by LeAnn Mason
My anger rose back up as I watched Seke. He seemed to be more worried about everything other than me. His attention jumped all around, from the sidewalk to the cars to the motel. A skinny, greasy-looking dude exited the room a couple of doors down, holding Seke’s attention much better than I did. My former captain gave zero response to my revelation, to the idea that I didn’t want to be a banshee anymore.
Fine. Trust your instincts, Aria.
My instincts told me to move on. Being around Seke and the HDPU had done only one thing for me: get me caught.
Twice.
I turned around to depart again.
“Come back with me.” Seke wrapped lithe fingers around my wrist and tugged me to a stop then a few steps backward.
Seeing as my body was stiff, waiting for a command that my processing mind wasn’t delivering, I tripped over the threshold.
Is the room darker? The shadows were responding to Seke’s emotions… whatever they were.
“Come back with me. I’ll persuade the director that the HDPU is the best place for you, especially now that the vampires have found you.” The pinch between his brows was back. It extended to his lips as well, which were pursed in thought. His strong, tan fingers stroked his dark, groomed beard absently as he spoke.
My eyes narrowed. “What do you mean ‘now that the vampires have found you’?” Had he known all along they were looking for me? Had he known what they’d done to other banshees… to my parents?
“Sit,” Seke sighed, steering me to the bed and knocking me backward when I didn’t take the hint, nearly bouncing me off the unyielding mattress.
“Ow.” I glared from my newly seated position, deciding that he didn’t deserve my words until he gave me some first. And if he didn’t, I’d be out of there. My fingers gripped the gaudy floral monstrosity pulled back from the stark-white sheets that probably harbored more than their fair share of hidden stains. I pulled my hands back, rubbing the palms along my jeans in hopes of ridding the thought from my mind. “And maybe chill with the shadows so I can actually see,” I griped before rolling my lips inward and clamping down.
No words starting now.
“You know that a soul trapped in a deceased body creates a vampire. What you do not know is that I was among the first assembled harbinger teams who were tasked with actively seeking out souls of those recently passed to prevent the creation of new vampires. Banshees were our greatest resource. Our crystal ball if you will. With their help, we could actively seek out those preparing to cross over and make sure the assist was made.”
That matched what the vamp said about my kind. “So... I’m not the first banshee you’ve met.” That hardly seemed like news, though maybe it did explain why he could help me with my… issues more than someone who never had.
Nope. Not doing it. Not getting sucked in again.
Attachments make you vulnerable. Do not become vulnerable.
You’ve got it, Dad. Get in. Get out. Get moving. That’s the plan.
I was losing it, talking to myself. I’d never been super stable with my odd childhood, but since being introduced to the supe world, it felt like I’d lost any semblance of normalcy.
“No, you are not. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a couple banshees over the centuries. The Black Plague was a huge boon for the vampire population. In response, the HD was implemented, and the vampires realized the importance of the banshees… Since then, they have been... systematically hunted.” Seke stopped talking abruptly, still stroking his beard, lost in contemplation.
He’d known. He knew. I was torn between storming out of the room and slapping him silly until he finished the story about my kind.
Before I could do either, he sat… right next to me with our thighs touching. Heat radiated from the point of contact and up through my center. I pulled my leg away, squeezing the muscle toward my left — and further. The strain allowed me to focus on something other than the god’s nearness.
“I knew your mother.”
“What?!” In my surprise, my leg fell back against Seke’s. Unlike yesterday, his touch was like a burn, and I yanked it away. Bursting to my feet, I moved the farthest away that I could, distancing us with the small gap between the bed and the ancient television stand. “You knew my mom?” I allowed myself to look at him after a few moments of calming breaths.
No screaming, Aria. It’ll just summon the cops.
“I did, but not well. Only in passing and by reputation.”
“And that makes it better? You’ve had months to tell me. Hell, you could have started out on day one with ‘I knew your mother’ instead of all the cloak and dagger shit!” My mind was muddling as the anger built. All I could focus on was the betrayal of it all.
