by Lizzy Ford
“Zoey?” Vikki was suspicious.
“Yep!”
“What happened? Where the fuck are you? Whose phone is this?”
“Omigod, mom.” Zoey rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. I ended up in a tree and couldn’t move until I healed. This is Declan’s phone. How’s Chrissy?”
“Grant has her under house arrest. They interrogated her and turned her over to him.”
“Is she okay?” Zoey asked, anger stirring at the thought of Cambions terrorizing her friend.
“Yeah. Enforcer boys talked to her before turning her over. Tiff’s there to keep guard along with one of the Incubus brothers. She’s really upset, though. Said she told them everything.” Vikki sounded troubled.
“Might not be a bad thing,” Zoey said, considering. “They’re sort of enemies with Olivia, too.”
“I guess they offered to let Chrissy use their labs to figure out the Halfling and Rogue issues.”
Zoey gripped the steering wheel harder. “I don’t like the idea of turning over our resident brain to the Incubatti.”
“That’s what I said. But Chrissy wants to do it so she has the equipment and peace she needs.”
Zoey wanted to refuse out of emotion, knowing Declan probably had a hand in this somehow and was manipulating the situation. The side of her forced to become a leader knew they needed a better solution than stealing energy drinks from Olivia every time one of their girls started going crazy. Not to mention the core Team Rogue members destined to suffer blackouts without the antitoxin to counter what their bodies produced.
“I hate these kinds of decisions,” Zoey said vehemently.
“How’d you get Declan’s phone?”
Zoey smiled, unable to quash her amusement at what her soul-mate was doing. “You won’t believe it. I’ll tell you when I get there. What site are we at?”
“We ran out of pre-planned positions,” Vikki admitted. “Find me where we met when we were kids.”
“Headed there now. Ditching this phone in case I’m tracked.”
“Got it.”
Zoey hung up and threw the cell out the window. The smile remained on her face throughout her trip south into DC and to the playground where she’d met Vikki when she was ten. The bittersweet meeting spot was where she ran after learning that Declan had cheated on her and also where Team Rogue was born.
Zoey pulled into the parking lot and silenced the car before getting out. She went to the edge of the playground and stopped, gaze taking in the unusual shapes the equipment took at night. Scattered clouds covered the half moon above, giving the place an eerie feeling.
A lot had happened since she’d last found her way here, sobbing and hurt. The memory of her pain remained, and her smile faded.
There couldn’t be a world where she and Declan were together every night. At least, not as long as they were enemies by day. The more logical of the two, he had to know that. What made him think it was possible? What made her want to believe him, when she knew better?
Zoey sat on one of the old railroad ties repurposed as a border separating the woodchips of the playground from the parking lot. When she’d left Declan this morning, it had been with a great deal of confusion and pain, need and fear. At the moment, those sensations were faint, and the one thought at the forefront of her mind was that Declan always surprised her. She’d been amazed to learn of the depths of his devotion to a woman he’d known three days when they completed their rite. Outside of the cheating incident where he wasn’t fully in control, he’d remained loyal and supportive, albeit in secret.
If she let herself fall into his arms and world, he’d never let anything touch her and would protect her against everything and everyone.
But I have a greater purpose. One that didn’t involve hiding behind a powerful incubus. Equally devoted to her and his job, he’d thus far managed to hang onto his life while discreetly supporting her. She didn’t want to know what he would choose, if forced to make a public decision between his soul-mate and his society.
Her choice was clearer. Team Rogue had to exist. Someone had to stop the Cambions protected by the Incubatti and the Sucubatti manipulation and killing of Halflings. No part of her doubted she did the right thing in forming Team Rogue, though her feelings about Declan were harder for her to understand.
“Not that I want one,” she murmured, hardening.
“Want what?” Vikki’s silent approach came from behind her.
“I have no idea,” Zoey said ruefully.
Vikki sat beside her. “You smell horrible.”
“Chrissy dropped a grenade on me.” Zoey twisted her head to sniff her clothing. She was used to the mix of smells but even her nose crinkled as she took a huge whiff.
