Blood of a Phoenix (The Nix Series Book 2)

by Shannon Mayer

  I shot my hands into the hood of his cloak, going for his face, his eyes, something to dig into and break so he would let go. The pressure band around my waist that was his arms intensified and I couldn’t draw a breath, not even a little. But it was my hands I was focused on, not my lungs.

  His face was soft in places it shouldn’t be, like it was made of clay, or mud. A vile stench rolled from the hood, like dog shit and rotting vegetation, and I gagged on the smell as I dug deeper with my hands. The gagging cut short as he tightened around my waist once more, cutting off my ability to breathe.

  “Simon.” I looked up at the rope. He was gone, over the top of the freeway. Would he go on, would he try to stop Genzo? What would happen to Bear?

  Thoughts of my boy were all that kept my eyes open while my lungs screamed for air and my body began to involuntarily buck against the bands that held me tightly. I stared into the hood and pushed my hands deeper, farther into the minion’s face.

  “You can’t kill me,” he said. “There is nothing to kill.”

  “Nope, but you don’t like fire much, do you,” Simon said, and the minion spun with me still in his arms. Behind us, Simon held a stick covered in fire and he lit the ground around us, then jammed the flame between me and the minion.

  The flames licked my face, singed my skin. I arched back, away from the fire, and the minion let me go.

  I hit the ground and sucked wind hard, my lungs desperate for the cold sweet breath of air.

  Simon grabbed my wrist and yanked me upright while he hobbled on one leg. “Come on.”

  Leaning on each other, we stumbled toward the rope. I pushed him up first and then followed. The rope was frayed, and still hot to the touch, but it was our way out. So, I didn’t stare at it too hard or wonder if it was going to hold up under our combined weight.

  Hand over hand I pulled myself up, using the knots tied into it to help. Simon reached the top first and pulled himself over the guardrail and I was right behind him. I slumped down on the highway, my back against the concrete. The sun shining through the clouds was the best sensation I’d felt in a long time.

  “That was fun,” Simon said as he slid down beside me.

  “Thanks.” I looked at him, surprised for so many reasons. He’d come back and saved me from the minion. I didn’t want to like him, but the bastard was worming his way into my life. Which reminded me too much of Justin and how he’d done almost the same thing.

  “Now, we’re even.” He reached up as if he would touch my face and I batted his hand away.

  “I said thanks, not let’s fuck.”

  “Sorry, that’s what I heard.” He grinned and then grimaced. “Sorry, again, I said I wouldn’t do that anymore. I’m trying. I am. But I can’t help it if I’m a natural flirt.”

  I blew out a breath, my ribs and lungs still aching. I chose to ignore him. “That was too close. And what we learned, I don’t know if it was worth it.” I closed my eyes. “More questions, and fewer answers. We aren’t a single step closer to finding Genzo. If anything, I’ve made it worse. Those fucking minions will report back that we were snooping.”

  “We still have Talia,” Simon said with a sigh. “Not that I want to go tracing her with a broken ankle, but she’s our best bet. And knowing you, you want to keep going. The day after all is hardly halfway done.”

  I looked up at the sky. Noon, it was noon at best. “Yeah, I do want to find her. But your ankle is shot which means we need a vehicle.”

  My body protested as I pushed to my feet. I looked over my hands, half expecting them to be disfigured after stuffing them into the Shadow’s minion’s cowl-covered face.

  “What?”

  “His face was soft, like clay. There was nothing for me to grab.”

  “Well, that’s frustrating.” Simon gripped the guardrail and pulled himself upright.

  I snorted. “Yeah, you could say that. How the fuck am I going to kill them? And how do I kill the Shadow? I have to guess they are at least similar in makeup.”

  Simon’s eyebrows shot up. “Don’t get me wrong when I say this, because I do believe you are one badass killer. But what makes you think you can kill the Shadow? He’s a guardian of Hell. The rules don’t apply to things like him.”

  I shook my head. “I killed the Stick Man.”

