Fatal Sight (Harbingers Of Death Book 2)
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Fatal Sight
Harbingers of Death Book 2
L.B. Carter & LeAnn Mason
Copyright © 2021 L.B. Carter & LeAnn Mason
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ASIN: B08HFW2RZJ
Edited by: Dawn Yacovetta
Cover by: EerilyFair Designs
Printed in the United States of America
Dedicated to patience
For those serving prison sentences, they bring sentences of death.
I am a banshee, and a Harbinger of Death. No matter how much I try to escape both.
On my first real assignment after weeks of training with the Harbingers of Death Prison Unit, the plan goes wrong. Deadly wrong. And it’s my fault.
My haunting guilt and my new team’s hostility are enough to turn me away. I hoped Seke would fight for me, give me a reason to stay, but he sends me packing. So, I try a few new teams... until I want to scream.
Time to head out on my own and hunt down the being who can rebind the deathly powers that only bring me trouble. But it turns out I’m not the only one doing the hunting, and suddenly, my mysterious past is running me down.
Can banshees announce their own death? I have a lot to learn. Fast.
1
Objectively, i knew that the bright blue mat I was currently sprawled upon wasn’t made of concrete, but the fifty-millionth time my back impacted the cushioned surface had jaded me. Not to mention that it still managed to do a number on my not-quite-human body.
“Those bruises are a striking addition of color on your pale-ass skin, Silver,” Raven jibed, reaching a small but strong hand down as if in assistance. The seemingly innocuous digits fluttered in impatient obviousness in front of my face. I knew better though. Nothing about the thin death-omen shifter was harmless.
“Oh, come on. Take the branch when it’s offered. I’m feeling generous toward you at the moment as I admire my artwork on your skin.”
With a narrow-eyed glare, I slapped my hand into her outstretched one with a begrudging reluctance that made her thin lips tip up in satisfaction as she jerked me to my feet.
“‘Silver’ doesn’t quite suit you at the moment now, does it, sugar? Maybe we need to come up with something a little more fittin’ for your current state. Hmmm.” Jessica, the literal siren of the group, pondered theatrically with a red-tipped talon — I mean, nail — tapping at plump lips that were the same eye-catching shade.
The blonde dripped seduction from every pore, and I had to pull my attention from her before her mojo drew me in. Again. The southern bombshell wielded her alluring abilities with wanton abandon.
“Do you need to take another trip into town? Your lust is showing,” I returned the taunt. But really, when the wench was sated by sex and flesh — literally — she was much more amenable.
“Oh, get over it. Your bitterness won’t keep your ass off the mat. Let’s go again,” the raven shifter declared.
Before I could blink, the little black-eyed harbinger had rushed me, wrapping a thin arm around my neck to squeeze tightly as the other rested atop my left shoulder and bent back so her hand cradled the back of my head.
“A fucking sleeper-hold?” I choked out, trying to maneuver my body in a way that would allow me to break from the wannabe-wrestler at my back.
My vision started to blur, fuzzing and darkening at the edges. Pinpricks of light exploding like fireworks in my periphery really drove home just how close to passing out I was. It was getting hard to think, let alone move, but I finally realized my only move would be to dislodge the little bird from my rear… by any means necessary.
I launched my weight sideways toward the mirrored wall that I could just make out at the corner of my tunneling vision. Like a beacon, the reflection of the fluorescent overhead lights twinkled at me. I turned away at the last moment, forcing the parasite attached to my back into the surface, and heard the satisfying sound of the mirrored pane crunch. The stilted crackling indicated that a spider web of fractures branched outward from the indent Raven’s slight body made.
A tinkling sound followed the second thrust. I was losing consciousness, and my own weight pinned my assailant to the already degraded surface, but the falling of the mirror pieces sounded almost pretty, way too sonorous to mean that razor-sharp pieces of mirrored glass were raining down around our entangled bodies.
“Fuck, Silver, buck much?” the monkey on my back growled, but the insane hold loosened enough for me to gasp in much-needed air.
Luckily, that breath allowed me to regain my footing enough to pull forward, away from the raining death… At least, I was out of the danger zone.
A rather reptilian hiss slithered out of my opponent as my burden suddenly lightened. Free of her grip, I dropped to the floor where I rolled and came up into a crouch with a small, palmable knife I’d hidden in my boot. At least, I’d remembered to put my teal-tipped mane into a braid before this training session began; otherwise, I’d have blinded myself and presented an easy target.
I felt like a badass with that move… until the clapping started. Then, I just felt like a sideshow… staring at a black bird.
“Isn’t that cheating?” I huffed at the puff of plumage amidst the chaos of broken mirror slivers. Their reflected light danced on Raven’s shiny black feathers, lighting her up like a gothic disco ball.
I was pretty sure there were some new splatters of blood on the blue mat, which probably accounted for Raven’s shift to her bird. Shifters healed themselves by switching forms. The magic of the change could heal small or superficial wounds.
