Half-Blood

CHAPTER 13

PRACTICE WAS EPICALLY AWKWARD THE

FOLLOWING day. Aiden spent the time pretending I hadn’t physical y and sexual y assaulted him, which created a conflicting set of emotions in me. Part of me was glad he didn’t bring it up. And the other part… wel , that part felt stung. Although it total y made no sense, I wanted him to acknowledge what’d passed between us.

But I did bring the anger to practice. I fought better and blocked more than I ever had. Aiden praised my technique in a truly professional manner, which irked me. When we rol ed up the mats at the end of practice, I felt al kinds of confrontational.

“I ran into Seth… last night.” The words “last night”

probably carried a lot more weight than anything else I said.

Aiden stiffened, but didn’t respond. “He wants to know why Lucian ordered him to Council.”

Aiden straightened, brushing his hands across his thighs.

“He shouldn’t question his orders.”

I arched a brow. “He thinks it has something to do with me.”

He looked at me then, face impressively blank.

“Does it?”

No answer.

“Does it have something to do with what happened to my mom?” My hands curled into fists at his continued silence.

“You said last night I had every right to know what happened to my mother. So I think I have every right to know what the hel is going on. Or are you going to lie to me again?”

That got a response. “I never lied to you before, Alex. I omitted the truth.”

I rol ed my eyes. “Yeah, that’s not lying.”

Irritation flared across his features. “Do you think I liked knowing what happened to your mother? Enjoyed seeing how hurt you were when you found out?”

“That’s not the point.”

“The point is I’m here to train you. To get you ready to attend classes in the fal .”

“And nothing else, huh?” The hurt that sprang forth fueled my anger. “Not even the common courtesy of tel ing me what’s going on when you so obviously know what’s happening?”

Uncertainty darkened his expression. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. The dark waves tumbled back to his forehead like they always did. “I don’t know why the Minister ordered Seth to the Council. I’m just a Sentinel, Alex. I’m not privy to the inner workings of the Council, but…

” He took a deep breath. “I don’t entirely trust your stepfather. His display in Marcus’s office was… abnormal.”

Out of al the things I expected him to say, I was shocked he would admit that. It diffused some—not al —of my anger.

“What do you think he’s up to?”

“It’s al I know, Alex. If I was you… I’d be careful around Seth. Apol yons can be unstable at times, dangerous.

They’ve been known to lose their tempers, and if he’s angry about his relocation… ”

I nodded, but I wasn’t real y concerned with that. Aiden left without saying much of anything else. Disappointed, I left the training room and ran into Caleb outside.

The two of us stared at each other.

“So… I’m assuming you’ve heard?” I tried to sound nonchalant.

Caleb nodded, his sky blue eyes sorrowful. “Alex, I’m sorry. It’s not right—not fair.”

“It’s not,” I whispered.

Knowing how I was with these kinds of things, he left it alone after that. We didn’t bring it up again, and for the rest of the night it was like things were normal. Mom wasn’t a daimon, and she wasn’t out there draining pures. It was easier to go on, pretending that everything was normal. It worked for a while.

A couple of days later, I got my wish for a new trainer.

Wel … almost. When I opened up the double doors to the main training room Aiden wasn’t alone. Kain stood beside him, looking like he clearly remembered our last training session.

My steps slowed as my eyes bounced between the two.

“Hey… ?”

The look on Aiden’s face was unreadable—a common expression since I’d kissed him. “Kain is going to be helping us train three days a week.”

“Oh,” I felt torn between being excited about learning whatever Kain could show me and disappointed someone else was encroaching on my time with Aiden.

I real y did have a lot to learn from Kain. He wasn’t as fast as Aiden, but I’d come to anticipate the moves Aiden used.

With Kain, it was al new. By the end of practice, I felt a little better about the changeup in our training, but there was stil a nagging worry Kain’s reappearance had something to do with the kiss.

Kain wasn’t the only one who kept popping back up.

Over the fol owing week, Seth lingered around campus, showing up in the rec room, the cafeteria, and the training room. It made avoiding him—which had been my plan—

impossible. Trying to hold my own against Kain with just Aiden watching was bad enough, but having the Apol yon in the mix total y sucked.

