by Lizzy Ford
“Everyone else is accounted for,” Lydia said. “We’ve got a couple in seizure mode we had to knock out.” She pointed across the street, where two unconscious Halflings were guarded by their fellow Hunters.
Zoey swallowed hard. The heat of the burning building rolled over her, the light blinding. She ignored the uncomfortable sensations, eyes going to the second body. She didn’t recognize the second woman. By the sex magic wafting over her, she was a full-blooded Succubus.
“Bio-Mom sent her to start a fire?” Zoey asked, anger as hot as the flames nearby sparking within her.
“Yep. Caught her with the shit in her hands,” Tiff reported.
Zoey leaned forward to feel for a pulse. The woman had none.
“I, uh, overreacted,” Tiff said and cleared her throat. “I didn’t realize I could take out a full-blooded Succubus. I thought only you could do something like that. It shouldn’t be possible. I shouldn’t have been able to do it.”
Zoey stood, taking her distraught friend’s hand and squeezing it. Tiffany’s exotic, almond-shaped eyes were stormy.
“We have no real allies, Tiff. We’re also stronger than anyone else expected. Don’t pity the bitch who killed one of ours and tried to kill everyone,” Zoey said. “Did you get a chance to ask her how she knew where we were?”
Tiff shook her head and leaned down, plucking a piece of paper from the dead woman’s pocket. “We found this when we searched her. Full schematics of the interior, down to the location of the shitter.”
Zoey unfolded the paper. The detail was astounding – and indicative of how Olivia scored the information. Everything was labeled, from the placement of their bunks to Chrissy’s equipment room to guard lookouts. “One of us gave her this,” she whispered. “Who … why would any of our Halflings turn against us?”
“Because they know we have no money or supplies or solution to the Halfling curse,” Ginny answered in the same tone. “Olivia might’ve bought someone out.”
The distant sound of sirens reached her ears. Zoey pocketed the paper.
“Chrissy, go with Ginny and find us someplace to hide the girls. Ginny, petty cash,” Zoey directed. “Don’t use my card. We don’t want anyone tracing us. Give the order to scatter.”
“Got it.” Ginny tugged at Chrissy’s arm and jogged across to the van.
“We need to get out of the city,” Zoey said, looking around.
“We’ve got three working vans and forty nine freaked out Halflings,” Tiffany said. “We can’t get out of the city by foot, Z. We’ll have to stay hidden.”
“Emergency rendezvous point twelve. Use money from the petty cash to grab more vans.” Zoey gazed at the warehouse, struggling not to meltdown. It wasn’t the time, not when her new family needed her. “I need to make a call. Can you send out the emergency text?”
“Got it.” Tiffany tugged her cell free.
Zoey stepped away. She withdrew the number of the man she’d met less than twelve hours before and dialed.
His sleepy, gravelly voice answered. “Grant.”
“Hi Grant. This is Zoey. I’ve got an issue.”
“What, where, and how many dead?”
Taken aback by his direct questions, she paused. How many similar calls had he gotten from Incubatti and Sucubatti to be so blasé about the scene before her?
“Warehouse district. Major fire, two dead, one of ours and one Sucubatti,” she answered. “It sounds like the police are on the way.”
“I’ll call in my people.” She heard the sound of him rustling. “Anything in that building that can identify you as … special?”
She thought for a moment before speaking. “We have some sensitive technology and possibly other stuff,” she replied vaguely. “I don’t know what will survive a fire like this.”
“You’d be surprised. I’ll handle it.”
“So if you find anything, what do you do with it?” she asked, thoughts on the medical records Chrissy was keeping.
“I get it away from the scene, let you know, and you tell me what to do with it. Destroy it, reclaim it, whatever.”
“You don’t tell the Sucubatti or Incubatti?”
“I wouldn’t be in business long if I revealed everyone else’s secrets,” he replied. “Get out of there fast.”
She almost smiled, encouraged by his no-nonsense attitude.
