by Jasmine Walt
This was my fault. I should have warned Carmella to steer clear of this place, warned her it was a possible pick-up point. I’d dropped the ball and let her down. Fucking hell, she was in danger, and it was because of me.
“Don’t.” Ajitah rubbed my shoulder. “You couldn’t have known.”
Closing my eyes, I leaned against him. I loved the way he could read me. Loved not having to say the words out loud.
“Shit,” Banner said.
“What?”
“He’s just passed into the Red Zone.”
I exchanged glances with Ajitah. The Red Zone was a mess . . . a place filled with rogue yaksha, independent witches, and vamps with no affiliation. The pact had failed to penetrate because enforcement was impossible to enforce there. So instead, we turned a blind eye and pretended it didn’t exist. Except it did, and my best friend could be in there.
“Can you pinpoint exactly where Hugo is in the zone?”
Banner met my gaze. “I’ll jot down the coordinates. Look, if you’re going in, you’ll need backup, weapons.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I know.” And there was only one place I could get everything I needed. I just hoped the woman I needed to talk to would be able to put her personal feelings aside.
13
Drake dropped me off outside the IEPEU. “I’ll pick up some grub and meet you back here.”
“Are you sure you don’t need me to come in with you?” Ajitah asked.
I was too stressed to get annoyed with his mollycoddling. “I’m sure. Wish me luck.”
Drake fired up the engine. “Break a leg.”
“Pretty sure that’s only for people in the theater biz.”
“Oh, okay . . . well, don’t.”
Reception was deserted, and the operative at the desk looked up at me with a scowl. “Yes?”
“I need to see Operative Parker. It’s urgent.”
She glanced at her computer screen. “Sorry, she’s unavailable.”
Not out of the office, but unavailable. Roughly translated as fuck you. “Look, I just need five minutes of her time.”
“I told you, Operative Parker is unavailable right now.”
It was the same woman who’d been here when we’d been brought in, and she was glaring at me as if I’d just fallen out of a dog’s arse.
“Okay, I can wait.”
“No, you can’t.”
Oh man. I so wanted to hit something. Preferably her.
“Fine. I’ll just take the vital information I have on her investigation and leave. And when she fails to crack her case, I’ll make sure to tell her it was because a snotty receptionist refused to let me see her.”
She swallowed, picked up the phone, and hit one of the glowing yellow buttons. “Miss Parker, there’s someone here to see you. She claims to have information on a case . . . Yes. Okay.” She dropped the phone back in its cradle. “Take a seat. She’ll be right out.”
Now that’s what I’m talking about.
We were back in the smelly interrogation room, sans Sloane.
“You have information?” Parker crossed her arms and sat back in her seat.
“No, I just said that so your guard dog would let me pass.”
“Figures. So, what do you want? Ooh, don’t tell me—the idea of a night in a cell was suddenly really appealing.”
“Funny. But no. I need your help.”
“I gathered that much. What I’m confused about is what makes you think I’d be willing to do anything for the likes of you?”
It would’ve been so easy to unleash on her, but I needed the bitch, so I tamped down the desire to tell her to shove it. This was bigger than my feelings.
“I came to you because, despite your hard-ass attitude, I know you care about those missing people, and I’m working a case that I’m pretty sure is connected.”
She sat up a little straighter. “Go on.”
This was probably gonna incur the wrath of the high witch, but fuck her. My best friend was in danger. I filled Parker in on the witch blood case and about Wallace Edmonton, who looked exactly like our vamp and who we believed to be our vamp. I told her about Carmella, Hugo, and the Red Zone. “Which leads me to what I need from you.”
“Backup.”
“Yeah. Can you help me?”
She ran a hand over her face. “The coven should have come to us.”
“Probably. But they didn’t, and now we have a situation and need to act fast. So, can you help me?” I leaned in. “This is bigger than your dislike of me.”
“Wait here. I need to make a few quick calls.”