Thankful y, today was Kain’s off day. He’d accompanied some group of pures on a weekend getaway. I felt bad for him. Yesterday, he’d spent the majority of practice bitching about it. He was a born hunter, not a babysitter. I’d be pissed too if I’d gotten saddled with that assignment.

In practice, we’d final y moved beyond blocking techniques and were working on different types of takedowns. Even though I’d face-planted Aiden several times throughout the day, he was super-patient with me.

Besides lying to me about my mom, the guy had to be a saint of some sort.

“You’ve done real y wel this week.” He gave me a hesitant smile as we headed out.

I shook my head. “Kain kicked my ass in practice yesterday.”

Aiden pushed the door open and held it for me. Normal y, he left the doors wide open, but lately he’d taken to closing them. “Kain has field experience on you, but you were holding your own against him.”

My lips curved upwards. As sad as it was, I lived for those moments when he complimented my improvement.

“Thanks.”

He nodded. “Do you think it helps to work with Kain?”

We stopped at the doors leading outside. I was kind of stunned he would even ask for my opinion. “Yeah… he has different tactics than you. I think it helps that you can see what I’m doing wrong and walk me through it.”

“Good. It’s what I hoped for.”

“Real y?” I blurted out. “I thought it was because—never mind.”

Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. Why else would I want Kain to help?”

Horrified and embarrassed that I had unwittingly gone there, I turned away. “Uh… forget I said anything.”

“Alex.” He said my name in that soft, infinitely patient way.

Against my wil , I turned back to him. “Bringing Kain in had nothing to do with that night.”

I wanted to run and hide. I also wanted to find a muzzle for myself. “It doesn’t?”

“No.”

“About that night… ” I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about hitting you and… the other thing.”

His eyes deepened, turning more silver than gray. “I accept your apology for hitting me.”

I hadn’t realized it until then, but we were standing close enough that our shoes touched. I don’t know if he had moved, or if I had. “What about the other thing?”

Aiden smiled then, flashing those deep dimples. His arm brushed mine as he reached around and opened the door.

“You don’t have to apologize for the other thing.”

I stumbled into the bright sunlight. “I don’t?”

He shook his head, stil smiling, and then simply left.

Confused and a bit obsessed over what that could mean, I joined my friends for dinner and found our newest addition was once again at our table. My smile faded as I saw the open wonder splattered across Caleb’s face—the look he got whenever he talked to Seth.

They didn’t even look as I sat down at the table with them.

Everyone appeared consumed by whatever Seth was tel ing them. I seemed to be the only one not impressed by him.

“How many kil s have you made?” Caleb leaned forward.

Hadn’t they already had this conversation? Oh, yes.

Yesterday. I bit back a sigh of annoyance.

Seth reclined in the plastic chair, one leg propped against the edge of the table. “Over twenty.”

“Wow.” Elena sighed, a look of pure admiration glossing over her eyes.

I rol ed my eyes and took a bite of the dry pot roast.

“You don’t know the exact number?” Caleb’s brows rose.

“I’d keep a list with dates and times.”

I found that morbid, but Seth grinned. “Twenty-five. Would have been twenty-six but the last bastard got away from me.”

“Got away from the Apol yon?” I took a sip of my water.

“Embarrassing.”

Caleb’s eyes grew to the size of saucers, and honestly, I don’t know what’d provoked me to say it—probably that little piece of advice he’d given me the last time we’d talked privately. Seth seemed to take it in stride. He tipped his bottle of water toward me. “How many have you kil ed?”

“Two.” I shoved a forkful of meat into my mouth.

“Not bad for an untrained girl.”

I smiled brightly. “Nope.”

Caleb shot me a warning look before turning back to Seth. “So… how does it feel to use the elements?”

“Amazing.” Seth’s eyes stayed on me. “I’ve never been tagged.”

I stiffened, hand halfway to my mouth. Ouch.

“What does that feel like, Alex?”

I forced myself to chew the food slowly. “Oh… it felt wonderful.”

He moved, leaning close enough I could feel his breath on my neck. My entire body locked up. “Nasty little scar you got there.”

