Chapter Nineteen – Evaine

“We’re done?” Eva asked, standing next to him, her hand reaching for his. She needed to feel the warmth of his flesh against hers.

“Yes. The bodies are loaded. Did you find anything?” Jack asked.

“Not really. A cell phone, some papers, but they aren’t written in English.” Eva handed them to him.

“Hold on to them for now.” He kissed the top of her head and then said loudly, “Everyone in the Land Rover.”

“What about you?” Eva asked when he didn’t move.

“I’m going to set fire to the truck. I’ll meet you at the Land Rover when I’m sure it’s burning.”

“OK,” she said, and turned to walk out with the others. Her eyes sought out her mom, wanting to check that she was all right. She wasn’t there.

Eva turned around, twice, scouring the warehouse for the woman she had come here to rescue. She wasn’t there. Maybe she had gone outside already, Eva wouldn’t blame her, the stench of death was strong and made your stomach churn.

“OK, Eva?” Liam asked.

“My mom isn’t here.”

“Is she outside?” Liam asked, scanning the building.

“I’m going to go check,” Eva ran on ahead, welcoming the fresh air. “She’s not here.”

“Jack. Wait,” Liam called. “Eva’s mom is missing.”

“How missing?” Jack asked.

“How missing can a person be?” Lucas asked.

“Missing as in gone. Missing as in run. Missing as in gone for a leak. Or missing as in gone to puke your guts up,” Helena offered helpfully, earning herself a scowl from Lucas.

“Any idea which of those it is?” Kurt asked Eva when he joined her outside.

“No. She helped to fill the truck with wood and stuff. I don’t know if I saw her since.” She stood with her hands on her hips, looking around. There was an itch inside her head, insistent, but she knew if she acknowledged it, the voice would start. Eva had managed to keep them quiet while she worked. When she had opened the door to them and taken a peek after the last wolf was killed, she had found some kind of mass family squabble going on between her father and the rest of her ancestors. It wasn’t pretty, and she did not want to get involved. What she wanted was for them all to shut up and get out of her head.

“Jack, we’re going to have to check the place again,” Kurt called.

“Damn it,” Jack said. “OK, I’ll check the truck. Liam and Kurt, check the cells. Helena, check the office. Locke, would you go with Eva and scout the perimeter?”

They all moved. Except Lucas who was still standing guard.

“Lucas?” Eva said, going up to the druid. Locke ran along the side of the warehouse, then stopped to breathe in the air, searching for her mom’s scent.

“What?” Lucas asked.

“You were on guard duty,” Eva said. “Has my mom left the warehouse?”

“Yes,” he said openly.

“What, she just left, and you let her?” Eva asked, anger edging her voice. “And you didn’t think to say?”

“I was told to watch for people coming in. Not leaving,” Lucas said, his face serious.

“Are you a complete idiot?” Eva asked.

“An idiot?” He nodded. “Right, and you are so clever. Can you make a Land Rover look like a Ford Focus?”

“That was you guys?” Eva asked. For some reason she didn’t see magic as being real. It was still like a party trick to her—sleight of hand, pull a rabbit out of a false-bottomed hat kind of thing.

Throw a fireball at a werewolf. OK, she needed to change her perceptions of magic, a lot.

“Yes. So next time you call someone an idiot, remember he was the one who got us here to rescue you.” Lucas looked at her with disdain.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and he softened, his posture not so defensive.

“I know you want to get to know her, your Mom,” he said. “I know you want to believe in her. But she might not be trustworthy. She’s been here for long enough for them to … change her.”

“She’s not one of those creatures,” Eva insisted, but Lucas was right. Crosshead might have found a way to break her. “I’m scared for her, that’s all. She gave me up to protect me. These Templar assholes have screwed up her life too.”

“She’s gone. I’m sorry. I should have been more thoughtful. My mom would do anything for me. I don’t know where I would be without her.” Lucas sighed, and then said, “But I can trace your mom. In the same way Helena traced you.”

“But we have nothing of hers,” Eva said.

“Really?” he asked, and she felt like the idiot, she was missing something obvious.

“Me. You have me.”

“Exactly,” Lucas said.

“I’ll go tell the others.” Eva turned around, and ran back to Jack. “My mom left.”

“She what?” Jack asked.

“She left. I don’t know why, I don’t know where she’s gone. Let’s just get out of here,” Eva said.

“You want me to track her?” Jack asked, placing his hand on her shoulder. “I know how much it means to you to know who you are.”

