The Awakening by Nicole R. Taylor

know what it's like,
Nye."
    "Yeah, I know. He had a way with words you
couldn't fault."
    "Manipulation," Zac scoffed.
    "Maybe with you ."
    "I believe Regulus was trying to find
something," he continued, ignoring the bait. "The Coven were trying
to wake someone…something."
    "So fucking what?"
    "We now know it woke a hybrid."
    "A bad ass, magical vampire hybrid," Nye
added for emphasis.
    Zac glared at the spy. "I don't know what
Regulus wanted with him, but it's become glaringly obvious that we need to stop
the hybrid."
    "Why?" Rix asked.
    "Do you understand what the Hunter is?"
    Rix shook his head. "We were tasked with
hunting her. That's all."
    "She was once a creature of power. Arturius
turned her, but she kept a lot of what she was afterward. That's why she can
kill a founder for good, that's why she is as strong an unpredictable as she
is."
    "And what does that have to do with this other
guy?"
    "He wasn't turned, Rix. He was created.
Corrupt, unstable and totally unpredictable. Add to that whatever power he had
before and well…"
    "We're all in the shit," Nye finished.
    "Yeah, but why the hell should I care?"
    "Because the hybrid threatens us all. He's a
threat to exposing our kind to the human world. He's a threat to everything on
this entire planet."
    "He's fucking Henry the eighth on acid,
mate." Nye butted in.
    Rix looked from Zac back to the spy and then down
at his hands. "You need numbers?"
    "Yes," Zac answered. "But numbers
are nothing without vampires we can trust and who can fight…willingly. I won't
make you come with us. I won't bargain with you. That's our plea and you can
hear it or not."
    "And if I choose to stay here?"
    "Then you'll miss one hell of a fight,"
the spy declared.
    Rix's fingers curled into hard fists. After a
minute, he asked, "Where are you meeting?"
    "The apartment in Camden," Zac said.
    "Who else?"
    "Pyke."
    "What about Maddox?"
    "We haven't found him yet."
    "Good fucking luck with that."
    "So, are you coming?"
    "There's an eighty percent chance that I
will," he said with a scowl. "Exit's that way." He pointed to an
opening opposite to where they first entered.
    Nodding, Zac shoved Nye into the passageway. There
was nothing more they could say and he just had to trust that Rix'd show up
along with Pyke. It was all part of the process.
    When they were far enough away, Nye said, "Do
you think he'll actually show up?"
    "Yes."
    "Mate, you've got some belief system happening
there. I have serious doubts."
    "No time for doubts, Nye. You didn't think it
would've been a good idea to let me in on Rix's girlfriend?"
    "Was it ever my place to tell someone's messed
up story like that?" He grinned as they stepped out into the moonlight.
    "I guess not."
    The air was crisp and clear, heavy with ice and
stars twinkled down on them in the hundreds through the light pollution of the
city. It was eerily calm. He could've gone as far to say it was the calm before
the storm…because a storm was coming and who knew what it was bringing with it.

 
 
    CHAPTER EIGHT

 
 
    Gabby sat in the car next to Regulus as he drove
away from Brú na Bóinne, images of Coraline and Max swimming around her mind.
She'd seen it before… carnage . When Aya had first shown up back in
Ashburton, she'd saved Zac from the werewolf pack in a similar fashion. Death
was part and parcel with fighting supernatural evil, but she'd never seen it
happen to her friends before, even if they were friends she'd never
met in person. As the car rounded a bend, she felt a little green.
    "Are you okay, Gabrielle?"
    "Fine," she replied, not knowing which
part should make her feel sicker. What had happened down in the Tuatha's hole,
or Regulus' concern. Both were equally disturbing. "What now?"
    "Tomorrow we will go to Grasmere," he
replied.
    "Why there?"
    "I suspect he wants answers."
    "Yeah, no shit. Three thousand years locked in
a pile of rock would do that to you."
    Regulus smirked, but didn't say anything.
    "Well?" She was inches