Words of Power (Alice Gray Book 3)

71

The basement of the Minster was scattered with bodies returning to consciousness. Well, not all the bodies were returning to consciousness.

The nasty, clammy skinned man-poppets that Brother Jerome had brought back to life were well and truly dead now, but that was how it should be. Whoever those souls had been in life, they deserved to be laid to their final rest.

The remaining bodies of the wolves were also decimated beyond revival. They looked tiny now. Their emaciated frames and broken bones seemed to be too small for the ferocity they'd shown when alive.

Lucas and I went straight for our pack-mates and Anne. The mesmerism was fading, and luckily Brother Jerome's ancient death-dust hadn't touched them.

Friar Frankenstein had other plans for his prisoners of war. I shuddered as I thought of the experiments he'd intended for them, as well as for me.

"What in God's name just happened?" Emily said, straightening her magistrates robe. "Where are we? Where's the court?"

"It's all over," I said. "We need to get out of here, like right now. The DPA's corrupt. There's no telling who we can trust."

"What?"

"Faith, Emily, you have to have faith."

Emily glanced around at the bodies of all the high-powered DPA officials before looking again at my silver eyes.

"I'm not sure about faith, but my gut is telling me that something is definitely not right about how easily the court was taken. It had to be an inside job."

A tiny bit of the tension that fizzled through my super-charged blood released at how easily Emily had believed me.

Gathering at the door, we had Emily, Evan and Anne. Sam's head popped up as I surveyed the room as though he could feel our intent to leave him there. Holding his eyes, I shook my head. It was going to be too dangerous until all the fallout from the DPA imploding had settled. He'd be safer with Becca.

At least she wasn't a criminal.

Disappointment clouded his features, but it was better this way.

Thomas strode towards our group, a still unconscious figure laying in his arms.

"Oh hell no," I muttered, as I saw the long red hair flowing over his arm.

Lucas let out a low, rumbling growl, before Thomas stopped him with a hand on the arm.

"Hostage," he said, shooting an apologetic look my way. "We will need a bargaining chip to make them hear us."

"He's right Alice," Anne said, as my head started to shake my refusal. "We can't run forever, it'll be better if they have a reason to shoot second."

"Does it have to be her?"

"She's the most valuable. She's fae."

I really didn't have time for this bullshit right now.

"Fine. Let's go."

Two hours later we were back at the Gray family cottage. Back where it all began. For once the whispered voices of my ancestors where quiet.

I placed my silver tree ornament on the coffee table in the centre of the room. There was a lot of religious mumbo jumbo that I had to try and explain to my pack and family, and I wasn't sure if I believed it myself.

"So, the doctrine of providence holds that the Eye determines all events in the cosmos and does so for the ultimate good of its servants," I finished, regurgitating the company line given to me by the angels.

"You descend from angels," Emily stated dryly.

"Yep," I said, unable to stop the blush from rising in my face.

"And you and Potts are a Special Providence."

"Yep," I answered, the blush deepening as Thomas's dark gaze rested on me from his seat across the table.

"And Adelaide is a Fairy?" Emily asked, unable to stop restating what I'd just explained.

The blush blanched to white immediately at the mention of Thomas's red-haired new girlfriend. Thomas's dark gaze remained glued to me as though he could hear the unwelcome direction of my thoughts

"Fae," Thomas corrected.

"And that's different from an angel how?"

"The Eye pursues its purposes through the ordinary flow of nature. With divine permission, lesser spirits can also direct natural forces to their ends - the fae are lesser spirits," Thomas answered.

"Angels function above the mortal world, the fae function within it," I supplied, hoping for clarification, but knowing how inadequate my flimsy understanding was to explain the difference between supernatural and preternatural.

"Except Azazel lived on Earth for centuries, and Brad and Ralph stuck their wings into our business too. Look, what's the difference between what Jerome did and what Ralph and Brad did to ensure the Almighty's will through providence."

Trust Emily to get to the point. A point that I had absolutely no chance of answering.

"The way I look at it, we have to have Faith that the right side is the divine one. Brother Jerome and his ancient vamps were sucked back through the Eye, and I was blessed with all this magical juice. We are the right side, aren't we?"

Emily grumbled her acknowledgement, as dissatisfied with that explanation as I was.

Lucas coughed. "Not all the ancient vamps were sucked back through."

"What do you mean?"

"When the cyclone hit, I saw one slip out of the Minster. A woman."

"But it was bright sun outside, she'd have been fried," I whispered.

"Not necessarily," Thomas said. "The ancients are strong. The oldest could function in daylight."

An awful creeping feeling of dread crept through me.

"Thomas, how old was Baroness Knyvet?"

"Old."

So this was it. We were on the run from the DPA and a vampire so old that she could escape York Minster in full daylight.

My pack.

My family.

My predestined love.

And his new fae girlfriend.

But hey, at least the universe hadn't exploded. There's always a silver lining.

That's it! The end. Hope you enjoyed the story. Shall I do another one?