“Leave the bodies,” he added.
Her smile faded, a pang of guilt hitting her. “No. We’re not going to do that.”
“Very well. Call me when you’re somewhere safe or if you decide you need help. Don’t leave them on someone’s doorstep.”
She hung up and glanced around. Ginny had gone in the van, and Tiffany’s order to scatter and rendezvous later meant that most of the Halflings were gone, disappearing into the shadows to avoid human detection, the way they’d been trained.
Tiffany stood with the fiery Hunter Zoey had seen in a fight earlier, Wendy.
Zoey knelt beside the dead Halfling once more. The woman’s face was burnt beyond recognition, her blonde hair all that remained. Chrissy had the ability to do a DNA test to identify her.
It shouldn’t come to that. Zoey thought, wiping her mouth. Not for the first time in the past day, she was overwhelmed by her situation. Olivia sent someone to kill them while trying to lure Zoey back at the same time. How fucked up can she be?
A meltdown loomed. Zoey took several steadying breaths in an effort to stay calm for the sake of Team Rogue.
Leaning forward, she zipped the dead Halfling’s sweatshirt with trembling fingers to cover the damage done to her chest. Unable to shake the sense that the girl’s death was her fault, Zoey whispered an apology to her.
“This shouldn’t have happened. I just … I’m not strong enough yet. Not smart enough. I should’ve prevented this.”
Tiffany rested a hand on her shoulder.
Zoey glanced up. “I’ve killed so many Cambions, but I’ve never seen a dead Halfling. Never thought one could get hurt on my watch.”
“It’s not your fault, Z. We’ve been careful and lucky so far. Not sure you noticed, but we’re at war here, and this is our first casualty.”
“We are at war,” Zoey said. Until this moment, she’d been able to avoid the reality of what it meant that the security forces controlled by both societies were hunting them. No one had acted this brazenly against them before. “I thought we could keep our efforts directed at the Cambions.”
“In a perfect world, we could. This changes things. We need to start worrying about Olivia.”
“Olivia said it’ll only get worse for us. I thought she meant the Halflings would continue to get sick.” Zoey rose. “We’re not going to leave our own for some government bureaucrat to toss in an unmarked grave. We’re better than the Incubatti and Sucubatti.”
“Wendy,” Tiffany motioned to the Halfling. “The Succubus?”
“We’re taking her with us, too,” Zoey decided. “They wanna stir up shit, we’ll respond.”
Tiffany bent and hauled the dead member of the Sucubatti over one shoulder. She followed Wendy to the van, where they placed the bodies in back before closing the sliding door.
The sound of the roof collapsing made Zoey scramble to the opposite side of the street. She watched the place that had been their home for a week crumble and burn.
Olivia had offered her a job while also burning down her home. It was just like the snakelike Sucubatti leader to do something so twisted. Zoey knew she should’ve expected nothing different from Olivia, the woman who had tried to use their relationship as mother and daughter against her before, but couldn’t help being surprised. Olivia wanted her cooperation or her death.
Upset about the Halfling caught in the fire, Zoey swiped away tears.
“Bio-Mom’s not happy,” Tiffany said, joining her.
“Family doesn’t act like this,” Zoey answered. “We’ve never known a normal one, but this shit is insane. It’s not right.”
“Yeah.”
“It means she’s declaring war, doesn’t it? Last warning.”
“Looks like it. But hey, we live for this shit. I mean, there’s no more guessing about her, right? We know where we stand.”
“True,” Zoey allowed, rolling her shoulders back to loosen her tension.
The first fire truck rounded a corner, its horn blaring. Ginny took off in the van full of incapacitated Halflings.
Zoey, Tiffany and Wendy instinctively sank into the shadows of the warehouses nearby. Zoey pulled out her cell and snapped a quick picture, determined not to be duped into thinking either society would let her quietly kill Cambions without drawing her into their complicated power struggle. If at any point she thought about trusting Olivia, the picture would remind her of why she shouldn’t.
