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  TAINTED

  Ava Delaney: Lost Souls ~ Book 1

  by

  Claire Farrell

  The backdrop may be grim, but Dublin city has become the centre of change. And as the humans and supernaturals figure out how to live in each other’s worlds, the person who forced that change has quietly stepped aside for a peaceful life.

  Ava Delaney is still trying to adjust to her own altered existence when a tainted nephal turns up on her doorstep, apparently on the run from the monster who changed Ava’s life before she was even born. But she’s not supposed to interfere, even for the lost souls she’s vowed to help.

  But as the first vampire leaves death in his wake, and Ava becomes an easy target to blame, she realises she has to take care of business once again. There are more secrets hidden in the shadows, more voices just waiting to be heard, and obedience has never been Ava’s thing.

  Only one thing is for certain, for people like Ava Delaney, there’s no such thing as a peaceful life.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Colophon

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  Author's Note

  Books by Claire Farrell

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  A heavy knock at my front door interrupted Peter Brannigan’s aggressive grovelling session.

  My nostrils flared. “I smell blood.”

  His stance immediately switched into that of a fighter expecting a battle. That was a relief; I was far more comfortable around the non-sentimental version of my ex-boyfriend.

  We both reached for weapons on our way to the door. It wasn’t likely to be danger on my doorstep, but after the wars, battles, betrayals, and deaths over the last year, we were understandably wary.

  I opened the door, half-expecting a hooded assassin or some other equally annoying disturbance. I saw a stranger.

  The teenage girl seemed unsteady on her feet. Her top was covered in blood, and a festering burn on her arm and shoulder looked painful. Spring in Ireland generally required a coat, but shock may have been the cause of her trembling. I looked past her and saw an injured man lying beside the front gate, as if those last couple of steps had just been too much.

  The girl leaned against the jamb, her eyes widening with surprise and relief. “You,” she breathed in an indistinct accent. “Are we safe here? Is it safe?”

  “Yeah, it’s safe,” I said automatically.

  She let out a heavy sigh and collapsed. I reached out to catch her, falling to my knees as I tried to support her weight. Holding her, I felt something connect inside of me, some instinct telling me it was right and true and all for me. After floundering for weeks, I had a sense of purpose to my new life.

  Peter stared down at us. “What the hell?”

  I couldn’t tell him that the girl might be my first soul, the very first one in a line of many I had sworn to help for reasons I still didn’t fully understand. I had recently, and secretly, pledged one hundred years to a secret organisation with more power than the ruling bodies who appeared to control everything on the planet. The death of the Matriarch, one of the Eleven who kept the balance on our plane of existence, had occurred, at least in part, because of me. I took her place after an old ally upset that balance over love, almost bringing the darkest demons from realms unknown into our world. Some demons had passed through, but so far, the world hadn’t ended, so that had to be a bonus. Becoming the new Matriarch had been a kind of punishment for my role in causing tremendous upheaval in a world tied down by ancient laws and deals.

  I studied the girl in my arms. She was young, maybe sixteen or seventeen, and she had been led to me. That was my job: finding the lost souls in the world and helping them back on the right track. Nobody had actually explained how to do that or even how I would know what the right track might be. And none of my friends knew the complete truth about my new path in life. They assumed the protection over us had automatically come with my inheritance. I had my reasons for letting them believe that nicer version of the story.

  Peter scoped out the perimeter in a way that made him look like a soldier then assessed the unconscious man as if he were debating whether or not he needed to put him out of his misery. “He’s in pretty bad shape.” Peter had once been what amounted to a hired assassin of supernatural beings, and although he claimed to have changed, some things were too ingrained to ever really go away.

  I wasn’t worried about trouble following the new arrivals. Inheriting most of the cul-de-sac from the last Matriarch—a soul-sucking, redemption-seeking hag who had also been my sweet old landlady—had its undeniable benefits. Since I had taken over her role, my friends and I were practically untouchable, but the trade-off meant I couldn’t interfere if my actions would benefit me. I had basically been put on a higher pedestal and neutered for good measure.

  “Go get Anka and Margie,” I said. “Maybe Val. We’ll take these two inside and see what the deal is. If Lorcan’s around, both of you should check outside the cul-de-sac to see if anything’s out there.”

  “You sure?”

  I nodded, refusing to look at him. In truth, I was glad of the distraction. I wasn’t ready for the conversation he was so keen to have. I was still learning to deal with myself, never mind adding anyone else to the equation. Again.

  While Peter was gone, I studied the girl. Something about her was familiar, but when I reached out with my other senses to see her energy, all I saw was a confused mess of colours. She was different from anything I had ever come across. That made two of us.

  Val soon jogged from next door, a mace in her hand.

  I raised my eyebrows. “The medieval-looking weapon probably isn’t necessary.”

  “It’s hard to tell with you.” She set down the mace inside my foyer. “Anka’s getting supplies ready. She wasn’t sure what to bring.”

  “Help me carry them inside. The girl can go on the sofa. She’s in better shape.”

