“Got my distress call?” I asked with a smirk.
He eyed my clothes and returned the look. “Apparently. Come on, let’s pound pavement.”
He didn’t have to ask me twice.
And during the run he was kind enough to keep his mouth shut as our feet thudded against the ground and our breaths stayed steady. When we came back around the park, we slowed to a walk, letting joggers move past us.
I stared up at the skyline, my thoughts lost to the world of Cecil and Landus, my chest aching with a new kind of loss. A part of me that I didn’t even know I had given away was missing and there wasn’t a way to get it back.
“Shit, Nyssa!”
I stared at Slade in confusion.
“What?” I asked and then tasted the familiar tingle of metal and energy on my tongue. “What the—” I wiped at my lip and looked down at the contrast of blood against my light skin.
A drop of blood landed on my wrist.
“Your nose is bleeding,” Slade said and my eyes widened.
I wiped at my nose again. “Does this even happen?” I asked.
He frowned. “Shifters don’t get random nosebleeds. I don’t know about you.”
“The only time I get one is when someone punches me in the face. So no, not often. And it stops soon after.” I wiped at my nose again. “This isn’t stopping.”
“Tilt your head up, maybe that’ll help?”
“I thought it was lean forward?”
“Why would that work? Wouldn’t it just bleed faster?”
“I don’t know,” I snapped. “Who the hell even gets a nosebleed like this? What if I rub dirt in it? Don’t they just say rub dirt into wounds and suck it up?”
Slade’s lip twitched upward, and I narrowed my eyes at him as he shook his head. “That’s more of a saying. And do it only if you want to look like you tripped and introduced your face to the ground.”
My lip curled up into a growl as we headed back to my apartment. I kept wiping at the blood coming out of my nose. I was lucky it wasn’t a fast flow, just a slow trickle, more annoying than anything else.
We got to my apartment, and Slade invited himself in, going right to my bathroom and coming back out with a washcloth. He shoved me onto the couch and then commenced to try and shove the cloth up my nose.
“Are you trying to make it worse?” I snapped, pulling the cloth out of his grip and holding it to my nose.
“Sorry,” he said, not even sounding apologetic. “So?”
“So?” I asked back.
“Why is your nose bleeding? What’s going on with you?”
I blinked a couple of times, not wanting to get into it. This wasn’t his problem. It was mine. I created it and now I had to deal with the repercussions.
“Nothing you need to worry your pretty head about,” I said and removed the cloth, looking down at the dark bloodstain covering it. I wiped my nose and smiled. Lifting the cloth to show Slade, I said, “Look, it stopped.”
He shook his head and went to lean against the wall, his expression stern as his eyes flickered over my features. I leaned back on my couch, crossing my legs, and placing my arm along the top of the backrest.
We just stared at each other for a few moments.
“What are you hiding from me?” Slade asked.
I raised my eyebrows. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
He scowled at me before dragging a hand over his face and letting out a curse. “I know for a fact you don’t just randomly start bleeding like that. Something is happening to you. What is it?”
“Nothing, Slade. Nothing at all.”
His eyes narrowed and turned cold. Shit was about to get real between us.
“I know you, Nyssa. You may like to think you are all mysterious and shit, but I’ve known you long enough to know something is up. You’ve changed these last couple of weeks. Why? What happened? It has to be more than just what happened to Cecil and what’s going on with that bastard, Baron. You got a fucking nose bleed.”
I stood up and rolled my stiff shoulders. I knew what was wrong. My body was breaking down on me. How long did I have? What exactly was going to happen to me?
I had so many questions, so many unknowns, but there wasn’t anyone I wanted to talk to about this. Cecil was just starting to recover and didn’t need this weighing her down. No way would I bare myself like this to Maura. Or to anyone. Showing weakness was a no-no. Never ever show weakness to anyone, not even to those perceived as friends. I would be only asking to be stabbed in the back.
No. I couldn’t go to anyone and burden them with this. I put myself in this situation. Now I needed deal with it. The only thing that made this easier to swallow was the fact that I had a better shot against Baron. I was fucking taking it.
Besides, could this even be fixed? Life didn’t have redo buttons. It wasn’t how that worked.
“Nyssa,” Slade said in a low voice, some kind of unknown emotion slipping into his voice as he said my name.
I smiled at him. Probably one of the hardest smiles I had to ever make.
“This isn’t your problem, Slade. I’m fine. I’ll be fine. I just want to focus on Baron and on taking him down.”
He pushed off the wall, going towards the door. “Fine,” he snapped out. “But get your shit straightened out. Talk to Landus. Fix whatever it is you’ve broken.”
“Me? Why do you assume I broke anything?”
He snorted. “You’re you, Nyssa.” He opened the door, letting in the heat. “We’re going to give Baron exactly what he deserves and nothing less.”
He left, closing the door softly. My heart may have softened a bit at his words, not that I would ever admit that to anyone.
I went into the kitchen and quickly dug out a coffee mug and commenced making hot chocolate. The motion of stirring the milk in the pot as it heated up calmed me as I refused to let my mind wander. I had no idea where my thoughts would take me right now. None of the options were good ones.
