by Leia Stone
I was dying to comment on the fact that he’d locked my shit away to keep it from me, but I kept my mouth shut. As he handed me the items, our fingers brushed, and a searing heat traveled a downward expressway to my lady bits. I’d never been more attracted to a man in my life. God help me.
What a clusterfuck.
“Later, baby daddy.” I winked.
His normally stoic expression morphed into a panty-dropping grin. “I’ll be up late if you change your mind and want to sleep here.”
I faltered at the door, nearly tripping on my own feet. Did he just proposition me for booty-call sex? Or was I reading too much into it?
I didn’t know what to say, so I just ran out of the room, wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into this time.
12 Oh Hell
Cass clipped on his black leather, Gucci fanny pack, which meant shit was about to get real. Inside were magical handcuffs, some of Gran’s spells, and probably cigarettes and weird sex devices. His bounty hunter badge was hooked onto the side.
I was tucking my hair into a powder-blue wig. I had over a hundred wigs, although most were in our loft in LA. I usually tried to go in first since Cass was so recognizable, and then I’d flush out the perp for the arrest. The two security guards Brock had sent to babysit me waited dutifully in their car, parked behind my Jeep.
“So I’ve been thinking,” I said, “maybe we move out of the loft and… I dunno, move here. Mack could hook us up with the local hunter force, and we could settle down, grow some roots.”
My bestie raised an eyebrow. “I love you, like I would take a bullet for you love, but I’m not living in that old house with you and a screaming baby.”
I grinned. “Fair enough. I’ll live there alone, and you can get a studio downtown near that fae bar.”
He rubbed his big belly and nodded. “Now that sounds like a plan I can live with.”
Relief poured through me that he was down for the idea. “And I can bring the screaming baby over on the weekends. We can meet for brunch.” I was totally fucking with him on purpose and he knew it.
“Brock’s rich, right? Hire a nanny and meet me for brunch alone.” He handed me two magazines of silver bullets.
I chuckled, while loading one of them into my gun, and shoved the other in my belt. It would take more than silver bullets to take down the siren, but it should slow her down enough for Gran’s spells to work. “All right, what’s our plan?” I asked. “Go in guns blazing, like that one time in San Francisco? Or sneak in the back, and use a finder spell like that time in Santa Barbara?”
Cass rubbed his pink goatee. “We don’t want to piss off the local vampire seethe, especially if you are going to be living here. I say we text Molly, have her ID Calista, and tell us exactly where she is. Then we go in the back, make it quick and painless, and offer the house lord a future favor for crashing the party.”
I nodded. Cass was the diplomatic one. I was well within my right to blow out the front door for harboring a fugitive, but he was right. We didn’t want local enemies.
Whipping out my phone, I texted Molly. It turned out I’d been right. She was a supernatural groupie, and even admitted as much. She was trying to get the vampires to turn her. She’d even asked Brock if he’d make her a werewolf, but he’d just laughed and left the room.
Evie: Don’t give anything away, but do you have eyes on the siren?
Her reply was instant.
Molly: Affirmative.
The use of lingo made me grin, and a thrill went through me that we were finally going to catch this bitch.
Evie: We’re out front. Where is she?
Molly: Back patio, overlooking pool with the head of seethe.
Damn. I’d have to be careful not to injure the seethe lord, and also not to let Calista draw power from the pool water. This might be a tricky takedown, but even though I was super skinny right now, since being injected with Brock’s alpha blood, I felt like I’d drunk three Red Bulls.
I rummaged through my bag, and pulled a couple spells I thought would help in this situation. One was a sunlight spell, in case shit went sideways with the vamps.
After showing Cass the texts, he nodded. “It’s payday, baby.” Sort of. It was either take down Calista, or owe Mack money neither of us had anymore.
I smirked. “Let’s be in and out. Have her on a helicopter in an hour, and wash our hands of this.”
We jumped out of the Jeep, and I pulled my coat over my badge and gun. Cass was a master of illusionary magic, but it would make it easier on him if he had fewer things to hide.