The fork fel from my fingers, splattering mashed potatoes across the table. I mustered my best “ice princess” look and met his gaze. “You’re in my personal space, buddy.”

A playful smile graced his lips. “So? What are you going to do about it? Throw your mashed potatoes at me? I’m consumed by terror.”

Punch you in the face. That’s what I wanted to say and do, but even I wasn’t that stupid. Instead, I returned the smile. “Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be doing important things, like guarding Lucian?”

Caleb and the rest of the kids didn’t catch my dig, but he did. The smile slipped from his face and he stood. Turning to them, he nodded. “It was nice talking with you al .” On his way out he brushed past Olivia. The poor girl looked like she wanted to spaz out.

“Oh, my gods, Alex. He’s the Apol yon,” hissed Elena.

I cleaned up my mess of mashed potatoes. “Yeah. So?”

She dropped a napkin over the bulk of the potatoes.

“Uh… you could be a little more respectful towards him.”

“I was being respectful. I just wasn’t kissing his ass.” I raised my brows as I looked at her.

“We weren’t kissing his ass.” She frowned, scooping up the mess.

I pursed my lips. “Not what it looked like to me.”

“Whatever.” Caleb exhaled with a whistle. “I mean, wow.

He’s kil ed twenty-five daimons. He can wield al four elements plus the fifth—the fifth, Alex. Yeah, I’l kiss his ass al day long.”

I stifled my groan. “You should start a fan club. Elena can be your vice president.”

He smirked. “Maybe I wil .”

Thankful y, we moved past talking about Seth once Olivia sat down at our table. Caleb was al too happy to see her, and my gaze bounced between the two of them.

“Have you guys heard?” Olivia’s coffee-colored eyes widened.

I was half afraid to ask. “What?”

She cast a nervous glance at me. “There was a daimon attack in Lake Lure late last night. The Council just found out. They couldn’t get ahold of the group of pures and their Guards.”

The information wiped everything else from my thoughts. I wasn’t thinking about my rude behavior toward Seth or what Aiden could’ve meant earlier. I wasn’t even thinking about Mom.

Elena gasped. “What? Lake Lure is only four hours from here.”

Lake Lure was a smal community where several of the pures liked to get away. Just like the place in Gatlinburg where my mom used to take me, it should’ve been wel -

guarded. Safe. At least, that was what we’d been told.

“How’s it possible?” I hated the way my voice squeaked out.

Olivia shook her head. “I don’t know, but several of the Council Guards left with the group this weekend. They had at least two trained Sentinels.”

My mouth went dry. No. It couldn’t have been the same group—the group Kain had been bitching about babysitting.

“Anyone we know?” Caleb leaned in.

She glanced around, lowering her voice. “Mom couldn’t say much more. She was leaving to go investigate… the scene, but she did say Kain and Herc were the two Sentinels. I haven’t heard anything about what’s happened to them, but… ”

Daimons didn’t leave halfs alive.

Silence fel across the table as we processed the news. I swal owed against the sudden tightness in my throat. Kain had been kicking my butt and joking around with me just yesterday. He’s good and fast, but if he was missing, it meant he’d been taken for a later snack. Kain was a half, so he couldn’t be turned into a daimon.

No. I shook my head. He got away. They just haven’t found him yet.

Caleb pushed his plate away. Now I wished I hadn’t eaten so much. The news was doing gross stuff to the food in my stomach, but al of us pretended we weren’t that affected. We were in training. In a year or so, we’d be facing this stuff in person.

“What about the pures? Who were they?” Elena’s voice trembled.

The look crossing her face fil ed me with unease.

Suddenly, I understood it wasn’t just Kain we’d lost.

“There were two families.” Olivia swal owed hard. “Liza and Zeke Dikti, and their daughter Letha. The other family was… Lea’s father and stepmother.”

Silence.

None of us moved. I don’t even think we breathed. Gods, I hated Lea. Real y, I did, but I knew what this felt like. Or, at least, I used to. Final y, Caleb found the ability to speak.

“Were Lea or her half sister with them?”

