Fangs of Fate (Untish #1)

Chapter 46

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

TATE

We had been traveling since sun-up. It had been about ten hours and we were, allegedly, an hour out from the next settlement. Tomorrow. Tomorrow we would finish our trek to the Southern Outpost where I would finally be able to corner Chance for some answers. Shae too. I missed my pixie-haired friend. She was full of endless wisdom, and I found myself grateful that I’d soon be with her, if even as a part of the guara.

A pinecone crunched underfoot, and I looked up. These trees were ancient, bigger than the ones near HQ. They filled the air with a warm pine scent and offered pleasant patches of shade. The sun would go down soon and the sweat on my back would then turn to ice. My feet ached, my left leg throbbed with each step, and I was pretty sure my entire person was covered with dirt. I hated traveling like this.

“Hey, want some company?” Vala’s voice sounded as she approached slowly from behind.

“Pass.”

“Oh, come on, Tate. It’s far too boring to be traveling all this way without a decent conversation. I’m so bored!” She was acting like nothing happened. Like we weren’t just attacked, like I hadn’t just learned Fletch was a part of her rogue group.

“Stop it!” I hissed, moving closer. “Stop acting like my friend and stop acting like nothing is going on.”

“Tate, if I act like something’s up, we’ll all die.”

Her words stung. Even her statement was simple and serious, it took me back. This was the other side of the otherwise perky Vala. The serious, traitorous side.

“Well then, go talk to someone else. I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“You don’t have to say anything at all. I’ll do all the talking.” She giggled, actually giggled. “Jared says I do way too much of it, so I’m sure he’ll be relieved to hear I’ve unloaded some of it on you.”

I clenched my jaw. This was going to be a long walk.

She continued to ramble on about the forest, the beautiful colors, and Jared’s eyes. All normal stuff. All teenage stuff for a twenty-year-old, assuming she actually was twenty, to be focused on. It was completely at odds with the mission and the rogue group she served.

“How old are you?” I interrupted her soliloquy of tree lifespans.

“Me? I’m twenty, just a little younger than everyone else.”

“Seriously, Vala. How old are you?”

“I’m,” she looked around to see that no one was within earshot, “I’m really twenty, OK? That’s part of why I was sent on this mission rather than more experienced operatives. But don’t tell Jared I told you that.”

Right, like that was the biggest secret I was keeping.

“Is anything else about you true? Any of that stuff you said on the circuit or the ramblings in the pub?”

“Yes, actually, just not in the same lens as you assumed.”

Her response made no sense. “What?”

“Tate, what am I going to do with you.” She sighed and then pulled me into a side embrace and continued marching forward. “Ok, listen up. First off, I never lied to you. Not really. My family is in the military,” she lowered her voice and whispered in my ear. “They just don’t serve the Glenn,” with every word, her voice grew even quieter.

“Where do they serve?” If she wanted to talk then fine, but I wasn’t going to make it easy. I would get some real information.

“Uh-uh, no specifics. Let’s just say they serve the rogue group.” She winked at me before continuing. “My mother is in research. She’s been trying to figure out the science behind the creation of those things . That part is completely true. She also is super strict and wanted me to follow her path and become a researcher, a scientist. Pshh.” She swatted the air in front of her. “But, yeah, she believes dark magic is involved and that these creatures are not made from scratch.” She was speaking so quietly, I was surprised I could even make out what she was saying.

“Meaning?” I pried.

I’d learned from my mother that asking questions and short replies was often the best way of listening and learning. I wonder if she ever thought I’d end up here, using her advice to betray my country by having this very conversation.

“Meaning, they are starting with organic material and transforming it. We just don’t know how yet.” She swatted at the air again.

Charged. I could feel it buzzing, the electricity to the air current shifted and increased ever so slightly. He was near.

She picked up her step and actually began skipping down a hill, dragging me behind her. I gritted my teeth as I almost fell when my foot caught on a tree stump.

“For the love of blood, Vala, please slow down.”

“Sorry!” She looked a little sheepish. “Jared says I walk too fast as well. I guess I just like to move at a quick pace. I know most vampires are gifted with speed, it’s a common trait, but I like to move with style.” She wagged her brows before letting go of my hand and sprinting forward to perform a cartwheel. What did she do for the group before this mission? She acted like she’d never been set free before.

The charge increased a tad, as if the source was getting closer. I squinted. There, I could see it. The glimmer of a thin shield in the air, of the air, hovering just a few feet in front of me. A sound shield.

“Show off.” Jared’s voice startled me.

“How long have you been there?”

He was standing just behind me, Aether to his left. I looked to Aether, he wielded no apparent effort in the forming of the shield, and yet from what I’d seen earlier, he was the one manipulating the air. He had to be.

“Not long. But long enough to know Vala was doing most of the talking. Per the norm,” Aether grumbled under his breath as Jared focused his eyes dead ahead. Still not talking to me.

“Yeah, she’s something else.”

I saw it then. The barely noticeable dip in Jared’s chin. The twinkle in his eyes, the pure admiration. He really cared for her, it wasn’t just an act or a cover.

“You love her.” Some of the ice around my heart began to thaw. They had been somewhat truthful. Perhaps the perky and serious version of Vala was just that, a variation of a real person and not an act or projected persona.