We walked right up to the back fence, where a vamp was keeping guard. He took one look at us and nodded, opening the gate. “Welcome, sir.”
We walked on through, no problem. When we were out of earshot, I leaned into my vertically-challenged friend. “Who did he think we were?”
Cass grinned. “Croft.”
Great. My lawyer wasn’t going to like that very much. I prayed he wasn’t here tonight for real. Though, maybe since he owed Gran, he wouldn’t mind too much.
Cass opened his little hands, and his demon magic crackled to life between his fingers. “Ready?” he asked.
I nodded. “Let’s get her.”
He sprang from the ground and shot into the air, his small wings only able to lift him a few feet off the ground. Still, it was enough to make him a bit higher.
We turned the corner and I spotted Calista in all her siren glory standing near the pool, just as Molly said she’d be. Her green hair, the color of sea foam, hung to her bare waist. She wore what amounted to a bikini top to cover her breasts, and a long flowing skirt with slits down the sides. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was feminine and beautiful. But I knew the slits in her skirt were so she could run away easily, and her allure was only skin deep.
I pulled my badge in one hand, and my gun in the other. “Calista Pearl, you’re under arrest!” My voice boomed as Cass launched himself at her.
The second she spun around I knew something was wrong. Her eyes blazed a furious ocean blue, and the large and powerful vampire next to her zipped toward me with terrifying speed.
Shit. They’re working together.
Plan B.
I popped off three silver bullets into the vamp’s chest, which slowed him enough for me to move out of the way. Calista threw a tidal wave of water at Cass. The six-foot wave slammed into his little body, knocking him backward with the force of a car. The pool looked half drained, which meant she was pulling power from it.
“Look out!” Molly yelled, and I spun to see the other vamps on the patio gunning for us.
Double shit.
Dropping my badge, I threw the sunlight spell against the ground. The glass vial smashed as a redheaded female vamp slammed into me and threw me backwards. My hand shot out behind me, to catch the brunt of my fall and I felt my wrist snap. Then the rest of my weight fell on my ass as sunlight burst upon the outdoor space. A hundred hisses rang out as pandemonium rained down on the back yard.
Vamps clutched their faces and screamed, running inside for cover. It was 10 P.M. and it looked like mid-afternoon outside.
Thank you, Gran.
Spots from the sudden burst of light still swam in my vision, but I knew I had no time to waste. I’d cleared the yard of vampires, but the siren still needed to be dealt with. Molly was standing there, with her purple hair and wide expression, looking at me in awe. Jumping to my feet I spun around, my gaze tracking the siren as she bolted across the lawn with Cass flying behind her, flinging demon magic at her back.
She was more powerful than I remembered. Had she done something to increase her ability since we’d last met?
I started running, and a quick glance over my shoulder told me Molly was right behind me. Crazy kid, she wasn’t even armed.
Calista was as fast as Cass and I, tearing across the open courtyard lightning-quick in her bare feet. Sirens hated to wear shoes, a telltale sign you were on to one if they were
ever in disguise.
Cass threw some crackling demon magic at her retreating form, managing to hit the back of her calf. She yelped, went down to one knee, and I dared to hope we had her.
When she whirled her head around to glare at us, it was clear by her grin that she believed that she had us as well.
Not good.
I faltered for only a second, then continued running toward her. Cass, too, seemed to hesitate at the smug look on her face, but then launched some more sparkling red magic her way.
Reaching Cass’ side, I took sight with my gun, aiming at her thigh. Good thing I’d injured my right wrist when I fell, instead of my lucky left.
As Cass’ balls of glowing red were about to explode into her chest, I pulled the trigger.
But before either of our attacks could hit their mark, Calista rose to a crouch and pushed toward us with both hands. As if the siren controlled air and not water, her gesture halted our attacks mid-air, an inch from her exposed chest.
Cass’ glowing demon magic and my silver bullet floated in front of her bikinied figure, but nothing else happened.