“We’re definitely big leagues now,” she said with some regret. “Which means we have to play their game.”
“If they feel threatened, they’re afraid. It’s a good thing,” Tiff agreed.
“They’re not going to hurt anyone else on Rogue,” Zoey vowed.
“Nope. We’ll fuck up anyone who tries.”
With one last, long look at the fire, Zoey turned away. Her heart ached for a different reason this night, because she’d failed as a leader and lost a woman who depended on her. The circumstances didn’t matter; at the end of the day, Zoey had to protect the innocent, which included the Halflings on her team who left the safety of their society in order to do what was right.
The three of them trotted away, down an alley, and headed towards the rendezvous point. Zoey’s senses remained alert to the slightest sounds and movements as they made their way through the southeastern part of DC while her mind raced. What was Olivia’s next move? Was this the extent she planned on going to, or was there something much worse in the works?
Zoey divided her attention between skirting objects in the alleys they raced through and her thoughts.
Olivia was purposely poking them. She also claimed to have the solution to help the ill Halflings that Zoey needed. In Zoey’s line of work, it was lethal to take one’s eyes off the target, which was normally the Cambions. This night, however, Olivia had earned Zoey’s attention. It was simple after the blatant attack and yet, the situation was so much more complicated than anything she expected to face when she broke away from the Sucubatti. She’d have to figure out what to do about Olivia without taking her eyes completely off her goal of protecting humans.
Her stomach churning, Zoey realized how far she’d come in two months, from fearing the IAB to adding them to her list of enemies.
They crossed a street, and Zoey paused, reading the street signs.
“Hey, Gin, aren’t we near Nebraska Avenue?”
“That way, two blocks.” Ginny pointed.
Zoey pulled the crumpled business card free from her pocket and read Grant’s address. “I need to make a stop. Go on to the rendezvous site.” She broke away and started down the street.
“Where you going?” Ginny called.
“To see a man about a horse!” Zoey waved. Without even the makeshift lab, Chrissy was going to be hard pressed to replicate the technology Zoey wanted to borrow from Grant. Declan’s money might change that. In any case, she’d rather have the device and Chrissy working on it before they needed it than to be caught off guard. The power of Declan’s magic this night reminded her that he could easily overwhelm her, if he wanted to. With the armband, she at least stood a chance against the super incubuses as well as the Sucubatti.
Chapter Seven: Enlightened
Declan saw the news of the fire in the warehouse district an hour after he heard through his sources about it happening. Perched on the edge of the conference table in his office, he stared at the television playing the scenes over and over.
Zoey and her team had escaped, and Grant sent him a message to keep his people clear until the mess was cleaned up.
There was no part of him that thought the fire was an accident, but the only thing on his mind this night was Zoey. How she’d looked earlier, how troubled her gorgeous blue eyes had been. Smaller than a normal succubus or half-succubus, she was shapely and toned with the good heart of a human and the enhanced fighting skills reflective of her society’s dabbling with biological engineering.
Seeing her without talking to her the way he wanted to, without touching her, was harder than he expected. She’d said nothing about the contents of the briefcase, though he’d sensed some of her stronger emotions through their connection: anger and confusion.
He suspected the book pissed her off while adding her to the bank account only increased her frustration with him.
She wanted to walk away, but like him, knew it wasn’t possible. Radio silence and avoidance were the only real weapons she had against him.
He couldn’t stop thinking about her or overlook the pain seeing her caused, both because he ached for her physically, and he was reminded how much he missed her smile. She hated him, and he didn’t blame her.
His phone dinged, and he glanced down.
I’ll meet the Councils. The note was from Zoey.
“I’m guessing you won’t be diplomatic, kitten.” His gaze flickered to the fire on the television screen then down to the message. His father’s warning returned to him. If he didn’t keep her contained, the Councils were likely to direct him how to act rather than let him handle it.
