He says, “You’re shaking.”
“I’m OK.” He gives me a look and I repeat, “I’m OK.”
After a pause he asks, “What do you want to do?”
“Kill ’em all.” I’m joking but only a bit. “Wallend is experimenting on other witches like he did on me. He strapped me down and tattooed me. That was worse than being with Celia. That was the worst thing of all. At least Celia occasionally treated me like a human being. But to Wallend I was just some kind of lab rat. No one should have to go through that.”
“No,” Gabriel agrees. And I think that even Gabriel is beginning to believe that the Alliance’s cause is just.
I say to him, “We work with the Alliance until Wallend and Soul are dead.”
He nods.
Van and Annalise have arrived and I take a deep breath and join them.
There are ten of us. Three Black Witches: Van, Gabriel, and Gus, who it seems is more than just a barman but also a key Black Witch with extensive contacts throughout Europe. On the White Witch side is Celia, another White Witch from England called Grace, a third White from Italy called Angela, plus Annalise. There are two Half Bloods, Nesbitt and Ellen. Then there’s me.
Celia says, “I believe we’re safe here but we’ll keep the meeting short. First I take it that, as you’re here, you are joining us, Nathan?”
“Until I change my mind.”
She looks into my eyes; hers are a pale blue filled with white shards. Then she does something I’m not expecting. She holds out her hand. “Then we’re on the same side,” she says. “Welcome to the AFW.”
“The what?”
“The Alliance of Free Witches.”
“Ha! Well, it’s no thanks to you that I’m one of those.”
“But we’re all very glad you are one and that you want to help ensure other witches remain free too.”
Her hand is still out and I ignore it, saying, “What I want is to see Soul and Wallend dead. And quite a lot of other White Witches too. That’s why I’m here.”
She says, “Am I one of those you want to see dead, Nathan?”
“You’d have a bullet in your brain if you were.”
“If you join the Alliance you’ll have to take orders from me. Can you?” she asks.
I manage a smile. “As long as they’re not stupid ones.”
“Do you expect them to be?”
I make her wait before I say, “No.”
“Good. I don’t expect they will be either but I’m sure you’ll be the first to tell me if they are.”
Her hand is still outstretched. She says, “Will you shake hands?”
“I’m struggling not to spit on you at the moment.”
She laughs a loud bark of a laugh and withdraws her hand. “I have missed you, Nathan. Even though I’m sure you’ve not missed me.”
And, sitting across the table from her, I don’t think she has any idea what it was like for me, or for any prisoner, being chained up and beaten. She’s an intelligent woman but she hasn’t got a clue sometimes. Only if you’ve been there can you know.
Van asks for an update since her last meeting with Celia. That was only two weeks ago but in that time there’s been the massacre in Paris, and Soul has replaced all the Council members with his own people: Wallend is now on the Council. Several White Witches have been arrested for colluding with the rebels. “Including Clay,” Celia says.
“What?” says Nesbitt.
“A trumped-up charge but Clay was having serious doubts about Soul. He’d lost his job, his status, his reputation, everything. Well, everything except his freedom and now he’s lost that too.”
Celia continues. “I heard that Isch’s house in Barcelona was raided shortly after we were there. Isch took poison and died; some of the girls were captured and tortured. I knew that my name would soon pop up on their lists. Soul has named those he wants for interrogation, including the ex-Council Leader Gloria; her husband and sister, Grace; plus myself and another Hunter called Greatorex. Soul was right to have them on his list—we’re all members of the AFW.
“Jessica is leading the Hunters. And I have to say she’s doing a good job. The Hunters are a mostly female organization and they’re delighted to have a woman in charge again. She has plenty of new recruits and has made attacks on Black Witch communities in northern France, Holland, and Germany. The biggest has been the one in Paris but as far as I can tell she’s killed over sixty Black Witches so far and has lost no Hunters in those attacks.
“But Jessica has problems too and they’ll grow. Even with all her new recruits, she’s going to have to spread the Hunters thinly if she wants to cover all of Europe. And many of those recruits will be less well-trained and certainly less experienced than the core Hunter army.