 (Arcane Inc. Box Set), page 60
“I thought I heard your trouble-making voice,” Pete growled as he came in behind me.
“Yeah, I’m the trouble-maker here,” I replied sarcastically.
“Dad, I—”
“I tried to warn you, Ashley,” he said harshly, cutting her off. “You wouldn’t listen.”
“Bad genes,” the mother said and I resisted the urge to squash her rotund face.
“Is it true, Dad? Did you start again because you thought I was weak?” she asked.
He said nothing but looked down at the rug red-faced. That was all the answer Ashley needed. “You should go,” he said.
“Fine,” Ashley said. She no longer sounded so meek. She was more angry than anything. She pulled back her fist and punched Pete right in the face. I stepped aside to allow him room to crash onto the thin rug. The other three gasped and took an instinctive step back. Annabelle hadn’t seen that coming. “I never want to see you again,” Ashley said and stormed out.
I followed her out into the garden but then I went back. I had something I wanted to say.
“She isn’t weak,” I told Pete as he lay on the floor clutching his face pathetically. “She’s stronger than you’ll ever be. The only bad genes came from you. You pathetic little scrotum-sniffer.” Before I left I delivered a swift kick to his groin. Then whilst the mother shouted at me, I casually departed the house.
17
I found Ashley back in her car, clutching the steer wheel, her knuckles white with rage. I slipped into the passenger seat and tentatively slid my arm around her shoulders. She released her grip from the steering wheel and fell onto my chest, letting her tears out in jagged sobs. She didn’t cry often which made the few times when she did that much more horrible.
“I just wanted… to meet them…. That was all,” she sobbed.
“I know,” I replied gently. What else was there to say?
“I never want… to see… that man again,” she said. “He’s…” Apparently she could find no words to describe him.
“You never have to,” I promised, stroking her hair. I wasn’t used to comforting people but I thought I was doing a pretty good job. “Listen, you know you’re not weak, right? You could run rings around them.”
“Maybe around him. I don’t know about the others. You said this town makes them stronger.”
“They might have strength but they don’t have skill. If they were as great as they made out then why didn’t any of them use magic against us?”
She pulled back and her puffy wet eyes met mine. “Good point,” she sniffed.
“They couldn’t even stop a weak silencing spell.”
“That’s true.”
“And hey, they weren’t all bad. Annabelle was alright.”
“Yeah. Just Clarabelle who was awful.”
“Yeah. And what kind of name is Clarabelle anyway?” I said and Ashley laughed.
“A bloody atrocious one,” she said, smiling.
“Clearly your mum had better taste in names.”
Ashley laughed again. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Back to the vampires I suppose,” she said as she started the engine.
As soon as we crossed the town line I relaxed and closed my eyes. I was still tired from being up most of the night running from Sebastian. I didn’t get the chance to nap, though, because Matt phoned me.
“What have you got?” I said, answering the call.
“Nothing for Aldric. No number. No email address,” Matt said. He didn’t sound disappointed so I knew he had something. He never came back empty-handed.
“What do you have then?” I said.
“A phone number for Joshua Ward.”
“Aldric’s assistant,” I said.
“That’s him. He should be able to hook you up with his boss.”
“Awesome. Listen, Matt, I want you to sort of lie low for a while. Things are getting pretty dangerous and my enemies have a habit of going after people close to me,” I said. Matt and Emma had been dragged into my messes too many times in the past.
“Ed, I’m getting used to being a part of your stuff. I’m not scared of it like I used to be,” he said.
“Really? What’s changed?”
“I’ve realised that you always get us out of trouble in the end,” he said and laughed.
“Matt, you’ve had a go at me so many times in the past for putting you in danger!” I practically shouted at him. He didn’t get to lay the guilt on me and then take a u-turn.
“This time it isn’t your doing. Vampires are coming to Maidstone no matter what you do. Maidstone is where me and Emma live too and we don’t want it overrun with vampires,” he said. “My point is I don’t want you to think you can’t come to me. You can.”
