by C. S. Wilde
“Why didn’t you report me?” She stared at him.
A soft smile pulled at his lips, and he nudged the tip of her nose with his. “I’m your partner. Isn’t that part of the deal?”
“Not particularly.” She held the cry that pushed out of her. “Thank you, Bast. You bought me a few days.”
Mera wouldn’t live for much longer. The police would put an iron bullet in her head the moment they got there, but she was thankful to have shared her last case with him.
“You need to run,” he said quietly.
Mera strongly considered it. But then… “I have nowhere to go. If I return to the ocean, I’m as good as dead. I don’t want to live as a fugitive, always looking over my shoulder until you, the Cap, or Jules is forced to kill me.”
Waterbreaker or not, Mera couldn’t outrun a witch’s tracking spell, a shifter’s sense of smell, or a vampire’s hearing. Sooner or later, she would be found.
“I won’t make the people in my precinct do that. I won’t make you do that.” Her heart squeezed, and she took in a deep breath. “Promise me something?”
His pained eyes peered into hers, as if he were seeing Mera for the first time. “Anything.”
“Will you look after the Cap and Jules?” She bit her bottom lip, holding the need to cry. “Please?”
He cupped her cheek and leaned down, his breath shy and warm against hers until their lips touched.
Bast’s fingers dug onto her hair as he pulled her closer, deepening their kiss. Mera took him, all of him, his hungry lips and panted breaths infusing fire and life into her. The taste of his warm tongue grazed hers, and a bit of his blood too, but she didn’t care.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pushed herself against him, their breaths rapid and shallow as their tongues battled in a sensual war, their bodies tangled in a perfect tune. Right then, consumed by his embrace, she figured there was no better way to go.
As far as last kisses went, that one took the prize.
Bast pulled back and brushed a lock of hair off her face, gazing down at her with glistening blue eyes. Even hurt and covered in a great deal of his own blood, he looked incredibly handsome.
“Remember me like this, Mera.” He pecked her lips lightly. “I’ll do anything to save you. Even if it means you’ll hate me.”
Mera frowned, not understanding what he meant. “Shut up and kiss me again, baku,” she teased, yet instead of doing it, Bast stepped back.
She tried to reach for him, but something held her in place.
A void with shining stars had risen from the ground, tangling around her wrists and ankles. She tried to lift her hand, but the tentacles clung to her like tar.
“Bast? What the hell?”
Ignoring her, he walked toward the Sidhe in silence. All twenty of them. When he grasped a sword from the floor, his black flames engulfed the blade.
“Bast!” she yelled, but he didn’t listen; didn’t hesitate as he cut through the first faerie’s neck, then the next, and the next.
Bast moved like shadows, fast and nearly unseen.
A pitch-black blur.
The faeries gurgled as blood drooled from the cuts down to their chests, yet they couldn’t fall because her macabre lingered inside them. As she pulled it back, the bodies dropped harshly, their hollow thumps against the marble echoing around her.
Mera’s power swirled in her core, ready to stop Bast, but she couldn’t will it forward, even though she tried. Shock and horror froze her as she watched.
Maybe he didn’t need those tentacles to hold her in place. The bloodshed ahead was enough.
Coming to herself in time to remove her power from the remaining faeries, she gave them a fighting chance. Nevertheless, Bast was swift and merciless. Even if they could fight him, he killed them as easily as one would cut cheese.
Some he ended with the blade, others with spears of void that cut through air and flesh. His night swallowed a fae on the right, leaving a rusty skeleton behind.
On and on he went, until there were only two fae left breathing.
Zachary and Lisandra.
“Bast…” Mera muttered.
The white marbled floor was slick with fae blood.
His head snapped left, into the empty hallway. “If you speak of what you saw here today, I will come for you. You’ve seen what I can do.”
Silence replied.
“Leave, or you die with them,” he pushed.
Two maids came into view, shaking in terror. Hastily nodding, they scurried away while Lisandra crouched on the floor, whimpering, and hiding her face between her knees.