She left me twiddling my thumbs. Long minutes ticked by. Please let this have been the right call.
The door swung open, and Parker strode back in. “If we do this, we do it my way. You take orders from me, and when the target is apprehended, he goes directly into our custody. The missing humans are an IEPEU case. You do not follow up on it. Do we have a deal?”
Tension drained from my limbs. We had our backs up against a wall, but that was an extensive list of conditions. Desperate situations called for desperate measures. “We have a deal.”
I climbed into the van beside Drake. Ajitah leaned forward from the backseat. “How did it go?”
“I got the backup.”
“Thank fuck.” Drake fired the engine and peeled away from the curb.
“Did you speak to your grandmother?”
He nodded, pulling into traffic, his jaw tight.
“That bad, huh?”
“My aura is still recovering from the holes she drilled in it.”
Ajitah chuckled. “I think she sent death vibes down the phone line.”
Drake’s ticking jaw told me he didn’t find the situation remotely amusing. The high witch had the power to make things pretty uncomfortable for us if she wished, but the situation had escalated beyond our control. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. But this has gone too far now. It’s beyond our little posse.”
Drake blew out a breath. “I know, and I suspect she does, too. Didn’t stop her tearing me a new one, though. At least you got the support we needed, so it wasn’t all for nothing.”
“Yeah. They’re meeting us outside the zone in an hour.”
We took a right at the lights and headed toward the North Circular.
I turned to Ajitah. “Did you let Eamon know?”
“Yes, he didn’t sound thrilled about us taking a jaunt on the wild side.”
“Me neither, but Carmella is in there somewhere. Shit! I forgot to call Aaron.”
“Do you think you should?” Drake said.
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“If he knows where she is, he might insist on coming.”
He’d only ever seen the tipsy, slutty side of Aaron. Drake didn’t know the assassin behind the gorgeous face and killer abs. Aaron was a force to be reckoned with, and his knowledge of weaponry was second to none.
I grinned. “I’m counting on it.”
14
The zone lay before us, marked by thick red posts put up by the council to warn the unsuspecting tourist. The barrier ran around the whole area, and it probably wouldn’t be long before some bright spark decided to build a wall to replace it. Right now, supernaturals were free to come and go as they pleased. But in my experience, one would have to be desperate or clinically insane to set up house in the Red Zone. The moon was full and gleaming above us, taunting us with the fact that it was all the way up there, out of harm’s way, while we hovered before a shadowy, ominous street leading into the dead zone. Sorry, the Red Zone.
Why was it always dark when we had to go into a scary place? The basement, the haunted house, the rat-infested alleyways behind the kebab and fried chicken houses in the poorer districts. Those suckers were huge. Supernatural rats for sure.
The air here was thicker, too—almost sweet, as if someone had evaporated a vat of maple syrup.
“It’s magic,” Drake said. He held out one of the bulletproof vests Parker
had insisted we wear, and I slipped it on.
I’d tried telling Parker that bullets were the least of our problems, but apparently this was standard-issue gear for entering the Red Zone. Vampires toting firearms, witches with offensive magic, and hungry yaksha looking for some human prey . . . were all things to look forward to in the crazy zone.
This was going to be a blast.
Drake fastened up the straps on the vest. “It reminds me of Grandmother. When she lets down her guard, this is what she smells like. Magic.”
Magic had an aroma. Interesting.
He finished and patted my shoulder. “You ready?”
“Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s do this.”
“Wait.” Parker stepped into my path. “I want you with Unit Beta. Stay back, and stay safe.”
I could feel an eye roll coming on, but a promise was a promise. “Fine, but you do realize I have skills, right?”
She held up her Sunshot. “And I have the weapons.”
“Yeah, about that . . . Why can’t we get a couple of those?”
“You’re not authorized to discharge these weapons.”
“But I’m authorized to be dead, right? Because that’s what you’re asking us to risk.”
