“Zy, about that,” Quinn said, and I knew from her tone I was going to intensely dislike what came out of her mouth next. “Scorch’s going to be coming with us.”
“Like hell!”
“I don’t want to come anyway, lady!” the teen snapped.
“Did you just call me ‘lady’?”
“It’s better’n what I was really thinking,” he said.
“Don’t think I won’t kick your ass just because you’re a baby—”
“Time out!” Quinn raised a hand in the air, and everyone’s voices cut off but hers. Our mouths kept moving, but no sound came out. I hated it when she did this shit. “Listen up, everybody. Scorch is coming with us. He doesn’t have a pack, and he’s far from home. He’s been traveling a long time.” Quinn looked at each of us in turn. “Now, I’m going to remove my sound spell, but play nice or I’ll put it right back on.” A shimmer in the air, and it was gone.
“I do not have time for babysitting,” I said.
“Well, you won’t be. Me and Riley will be training Scorch.”
“How do you know Riley will agree to this?” I asked, but I knew the answer even as I said it. Riley wouldn’t turn down some poor homeless shifter kid. I was the only heartless bitch of the group.
“I agree, it’s the right thing to do,” Eli said. “But what do you think of all this, Scorch?”
Scorch looked between Eli and Quinn, shooting me a glower from the side. “I can take care of myself, you know. I’ve been doin’ just fine.” His eyes flickered for the tiniest moment and his fingers clenched and unclenched, a nervous tick. “But, you know, learning my powers a bit better wouldn’t be too bad.” He mumbled this last little bit.
“Alright then, it’s settled,” Quinn said, looking at me with a dare in her eyes. Scorch and Eli followed her gaze.
I groaned. “Fine, goddamn it. But if anything bad happens, I am not responsible!”
“No one’s asking you to be,” Quinn said.
Scorch and I gave each other one last stare down.
“Okay, we’d better be getting back to Dublin,” Eli said.
“I’ll drive,” Scorch and I said simultaneously.
“Fat chance, kid,” I added, and we glared some more.
Quinn rolled her eyes. “I’ll be driving, thanks.”
We hiked back to the truck and climbed in. It rumbled to life, well, half-life. The thing was two tires in the grave already. The sound probably alerted half the county. As we pulled away from the manor, I cast a look back to the hills beyond. They looked empty, peaceful, or seemingly so. I knew better. Olga was up there, watching, and the cold truth in my gut told me this was only the beginning.
Luckily, Quinn soon pulled me from my dark thoughts. “I think I can track him with a spell,” she announced.
“Ambriel?” Eli asked.
“Yeah.”
“Who’s Ambriel?” Scorch asked.
I groaned and slouched against the dirty window as Quinn and Eli patiently explained our little predicament. This was exactly what we needed—a dumb teenaged sidekick asking a million questions. The countryside rolled past in midnight hues. Trees and meadows, crumbling stone walls and old graveyards with Celtic crosses.
“I’ve never tried to track an angel before,” Quinn said, continuing her initial line of discussion, “and I haven’t done many spells over great distances, but it should be fairly straight forward. Like the location spell I did on Alexander a couple months ago.”
I stiffened at the sudden mention of my ex. Yeah, if there was a scale for evil exes, ranging from “Mildly Psychotic” to “Nuclear Level Bad News”, he busted the barometer at “Soul-ripping Relationship Apocalypse”. It was definitely past time to find and punish him for his many crimes. But first, the missing angel. “Wouldn’t HR headquarters have already tried something like that?” I asked.
“Casting spells isn’t exactly a usual practice for us,” Eli said, his tone somehow patronizing and sheepish at the same time.
“Well, there’s always a first time,” Quinn said cheerfully, shooting him a smile.
“So how exactly did you guys all meet?” Scorch asked. “Seems weird for a witch and a whatever-she-is—” he nodded toward me “—to be working with the angels.”
“I’m Anam Gatai,” I said. “I eat souls.” At this last bit I pasted a predatory smile on my face and watched to see if it made Scorch squirm, but he was a stoic little bugger.
