by Anne Hope
The firstborn smoothed down her long, silk black skirt, seemingly unaffected by the news, but Diane didn’t buy her indifference. Kora was a predator, a shark circling a school of fish, analyzing it from all angles, looking for the perfect vantage point. When she found it, she’d narrow in for the kill and swallow her unsuspecting prey whole.
“Keep trying,” she commanded. “I will not allow the Watchers to get their hands on another of the Sacred Four. They’ve already murdered my father and brother. I refuse to be the next one they dispatch.” With her antiquated taste in fashion and her dark hair secured in a tight bun, she looked like some ancient mythological queen. A vexed queen. “In the meantime, I can make your hunt a little easier.”
Diane’s interest was piqued. Putting all feelings of failure aside, she met the other woman’s pale blue gaze. “What do you propose?”
“Limited access to the catacombs.” Dark warning underscored the firstborn’s words. “Very limited,” she emphasized.
Excitement unraveled within Diane. Kora was rumored to have inherited some of Athanatos’s skills, but to what extent, she couldn’t say. “You can do that?”
“How do you think I traveled here, by plane?” A humorless laugh echoed through the cavernous space. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in one of those flying steel contraptions.”
Kora prowled the room, her skirt hissing as it brushed the steel floor. “I’ve recently discovered an isolated network of tunnels. Not only that, but I have gone as far as to open a few imperceptible entrances. If you refrain from venturing beyond that particular network, you should be safe from the Watchers. The traitors will never know you’ve invaded their little sanctuary.”
Diane didn’t experience joy often. Hatred and the desire for vengeance were the emotions with which she was most acquainted. But right now, she could’ve sworn the sensation that shot through her was elation in its purest form. “I appreciate the assistance,” she said, keeping her voice neutral. “The Watchers will never know I’m there.”
“Good.” Kora headed to the door. “As for your little prisoner, you did say her love for her daughter is the source of her strength, did you not?”
“I did.”
Kora aimed a shrewd glance over her shoulder. “Then it stands to reason that it is also her greatest weakness. I’d keep that in mind the next time I paid her a visit if I were you.”
Chapter Eighteen
The day Emma had been both anticipating and dreading finally arrived. She slid into the Tahoe beside Adrian, gazing out the window at the neat rows of townhouses flanking the dirt road.
“Don’t worry,” Adrian told her. “They’ll be here.”
Almost on cue, a line of vehicles of various makes and models slowly pulled up behind them. It was nearly dusk, and the trees cast black shadows on the makeshift street, making the procession look all the more sinister.
A sudden onslaught of doubt swamped her. “Are we doing the right thing?”
“Too late to ask that question now.”
When she’d suggested this bold assault on the Kleptopsychs, she hadn’t yet met any of the Rogues living in this community. They’d been nothing but an abstract concept to her, soulless creatures that didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. But over the past week she’d come to know them, and they were now very real to her.
“There’s a good chance they won’t all come back.” Regret pinched her windpipe.
He turned the key, and the motor grumbled to life. Within seconds Adrian had them gliding across the gravel road, pitching forward into the fast-approaching night. “They know the risks. They chose to come along.”
She tried to convince herself that this was the lesser of two evils, that if they didn’t act now they’d all pay the price later, but that didn’t make this situation any easier. Especially since she would be hiding instead of fighting alongside Adrian and the Rogues. “Do you really have to lock me up when we get there?”
They’d taken over a building on the outskirts of Maryvale, where they’d outfitted a room in copper, from the floors to the ceilings to the walls. Apparently, the Kleptopsychs were severely allergic to copper. It weakened them and zapped them of their abilities, rendering them helpless.
The second their enemies showed up, Ralph was to escort Emma to that room, where he would lock her up until the battle ended.
“Yes. That part is non-negotiable.” The Tahoe shook the gravel from its tires as it veered onto the paved street bordering the ranch. The light from the streetlamps cast a sulfurous glow over him, brightening his profile, and suddenly she pictured him standing beneath a lamppost, his gaze turned upward, his expression both keen and wistful.
The vision only lasted a second, disintegrating at the sound of his voice. “It’s the only way to ensure the Kleptopsychs don’t get their hands on you. They won’t go anywhere near that safe room.”
“What if they do?”
“You shoot them.” She couldn’t remember how many magazines she’d prepared, stacked with bullets she’d drenched in her blood. The self-inflicted cut on her palm had healed, but she could still feel remnants of the wound pulsing beneath her skin.
None of the others knew about her blood. Adrian had let them assume the substance she’d used to coat their weapons was angel’s blood and had skillfully evaded their questions when they’d asked him where she’d gotten it.
Her hands clutched the purse in her lap, where the pistol Eddie had given her lay safely stored.
“But we won’t let it come to that,” he reassured her. “We’ll cut them down before they get to you.”
“Don’t forget to keep one alive.” They needed information only a Kleptopsych could provide, and the dead didn’t talk, even among the soulless. “Did you bring the copper wire?”
He gave her a brisk nod. “A whole spool of it.” Adrian slid his hand over hers, squeezing her fingers. “Relax. The best way to guarantee failure is to panic.”
