Page 113 of Winterfall Destiny

"Yeah, when his actions help him too," mutters Jamie.

"Is this connected to the future you saw, Maeve?" Andrei asks. "Did the scrying work?"

She exchanges a glance with Jamie. “Yes.”

"Was anybody in danger?" asks Ash cautiously.

"I saw coffins." Maeve takes a shuddery breath. "A lot of coffins. Maybe twenty?"

“Where?” I frown. Maeve’s visions often make little sense, but coffins? “Did you see your surroundings?”

“A room like a cellar—brick walls and no window. Not the kind of place I’d imagine coffins in a funeral home.”

“They could’ve been in storage?” suggests Ash.

Maeve shakes her head. “Something wasn’t right. You were all nearby. On the steps leading out I think.”

“You didn’t see or speak to anybody?” I press. “Gabriella?”

“No Gabriella but the symbol… the one I saw in the other vision was stamped in black on the side of the coffins.”

“Shit,” I mutter. “And us?”

“I think I saw Jamie climbing the stairs but didn’t sense any danger around.” Maeve chews on her lip. “The coffins contained something. I don’t know what, but my stomach churned to the point I almost vomited, even when I came out of the vision.”

"And the First?" I ask hoarsely.

“No.”

“Do you think Gabriella’s keeping recruits in coffins?” asks Andrei.

I remain quiet because that’s not where my mind went.

Ash’s eyes go wide. “Did Gabriella move the kids from the catacombs?”

“Or these are others. Gabriella's expanding. That's what she's doing," Jamie says. “There’s no question anymore—we need to stop her.”

I don’t voice the thought that jumped into my mind. Why keep recruited hemia in coffins? If Maeve’s vision suggests the coffins weren’t empty, did they contain turned—or turning—humans?

Gabriella’s plans for a Dominion-ruled world could’ve taken the next step.

41

ANDREI

"Of course, it's fucking raining the first time I walk outside for days," I grumble and yank up my black jacket hood.

Maeve walks beside me, arm looped through mine, and she laughs. "Hardly rain. Good old English drizzle."

"You have left the London house," says Tobias. "We've scouted together around the area."

My lips press together. "I mean, walk outside in the daytime."

I ventured out with Tobias several evenings since we arrived in London, finding myself in the middle of something I didn't want—a lot of humans and their blood. Although, for the first time, the number of people close by didn't stir the hemia.

I last encountered this many humans during the fateful Halloween party at Maeve's old school, and I really struggled that night. Dozens more than the party wandered the busy London suburb, some passing near to me, others walking from shops and cafes, perspiration intensifying their scents. I didn't react. How much of that hemia remains beneath whatever I am?

Later, I accused Tobias of testing my resolve against human blood and told him to check my mind for the answer, then I smirked to myself at his hesitance. Tobias will never invade my head again after I gave him the shock of his life.

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