“Alright, well, I’m glad you’ve come to this realisation, Matt, but I’d still rather you kept to the computer stuff. Without magic or anything you’re not going to be a great help against vampires. Unless you want to be used as bait?” I joked.
“Funny,” he said drily. “I’ll text you the number.”
I waited until we were home before calling the number for Joshua. The person who answered sounded young but with vampires that was nothing to go on. “Edward Lancaster. How can I help you?” he asked.
“I need to speak to Aldric,” I said plainly.
“He is resting. He won’t be available until after dark.”
I looked at my watch and saw they were a good few hours before dusk. “Shouldn’t you be resting too?” I asked, assuming that Joshua had answered. It was his phone.
“I was but you woke me.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said sarcastically. “Listen, I need to talk to Aldric so can you wake him up?”
“I can’t do that. I can arrange a meeting if you’d like.”
“I would like that, yes.”
“Okay. Let’s see. Neutral territory…” he muttered to himself. “Let’s say nine ‘o’ clock this evening at… The Society Rooms?”
I thought about it. In the old gang films they always rejected the first suggestion and gave one of their own in case it was a trap. I had to make sure they weren’t expecting me to do that, though. If they anticipated my choice of venue then they could still set a trap. I needed to choose a place they wouldn’t expect. I thought of all the places in Maidstone and found one.
“Nah, same time but at Source Bar,” I said. Source was a place I hated and nobody would expect me to go there in a million years. It’s a club that plays the worse kind of music: Drum and Bass. No thank you. I’d rather listen to musical show tunes on a loop.
“No,” Joshua replied firmly. “The Society Rooms or not at all,” he said. I wasn’t expecting that.
“I don’t want to meet there,” I told him.
“Well then you can’t meet him at all,” he said stonily. It was clear he wasn’t going to budge. I needed him negotiating things on my side.
“You stubborn bastard. Fine. But let’s do it at eight ‘o’ clock.” I would change at least one thing. I wasn’t going to be pushed around.
“No. It’s at nine ‘o’ clock. Or never,” he replied in the same voice.
“I hope Aldric pays you well,” I said.
“He does. Are we agreed?”
“I guess,” I muttered and hung up.
Me, Ashley and Adrian headed to The Society Rooms an hour early to make sure there were no traps in place. I asked Ashley if she’d rather stay at home after the day she’d had but she claimed to be over it. She’d spent some time with Margie chatting about things and that did seem to help but I seriously doubted she was over it just like that.
There were no traps as far as we could tell so we chose a table that was fairly private, but not so much that Aldric could murder us without someone seeing. Not that they’d be able to stop him. The pub was fairly busy which didn’t nothing to ease my mind. I’d learned that Aldric preferred an audience.
“I don’t think we need to worry about a trap. Everything suggests he’s been helping us. He wouldn’t do all that just to lure us into a trap when without him Sebastian would have caught us by now,” said Adrian logically.
“It doesn’t hurt to be suspicious, though,” I said. I had a pint of Pepsi in front of me but wasn’t drinking it for two reasons. One, I suspected that Aldric may have poisoned it somehow, and two, I hate Pepsi, but they didn’t serve Coke.
Bang on nine, Aldric walked into the bar with a look of distaste on his face. I recognised the man next to him from his photograph: Joshua Ward. They stepped up to the table and stopped. Me, Ashley and Adrian rose to greet them.
“When I heard the name of this establishment I expected better,” Aldric said. “I am… disappointed.”
“It’s not that bad,” I said in its defence.
“The tables are filthy and the patrons are as common as can be,” Aldric replied curtly. “This is my number two, Joshua Ward,” he said and then introduced the three of us to Joshua.
“If it isn’t Mr Arsehole,” I said, still bitter about our phone conversation.
