by Kim Faulks
She packed up the mess of packets and bottles and then stepped toward the sink. The clang of steel instruments tore through the room as her words hit home.
Guardian Angel…
Gabriel…
My heart leapt at his name. I slid my ass to the side of the bed as Meg handed me my soaked jeans. “I’d offer you some of mine, but I fear they’d just fall off. You need to look after your body, Lorn. You’ll only get one.”
I nodded, grabbed the soaked denim and slipped my feet through. But I was lost, lost to her words…lost to the chain of events.
It couldn’t be luck.
And my mind was filled with the image of butterflies…hundreds and hundreds of butterflies as they smothered the front of my car’s hood.
I pulled on my boots and then stood, testing the strength in my leg. The pain had become a dull ache, gnawing and pulsing. “Thank you…thank you for everything.”
Meg lifted her head, smiled, and dragged her hand to her hip. “I think we both healed each other. Me with my family secret and you with your bite.”
I stilled, cocked my head. “But it was a…”
She lifted a hand. “Under state law I’m required to notify the police of gunshot wounds. Bite wounds, on the other hand, aren’t really their concern, and seeing as I found no real bullet, just a metal fragment which could’ve come from anything, I’m leaning toward a bite.”
I nodded and glanced at the fragment she pulled from the wound. “A bite, yeah. That’s what it was.”
She took the pharmacy bag, moved to her drawers, and pulled out a handful of dressings and bandages. “You’ll need to change the bandage every day and check the wound, then after five days, you can let it breathe. But keep it clean.”
Meg handed me the bag, and then lifted a finger. “Just wait right here.” She strode through the open door and was gone as I looked in the bag of supplies. The crack of thunder overhead muffled the sound of her steps, but she returned in just a few minutes, carrying a plastic bag of big filled rolls and a container of fresh orange juice. “I was going to go hiking later today, but it looks like that isn’t in the cards, so at least the food won’t go to waste. East, drink, clean the wound, and rest.”
I stared at the food and the drink in her hands and then stepped forward. The hug was more for me than it was for her. Tears pricked my eyes as my throat tightened.
She hugged me back, holding me hard, and for a second, I could smell Alma’s peach blossom shampoo mingled with the heady scent of gun oil before Meg pulled away. “Take care of yourself, okay?”
“I will,” I whispered, then picked up the bag, and limped toward the front door.
The words weren’t a lie…but they weren’t the truth, either. I opened the door and headed into the thunderous downpour once more. The only way I could help myself was to help others…men…my men.
Curtains parted in the window behind me as I hobbled to the pickup and opened the rear door. I hefted the bag filled with guns and ammunition, closed the door, and climbed into the driver’s seat. The bag hit the passenger side floor with a thud.
I didn’t lift my gaze, didn’t wave, only started the damn thing and slowly pulled out into the street.
My hands didn’t shake anymore, and the pain in my thigh was numb and alien. I gripped the wheel, forced my foot harder against the accelerator, and pulled out onto the highway as the signs for Killman Bay pointed east.
I hit the turning signal, timed the rush of traffic, and then turned as the phone beside me went beep…I reached out, grabbed the cell and turned it…46 missed calls…29 messages…
Not now…now when I needed to keep my head. The faint scent of salty air slipped in through the gap in the window. I inhaled deep and felt a tremble. Jerry Leander was a well-guarded man. I’d fought my fair share of shifters, and vamps…but none like this. None trained in military warfare as well as the natural instincts of their kind. My fight wasn’t with them.
Trees gave way to buildings. Up ahead, the sign to Killman Bay pointed left. Palm trees and buildings blurred. I headed for the coast as the darkened clouds above became streaked with red.
Rage filled the skies…rage and pain. It roared with the thunder. It slashed with the blinding bolts of lightning. It was hungry and sickening. I leaned closer to the crack of the window and understood.
Salt and sulphur. Hell had spilled into this world.
