by Rhys Lawless
“I can’t believe it,” I said for the hundredth time that afternoon.
“It’s for their own good, baby,” Wade said and gave my forearm an extra squeeze.
“But a full lockdown? How weak does that make us look?” I insisted.
Wade stopped walking and turned to face me. I stopped, too, and looked into the blue of his eyes that always managed to soothe me.
“That’s why Ash wants you to figure it out, Caleb. Because you’re one of the best chances they’ve got. God knows if I didn’t love you so much, I’d probably hide with them considering how useless I am at the moment.”
He’d meant to make me feel better. To show me the other side. But it just made me feel crappier than I already was. I didn’t want him feeling useless. It was all a hiccup. He would get his spell casting sorted, and one day we’d be looking back at these days and thinking about what a big drama queen he was being.
“Baby, you have to understand, the coven has never hidden. Never! The fact that they are now is—”
“You said it yourself. The Nightcrawlers have always been by your side to fight your battles. Can you blame Ash if he doesn’t want to risk any more lives?”
I shook my head. Enough witches had already died. Enough Nightcrawlers. Enough humans. No, Ash was justified in his decision.
But it still made me feel angry that we’d been abandoned by the Nightcrawlers at this grave time.
Maybe they didn’t know. Maybe Nolan and the rest didn’t realize what kind of danger we were in. If I could reach out to him and talk to him, maybe…
It was a possibility. Would it at least convince the wolves to help us out? That remained to be seen. But we could only try.
I put one foot in front of the other and started walking again. Annabel needed me to look after Nora for a few hours while she ran errands, and I needed the break from reality that only my little baby girl could offer me.
“Winston is worried about the guys,” Wade said as he walked beside me.
I look at him for a moment and then realized who he was talking about.
“You mean the blades?”
“Don’t call them that.”
“What should I call them? The witch hunters?” I asked. “You really need a new name for them. Especially if he’s going to use them for protection.”
“We’re working on that.”
“Why is he worried?” I asked.
I’d got to know Winston better over the last few weeks, and he wasn’t one to worry. He simply acted. Emotions were only allowed in the bedroom, according to Hew.
“They didn’t show up for practice for the second time in a row. That’s not like them,” Wade explained.
“Did no one call to say why?”
Wade shook his head.
“What’s he going to do about it?” I asked.
It certainly didn’t sound like them, missing practice. They were trained assassins. Their entire week in the BLADE force had been mapped out for them, to the last minute. Just because they didn’t kill witches anymore didn’t mean they had lost touch with who they were trained to be. Besides, they needed a purpose now that the BLADE force was no more. Those who hadn’t lost their lives had lost their jobs, their family’s support, the respect they used to have for themselves.
And I wasn’t making all this shit up either. I had managed to look into their souls when I’d attended practice. They were all lost, and they needed to find their purpose again.
Just like the Nightcrawlers and the coven needed to rediscover who they were. What the relationship was. It was the only way to move forward.
“He wants me to go with him and talk to them. Find out what happened,” Wade said.
We’d come up to a stop at my front door. I knew what he was going to say next, and I didn’t need to use my powers on him.
“You can go. Of course, you can. Besides, I need to speak to Nolan,” I said and gave him a kiss on the lips.
“You’re not going to him on your own,” he said. “I’ll come.”
I laughed. “I’ll be fine, big guy. You go with your brother and figure out what the hell is going on with these assholes. I’ll go and see if I can convince my asshole to do something about the situation we’re in.”
His eyebrow perked up.
“Your asshole? Since when is Nolan your asshole?”
The eye roll I gave him almost gave me a headache. I punched his chest and he lost his balance for a second.
“You know what I mean. Besides, you’ll always be my asshole.”
It was Wade’s turn to punch me on the shoulder. Unlike mine, it was gentle, so I didn’t stumble.
“You be careful, okay?” he said to me, his eyes that had only seconds ago been full of glow and happiness narrowed into a serious mask of concern.
“I’m always careful. And I know you are too. See you later? Call me when you have news,” I said and unlocked my door.
I was yanked back by my hand and my lips collided with Wade’s in a breathtaking kiss.
“What was that for?” I mumbled.
“To make sure you remember who your asshole is.” He chuckled and, after steadying me back on the ground, walked away. I climbed the stairs from the hallway to the living room and found Annabel standing behind the door, staring at her watch.
“You’re late,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” I said and took her hand. She liked to play tough with me, but I knew she didn’t mind. She knew my role in the coven had grown bigger and that if I didn’t do something about everything, nothing would get done.
“You always say that,” Annabel said, apparently unimpressed with my apology.
When I approached the Crow later that day, it looked almost abandoned. If it weren’t for the cyclopes outside keeping everyone out, I would have believed it. The bar should have been open at this time.
A look at my watch told me it was way past seven and the sun had set long ago. What was going on? Had the vampires attacked again? Was this all a precaution? Had the Nightcrawlers also gone on lockdown?
“You’re not allowed in there, witch,” one cyclops said. His voice was a low grumble that could cut through a rock.
