Chapter 30

MAEVE

Matt and Ameliareceive a warmer welcome from Jamie than the almost fist in the face from Ash. Andrei"s in his room, so at least that"s one secret we don"t need to touch on straightaway.

I corner Tobias in the kitchen the moment Amelia and Matt walk inside, leaving an excited reunion between Jamie and his two best friends, and an apologetic Ash.

"Why did you hide that Amelia and Matt tried to contact us?" I demand.

Instead of the wary look I expected, Tobias crosses his arms, and that familiar but annoying "I"m in charge" look takes over. "The fewer people who know everything, the better, Maeve."

"Why? Matt and Amelia wouldn"t betray us."

I remain standing close, half in his face, and he looks back, unblinking. "No. But if the Dominion knew the names of two other witches involved and got a hold of them? What then? You want your friends tortured? Killed? Matt and Amelia are distant enough from us now not to get dragged into this shit. Things should stay that way."

I take a sharp breath. He has a point, but I"m pissed off he"s made decisions for us all again. "Amelia and Matt need to know about the First, Andrei, everything that"s happened. We haven"t seen them since Ash"s birthday."

"Well, they"ll find out now you"ve brought them here," he says tersely. "And do you think I"d tell Alaric that we"re working with Dorian? The hybrid killed Alaric"s father." Tobias sighs and looks behind me and gently closes the kitchen door. "Before we go out there, tell me what happened with the dragons."

"Dragon." I lean against the kitchen counter and explain events to Tobias, who listens expressionlessly.

"Good. No bloodshed," he says eventually, then cups my cheek with a hand. "I"m proud of you."

"Thanks. All due to your excellent training, Professor Whitlock."

He scowls at me. "I mean that. You"ve more confidence in yourself if you"re able to pull off what you did."

"I had reliable back-up if things went pear-shaped, and could feel the meeting wasn"t going well. I worried Ash might lose his temper when Callum was rude about me, and that would"ve disrupted everything."

"Rude about you?" Tobias"s brow tugs. "In what way?"

"Because I"m a witch who"s weakened him. Callum just stopped short of calling me a whore because I live with more than one guy."

"Hmm." Tobias strokes my cheek with the back of his fingers. "A dragon alpha should have a powerful mate. In a way, Ash has one, just not in the way the dragons would like."

"I hate that word."

"And do you think a shifter likes the word consort? Ash"s situation is a total reversal of their society"s norms, Maeve. Normal for a witch or vampire, yes, but not shifters."

"I"ve never asked him," I admit. "And that"s their word. We"re not a witch with her consorts; we"re a family."

"Exactly," he says and smiles.

Something unusual brightens in Tobias"s eyes. I miss that I can"t exchange thoughts with him anymore, now wishing my mental magic skill matched Tobias"s. He has so many layers I"ve not even begun to peel away. Secrets I"m unsure he"ll ever let go of.

"Did you have a family?" I ask cautiously. "You"ve never spoken about them."

"More than one. Like you, although I knew who I was." He skims his thumb across my mouth. "But this isn"t about the past. We focus on the future."

"Maeve!" shrieks Amelia and I startle away from my conversation with Tobias. "What the hell is this?"

Tobias opens the door before I can reply. Amelia stands in the lounge room, now pressed against the wall, but Matt remains on the sofa.

Andrei stands in the doorway and regards the pair impassively. "Are you talking about me?"

I see Andrei through Amelia"s eyes, as I did the first time I saw his changes. Andrei"s the same guy in his usual jeans and T-shirt combination, but not. His face has subtly changed—skin flawless and his alluring hemia features smoothed into an unnatural perfection, and vivid emerald eyes now edged by silver. But that"s not what Amelia"s picking up on. Each time Andrei walks into a room, he brings an energy that any supe would react to. There"s something different about Andrei that"s intangible but unsettling.

Tobias darts through the door towards Andrei and holds his upper arm, whispering something.

"Oh, no. No secrets. Tell the truth," says Amelia and shoves at Tobias. "Andrei? What"s happened to you? Did Gabriella do this?"