Joshua’s face creased in confusion and he looked over his shoulder for the person I was referring to. Then he seemed to realise and turned back to me. “Oh, you mean me?”
“Yep,” I said and sat back down.
“Straight to business, I think. I have no wish to remain in this peasant’s nest any longer than necessary.” Aldric sat down, unbuttoning his suit jacket as he did. Joshua copied him. I noticed their suits were very similar. “Sebastian has asked me to make you an offer.”
“Sebastian knows about this meeting?” Ashley said in shock. I too was shocked.
“Yes. Though, he knows not the true nature of it.”
“What’s the offer?” Adrian asked.
“Nothing for you. This is for Edward.”
“Go on,” I prompted.
“If you provide him with the mind control serum, he will leave Maidstone until after your death,” said Aldric.
I snorted. “After my death? And I supposed he’ll kill me after I hand it over will he?”
“We can amend the agreement to say your natural death. You will be given safety from the Syndicate, so long as you stay out of our territories.”
“Don’t trust them, Edward,” Adrian said over my shoulder. “They’ll kill us all as soon as they have the serum.”
“Your death has been ordered either way,” Aldric told Adrian. “Insubordinate vampires will not be tolerated.”
“Then it’s no deal,” I said.
“And if Sebastian were to pardon your friend?” asked Aldric.
“I don’t think so.”
“As I expected. To the real subject of our meeting then.”
“What’s he doing?” I asked when I saw Joshua texting someone.
“Sending your reply to Sebastian. He wanted to know as soon as you responded.”
“Is he going to attack us here now?” Ashley demanded.
“Possibly, so let’s talk fast,” Aldric said.
I was suddenly very nervous. “You son of a bitch!” I shouted.
“Edward, calm yourself. It is highly unlikely that Sebastian would attack you here. He would have warned me,” Aldric said. I settled a little, but not much. Aldric was not an easy man to trust. I’d already seen him break his word before.
“Why have you been helping us? What do you want?” I demanded.
“I have been helping you. That’s true. I, like many others in the Syndicate, do not wish to be ruled Sebastian. He forced his rule on us and he is too strong for us to fight. I have managed to deceive him for long enough to rise high in his administration but there is one final rung of the ladder which I cannot climb.”
“So you want me to take him out for you?” I said. I should have known that’s what it was all about. Just another power-hungry vampire.
“Precisely.”
“If there are so many of you who oppose him why don’t you all just fight him?” Ashley asked.
Aldric gave a slither of a smile. “The Syndicate would be split. The fighting would stretch on for years. Destruction would ensue in all of our territories. It would, undoubtedly, lead to the exposure of our kind. And there is no way of telling who would win. Though, Sebastian has the advantage.”
“Because he has a warlock on his side.”
“I don’t know how involved that warlock is in Sebastian’s plans.”
“Who is he?”
“I’ve never met him. Never even heard his name.”
“So, you want Eddie to kill Sebastian and help you rise to the top. What’s in it for us?” Adrian said, leaning forwards.
Aldric looked at him with loathing. “When I take over the Syndicate, I will withdraw from Maidstone. You will all be left alone for the rest of your lives, so long as you do nothing to act against the Syndicate, and I will even sit down and make a formal agreement with Clara Winters. Like her, I would prefer my kind to remain in the shadows of society. Let us not pretend that she has no part in this,” he added the last bit before I could protest. “If you agree I will aid you in your quest.”
“And if we refuse?” I asked.
“Then you are on your own. Should you succeed in killing Sebastian, I will take over as master anyway and you will have none of what I have offered you. I will conquer Maidstone and kill you all. I do not want your serum therefore I do not need to keep you alive.”
I was about to ask him to give us a minute to consider his offer when my pocket starting vibrating aggressively. The mirror. I pulled the pocket mirror out and saw that it was glowing red. Panic seized me. I flipped it open with sweaty hands and saw what Rachel was seeing.
