Ethan left lab tech's corpse on the floor. The death was meant to look like natural causes. Moving the body would raise suspicions. He closed his eyes for a moment and considered his next move. He wanted to blast through Jeremy Taylor's wards and tear the man limb from limb. The scientist in charge of Rupert's case? Oh, he'd definitely hurt Rupert. He deserved to suffer. He deserved to rot in Hell. Unfortunately, anything dramatic would draw the Council's attention.
Ethan felt himself running out of time. The longer he delayed, the more likely the Council would realize he was in London to rescue Rupert. He'd given them the slip in LA. They were probably already suspicious. He couldn't delay Rupert's rescue. He'd have to take on Taylor that evening.
While Willow did have enough power to break through any wards Taylor might have set up, a frontal assault would give the man time to warn the Council. No, Ethan couldn't go near Taylor's home. He'd have to draw the bastard out. Ethan couldn't say it was luck that Giles had dirt on Taylor as luck had nothing to do with it. Giles didn't trust anyone on the Council as far as he could throw them. The higher up in the organization someone rose, the more information Giles had. That kind of paranoia ran rampant in the Council. It had to be a side-effect of the cutthroat nature of the Council's upper echelons. Ethan blessed his lucky stars that he was a Chaos mage rather than a minion of Order.
Searching through Giles' memories, Ethan grinned when he hit paydirt. Oh, Taylor was going down. The man liked to play with fire in the form of underage girls. Giles had photographs. Of course he did. They were locked in a safe in one of Giles' London hideouts but Ethan didn't need the physical evidence. He only had to tell Taylor that he had them. After that, the bastard who'd hurt Rupert would walk right into Ethan's trap.
It should have gone so well. Ethan arrived at the Victoria Embankment Gardens a half-hour early to set his traps. It wasn't until a bullet pinged off the Burghers of Calais that he realized Taylor had gotten there first. Ethan ducked behind the statue as a few more bullets whizzed past. Then he saw red. This man had hurt Rupert. Did he think he could get away with it? Ethan didn't call on Willow's power. He gathered his own rage into a ball of pure magic. He threw it at Taylor.
Ethan found himself at Taylor's side. He didn't recall moving. His hand was at the man's throat but he was too late. He'd already killed the man.
He sat with a hard thump. This wasn't how it should have gone. He'd meant to capture the man, to pull details about the Council labs from his head, and, yes, to torture him. Taylor deserved it after what he'd done to Rupert. He'd died far too quickly. Ethan checked his pockets. Of course Taylor didn't have his work badge on him. Ethan would need it to get to Rupert. He'd have to break into Taylor's flat after all. And hide the body. Oh, this was going swimmingly.