  “You sure about that? You sure he wasn’t just sent back to Hell to rejuvenate or something? For all we know, he could show up and stick you full of heart-seeking slivers again.”

  I stepped up beside him and slung an arm around his waist, taking his weight off his broken ankle. “Maybe. But I can’t change that. We go forward, which means finding a vehicle and doing whatever it is you do to find people. Tracing, that’s what you called it?”

  A sigh slid from him. “Yeah. That’s what I do.”

  I got the feeling he didn’t like looking for people, which begged the question, why did he do it at all? Was money really that important to him? I glanced at him. Yeah, I suspected it was. Probably some hang-up from his childhood of being poor, or living on scraps. That was so often the cases that I saw with abnormals in particular. And probably why I didn’t give a shit about money other than to make it through life. I saw what people were willing to do for it, what they were willing to give up. I shook my head at the direction of my thoughts, knowing I was letting myself be distracted so I didn’t think about what had almost happened.

  The Shadow’s minion had almost killed me, and I had been powerless to stop it. Without Simon, I would have ended up dead, or worse, my soul eaten by the Shadow himself. Neither death or loss of my soul was really a concern, except for one thing. That would leave Bear with my father. If I struggled that much against a minion of the Shadow, how would I fare against the real deal? Fuck me if I knew.

  Jaw ticking as we hobbled down the edge of the highway, I began to make a new plan. I couldn’t leave Bear’s life to chance. No matter what happened, I had to make sure he would be okay.

  Even if I was killed making it so.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Stealing a car in downtown Seattle was ridiculously easy. We hobbled our way into an above-ground parking lot and found a two-door truck that might as well have been a car for the size of it, a truck that someone had forgotten to lock. Funny enough, the thought of going into an underground parking lot to find a vehicle held no interest for me.

  “This is your choice, really?” Simon leaned against the scuffed dark blue hood as lookout while I did the deed.

  “No alarm system, easy to jump, and right now, I’m in a hurry.” I stretched out across the fake leather seats so I was under the steering wheel. I pried off the cover that hid all the wires I wanted and got to work. Less than a minute later, the engine grumbled to life and I sat up and scooted across the bench seat to take the wheel. “You coming?”

  Simon slid in and leaned back, closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “I really need to get this ankle looked at.”

  I glanced down at the limb in question. “It won’t heal?”

  “It will, but it will be faster if I get it set properly and then bandaged. On its own, it might set wrong.”

  “That would be a shitter. Hobbling around on a twisted ankle the rest of your life.” I put the truck into gear and drove us out of the parking lot.

  “You’re a ray of fucking sunshine, aren’t you?” he grumped.

  Did I care about his ankle? I did and I didn’t. Finding Talia was the plan, and from there, I had other things I needed to set in motion. Fail-safes that would keep Bear alive and well, no matter if I lived or died.

  I needed to talk to Noah for that, much as it twisted my guts.

  I dug the cheap cell phone out of my pocket, the one Simon had procured for me. I dialed the last number I had for Noah and waited as it rang through.

  He picked up on the second beep. “Hello?”

  “Noah, it’s me.”

  “Nix, I’m surprised to hear from you.” His voice was cautious.

  “Things are
going down, Noah. Did you ever truly care for my family?”

  He was quiet a moment. “Justin was the only brother I had, Nix. I loved him. I loved your son. I wouldn’t do anything to ever hurt either of them.”

  I noted he said nothing about me. Most telling perhaps. “Then you’re in, Noah. Bear is alive.”

  More silence and then he drew a ragged breath. “You’re sure?”

  “Yes. He’s with Romano right now. I have a job that will help me get him out. But if something happens to me . . . get to Zee. Then it will be on the two of you to get Bear away from Romano. To get him safe.”

  “You trust me?”

  “I have no choice,” I said. “There are not many people I trust, Noah, but Justin did trust you. And I loved him. So, there it is. Will you do that? If I get my ass killed, will you go after Bear?”