“You are so fucking lucky,” Vikki said with a shake of her head.
“Chrissy blowing me up is lucky?”
“Maybe not that part. But you surviving is.”
“Did you think it’d be like this last time we were here?” Zoey asked, eyes lingering on the jungle gym where she’d hidden. “As wanted fugitives hunted down by our soul-mates, humans and every other supernatural creature in the world?”
“Sorta, yeah,” Vikki admitted. “Actually, I’m not sure I cared what happened as long as we were all together.”
“It’s more complicated than I thought it would be.”
“But we’re doing it,” Vikki pointed out. “I mean, you’re cracking skulls with Olivia and Declan. Chrissy found out how Olivia is hurting Halflings and the rest of us are eliminating Cambions right and left. There wouldn’t be people hunting us down if we weren’t fucking good.”
“Yeah.” Zoey rolled her shoulders back. Pride bubbled within her. “We are fucking badass, aren’t we? It’s hard to think about that when I’m so frustrated all the time.”
“You solved the money issue. We need to sort a few more things, and we’ll be fine.”
“Like how to neutralize Olivia.”
“You think she’s the key?” Vikki glanced at her.
“I think she’ll kill more people and blame me until someone takes me out,” Zoey replied quietly. “I’m terrified to think of what Bio-Mom will do if she catches you or the others. Terrified she’ll soon own my mind and make me do more terrible stuff.”
Vikki shook her head. “Chrissy will stop that. If we go after Olivia, we gotta destroy everything she’s doing. The Halfling program, her link to the Cambions. We’re gonna need some real firepower.”
“Or the money to buy it,” Zoey said with a smile.
“Or a certain set of Enforcer brothers to clean up their society while we do ours.”
“That won’t happen.”
“Yeah.” Vikki sounded disappointed. She pulled out her phone and silenced a phone call. “I swear Ginny can’t take a hint. If I’m not answering, I’m busy.”
“Oh, and when I don’t answer?”
“You have to answer. You’re the leader of Team Rogue.” She placed the phone face down on her thigh. “Anyway, tell me what happened with Declan.”
Zoey explained about the man in the black mask. By the end of her tale, Vikki was laughing so hard, she was in tears. Zoey grinned, once again astonished by Declan’s sudden decision to color outside the lines.
“You zapped him!” Vikki finished laughing and wiped her face. “My god I envy you so much! You know how much I’d love to zap Liam?”
“Trust me, no more than I wanted to Taser Declan.”
“You guys uh, talk more?”
“No. Not sure I want to at this point. Kinda need space to think.”
“I get that.”
Zoey was quiet, pensive. “I guess we can send Chrissy to them. As long as they know I will kill every last one of them if a Cambion gets within ten feet of her.”
“And I’d help. I think that can be arranged. You sure?”
“I think so. I mean, I don’t want my mind to disappear in three weeks. I’d like to see where things are going. I want to see the world change because
we’re able to make it better,” Zoey said, sighing. “Then my mind can disappear.”
“Chrissy will have a solution by then. Worst case, you’ll have Declan to counter it,” Vikki said.
For a price. Zoey didn’t think she’d ever pay the cost for her ultimate safety, because it meant walking away from this path. “We’ll see,” she said vaguely. “Let’s go.” Zoey rose and stepped over the tie, headed towards Vikki’s car.
Vikki followed, glancing at the screen of her cell. “Oh.” She missed a step. “I swear to god we can’t go two seconds for a peaceful chat without the world ending!”
“What’s up?”
Vikki tossed her the phone and trotted to her side of the car. She opened the door and slid in.
Site compromised. Fifteen Halflings taken. The rest of us were off site when IAB came. Being tracked. Move now.
Zoey’s blood ran cold. Her breath caught in her throat, and she reread Ginny’s message twice before dropping into the car. “Tell me there was something wrong with the site or comms and we didn’t get sold out by one of our own,” she whispered, staring at the message.