“Zy and I met about a decade ago,” Quinn said. “Along with our other friend Riley, who you’ll be meeting soon.” She looked over at me and a faint smile played over her lips. “I suppose you could say we got thrown into a sticky situation and had to figure a way out of it. We’ve been inseparable ever since.”
Eli and Scorch both shot us curious looks, clearly wanting more details. “It’s a long story. And not necessarily kid appropriate,” I said. “Another time.”
“I’ve heard and seen worse than whatever you got,” Scorch said. “Trust me.”
Quinn shot me a dark look like it was my fault the kid had a traumatic past.
We rode the rest of the way back to the bar in silence. It was a couple hours before midnight when we finally got back. Riley and Donovan came out back to greet us, our presence announced by the loud-ass truck.
“It looks like you found someone after all,” Riley said as we all piled out. “But not an angel.”
“Definitely not,” I said with a smirk at the punk rock shapeshifter.
“Scorch needs our help—” Quinn began, but she didn’t get to finish.
Gus had walked out the back of the bar, and at the sight of him Scorch let loose a growl. A wave of heat flared out from the kid’s body. The ring of red around his irises glowed molten, and a shiver rolled over him. His skin began to glow, not on the outside, but as if he had fire burning on the inside pushing its way out. What the hell kind of shifter was he?
“Scorch,” Quinn said in a soothing voice. “This is our friend Gus. He’s not going to hurt you.”
“He’s a dragon shifter,” Scorch said. His voice had changed, it sounded like the fanning of flames from an inferno, heat and wind wrapped around words.
“Yes, and he’s a good guy. Whatever dragon shifters may have done to you in the past, he’s not one of them,” Quinn continued.
Scorch nodded and gulped. “Okay,” he said, but the glow of his body intensified. It was so hot in the space around him that I took a step back.
“Scorch, can you send your inner animal back?” Riley asked, his voice calm like Quinn’s.
After a moment the kid said, “I don’t know.” His voice shook.
“Okay, I’ll talk you through it,” Riley said. “Close your eyes.”
Scorch looked over at Riley, doubt and terror in his expression, but after a brief hesitation he snapped his eyes shut.
“Good. Now, think of something that calms you. The ocean. A forest.”
“Forests burn,” Scorch said. He kept his eyes shut, but swung his head back and forth violently. A flash of light rippled out from his body.
“No problem, dude, the ocean then. Or the night sky. Big, vast, dark. Cold, cold stars, millions of miles away.” Riley’s voice sounded hypnotic, a lullaby.
The glow from Scorch’s body began to fade.
“Good. Keep focusing. Almost there.”
Scorch no longer looked like a human-shaped fireball. The last of the light left his skin.
“Great job, Scorch. Now, in a moment you’re going to open your eyes. You’re among friends here. We’ve got your back. Go ahead and open your eyes when you’re ready.”
Several moments later Scorch opened one eye, tentatively, and then the other. The ring of fire around his irises had paled to only a slight burn, like a setting sun dipping below the horizon. He looked around at each of us in turn, an expectant expression on his face like he was about to be shown the door.
“Phoenix, huh?” Riley asked. “That’s cool, I’ve never met a phoenix be
fore.”
Huh. Neither had I. Now his name made perfect sense.
Scorch stiffened, then the breath left his body in a big whoosh. “Thanks, man. I’m not quite used to my powers yet.”
“Well, why don’t we find you a room upstairs, and you can tell me all about it,” Riley said.
Quinn beamed at Riley and followed the two of them toward The Drunken Dragon, proud parents herding their offspring. Gus seemed completely unfazed, as if some hormonal teen hadn’t nearly just burnt all of us to a crisp because he had something against dragon shifters. Then again, I’d probably be that chill when I was pushing a thousand years. Maybe.
“That was close,” Donovan said with a chuckle, wrapping me in a hug.
“Yeah. I didn’t really want a tagalong on the mission, but I got overruled. He’s an annoying little shit if you ask me.”
