The man sits back down in his seat but is glaring at Havoc who is trying to peck my nails off, so I start squeezing.
“Miller, you can leave if you can’t work with everyone on the team,” Johnson says sternly. “I already have your data here, you’re just around if we have questions.”
Miller shuts up, and Lieutenant Johnson slides the list of names of the deceased in front of me. I don’t bother telling him that I’ve already memorized all of their names.
“All their deaths were in the same manner as Ether West,” Johnson says.
“We can assume all of them are marked by the necromancer, even if we can’t see it,” I say.
“Should we have witches in the area check?” he asks.
“It could be unsafe.” I toss Havoc back onto his chair and he shifts to his human form before glaring at me. “So, I’ve done some research, and as I thought, all members of the Velmah de Rizen were human. Which contradicts with this because a human can’t do a spell such as the one placed on the bodies.”
“So the goal of the original organization was to eradicate all nonhumans, correct?” Johnson asks.
I’m thoughtful as I nod. “It was.”
“So, these murders are similar to how the organization used to eradicate nonhumans,” Sam says. “The only difference is the way it was covered up was by someone with magic.”
“They could still be trying to eradicate nonhumans,” I say. “Depending on who is behind it, they could be using the organization’s name as a way to instill fear and get nonhumans to stop trusting humans. They could also belong to the organization but have a more specific goal.”
“Like?” Sam questions.
“Power. A witch, wizard, necromancer, whatever they are, is only powerful when there is not a higher power. They could be erasing anyone more powerful or who could pose a threat.”
Johnson taps his pen on the table. “Do you think that is what is going on?”
I lean back in my chair as I think about it for a moment. “Honestly? Yes. People have been power hungry for years, but each district has a boss who keeps that power down. But if you kill the boss, you take over the district. Simple as that.”
“But they didn’t target the boss,” Johnson says.
“Bosses are very powerful. It’ll take a lot of work to get to them. They’ll have to start lower and break down the tower the boss stands on in order to reach them,” I say.
“So you think they’re eventually aiming for this district’s boss? Do you think we need to take this matter to her?”
Explaining things to our district boss would probably be the right thing to do in case there is something more going on. “Wouldn’t hurt.”
“But if they’re going for the most powerful, your demon said you are more powerful. Wouldn’t they target you instead?” he asks.
“They could. But a lot of people don’t know I’m here or about my power. They’d rather target someone who would cause more of an uproar. Did any of you bring the ring I asked for?”
“Here,” Sam says, passing me a plastic bag with Ether’s ring. He was wearing it when he died, and I didn’t think to ask for it back at the morgue.
He gives me a soft smile that widens when I say, “Thanks.”
“What are you doing with that?” Johnson asks curiously.
“I’m going to try to See what happened that day. By using the ring, I should be able to see a vision that could tell me how he died.”
“How long will that take you?”’
“I can do it this afternoon.”
“Let us know when you find something,” Johnson says.
“Understood.”
***
“I think you’re starting to think you’re a little more powerful than you are,” Havoc growls at me as we walk toward the café. He’s still furious that I yelled at him for screwing with the detectives.
“Am I? Or are you just being so reckless I have to treat you like a child?” I ask curiously. “You know I don’t mind you screwing around with people but not when we’re in a serious meeting.”
He glowers at me, clearly pissed, and I sigh.
“You’re never happy with me, Havoc. What do you want?”
“I want free will.”
“When I give it to you, you refuse to listen and destroy more than you help.”
He doesn’t look happy. “If you weren’t so weak, I would listen,” he growls. Then the ground rumbles as it opens up, and he drops back through the gateway into the underworld where he will remain until I force him out. So be it.
I walk into the café where the succubus from last night is waiting. “Where’s Havoc?”
I don’t have the time or energy to deal with her. “Don’t know.”
She bites her bright red lip. “I want to see him again.”
“He only sleeps with women once.”
“Trust me, he’ll sleep with me more than once,” she says with a purr as she reaches for me.
“I’ve never seen a succubus grovel. It’s not attractive,” I say, and her black-lined eyes narrow.
“Come here,” she says, and I can feel her power as she tries to grab onto me like she plans on seducing me, but I brush it off with my magic and walk past. She stares at me aghast, and I smile sweetly at her.
“Not gonna happen, sweetheart,” I say. “Yoko, I’m going to try to See something, so please don’t go into the back room,” I say.
“What are you Seeing?”
“Porn,” I say.
She doesn’t miss a beat. “Gay porn?”
I give her a grin. “Like five guys going at it.”
She taps her chin with a finger as her eyebrow lifts. “Hmm… mind if I join?”
“Immensely,” I say.
She laughs. “I’ll tell Baron.”
“Thanks,” I say as I pass through the doorway and head into the back room. As soon as the door is shut, I light the candles with a wave of my hand. I draw a magic circle around me, different from the one I use to summon, and kneel down. Carefully, I hold the ring in my left hand and close my eyes.
With a deep breath, I allow my magic to flow out of me. Winding its tendrils around my fingers, it reaches the ring and wraps around it, consuming it. And suddenly I’m seeing things through the “eyes” of the ring.