Beep…
The phone beside me vibrated and fell silent. I leaned over, gripped the phone, and stared at the climbing numbers on the screen. The last text message flashed before it was gone…
Titus…
Blue opened up in front of me…blue as far as I could see. Nine-foot fences surrounded a compound, Keep Out signs on every corner. I tapped the brakes and pulled the pickup over onto the shale shoulder of the road. Scrub brush lined the compound on one side, the ocean on another. Through the gaps in the spindled branches, I could see the sign…Claws for Hire.
This was it…this was it…
I shoved the pickup into park and stared at my phone. Missed calls…messages. Lorn don’t do this…Lorn call me…Lorn…Lorn…LORN…
My fingers trembled as I hit the button and waited for the messages.
Lorn, it’s Rival. Please find this. Titus had a seizure today. He’s still alive, but the doctors are concerned. They’re saying there’s more seizures to come…and they’re preparing for the one he won’t come back from. Lorn, they’ve moved up the date to disconnect the life support. It’s in two days. I want you…no, I need you to come home now. I made a mistake…I made a mistake and I’m ready to do what needs to be done to fix this. I…I…I love you, his voice was raw and savage…I love you, Lorn, please come back to me.
Rain drops slipped in from somewhere to fall down my cheek. I swiped away the slick as the screen in my hand blurred. All the messages…all the need. I scrolled my thumb across the screen…Rival…Redemption…Rival…Redemption…Unknown….
Another message played.
Lorn, it’s Rival. You have to stop this. Get off the streets, find somewhere to hide. Redemption is coming for you…Redemption—I flinched…my thumb smacked the button ending the call.
Redemption was coming. I lifted my gaze to the compound through the trees. Somehow I knew he would. Somehow I knew it’d come down to the two of us.
Blood for blood.
Pain for pain.
I leaned over and grasped the bag of guns from the floor of the car. Could I kill him? Could I even try…that dark pit inside me whispered the truth as I pulled two pistols and four magazines onto the seat beside me.
Kill one lover to save another.
Movement at the corner of my eye. Shadows swept between the trees, rushing toward me…
My hand closed around the grip of a pistol as I shoved from the truck.
Prince Absolon strode from the brush, long legs eating the distance as he lifted his head, and infernal dark eyes centered on me.
You can’t hide…the night hag whispered…You can’t hide from us…
I tried to lift my hand, tried to aim the gun, but I was frozen.
You’re not there…not there…not there…
I closed my eyes, and then opened them again.
Gone was the spindled brush…gone was the compound.
Gone was the pickup.
I stood in the middle of a forest. Dark green moss soft under my feet. Towering trees closed in. One leaned over me. The air was bitter and cold and that foul stench of decay filled me…Unseelie…I jerked with the thought as she came from between the trees.
Her matted shroud skimmed the ground as she stepped, trailing over boulders before it slipped away. Tall, thick antlers speared out from each side of her head to reach for the sky. But it was her eyes that gripped me. Those black orbs filled with sickness and hate.
She lifted her hand, skin over bones as she pointed at me…You can’t win, Lorn…you never could. Redemption is coming for you…I’m coming for you. Open your
eyes, Lorn…I’m coming.
Chapter Seventeen
Lorn
I snapped awake, jerked forward, and smashed my chest against the wheel.
My heart hammered, smothering the pounding of the rain on the roof of the pickup.
I blinked into the darkness and dragged in a shuddering breath.
The rain. The compound. The dream.
I reached for my chest and touched the faint line from the night hag’s nails. Still there…still there…as the numbness faded, the muffled growl of a four-wheel drive echoed in the distance.
My pulse was deafening, trembling my body with each boom…boom…boom.
Just a dream…the words cut through my mind. But I knew that was a lie.
Not a dream, no. A promise…
Headlights cut through the trees to pierce my eyes. I slipped low in the seat and hugged the high windows of the old pickup as the vehicle came closer.
