“I thought the same thing. But even without the Mages prodding things along, you know how the Elders are. If they think the Fae attacked the Spokane Guild, they’d be forced to call for blood or chance being challenged for new leadership. I don’t blame all of them for this, and you shouldn’t either. Losing the Spokane Guild was a huge loss to them; it’s where our history was stored. We can fix it, kid.”
“It’s still there,” I corrected. “Ryder sealed off the entrance to the catacombs before we burnt the Guild down so the history is still there and safe. But fixing this won’t be that easy,” I said as I moved closer to hold his hand reassuringly. “I think they set us up. They knew we would show up, and I think we were meant to take the fall for what happened there. I think the Mages are ensuring that war is openly declared on the Fae and that we have nowhere to run. Within minutes of the Guild being burned, national news, international news, and social media had the story up. As if they’d been tipped off and had a prepared story beforehand. We think that a glamour or illusion spell had been placed on the Guild, because up until we entered it, the Humans walked by as if nothing was amiss. After we entered, it broke. There are pictures of us entering the Guild, taken just before Ryder dropped the invisibility veil over us, which means someone was there watching us from the outside. Bilé was who you saw in the catacombs, and he let the Mages know some information about the Demon and it might have given them some ideas. Adrian and Vlad were there, and yet they didn’t feel or see anything wrong. You know Adrian’s instincts as well as I do. He’s normally able to smell a trap from a hundred feet away, and he didn’t sense anything. The person there who reported it has to be either in league with the Mages, or had been tipped off.”
“How would they know you’d even be there?” Alden asked.
“Good question,” I said and shook my head sadly. “But I don’t really have a good answer to it. They just could have guessed that we would show when they started in on Ristan. Right now I have to worry about saving my children and that’s why I came to see you.”
“How’s the little miss?” he asked with a guarded look.
“She’s a fighter,” I said with a broken smile. “I wanted to be the one to tell you what’s happening. I’m sure we can fix it, but I need you to be a little patient with us. Get better first and we’ll get a plan together after we get the babies to the Tree. I’ve threatened everyone inside these walls with certain death should they assist you in leaving here before I return.”
“Is that so?” he asked as he narrowed his eyes on me.
I smiled.
“Damn, kid,” he said as he shook his head, and then winced in pain. “Don’t think I’m ready to do much of anything right now anyway.”
“Good,” I said. “You can join us today if you wish. I know you love learning the Fae’s secrets. I took them into the Guild and showed them some of yours, so it’s only fair that you be invited to this event,” I teased lightly.
“You took them inside of the Guild, kid, but it was to save us. I know that had to be hard for you to do, and couldn’t have been easy on your conscience. What you did wound up being for the good of those children, too. They wouldn’t have lived if you hadn’t intervened and found them.”
“Be that as it may, that argument won’t help us with the Seattle Guild. I do however have plans in mind for them, but my children come first right now,” I said as I watched him.
“Kid, you do what you gotta do. You go take care of those children and I’ll be right here when you get back. I’m glad you asked me to go, but this one has too much riding on it and I don’t want to slow you down. Besides, if the Mages attack, you’ll need to be focused on those babies and not this old man.”
I looked at him and shook my head. “Please wait for us; together we’re a force they can’t beat. I can’t lose anyone else, and I won’t. If you leave, and they kill you, there will be no Guilds left standing when I am done. Do you understand me? I will personally make it my mission in life to rid the Human world of them. Do you understand me?” I asked with a don’t-fucking-do-it-look.
“Damn,” Ryder said as he awarded me with a crooked smile.
“Didn’t you feed her, Ryder?” Alden asked as he looked past me to Ryder. “She’s only this grumpy when she’s hungry.”
“I don’t feed her anymore,” he said as he gave me a smoldering look that was loaded with lust. “She’s my meal, but she no longer feeds from me.”