I’m in a house I’ve never been in. The first thing that grabs my attention is a man sitting in a chair in the corner. He’s reading a book when he hears something that makes him set his book down and look around…
Back in the café, someone enters the room I’m in, distracting me enough that I start to pull out of the vision. I look over at who has walked in, but the pull from the vision was abrupt, and the sever between the vision and now isn’t complete yet, so the room seems fuzzy and I feel disoriented. I can make out that it is Baron walking toward me, so I quickly dispel my magic, planning on starting over once he has left.
“Baron, the sock on the door means I’m busy—”
When he walked in, my mind was hazy from being in two places at once, so I don’t notice that he grabbed my sword from the corner of the room until he drives it straight into my stomach. Pain tears into me as I gasp. I stumble back as I look up at Baron in shock and realize, now that my mind is cleared, that he’s being possessed. He draws the sword back, pulling it out, as unbelievable pain crawls over my body. I press my hand against the wound and fall forward. I hit the ground on my hands and knees, but in an attempt to stop him, I crawl toward him. I catch his leg as he pulls the sword up, ready to chop my head off.
I try to slide my hand under his pants so I can touch his flesh, but his pants are so goddamn tight I can’t get my hand under them.
“Why are you wearing skinny jeans!” I yell as I yank his sock down and touch his ankle. I can feel the foreign magic winding around his own shifter magic, choking it down. I grab onto the other magic and cut the hold it has on him, causing him to stumble back in confusion. He looks around as he tries to decipher what is real in this m
oment.
That’s when I feel an alert through the barrier I have placed around the café. It speaks of an intrusion, so I sit back and try to focus. I feel them, at least fifteen no… twenty coming toward my café. Coming for me. But I’m not the only one here. No… no, not all of my friends… Yoko… Baron.
Pushing the pain aside, I clamber to my feet and grab my sword which Baron is still holding. He’s standing in a daze, clearly confused, but lets the sword go without a fight. I hold a hand against my stomach as the blood pools out, coloring my hand. I push through the door and stumble into the hallway as I use the wall to guide myself into the café.
“Get out! Everyone, get out now!” I yell, and they know that when I tell them to do something, they do it. People are up on their feet and running toward the door without hesitation. Someone trips over a chair, and Yoko rushes to help them before turning to me.
I’m at the cabinets, yanking them open and grabbing for bottles. As I rummage through the shelves, I’m leaving blood streaks on everything as I grab an al-siv potion that Yoko made. I don’t bother making a paste out of the powder since as soon as I press it against the bloody hole in my stomach it sticks. The moment it touches my skin, the pain is blocked and my mind clears.
“Oh my god, Miles. What happened?” Yoko asks.
“Go check on Baron,” I say as I point to the back, and her eyes go wide. She turns and rushes to him as I head the other way, through the door and out into the alleyway as someone in black walks toward me.
I draw the symbol for fire in the air then push my hand forward as the fire races along the ground and grabs onto his body. He screams as he falls back, smacking at his clothes as he tries to put the fire out. I start moving, but there are five behind me and at least seven on each side. I feel dizzy, and even though I’ve blocked the pain, my body isn’t handling the wound too well.
As they come up on both sides, I draw the symbol for earth and raise my hands. I can feel my magic dig deep under the cement, grabbing the earth below and drawing it up, tearing a few of them to the ground before someone blocks the attack. I turn down the alleyway and stumble as my legs threaten to give out. Desperate for a break, I fall against the wall before sliding down to my hands and knees. Quickly, I draw Havoc’s summoning circle using the blood that’s all over my hand. I seem to have a surplus of it.
“Havoc!”
Silence.
“Fucking Havoc!” I yell.
Silence.
Giving up on him, I realize that I’ll take anyone. “Iya!” I shout, hoping for anyone, but I hadn’t drawn the symbol for Iya, and if Iya isn’t close by, he won’t be able to pass through Havoc’s summoning circle.
My mind is too fuzzy, I can’t reach him and force him up. He’ll have to willingly come to me.
I look up as I see people moving toward me, so I send flames racing at them. When I notice someone making their way toward me from the side, I moan and push myself up to my feet, forcing myself to move.
“There are plenty to kill, Havoc. Please! It’s your favorite thing to do! And I’ll let you kill them all! I won’t hog even one of them!”
I start running as I realize that if I don’t do something soon, I’m going to die. I can taste the blood in my mouth and even with Yoko’s potion, the blood hasn’t stopped leaking out of my stomach.
Just as I’m considering alternatives, Havoc appears in front of me, and I slam into him. He grabs me before I fall back, but his eyes are looking beyond me at my pursuers. And they light up as a grin explodes across his face.
“Why didn’t you call me sooner? You’re up here keeping all of the fun to yourself,” Havoc says, and I nearly run my sword through his heart in pure anger.
“I did call you,” I growl.
He rotates his arms, like he’s loosening up before the fight. “Did you? I thought I heard a little rat squeaking something, but I didn’t realize it was you. I was over there setting out rat killer.”
“I’m going to shove my sword so far up your asshole, all you’ll be able to do is squeak,” I growl.