"You could say that," Andrei says calmly as he looks down at her.

"What"s wrong with you?" asks Matt, not moving. "You sound different."

"He looks different." Amelia peers at him and he makes a face to peer back.

"I"m not an animal in a zoo, Amelia." Andrei side-steps and flops down in the armchair opposite Matt.

Andrei looks at me, then Tobias, and I look between him and Ash. We"ve never discussed what we"d say to the pair the next time we met up because we never expected to this soon. I believed Tobias at least told Alaric some of the events that happened, but Matt and Amelia don"t know about the First and we can"t put that on them. Not yet.

Ash is the wild card here—will he tell them? Matt"s a close friend to both him and Jamie, but Jamie knows to keep things quiet.

And what did Tobias whisper to Andrei?

"Alaric told us Gabriella took Andrei, Ash, and Jamie," says Matt. "But since then... we"ve heard nothing from or about you. Only that you were back together, safe, and looking for Gabriella, recently in London."

"But they"re not okay," says Amelia. "Andrei"s shut down his thoughts, and you have, too." She points at Tobias, then at me before narrowing her eyes at where Tobias touches my waist. "You look closer. Did you break the curse?"

Crap. I didn"t realise exactly how little the pair knew about our recent lives.

"Yes, we did."

"How?"

"Long story."

"Which you"ll tell me," she retorts. "And the story about Andrei."

I sit on the arm of Andrei"s chair and Amelia again watches as Andrei touches my leg. "He isn"t dangerous, Amelia. Andrei"s different. Gabriella gave him blood she took from that creature under the academy." Not a complete lie.

"What the fuck?" asks Matt. "Who else did she give this blood to?"

"Um. More important, what has this done to you, Andrei?" asks Amelia.

Andrei bites his lip and glances at Tobias. "I"ve heightened powers. That"s all."

"Bullshit," says Matt. "Why would Gabriella give you blood that"d make you as powerful as her?" His mouth parts. "Will this make you like her? Draw you into the Dominion?"

"No," he says with disgust. "The opposite. This time we really are going to take Gabriella down."

Matt and Amelia continue to stare at Andrei who crosses his arms, annoyance increasing.

"The being from under the academy—the First. Does Gabriella still have it? Do you know what it is? Alaric doesn"t," asks Matt.

"We don"t know," says Tobias before anybody else can speak.

Jamie frowns at him but says nothing, Ash doesn"t react, and Andrei watches expressionlessly.

"Does Alaric know that you"re here?" asks Tobias quietly.

"No." Matt"s lips thin. "We had a disagreement." Amelia grips Matt"s hand and squeezes. "I was out with another guy from our group following some Dominion vamps we"d identified. Something different about these vamps worried us, and we wanted to keep a low profile and watch them. Amelia stayed behind with Alaric and a couple of the others from our group. While we were away, other vamps invaded our base. One hurt Amelia. Alaric was fucking there. He didn"t protect her."

"Hurt?" I straighten in alarm. "How?"

Amelia rolls up her sleeve. More than teeth marks mar her skin, there"re livid red scratches from a vampire"s sharp nails.

"Did you lose much blood?" asks Jamie flatly. "Was it just an attack or... feeding?"

"Attack." Matt"s face is now blotched red. "I set fire to the bastard."

"Alaric?" I ask in shock.

Amelia gives a wry laugh. "No. The vamp. But Matt"s familiar doesn"t behave when he"s pissed off. That"s one of the reasons we left—Alaric doesn"t trust that Matt can control the fire serpent and wanted him to stop using the magic."

"And nobody tells Matt what to do," says Jamie wryly.

"And can you control the familiar?" asks Tobias.

Matt slices him a look. "Yes."

"If I"m around, you can," says Amelia. "Don"t look at me like that, Matt. Your familiar"s less controllable when you"re out of control yourself."

He huffs and I"m grateful for a slight shift in conversation. "I am not letting go of any of my magic abilities. Alaric can fuck off."