What the hell was this fuckery?
I ran toward the siren at full speed, holstering my gun as I went—bullets weren’t the only thing in my arsenal—twisting the cork from another of Gran’s vials as I went. The spell would suck every drop of moisture from the water creature.
But I never got the chance to use it.
A wall of water appeared seemingly out of nowhere, right before me. Even as I gasped at its approach, I assumed it must be the remnant water of the swimming pool. The water rushed toward me faster than a tsunami, and before I could hurl the spell at her, it engulfed me.
Letting go of Gran’s spell with a pang of regret, it floated off into the water before I’d had the chance to activate it by breaking it open. I brought both hands up and thrashed wildly, trying desperately to swim out of the pocket of water that now completely covered my body.
The problem was, it was no longer a pocket, more like a large ball, and it swallowed me whole, as if I were stuck in some giant invisible glass bowl filled to the brim.
With a desperate thought of the baby I carried inside, and how I’d promised Brock that I’d protect our little parasite, I swam with everything I had. I pursed my lips shut, forcing myself not to gulp for air like my body urged me to with desperation.
I pumped my arms, uncaring that my right wrist throbbed like a motherfucker with every stroke. Kicking my legs better than an Olympic swimmer, but I made no headway. The water moved with me.
Turning in the water, I saw a blurry look of total desperation on Cass. I made out enough to see that he feared Calista was going to kill me.
He tried to circle the ball of water, but every time he moved so did the liquid mass, and so did Calista. I caught sight of Molly, and the terror on her face about broke my damn heart.
No, I’d be damned if a fucking vengeful siren would be the end of me. I hadn’t fought this hard, for this long, to have my life end like this. Not when I had so much hope now.
Where the hell had that thought come from?
I was pretty sure my life was still as screwed up as it’d been before chasing Calista. It must be the lack of air. My brain was probably gasping for oxygen, which meant so was the baby’s.
Rage boiled inside me and I pumped with so much fury that I managed to pop my head above water for a millisecond, just enough to pull in a ragged breath before I was dragged back in by an unseen force.
A shadow crossed my distorted watery world, and I snapped my head around just in time to see Cass pumping his small wings furiously and managing to make it above the water. That would be a record height for him.
He shot a stream of red crackling light straight at the siren’s chest, and fried her boobs. Thankfully it was enough to distract her concentration; my prison dissolved, a gush of water going everywhere.
I landed on the ground hard, falling partly onto a lawn chair, and possibly cracking a rib or two in the process. My hands tried to catch my fall, but the second I touched my injured wrist to the ground, sharp pain shot up my arm and I yanked it away as if it were on fire.
My body competed between the need to gasp for air, cough my lungs out, and pass out. I gulped in air, choked on it, coughed, and flopped around all while trying to find Cass.
He was taking on Calista on his own, with Molly in the background looking like she was considering intervening. She was totally untrained, and stepping in would only get her killed.
I staggered to my feet, stumbling at first, but sucking it up after. With small steady breaths, I continued to pull in air, like a fish caught out of water as I zeroed in on Calista. No way was the bitch going to hurt my friends. Gran’s water creature spell was gone, and my gun would be no good after taking a dunk, but I wasn’t a two-hit wonder.
Yanking a smoke spell vial from my belt, I pulled the cork out with my teeth, spitting it to the ground. Then I launched the vial right in between Cass and the siren. It was little more than a parlor trick, but Gran’s smoke was thick; it should be enough to allow us to sneak up on the little wench and cuff her. No ordinary cuffs, of course. These cuffs, once placed on the perp, rendered their magic useless.
Thick tendrils of smoke burst into the air beneath Cass and Calista and I grinned, circling the smoke like a shark. I pinned my focus on the place Calista had just occupied, and rounded the smoke, assuming Cass would probably be coming at her from the opposite direction. This wasn’t our first rodeo, and we’d roped far worse than her.