Across from her, Zachary glared at Bast. The Summer Prince screamed as golden light shone from his fists.
He barged at Bast, but her partner easily dodged the attack.
While they fought, Mera felt weakened and half asleep. She faintly noticed the blurs of light and darkness clashing furiously ahead.
Glancing down at the tentacles of void around her wrist and ankles, she realized they were doing this to her. They were draining her magic.
Her consciousness, too.
She pushed the macabre toward Zachary and Bast. Someone had to stop them, but her magic didn’t lurch forward. She could hardly feel it at all.
Bast’s sword dropped to the ground, but he and the Summer Prince went on, fighting hand-to-hand, golden and black auras beaming around them. Their magic moved as fluidly as their strikes, and even though they were battling, Mera couldn’t help but compare it to a sort of dance.
In one quick move, Bast punched Zachary, who punched him in return. Their forms started to blur.
Mera’s head felt awfully light. She forced herself to focus, right when the golden form fell on his knees.
“Fine! I surrender!” Zachary called for a truce, offering Bast his wrists. “Take me to your precinct.”
“The Autumn and Spring Courts will find a way to bail you,” her partner’s tone was freezing cold. “You’ll go unpunished.”
“I’m giving myself in, Dhay.” He sneered. “You’re a cop. You must arrest me.”
“You know it’s your only way out,” he growled. “You’ll be freed in no time, and then you’ll testify against Mera.”
Zachary gulped. “I swear I won’t!”
“Your word means shit, baku.”
“Bast…” she mumbled, narrowing her eyes. She couldn’t see his face clearly. “He’s surrendering. You can’t hurt him.”
Her partner became a blur of shadows, and Mera heard a sound akin to wood snapping. Zachary’s foggy form slumped on the floor.
Bast approached a screaming, red-haired ball, curling on the corner.
“No,” Mera muttered. “She didn’t know.”
“Lisandra saw you,” that cold tone replied.
That wasn’t her partner. It couldn’t be.
Mera’s vision came to focus enough to see the tears scrolling down Bast’s cheeks; the pitch black of his eyes. “Don’t…”
“You didn’t run away,” he told Mera. “I had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” she managed through her haze. Her thoughts didn’t connect, didn’t make any sense. “Bast, I love you, but you just killed everyone.”
He grumbled a curse under his breath. “You could’ve picked a better time to say that, kitten.”
“What?” Her eyelids felt so heavy. “That you’re a murderer?”
“I’ve known that for a while.” He ran a hand through his hair. “So, you love me?”
His words carried sound but hardly any meaning. She blinked, barely able to force her eyes open. “Do I?”
He stepped closer.
Considering what he could do, how powerless he’d rendered her, Mera should be terrified. But she wasn’t. At all.
Damned the old gods, she even craved for his touch.
His lips pressed a kiss on her forehead, belonging to her partner once again, and not that ruthless… the words from the bounty hunter flashed in her mind.
Death bringer.
“Sleep,” Bast ordered.
“You killed the witch… to keep my secret,” she managed, pushing through the drowsiness that swallowed her. “You knew she wasn’t a threat to my life. You were protecting me.”
“Maybe,” Bast answered with a shrug, then stepped away, toward the corner of the room.
Lisandra bawled. “Please, Sebastian! No!”
I have to help her, Mera told herself. Have to keep awake. Still, she couldn’t discern what happened around her anymore.
“I’ll never forgive you,” she slurred before her legs gave in, but something cushioned her fall.
Night. It spread beneath her and laid her carefully on the floor, its touch warm and gentle like Bast’s own.
“I’ll never ask you to,” he said quietly.
Once Mera’s eyes closed, she couldn’t open them again. Lisandra’s horrid screams faded into a lullaby, then into nothing at all.
Chapter 23
“Bast!” Mera gasped, jolting awake.
She stared at a wooden ceiling, her fingers digging into a leather sofa. Sitting up, she realized she was in a Captain’s office, though she couldn’t tell if it might be Ruth’s or Asherath’s.