“She knew it too. And she still left. Let her go for now. Lucas said he will help me track her if I want to. Which I don’t know if I do. She dumped me. Twice.” Eva shrugged. “I’m not alone anymore.”

“No, you’re not.” He looked up and then bellowed. “Let’s go, people.”

“You found her?” Kurt called back.

“No, she left. And that is what we need to do.” Jack pushed her gently. “Go outside, I’m going to blow this place and then get us home.”

“Sounds good. Especially the home part,” Eva said.

Eva exited the warehouse with the others. She could feel Jack’s eyes on her. Turning once, she smiled, and a stab of pain hit her in the heart. It was good pain, as if part of it was waking up. Eva had never known love. She had neither given it nor received it. Yes, she loved chocolate, and good coffee, but she had never loved another person, and no other person had ever loved her.

She placed her hand over her heart. It still beat the same. Only now it beat for Jack too; they were joined, at some deep level, they were one. Her mom had run out on her again, but he was still there for her, he would always be there for her.

“Land Rover is this way,” Kurt said and led them across the open asphalt. He and Liam were on high alert, they were nervous. This wasn’t going to be over until they were safely back in the forest.

However, as a big boom filled the air, and the smell of smoke reached them, Eva wondered if it was ever going to be over. Unless Crosshead was the leader, and his plans and schemes died with him, this was just the beginning. Someone else would make werewolves, someone else would want the Dragon’s Tear, and the Night Hunters … would they come for Eva? Was that why her mom had left, to tell them where her daughter was?

“That’s the Land Rover?” she asked, her thoughts swept away when she came face to face with a red Ford Focus. They would never all fit inside.

“On the outside. That’s what a glamor is. But once you open the door…” Liam pulled the door open. “It’s a Land Rover.”

“Cool,” Eva said.

“OK, Lucas and Helena are up front, the rest of you will have to squeeze into the back.” Kurt said, and then he put a hand on Eva’s shoulder. “Are we going back for your car?”

“Do you think it’s safe?” Eva asked.

“I have no idea,” Kurt said.

“What if Lucas puts a glamor on me? He could make me look different.”

“I can do that,” Lucas said. He placed his hands on her shoulders and muttered words she did not understand. “There.”

She looked down, but to her own eyes she looked normal. “Did it work?”

Kurt laughed. “Yeah. It worked.”

“What do I look like?” Eva asked.

“Here.” Helena pulled out a mirror compact from her purse.

“What the hell!” She looked like a man. A big muscly man.

“I figured anyone would think twice before messing with you,” Lucas said with a shrug.

“Right, had nothing to do with winding up Jack,” Liam said. “He’s gonna kill you for messing with his lady.”

“You look nothing like a lady,” Helena said chuckling. Then she looked at Locke, who was sagging against the Land Rover. “Come on, let’s get you inside.” Helena led him to the back of the Land Rover and boosted him inside. “The rest of you should get in too.”

“I will go back to looking normal, won’t I, Lucas?” Eva asked as she pulled herself into the vehicle.

“I’ll remove it when we get back,” he assured her.

She sat down, trying to avoid looking at Liam, who was sitting there staring at her. “What? It’s not real.”

“I know, but you look so…” He stopped talking. His head shot up and his attention was fixed outside of the vehicle. “We have company.”

“Where?” Kurt asked.

“Two vehicles pulling off the road, and heading this way.”

“OK. Shut the door.” Kurt ordered. “Let’s hope Jack hurries up.”

Liam shut the door, and Eva sat still, holding her breath as they waited for Jack. At last someone banged on the side of the vehicle and Liam opened the door. “What the hell!”

A woman stood there, in high heels and a very tight dress. “What?”

“Jack?” Liam asked.

“You are welcome,” Lucas called.

“Get in,” Liam hooked his hand under Jack’s elbow and helped him in. “Lucas has given you a disguise.”

The woman looked at Eva, and frowned. “Lucas!”

“I’m trying to keep you all safe,” he said.

“Whatever,” Jack said. “We need to go.”

“Have they reached the warehouse?” Liam asked.

“By now, yes. But they won’t get in, the whole place is on fire.”

“Do you know if my mom was there? If they caught her again?” Eva asked.

“I didn’t see her.”

“Give me the map.” Lucas took the map and the pendulum from Helena, and closed his eyes. “Put your hand on my shoulder, Eva.”

Eva did as he asked, trying to maintain contact with him while Kurt turned the vehicle around and drove on to the road, heading home, away from the thick plume of black smoke that filled the afternoon sky.

Lucas opened his eyes and looked down at the map. “She’s not there. She’s heading toward Salisbury.”