“What is that?” Aldric asked suspiciously. I shushed him and focused only on the mirror.
Rachel was in her cell. She wasn’t moving. There was nobody else with her. I could hear thuds and bangs followed by screaming coming from outside the cell. Rachel shifted and faced the metal door. If only I could see Rachel’s expression I might have been able to get an idea of what was going on. The explanation came quickly. There was a loud bash and the door flew off its hinges and crashed into the opposite wall. Rachel skipped back to avoid getting hit. When she looked back at the doorway I saw who was responsible. There standing in the entrance to her cell was Sebastian Redvers. He was as well dressed as ever and wore a mildly inquisitive expression on his face. What the fuck was he playing at?
“Rachel Lecon?” he asked politely.
“And you are?” she demanded.
“My name is Sebastian Redvers and I believe we might be able to help each other out.” He stepped into her cell casually, never breaking eye contact with her. Outside it was deadly silent now. I wondered if anyone was still alive.
“We won’t have long before Eddie sends someone to make sure I don’t leave,” she said quietly. I recognised that tone. She was trying to figure out how to make the situation benefit her.
“Then you should answer my questions succinctly and perhaps you will be gone by the time they arrive.”
I tapped Ashley and she pulled out her phone. “Calling Richards,” she whispered.
“What questions?” Rachel said.
“Eddie Lancaster has been nothing but a menace to me. He has refused to provide me with the mind-control serum he invented. Am I right in believing that you made an improved strain of his mind-control serum?”
“Yes,” she said at once.
“Then I will offer you a deal. Provide me with the serum and I will give you your freedom. I’ll even let you kill Eddie. So long as you do it soon,” Sebastian offered. My heart was drumming against my chest. I knew there was nothing I could do now but I was still hoping against hope that someone would stop them. I should have just killed Rachel when he had the chance. Why had I been so fucking stupid?
“I’ll need something else from you. But I can’t say it out loud. Eddie has spell on me. He’ll hear,” she said.
Sebastian’s eyebrows rose. “So he is hearing all of this?”
“And seeing.”
Sebastian grinned. “How delightful. To watch as your end is planned out and being able to do nothing to stop it.” Sebastian took out a notebook and pen from his inside pocket and handed them to Rachel. “Write down your request.”
Rachel took the pen and notebook and without looking at either she scribbled something down and handed it to Sebastian. I needed to see what was written but there was no way. I was sweating a disgusting amount as I watched the deal transpire.
Sebastian looked at what was written and then back at Rachel. “Agreed. Now come, I know someone who can break that spell for you. But I cannot be spied on so this will be unpleasant for which I apologise.”
The last thing I saw was Sebastian dart forward and then the mirror was just a mirror again. I assumed he’d knocked her out.
I looked at Ashley who was as pale as I felt. “Fuck,” I said.
18
“Well that was unfortunate,” Aldric said nonchalantly. I looked up, filled with a desire to hurt him.
Me and Adrian thought alike. He darted for Joshua and pinned him down against the table whilst I twisted my wrist and brought Aldric to his knees. He glared up at me as agony ripped through his body. A couple of patrons looked over in shock and Ashley put them to sleep, though it did take two attempts to pull the spell off.
“Your blood is boiling,” I spat through gritted teeth. “Soon you will explode if you don’t tell me where they’re going.”
“I don’t know,” he panted.
“This whole things was obviously to distract me so Sebastian could get Rachel. Tell the truth!” I was stopping myself from shouting so I didn’t draw any other attention. We couldn’t put the whole pub to sleep.
“Why would we need to distract you? You wouldn’t have been able to stop him either way,” Aldric said. A vein in his forehead was starting to throb dangerously.
“He speaks sense,” Adrian said reluctantly.
He did speak sense but I didn’t want to accept it. I wanted to hurt someone. I needed an outlet for my fury. I huffed loudly and released Aldric from my spell. He pulled himself to his feet and brushed himself down. “So, as for my proposition?”