Adding in the pre-made dry mix I had created, I watched the milk turn the delicious chocolate brown I loved so much. As I went to pour it into my mug when it was finished, pain surged through my body, smashing against my bones in revenge. I screamed as I dropped the hot chocolate, not even registering that I burned myself as I curled into myself, tucking my head into my knees as I held onto my stomach as if I needed to protect it from the onslaught of pain.
I squeezed my eyes tight as my body fought itself, the pain worse than anything I’d ever felt. I locked my jaw, not willing to scream anymore.
The pain slammed into me again, trying to break free, and I grunted in response.
No. Please no.
This wasn’t it.
This couldn’t be it.
Another wave and this time I did scream. I was boiling inside, hot. Pressure built up, wanting to escape but my skin prevented anything from getting away.
I curled up onto the cool floor, needing something to cool me down. My body temperature already ran high, but this was too high. Dangerously high.
Was this how I was going to die? So soon?
No.
I still needed to find Baron.
I still needed to introduce him to a life of suffering.
I still needed to make sure Cecil recovered.
I still needed to... apologize to Landus.
I hurt him. My greed, my need to get my hands on Baron as soon as possible hurt him, and Slade was right, I was the one to break something. In this case, it was the bonds between Landus and me, bonds I never knew existed until it was too late.
There was no way I could leave it as it was, with the cold stares, the way he looked at me like I was a stranger and not someone he’d briefly shared a bed with.
Another wave of pain hit, but then it quickly stopped.
I lay on the floor, trying to catch my breath, slowly uncurling my limbs, one at a time, nervous for the pain to return. I rolled onto my back, staring at my white ceiling. My gaze found an old s
tain from year ago and stayed on it.
My eyes fluttered closed and I rested on the cold hard floor, afraid that if I so much as twitched, the pain was going to come surging back.
Was this what I had to look forward to every day?
How long did I have? Days? Weeks? Hours? Would I even wake up tomorrow?
A tear slipped from my right eye. I didn’t want to die. Not yet.
Death has always been a close friend of mine. Even obtained a scar or two, which was near impossible unless the wound was life-threatening.
I’d survived the Woodlands. I’d survived integrating myself into a city. I’d survived my forgotten past.
But I couldn’t survive a fricken rejection. My very being wouldn’t allow it.
I crawled to my feet and stared at my arm where I’d burned myself with my hot chocolate. My skin was red and irritated but it was already disappearing. Made me wonder what my insides looked like after that onslaught of pain.
Not bothering to clean up, my body sore and exhausted, I dragged my feet to my bed and plopped down, face first into my pillow, too exhausted to undress.
I couldn’t get up the nerve to even care.
I just wanted to sleep, and hopefully, I would wake up and feel better.
Just waking up would be an accomplishment. I’d take what I could get.
Chapter Ten
I remember finding a dead girl-child. Her body was broken, twisted at weird angles. I looked down at her, trying to see her story in the deep markings on her skin. I remember thinking she could have been me when I was her age. She wasn’t strong enough. Better her than me. I walked away.
—Nyssa’s Journal
Somehow, my annoying cell phone made it to my nightstand instead of being on the kitchen counter where it belonged. Far, far away from me. It rang and rang. Stopped for only about a second before continuing its incessant noise.
I groaned and reached over, wanting to fling it against a wall. Instead, I hit the answer button and brought it to my ear.
“What?” I croaked out, wincing at the raw sound of my voice.
“Nyssa?” Slade’s voice came through the other end.
“Hmph,” I responded. I thought that was intelligible enough.
“Another kidnapping again.”
I sat up quickly in my bed, shaking the dizziness away. “What?”
“They took her.”
“Took who? Slade, what the hell is going on?”
“That bastard took Gwinny. The witches said one of theirs was taken. The mages and pires reported missing ones too.”
“Shit, where are we meeting?”
“The last one taken was some young pire. We’re all on our way there.”
“I’ll be there.”
I hung up and quickly threw on clothes that I wasn’t so sure were clean or not, but there were zero fucks to give. This was our chance. Baron made a move again, and now we were going to hunt him down and fry his ass.
I made it to the vampire’s place in record time, but everyone was already there. Jamal looked ready to attack the shifters and Leon had a half smile on his face. The tension in his shoulders told me a different story though. Other vampires surrounded them, all of them glaring at the shifters. The tension in the air tried to drown me, but we all had a goal in common so everyone behaved to the best of their abilities. Even as they glared at each other and plotted possible ways to kill each other and get away with it.
Slade stood with Landus, both of them with dark expressions, their beasts in their eyes as they stared out into the woods.
“Let’s go,” I said, already picking up on the location of the gate and not wanting to waste time.
We made our way through the forest, everyone alert and tense.
Half an hour later, we found the gate.
“We are going to be walking into a trap,” I said. “Baron knows what he did. He took the young, probably because he needs them, but he knows you’ll be coming.”
“Then let’s spring this trap already,” Landus growled.
“For once, I agree with the mutt,” Leon said.