  “Yes.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

  “Nix. Let me help you.”

  I snorted. “No. You are my backup. Zee will be able to help you get Bear out if this goes wrong.”

  “Then why not let me do it now?”

  I blinked a few times. He had a point. I looked at Simon and he nodded. “Do it,” he mouthed.

  “Zee is in New York.” I rattled off Zee’s cell phone. “Call him. Make a plan. Get Bear out.”

  “Done. And then you and I need to have a long talk. Please. I will explain—”

  “Focus on Bear, Noah. That’s your job now. Get that boy of mine safe. Justin’s boy.”

  “I’ll fly out for New York tonight.”

  “Thank you,” I said again and hung up. I tossed the phone out the window. Just in case.

  Simon was quiet a moment. “You think they can actually get Bear out? Against the Shadow?”

  “I think the Shadow is going to be hunting for me,” I said softly. “And if anyone can get Bear out from under Romano’s nose, it is Zee. He’s done it before.”

  I just wished I’d thought of it sooner. That was the problem with running full tilt, hair straight back. You missed the obvious sometimes.

  “How does your tracing ability work?” I glanced at Simon, changing the subject.

  “You’re not going to let me get this looked at?”

  “Talk to me while I drive, Simon,” I fired back.

  A snort from inside one of my holsters and then Dinah spoke. “Multitasking, it’s a thing, you know.”

  Simon twisted his face in a grimace and shook his head. Apparently, this was not something he wanted to tell me. “It’s complicated.”

  I waited.

  He let out a growl and continued. “I’m like a hound, not that far off your sniffing business.”

  Which explained why he was so shocked by what I did.

  Simon ran a hand through his hair. “I need to move around to get the scent, and I generally use a circle method, starting tight in one area and then spreading outward in wider and wider loops as I search.”

  I frowned. “But we have nothing of Talia’s to start you out with. No clothing, no trinket.” I needed at least a scrap if I was going to have Abe hunt someone for me. And even then, it could be dodgy if the scent was old, or muddled with perfume or some such shit.

  “I know. I . . .” he shook his head again, “I don’t need something to start with. I just have her name and start searching. Inside my head the pieces come together and then suddenly I have her scent and I’m off, no matter where she is. Unless she’s a Hider and then things get more complicated, but it can still be done. It would just take longer.”

  “Do you need to rest before you trace, or can you do it when you’re hurt like now?” My curiosity had gotten the better of me. Zee had not often let me watch as he used his abilities, and even though I’d hunted abnormals, there were not a lot of abilities I’d seen in use.

  Most of the abnormals I’d hunted down had been monsters hiding in human skin. A few had been spell casters but weak.

  “Son of a bitch,” he muttered and shook his head. “I can do it no matter how hurt or tired I am. Let’s see if I can pick something up. Drive around the city, windows down. And if you see a medical clinic, maybe you’ll let me get my damn ankle attended to.” His eyes and face were sullen.

  I felt a little bad, but I’d put us behind with that little jaunt into the Jungle, and probably gave away our position to the Shadow, and worse, Romano.

  I rolled my window down and the smell of air kissed with rain drops whipped in and around us.

  Simon rolled his window down and from the corner of my eye, I could see him breathing deeply, taking in lungsful of air, over and over. I drove around the tight inner circle maze that wrapped around the downtown shopping and high-rises, and then out in wider circles until the city was a blur in the distance. I didn’t see any medical places and I did look here and there.

  Night fell and the gas gauge dipped under the quarter-tank mark.

  I opened my mouth to tell him we were done for the night, that I would GPS a medical unit or hospital and that we would start again in the morning. I did not want to be caught out in the open with the darkness falling. A shiver rolled through me. The Shadow’s minions could be waiting anywhere, ready to grab either of us. Anger burst up through me and I smacked my hand on the steering wheel. I would not be afraid of them. They were killable like all the others.

  I just had to figure out how.