Behind her, the wall of mirrors was missing a pane measuring about eight feet high and five feet wide. The gray wall exposed seemed almost like a secret entrance to some fantastical land, especially with the bird appearing to be standing guard.
“Ravens tend to go for the eyes,” Cole advised from his spot, lounging against another of the gym’s walls.
Just like that, my vision blinked to black, and my heart rate responded by skyrocketing. “Mother fucker. Seriously, Cole? Give me back my vision!” Blood pounded in my ears so loudly — both from anger and anxiousness — that I almost missed Cole’s response.
“Would you rather I let her actually take those pretty peepers, cupcake? You need to learn to fight while impaired. You did well to dislodge your attacker, but that doesn’t mean the battle is over, let alone won.” I imagined the suave dark-skinned hellhound’s heavy corded tresses swinging as he delivered the reprimand, his golden eyes flashing with his own brand of edgy humor.
I say imagined because… “I can’t fucking see!”
“Get over it,” snapped another impatient audience member. “It’s the only way you will still be functional. Focus. Calm.”
“That was very insightful, Em,” Jessica cooed proudly with the raven cawing its own echoed sentiment from its spot before me.
Each HDPU member was walking a fine line between praise and scorn as they had been regularly the past few months. While their outright animosity seemed to have waned to some degree, they were still quick to poke fun or put me on my ass. I guessed it made them feel better about my continued presence. The only one who seemed to even remotely want me around was Seke. And he was kind of the only one for whom I stayed around. He—
Calm, Aria. Focus — not strength — wins battles.
Since my training had begun with the Harbingers of Death Prison Unit, my mentally regurgitated lessons tended to sound more like Seke as opposed to the parental teachings of my youth. I had to admit I much preferred his suave, accented voice — like honey — in my head. The downside was that it tended to distract me for a few moments.
In this instance, the momentary basking my mind enjoyed was long enough for Raven to fly into close range so that I not only felt the buffeting of air that her wings produced but the gentle brush of feathers. The tips of her obsidian wings skimmed the outside of my upper arms with each flap that held her body aloft.
Honestly, I was surprised that was all I’d felt so far. I fully expected the wench to try to gouge out my sightless eyes.
I also got a good whiff of BO with each billow of stale gym air.
Taking a step to the rear, I noted that the air didn’t move as much and I no longer felt the feather touch of her wings. The slight change indicated that Raven was moving higher but also closing the distance between us. My unseeing eyes lifted to follow where I thought the bird to be.
“Good. Now what?” Cole’s gravelly voice ripped through the blackness.
The breeze became more of a gust, the beating of Raven’s wings becoming audible… from above me somewhere.
What’s my move here?
Just as I thought the question, something grasped my hair, causing pricks of pain to bloom where something scratched along my scalp. I wanted to cringe, to shrink away, but instead, I threw up an arm to the affected area, my fingers encountering warm, soft, bumpy stalks and, in complete contrast, soft, fluffy plumage.
Taking a chance, I wrapped my digits around the stalks that must be Raven’s legs. I wondered if raven shifters were anything like chickens. Would she just give up, go docile if I held her upside down by her massive-taloned raptor feet?
Feeling my fingers tighten in a bid to trap her, Raven began beating her wings furiously in an attempt to escape before I could ensnare her. Those damn appendages hurt as they repeatedly boxed my ears and slapped my shoulders. The wind it created caused my scalp to burn, so I knew she’d opened up wounds.
Awesome, I guess my silver hair will have some red streaks to accompany the teal tips…
“What exactly is going on here?”
The brusque question had my non-seeing eyes whipping toward where I believed the door — and Seke — to be, my hands relinquishing their prize to let the angry bird flee my grasp. I heard a thump a few feet away and assumed Raven had plunked herself back down on the mat, though I wasn’t sure in which form.
“Training,” Raven answered in a bored tone.
Human it is. I could picture her picking at her nails as she answered, her dark eyes downcast and obscured by a curtain of sleek hair in the same blue-black as her bird’s plumage.
“What is wrong with her?” Seke murmured — to himself or the team, I wasn’t sure.
“Can I get my sight back now? Looks like playtime’s over.”
“Nice pun,” Ember chuckled.
I hadn’t meant to make a joke, but hey, I’d take it.
“Enough now. Restore Aria’s sight, please, Cole. Then, all of you go upstairs to familiarize yourselves with the next assignment. We leave tomorrow,” Seke ordered.
My sight blinked back into existence in time to let me watch the team file past the god and out of the gym, one by one. Not a single one of my teammates made a snarky comment at their captain.
Is that what a banshee’s got to do to keep from being a verbal punching bag? Become a leader?
When I moved to join them, Seke gently caught my wrist. “Are you all right?” A golden-tanned hand reached out to run down my hair near my left ear.
I nearly sighed at the contact, my eyes closing. When his hand pulled away, my eyelids fluttered back open, and I noticed he was rubbing his thumb and middle fingers together, smearing something between them.