“Yeah, I’m the trouble-maker here,” I replied sarcastically.
“Dad, I—”
“I tried to warn you, Ashley,” he said harshly, cutting her off. “You wouldn’t listen.”
“Bad genes,” the mother said and I resisted the urge to squash her rotund face.
“Is it true, Dad? Did you start again because you thought I was weak?” she asked.
He said nothing but looked down at the rug red-faced. That was all the answer Ashley needed. “You should go,” he said.
“Fine,” Ashley said. She no longer sounded so meek. She was more angry than anything. She pulled back her fist and punched Pete right in the face. I stepped aside to allow him room to crash onto the thin rug. The other three gasped and took an instinctive step back. Annabelle hadn’t seen that coming. “I never want to see you again,” Ashley said and stormed out.
I followed her out into the garden but then I went back. I had something I wanted to say.
“She isn’t weak,” I told Pete as he lay on the floor clutching his face pathetically. “She’s stronger than you’ll ever be. The only bad genes came from you. You pathetic little scrotum-sniffer.” Before I left I delivered a swift kick to his groin. Then whilst the mother shouted at me, I casually departed the house.
17
I found Ashley back in her car, clutching the steer wheel, her knuckles white with rage. I slipped into the passenger seat and tentatively slid my arm around her shoulders. She released her grip from the steering wheel and fell onto my chest, letting her tears out in jagged sobs. She didn’t cry often which made the few times when she did that much more horrible.
“I just wanted… to meet them…. That was all,” she sobbed.
“I know,” I replied gently. What else was there to say?
“I never want… to see… that man again,” she said. “He’s…” Apparently she could find no words to describe him.
“You never have to,” I promised, stroking her hair. I wasn’t used to comforting people but I thought I was doing a pretty good job. “Listen, you know you’re not weak, right? You could run rings around them.”
“Maybe around him. I don’t know about the others. You said this town makes them stronger.”
“They might have strength but they don’t have skill. If they were as great as they made out then why didn’t any of them use magic against us?”
She pulled back and her puffy wet eyes met mine. “Good point,” she sniffed.
“They couldn’t even stop a weak silencing spell.”
“That’s true.”
“And hey, they weren’t all bad. Annabelle was alright.”
“Yeah. Just Clarabelle who was awful.”
“Yeah. And what kind of name is Clarabelle anyway?” I said and Ashley laughed.
“A bloody atrocious one,” she said, smiling.
“Clearly your mum had better taste in names.”
Ashley laughed again. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Back to the vampires I suppose,” she said as she started the engine.
As soon as we crossed the town line I relaxed and closed my eyes. I was still tired from being up most of the night running from Sebastian. I didn’t get the chance to nap, though, because Matt phoned me.
“What have you got?” I said, answering the call.
“Nothing for Aldric. No number. No email address,” Matt said. He didn’t sound disappointed so I knew he had something. He never came back empty-handed.
“What do you have then?” I said.
“A phone number for Joshua Ward.”
“Aldric’s assistant,” I said.
“That’s him. He should be able to hook you up with his boss.”
“Awesome. Listen, Matt, I want you to sort of lie low for a while. Things are getting pretty dangerous and my enemies have a habit of going after people close to me,” I said. Matt and Emma had been dragged into my messes too many times in the past.
“Ed, I’m getting used to being a part of your stuff. I’m not scared of it like I used to be,” he said.
“Really? What’s changed?”
“I’ve realised that you always get us out of trouble in the end,” he said and laughed.
“Matt, you’ve had a go at me so many times in the past for putting you in danger!” I practically shouted at him. He didn’t get to lay the guilt on me and then take a u-turn.
“This time it isn’t your doing. Vampires are coming to Maidstone no matter what you do. Maidstone is where me and Emma live too and we don’t want it overrun with vampires,” he said. “My point is I don’t want you to think you can’t come to me. You can.”