She offered me a closed-lipped smile. “It’s why you have Beta to protect you, and be grateful we’re letting you come along. If the Mayfair Coven didn’t have so much clout, you’d be waiting in the back of a van while we raid the warehouse.”
Aaron joined us, suited up in his bulletproof gear, hair slicked back, all business. “I’m qualified in all weaponry.”
Parker turned to him with a smirk. “Got any documentation to prove it?”
’Course he didn’t, and she knew it. We were guild, and guild was on the down-low.
“Forget it,” he said. “But you’re making a mistake not arming us. If the shit hits the fan, which it’s bound to do, you could use us as backup.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Parker, we’re good to go,” one of her Alpha Patrol operatives called out.
“Okay, let’s do this.”
And . . . she just stole my line.
A tall guy with a gun approached. “I’m Viper, and you’re with me. Stay close. Don’t speak unless spoken to.”
“Is Viper a nickname?”
He really had the glare thing down.
“Malina . . .” Ajitah warned.
Yeah, this was no time to antagonize the muscle, but Carmella was in there, and that made me extremely antsy, and antsy equaled sarcasm.
“I’m sorry. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
“Do that,” Viper said.
Three vans were parked on the outskirts of the zone, two patrols. Alpha and Beta, each made up of eight operatives: four triggers, a medic, a demo, a communications operative, and a sniper. It was obvious they knew what they were doing. This was a raid, a search and rescue, not an assassination. Maybe I had been winging it all this time, but I’d managed, right?
Ajitah cupped my elbow. “We’ll find her. I have a good feeling about this.”
“About strolling into the Red Zone?” Drake said. “I can tell you’re a glass-half-full guy.”
He so was. I slipped my hand into his and squeezed.
He was my glass-half-full guy.
And then we were rolling or jogging. Whatever. Viper led the unit. They surrounded us, cocooning us in the nicest possible claustrophobic way.
“I don’t understand why we couldn’t just drive in,” Ajitah said.
Neither did I, but Parker had been insistent we go on foot.
“Tech isn’t too reliable in the zone,” one of the Beta guys said.
“What about weapons?” Aaron asked, eyeing the guy’s HKG36 battle rifle.
“We should be good.” He dropped back a little to cover us.
Should be? Bah!
Houses flanked us like eyeless corpses. The decomposing metal bodies of rusted and flaking cars stood sentry against the curb. We passed a kid’s bike, just lying in the road, all twisted and dead. The sweet scent of magic was suddenly sickly and cloying—the odor of disease. Fine hairs on the nape of my neck tingled and my scalp crawled.
Ajitah coughed. “I don’t like this.”
“What happened to ‘I have a good feeling about this?’” Drake said.
“This place . . . it smells off.”
He’d noticed it, too? “The coordinates are a mile and a half in. Not too far,” Aaron said.
Drake drew level with me. “What do you think we’ll find?”
This one I could answer. “Hopefully an industrial estate like the maps show.” Even though no one had actually mapped the area in over four decades. Not since the final exodus of the sane. We could be walking into anything.
A howl ripped through the air. It was coming from the west.
“Yaksha,” Ajitah said.
“But that’s cool, right?” I glanced across at Ajitah. “’Cos they’re all rogue agents. No pack activity in the zone.”
Another howl rose from the east, followed by another and another.
A pack.
The Beta formation tightened and slowed, scoping the area.
“A pack? Seriously?” Aaron said.
“A rogue pack,” Drake clarified.
Even better.
I guess it made sense, though. Yaksha weren’t made to roam alone. They may have fled here separately, unhappy with the regime in the real world, pissed at their pack. But then they’d found like-minded individuals and formed a new pack. One that despised the rules, said “fuck it” to the law, and ate who they wanted, when they wanted.
We were so screwed.
“I hope your weapons are operational,” Aaron said. “Because we have incoming.”
Damn straight we did.
We were surrounded.
Weapons were discharged—the unmistakable blast of several Remington 870 shotguns. Curses filled the air, accompanied by growls and howls.