“Aria, please. My knowledge of her had no impact on you and your circumstances, so I thought it not relevan—”
“Are you shitting me? Not relevant? I lost my mom at a young age, my dad soon after. My entire life has been shaped by the fact that they wanted to hide the truth about the supernatural world, about my heritage. And you think you knowing her doesn’t matter?”
I didn’t give him the chance to speak. I was so done. I couldn’t do this right now. I wasn’t sure I ever would. Nothing was straight-forward with Seke and the Harbingers. There was so much unspoken crap that I wasn’t sure I’d ever get the full picture about anything, ever. I didn’t want to deal with that.
“I need some air. Thanks for getting me out of the fed’s clutches, but I’m not sure you should be here when I get back.”
“Ew,” raven complained, tossing popcorn at Cole to amplify her objection. “You cannot seriously think that peanut butter is better than popcorn.” For her, popcorn was pretty high on the desired food chart while peanut butter did nothing more than attempt to glue her mouth shut.
“What? It totally is, and it’s much more nutritionally beneficial than exploded corn kernels,” Cole fired back with a curled lip.
“Now, now, children,” Ember chided, reaching to snag a handful of popcorn. With a wink to combat Raven’s stink-eye, she went on. “Why not combine the two? Best of both worlds and all that?”
Cole’s deep “Now that’s nasty” resounded over Raven’s appalled sentiment of “No, just no” and brought out a rare, joyous cackle from the ancient phoenix as she dove into her gallon tub of ice cream with gusto.
Raven switched her aim and threw a handful of buttered popcorn at her friend, smirking wickedly when most of the fluffy pieces ended up in the melting creamy goo.
Ember just shrugged a thin shoulder and shoved the glinting silver spoon back into the concoction. When it emerged above the rim, there were two popcorn kernels perched right on top. The phoenix’s eyes burned with the fire of her bird as she stared Raven down, returning the smirk she’d received moments before, then opened her maw wide and slurped up every particle from the utensil.
Raven chuckled, a rare sound these days. “So, what’s on the agenda for tonight?”
With Seke rushing off to save the banshee — again — and no impending assignments, the remaining HDPU members were having fun doing jack shit. True reprieves were few and far between, and Raven tried to take advantage of each presented opportunity as directed by Ember way back when.
“I think it’s time someone other than myself relieved me. Dancing? Maybe at Claws and Feathers? I need some validation in my life, and after the last few weeks, my temps have been near-boiling. A good steam is just what I need, I think.”
“Well, I’m not letting you go to that club on your own. Someone needs to watch your back, and other someones need to know you have someone doing that,” Cole rumbled, bristling. His eyes bled to the bright crimson of his hellhound as the protective instincts kicked in at the imaginary situation.
“And what am I, chopped liver?” Raven returned, affronted.
“You know you aren’t, but…”
“We should all go,” Ember interrupted. “I think we need it. We need to leave the bunker for a bit
. Maybe it’ll help revitalize us. Hit the reset button and let us breathe a little easier after… everything.”
None of them wanted to say Jessica’s name. That they wanted to get over her death. They didn’t want to forget her, but they needed to move past it and hadn’t yet. None of them.
One thing Raven would never admit out loud was that with the passage of time and leveling of tempers, she knew it hadn’t been Aria’s fault.
The second was that she actually kinda missed the ignorant screamer. She would try not to be a bitch to the banshee if Seke decided to bring her back into the fold. At least, for the first five minutes.
“Cole, Ember, Brenna. War room. Now.” Seke’s sudden intrusion made more than one of them choke and spit out beer.
Raven groaned. “There goes our fun night. Thought you said he’d be gone a while.” She shot a glare at Cole, who shrugged, looking after their captain with creased brows.
“I presumed it might be a few days. He’s accomplished what he needed to faster than I anticipated.”