Olivia shook her head. “Dawn stayed at home and Lea is here— was here. On the way over, I saw Dawn. She’d come to get her.”

“This is so terrible.” Elena’s face paled. “How old is Dawn?”

“She’s around twenty-two.” Caleb bit his lip.

“She’s old enough to take her parent’s seat, but who… ”

Olivia trailed off.

We al knew what she was thinking. Who would want to take a Council seat that way?

***

Back in my dorm, I found two letters stuck to my door.

One was a folded piece of paper and the other was an envelope. The paper contained a scribbled message from Aiden cal ing off practice tomorrow due to unforeseen events. Obviously, he’d been cal ed to investigate the attack.

I folded up the note and placed it on the table. The envelope was something else entirely; it was from my bipolar stepfather. I didn’t read the card. However, there were several hundred dol ar bil s folded inside it. Those I kept. The card went in the trash bin.

After spending the rest of the evening thinking about what’d happened in Lake Lure, I had trouble sleeping and woke up way too early, fil ed with an itchy agitation.

By lunch, I’d found out Seth had also taken the four-hour drive with Aiden. More information drifted back to the Covenant as the day progressed. Olivia had been correct.

Al the pures who’d been in Lake Lure had been massacred. So had the half-blood servants. They’d searched the lake and the grounds, but only four of the Security team had been found. They’d been drained of al their aether. The other two, including Kain, had not been discovered.

Olivia, who’d become our main source of information, fil ed us in with what she knew. “Some of the dead suffered multiple tags. But the half-bloods they found… they were covered in daimon tags.”

I read the same, sickening question in the pale faces around the table: Why? By birth, half-bloods had less aether in them. Why would daimons repeatedly drain a half when they had pures who were ful of aether?

I swal owed hard. “Do you know how they got past the Guards?”

She shook her head. “Not yet, but there were security cameras around the cabins, so they’re hoping the video footage wil reveal something.”

Some of the halfs tried for some sort of normalcy as the day wore on, and none of us wanted to be alone. But the activity at the pool tables lacked the normal laughs and the game systems sat untouched in front of the televisions.

The sul en atmosphere started to get to me. I retreated to my dorm room after dinner. A few hours later, there was a soft knock on my door. I got up, expecting Caleb or Olivia.

Aiden stood there, and my heart did a weird flip I was beginning to hate.

I asked the stupidest question. “Are you okay?” Of course he wasn’t. I mental y kicked myself as he stepped inside and closed the door.

“You’ve heard?”

No point in lying. “Yeah, I heard last night.” I sat down on the edge of the couch.

“I just got back. News travels fast.” I’d never seen him so exhausted or grave. His hair looked as if he’d run his hands through it many times, and now it went every which direction. The need to comfort him nearly overpowered me, but there was nothing I could do. He gestured at the couch.

“May I?”

I nodded. “It was… real y bad, wasn’t it?”

He sat down, resting his hands on his knees. “It was pretty bad.”

“How did they get to them?”

Aiden glanced up. “They caught one of the pures outside.

Once the daimons got in—the attack surprised the Guards.

There were three daimons… and the Sentinels—they fought hard.”

I swal owed. Three daimons. The night in Georgia, I’d been surprised by how many were together. Aiden was thinking along the same lines. “The daimons are real y starting to work in groups. They’re showing a level of restraint in their attacks, an organization they never had before. Two of the half-bloods are missing.”

“What do you think it means?”

He shook his head. “We’re not sure, but we’l find out.”

I had no doubt he would. “I’m… sorry you have to deal with this.”

A hardness settled across him. He didn’t move. “Alex…

there’s something I need to tel you.”

“Okay.” I wanted to believe the seriousness in his voice was due to al the heavy stuff he had been dealing with al day.

“There were surveil ance cameras. They let us get a pretty good idea of what happened outside the house, but not inside.” He took a deep breath and lifted his head. Our eyes met. “I came here first.”

My chest tightened. “This… this is gonna be bad, isn’t it?”

Aiden didn’t mince words. “Yes.”

The air caught in my lungs. “What… is it?”

He twisted his long body toward me. “I wanted to make sure you knew before… anyone else did. We can’t stop people from finding out. There were a lot of people there.”