  “Wait,” Simon said, interrupting my train of thought. “Go back.” He waved at me and I hit the brakes hard enough to throw him forward. I popped the little truck into reverse and we backed up until we were parallel with a long winding white fence.

  “Go down here.” He pointed at a narrow driveway.

  “It’s not going to be this easy,” I said, more for myself than Simon, but he answered me anyway.

  “Nope, it never is. This is just the first glimpse of her scent,” he said. “Faint, which tells me that she’s been here recently, but it probably isn’t her home.”

  I frowned and glanced at him. “Wait. Why are we going in then? Now that you have her scent. Why aren’t we just looking for it again?”

  He shook his head. “Because this is easier. It’s fucking hard to pick up a scent in the middle of a city, and it’s only because you literally have the best tracer in the business that I could even do this much. I’m worth every penny I get paid, and then some.”

  I frowned. I knew only a little about tracers, most of it I’d learned from Simon in the last few hours. Romano hadn’t generally used them because he had me and I was cost-effective, apparently.

  We drove down the narrow alley that served as a driveway. Trees reached over the edges of the fence, the branches scratching along the roof of the truck which made my heart pound in a most unpleasant way.

  “Stick Man didn’t have friends, did he?” Simon muttered, slouching in his seat, dropping as low as he could. I wanted to do the same.

  “Let’s hope not.” I breathed the words out and kept my foot on the gas. I reached one hand under my coat and pulled Eleanor out and held her while I steered. Just in case Stick Man or the Shadow decided to show up. The thought of facing both guardians from Hell was enough to send a flicker of true fear down even my spine.

  We turned a slight corner and the house came into view. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but surely not this thing that expanded out in front of us. The house was a monstrosity as if it had been pulled out of New Orleans’ deep past, with white columns, two stories, and sprawling enough that it could be called nothing other than a mansion. The house had to be twenty thousand feet in square footage if it was an inch.

  I parked the car and the two of us got out. “Simon, you lead here.” He glared at me and I went to his side. “I’ll help you walk. I meant you talk first.”

  He limped beside me. “Put your gun away then. Abnormals don’t like you, remember?”

  I tucked Eleanor away. “Assuming they know who I am.”

  “You stand out, Nix. Even if they hadn’t used your
name in the Jungle, who you are is hard to hide. Zee did a good job protecting you for so long, but that covering on you is gone. Never mind the damn bounty on your head now.”

  I frowned at his back as he limped toward the front door. “What do you mean I stand out?”

  I was human, a normal, how could I stand out as much as he was making it seem? Dark short hair, dark eyes with gold flecks, tight build. But that was all normal.

  He glanced back at me. “Most abnormals have the ability to see someone’s aura if they choose. Yours fucking glows like a bonfire without Zee’s ability smothering it. When I first met you, there was nothing out of the ordinary. And then in New York, his Hiding of you was fading and there was a glimmer of a brighter aura. The bonfire you are was a wee tiny thing that could still be missed if you weren’t looking for it. Not so much now.”

  How the hell was I supposed to respond to that? And how did I make it so I didn’t glow like a bonfire? That was a problem for another day, another time. Right now, we were on the hunt for Talia and I could not be distracted.

  “Not much light here,” I said, motioning to the trees and the shadows they threw.

  Simon grunted. “My thoughts exactly. Let’s try and make this quick.”

  Yeah, I didn’t like how little light was around the house and the grounds.

  The more I looked around, the more my eyes saw the details. The trees that did not belong in the northwest, the croak of frogs and the smell of swamp, the slither of reptiles on their bellies through the loose foliage.

  This place was spelled heavily to look like New Orleans, and to do that meant the spell user had some powerful shit going on. There were only a few brands of abnormal that could pull this off.

  None of which was going to make life easy on us.

  I helped him up the front steps and held him steady while he knocked on the door. He made a motion for me to move to the side and I did as he asked. If he was right, there was no point in flashing my calling card. At least, not until I had to. I pressed myself against the left side of the house.