Wow.

"Yeah, probably good Alaric stays away," says Jamie.

"Because of Andrei?" asks Amelia.

"No. Since Dorian"s helping us."

"Dorian Blackwood?" Matt"s jaw slackens. "Tell me you"re not serious."

Finally, Tobias sits on the arm of the chair that Ash sits in. "I apologise for not keeping you updated on events. You were away from the country, and neither Alaric nor I wanted to worry you."

"Worry us more than when Gabriella took Jamie, Ash, and Andrei?" asks Amelia incredulously.

The First. Nobody"s mentioning the First.

"Well, we didn"t want to drag you into the problems we"ve faced recently." Tobias gestures at Andrei. "Our latest attempts to catch Gabriella led to some issues. Maeve"s father, Lex, has attempted to help but?—"

"Excuse me, who?" asks Amelia.

"Alexei Blackwood." Amelia"s eyes go wide as I knock speech from her again. "I"m half Blackwood."

"What the hell? This gets crazier!"

"Father? Let me get this straight," says Matt. "This Blackwood guy loved a Winterfall girl who Tobias murdered?" I wince, and Amelia kicks his shin. "Why didn"t he stop your heart, Tobias? You killed the mother of his child." Matt leans forward, elbows on his knees. "I spent time at the Blackwood house. I know what they"re capable of and how their minds work."

Tobias meets my eyes, but says nothing.

"Long story, again," I say.

"Then I guess we"re staying longer to hear these stories," says Amelia pointedly.

"Alaric was hunting the whole family before they died in that fire recently," puts in Matt. "We"ve never heard of an Alexei Blackwood."

EveryBlackwood died in the First"s arson attack on their estate? The creature"s thorough. I guess they"re lucky she killed them rather than subject the family to her other methods.

"It"s complicated. Lex isn"t part of witch society," I say.

Amelia rubs her head. "You"ve hidden so much from us!"

"No," says Tobias firmly. "You left the academy and lived and worked with different people. Ones with different motivations. You"re not?—"

"Part of you?" Amelia"s voice rises. "And you are? I"ve known Jamie and Ash for years! And I certainly never killed the family of anybody here."

Tobias doesn"t flinch, but I do. "Amelia." I go to her. "The world isn"t the same anymore."

"We were trying to protect you," says Tobias quietly.

"And you still are "protecting' us," says Matt. "Because there"re a lot of secrets in this room. Now we"ve found you, fill us in on everything."

"How did you know where we were if nobody told you?" asks Tobias. "That"s worrying."

"Alaric—we—knew you"d moved to London to find Gabriella, but not where, although we"d narrowed it down to this area," he replies.

I frown. "How?"

"A lot of people from the group are on the streets watching," says Amelia and points at Ash. "Someone thought they"d seen Ash in the park."

"And Alaric doesn"t care if he loses some of those people," Matt grits out.

"That"s unfair. A lot of people who join with Alaric aren"t exactly... rational. The group takes risks."

"Don"t defend him, Amelia," Matt snaps at her. "You"re rational. One of his best."

Amelia shakes her head. "Not anymore."

"Why didn"t you call me after you left Alaric, Amelia?" I ask. "Any of us?"

"In case Alaric was tracking our phones—it"s what he does, mostly for safety," says Matt.

Amelia"s lips thin. "Umm. And because Matt dumped them the same night everything happened in case Alaric followed."

"You could"ve called before destroying them," I protest.

Jamie snorts. "Lost your shit, Matt? Didn"t think before you acted? Nothing much changes."

"Too late now," interrupts Amelia as Matt"s cheeks mottle pink. "But at least we found you."

Matt studies us all. "If you don"t know about the First, do you know where Gabriella is? We"ve no real leads."

"We believe she"s in London preparing to leave by boat," replies Tobias.

"Yeah. We knew that. But do you know her location?" Tobias shakes his head at him. "Damn. We need to find her before the ritual."

I snap my head around. "What ritual?"