“You know nothing,” Jared snarled before passing me, bumping my shoulder, and jogging down the hill.

Ice walls back in place. He may like Vala, but it was clear he didn’t like me. Fine. I wasn’t a fan of that boring male either.

Vala was back-springing down the hill. She was in fantastic shape. Jared caught up to her and continued forward walking next to her backward steps. Ever the odd couple.

“There’s a history there, in case you guessed it. But you’re best to leave it be. Just a word of advice,” Aether said.

“You’re still there.” I wished he would leave me alone. I didn’t understand my body’s response to his proximity, and I certainly didn’t understand what had occurred within the warded circle earlier this morning. I’d never done anything like that before. Never felt that emotionally charged.

“Yep. I’ll be sticking to you like a fly on honey.”

“Seriously? Gross.” His analogies could use some work. “If you’re going to be there, then how about you tell me who you are.”

“You know who I am.”

“No, tell me your full name.” I stared at him, noting the way some of his dark hair fell over his forehead in loose waves. The ends appeared a bit darker than the root, but it could just be from sweat. Even with the scar across the left side of his face, he was magnificent to behold.

“I’ll bite. My name is Aether. Just…Aether for now.”

I shook my head from my stupor. I didn’t need to be fixated on his face, no matter how appealing he was to look at. “No Mardi?”

He laughed and it was such a humbling sound coming from him. It made his eyes light up, changing from the black shade to that of a dark chocolate. The smile on his face softened his features and gave him a youthful appearance. And yet, it didn’t diminish his masculinity, instead it oddly increased his sex factor.

“Nope. Mardi was something I made up just for Gari. And it uh, carried over.” He winked at me, the smile not leaving his face. It drew my full attention to his lips. They were full, and even now I could recall the taste of them.

My heart rate sped up along with the fire in my blood. I could feel it sparking.

Desire.

“Tate Aaralyn,” he cleared his throat, tearing his now deepening eyes from my face to focus ahead, “what else do you want to know?”

What? Was he seriously being nice to me and opening up?

“Why were you working for Gari?”

Stupid question! I should ask more about Fletch…and yet, I couldn’t bring myself to say his name or think about him. I’d been trying to avoid that this whole trek.

“Intel.”

Gee, that was helpful.

“Such as?” I was trying to recall his interrogation from the warehouse. Was that really just a few days ago? I shook my head. Life had really derailed.

“We became aware of President Dale’s?—”

“Collin, please, he doesn’t deserve his title. Never has,” I interrupted.

“Collin’s,” he smiled at me, and I couldn’t place the look in his eyes, “partnership with Gari. He was having Gari smuggle humans to him, specific individuals and bloodlines. We were trying to ascertain the criteria for human selection and the use of them once attained.”

Tim’s missing person’s research came to mind. All those files, all those missing families. I had suspected a serial feeder, but I had never thought Collin would be behind it.

“To what end? Does Collin just have an acquired taste?” It wouldn’t be the most disturbing thing about the male. Images of the most recent missing girl, Alison, came to mind. She may only be human, but she had a right to life, didn’t she?

“Something like that.”

Ah, that was the end of his openness. I should’ve guessed.

“You ever notice this trend or suspect Gari’s involvement with the Glenn?” he asked the question as he bent down and retrieved a stick, fiddling with it between his fingers.

I wasn’t about to answer him. We both would be open, or we both would not.

“See, James said you didn’t, but I thought maybe you did. Maybe that’s why you were attacking Gari?” He was fishing, I knew it, but still I wanted to answer. “Jared thinks we may have overestimated you.”

“I had an idea but didn’t know Collin was behind it.”

“Mmm.” He continued to fiddle with his stick.

“So, do you know what became of the missing humans?”

He didn’t respond, just focused on peeling the bark off the wood with his thumbnail.

“I see,” I grunted, increasing my pace. No company was better than his silent company.

“The seethings. I believe they were once humans…or that the human blood-magic was used to create them. Just a theory,” his voice was quiet and stopped me in my tracks.

Did he really just give me information?

“No.” If what he said was true, then those humans were not only dead, but they’d also been defiled.

“You’re a lot like him, you know. He got that same puzzled expression on his face, all concentrated and simultaneously revolted.”

“Fletch did?”

“Yup. He was a good male. I am sorry for your loss.”

I didn’t respond, didn’t know what to say. I felt like Aether and Mardi were two very different people and I’d only dealt with Mardi before. This Aether was too different from the male I originally met. Or was he? Was I being deceived, again?

My hands began to jitter with energy. I really needed to figure out what was going on; maybe it was just adrenaline, but whatever it was, it needed to stop. I felt crazy.

“Thank you. See you at the settlement.”

Without waiting for him to respond, I jogged forward and pressed through the air shield. At first, it resisted but then it just vanished, and I was free of the charged air.

Vala and Jared were walking hand-in-hand up ahead, Vala chatting constantly and Jared silent. I rolled my eyes. Perhaps they were predictable.

Aether’s words affected me more than I’d like. Fletch was not a blood relative, and yet, the thought that I have a similar trait to that male made my heart warm. I would not let Fletch down. Not again.