“Do you want to follow her?” Jack asked gently.

“No. I think we need to go home and rest. There are these papers to go through.” She had stuffed them into her jacket, and now she pulled them out. “Any idea of the language?”

“Let me see?” Lucas asked.

She handed him a sheet of paper. “Latin. We could ask the Grimmwold; he would likely be able to read it. I can only make out certain words and phrases.”

“Not fluent in Latin?” Helena asked. “I’m surprised, I thought it was the main language of druids.”

“Druids who have been taught it all their lives. You forget I was only dragged off the streets two years ago.”

“I do forget, you have learned arrogance of druids much faster than Latin,” Helena snapped back.

“We don’t need this,” Jack said, watching Locke closely. “Hey, you OK?”

“Right now, I want you to rip my throat out,” he answered. “I’m not sure if that will ever change.”

“Is there somewhere we can take you?” Jack asked.

“No.” He shook his head. “I can’t go back to my old life. So many questions.” He pressed his thumb and his finger to his eyes, to blot up the tears. With a loud sniff, he said, “They told me they framed the disappearances on me. My life as I know it is over.”

“Then you can come home with me,” Helena said. “I have a spare room. You are welcome to stay as long as you need to.”

“Thank you,” Locke said wearily.

They sat in silence the rest of the way, and Eva struggled not to stare at the beautiful woman sitting next to her. It was weird how convincing the glamor was.

Kurt drove around the back of the pub and parked the car. They sat for several minutes watching for movements, but it all looked quiet. “I’m going to drive back with Eva. We’ll meet you there, and then Lucas can lift the glamors. I have my cell on me—any trouble, call. Got it?”

“Yep. Stay safe,” Kurt said.

Jack opened the door and got out, holding his hand out to Eva. She took it and he helped her jump down, which was probably a ridiculous sight, a sexy woman in a tight red dress helping down a hulking man, who looked like a lumberjack.

“We’ll wait for you to get in the car. Once you drive away, we’ll follow. But I’m going to leave enough room so that if you pick up a tail, we’ll know,” Kurt said.

“Good idea,” Jack called, and then slammed the door. “I must look ridiculous.”

“I don’t know, the guys in the pub are watching you. Maybe you should give them a wave,” Eva said.

“If they come out, you know you will be called on to protect my honor,” Jack said with a sexy smile that she suspected was supposed to be a grin.

“I will do my best,” Eva said. She took her car key out of her pocket, and opened the door, dumping the papers from the warehouse on the seat. “I was worried Lucas might actually be able to read them and take the most important ones.”

“You don’t trust him?” Jack asked, sliding into the car.

“Yes. And no,” she glanced sideways at Jack. “What about you? You’ve known him longer.”

“Like he said, the Council found him a couple of years ago. Somehow they must have picked up on his powers. They moved him into a house, and he’s been taught everything he needs to know to be a druid. Or a Council lackey.”

“You say it like he has no chance of being the leader of the Council,” Eva said, starting the car and driving away. She checked the rearview mirror, but there was no suspicious movement.

“Not without some kind of miracle. It’s why he came with us, for the glory,” Jack said, making inverted commas in the air.

Eva giggled. “He’s good at these glamors.”

“Yes, but being a druid, particularly being on the Council, is much more than that. Most druids grow up being taught their laws as soon as they can talk. He’s going to have to work hard to catch up. But the Grimmwold likes him, which means he will have access to every spell he ever needs.”

“And what about Locke?” she asked. “Will he be allowed to stay?”

“He’s a shifter; if he asks for sanctuary, the Council will give it to him. We can all vouch for what happened back there.” Jack fell silent.

“You’re scared?”

“Yes.” He shifted in his seat, looking at her. “Do your Night Hunters have any more information on the Templars, and that experiment?” He tapped his head.

“I don’t know. I’ve shut them out.” She stared out of the window. “I need to learn how to control them. I can switch them off, but it takes a lot of effort. Once they are quiet, it’s easier. I’m scared if I open up to them again, I won’t be able to shut them off again. But I want to talk to my dad.”

“We’ll work on it. The druids should be able to help you.”

“Will they help me?” she asked. “You said Locke will be able to stay because he’s a shifter. But what about me?”

“You are my mate.” He said it as if there would be no argument, but Eva was not so sure.

“And if they don’t?” Eva asked.

“They will.” To Jack, there was no argument, and Eva let it go. She was tired, mentally and physically, and all she wanted to do was go home and sleep.

Home, she smiled at that thought. Wherever Jack was, she was home. Even if he did look like a sexy vamp.