"The one she"s planning before she leaves. Probably the same night. Alaric"s still figuring out the date, but we don"t have any shipping manifests and our shifters haven"t got close to the dragons," explains Amelia.

Tobias"s muscles tighten. "What is this ritual?"

"We don"t know. I presume it involves the thing under the academy if Gabriella still has it?" Matt pauses. "Fuck. Has Gabriella given this blood to anybody else?"

"Some of her followers," says Jamie.

Matt drags a hand through his hair and stares at Andrei. "They"ll be as strong as I can sense Andrei is! We don"t have a bloody chance if Gabriella built an army."

"They won"t match Andrei"s abilities," says Tobias.

"How do you know?"

"This so-called army has weaker amounts of the blood because Gabriella mixed it with hers," I say.

Amelia touches Matt's arm. "The vamps that attacked Alaric"s place were stronger than any I"ve met before."

"That"s why Alaric came back to the UK!" Matt drags fingers through his hair a second time. "Alaric knows all this and never told us."

"Possibly," says Tobias. "But he might think Gabriella"s using witches and magic. Don"t judge Alaric yet."

"I want to know more about this ritual," says Jamie. "Have you any idea where or when, Matt?" He looks to Amelia too. "You"ve followed more of Gabriella"s people than we have, since we"re trying to keep a low profile."

"The vamp that Dorian caught didn"t know anything," adds Tobias.

I look away. The one in a room that Tobias walked from covered in blood. The vamp he helped kill, I"m sure.

"I can not believe you"re working with Dorian Blackwood," says Matt. "He"ll kill you once he"s done. You know that, right?"

Andrei snorts. "He killed me once. Won"t get the chance again. And if Dorian touches anybody in this room, he"ll discover what this blood has done to me."

Amelia"s mouth parts. "You can"t fight a hybrid. Nobody"s stronger than Dorian or Eloise and they have backup."

"Nobody"s fighting anybody else apart from Gabriella," says Tobias firmly. "Right, Andrei?"

"Yeah. Whatever," he mutters.

I sigh. Some things about Andrei remain exactly the same.

"If Gabriella recruited as many people as Matt and Amelia say, we need to get out there and look for Dominion activity. This isn"t just about finding when Gabriella leaves anymore," says Ash.

Tobias nods, and I already sense his mind working on the next move. Ash is right. There"s more happening here than stopping Gabriella from boarding a ship away from the country.

Gabriella would never sneak away forever. Not without leaving her mark, that"s for sure.

"What if she's still recruiting?" I say, heart lodging in my throat. "The vamps might be new. How can we be a hundred percent sure that Gabriella didn't hide some of the First's blood elsewhere?"

Tobias nods. "I've considered this for a while. Gabriella's shrewd. She wouldn't risk losing every drop she had. I'd expect her to place some in a separate location."

"Fuck," says Jamie. "Then she's definitely building a bigger army. We have to find Gabriella."

"Yeah, no wonder she's running," says Ash.

"There"s a lot to get our heads round," I say wearily. "I"ve had a long night and don"t have the concentration to go through all this right now."

"Yes. You should stay. We can talk tomorrow," says Ash to Matt.

Jamie straightens. "Did you get anything from the dragons? I almost forgot, with the shock of seeing Matt and Amelia."

"Yeah. Plenty for you to go through," says Ash with a smile. He pulls out his phone. "Sending you some pictures now." Then he retrieves the USB from his pocket and places it on the table.

"You know the local dragons?" Amelia sighs and flops back. "Agreed. Too much for one night. We"ll stay, Matt."

"Take my bed," says Jamie. "I"ll be awake a while yet, so I"ll take the sofa."

"Jamie. Leave this until tomorrow," I say.

"You really think I would? How much time do we have, Maeve? There could be dozens out there walking around containing the First's blood!"

How much time?

Less than Amelia and Matt know, but I don"t want them to discover everything that"s happening. Otherwise, the pair would face something worse than a vampire attack on Amelia, and I"m not inflicting this danger and chaos on anybody else.