‘That doesn't explain why the rest of the Brotherhood are dead,' Flic shouted.
‘The Brotherhood turned up just as we were leaving,' Lucas carried on quietly, ‘and we had to fight our way out.'
‘You got bitten?' Jamieson asked, pointing to Lucas's neck.
‘Yes,' Lucas said, his fingers reaching instinctively to the puncture wounds there. At the time it had felt as if two sharpened, acid-coated needles had been shoved deep into the vein. ‘But I'm fine. I wouldn't have been if Evie hadn't been there,' he added, glancing at her. She raised her eyes and he saw the shadow of a smile pass across her lips.
He only vaguely remembered the sensation of falling, the pull from the shadows, the way it had felt dissolving into darkness. And then Evie's weight on top of him, shocking him back, until he felt the hard ground beneath him once again. His face had been buried in her shoulder, and her hair, falling over them like a curtain, had almost blocked out the soft whisper of steel slicing through air above them.
‘Damn Thirsters,' Jamieson said under his breath. ‘There's more and more of them coming through.'
Lucas looked up sharply, ‘What?'
Jamieson stared at him in wide-eyed surprise. ‘They're coming through in droves. You haven't heard?'
Lucas shook his head. At the Mission the Brotherhood had been cut off from everything, focused only on their training and on tracking down Hunters.
‘It's making things really difficult for the rest of us,' Jamieson went on. ‘We're just trying to get by, you know, trying to keep a low profile, and they keep advertising the fact there are unhumans in town. It's not good for the rest of us.'
‘Advertising how exactly?' asked Lucas, simultaneously knowing and fearing the answer.
Jamieson gave him another look, this time noticeably grimmer. ‘You know Thirsters – they're not exactly fussy eaters. People are disappearing. Not just humans. There's talk that they're feeding on the rest of us too. Particularly Shapeshifters,' he grimaced.
Lucas nodded. Shapeshifter blood was reputedly the most sought-after blood in all the realms because of the way it tasted.
‘It's not just Thirsters coming through. We've seen Mixen around too,' Flic added, her nostrils flaring in disgust.
‘And one or two Scorpio. Though it's harder for them to pass.'
‘Why are they coming here?' Lucas asked, turning to Issa for the answer.
‘Why?' Flic hissed, before Issa could speak. ‘Why do you think? Why are we all here? Because the Shadowlands suck. Because the Shapeshifter realm is being overrun by bloodsuckers who've drained their own lands dry and are after a tasty snack. Why wouldn't they all come here? Scorpio can get into fights and actually win. Thirsters can eat whatever they want without getting banished. Mixen can get their freak on and no one bats an eyelid. Everyone's so off their head in this town or so used to seeing crazy shit no one notices them. Who wouldn't rather be here than stuck in their own realm? Even with all this going on, even with Hunters doing their damndest to exterminate us,' she threw Evie a look, ‘even with Thirsters and Mixen and Scorpio running around like they own the place, I still choose here.'
‘Maybe everyone's trying to get through while they can,' Jamieson muttered.
‘What do you mean?' Lucas asked.
‘There's a rumour going around,' Jamieson said, his eyes flashing nervously around the room. ‘People are saying that the way through is about to close.'
Lucas felt Evie stiffen behind him. ‘What else are the rumours saying?' he asked casually.
‘I don't know. I think I heard something about some kind of prophecy? But if what you said just now about Sybll not being right all the time is true, then maybe it's bull. Who knows?' He shrugged again. ‘All I know is that it's getting really crowded in this part of town. And going out at night's starting to feel about as dangerous as walking naked through a crowd of angry, sexually frustrated Mixen.'
‘Aren't Mixen always sexually frustrated?' Flic remarked under her breath.
‘What else did you hear about this prophecy?' Lucas asked, ignoring Flic and trying to keep the urgency out of his voice.
‘Nothing much really,' Jamieson said, shaking his head. ‘It was just talk. I didn't pay it much mind. I mean people are always talking about stuff – who's fighting who, who's bitten who, who's been banished from the realms, who's got connections among the Elders, who's dating a Shadow Warrior … ' He tailed off, his eyes darting in Evie's direction.
‘I heard something about a White Light.'
Lucas turned slowly towards Flic.
