by Skye Malone
I grimace, pulling away a bit. I’d tried to brush out the dried blood. Obviously, I didn’t get it all.
“What—” he starts.
“It’s fine. It was just—”
“What happened?”
“Kyle. He, um…” I don’t know what to say.
“He um what?”
My grimace deepens at the hard edge in his voice. “He shot a guy in front of me.”
Amar goes still.
I press onward. “Katsuro’s people got me away from him.”
“Katsuro.”
I nod. “That’s why he’s here. He followed me. His people stopped Kyle.”
Amar looks away, something in his expression like my statement has brought up another problem. “You trust him?”
I hesitate.
“Katsuro,” Amar elaborates. “Do you trust him?”
I wish people would stop asking me questions like that, like I’m the Magic Eight Ball of whether someone will stab us in the back. “Why?” I ask.
He takes a second before answering. “I need his help with something.”
Okay, that’s unexpected. And vague. “Something like what?”
His jaw tightens as if he’d rather not respond.
Anxiety shivers through me. “Amar, something like—”
A knock comes behind me, cutting me off. I retreat to avoid getting bumped by the door when it opens.
Sorcha peeks her head past the opening, and then pauses when she spots us. “My apologies for interrupting.”
“What do you need?” Amar replies evenly.
“The others are asking for you,” she tells him. “They’re—”
“He’s down here?”
I tense immediately at the sound of Bianca’s voice. Quickly, Sorcha steps aside while Bianca appears at the doorway.
Her gaze twitches between us, icy and yet angry, but her silence lasts only a heartbeat. “There’ve been more attacks.”
My blood goes cold.
“Where?” Amar asks.
Bianca twitches her head to the hall and then moves that way. With a short glance to me, Amar starts after her. I follow him.
Brett and Rafael are waiting beyond the corridor, while Katsuro stands near the stairs. They all look so somber, it makes my stomach turn to lead.
“Dad got word right before I called,” Bianca says. “Three Volgert strongholds were hit in two different cities. He hadn’t heard about Lucretia’s manor, but the rest…”
“Linden?” Amar asks.
Bianca nods. “Looks like.” Her mouth tightens. “They bombed the hell out of them, Amar. Some of them were in populated areas. The locals think it was some kind of terrorist thing but…” Her brow shrugs illustratively. “It’s only a matter of time till Volgert retaliates.”
Amar turns away, an expression flashing over his face like he’s restraining an urge to swear.
“The Touched,” Katsuro says. “Does this have anything to do with them?”
Amar glances to him.
Katsuro’s brow rises. “Or are you intending to claim you don’t know?”
Amar eyes him for a moment longer before returning his focus to the others. “You need to put any relocation plans you have into action. All of you. Whatever you can do to get away from the Houses, it needs to happen now.”
“What is it you know, man?” Brett’s casual, devil-may-care tone is completely gone. “What do they have?”
Amar pauses. “A psychic.”
I freeze.
Bianca makes an incredulous noise. “A what?”
“Some of the Touched are apparently manifesting talents like incubi and succubi. Not all of them, just a few. But this one’s done more than that. She can see the future.”
“She?” Katsuro interjects.
Amar ignores him. “Her powers are intermittent, according to Lucretia, and what I heard from Alistair confirms that. She doesn’t see everything, but he’s still using what she does see to further his own goals, which includes opportunities to attack his enemies, and which could include opportunities to attack us.” He pauses. “You all need to get out of here. Take Cait—” Alarm rockets through me at his words. “—and get out of here. Whether or not that psychic sees you is only half the problem. Linden and Volgert want a war. Even with the psychic gone, they may not stop and until we know for certain, it’s in your best interests to be elsewhere.”
“And what are you going to do?” Bianca snaps.
“Find her. Turn her back if I can.”
I stare at him. “She’ll see you coming. Linden will see you coming.”
Amar pauses. “Hopefully not.”
A breath leaves me. Hopefully not? Is he insane? If there’s even a chance—
“What do you know of where Linden keeps their Touched?” Amar asks Katsuro.
My eyebrows climb, his earlier question suddenly clicking. But it’s horrible. I don’t know whether he can trust Katsuro. Hell, everything I’ve seen of the guy says he and his people hate Amar.
And now Amar wants to work with them?
“Why should we help you?” Katsuro replies, his face inscrutable. “You went to see Lucretia; you came back. If it’s true that you don’t work for her, then that should not have been possible.”
“It is if I have a deal with her.”
“What kind of deal?”
“The kind that allows me to do precisely what I just did. The kind that means I don’t work for her, and intend to never work for her, and am deeply interested in stopping a war in order for that arrangement to continue.”
Katsuro’s unreadable expression remains. His gaze slides from Amar to me and then back.
Shivers crawl over my skin.
“Linden is hiding the psychic among the regular Touched,” Amar presses. “I don’t know where and Lucretia’s intel on that didn’t pan out. But I want to stop this war and you want to save this person, which means you and I can help each other. So what information can you offer so we both achieve our interests?”
For a long moment, Katsuro doesn’t respond. “We know enough,” he concedes finally.
“Locations of storage facilities? Security?”
