Chapter 64

It took to the following evening for Anya to get everyone to at least hear Aramis"s proposal. Anya was edgy but nowhere near what the others were. Trajan was closer than usual, one hand resting on her at all times.

There was no way Anya could have talked them out of going unarmed, so she didn"t even try. Katya and Isabelle looked bulky underneath their overcoats, and Anya could only guess how many weapons they had between them.

Only the Twins looked calm in their dark jeans and matching black T-shirts. Both had worn their hair out, making it even harder to tell which was which. Their magical signature was the only thing Anya could tell them apart by and only because they had taught her how to feel it out. To anyone else, they would be very tall, very serious-looking men.

The Twins were the only ones who had any knowledge of the álfr in the real world, and while Katya and Isabelle had scoffed openly, the others were curious. Anya strongly suspected that the hunters only agreed to the meeting because they wanted to confirm that Aramis was really an álfr.

"You two are the only ones acting normal tonight," Anya said to Chayton and Honaw.

"We"re not worried because you have enough power to take them all out if they threaten us," Chayton answered, and they both smiled. "Besides, it sounds like this álfr is a fan of yours."

"I don"t know about a fan, but he seems genuine that the Illumination wants to help," Anya said.

"Maybe Aramis does, but it"s not the Illumination's style."

Anya bit the inside of her cheek. "I"m sure my magic wouldn"t have reacted that way if I couldn"t trust him."

"So trust your álfr, but don"t think for a minute that the others who are with him wouldn"t betray you," Honaw replied.

They made their way to Aramis"s carriage, and Anya could only imagine what the passengers thought of the group moving through the train. They looked like train robbers, especially Hamish in his long coat, boots, and the shiny cowboy belt buckle on his jeans. They were all on guard, everyone looking out for an attack. Anya wanted to remind them all they had been traveling on the same train for quite a while now, so if they"d wanted to attack, they had had plenty of opportunities. One glance at Isabelle"s face, and she decided not to mention it.

Two burly men in black guarded the doors to Aramis"s private carriage, and Izrayl and Hamish eyed them warily. There wasn"t a lot of room to have a fight on a train, but Anya was sure they would have liked to pick one regardless.

"There will be no weapons past this point," one guard said. He had a thick Cockney English accent and a severely crooked nose.

"Leave our weapons with you? You"re fucking dreaming, mate," Hamish said, as eloquent as ever.

As they argued, Anya stretched out her magical senses like the Twins had taught her. She instantly found Aramis"s presence glowing in her mind like a silvery star and it began moving towards her. The doors behind the guards opened, and Aramis was there, serious and imposing. He was dressed casually in dark jeans and a gray shirt and was leaner than Anya expected under the blue coat he wore the previous night.

"Is there a problem?" he asked.

"They are refusing to disarm," the guard replied, his tone sullen.

"You can hardly blame them. Let them pass."

"I don"t think that is a good idea, sir."

"Noted. Now let them pass." Aramis turned promptly and walked back into the carriage. Hamish stuck his middle finger at the guard as they filed in, and Anya was sure Isabelle hissed at one.

The carriage was roomy with lounges and mismatched seats lining the walls. A massive desk stood at the far end, stacked with papers and a small laptop. There were two other men in the room waiting for them.

"You"ll have to forgive the suspicious nature of my men," Aramis said as he sat down. He indicated they should make themselves comfortable on the two-seater lounges and other available chairs. Isabelle and Katya remained standing, but Aramis didn"t seem offended by it.

"Suspicion helps keep you alive," one of the strangers said.

Aramis quickly introduced them as Petyr and Ruben, commanders of the two different Illumination teams on board. Ruben looked like he was in his fifties, with steel grey hair and a frown like thunder clouds. Petyr at least tried to smile at them.

Anya followed Aramis"s lead and introduced her companions. When she reached Isabelle, Ruben grunted rudely, and Aramis glared at him.

"What do you want?" Isabelle said promptly.

