Kristoff was center stage, where he liked to be. “Quiet now,” he said, and the room fell silent. We all knew disobeying your council leaders was bad news, no matter your own personal power levels. “Thank you to all that take the time to attend our monthly meetings. We have much to discuss. You will remain patient until we finish explaining all the details to you. There is some news that you will find shocking, but rest assured you will understand … mostly everything.”
Yeah, everything they wanted us to understand. Our council operated the same way as all powerful groups. Control worked best when the rest of us were kept in the dark about things. Like where the prison was that we were supposed to be laying down our lives to guard. And speaking of the prison system, it seemed there was some news.
Julianna started us off with a bang. “Prisons in Romania, Greece, Japan and Scotland have been infiltrated in the last month.” Her beautiful face did not change expression despite the symphony of gasps that blasted through the hall. “There were numbers of prisoners broken out. The filtered down information we’re receiving seems to indicate this is a worldwide strike against our system.”
I shifted forward to the edge of my seat. There was an entire network of secret supernatural prisons around the world, at least one in every continent. Supernatural numbers were much less than humans, which is why despite the size of America we only needed one prison. And like Stratford’s hidden Vanguard, we knew very little about the different prisons. I had never heard of a mass break-out like this.
“Sounds like an inside job,” I heard Braxton mutter.
I turned and met his gaze, the fine skin around my eyes tightened as his words penetrated my brain. I agreed with him, and surely that would narrow the pool of suspects considerably.
Jonathon spoke then. “We don’t want you to panic, we’ve had no word that Vanguard is to be hit, and our hold is strong.” He sent out some calming vibes, which for an alpha of his power worked on everyone, even those not shifter. “We’ve tightened up security, and we urge no one to run by themselves in the forest for a little while.”
He leveled his warm gaze on me. I kept my expression calm, eyes wide as if I were innocent. Nothing escaped my father’s attention, he knew what the Compasses and I had been doing. He’d turned a blind eye but there was a subtle warning in his tone now. No more night runs searching for the prison, which would rankle the boys. Something about being denied their rights to view it really pissed them off.
Jonathon finished his speech. “We’ll keep you appraised of what happens. Our belief is that we’ll soon bring those involved to justice and they’ll join our prison system in a different manner.”
The next lot of news came from Galiani. “The body of one of my brethren was discovered on the edge of the forest this morning.”
Gasps and curses rang out again. Shit, they were hitting us with the serious news this afternoon. A dead fey. The element wielders were damn hard to kill, so what had happened? I glanced at Jacob. It was always terrible to lose a member of your supernatural race. I could see his chest vibrating, his anger palatable. He sat rigidly next to Braxton.
Galiani was still speaking. “At the moment we’re investigating, and it’s pretty clear that this was no natural death. We don’t take kindly to supernaturals killing each other. I suggest if you were involved, turn yourself in before we find you. If you have any explanation … well, the punishment might be a little less severe.”
I doubted that, the fey could be the most hard-assed. They had a cold, clinical sort of approach to many things. Which was something that separated them from the rest of us. Vampires, shifters and the demi-fey contingent were more animalistic, the magic users very earthy and grounded.
The council were still looking around the hall. Did they really think someone was going to jump up and say, ‘Yeah it was me, I killed your fey?’ I noticed they hadn’t named the victim. I wondered if they were keeping the identity a secret for a reason.
“Fine,” Galiani spat out after a few tense moments. “The magic users are working on it and there will be no place on Earth you can hide where we won’t find you.”
My father cleared his throat and I could see the apology in his eyes as he opened his mouth. Great, seemed we were ready to move onto my mother – I mean Lienda – I had no mother.
“We have welcomed the shifter wolf, Lienda Jackson, back to the community,” Jonathon said. “She has journeyed far and is resting now. She brings with her a daughter.” He turned his head to the side. “Come out, Mischa, and say hello to everyone.”