“Or maybe he didn’t find her?” Ember offered.
“We should have gone out last night instead of cleaning the fucking bunker like he asked. That’s what you get for putting chores before play.” Raven let out a hearty sigh. “Well, let’s go see what’s up his butt. Whatever it is, if I had to guess, it’s probably got to do with Silver.”
17
When I got back to the motel, I was equally disappointed and pleased to find the room vacated as I’d demanded. I’d cooled off a bit during my stroll around the neighborhood, but I didn’t know if I’d ever forgive Seke for all the manipulation and lies. I guess he hadn’t exactly lied, but he hadn’t told me the truth either. He’d kept it all tucked away.
Peeking out the window, I was more annoyed to realize that Seke took the car when he left and I was well and truly on my own once again. I tamped down on the pleasant heat flooding my body, thinking about our kiss in that car.
It’s what you wanted, Aria. He’s an ass. Being on your own is better. Yeah…
I berated myself for the self-pity and the loneliness that thickened my throat. Just a few months ago, I considered it a benefit to be alone. I’d grown complacent, comfortable with the harbingers, with Seke. That wasn’t good. Being complacent led to lowered guards.
You need to always remain on your guard. A lesson voiced by both my father and Seke, it must be a good one to remember.
I straightened my spine and moved away from the window, letting the thick curtain fall heavily back into place as I began to pace the small room, trying to think about where to go from here. But instead, my mind continued harping on the Egyptian god.
Ass wasn’t even a strong enough word. He’d known my mom all along and kept it from me. All those days we sat side by side, pouring over books in the bunker’s library for any detail on how to be a banshee, and he never once mentioned that he’d met other banshees before. I mean, he was old, so one could figure, but my own family line? If he knew my mom, did he know about the tattoo she and my dad had put on me? Had he met my dad?
No. I halted my thoughts there. His surprise that day Raven translated the runes in the bunker gym was genuine. At some point, my mother had run and left the Harbingers behind.
And now, I knew why. She was being hunted by the vampires. Was she the last banshee before me? The HD treated me like the rarest of gems. Was I the actual last? Was that why my parents had run?
They’d trained me to keep on running. My mother had turned from the Harbingers and traveled alone to protect herself and her family. That felt like validation for my decision to do the same.
Keep moving, Aria. A sitting duck is a dead duck.
My words of wisdom were still a little rough, but the sentiment was there. If my parents died trying to keep me from getting caught by the vampires, then I should do my best to remain un-caught.
Nodding my head, I turned for the door and paused.
Right. No car. And no cash for the bus. Stupid cops ‘confiscating’ my wallet because the names on the cards didn’t match my current alias. I pulled out my phone and stared at it. I only had a few numbers, and anyway, I couldn’t call them. I was going solo. But... maybe I could sell it?
I sucked my lip ring into my mouth, unsure if I should go so far as to lose all contact with the HDPU.
Hmmm. The lip ring?
It was tiny but silver. It might be worth enough for a bus ticket. Spinning to find my bra and check out, my eyes alighted on something glinting on the bedside table. Had one of my piercings fallen out? My fingers touched all of them, finding them in their places. I frowned, the lip ring popped free from my unsettled mouth, and I shuffled toward the shiny object to inspect it.
It was a ring, but not a piercing — the kind you wore on a finger. Welded from intricately interwoven bands, they coalesced into a design at the top that seemed to resemble a Celtic knot. Three clear-cut stones sat in the loops. They sparkled mesmerizingly as I inspected it beneath the lamp. Had Seke taken it off to sleep and forgotten to put it back on?
I debated with myself for another minute before pocketing the bling and strode out the door. I wasn’t going to be seeing him again to give it back.
I beelined for the motel’s reception. Rapping on the desk, I demanded, “Hey. Is there a pawn shop around here?”
The bored man behind the counter didn’t look up from the pornographic video playing on his phone, rattling off directions barely heard above all the spanking and moaning.