"We are here to help Anya. She has made me aware of the predicament with the gate, so we travel to Russia to stop anything from entering our world that shouldn"t. Also, to stop the Darkness from taking control of the gates and destroying Russia if they have a presence in the area," Aramis replied.

"I"ve never seen one of the Illuminators get their hands dirty out of the goodness of their hearts," Isabelle hissed. "What do you really want?"

"We can"t all be baby killers, can we, Blackwood?" Ruben interrupted.

Isabelle looked furious, but something else flashed by on her face. If Anya didn"t know her any better, she would have thought it was fear.

"The fuck you just say to me?" Isabelle asked.

Ruben continued despite Aramis"s warning glare. "I was there that night, thirty years ago. When we were cleaning up the little limbs of children you had ripped apart."

"That is enough," Aramis warned, but the man didn"t stop.

"We were the ones who had to bury them. All those poor innocents, dying so terrified." The man had gotten to his feet and started moving toward Isabelle as he spoke. "Yet for all our efforts, the culprit remained unpunished. You fled only to reappear years later, hailed as the greatest hunter in the world. How fucking ironic."

"Hold your tongue, you fucking spark plug, or I"ll rip it out." Isabelle"s tone was so cold, Anya"s skin broke out in goosebumps. She didn"t think being called a "spark plug" was so bad, but they bristled with the offense.

Ruben pointed a finger at Isabelle accusingly. "I"ve no doubt that in time you will show your true self, and we"ll have to take you out. It"s a dark day for the Illumination that we make an alliance with such a filthy monster!"

Ruben only had a second to gloat before there was a blur of movement, and he was on the floor, blood pouring from his mouth where his jaw was shattered. The attack didn"t come from where he expected it. Hamish stood over him with his fists still balled tightly.

"Don"t you ever speak to her like that again. If you do, all your specialist training isn"t going to amount to shit," he growled.

Isabelle moved to stand over the bleeding man, one hand resting on the butt of her pistol. With the other, she reached up and pulled her shirt back so they could see the mangled scar over her throat and shoulder. Ruben looked up at her with round eyes.

"I didn"t kill those children. They weren"t the only things that got attacked that night either. This is all such a waste of my fucking time," she spat. Isabelle turned and headed for the door, yanking it open violently.

"Stop her!" Ruben shouted as he struggled to get up. The two guards tried to grab Isabelle but caught air as she ducked. One made to grab her again, swinging low. Isabelle caught his arm one-handed and twisted it back, splintering the bones, and drove her other fist into his face. She kept walking.

"Hamish, can you go after her before she hurts someone?" Katya asked, but he was already heading for the door.

Ruben was cursing as he held tissues to his face as blood seeped from his broken nose.

"You are relieved of your command," Aramis said firmly. "At the next stop, you will remove yourself from the train and make your way back to London where the Council can make up their minds what to do with you. It"s no wonder these people don"t trust us when they have you for an example."

He turned his sharp blue eyes onto Petyr. "If you have a problem with our alliance with Anya and her people, I suggest you leave as well. If you stay, keep your mouth shut, or I"ll seal it permanently."

The damaged and disgraced man removed himself from the carriage.

The uneasiness began to alleviate after an hour of talking, but Katya"s guarded expression didn"t change. Cerise chained-smoked to the point that Aramis found her an ashtray but didn"t make her stop. She had dressed up for the occasion, claiming while some people wore weapons as armor, she wore fur and heels. It seemed to be working on Petyr, who was struggling not to look at her.

"We are going to get some people in place to check out the farm before we get there," Aramis said, pacing back and forth. "If the Darkness is already there, we"ll know about it. The last time we picked up a hit on Vasilli was a week ago in Moscow."

"And what if they are there already?" Anya asked.

"Then we wait, and if they attack, we can defend you. We can"t act until they do. I won"t break the treaty, and us being there might be a deterrent to leaving you alone," Aramis replied.