  We quickly moved her first. The man, blond with glasses, looked pretty badly injured, so we carefully carried him upstairs to Emmett’s old room. Peter’s son had been a lost soul of a different kind. The kid was living with his dad most of the time lately, and my house felt empty without him.

  Val looked at the stranger on the bed. “That’s a nasty head wound.”

  “Looks like a recent wound to the stomach. There’s a bandage under the shirt.”

  She frowned at the bloodstains. “He must have busted his stitches. Any idea who they are?”

  “Nope. With our luck, bad news. Let’s check on the kid.”

  Downstairs, we hovered over the teenage girl. She was athletic and leggy, on the edge of growing out of the gangly stage. Her hair was long, blond, and streaked with blood. The ends were choppy, as if it had been haphazardly cut by someone more interested in function than aesthetics.

  “She’s not much older than Leah,” Val said. �
��But she knew enough to come here.”

  “Maybe they were trying to track down Mrs. Yaga.”

  She shrugged. “They look human.”

  “Looks can be deceiving.”

  Anka and Margie let themselves in.

  “That’s a nasty burn.” Margie tutted as she peered at the young girl. “It’s healing poorly. Hasn’t been tended to properly.” She tapped her chin. “Or she’s been injured more than once.”

  “The other one is upstairs,” I said. “No burns, but he’s in a pretty bad state. Maybe take a look at him first.”

  The girl stirred restlessly, her forehead creasing.

  “I’ll clean her wound after we look upstairs,” Anka said. She and Margie left the room, armed with bags of ointments.

  “Did she get a chance to tell you what happened to them or what they want?” Val asked.

  I shook my head. “But she doesn’t wish us harm, or she wouldn’t have gotten in. She asked if they were safe then passed out. Poor kid looks like she’s been through the ringer. Maybe Leah will have some insight.”

  “Perhaps. Will you be okay if I leave to ask her?”

  I nodded, barely hearing her. I was sure the girl had recognised me at the door, but I had no idea how she had tracked me down.

  Peter returned alone, his jaw clenched. “Signs of a disturbance outside. An abandoned car that was in a crash. Either one of them is a shit driver, or they were run down by somebody else. Think they’re trustworthy?”

  I nodded. “They wouldn’t have made it this far if they meant us harm. Besides, she’s a kid.”

  He looked at me as if I were crazy. “Yeah, because in this world, people are innocent until they’re thirty, and then they choose the good or bad card. Come off it, Ava. You can’t trust anyone.”

  I gave him a meaningful look.

  “Except me! You can always trust me.” He cleared his throat. “From now on.” He took my hands. “Ava, we need to fix this. Emmett loves you. We both miss living with you.”

  “You made your choices, Peter.” And he didn’t say he loved me.

  “Deep down, you understand the choices I made. I know you do.”

  “Seeing through you doesn’t make it any better.”

  His shoulders sagged. “Somebody once told me I’d regret having such a cold heart, and she was right. I do regret it. You and Carl and Emmett and even the rest of the weird Scooby gang… you’ve all made a difference. I can’t say I let you in, Ava. You kind of kicked down the doors. But I’m glad we met because you opened my mind to so much. Even before you brought my son home, you had changed my life for the better. I just wish… I hope you can see what you’ll be missing out on.”

  I sat next to the girl, a cold sweat running down my spine. I was a coward, a massive coward. I couldn’t even look at the man who had once shared my bed every night, a man who had given me a family by sharing his son. But I couldn’t forget he was the same man who couldn’t bring himself to trust me because I wasn’t human. He had sharpened knives in my kitchen at night when he couldn’t sleep, and he was a man who couldn’t love his son the way a father should. Peter was trouble, and if I let my guard down, I would regret it.

  The girl stirred again, and her eyes fluttered open. They were green and clear, scared and vulnerable. She sat up in a hurry then flinched.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “You’re safe as long as you don’t mean us harm. This place is neutral. Kind of.”

  She nodded, but when she caught sight of Peter, she shrank back into the sofa.

  “He won’t hurt you,” I said softly. “Nobody will hurt you here.”

  Her gaze focused on me again. “A man gave me your address,” she whispered. “I had nowhere else to go.”

  “Were you being chased? Is that what happened?”

  She nodded. “They’re looking for me. Probably looking for you, too.”

  “Who?” I asked.

  “The first,” she whispered as if in awe. “Seth and whoever works for him.”

  “Seth? Who…? Wait a minute, the first vampire?” As in, the monster who had bitten my mother to taint me in the womb. My heart raced, and I bit back the urge to count out loud.

  The girl nodded enthusiastically. “You were on the television, showing your true face, and I knew you. I knew it had to be you. But then I got stuck in the games. We had to fight, but the vampires knew I was different, and he was probably there. He wants us back, my dad says.”

  I tried to follow the rapid outpouring. “Your dad is the man with you?”

  She gripped the arm of the chair as if she had been shocked. “Yes! Where is he?”