“Were you cut by the glass?”
Duh, Aria. He’s not interested in you that way, I admonished myself. He’s your captain, too. “Uh, no. That’s not mine.” I should feel guilty that I’d made Raven bleed, but she and Cole had played dirty.
His eyes cast toward the splintered mirror. “Care to explain what was going on? Decided we needed to redecorate in the middle of training?”
“Sort of.” I shrugged, trying not to inhale his masculine scent too obviously. It was a nice change from suffocating in BO. “I decided to reenact a scene from one of my favorite movies. Except, the big rock was replaced by buckling mirrors. It was kind of necessary — the only reason I didn’t end up blacked-out and face-down on this lovely, fluid-stained mat like the giant in the film.” I tapped my foot to said soaked mat. Luckily, it didn’t reek... too much. A bit of guilt rose as Seke continued to stare at the broken glass. “I can pay for a replacement.”
“No need. These kinds of things happen when training. So, the team decided today’s lesson was about fighting blindfolded?” Seke stepped closer, squishing my breasts as his chest invaded their space, the contact causing them to heave with veiled want. He was wearing a thin, white tank top that did nothing to hide those glorious golden pecs from view. It always surprised me when he wasn’t dressed to the nines, but damn if I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
My breath stalled as the contact continued, at the heat his perfectly sculpted body exuded.
He’s your captain; he’s your captain. But he wasn’t acting like it, which wasn’t supporting my libido-squashing chant.
My nod was delayed, slow, and stilted as I stared into his hazel eyes, their beautiful hue more green than brown today and rimmed by thick ebony-black lashes most women would kill for. It didn’t make him look feminine in the least; it only drew attention to his irises, to the subtle glow of his skin…
“I have another way to teach that same lesson if you’re interested.” Those soulful eyes gleamed with a naughtiness I hadn’t expected. One side of his full lips curved up in a smirk, the corner creases of his smile hidden by his dark, well-groomed facial hair.
I bet that goatee would feel amazing as he—
“Are you up for some more sensory play?” The question caught me off guard, the phrasing stalling my brain right there in the gutter where it had dropped when he’d invaded my breast bubble.
He couldn’t be inferring what I thought he was inferring. Sure, we’d exchanged a few suggestive comments and smoldering looks over the months we’d been training together, but that was it. It was like there was some invisible line we’d toed. And now, he was holding out a metaphorical hand to help me across it.
“Bring it on, sensei,” I cooed in my best seductress voice.
It left a lot to be desired, but my failed siren impersonation fled from my thoughts as Seke lifted a hand. Thick, black, smoke-like tendrils swirled around it, coalescing until they formed a thick layer as black as night where it writhed.
I flinched, reactively taking a step away as the appendage and the shadows coiling around it moved toward my face. I remembered being engulfed by the shadows the first time we’d trained together and wasn’t in a hurry to experience that again.
“Trust me,” he whispered, his breath washing across my upturned face.
Eyes locked, I couldn’t refuse him, so again, I jerked my chin in a nod as my heart jackhammered in my chest. I wasn’t sure if the quick rate was caused by the sexual undercurrent or the worry over what those shadows could do to me.
“Trust me.” His hand covered my eyes as if he wanted to surprise me, but the longer he held them there, the less I could see.
The shadows wound, squeezed, and banded until they were so thick it was as if I st
ood in a coffin. It was amazing how losing your sight could make even the largest space cause claustrophobia. Something grazed my arm, startling me.
“Relax. Breathe, Aria. You know I would never hurt you, don’t you?”
After taking a moment to calm myself, I nodded, breathing out my misgivings. I trusted Seke; he wouldn’t hurt me. Another visceral sensation, this one at my shoulder, felt like a sustained poke, like the finger still indented my skin. Air tickled the ear at the opposite shoulder, and I flinched. A little.
“Where am I?”
Warm air, which I assumed to be breath brushed the nape of my neck. I turned one-eighty, figuring I’d be facing where I believed him to be.
Metal clanged from further in the room, I assumed from the weights area, the sound ricocheting around the room.
I walked forward steadily. I knew there wasn’t anything on the mat that would impede me. Except, after about four steps, my toes collided with something cold and heavy.
“Holy fuck! Shit! Ow, that hurts.”
“Probably best not to venture forward when you most likely don’t know the layout of your surroundings.” I could hear the laughter tingeing Seke’s voice. “Now, come to me.” I half expected him to laugh evilly and add my precious at the end.
“I thought I was on familiar turf, Captain,” I groused. “How do I know you won’t try to trick me again?” My trust was wavering.
“Trust me, remember?”
“Well, I did before you put an anvil in the middle of my path.”
I heard steps and angled my body toward the sound but didn’t move forward. Instead, I waited, holding out to see if there would be any other clues to help guide my blind ass to the booty.
Man, and a fine booty it is, too. I’d love to just take a nibble—
A kind of thumping swish sound led me to believe that Seke had moved onto the mat, closer to my static space.
I waited.