“Alright, well, I’m glad you’ve come to this realisation, Matt, but I’d still rather you kept to the computer stuff. Without magic or anything you’re not going to be a great help against vampires. Unless you want to be used as bait?” I joked.
“Funny,” he said drily. “I’ll text you the number.”
I waited until we were home before calling the number for Joshua. The person who answered sounded young but with vampires that was nothing to go on. “Edward Lancaster. How can I help you?” he asked.
“I need to speak to Aldric,” I said plainly.
“He is resting. He won’t be available until after dark.”
I looked at my watch and saw they were a good few hours before dusk. “Shouldn’t you be resting too?” I asked, assuming that Joshua had answered. It was his phone.
“I was but you woke me.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said sarcastically. “Listen, I need to talk to Aldric so can you wake him up?”
“I can’t do that. I can arrange a meeting if you’d like.”
“I would like that, yes.”
“Okay. Let’s see. Neutral territory…” he muttered to himself. “Let’s say nine ‘o’ clock this evening at… The Society Rooms?”
I thought about it. In the old gang films they always rejected the first suggestion and gave one of their own in case it was a trap. I had to make sure they weren’t expecting me to do that, though. If they anticipated my choice of venue then they could still set a trap. I needed to choose a place they wouldn’t expect. I thought of all the places in Maidstone and found one.
“Nah, same time but at Source Bar,” I said. Source was a place I hated and nobody would expect me to go there in a million years. It’s a club that plays the worse kind of music: Drum and Bass. No thank you. I’d rather listen to musical show tunes on a loop.
“No,” Joshua replied firmly. “The Society Rooms or not at all,” he said. I wasn’t expecting that.
“I don’t want to meet there,” I told him.
“Well then you can’t meet him at all,” he said stonily. It was clear he wasn’t going to budge. I needed him negotiating things on my side.
“You stubborn bastard. Fine. But let’s do it at eight ‘o’ clock.” I would change at least one thing. I wasn’t going to be pushed around.
“No. It’s at nine ‘o’ clock. Or never,” he replied in the same voice.
“I hope Aldric pays you well,” I said.
“He does. Are we agreed?”
“I guess,” I muttered and hung up.
Me, Ashley and Adrian headed to The Society Rooms an hour early to make sure there were no traps in place. I asked Ashley if she’d rather stay at home after the day she’d had but she claimed to be over it. She’d spent some time with Margie chatting about things and that did seem to help but I seriously doubted she was over it just like that.
There were no traps as far as we could tell so we chose a table that was fairly private, but not so much that Aldric could murder us without someone seeing. Not that they’d be able to stop him. The pub was fairly busy which didn’t nothing to ease my mind. I’d learned that Aldric preferred an audience.
“I don’t think we need to worry about a trap. Everything suggests he’s been helping us. He wouldn’t do all that just to lure us into a trap when without him Sebastian would have caught us by now,” said Adrian logically.
“It doesn’t hurt to be suspicious, though,” I said. I had a pint of Pepsi in front of me but wasn’t drinking it for two reasons. One, I suspected that Aldric may have poisoned it somehow, and two, I hate Pepsi, but they didn’t serve Coke.
Bang on nine, Aldric walked into the bar with a look of distaste on his face. I recognised the man next to him from his photograph: Joshua Ward. They stepped up to the table and stopped. Me, Ashley and Adrian rose to greet them.
“When I heard the name of this establishment I expected better,” Aldric said. “I am… disappointed.”
“It’s not that bad,” I said in its defence.
“The tables are filthy and the patrons are as common as can be,” Aldric replied curtly. “This is my number two, Joshua Ward,” he said and then introduced the three of us to Joshua.
“If it isn’t Mr Arsehole,” I said, still bitter about our phone conversation.
Joshua’s face creased in confusion and he looked over his shoulder for the person I was referring to. Then he seemed to realise and turned back to me. “Oh, you mean me?”