Anya"s magic was thrumming incessantly under her skin just by being near Aramis. It was almost as if her magic had a crush on him, and she fought the urge not to start scratching at her arms like a junkie. She thought about the previous night, how soon as his magic touched her, she felt like telling him what he wanted to know. Realization dawned on her. Oh, Anya, you are so stupid.

Aramis had not just let his magic touch hers, but he had been using it on her. Her hands tightened into fists, but she kept her cool. She wouldn"t be the one to have a tantrum and ruin their chance of having the Illumination as backup at the farm.

Aramis answered all their questions without hesitation and in detail, trying to be as transparent as possible. It was late when they started to drift off to their beds, a tentative agreement between them.

"I"ll meet you there in a minute. I need to talk to Aramis," Anya said quietly to Trajan.

"I don"t like you being alone with him," Trajan replied with a glance at the álfr.

"I"ll be fine." Anya kissed him gently.

The others said their goodnights, until finally Aramis and Anya were alone. He was leaning against the front of his desk, smiling as she walked toward him.

"I think" he began as Anya"s right hand struck him hard across the face.

"How dare you use magic on me! You tricked me into trusting you last night, didn"t you?" she demanded.

"I only used a little compulsion to make you relax around me. I genuinely want to help you, Anya, and I knew you wouldn"t give me a chance in time," he said as a red mark appeared on his pale cheek.

Aramis caught her hand as she raised it again. Translucent tendrils of power burst from her skin and wrapped around him. It pulsed like a heart as it entwined with his magic.

"Why does it do that?" Anya demanded in frustration, pulling her hand away.

"I don"t know, but we can work it out together. I"m sorry I used magic on you, but my intentions were honorable. We can work out how you can close the gates properly. Just trust me." He was standing a hair"s breadth from her, and Anya stepped back.

"You want me to trust you? Don"t use your magic on me again, and don"t lie to me," she said, folding her arms so she wouldn"t touch him again.

"I promise. I would like to also offer my assistance in training you. This isn"t the Illumination offering, but me," Aramis said sincerely.

"I already have the Twins training me. I don"t need your help."

"The Twins are Powers in their own lands, and they will need to return to them soon. Also, your magic doesn"t react to them like it does to me. It"s something I"ve never seen in my considerably long life, but I know others of my people who might have knowledge about it," Aramis argued.

"You work for the Illumination, Aramis," Anya pointed out. "I really doubt they are going to let you decide to train me without me joining you guys."

"Who said they need to know?" Aramis asked, his blue eyes flashing with a streak of mischief she didn"t expect.

"Okay, maybe a few lessons, just to see how I feel about it," Anya said, her curiosity winning out. "I really don"t need another babysitter."

"I don"t plan on being one. Let"s have a lesson tomorrow when we get off the train. Sleep well, Anya," Aramis replied, dismissing her gently.

"Yeah, I"ll try," she said, really doubting it. Her mind was on fire, and her magic was jittery from spending so long around him.

Anya"s compartment was empty when she got back, and she figured Trajan would have gone to have a drink and debrief with the others. She grabbed the leather bag holding her drum, determined to get her magic to calm down. Anya yelped as the drum shocked her with static.

"Fuck," she mumbled and sucked her stinging finger. She tipped the bag upside down on the bed and quickly flipped the drum. Her teeth closed hard on her sore finger.

There was a new symbol on the top half of the drum, the Heavenly Realm. Unlike the others inked in dark brown Sami symbols, this was a shining silver leaf drawn in intricate detail. Anya knew instinctively what it meant. "Bloody Aramis."

Anya didn"t know how or why, but Aramis was important somehow. She had been around enough magic users to know that her power reacting to his was something unusual. Now he had turned up on her drum, where until then, the only other symbol that related to someone around her was Yvan and the firebird.

Maybe it"s destiny, the way meeting Yvan was. The only way to find out was to trust him and hope like hell Aramis didn"t betray her.