“Don’t try to inflict your gay fetishes on me,” he says as he sees the people coming at me. Eagerly, he rushes forward to kill them.
I fall against the alleyway wall as I watch him. “I don’t have a fetish for impaling people with a real sword,” I say before realizing that those words might be the last words out of my mouth. My dying words. “I’m better than you,” I shout after him. There. Those dying words are better.
There are two werewolves, a high-level witch, and a druid. The werewolves reach Havoc first. He rushes in and the wolves avoid him, leaping to the side to get away, but Havoc is quicker, driving his sword into one’s heart before swinging around and attacking the other wolf. It’s all starting to look like a blur to me, but a moment later both weres are on the ground.
“Actually, you’re not, or you wouldn’t come crying to me.” Havoc looks back at me like he has time to fuck around. “‘Save me, Havoc. Save me!’” he mocks.
“At least my hair is nicer,” I say. God, now my dying words are about my hair.
A witch comes running toward me, so I call upon the wind and push it at her. But instead of pushing her away, I wrap it around her, compressing her lungs while Havoc cuts down the other two and turns to me.
“Thank you,” I say as I look around. Hell NO! My dying words definitely can’t be me thanking this wretched creature. “There are still fifteen,” I add.
He quickly walks up to me and yanks my arm away. “You were stabbed? Who got close enough to you to stab you?”
“I was in a vision with the ring, and Baron had been possessed… He stabbed me.”
Havoc growls as he bares his fangs. “Come on.”
I nod as I push off the wall and start walking in the direction that has been cleared of people hoping to kill me.
“Two ahead,” I say, and he rushes ahead of me as I hold my stomach hard. The block I applied is wearing off, and the pain is starting to take over.
Havoc tears them down, then looks back at me and grins like he’s proud of himself. He’s thrilled he’s allowed to kill for once.
“Good job,” I say as I follow him. “This way is clear.” I turn and start coughing. I hold my hand over my mouth and wipe the blood off my lips.
My legs feel shaky, and my entire body feels so heavy that when I stumble, I let myself fall against the wall and stare at the ground.
“What are you doing?” Havoc asks.
“Just… looking at the rocks. This one that looks like a rock is rather nice.”
“Miles!” he snaps.
“Coming,” I say as I start walking.
“Don’t act so weak. You’re fine,” he says as he gives me a pat on the head like I’m a pet.
I nod and keep walking toward him. I can feel too many surrounding us. Havoc is strong, but I don’t want him to get hurt. And if I die, it’ll make him weaker without a host.
“Havoc, I return you to the underworld,” I say.
“What?” he asks as he looks back at me in alarm.
“There are too many. Go back,” I say as I wave at him like he’s a feral cat I’m shooing off.
“You don’t think I can handle them?” he asks, sounding quite annoyed. I’m over here submitting to the idea of dying so he can live, and he’s annoyed at me!
“If I die, you’ll be completely vulnerable.”
“Why would you die?” he asks, confused.
“I have been stabbed through the stomach!” I yell, but it hurts to yell, so I shut up.
“So?”
“Please allow me to strangle you before I die,” I say as I close my eyes.
He’s fighting against my command for him to return to the demon realm, I can feel it. I’m too weak, I can’t control him, and he’s realizing that. I look up at him as he narrows his eyes like he’s unsure of what to do and then he rushes off.
For a moment, I waver and then sink down to the ground. I can hear Havoc fighting a
s I see someone draw close to me. Reaching up with my hand, I try to call for my magic, but it’s hard to get the wildness of it to tame down for my shaking hand. Havoc rushes over and tears them to the ground before they can reach me.
“Miles.”
“Hmm?” I ask as I look up and notice that it’s just the two of us.
“Those still alive ran off… but more are coming. We need to go.”
I nod.
“Miles. You’re not hurt that badly, right?” he asks as he pulls open my jacket. The blood has soaked down into my pants even with the makeshift bandage. “You’ve lived this long and you’re really going to let something like this bother you? How could you have screwed up like this? You could take care of these men in your sleep. I told you not to trust others. This happened because you trusted that disgusting werewolf.”
“It’s not Baron’s fault,” I say.
He grits his teeth but reaches down and lifts me up into his arms. I lay my head against his chest as I feel like I’m floating somewhere between a sea of pain and oblivion. He holds me against him with one arm, while trying to support me and the sword with the other.
“Now I have something else to have a wet dream about,” I say as I reach out and squeeze his muscular arm before closing my eyes.
“Miles.”
“Hmm?”
“You’re a fucking idiot.”
“Thanks,” I say.
“You’re going to die.”
“…‘is but a scratch.”
He moves quicker as he holds me tightly. “Shit,” he hisses as he starts to run. I’ve never heard Havoc sound panicked before, especially when it pertains to me. It strikes me as odd, but I can’t focus enough to linger on it.
He cuts down another man before stepping into the café, surrounding me with familiar smells.
“Yoko!”
“Don’t lead them here,” I say.
“Shut up,” he snaps as he rushes into the back room. “Yoko!”
Happy Endings Page 4