Katsuro nods once. My stomach churns at the sight.
“Then I’ll help you get to her, and if it can be done, I’ll help you change her back.”
“And after that?” Katsuro replies.
Amar pauses. “We see what she becomes—human or psychic.”
Katsuro’s displeasure with the response is clear.
“You need me,” Amar says. “Without my help, this Touched stays exactly as crazy and helpless as she is right now.”
“I need one of your kind—and you’re not the one with the potential ability to pick this psychic from a crowd.” Katsuro nods toward me. “Cait comes or there’s no deal.”
“No,” Amar replies immediately.
“This isn’t negotiable. She—”
“I said no.”
Katsuro regards him. Seconds tick past like screws tightening.
“I’ll do it,” I blurt into the silence. “I’ll go.”
The others look to me, alarmed. I don’t take my eyes from Amar. I can feel how hard I’m shaking, I can see his anger under that surface of rock, and I know I’m so far into the deep, I couldn’t hope to find the shore.
But I don’t care. Right now, in this moment, I purely don’t care because if I have even a shred of this weird-ass, people-reading power inside me, I know without a doubt that I’m going to use it.
Because I refuse to sit by and risk losing Amar.
“Alright, then,” Katsuro says. “It’s agreed.”
For a heartbeat, Amar doesn’t move. I can’t tell what I’m seeing in the way he’s looking at me—rage, ice, something almost pained that I don’t understand—but the combination burns. It’s everything I can do to hold his gaze.
Sharply, he looks away, his focus snapping to Sorcha. “You’re coming too.”
It isn’t a question. S
he nods anyway.
“Fine.” Amar glances to Bianca. The girl is staring between us like she can’t believe our stupidity. He ignores the expression. “Be out of town soon.”
Bianca scoffs, but there’s not much strength behind the noise. Her jaw works around. “Yeah.”
Shaking her head, she turns and walks toward the front of the club.
“Be careful, man,” Brett offers dryly. He follows Rafael from the room.
Amar turns back to Katsuro, his gaze skipping past mine. His brow rises coldly.
“We need to meet with my people first,” Katsuro says to the unspoken question. “If you want the latest information, anyway.”
“Call them. Get the information so we can head out now.”
Katsuro chuckles. “And go up against Linden with only you at my back? Not likely.”
Amar’s expression turns sub-zero.
“You need more forces,” Katsuro says. “I need people I can trust. And the clock is ticking.” He smiles. “So when do we leave?”
We step from the shadows and for a moment, I think we’ve ended up in a park.
And then my eyes adjust better to the pre-dawn darkness.
I balk. “What the—”
“Over here.” Katsuro strides away from us, away from the trees and the street light.
And straight into a graveyard. Marble headstones and obelisks dot the grassy expanse ahead of us, their shapes dully illuminated by the ambient light of the city. The glow isn’t much, however. I think we’re on the edge of old downtown, far from the more commercial areas and the lights there. Trees and bushes ring the property as well, cutting off any view of Corvinson, shadowing the graves, and deadening the sounds of early morning traffic.
I look to Amar, my brow rising with equal parts alarm and incredulity.
A hint of a grimace crosses his face. “It’ll be alright,” he murmurs, something in his voice like he’s hoping the words are true.
He glances to Sorcha and twitches his head for her to go first.
She doesn’t bother to hide her displeasure, though it comes with a tinge of nauseated strain. The werewolves shadow-crossed with us this time, escorted by Katsuro and Amar since apparently they don’t have that ability themselves. But it’s obvious it’s one of their least favorite ways to travel.
They all look like they’ve just gotten off the worst carnival ride in history.
My eyes dart over the graves as Amar and I follow the mercenaries, and my gaze catches on fragments of names and dates while every horror movie I’ve ever seen plays through my head in utterly unhelpful fashion. I can’t believe this, though. Of all the places I thought Katsuro would take us, I definitely hadn’t expected this.
I’m walking through a graveyard with a vampire, an incubus, and a pack of werewolves on the way to find a secret society of demons.
An irrational urge to scoff hits me, but there’s no humor in the feeling. More like desperation, because madness doesn’t even come close to describing my life any more.
Amar glances to me, questioning. I give him a tight smile.
Leaves rustle up ahead and my attention snaps toward the sound. Ram steps from behind a mausoleum with several figures following him. At the sight of two of the people with him, I freeze.
“You,” Amar says coldly.
“Nice to see you again too, man,” Leaf replies.
Blue regards Amar, not saying a word.
“These two work for you?” Amar demands of Katsuro.
“With me,” Katsuro confirms, “yes. How do you think we first learned of you? Of her?” He nods toward me. “We have built a substantial network over the centuries. Our connections are everywhere. And when word reached us that an incubus was looking for information about a Touched, we were curious. As I’ve said, your kind aren’t prone to compassion for others—including and perhaps most especially those who fall victim to your powers. We wanted to know more, in case it could be useful to us.”
I eye Blue and Leaf warily, remembering our visit to their houseboat the other day. Ram had been outside on the docks. That was the first time I’d seen him.
Blue catches me watching her. “I heard you were able to get your friend out of there. She doing okay?”