White lights filled the cabin of the truck, spilling across the black steel of the Glock on the passenger’s seat. I clenched my grip around the one in my hand and then carefully reached for the other.
The crunch of gravel slipped through the crack of the window as one four-wheel drive passed and then another. And slowly the Unseelie nightmare slipped away. It was her…the hag. First the truck stop…then the diner—and now here.
I thought she’d come for me when I killed Henry…but it seemed he was right. He was just a pawn in this game…
Headlights splashed through the car as another vehicle passed, this time a little slower. I curled tight, gripping the handle and ducked my head down low.
I waited for the night to rush in once more before I raised my head. A shadow slipped through the trees to my right…someone was there…someone was coming for me.
My fingers were cold and stiff as I yanked the handle and eased open the door. A flashlight skimmed the rear of the truck as I slipped free and closed the door behind me.
Sticks snapped under the weight of boots as the flashlight came closer, carving through the dirty windows. I hunkered low and crept around the rear of the truck, keeping close.
The guns warmed in my grip. I reached around, slipped one in the waistband of my jeans against the small of my back and kept on moving.
The crackle of a two-way cut through the air. “Any sign of trouble?”
I eased around the corner as the guy peered inside. All he saw was maps and a bag on the floor.
“Nah, nothing here,” he muttered into the two-way. “I’ll catch up with you.”
“Copy, Echo One, out,” the voice growled and then fell silent.
“I’m the one who has to stay behind all the fucking time,” the guy muttered as he glanced at the rear of the truck once more. “Next time they can jam it up their ass…like I’m fucking disposable.”
Heat lashed my palm…the call of Hell singeing flesh and bone. But instead of pain, there was a need…power welled inside me, urging me to stand. I took a step, and then another.
The harsh glare of the flashlight blinded me as I stepped around the corner of the truck.
“Hey, you, stop right there!” he roared.
“It’s okay,” I murmured, and lifted my hand. “It’s okay, I’m not here to hurt you.”
“I have a gun!” The guy roared. “Stay right there, I have a gun.”
And the power in me flowed toward him. Hate mingled with power. He resisted…just like I somehow knew he would. This wasn’t me…wasn’t me doing this…wasn’t me manipulating him…this was something else. “I want you to do what I say, okay?”
I stepped closer, his face blurring in the harsh light. “Lower the light, please.” Sparkles danced in my eyes as the brightness dimmed. “What’s your name?”
“Travis, ma’am,” he murmured.
I could sense him how, sense his mortal mind…human…they sent a human after me. Didn’t they learn the last time? “Now, you’re going to be nice, aren’t you, Travis? You’re going to go and get your four-wheel drive from the compound and you’re going to stop here for me.”
“Yes…yes, ma’am,” he answered.
Pain carved a line through my head…stop doing this…the night hag whispered. Stop fighting me.
The sigil across my palm flared to life. Midnight flames burned bright, tinged with blood red. Hell was fighting…Hell was carving through her hold. It was the same power I’d felt at the mountain…the same power that called my name.
“Go now,” I murmured. “Make sure you stop here for me.”
There was no nod of the head, no answer in return. He just turned and raced through the rain toward the compound.
“Jesus,” I muttered, and stared at my palm.
This power wasn’t anything I’d felt before. This was protection. This was strength, and as the strength of Hell flooded my body, I knew this was Hell inside me. It called me…and somehow I answered.
I went to the passenger’s side of the truck, opened the door, and grabbed my pack and the bag of weapons. I’d leave the pickup behind and come back for it later.
When this was all over.
Headlights flared as the Jeep came closer and then pulled to a stop. I opened the rear door, climbed inside, and then tugged the door closed behind me. “Let’s go, Travis. Take me to wherever Jerry is.”
