Irin’s children were Nephlim, and their power had been similar yet different from that of an exile. They had the ability to access the minds of Grigori. I didn’t know if it was a skill unique to Irin’s offspring, but I wasn’t keen to find out.
As we loaded into the four-wheel drives that would take us to the Grigori safe house, I couldn’t deny the prickling sensation that ran from my spine to my toes.
‘There are Nephlim here,’ I said to my carload, which included Zoe, Sal, Gray and Mia. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that Mia had chosen to travel with me instead of Lincoln, and I knew that it was her way of reinforcing that her relationship with him was nothing more than friendship.
And I continue to have absolutely NFI how to respond.
More unsettling was the fact that Phoenix and Lincoln had ended up in a car together. The last time those two went off alone, I ended up part of an elaborate resurrection plan.
You can’t blame a girl for being nervous.
‘Is that what that creepy slick feeling running all over my skin is?’ Zoe asked, screwing up her face.
I wasn’t sure about that. I knew what she was referring to but I worried that that was something else altogether. ‘All I know is that there are a lot of them. Exiles too. And they’re very old.’ Not quite as ancient as Irin, but still, there were seriously powerful exiles here. I swallowed, gripping the door handle as we took a sharp turn. We had already been warned the drive would be ‘defensive’.
‘And they’re all exiles of light,’ I added, feeling the weight of my statement fill the vehicle.
‘No exiles of dark at all?’ Gray asked carefully.
I let him see my eyes and that was all he needed.
‘We need to keep Phoenix hidden,’ I said. Apart from the fact he had betrayed all exiles – who took vengeance very seriously – by helping us stop Lilith, now that the rivalry between light and dark was in full force I knew that we had put him in danger just by bringing him to New Orleans.
Gray pulled out his phone and started to type.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked.
He didn’t pause. ‘There’s an emergency code. A group of Rogues got together about sixty years back. We set it up and kept it running. There are two codes. One to prepare. One to mobilise.’
I nodded, my mouth dry. The Rogues would only come together if the situation was, well, unprecedented.
To be sure, I checked. ‘Have they ever been activated before?’
‘Not once,’ he said, putting his phone away.
Zoe, who was sitting next to Gray, raised an eyebrow. ‘Which one did you trigger?’
He looked at her and I couldn’t help but notice that his eyes seemed to soften slightly. ‘There’s something very bad here.’
Sal nodded. ‘He’s right. There is something …’ He closed his eyes. ‘Like a shield of lies covering the land, but that’s not it. More like … intent and ignorance.’ He opened his eyes. ‘This place is like a world separate from our own.’
Zoe shuddered. ‘I can feel it, too. The trees, they’re not right. I know this sounds strange but it feels as if they’re here against their will.’
I thought about what Dapper had said, how this land had been raised from the water. If Sammael had brought this land from the ocean then perhaps what Zoe said was right. If it had stayed where it was, trees would never have grown.
And people would not live here.
Zoe pulled out a packet of M&M’s and offered them around. No one felt much like a sugar hit. When she looked at Gray, her eyes intensified. ‘Which one did you activate, Gray?’
His eyes flicked up and met mine before he sighed. ‘It’ll take them at least twenty-four hours to get here.’
He’d mobilised them.
Jesus.
I rolled my eyes and slumped back in my seat; it was that or reach over and smack him over the head. And, Zoe was already in motion.
‘You just risked Spence’s life!’ she said, hitting him again for good measure.
Gray’s upper lip started to bleed. Zoe never pulled her punches.
‘Hit him for me too, please,’ Mia requested from Zoe’s other side.
Zoe was happy to comply.
I wanted to be mad at him. I wanted hitting him to make it better. But deep down, I knew he was right. This place … it was flooded with exiles and Nephlim. We were going to need back-up. Spence would agree.
And the way I saw it, it just meant I was going to have to find Spence sooner rather than later. Fine by me.
While they bickered in the back, I turned to the driver, who was one of the few local Grigori stationed in New Orleans.
‘It’s Roman, right?’ I asked.
He nodded stiffly.
‘You’ve been awfully quiet,’ I said.
Roman kept his eyes on the road and his foot flat on the gas. ‘I need to get you to the city safe house first. Then we can talk all you like.’
I noticed that his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly were dirty and his jeans and grey sweater looked in need of a wash.
‘They’re hunting you?’
‘Always,’ he admitted.
I nodded. ‘Where are we going?’