“Yep,” I said and sat back down.
“Straight to business, I think. I have no wish to remain in this peasant’s nest any longer than necessary.” Aldric sat down, unbuttoning his suit jacket as he did. Joshua copied him. I noticed their suits were very similar. “Sebastian has asked me to make you an offer.”
“Sebastian knows about this meeting?” Ashley said in shock. I too was shocked.
“Yes. Though, he knows not the true nature of it.”
“What’s the offer?” Adrian asked.
“Nothing for you. This is for Edward.”
“Go on,” I prompted.
“If you provide him with the mind control serum, he will leave Maidstone until after your death,” said Aldric.
I snorted. “After my death? And I supposed he’ll kill me after I hand it over will he?”
“We can amend the agreement to say your natural death. You will be given safety from the Syndicate, so long as you stay out of our territories.”
“Don’t trust them, Edward,” Adrian said over my shoulder. “They’ll kill us all as soon as they have the serum.”
“Your death has been ordered either way,” Aldric told Adrian. “Insubordinate vampires will not be tolerated.”
“Then it’s no deal,” I said.
“And if Sebastian were to pardon your friend?” asked Aldric.
“I don’t think so.”
“As I expected. To the real subject of our meeting then.”
“What’s he doing?” I asked when I saw Joshua texting someone.
“Sending your reply to Sebastian. He wanted to know as soon as you responded.”
“Is he going to attack us here now?” Ashley demanded.
“Possibly, so let’s talk fast,” Aldric said.
I was suddenly very nervous. “You son of a bitch!” I shouted.
“Edward, calm yourself. It is highly unlikely that Sebastian would attack you here. He would have warned me,” Aldric said. I settled a little, but not much. Aldric was not an easy man to trust. I’d already seen him break his word before.
“Why have you been helping us? What do you want?” I demanded.
“I have been helping you. That’s true. I, like many others in the Syndicate, do not wish to be ruled Sebastian. He forced his rule on us and he is too strong for us to fight. I have managed to deceive him for long enough to rise high in his administration but there is one final rung of the ladder which I cannot climb.”
“So you want me to take him out for you?” I said. I should have known that’s what it was all about. Just another power-hungry vampire.
“Precisely.”
“If there are so many of you who oppose him why don’t you all just fight him?” Ashley asked.
Aldric gave a slither of a smile. “The Syndicate would be split. The fighting would stretch on for years. Destruction would ensue in all of our territories. It would, undoubtedly, lead to the exposure of our kind. And there is no way of telling who would win. Though, Sebastian has the advantage.”
“Because he has a warlock on his side.”
“I don’t know how involved that warlock is in Sebastian’s plans.”
“Who is he?”
“I’ve never met him. Never even heard his name.”
“So, you want Eddie to kill Sebastian and help you rise to the top. What’s in it for us?” Adrian said, leaning forwards.
Aldric looked at him with loathing. “When I take over the Syndicate, I will withdraw from Maidstone. You will all be left alone for the rest of your lives, so long as you do nothing to act against the Syndicate, and I will even sit down and make a formal agreement with Clara Winters. Like her, I would prefer my kind to remain in the shadows of society. Let us not pretend that she has no part in this,” he added the last bit before I could protest. “If you agree I will aid you in your quest.”
“And if we refuse?” I asked.
“Then you are on your own. Should you succeed in killing Sebastian, I will take over as master anyway and you will have none of what I have offered you. I will conquer Maidstone and kill you all. I do not want your serum therefore I do not need to keep you alive.”
I was about to ask him to give us a minute to consider his offer when my pocket starting vibrating aggressively. The mirror. I pulled the pocket mirror out and saw that it was glowing red. Panic seized me. I flipped it open with sweaty hands and saw what Rachel was seeing.
“What is that?” Aldric asked suspiciously. I shushed him and focused only on the mirror.