Ah wait, white leather sofa. Asherath’s then. Well, technically, the office belonged to that bastard Solomon Cane.
Mera was alone, and a silly, irrational part of her missed Bast—even if she felt both relieved and disheartened that he wasn’t there. She rubbed her forehead, feeling an oncoming headache.
Mera hated how much she missed him, how cold and lonely she felt when he wasn’t there, even after everything he’d done.
The door opened and the Cap entered.
Her Cap.
A wide grin spread on her lips when she saw Mera awake, intensifying the crow’s feet near her eyes.
Mera held back the indignity of crying, but fuck, how she’d missed Ruth.
The Cap sat down beside her, trapping her in a bear hug that squeezed the air out of her lungs. “I’m so glad you’re okay, cookie.”
Mera hugged her back, still a little dazed. “What happened?”
“So much.” She let her go, and cupped her cheeks.
Today she was less Captain and more Ruth, the woman who had raised her. The woman Mera would call her mother if the name didn’t connect to the monster—or bitch—in her head.
“Where should I start?” Ruth asked with a shrug. “Captain Asherath reached our precinct with alarming evidence. We talked to the DA and got a warrant to search Solomon’s bank records. We found out he’d taken deposits from the light courts, Summer specially, a day before he went to the authorities with evidence against Fallon. From then on, it was ridiculously easy linking him to several corruption charges.”
Mera let out a relieved sigh. “Captain Asherath has been re-instated?”
“With honors. The Commissioner apologized profusely to him. I think he might get a medal.” She leaned closer. “He’s also been tasked with the mission of cleaning up the Tir Na Nog precinct,” she whispered. “Today, Fallon started firing every cop who’s dirty. It’s been... entertaining.”
Mera chuckled. “I’ll bet.”
“It’s also why we’ve got folks from all boroughs here, at least for the time being,” the Cap continued. “Asherath needs help during the transition. He’s hired shifters, vamps, witches, and humans to help out, since half of his precinct is basically gone.”
“Hmm. The light courts won’t take that without a fight.”
“That’s step number two: cleaning the courts. The Commissioner spoke with the council, and after everything that happened, the fae have officially lost most of their privileges in Tagrad. If they break the law, they’ll face the consequences, like the rest of us.” The Cap tapped her own temple in a knowing manner. “It’s the only way to give Fallon the power to clean up the borough. We can’t have detectives bending the law to solve cases. It’s madness.”
Very true, but things weren’t as black and white as they seemed. “Going against the courts might start a civil war.”
“We’re ready,” the Cap assured fearlessly. “The courts talk big, and they might be a threat if they had the support of all their people, but that’s not the case. You’d be surprised by the number of lower faeries and Sidhe who already came to us, eager to spill the beans.”
“Seriously?”
“Oh yeah. Just yesterday, a sprite revealed that the Spring King has been running illegal fighting matches between shifters and vampires. Fallon is gathering evidence to shove him in a cell for the rest of his days. Shouldn’t be long now.” She grinned wickedly. “Things are looking good, cookie.”
Bile swirled in Mera’s gut. “What about Summer?”
“We got Zachary’s confession on tape, thanks to you and Bast. It only strengthened our case with the Commissioner. I don’t think we could’ve done all of this without the two of you.” She smiled proudly at Mera, and tapped her shoulder. “The Summer Court has fallen in shame, which scared Autumn and Spring into compliance. You and Bast basically killed two birds with one stone.”
“I see… and where’s Bast?” Mera asked, ignoring the dread prickling her chest.
“Finishing up his testimony.” A certain sadness befell the Cap’s face. “He did kill over twenty Sidhe, cookie. But it was in self-defense, so he’ll be cleared soon.” She narrowed her eyes at her. “Unless you have something to add?”
Mera tried to hide the sheer panic that came over her. The image of a black-eyed fae with sharp fangs burst back in her mind. The fae who didn’t think twice before killing so many; the fae Mera feared and…
His voice echoed in her memory. “You didn’t run away. I had no choice.”