Someone screamed.
Ajitah yanked me toward him, his solid chest making contact with my back. Teeth snapped, drool spattering everywhere. Viper’s scream was a high-pitched sound of pure terror.
“Stay in formation. Stay together. Protect the civilians. Deploy the gas!” Parker’s commands were delivered with authoritative calm.
The remaining operatives acted. Tightening formation, standing back to back and surrounding us—their civilian charges. The sound of gunfire set off fireworks in my head. Orange and yellow sparks lit up behind my eyes. My ears rang from the booms and pops. The scent of fear and adrenaline spiked. Through gaps in the bodies surrounding us, I caught a glimpse of our attackers—mangy, large beasts, all semblance of humanity gone. They loped on all fours, more animal than man—wolves in every sense. Where one fell, another took its place.
“We have to do something!” Aaron said.
I drew Vindra. If worst came to worst, I would slice and stab the fuck out of whatever attacked me. Beside me, Ajitah held up a wicked-sharp hunting dagger. Drake began to chant, and Aaron withdrew a .44 magnum from a sheath at his waist. Should have known he wouldn’t have come without Honey. He always said that leaving her behind when on a job would be like going on the prowl without condoms.
The IEPEU had denied us weapons, but none of us was stupid enough to go into the Red Zone completely unarmed. We weren’t suicidal.
We were on the move, still surrounded but making progress. Another scream cut through the air, piercing the growls and snarls of the beasts and the whizzes and pops of bullets. Another operative down? There were too many Yaksha. They’d just wait us out until we ran out of bullets. One of them bounded toward us. He jerked as his chest exploded with crimson. His body slumped to the ground, twitching as he drew his last breath. But then he was rolling back onto his feet, shaking it off and heading in our direction again.
What the heck? Not too many Yaksha, just the same bunch.
“They’re not using silver-nitrate ammo!”
Aaron took aim and fired with a boom. The wound fizzed, and the yaksha went down. Thank God he was packing silver bullets. But why weren’t the rest of the triggers doing the same? It was the only compound that could disable a yaksha and kill one. Surely the IEPEU knew this.
“No, they are.” Drake tugged my arm. “Look!”
To my left, another yaksha went down in a spray of scarlet and smoke, surrounded by sparkling mist—silver-nitrate gas. This one wouldn’t be getting back up. So Parker’s team had silver gas grenades, but where was the ammo? Not good enough.
Parker’s voice could be heard over the commotion. “Head to the Newsagents. One o’clock, people. Now!”
The trajectory shifted. The Newsagents loomed up ahead, the only spot of color in a dismal landscape. The only spot of color? Why the heck was it still intact? The sign was smooth and unmarred, the windows clean and unbroken.
“Wait!” I tugged at an operative’s sleeve, but she shook me off, her attention on the beasts surrounding us.
“Malina!”
I was shoved to the side, lost my balance, and hit the ground hard. The impact jarred my shoulder, vibrating through my teeth. A manic rumble filled my ears, accompanied by the slash of talons cutting through the air above me and a grunt of pain.
Ajitah! I rolled to my feet, Vindra up and ready. Ajitah tousled with a yaksha, the beast too big, too powerful in its haze of bloodlust. Adjusting my grip on Vindra, I attacked, leaping into the air and bringing my baby down right into the back of the yaksha’s neck, severing the top of its spinal cord. It convulsed and dropped.
Ajitah’s vest was shredded—bulletproof, but obviously not yaksha-proof. Drake and Aaron worked side by side, warding off another yaksha that had breached the unit’s cocoon. Drake’s chant rose into the air, a tangible force immobilizing the beast, while Aaron punched bullets into fur.
The yaksha went down.
“Come on!” Parker was up ahead in the Newsagent store doorway.
Unit Beta was down, only one operative remaining. The operative ushered us forward now, firing shots from her Sig Sauer to cover us as we made a break for the building.