Rachel was in her cell. She wasn’t moving. There was nobody else with her. I could hear thuds and bangs followed by screaming coming from outside the cell. Rachel shifted and faced the metal door. If only I could see Rachel’s expression I might have been able to get an idea of what was going on. The explanation came quickly. There was a loud bash and the door flew off its hinges and crashed into the opposite wall. Rachel skipped back to avoid getting hit. When she looked back at the doorway I saw who was responsible. There standing in the entrance to her cell was Sebastian Redvers. He was as well dressed as ever and wore a mildly inquisitive expression on his face. What the fuck was he playing at?
“Rachel Lecon?” he asked politely.
“And you are?” she demanded.
“My name is Sebastian Redvers and I believe we might be able to help each other out.” He stepped into her cell casually, never breaking eye contact with her. Outside it was deadly silent now. I wondered if anyone was still alive.
“We won’t have long before Eddie sends someone to make sure I don’t leave,” she said quietly. I recognised that tone. She was trying to figure out how to make the situation benefit her.
“Then you should answer my questions succinctly and perhaps you will be gone by the time they arrive.”
I tapped Ashley and she pulled out her phone. “Calling Richards,” she whispered.
“What questions?” Rachel said.
“Eddie Lancaster has been nothing but a menace to me. He has refused to provide me with the mind-control serum he invented. Am I right in believing that you made an improved strain of his mind-control serum?”
“Yes,” she said at once.
“Then I will offer you a deal. Provide me with the serum and I will give you your freedom. I’ll even let you kill Eddie. So long as you do it soon,” Sebastian offered. My heart was drumming against my chest. I knew there was nothing I could do now but I was still hoping against hope that someone would stop them. I should have just killed Rachel when he had the chance. Why had I been so fucking stupid?
“I’ll need something else from you. But I can’t say it out loud. Eddie has spell on me. He’ll hear,” she said.
Sebastian’s eyebrows rose. “So he is hearing all of this?”
“And seeing.”
Sebastian grinned. “How delightful. To watch as your end is planned out and being able to do nothing to stop it.” Sebastian took out a notebook and pen from his inside pocket and handed them to Rachel. “Write down your request.”
Rachel took the pen and notebook and without looking at either she scribbled something down and handed it to Sebastian. I needed to see what was written but there was no way. I was sweating a disgusting amount as I watched the deal transpire.
Sebastian looked at what was written and then back at Rachel. “Agreed. Now come, I know someone who can break that spell for you. But I cannot be spied on so this will be unpleasant for which I apologise.”
The last thing I saw was Sebastian dart forward and then the mirror was just a mirror again. I assumed he’d knocked her out.
I looked at Ashley who was as pale as I felt. “Fuck,” I said.
18
“Well that was unfortunate,” Aldric said nonchalantly. I looked up, filled with a desire to hurt him.
Me and Adrian thought alike. He darted for Joshua and pinned him down against the table whilst I twisted my wrist and brought Aldric to his knees. He glared up at me as agony ripped through his body. A couple of patrons looked over in shock and Ashley put them to sleep, though it did take two attempts to pull the spell off.
“Your blood is boiling,” I spat through gritted teeth. “Soon you will explode if you don’t tell me where they’re going.”
“I don’t know,” he panted.
“This whole things was obviously to distract me so Sebastian could get Rachel. Tell the truth!” I was stopping myself from shouting so I didn’t draw any other attention. We couldn’t put the whole pub to sleep.
“Why would we need to distract you? You wouldn’t have been able to stop him either way,” Aldric said. A vein in his forehead was starting to throb dangerously.
“He speaks sense,” Adrian said reluctantly.
He did speak sense but I didn’t want to accept it. I wanted to hurt someone. I needed an outlet for my fury. I huffed loudly and released Aldric from my spell. He pulled himself to his feet and brushed himself down. “So, as for my proposition?”