Donovan looked down at me. “Really? He didn’t seem too bad. He’s just been through a lot. You can read it in his eyes.”
“Eh, whatever. I’m not that into kids. But Riley and Quinn can play parent if they want, as long as it doesn’t mess up what we came here to do.”
Something flickered in Donovan’s gaze, but he didn’t say anything else.
“So, what did you two learn while we were gone?” Eli asked, looking over at Donovan.
“Not much, I’m afraid. The horse shifter went missing around the same time as Ambriel, we got that much. Same sort of thing—no signs of struggle, no notes left behind, nothing odd. She just disappeared after work.” Donovan shook his head. “It’s odd. Two disappearances with zero evidence.”
“Three,” I said, and told him about our run-in with Pan.
“So it seems someone is kidnapping supes,” Donovan said.
“Yes, that’s what I think,” Eli said, looking over at me smugly.
I shrugged. “Perhaps. I know I suggested it, but something’s just not sitting right with me. I don’t know what it is yet.”
“The NHTF is definitely putting some major pressure on the supe community,” Donovan added. “We saw several patrols in Humvees, and they were bringing people in for questioning. It’s got everybody pretty stirred up. Tensions are running high.”
“Do the horse shifters still think the dragon shifters took their missing woman?” Eli asked.
“It’s a mix. Since me and Riley told them an angel is missing too, some of them have come off that. Others are holding onto it. They are old enemies, the horses and the dragons. Pretty much anything goes wrong and they point fingers at each other. I doubt that little fight the other night was the last.”
We all contemplated things for a few moments in silence. Then Eli said, “I’m going to go get Quinn to try that locator spell. Hopefully they have Scorch settled in.”
A few minutes later we were all crammed into Quinn and Riley’s room, and Quinn made the traditional salt circle, standing in the middle and holding the feather in her palm. Scorch watched from the door, trying not to look too interested. She closed her eyes and a buzz of magic flowed over us, tickling along my skin. Her eyes moved rapidly under her eyelids. After a moment, the level of magic in the room increased, and it started to get warm. Beads of sweat formed on Quinn’s brow, and her lips turned down in a rare frown. Finally, after another couple minutes, she opened her eyes, her expression puzzled.
“There seems to be something counteracting my spell.” Her golden eyes found each of ours in turn. “I’m able to get a lock on him for a half moment, but before I can see his location it’s like I get thrown onto a merry-go-round at full speed and spun all around. Each time I hone back in it happens. I’ve never had anything like that happen before. Sorry,” she said, directing the last at Eli.
He forced a smile. “Thanks for trying.”
“I’m not giving up,” she said, her expression growing fierce. “I just need to find a spell to counteract their counteraction.”
“And how are you going to go about doing that?” I asked.
“They have an extensive section of magical texts at the Trinity College Library.” She looked at me as if I should have known this. “I need to do a bit of searching and see if I can find something.”
“You could just use the Internet,” Riley suggested.
Quinn let out an imperious harrumph. “I hardly trust the Internet for spells of this magnitude. It’s hefty magic. Like a hacker bypassing a magical firewall.”
“Well, we can go to the library tomorrow,” Eli said.
“Tomorrow being the key word,” I said. “I’m ready to hit the sack.”
We said our good nights. Scorch apparently had the room at the opposite end of the hall from ours, next to Riley and Quinn, which was good by me in case he decided to go nuclear again. Donovan and I went to our room. I got in the shower and washed away the day, especially the memories of Olga. Tomorrow, in addition to library duty, I needed to find a meal. Working these cases with Eli made me extra hungry, and I needed a hundred percent of my focus.
I was almost done when the door cracked open and Donovan slipped in, completely in the nude. My favorite kind of man. He stepped into the shower, the hot water pelting down over his glorious muscles.
“I missed you today,” he murmured, twining his fingers into mine and gently pressing me against the tile wall.
I kissed the side of his neck and tugged at his earlobe with my teeth. “How much?” I said breathily into his ear.
And he proceeded to show me how much he’d missed me. Three times in a row.