In my stomach, a pit forms. I fight to keep from showing any hint of the reaction. “Yeah.”
A pause follows and I get the impression my efforts were wasted, but she doesn’t say anything beyond, “Good.”
“Have you gathered the information I requested?” Katsuro asks.
“Yeah,” Leaf replies. “We narrowed down what seems to be the most likely location, but…” He looks reluctant.
“What?” Katsuro prompts.
“It’s here,” Blue explains. “Corvinson.”
“You can’t be serious,” Amar states.
Blue treats him to a flat look. “Our sources have had their eye on a half dozen different locations around the country, but the old factory out by the train tracks on the east side of Corvinson has every sign of being where they’ve got this person.”
“The factory,” Amar says. “You’ve seen them hiding Touched there?”
“No, but—”
“Lucretia’s intel said Linden is keeping this person among the Touched. If none of them are there—”
“That’s the point,” Blue finishes.
My brow knits.
“Linden probably was hiding the psychic with the rest of their victims,” Blue continues, her voice barbed. “And for all we know, they still have a few there as cover, just in case. We haven’t been able to see inside, only to confirm that no Touched have come out. But meanwhile, putting this psychic anywhere near a known storage facility isn’t exactly the best strategy, is it? That intel is old, so that ship’s sailed. Keeping them with the rest now is more like offering her up to be taken, and painting a big-ass target on every location they’ve got, besides.”
“So what have you found?” Katsuro asks.
“Heavy defenses around the factory and a serious lack of any visible reason why. They’ve also gone out of their way to hide any trace of their presence. You’d never know it’s owned by a House. Hell, you wouldn’t know it’s owned by anyone at all. The defenses appear purely magical and any Linden forces are staying completely out of sight—if they’re even there at all. Our people only learned about it because of a tip from an informant in Linden’s ranks.”
“Or the information was planted,” Amar counters.
“Goddess’-sake, man,” Leaf protests. “Give us a little credit here. We checked it out.”
“If you’re scared, incubus,” Ram growls. “You’re welcome to stay behind.”
“I assume you have more evidence,” Katsuro cuts in with a placating tone.
“Yeah,” Blue agrees shortly. “Alistair is still in town. We’ve got that. Considering the fact he’s taken the risk of installing this super-secret location right on the edge of a neutral city… We think he’s keeping this psychic close.”
Amar’s mouth tightens.
“Sounds like the best option,” I offer uncomfortably.
“Agreed,” Katsuro says. He glances around at the others. “You all are ready to leave?”
Blue hesitates. “Dawn’s in an hour. If we wait till tonight—”
“The psychic might be gone,” Katsuro interjects. “We have this opportunity; we need to take it. The longer we wait, the more chance they’ll move her elsewhere.”
Blue glances to Leaf uncomfortably and then nods. “Yeah, alright.”
The others around us signal their agreement too, though a couple of them look as discomfited as Blue. Suddenly, I find myself wondering what happens to vampires—real vampires—when they come in contact with sunlight.
I can guess from their expressions that it isn’t good.
“If the other Touched aren’t there,” Amar says, “you don’t need Cait to come.”
“True,” Katsuro allows. “But they might be, in which case nothing has changed.”
Amar is silent for a moment. “Your people go in first.”
Katsuro smiles. It doesn’t reach his eyes. “Of course. For Cait’s sake. Though if we should run into trouble, I do hope we can count on your assistance—whatever form that might take.”
Amar doesn’t respond. A second creeps by, and then another.
Katsuro’s expression takes on a deadly edge. “Move out,” he orders his people. He glances to me, the poisonous look vanishing. “If you’ll follow us?”
I glance between them, but there’s nothing for it. Katsuro is watching me, waiting, and I get the impression Amar wouldn’t answer any questions I could ask anyway.
Swallowing hard, I nod and follow the others, Amar staying close to my side.
Our caravan of SUVs pulls over on a darkened street on the far end of town. We hadn’t shadow-crossed. The trolls can’t, so Katsuro tells me. I don’t think doing so would have helped me feel any less nervous, but at least it would have gotten the trip over faster.
Trying to keep myself from trembling with steadily building anxiety, I climb from the back of the black vehicle. Katsuro’s group brought six of the things. It’s eerie, all these apparent resources. These people on his side. I know he saved my life, and seems to be only interested in helping people.
But I’m still wondering who the hell he actually might be. It’s not like he ever answered that question. He only ever says that it’s complicated.
I wish I knew what that might mean.
The rest of his people climb from the SUVs in silence and, in between scanning the area around us, I can see the vampires anxiously eyeing the sky. In the moonless depths, a few clouds have started to become visible, hinting at morning on its way.
“Two blocks that direction and a hundred yards to the right,” Blue whispers to Katsuro, pointing farther down the narrow alley.
Katsuro nods. “I want one team up top to keep watch and another to take the side. Find a rear entrance and another way for us to leave, in case shadow-crossing isn’t an option.”
The others nod their assent.
Katsuro turns toward me. “Stay close. It is imperative that Linden not get their hands on you. Therefore, if anything happens, I want you to do everything you can to leave immediately, no matter what you see. Agreed?”