A terrible and deadly growl escaped Landus and only Slade standing in his way kept him in place. The Alpha was holding on by a fraying thread.
I eyed him warily. The moment he let go and his beast took over would mean everyone was in danger—including me. Probably more so me.
“And we will,” I replied in a soft voice. “Just have everyone ready because he needs something, otherwise, this gate wouldn’t be here. Let’s not get anyone killed.” I glanced at Slade. “How do you want to go about this?”
This wasn’t my gig, no matter how badly I wanted to tear apart Baron, this wasn’t my battle. And I wasn’t that good strategically. I liked to smash through and use brute strength. With hostages, a more delicate touch was needed.
“Nyssa, you and me are going through,” Slade said, his eyes watching Landus warily. Landus stiffened but didn’t say anything. “When we get eyes and ears on what’s going on, I’ll contact Landus and he will lead in the rest of the team. We go for the kids, they tear everyone apart.”
I nodded. I could do that. With my sensitivity to energy, and Slade’s heightened senses, we would make a good pair. I glanced at Leon, expecting him to speak up at having to be led around by Landus. His mouth had thinned out, but he remained silent, even as the vampires around him let out their own low growls.
We didn’t wait any longer and went through the gate. It felt like the usual, like my cells were cooking, my nerves being charred to a crisp. When we came out the other end, I shook my body, trying to shed the pain.
“Never getting used to that,” I whispered, knowing we were on high alert this moment on. Unlike the other times, we didn’t want them knowing we were here already, though I’m sure they knew we were coming.
Slade’s nostrils flared, his mouth slightly open as he scented the air and shook his head. He nodded towards the exit and we headed to the steel door. I grabbed the handle and felt the bite of the cold steel against my palm as I reached out, trying to find any energy.
Nothing.
I shook my head and stepped to the side, my back against the wall as Slade positioned himself to open the door.
We never needed to say anything. We were partners, we knew this song and dance.
Slade nodded at me as his grip tightened on the handle. I crouched down. The moment he opened the door, the hinges creaking slightly, I peeked out. One of my knives was in my hand, ready for a good stabbing.
My eyes flickered to all the dark corners of the next room. Looked like an empty living room. I straightened, letting Slade know the room was clear. I stepped into the room, looking up at the ceiling.
You never knew.
There were two doors, both steel. I could feel some magic nipping in the air but not much. We were on the outer edge of whatever Baron was cooking up. My mind flickered through possibilities, but I kept drawing up a blank. I really had no idea why he took the younger ones, or how he was going to exact his revenge, or even why he was luring us into a trap.
My only job right now was to find the trap and make sure we didn’t fall into it. I closed my eyes, allowing myself to feel the threads of energy cutting through the magic in the air. My skin prickled at all the magic, but it wasn’t going to stop me from doing my job.
I opened my eyes, the darkness in me swirling and ready to roar. I nodded to the door on the right, knowing nothing would come of the other one. It was most likely just a closet. Slade went over to it and we did it again, readying ourselves to go in. He opened it and I looked through.
Hallway.
The air was thicker now, more energy, more magic, heavy and oppressive, waiting impatiently to be used.
We didn’t have much longer.
Slade’s nostrils flared again and his head whipped to the left, his eyes narrowing.
Looked like we were going that way. I led the way, knowing I would be able to pick up on any energy-based traps. Slade would
be better at finding the magic-based ones thanks to his nose. Apparently, magic had a distinct scent and traps even more so.
I froze just before we passed the third door and held out my arm to keep Slade from walking past me. Eyeing the door warily, I shivered at the feeling coming from it. There was too much, the door practically bulged from the pressure inside, ready to explode.
Literally.
I’d seen it before. A being took in too much energy. He had kept drinking it from everything around him, taking huge gulps of it, going beyond what he was capable of holding.
And then... he had exploded. Guts and bits everywhere. There had been no putting him back together.
I nodded my head slightly at Slade to let him know we were about to pass through a trap. If this was what I thought it was, it was going to explode the moment we tried to pass the door. It would act as an alarm to them and hopefully kill whoever set it off. Being hit by an energy bomb was just the same as being hit by a normal bomb. It would hurt and most likely kill whoever was caught in the blast. This one would be a small explosion, but still big enough to cause enough damage to make sure we couldn’t walk away from it.
I leaned against the wall and slid down onto my butt, trying to figure out what to do. I had a theory, but that was all that it was.
A theory.
“Suggestions?” Slade said into my ear, his breath cool against my hot skin as he settled next to me.
“Siphoning,” I whispered back. “It’s energy. I think I can do it.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “Are you sure?”
I shrugged. “No, but what other choice do we have? I haven’t seen any windows so I think this is all going down underground.”
He nodded, verifying my thoughts. He probably smelled all the dirt surrounding the building.
“We don’t know much, all we know is that this is our only path. We could probably slip by,” I pointed up at the ceiling. “But what about those who come after us. We have to deactivate the trap because if not, one of them will trip it and we need them to make a fast entrance once we have eyes on the scene.”
“Do it,” he said.
Transformation Page 8