Burning. Something burning in the night. Voices, low and velvety. Laughter. Pain.
A village burning, under a starry night. The flames licked higher and higher, into the sky, until the whole world seemed red and gold. They changed, became softer, silkier, curls of red instead of jagged, flashing pillars of heat and light. Olga, laying across the sky, consuming everything, laughing as she claimed the soul of the world. Her eyes were mountains of granite, staring me down. You are mine. You had to know this would happen if you ever came back.
And suddenly her eyes were wrong, the gray morphed to purple, the purple faded to lavender. The red had also leached out of her hair, and now it was gold, spreading across the universe, a sparkling treasure. We can fight her, Lucifer said, smiling. I can give you the power. You and I together, we will destroy her.
Pain then, and blackness. No more stars, no more Olga, no more Lucifer, just a searing pain.
I jolted upright in bed, my hand flying to my katana. My heart galloped inside my chest and sweat drenched my body.
“What’s the matter?” Donovan mumbled next to me, his voice muffled in the sheets.
“Nothing. Just a dream.”
I couldn’t remember what the dream had been about, only how it had made me feel. Helpless, trapped. Alone.
We really needed to find this angel and get the hell out of here.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Dawn called to me in my sleep, and I woke before the first rays of sun had pierced the sky. I got out of bed quietly, dressed and went outside. It was early, but I really needed to feed.
As I walked the hushed streets, I sent my power out like a fishing net, searching, sensing. It rippled as it touched souls here and there, some still sleeping in their beds, others up and getting ready for work. The purity of the souls (or lack thereof) came to me in shades, from white to black. There really were more white souls than one would think given society today. It wasn’t like you accidentally ran over the neighbor’s mailbox and you got a stain on your soul. You had to do something pretty major. I didn’t bother reading the white and gray souls. It was the black ones I went for, the thick, oily slug-like souls. Those I had no choice but to read, because after I consumed them, I had to relive all their worst deeds. Which is just about as much fun as getting hit by a train at a thousand miles an hour.
And there—as I walked along the street my net of energy snagged on a particularly black soul. I moved toward it cautiously. It was about half a block away to the west. As I appro
ached, I realized that my target was still inside their house. I cursed under my breath. That’s what I got for hunting this early in the morning. Late at night was much better for this sort of thing, when the baddies were out doing their own hunting. Usually I let them come to me—a female, alone, flashing them an inviting smile. It was ridiculously easy.
I could have continued walking and looked for another soul, but curiosity got the better of me. What had this person done, who lived in this strip of dilapidated townhouses with the other residents of Dublin? Without meaning to, I honed in on the soul. Her life started coming in flashes. I was startled—I had previously never been able to look in on someone before I took their soul. The images kept coming, and I realized with yet another jolt of surprise that I was tuning in to her thoughts at this very moment.
She took the poison from behind the washing machine. Tasteless, odorless. It would work just like it had on her three previous husbands. Then she’d get the insurance money. Though this one had gotten her knocked up before everything was in place… so she had the baby to deal with, too, which was very inconvenient. She couldn’t poison them both without raising suspicion, so she’d have to think of something more creative for the little joy-sucker.
I pulled back, reeling from the black void I’d entered. A true sociopath, lacking any emotion whatsoever. A shiver tickled my spine.
I’d never entered a person’s house before while hunting. But if I didn’t do something soon, psycho-chick’s husband was going to bite the dust and there’d be no one left to protect the baby. Why was I the savior of so many damn kids lately? I looked up into the golden square of light coming from the kitchen. The rest of the windows were dark, as were many of the other homes on the street. Just a few lights on here and there as the earliest risers moved about.
Let there be dark.
I kneeled on the street and called on my power. It wasn’t a huge shocker when it responded weakly, causing a mere flicker in the streetlights. I didn’t often use it for anything beyond basic tried-and-true spells, so it was out of practice. I could imagine Quinn chastising me about it, as if she were my conscious perched on my shoulder. Above me, I could hear the woman humming as she moved about the kitchen. I ground my teeth together and reached deeper.
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