“I’m not panicking. It’s just—I’ve always had a little trouble trusting fate. Every time things start to look up, it throws me a curveball.”
Adrian stopped at a red light, and the vehicles following them slid to a halt behind them.
She looked at the empty street ahead, then up at the silly red bulb holding them back and tamped down a sigh of frustration. “Doesn’t it sometimes feel like life is this long, winding road, and you’re perpetually stuck at a red light?”
His lips quirked at the corners, but she didn’t give him a chance to reply. “You sit there and wait for that light to turn so you can finally take off, but when it does, the next light turns red, and then the next one after that. And all you want is to press down on that gas pedal and get wherever the hell it is you need to go.”
The light finally changed, and the Tahoe shot forward again. “If you keep driving,” he reasoned, “eventually, you’ll come across an open stretch of road where there are no lights to slow you down.”
Emma sank deeper into the seat, her nails digging into the soft fabric of the purse she clutched. “Yeah, and that’s the exact moment you realize you’ve got a flat.”
By the time they reached their first stop, the apartment complex in Maryvale where the Kleptopsychs had sought shelter, twilight had conceded to night. Here, in this maligned area of Phoenix, black energy clung to the air like a fetid stench and gangs ruled the streets.
Adrian parked his Tahoe in front of the building he’d searched last time he was in the city, an open-air complex that served as a hub for drug trafficking. Eddie had come along for backup, but the others had hung back, waiting for any sign of trouble.
The cop rapped on the passenger-side window, hunching to look inside, but Adrian ignored him, his attention riveted to Emma.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked her. “Eddie and I can handle it. You don’t have to make an appearance. We can drop a hint that we know where you are. That should be enough to bring the Kleptopsychs sniffing about.”
&nbs
p; She shook her head. “I need to see this through, otherwise I’ll always feel like I’m running.”
He understood, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. He slid out of the driver’s seat and circled the Tahoe, intending to open the door for her, but she already stood on the sidewalk beside Eddie when he got there.
She scrutinized the building, its brick walls marred by graffiti and the unmistakable aura of neglect. “It looks abandoned.”
Eddie snickered. “That’s what they want you to think. But beyond those walls lies an elaborate smuggling operation.”
A quizzical crease formed between her brows. “Drugs?”
The gloom pressed down on them, surrounded them. Emma looked so small and out of place, swallowed by vile air and murky shadows, that Adrian experienced the overwhelming impulse to carry her back to the Tahoe and hightail it out of there.
“Mostly crack and cocaine,” Eddie clarified. “Over the past few decades, gangs have muscled their way in from the south and set up base in Arizona. It’s a boomtown for them, with illegal drugs pouring over the border every day. Then there’s the smuggling of illegal immigrants. Did you know that last year alone Border Patrol arrested more than three hundred and seventy thousand illegal immigrants?”
Surprise registered on her face. “That many?”
“The gangs recruit teens—” He paused for emphasis. “Hell, even children as young as eight years old. They give them money, a place to live, a sense of belonging. Then they put a gun in their hand and send them out to deal drugs.”
“How sad.” Resolve, as bright as it was familiar, sparked in Emma’s eyes. “Can’t we do something about it? Someone has to help these kids, get them out of there, give them another option.”
In her past life, that was precisely what she’d done, but things were a lot more complicated this time around. This time, she had the entire human race to save, not only a select few.
“Hey, you,” someone called from the shadows. “What the hell are you standing around staring at? This is private property.” A tattooed youth scrambled onto the street, wearing the colors of his gang and an attitude to match.
“Last I checked the streets were public domain,” Eddie challenged.
“You fucking with me, shithead?” The kid pulled out a gleaming black gun and waved it menacingly at them. “Get the hell out of here before I make graffiti out of your brains.”
Adrian advanced on the thug, strategically placing himself between the gun and Emma. He captured the kid’s arrogant glare and snaked his way into the human’s mind. “Put the gun away,” he said. “We’re only here to talk.”
The kid complied instantly. “Sure.”
“Take us to your boss. We have a few questions for him.”
In a hypnotic trance, the gang member unlocked the door and led them through a series of corridors.
“Pretty impressive,” Emma whispered.
Adrian’s only response was a tight smile.
In a matter of seconds, the kid brought them to the most forbidden part of this operation—a sweathouse populated by dozens of illegal immigrants hard at work.
A collective gasp traveled through the room, and several guns settled on them simultaneously.
“What the hell are you doing, Raoul?”
“They just want to talk to Morales,” the kid said, still under Adrian’s spell.
“Are you insane, man?” Panic spread through the air like an airborne virus.
Any second now, bullets would start flying. Adrian could feel it. He met Eddie’s stare, signaled the cop with a nod. Together, they raised an invisible wall.
Emma screamed as gunfire blared and a spray of bullets slammed into the impenetrable barrier they’d erected. One by one, the bullets clinked to the ground, leaving them unscathed. Emma reached out and touched the transparent wall with equal parts reverence and awe.
Frenzied curses flew at them from all directions, bleeding with urgency. Then silence fell like a death shroud to envelop them.