I was just making out the strands of the siren’s thick green hair, and the sparking red magic of my bestie behind her, when thunder clapped overhead. It was so loud and fierce that my bones shook. My wrist and ribs complained. The sky suddenly grew darker than the smoke, and I realized what she was doing. Gran’s sunlight spell would have given us a good ten minutes away from the vamps... but not if the fucking siren was going to affect the weather. I was pretty sure every single vamp my little trick had sent bounding inside for cover, was pressed against the windows, watching the siren’s storm come in. And when it did, we were in a whole boatload of trouble.
Vamps didn’t play nice on the best of days. Even though their seethe had been theoretically harboring a fugitive and breaking the law, they’d see us as the intruders and aggressors. They’d probably just kill us and try to hide the bodies. Mack might figure it out… or he might not; vamps had friends in high places. They were the wealthiest of all the supernatural races.
Thunder clapped again as clouds grew heavy and clashed overhead.
The smoke thinned, enough that I could make out the siren’s shape.
Molly roared suddenly behind me and my head jerked toward the sound just as the human charged at Calista through the smoke.
Oh my God. This was bad. Molly was a supe groupie, not a supe hunter. Calista would eat her alive—literally. Sirens loved bone marrow.
I couldn’t leave Cass and Molly to fend for themselves. As the sky darkened, and the smoke swirled around us, I reached out and fisted Molly’s shirt with my good hand, yanking her toward me with all my strength. She spun off balance and crashed into my chest, taking me to the ground with her on top. I tried not to focus on all the bits that hurt as I made yet another awkward landing. Rolling to the side, I threw Molly off and popped to my feet, dragging her behind me.
‘Time to get the fuck out of here,’ I sent to Cass through our telepathic link.
I’d only retreated a handful of times in my career, but it was time to return another day with more in our arsenal. I didn’t fancy being vampire food, and Calista was way more powerful than I’d expected.
‘You can say that again,’ my furry friend responded right away, sounding like he was moving as fast as his short legs or wings could carry him.
‘I’ve got Molly. Meet you at the car?’
‘Book it, girl. Those vamps are gonna suck us dry if we don’t get out of here.’
He didn’t hav
e to tell me twice. I pulled Molly toward the fence, until I noticed she was on board with the escape and running alongside me. The gate we’d come through had been guarded. So I ran about twenty feet from that spot, and kicked two boards in the middle of the fence down like I was still badass Evie, and not prego Evie with a clusterfuck for a life. Wood cracked loudly, but the boards didn’t go down the first time. A second kick accomplished my intended result, and I side-stepped through the gap with Molly right on my heels.
The cries of the siren and the vamps erupted behind us, but Gran’s smoke should confuse things long enough for us to get to the Jeep. I ran with everything I had left, pumping my arms and whizzing across the long walkway to the bottom of the drive. From the side of my eye I caught a flash of bright purple hair. Good, Molly was keeping up with me.
I’d completely forgotten about my security detail! The two hulked-out werewolves were leaning against the hood of their car, concern etched across their faces.
“Get out of here! Aborting the mission!” I shouted at them frantically.
Brock was going to lock me in a cage after tonight.
I skidded to a stop, bumping straight into the Jeep’s driver’s side door. Cass flew around the hood, and wedged his glittery ass in through the back open window. Two seconds later, Molly and I were also inside. Turning the engine over quickly, fighting the pang of pain from my wrist, I laid rubber as we got the hell out of there. I was pleased to confirm in my rearview mirror that the wolves were right behind us.
Then a couple of vamps appeared out of nowhere—fuck their super speed—and grabbed at the bumper of the car. I squealed, and rammed the accelerator until they let go.
“Gun it, Ev,” Cass urged from the back seat, where he knelt, and watched the vamps who chased us.
For once, I had no problem following orders. I pushed the pedal to the metal, and got us the hell out of there. Brock’s bodyguards were right behind us, but I didn’t stop checking the rearview mirror, until I passed the bulldozer parked at the top of the long road to Gran’s cabin.