I looked up at him, but his sunglasses were a barricade between him and me. Cyclopes loved their sunglasses.
“Is Nolan inside?” Of course he was. “I need to talk to him.”
“He’s in a meeting and he doesn’t have the time for you, witch,” the cyclops replied.
It was really starting to get on my nerves. First, it was the witch hunters calling us “witch” as if it was an insult. And now that the blades were no longer an issue, the Nightcrawlers had reverted to the same behavior.
“That’s cute. But I still need to talk to him. Tell him a representative of the high council is here to talk,” I said.
It was a long shot. I knew it was. But Nolan had kicked us out before the vampire attacks happened, so it was likely he didn’t know. I mean, news traveled fast, especially in the supernatural world, so the chances he didn’t know were slim, but a girl could hope.
Maybe, if he knew witch lives were at stake, he’d lift whatever ban he and the others had imposed and would help us out. The Nightcrawlers and the witches united against the vampires? The bloodsuckers didn’t stand a chance.
“He doesn’t want to see anyone from the high council,” the cyclops replied.
It was going to work against my favor, and I was fully aware. But I needed to speak to him. I channeled fucked-up emotions to the cyclops without touching him, and he froze on the spot, too incapacitated by the pain I was causing him to stop me, and I stepped around him to the front door of the Crow.
Another cyclops saw what happened and swung a punch at me, but in the time it took me to step around the first guy, I had tuned into everyone’s minds, and I ducked away from the impact of his fist, which landed on the front door, shattering the glass panels and splintering the wood.
I immobilized the second cyclops as well and had reach
ed for the handle when a third one jumped at me. Even though I knew he was coming for me, I couldn’t stop him with my power mid-jump, so he ended up on the floor wrapping his hands around my legs.
He tightened his hold, and I tried to kick but couldn’t. I channeled the same pain to him as I had to the others and kicked him in the face with all the force I could muster. Cyclopes were indestructible anyway, so whatever strength I put into my punches and kicks, they wouldn’t leave a scar.
I scrambled to my knees and opened the door before a fourth cyclops could stop me. One more step and the warmth of the interior made me feel falsely safe.
The pub was empty, and the lights were out. The curtains were drawn, and a group of people were standing in the middle of the pub staring at me.
A big pair of hands seized me from behind, and I tried to fight the cyclops off, but there were only so many people I could tune into and fight that I lost my hold on the rest.
The time it took them all to storm inside and stand as a barrier between me and the circle of people in the bar, I got a good look at all of them.
There was Nolan, of course, with his beta and his other wolves. And Hew’s brother was there with another raven I didn’t recognize. Lorelai’s friend, the leader of the skulk, was standing next to her foxes. There was an elf and a fairy there, too, looking grim and pale as they always did. Another woman, probably a succubus from what I could tell, had her eyes pinned on me with a mischievous smile.
“Why?” I asked.
It wasn’t a crazy question, either. If it had been just them, then I’d have understood. But in the middle of all of them were three vampires. Three vampires I didn’t recognize.
They were working together. Why? What were Nolan and the rest of them thinking? Did they want to kill us all and take our place? I knew they felt mistreated, but conspiring against us?
“What are you talking about?” Nolan growled.
I tried to fight the cyclopes off me, but considering their number and my shock, I couldn’t tame my power long enough to do any sort of damage.
“You’re working with the vampires? You’re behind the witch attacks?” I shouted at them, and I couldn’t fight the tears of betrayal running down my face.
The succubus laughed.
“We’re doing nothing of the sort, darling. Not that it’s any of your business, but we invited the vampires to make sure they don’t mean us any harm,” she said.
“And? What is the verdict?” Spit came out of my mouth as I tried to control myself. “Are your sorry asses safe? Have they reassured you? Do you feel safe now while witches are dying from their hands left, right, and center?”
I shouted. It was all I could do to not step through the bodyguards and maul everyone else. If the wolves’ words the day before hadn’t been a declaration of war, their actions today were. And no one wanted a war. Or at least I didn’t, and I was sure Ash didn’t either.
One of the vampires took a step closer to me and he smiled.
“The Nightcrawlers are safe, witch. They’ve got nothing to fear from us. Unlike the witches.”
“Why? Why are you doing this?” I asked him. If they weren’t attacking the rest of the Nightcrawlers and only targeting witches, and Nolan and the rest of the representatives stood there doing nothing, we were fucked.
“All in due course, witch. All in due course,” the vampire said and slapped my cheek a couple of times like a condescending father figure and then disappeared in a blur.
What did that even mean?
Seven
Wade
After I left Caleb, I made a quick stop at a local restaurant and grabbed a chicken pad Thai with extra lime and chili, and a diet cola. While I waited for my order, I took my phone out.
“Wilder Oakley,” I typed.
I scanned through the results. Again. While there were a few, nothing actually turned up for that particular name. I didn’t know why I still bothered. It’s not like the internet had changed in the last twelve hours.
They were never married, so there were no official records of their union—I’d checked—which was probably for the best.
