Page 16 of Warrior Unraveled

6

Nearly an hour went by without the council reaching any kind of consensus. The guardian from Seattle had come and gone. He had confirmed that he’d observed Wesley working together with several vampires to put down a group of rogue vampires who’d tried to flood the market with dangerous drugs. Believing that these drugs, which facilitated mind control over a long distance, should not fall into the hands of the demons, the guardian had advised the witch to destroy the drugs and all traces of the vampires’ operation. A follow-up visit to the woods of Sonoma had confirmed that Wesley had indeed done so.

That knowledge helped ease the minds of some of the council members, including Virginia.

However, there was another, much bigger concern on everybody’s mind. A concern that could put their very existence at risk: how the witch had been able to use the portal.

Nobody could explain how a spell could overcome the portal’s fail-safe controls and allow a non-guardian to operate it. Assumptions were raised and then tossed out. Ideas were shared, then rejected. Yet, one thing was clear: they couldn’t allow the witch to leave for fear that he might teach others how to penetrate their defenses.

“Then what do we do with him?” Cinead, the oldest and one of the wisest of the council members finally asked.

“The way I see it, we have two choices: lock him up for good, or kill him,” Ian proclaimed.

The latter choice sent a cold shiver down Virginia’s spine. As much as she didn’t trust Wesley, could she really vote to kill him? Never before had she hesitated to execute a prisoner if it was warranted, so why was she hesitating now? Had he somehow wormed his way under her skin, penetrating her defenses, just like he’d penetrated the compound?

“There’s a third choice,” Barclay said.

Virginia stared at him, as did the other council members. “Yes?”

“We let him go and follow him. See where he leads us.”

Immediately, everybody started talking. Virginia remained silent. While Barclay’s suggestion was unorthodox and dangerous, it was nevertheless feasible. It was easy for a member of their species to follow anybody—after all, invisibility lent itself to such a task. If anybody could follow a witch without being discovered, it was a Stealth Guardian. Still, the idea was fraught with danger. Too many things could go wrong.

The voices in the chamber grew louder, reaching a fever pitch. Virginia jumped up, trying to get the others’ attention.

She didn’t succeed.

Because something else caught everybody’s attention first. Strobe lights suddenly flashed overhead, followed by a loud shrill sound, which drowned out the conversations in the room.

A computer voice followed. “Intruder detected. Security breached.”

“Fuck!” Virginia cursed.

The alarm continued. “Intruder detected. Security breached.”

Everybody jumped up.

“Initiate security protocol!” Barclay ordered.

The double doors flung open and two guards charged in. “Demon attack!”

“Is that confirmed?” Virginia yelled at the guard who’d spoken, running toward him.

“Confirmed.”

“How many?”

“We don’t know yet,” the guard replied, as the second guard issued orders. “Council members, to the portal, now!”

“Quickly!” Barclay shouted.

It was essential that the Council of Nine survive the attack, but Virginia had been a warrior for too long. She couldn’t just run. She had to stay and fight.

“You go,” she said to Barclay. “I’ll make sure the witch pays for this!”

Barclay grabbed her arm. “You don’t know that this is his doing.”

“Wake up, Primus! Nobody’s ever breached our defenses before. And the moment I bring this witch here, the demons attack? That’s no coincidence. I’ll make him pay, even if it’s the last thing I do.”