Too late Adrian sensed the approaching threat. “Ah, hell.” He met Eddie’s concerned stare, realized Eddie felt it, too. “I didn’t see this one coming.”
“What is it?” Emma asked, her glance flitting from Eddie to Adrian. “What’s going on?”
Adrian shoved her behind him, biting back a curse. He really hated surprises. “Looks like fate just threw us one of your curveballs.”
Chapter Nineteen
Emma stood on the tips of her toes, struggling to see over Adrian’s broad shoulder. A male figure approached, dark, huge and—to her dismay—soulless.
“Rogue or Kleptopsych?” Eddie asked Adrian.
“Rogue,” Adrian guessed. “A pureblood, judging from the size of him.”
The creature stopped a few feet away from them, studying them with eyes as cold and shallow as a freshly dug grave. “Put away your weapons,” he commanded his crew. “They’re useless against these two.” He indicated Adrian and Eddie. “As for this one—” His greedy gaze swept over Emma. “She’s worth more to us alive.”
“They’re just here to talk,” Raoul repeated.
The creature veered on the boy, striking him down with the lethal speed of a cobra. Then he yanked out a gun and shot him, point-blank, in the forehead.
Emma’s knees buckled, but she was too shocked to make a sound. All she could do was watch, horrified, as a bright white essence rose from the lifeless boy to be consumed by the monster who’d murdered him in cold blood.
“Definitely Rogue,” Eddie muttered.
Emma gripped Adrian’s jacket for support and pressed her face to his wide back, hoping to block out the sight of Raoul’s blank stare, but the morbid scene continued to scroll through her mind.
She sensed the giant draw closer. “Go ahead, talk.” His deep voice pierced her heavy thoughts, and she couldn’t help but glance up at him.
“We’re looking for someone,” Adrian stated, his tone firm and steady. “A group of Kleptopsychs that are rumored to have spent some time here.”
Dark eyes narrowed, fringed by thick black lashes that looked wrong on such a feral face. “And why the fuck would I help you?”
“Because if you refuse to cooperate, my gang will tip off the Watchers as to the sweet setup you’ve got going here,” Adrian threatened, unfazed. “They’ll raid your operation within the hour.”
Emma recalled him handing William a piece of paper and muttering something about dialing that number if they failed to return within the allotted time frame. Now she knew what that number was—a means of contacting the Watchers.
The drug lord’s face went bone white. “Why don’t we go to my office?” he suggested.
The three of them followed the beast to his lair, Eddie walking up ahead of them and Adrian still shielding Emma with his body. Briefly, she wondered about the wall they’d raised, realized they must have dismantled it at some point.
The Rogue—what had Raoul called him, Morales?—brought them to a gloomy room, where graffiti smudged the walls and bloodstains dotted an old, gray carpet. At least she thought it was blood.
“One of my men spotted you last week, sniffing around my place.” He gestured to his surroundings like a king showing off his palace, right before he folded his massive body into the chair bordering the paper-littered desk. “What is it you want?” The creature indicated the seat across from him.
“I told you.” Adrian refused to sit, choosing to tower over Morales instead. “I want to know where the Kleptopsychs went, and why a Rogue would opt to help them.”
Morales laughed, a cold, dry sound that reverberated off the dingy walls. “Why the hell not? Me and the Kleptopsychs, we got an agreement. I give them a place to stay when they need it, and they don’t give me any trouble.” He skewered Adrian with a razor-sharp stare. “The last thing I want is trouble.”
“Then tell me where your friends are holed up.” Adrian leaned over the desk, his expression intense and downright lethal. “Or my friends will mak
e that phone call.”
“See, now we’ve got a problem, ’cause I don’t know where the Kleptopsychs went.”
Eddie crossed his arms and slouched against the closed door, looking bored. “Think he’s telling the truth?”
“It’s possible.” Adrian’s mouth hardened in contemplation. “The Kleptopsychs would never tell a Rogue their business. They think we’re beneath them.”
Morales’s pride got the better of him, and he puffed his chest like a peacock. “I know enough.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” Adrian probed.
“I know a revolution is coming.” Morales leaned over his desk, arms stretched wide. “That you’re either with them or against them.” The muscles around his neck flexed, giving him the look of the cobra she’d compared him to earlier. “Those who assist them will be granted access to the New World. Those who don’t will be exterminated along with the humans.”
“Exterminated how?” Emma asked in a voice made heavy by dread.
Morales hitched his shoulders. “Don’t know the specifics. They’re pretty tightlipped about it. But from what I’ve heard, their new leader has the juice to make it happen.”
“Who’s leading them?” Steel determination played around Adrian’s sensual mouth. Emma couldn’t pry her gaze from his face, mesmerized by the sheer power he exuded. She never would’ve expected it, but danger suited him. He looked like he belonged on these streets, prowling dark alleys in search of depraved creatures like Morales.
Another shrug. “Think they’d tell a lowly creature like me?” he taunted.
“Stranger things have been known to happen.” Adrian grabbed a pen and paper from Morales’s desk and scrawled down the phone number he’d gotten solely for the purpose of this mission. A number that could be easily traced and would lead to the apartment complex his troops had appropriated only a few miles from here. “If you remember anything, let us know.”