A witch hunter tying the knot with a witch, legally, was not something to write home about for either party or something anyone would want to stay on record.
Their affair, relationship, whatever they had called it at the time, had not been blessed. It had probably been a secret. A secret that only a select few would have known.
“Pad Thai for one? Extra chili, extra lime?” said a cute Southeast Asian waiter with a British accent who carried himself with a lot of confidence and sass.
He reminded me of Caleb. Only in place of the silver hair, he had his shaded blue and much shorter.
I smiled at him, and he placed the plate of food down in front of me.
“You’re the witch hunter, aren’t you?” he said.
Dang it. I should have known he was a witch. I could feel the vibrations coming off him. The magic flowing through him. If I needed to improve on something other than my spell casting, that was certainly my sixth sense. Before I got ambushed again and didn’t know who, or what, I was dealing with.
“Not anymore,” I said with as much bravado as I could muster.
This was common nowadays. Since the bridge incident, my name and reputation preceded me. Sometimes as an ex-witch hunter who had helped fight the demons, but mostly as the witch hunter who had hooked up with a witch.
“This one’s on the house, then,” the waiter said.
“Why?” I asked too quickly, and it came off screechy and rude.
“Because…I like you. You fought alongside the witches and Nightcrawlers at the Tower Bridge, you’re a witch who’s trying to make amends for their past, and you’re hot. So, you got the triple threat package going on.”
I couldn’t see myself, but I definitely felt my cheeks getting warmer. I hoped the guy couldn’t notice.
“Aren’t the witches supposed to be on lockdown?” I asked, directing the conversation to a different topic because I didn’t know what to do with the current one.
The guy’s smile curved to one side in the same cheeky way Caleb’s did when he had done something naughty.
“You mean the coven of London witches is on lockdown. My coven isn’t.” He winked at me.
There was more than one coven? I’d thought Caleb’s was the only one in London, and the high council was the ruling body of all the London witches. Did Caleb know there were others? And if so, why hadn’t he ever mentioned it?
“I have my own coven with other Asian immigrants or children of immigrants. We don’t abide by the London coven’s rules,” he explained as if he could read my mind.
Was he an empath too, like Caleb? Or was my confusion that obvious? As an extra level of protection, I shielded myself against his powers before I spoke again.
“But the vampires are after the witches. All witches. Right?” I said.
The guy shook his head.
“I think you’ll find the threats to the London coven don’t really carry to the other covens. They are…how shall I say this? They have a flair for the dramatic? Besides, we have our own issues. By the way, you don’t need to protect yourself from me. My power can’t hurt you.”
I cocked my head to the side and narrowed my eyes, staring at him.
“I hear whispers. That’s all I can do. Sometimes they tell me secrets I shouldn’t know, but mostly they tell me what the wind knows,” he explained.
“That helps,” I said with my most sarcastic tone.
He laughed. “I know. It’s a bit confusing. It was for me, too, in the beginning. The easiest way to think about it is that I’ve got little birds whispering in my ear about all the things they see and hear.”
My whole body shook as I laughed with him. Not so much about his power, but his explanation of it. He was adorable, and if I wasn’t taken, for life, I might have been interested in him. Now that I was free of whatever crap Christian had inflicted on me and I’d accep
ted my bisexuality, I noticed other men a lot more than I used to.
But my bond with Caleb was unbreakable, and so were my feelings for him.
“My name’s Rune, by the way,” he said and extended his hand.
“Wade,” I said and shook it.
“I know,” he said and twirled his finger in front of his ear. I nodded in understanding.
An older woman with a hairnet appeared from an archway that was draped with a beaded curtain, and she spoke to Rune in Thai. She looked pissed off.
Rune answered her and then turned to me. He pursed his lips and looked down at my food.
“She’s right. Your food’s gone cold with all the chatting. Let me warm it up, and I’ll leave you to eat in peace,” he said.
I waved my hand, dismissing his apology.
“I always like meeting new people. It’s fine,” I said. “I am hungry though, and I’m sure it’s still fine.”
I picked up my chopsticks and tasted the dish. The bittersweet zest of the lime mixed with the heat of the chili and all the flavors made my stomach hurt with hunger. Rune left my table and tended to another.
Once I was adequately fed and watered, it was high time to go. I had promised Winston I’d meet him half an hour ago, and I was running ridiculously late. Thankfully, the training center was only a few blocks away, so I could be there in ten minutes.
“Hey, Rune. Can I get the bill, please?”
Rune, who was now standing behind the bar counting money, looked up and smiled.
“Sure thing, sexy,” he said and typed something on the old till machine in front of him.
I took my wallet out and stood up. When Rune approached with a leather bill holder, I passed him the cash.
“Pop by anytime. I’m usually here. I’d love to meet that boyfriend of yours,” he said.
God, those whispers were quite chatty, weren’t they? At least he knew where I stood and that I wasn’t interested. Did the whispers also know about our bonding? I hoped not. We hadn’t told anyone on purpose. They better not tell Rune anything, either. Even though he didn’t belong to the London coven, if word got out, it could get us into trouble nonetheless.
