Page 56 of Never Run from an Immortal

Aidan chuckled, releasing Rae’s chin only to slide an arm around her waist. “Gather the others,” he told Karina, dismissing her and her husband without taking his eyes away from the Witch at his side.

You’re staring again, Vampire.Rae clapped her hands together. “Oh, visk! Cormac, you’re a male after my heart. Thankyou.” The Vampire handed her a glass of the amber liquid, and with a saccharine smile, Rae’s accompanying dismissal of Karina and Malik was complete.

She was right in her assessment of them both; their family had always sought the lord’s title but never succeeded.

Beside Rae, Cormac passed Aidan a glass. “Allow me to give you both a tour.” He waited for Aidan’s nod of approval before leading the way through the throng, stopping to allow council members and their Ascendants to approach. Of the nine families, there were four new council members and their accompanying Ascendants, some with their partners in tow.

Soft lighting and walls lined with crimson fabric surrounded them, floor-to-ceiling paintings of writhing bodies swallowed by shadows, and heavy gold chandeliers hung from the ceiling above. At first, Aidan had thought Cormac’s taste was merely decadent, but the more time he spent in the turned Vampire’s presence, he realised it was all part of the act. Cormac was a lamb among lions, and he knew it, so this image of opulence he’d created was merely armour.

Orion remained a few steps behind, curiosity tumbling from the other council members at Baelin’s absence. Let them be curious, Aidan had told his Ascendant before he’d left. It was more important that Baelin remained top side tonight, though Aidan found himself wishing he’d brought Quinn along to shadow Rae instead of leaving him at the manor to babysit the damn rutok.

They followed Cormac through the interconnecting rooms. Some held daybeds covered in dark fabric, one a large table overflowing with food that no one other than Rae would touch. Smaller rooms sat around the perimeter that Cormac offered no explanation for, but no Vampire needed. They were feeding rooms for those who wanted to take from the vein directly. Twelve humans in total, all of them high from being fed on,Aidan knew with a little flex of his abilities. A few empty rooms, all locked.

Rae was wound tighter than he’d ever seen her, and Aidan resisted the urge to pull her into one of the empty rooms just to give her a minute to get it together, but it would call too much attention to her.You good, Farren?

Never better. Let’s get what we came for.

Cormac opened a door ahead of them. “Ah. Here we are. The main event.” The Vampire’s voice pulled Aidan’s attention away from Rae, his arm falling from her waist as he flexed his Provident abilities over the male chained to the wall before them. Gades, Sysmus’ Ascendant.

“Perhaps a little demonstration, my lord, of that unrivalled power. Something to whet our appetites,” Cormac said dryly.

Aidan didn’t give a fuck about putting on a show. He tore into Gades’ mind with the full force of his Provident abilities, a silent plea on the Vampire’s lips a heartbeat too slow for Aidan’s attack. Images, names, answers, locations, Aidan searched through all of it, took all of it, Gades’ eyes rolling into the back of his head, his body hanging limply against his chains and his chest rising slowly with laboured breaths.

If he hadn’t been paying so much attention to Rae, Aidan would have reached Gades long before Cormac revealed his little party piece. Though Aidan knew Cormac hadn’t been trying to show him up, the opposite in fact, the lack of action on Aidan’s part would look like weakness to the council. He needed them on his side tonight, everything he’d just learned bolstering the fact.

It’s Aera, he told Baelin. The human faction they’d disregarded.Find Tripp, now.

On it,Baelin replied.

Rae took a step back, Cormac offering her a hand, but Aidan couldn’t let her distract him any longer. He let another fraction of his power roll off Gades, the Vampire’s mind almostcompletely gone. He paused at Gades’ memories of a young Vampire being injected in the arm, her body convulsing and writhing in pain, blood spilling from her nose before she died. Gades had stood by Sysmus’ side and watched calmly, considering how it had gone no better than the five tests before. He deserved far worse than the fate Aidan was delivering him, but time wasn’t on their side. With one more thought, Gades began choking as he believed his lungs to be failing, gasping for breath, his body flailing against the chains before he stilled.

“Gather the council,” Aidan ground out his command to Cormac. “Now.”

A few minutes later, twenty Vampires stood around the table of food, waiting. Thadlia was among them, but Aidan dismissed her attempts to reach out to him. He didn’t want to give her any room for misinterpretation. Rae was still talking with Cormac, and Aidan needed to focus on the task at hand.

Though the council members were all Providents, their Ascendants were not, so Aidan spoke to the room. “I warned you all of this,” he said with lethal quiet. He didn’t need to elaborate on thethis; they would have all known by now about the other factions’ involvement with the Liberalist Fae. “Sysmus and Gades were working with Torrin and Aera. You have one week to amass as many Vampires as you can, at which point we will attack all remaining facilities and put an end to this. Information is being delivered to your PADs.”

Chimes and buzzes filled the room, some of the Vampires reaching into pockets to read the messages Baelin had sent them at Aidan’s instruction.

“They are coming for all of you, and your arrogance will see you dead if you do not act,” Aidan went on, his eyes falling over each of his council members in turn. “I’ve seen what they’re creating, and I assure you, we cannot match them. All we can hope for is that we’re not too late.”

“Too late for what?” Karina asked at Malik’s side.

“An army of those things taking out the entire city. There will be no Vampires, no Fae, no humans left. Only their creations will remain. Their hybrids.”

“That kind of power could serve us well,” Thadlia said on the far side of the table.

Aidan didn’t ask for permission, his Provident abilities slamming into all of them, showing them what he’d seen: the first facility with Rae, the test subject, and Gades’ memories. Some of the Vampires gasped. “That kind of power will destroy us all. One week. If you don’t show, you don’t have a seat at this council.”

A wave of, “Yes, my lord,” passed across the table, and with that, Aidan dismissed them.

Thadlia began to make her way to him through the crowd, but Aidan turned away, checking in with Baelin for a report.

Nothing yet, my lord, came his reply.Rae just got a message from Baxter.

And?

Forwarded it to you.

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