“Okay?”

“Alex, there’s no easy way to say this. We saw your mother on the surveil ance cameras. She was one of the daimons who attacked them.”

I stood, and then I sat right back down. My brain refused to process this. I shook my head as my thoughts went on repeat. No. No. No. Not her—anyone but her.

“Alex?”

It felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. This was worse than seeing dul ness in her eyes as she’d lain on the floor, worse than hearing she’d been turned. This… this was worse.

“Alex, I’m so sorry.”

I swal owed hard. “Did… did she kil any of them?”

“There’s no way to know unless we find either of the halfs alive, but I’d assume so. It’s what a daimon does.”

I blinked back hot tears. Do not cry. Don’t do it. “Have…

you seen Lea? Is she okay?”

Astonishment flickered across Aiden’s face.

The laugh that came out of me was shaky and broken sounding. “Lea and I aren’t friends, but I wouldn’t… ”

“You wouldn’t want her to go through this. I know.” He reached over and took my hand in his. His fingers felt remarkably warm, strong and grounding. “Alex, there’s more to this.”

I almost laughed again. “How could there be more?”

His hand tightened around mine. “It can’t be a coincidence she is this close to the Covenant. It leaves no doubt she remembers you.”

“Oh.” I stopped there, unable to go any further. I turned away from Aiden, staring at our hands. Silence stretched out between us, and then he leaned over and wrapped his other arm around my shoulders. Every muscle in my body locked up. Even in a time like this, I could recognize the wrongness of this situation. Aiden shouldn’t be offering me any sort of comfort. He probably shouldn’t have even come to tel me. Halfs and pures didn’t comfort one another.

But with Aiden I never felt like a half-blood and I never thought of him as a pure-blood.

Aiden murmured something I couldn’t make out. It sounded like ancient Greek, the language of the gods. I don’t know why, but the sound of his voice ripped through the barriers I was trying and failing at stitching together. I sunk forward, resting my head against his shoulder. I squeezed my eyes against the harsh stinging. My breath came out in short, shaky gasps. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, his cheek against the top of my head, our fingers wrapped together.

“You show amazing strength,” he murmured, stirring the hair around my ear.

I forced my eyes open. “Oh… I’m just saving al of this up for years of therapy later.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit. What you’ve had to face? You’re very strong.” He pul ed back, his hand brushing across my cheek so quickly I truly believed I’d imagined the touch. “Alex, I have to go check in with Marcus. He’s waiting for me.”

I nodded as he let go of my hand and stood. “Could…

could there be a chance she didn’t kil them?”

Aiden stopped by the door. “Alex, I don’t know. It would be highly unlikely.”

“Wil … you let me know if they do find either of the halfs alive?” I knew it was pointless.

He nodded. “Yes. Alex… if you need anything, let me know.” He pul ed the door closed with a click behind him.

Alone, I slid to the floor and pressed my head against my knees. There could be a chance Mom hadn’t kil ed anyone.

She could be with the other daimons because she didn’t know what else to do. Maybe she was confused. Maybe she was coming for me.

I shuddered, pressing further down. My heart hurt. It felt like it was shattering again—al over again. There was the smal est, tiniest chance she hadn’t kil ed anyone. Even I knew how stupid it was to real y hold onto that chance, but I did. Because what else did I have? Grandma Piperi’s words became clearer to me—not just what she’d said, but what she hadn’t.

For whatever reason, Mom had left the safety of the community to pul me away from the Covenant, setting al of this—this huge mess—into motion. During those three years, I’d never once cal ed out for help, never stopped the insanity of living unprotected among mortals.

The countless times I’d done nothing flashed before me.

In a way I was responsible for what’d happened to her.

Worse yet, if she’d kil ed those innocent people, I was responsible for their deaths, as wel .

My legs didn’t shake when I stood. Certainty fil ed my mind—maybe it’d been made up the night I heard what’d real y happened to her. There was a smal chance she hadn’t committed horrific crimes, but if… if the daimon who had been my mother had kil ed someone, then one way or another, I was going to kil her. She was my responsibility now—my problem.