‘Some Shifter at the club said she'd heard a Sybll talking.'
‘The White Light will come and will sever the realms,' Issa suddenly whispered.
Flic snorted, ‘What the hell does that mean? Sever the realms?'
Lucas dropped quickly to his knees by Issa's feet. ‘Issa, what else do you know about this?' he asked.
‘What's it to you?' Flic demanded, moving invisibly to stand by his side. ‘Why are you so interested in this prophecy?' Her eyes narrowed at him in suspicion.
Lucas looked up and held her gaze, ‘Don't you think severing the realms would be a good thing, Flic? You're the one who's just been talking about how dangerous it's getting with all the unhumans coming through and getting their freak on.'
‘Wait up, I'm confused,' interrupted Jamieson. ‘I thought Issa and Lucas were just trying to convince us that Sybll prophecies don't always come true – that we can change things. So why's everyone getting worked up about something Shakespeare could have written?'
‘This prophecy is different,' said Issa, standing up carefully and stepping around Lucas, careful not to touch him. ‘It's never changed. Not through all the ages. It's one of the marked prophecies.'
‘The what?' Lucas asked, suddenly on his feet.
Issa had stopped in front of Evie. ‘There are some prophecies that were written down thousands of years ago,' she said. Her voice, if he wasn't mistaken, had an edge to it – something similar to excitement, though an excited Sybll was something of an oxymoron. ‘There are maybe a dozen, fewer, all from the same Sybll, and every single one of them has come true so far. She predicted the Shapeshifter rebellion almost nine hundred years ago, Hiroshima, the massacre of the Originals, every major event in the last thousand years across all the realms. These prophecies, ones made by her, are known as the marked prophecies.'
Lucas looked over at Evie. She turned her head at the same time and their eyes locked.
‘But if the Sybll knew all these things were going to happen why didn't they try to stop them? I'm sure there's a fair few million people who'd be happier and, oh, let's see – maybe still alive – if they had,' Flic snorted.
‘Sybll don't interfere, Flic, you know that,' Lucas answered tersely.
‘It's not our role to change the fates of the realms. We just observe,' Issa added.
‘What are you people? UN Peacekeepers?' Flic snapped back. ‘So who the hell is this White Light?' she yelled, throwing her arms in the air, ‘Does anyone even know? Did this great wise foreseer of the future think to give us a name? Or a date for when this severing might be occurring?'
‘No, no one knows when or who it will be,' said Issa. ‘The prophecies were broken into fragments and scattered many years ago. I only know one fragment of it, passed down through the generations. You need to find the rest for it to make any sense.'
‘How did the Sybll manage to lose the other bits? I mean, you guys actually have foresight. You didn't see this day coming? The day when we might need to know the rest of it?'
‘The Sybll didn't want it falling into the wrong hands, Flic,' Lucas spoke up for her, frowning as the pieces of the puzzle all slid into place. ‘It doesn't matter, don't you see? To them, it's going to happen anyway whether anyone tries to stop it or not. If people knew who it was or when it was going to happen they'd try to stop it. And, if Issa's right, if it's marked as she says, there would be no point. It would be futile.' As he said this last part he turned to look at Evie. If it was as Issa claimed – if the prophecy was marked – then Evie was safe. She couldn't be harmed. At least, not until she had fulfilled the prophecy. Lucas turned quickly to Issa. ‘Do you know where we can find the other parts, Issa? All we have to work on is a verse that we read in a book belonging to the Hunters.'
Issa was staring at Evie now. ‘I know only that the White Light was said to be a child of two warriors. The last Hunter.'
Flic's mouth fell open. She rolled her eyes and groaned. ‘You have got to be kidding.'
‘Are you saying what I think you're saying? Jamieson asked, standing shakily. ‘Is it Evie? Is that who the prophecy is talking about? Is it her?'
‘Yes,' Lucas answered. ‘She's the last pureblood Hunter.'
‘She's the White Light,' Issa said in wonder.
‘And yet, dear brother,' Flic said, glaring at Lucas, ‘despite knowing this, you still didn't find enough reason to kill her.' She moved in a heartbeat, so fast she was just a blur. But Lucas anticipated her and was quicker, his hand reaching and pulling Evie behind him, out of Flic's reach.