  “Upstairs. He’s in bad shape, but my friends are taking care of him. They’re into, um, natural remedies. What’s your name?”

  “Jessica. And you’re Ava.”

  “So you do know me.” My heart raced. “And you know about Seth. How?”

  “You don’t know?” She blinked, looking confused. “Because we’re the same. I’m a tainted nephal. Just like you. My dad is a seraph, sent here to create nephilim children with a human wife. But Seth tracked him down. He attacked my mother while she was pregnant with me and tainted my blood in the womb. My mother died. Dad and I escaped, and we’ve been running ever since.”

  I met Peter’s eyes. He shook his head, frowning.

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Of course I’m sure. I want to see my dad.”

  “As soon as my friends are finished with him,” I said. “They’ll need to take a look at your arm, too.”

  She glanced at her arm absent-mindedly. “Oh, that’s nothing. It was… never mind.”

  “So you think Seth is after you,” I said. “Where did you come from? I mean, how did you come to be here?”

  She huddled into the corner of the sofa. “We’ve always run, moved from place to place as often as possible. But… things changed, and we got stuck in England.”

  “Ah,” I said. “You mean when the vampires decided to overthrow the Committee.”

  A flicker of anger crossed her face. “The vampires took over slowly. Nobody knew what was going on. We found some safe places, some not so safe places, and escaped to Ireland on a fishing boat. But the Guardians found us and kept us in a hostel.”

  “As in, gave you a place to stay or forced you to stick around?” Peter asked.

  “We had no choice in the matter. They were waiting for us when we jumped off the boat. At the hostel, a fire started, so we took the chance to escape.”

  “Is that when you came here?” I asked.

  “No. We found a safe house. People led us to safety. They knew by looking at us that we were running. A lot of people were running.” She shook her head. “But even then we weren’t safe. Vampires and other people kept coming at us, and Dad got hurt. Then I realised I was being followed wherever I went. So we were given a car and told to leave. We didn’t make it far before they started following us again. I had gotten your address at that press conference where they announced the emergency numbers, and I didn’t have anywhere else to go, so… sorry.”

  “There’s no need to be sorry,” I said. “How long were you driving?”

  “Oh, less than an hour,” she said. “We were staying in the city centre. We’ve been fighting back a lot. The streets are crazy.”

  “This whole story is crazy,” Peter said. “Guardians, fires, safe houses? What the hell is going on out there?”

  We’d heard reports of mayhem on the streets, but nothing quite like Jessica’s story. Still, we had been concentrating on the bigger picture. Maybe we hadn’t cleaned up as thoroughly as we imagined.

  I glanced at Peter. He was on edge. I needed to get him away from Jessica as soon as possible. I sensed her reacting to his shifting emotions. I thought maybe if she calmed down, her story would make more sense.

  “Change is going on. It takes time for everything to settle down and find a level point again. We’ll have to find these safe houses and make sure everyone is okay.” I c
aught sight of Jessica’s terrified glance and smiled at her. “Not right now. When we’ve sorted you out.”

  “As soon as my dad is feeling up to it, we’ll be leaving.” Her cheeks flooded with colour. “We don’t impose, and we can’t stay anywhere for too long. I just didn’t know where else was safe, and Dad was hurt. Plus I wanted to warn you. That video of you telling people to fight back was the only thing we saw for a while, so your face is pretty well known. You should be careful.”

  I shrugged. Being careful hadn’t gotten me anywhere. “Peter, maybe you should get back to Emmett.”

  He hesitated, but when I gave him a meaningful look, he nodded. “I’ll leave you to deal with… whatever the hell this is.”

  “Good,” I said. “Explain it to him, okay?”

  He agreed and left with a grim expression.

  “That your boyfriend?” Jessica asked a little shyly.

  “No,” I said emphatically. “We just share a kid. Well, not my kid. His kid. But I… never mind.”

  Anka and Margie came downstairs, whispering to each other. Jessica pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs.

  “How is he?” I asked, noting how freaked out Jessica looked.

  “He’ll be fine. He needs a lot of rest and recuperation. He’s practically malnourished,” Margie said, pursing her lips. “What are you going to do with him?”

  “Let him sleep, I suppose. Can you take a look at Jessica’s burn?”

  Jessica’s eyes glinted red in the sudden sunlight that streamed through the window. The sun had disappeared for a long time when Eddie Brogan had messed with demons and ancient powers, but the constant darkness had recently faded. People had celebrated, and it had been kind of like the birthing of a brand new world, too. I had helped reveal the supernatural world, overthrow a corrupt supernatural government, and even end a vampire war, but while some people wanted to pat me on the back for a job well done, others saw me as the instigator of a lot of trouble and danger.

  “They’re trustworthy,” I added when the feral look in Jessica’s eyes didn’t fade. “I can stay with you if you want.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on the man,” Anka said, “to make sure he doesn’t have a bad reaction to any of the herbs. Margie can deal with the girl.” She headed out of the room again.