“How far is that?” I asked.
He shrugged.
I rolled my eyes and typed the address into my phone. Yep, the phone was definitely worth keeping. The map suggested the shop was only a ten-minute walk. I wasn’t surprised that somewhere like that was near somewhere like this. There was probably a bail bondsman right around the corner, not to mention the police station.
There was a method to the madness.
“Hey.”
The man finally glanced up with a questioning brow raised, annoyed that I was still there and interrupting his... focus. Thank the gods I could see both his hands above the desk… for the time being.
“Put me down for another night. Room four. Charge it to the credit card you have on file for last night.”
He sighed and typed in the system. “Mister Seker’s card?”
“Yes.” I grinned, feeling justified, then swiveled on a heel.
My phone directed me on my quest, dictating my movements. The area I traversed was rundown, the buildings and sidewalks cracked with age and abuse. I passed some prostitutes, homeless, and a gang of young boys roughened into early maturity, who threw me some lewd catcalls and associated gestures my way. After memorizing the directions, I pocketed the phone, keeping it, and the ring, out of sight. I needed those. Otherwise, I was fairly comfortable. I had bigger sharks on my tail these days. No one followed me, which was all I really worried about. These thugs were human, and with my past and additional training, I knew I could take them if it came to that.
In my pre-HD life, this setting was my ‘hood. It was almost reassuring to be back, like I was home. I’d felt a bit out of place in the lavish accommodations of my brief stint with the HDPU, like a pauper dressing up and stepping into a ball to which she wasn’t invited.
Certainly, the rest of the team hadn’t wanted me there. We’d gotten along okay at first, but after Jessica’s passing, tensions ratcheted right back up to someone-might-die levels.
And I didn’t mean our targets.
Rounding a corner, I spied the tiny shop. Its windows were barred, and with many signs papering the door, I couldn’t see in. But the flickering sign overhead insisted I was in the right place.
A bell jangled announcing my arrival when I stepped into the small space. The main room was framed by a u-shaped counter, me in the middle. A door in one wall led off to what was presumably an even tinier office.
An older man looked up, a small magnifying glass set over one eye of his glasses.
He tucked whatever he’d been inspecting beneath the counter and gave me a smarmy grin, rotating the lens above an eyebrow. “What can I do for you today, miss?” His hand swept over the glass case beneath his forearms. “Perhaps a nice necklace to go with your other jewelry?” He eyed my piercings.
“I’m not here to buy. I’m here to sell.” I kept my face hard and my stance wide. This wasn’t a fight, but some of the advice Seke had imparted into me about intimidating an opponent came to mind anyway. I’d negotiated with pawn folks before. I’d needed enough cash for a quick getaway after Dad vanished… and to ditch his few material possessions. Selling his clothes had accomplished both tasks, though not much else.
“Ah.” The portly man’s smile grew slimier, showcasing a missing tooth on the left side of his mouth. “What have you got for me?”
I kept the ring cupped in my palm, still hidden inside my pocket. “A ring. Platinum.”
The man’s brows shot up. “Platinum?” He licked his lips. “You sure, girl? Not steel or silver perhaps? Solid? Sometimes they’re coated.”
I shook my head lightly so my tresses wouldn’t get in the way of my vision. I’d been holding my opponent in a staring contest since he’d looked up, and I wasn’t going to lose. “No. Platinum. With three diamond inlays.” I was sure of that; the object of interest was far too heavy to be anything but the dense and valuable metal. And no one would ruin a high-quality band with cheap zirconia fakes. The rocks had to be the real deal.
“Let’s see.” He held out his hand.
“Quote first.”
The man’s gaze narrowed, and his fingers curled in. “Can’t give you an estimate until I appraise it. I need to check the metal and see how many karats we’re talking about here.”
I cocked my head. “No less than three thousand.”
Those squinting eyes snapped wide. “Three thousand?”
“It’s platinum.”