“I chose the site and set up the comms,” Vikki said grimly. She slammed the car into gear and tore out of the parking lot. “We’ve suspected for a while that someone was selling information to the IAB. The warehouse fire, Olivia’s lab.”
Zoey rubbed her face, disturbed by the idea that a Halfling had turned against her own kind. Her energy was waning after the taxing day. She texted Tiff a warning to grab Chrissy and run. “I had hoped that wasn’t the case. Is it my fault for not taking it seriously?”
“I think you’ve done an amazing job. We started with no money, no weapons, no place to live, no operations center or support or guidance of any kind. Hell, we started with six of us and grew to fifty.”
“Then lost over twenty five in two days,” Zoey murmured.
“Makes it easier to feed everyone.”
Zoey snorted, amused. “I guess I use to feel like the number of Cambions we killed was a measure of success. I’m not sure how to measure our success now.”
“Don’t think about it. Just focus on what’s next.”
“Like how we free fifteen Halflings from Olivia.”
“I think you had the right idea. This shit won’t stop until she does. We can expend our resources going after them or we go after her once and for all with everything we’ve got,” Vikki said.
Zoey sank into silence, mind on the Halflings Olivia had captured. She didn’t want to think about what Olivia might do to anyone associated with her. The idea of hurting her own kind made her stomach knot. She’d fed them a dream she truly believed in. If it killed them following her, was she to blame?
The phone buzzed in her hand, and she glanced down.
Chrissy safe. Sending location. Come immediately. Ginny had typed.
“We need to go … west. Towards Reston,” Zoey said, tapping the location Ginny sent. “Hmm. Looks like one of the old training sites we used to use.”
“I know that area,” Vikki said. “We’re twenty minutes out.”
Zoey tapped her thigh nervously. “Got any food?”
“Backpack.” Vikki tossed her thumb over her shoulder to the backseat.
Zoey stretched to grab her small emergency pack and dug through it for protein bars and water. She downed three of the bars and a liter of water before they reached the darkened area Ginny indicated. The old training area had been closed down three years before due to the new building of extensive suburbs. The conservative Sucubatti viewed the area as too risky for Hunter training and shifted it elsewhere.
Five black vans and two cars were already waiting, with Ginny’s shape outlined against the fog lights of the vehicle she leaned against. Tiff and Chrissy got out of the other car, along with Grant. The rest of the Halflings were in small groups, and Zoey thought she heard several crying through the open window.
Assuming they heard about the missing fifteen and assume the worst, Zoey’s eyes slid to Grant. “What’s he doing here?”
“You notice how he’s never around when something good happens? It’s always bad?” Vikki asked uneasily.
“It’s kind of his job.”
“He’s like a doom-fairy.”
Zoey smiled tightly and opened the door, getting out.
“Zoey, I am so sorry!” Chrissy exclaimed, approaching first. Her eyes were wide, and she appeared exhausted.
“It’s okay, Chrissy,” Zoey said. “I’ve never been blown up before. It was interesting.”
Standing behind her, Ginny didn’t so much as crack a smile. Her features were haunted, tight, her eyes unfocused.
“Not sure which is weirder,” Zoey said, looking from Ginny to Grant. “What’s up, Gin?”
“Follow me.” Emotionally unresponsive, the Hunter pushed away from the car and began walking fast towards their former firing range.
Zoey trailed, eyeing Grant. “Chrissy,” she pulled the human abreast of her. “What’s he doing here?”
“Not sure. Ginny said to bring him.”
The early summer night was warm, and Zoey glanced around, senses alert for any sort of trap. Residual succubus magic tickled the back of her neck, as if several dozen succubae had walked this way within the past few hours. None remained, though she began to pick up the traces of more Halflings straight ahead.
Hundreds of them. Yet she heard nothing.
“Ginny, what’s going on?” Zoey asked, alarm building within her. “I can sense them but …” She strained, assuming her senses were too tired for her to pick up anything more than the sex energy.
“It’s just us now,” Ginny replied.