The guard took his foot off the brake and the vehicle surged forward. I wiped the water from my eyes and clenched my fist. Heat flowed through me, dispelling the chill as the mortal drove in silence. I watched the markers, keeping track of where he was going as he turned and then turned again, weaving his way back along the Killman Bay Rd. until he turned along an unmarked gravel road that led deeper into the brush.
The track was well worn, widened at the edges…and out of the way. We drove for what felt like a mile until he leaned forward, grabbed the two-way, and spoke. “I’m here.”
Lights flickered through the trees in the distance as the headlights of the Jeep splashed across a massive gate. There were too many here…too many to not be a damn massacre. “Jerry, where is he?”
The guard flinched at the sound of my voice, turned his head, and pointed to a sprawling timber mansion. “The far right, that’s his wing.”
“How many are here…how many guards?”
“Four inside with him and four more out there.” He turned his head and glanced toward the trees.
Eight all told. Not many for someone like him. I expected more. “There’re others…other guards, right?”
“They’ve gone to Harbor to protect the Captain.”
The Captain? I tried to think as Travis pulled the Jeep up alongside the two other four-wheel drives and then climbed out.
“Wait,” I growled, grabbing my pack and slipping the straps over my shoulders. The weapons bag I could hide, find a way to come back for it.
I scooted across the seat and pulled open the door to stand beside him. “You’re armed, right?”
He turned and fixed dark eyes on me. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Then you’re taking me in there.” I glanced toward the mammoth house. “Shoot to wound only. I don’t need any more mortal deaths on my damn conscience.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered, and then dragged a pistol from the holster at his thigh.
I didn’t want this. Didn’t want others to be collateral in this goddamn war. But that wasn’t my call to make. I could feel the night hag pushing against my power, trying to crawl back into my mind.
I dropped the black bag of weapons, knelt, and grabbed four more magazines from the side pocket before I shoved it behind the rear wheel of the Jeep. “Let’s go, then.”
The guard moved fast, weapon drawn, and headed toward the side of the building. All I saw was the lights in the other wing, and all I felt was that sense of urgency…
Lorn, they’ve moved up the date to disconnect the life support. It’s in two days.
Two days…two days…
My boots crunched on the gravel as I gripped my pistol and follow
ed. Gravel gave way to grass before we stepped onto the stone floor of the patio.
Voices filtered out from inside. There was the bark of command before muffled answers. I hung back as Travis stepped up to a door, turned the knob, and then slipped inside.
I waited for a second and then followed, past a room filled with racks of wine, to a massive kitchen.
“Hey, Travis,” a male called.
A shot rang out, deafening inside the space, and a scream followed. I stepped through the hallway and into the kitchen, catching sight of Travis as he lifted his pistol to aim at the center of the man’s head.
“No, Travis. Wounding only, remember?”
He lifted his head and glanced toward me. There was no life of his eyes, no soul. In this moment he was a puppet and he danced for me. The sight was a punch to my stomach. I hated that. I hated stealing his free will away. But two days, remember? Two fucking days and it was all over…there was no coming back from that. I lifted my hand as obsidian flames speared between my fingers.
The bleeding male on the floor opened his mouth to scream.
“Silence,” I whispered.
And there was silence. There was nothing for a whole second before gunshots broke out from the hallway in front of me. Travis stumbled backwards and then dropped to his knees. Blood bloomed across his chest. There was a look of confusion before he fell backwards and hit the floor.
They came for me…came with their guns and their screams. I lifted the Glock with one hand as I opened my palm. The sigil burned, swallowing fingers and flesh as I squeezed off a shot. The bullet went wide and hit the corner of the wood paneling as the gun kicked in my grip.
I was punched, knocked sideways, and slammed into the wall. The Glock flew from my grip to hit the floor. Pain roared…pain like I’d never felt before.
“The tranq,” a male commanded.
The sting of a barb came at my thigh, the point wedged in tight. I shook my head as they filed in from the hallway.
The first guy lifted a semi-automatic rifle and the red laser danced across my chest. No…not like this…