Deep in thought, Declan refrained from responding until he had begun to form a course of action that wouldn’t put his soul-mate in even more danger. He shot a note to his father then typed her a response.
I’ll tell you more when I know.
He didn’t expect a response and put the phone away, returning to his desk. Troubled, he wasn’t able to concentrate on work for long and finally closed down his laptop before leaving his office.
He went in search of his brothers, most of whom would be either at the gym or out at clubs this time of night.
The gym was empty of incubuses – but contained one succubus Halfling doing bench presses on her own. Declan debated leaving Zoey’s best friend alone. Known for her temper and ability to fight, Vikki was as likely to lash out at him as Zoey was. Seeing her reminded him of his soul-mate, and he found himself approaching rather than retreating, wanting to be closer to someone who was around Zoey regularly.
“You need a spotter?” he asked.
“Why? So you can drop it on my head when I least suspect it?” came the sharp response.
He took the position of spotter anyway. She glared up at him, her green eyes spitting fire he was certain he deserved at one point. Her sex magic was free and loose, unrestrained and agitated, the opposite of how he expected her to be if she’d seen her soul-mate.
“Usually Liam is here this time of night,” he observed.
“Did he send you to talk to me?” she snarled, slamming the bar into place. Vikki sat up, face flushed.
“No,” he replied, leaning against the bar. “You two had a falling out.”
“Is it your business?”
“No.”
Anger burned in her gaze. “Then what do you want?”
“To know how bad Zoey’s blackouts are.”
Surprise crossed Vikki’s face before she wiped away all emotion, an indication that his words hit home. She rose and started away.
“Vikki,” he said in a low growl. “I’m the only person who can help her.”
“You’re the one man who betrayed her!” Vikki slammed the door to the gym open.
Declan gripped the bar, releasing his breath with control despite the urge to follow Vikki and force her to talk. Alienating her – and through her, Zoey – would be the worst possible action for him to take, so he let her go instead. He took a moment to calm his temper. With no sex and a soul-mate not speaking to him, his nerves frayed more easily than ever.
“Can you really help her?” Vikki called back from the doorway.
Declan looked up. She was half in the gym, half in the hallway, glaring a
t him the way a hungry street dog did a stranger offering a sandwich.
If she was willing to talk to him, however reluctantly, it was worse than he knew. “If anyone can, yes,” he confirmed. “Our lab has been running tests to uncover what Olivia did to you all.”
“Don’t mess with my genes,” Vikki warned. “There’s nothing wrong with any of us, something you and the Sucubatti can’t accept! But Zoey’s blackouts are different.”
“She can’t control them or what she does.”
“No.”
“Something tells me she’s getting ready to declare war on both Councils. Whoever is controlling her isn’t going to wait long to act.”
Vikki said nothing, distrusting yet listening.
“Congrats, by the way,” Declan added. “Though I hope this is an isolated incident.”
“Son of a bitch. Does no one in this city know what happens when you have unprotected sex? You and Liam can both rot in hell!” Furious, Vikki spun and left, this time for good.
Declan smiled at the outburst. It wasn’t appropriate to be amused, but the unpolished members of Team Rogue reminded him of how strapped down his own emotions were. There were days when he, too, wished he could let go, hunt down Zoey, apologize every way possible then make love to her until they passed out from exhaustion.
Instead, he waited patiently for her to trust him again, using the incredible sources of the Incubatti to keep her safe and fund the missions that killed members of his own society while refusing to let himself feel when at all possible.
It wasn’t enough. His resentment of the Cambions grew daily, along with his desire to break free of the yoke of the Incubatti and do whatever it took to win back Zoey.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it free.
Thank you for the book.
Impressed at the simple words sent by the soul-mate determined to hate him, Declan relaxed. He wanted to read more into the effort it took her to send it but knew better. Less was more with her, at least for now. Wild, beautiful, proud and strong, Zoey had to come to him. If he pushed, he’d lose her forever, and no part of him could live with that. The small note tempered his frustration and gave his patience new life.