“It doesn’t seem like it.” The forest was quiet aside from their movement down a familiar trail lined with bricks. The path opened to the backside of the firing range ahead, and within five minutes, the shelters over firing pits were visible.
Zoey’s alarm grew. She pushed past the others to the front, her instincts screaming for reasons her fatigued mind couldn’t grasp.
“Zoey, wait!” Ginny said, grabbing at her arm.
She yanked free and ran towards the magic emanating off the Halflings she neither saw, heard, nor picked up on any other sense. An instinct tried to warn her, but she pushed it away, unable to believe Olivia capable of what her senses were trying to tell her.
Urgency at a wail, she sprinted through the props, old targets and other junk left behind when the range was abandoned, following her gut onto the field. Halfway across before a berm that stretched the width of the range, she slid to a halt, barely catching her balance before toppling into a gaping hole that took up the second half of the field.
“Careful!” she cried over her shoulder.
She glanced into the yawning hole and then back, every muscle in her body freezing in place.
The sex magic came from the hole whose depths were impossible to measure, if not for the moonlight glancing off arms, legs and bodies. Zoey took in what was before her with a detachment that signaled a looming meltdown, her eyes running the length and width of the mass grave. It was filled as far as she could see with the shapes of Halflings, whose deaths were recent enough for their magic to linger.
“Oh, god.” Chrissy’s soft gasp brought her attention back to those who joined her.
“From what I can tell, it’s all of them, except for those with me,” Ginny said in a hollow voice. “Not just ours. Every Halfling. There are too many to be anything else.”
Zoey crouched next to the grave, unable to piece two thoughts together let alone process what was in front of her. Her eyes traveled over the bodies she was able to see, judging the size of the grave, and finally decided Ginny was right.
There were hundreds of Halflings in the grave before her. With less than a thousand total in the Sucubatti society, it was either all of them or almost all. The meltdown she expected didn’t come. Instead, she experienced the warmth of her connection to Declan, the comfort and her exhaustion balancing
out her normally violent emotional reaction. She released the wall she’d kept mentally between her and Declan, allowing more of his magic into her body.
Chrissy and several other Halflings were sobbing while the core members of Team Rogue remained utterly silent and still.
“They deserve better than this,” Zoey whispered at last. She felt coldly calm rather than enraged, a sensation foreign to her. She imagined that this was what it was like to be Declan: controlled, calculating, capable of thinking no matter what awful truth she faced.
Vikki knelt beside her, stunned into silence.
“Vikki …” Zoey trailed off, unable to summon the words to express what was in her mind. Her initial thought that all this was her fault was replaced by a new one.
If not for Team Rogue, no Halflings would’ve survived at all.
They sat together, gazing into the mass grave that marked a new era in their fight against Olivia.
“Zoey, as inappropriate as the timing is, I need to talk to you about your options,” Grant’s low voice was soft.
She blinked out of her disbelief and rose. “Options?”
He cleared his throat, nodding towards the mass grave. “How do you want them buried?”
Zoey’s jaw went lax. She’d never in her life considered her mortality let alone how she’d bury the Halflings she served with.
His eyes were warm, his expression softening. “The Incubatti burn their dead while the Sucubatti bury them, some in marked graves, others hidden. Whatever you decide, I’ll make it happen.”
It’s too soon. Zoey grappled with the panic and sorrow beginning to bubble forth. The Halflings were dead, but she didn’t feel able to let them go yet. Burying them felt like defeat, and she didn’t quite understand how to juggle the emotions.
Are you okay? Declan’s sultry whisper came across their soul connection. It moved through her, softening her fear and warming her.
“There are so many,” she said, overwhelmed. “I think … bury them.”
Without waiting for more, Grant pulled out his cell and trotted to the top of the berm, disappearing down the other side.
“If Olivia’s smart, she planted scouts,” Vikki said.
“We aren’t splitting up again,” Zoey said. “At least, not before the core Rogue members talk. No Halfling will go anywhere without one of us from here on out.”