Bast had murdered those faeries to protect her, and Mera couldn’t, even though she should, doom him for that.
“They didn’t stop coming at him,” she assured, the words bitter on her tongue. “Especially Zachary.”
The Cap didn’t believe her, Mera recognized that sharp narrowed gaze too well. Ruth studied the top of her head, then her temples. “I wonder how you lost consciousness. You don’t have any bruises.”
“It was a surge of magic,” she blurted. “It knocked me straight out.”
The Cap raised a snowy eyebrow. “You? Really?”
Damn it, there might be something wrong with Mera’s brain. She’d forgotten that Ruth knew the truth about her. Well, she couldn’t go back on her story now. “Yeah. Zachary’s magic was no joke.”
The Cap observed her a while longer. “Your new partner said the same.”
“How’s Jules?” she blurted, hoping to distract her.
Mera’s attempt didn’t seem to convince her, but the Cap went with it anyway. “Julian stayed behind to cover for me, while I’m helping Fallon sort this mess. It will be a couple of days until I can return, but you should talk to him.” She eyed Mera knowingly. “You’ll have to tell him at some point, right?”
Yeah, she really would. She and Bast had caught the killer and solved the case, which meant Bast would become her partner.
Permanently.
A cold, bitter sensation knotted in her throat.
Her new partner had savagery and bloodthirst inside him, but so did Mera. For a moment, she worried about what might happen if his darkness came in tune with hers.
“Now that Bast and I are partners…” Mera began, “where will we be located?”
“We’re thinking about it.” Ruth’s gray eyes sparkled. “Fallon and I are discussing how to market your achievement. What you did is a prime example of inter-precinct cooperation, and the Commissioner wants to increase that throughout Hollowcliff. He’s calling it the ‘Exchange Program: stronger together’. It’s pretty catchy. So, you can expect an interview or two.”
‘Fantastic,’ her siren grumbled.
“It’s nothing that could out you as a mermaid, naturally,” the Cap guaranteed, although she didn’t have to, Mera knew Ruth would never jeopar
dize her safety.
“About the partner thing…” she asked carefully. “I’m not sure I want to be assigned to Bast.”
Crossing her arms, Ruth frowned. “Why? You did stellar work together.”
“N-no reason in particular.” Mera swallowed. “I just prefer working with Jules.”
The Cap leaned forward, studying her. “Sebastian is a handsome male, but I trusted you to keep the siren in check.” She blew a sigh filled with disappointment. “If you’ve slept with him, you must handle the consequences. Nothing I can do about that, especially now.”
How dare she!
Well, they did have sex, but in a dream, and that wasn’t even the biggest of their problems. The entire situation was a gigantic mess. If Mera told the Cap the truth…
No. She couldn’t do that to Bast.
Mera hated him for what he’d done, but she didn’t hate him enough to see him in jail, or worse. Besides, telling on him would only raise questions about his motivation, which would lead others back to her, and this time, Ruth wouldn’t be able to protect her.
“Okay,” Mera agreed. “I’ll deal with it.”
The Cap cupped her cheek lovingly. “That’s the cookie I raised.”
A knock came from the door then, and Captain Asherath entered the room. He had dark circles under his eyes, but he didn’t seem tired. With his easy smile and relaxed shoulders, he looked more energized than ever.
“Ah, Detective Maurea!” he greeted. “I’m glad you’re up. You took a long time to recover from that magic blast.”
“How long precisely?”
“A day, give or take.”
There was a certain knowledge behind his eyes, something he wasn’t saying.
Did he know?
Impossible. Bast had wiped out a small army of fae to protect her secret. She doubted he’d tell Asherath, even if he trusted the fae blindly. Which didn’t mean he hadn’t told him something.
Mera suddenly remembered one face; a bitchy, scrawny complexion. “Before I lost consciousness, Lisandra was alive. Did Bast…”
“Was he forced to kill her?” Captain Asherath rephrased. “No. But she’s in pretty bad shape. Losing her husband, her son, and seeing her court crumble… it took a toll on her.”
