by Trina M. Lee
I stood in the middle of the living room, fuming.
“Spike, calm down. I can feel the heat from here.” Arrow stood near the bedroom, forced away by the threat of my fire. “You are not going to die tonight.”
Staring at my hands, I willed the fire back. Wren’s presence had brought me to a point of little control. Had he stayed much longer, I’d have lost it completely. Gradually the flames shrank and finally went out.
I scooped up Seth, checked him over, and put him back in his terrarium. “Somebody will.”
“No. They won’t. We’ll find Cinder. And you’ll beat some demon ass.” Without the flames to hold him back, Arrow came to me. He tapped my chin so I’d meet his gaze. “Spike. You’ve got this. And I’ve got your back.”
I nodded, but I didn’t fully believe him. Doubt took hold of me and shook me to the core. Was I capable of surviving this night? And more importantly, could I do it without costing someone else.
As far as Rowen and Arrow went, I wasn’t quite hitting it out of the park. How could I hold my own in the big leagues with heavy hitters like Wren?
The buzzer sounded, alerting me to someone’s arrival. I rushed to answer it, assuming Jett had been close when she called.
But it was Rowen.
Arrow and I rushed to get dressed. As he turned toward the bedroom, I saw the deep red scratches marring his back. Guess I got a little carried away.
We had maybe a minute before Rowen made it to the door. A whole new sense of urgency had me dressing faster than I ever had. I tugged on underwear, yoga pants, and a Halestorm t-shirt in record time. Finger combing my hair did nothing but entangle my fingers in my tousled locks. A quick perusal of my bedroom and all three condom wrappers had been found and disposed of. I would’ve loved a shower, but that wasn’t going to happen. It would be my reward if I managed not to die tonight.
When Rowen opened the door, I burst out of the bathroom, freshly spritzed with rose perfume. Arrow stood in the kitchen, brewing coffee.
“What’s up?” Rowen greeted us with suspicion. Or maybe that was just me projecting.
“Wren was just here.” I jumped right in. We had to stay on task, and focusing on Wren meant giving Rowen less opportunity to analyze Arrow and me. Or so I hoped. “Jett’s on her way. I’ll fill you both in.”
“Want coffee?” Arrow asked both of us. Leaning on the counter, stirring sugar into a mug, he did a great job acting chill. Upon closer inspection I realized that, no, he was just that chill.
“Yes,” I said at the same time Rowen said, “No thanks.”
Hands stuffed into his hoodie pocket, Rowen eyed us each in turn. Then his gaze passed over the couch that had obviously not been slept on. “Everything was ok after I dropped you guys off? Arrow? You good?”
“Yeah, man. All good. It was nothing I can’t handle.” Sipping from his coffee, Arrow met Rowen’s inquisitive stare evenly. Cool as a fucking cucumber.
I envied his ability to remain so calm. When he handed me a coffee, I did my best to avoid having our hands touch. Such a small thing and so meaningless in the grand scheme of things. But I was hyper aware of Rowen’s watchful assessment.
Feeling the strain of all that wasn’t being said, I excused myself to the bathroom where I brushed my hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. And saw a faint bruise on my neck that were clearly from teeth. Shit.
Through the door I could hear them talking in low tones. Forgoing the ponytail I tugged my hair to the side and braided it, effectively hiding the mark. A quick perusal of my body revealed a bruise on the inside of one thigh and a red mark on my side that brought to mind the sensation of fingertips gripping me tight.
Well, it was still nothing compared to Arrow’s back.
“Why is Spike so jittery?” Rowen asked. “She looked like she was going to pass out when I walked in.”
Arrow’s reply came through the door, still as cool as ever. “Wren was just here, bro. He used Cinder’s feather to break the wards. Of course she’s jittery.”
The buzzer sounded, announcing Jett. I emerged when I heard her enter the apartment. She was all wild wolf eyes. “What happened? Where is he?”
All but hugging my coffee cup, I told Jett and Rowen about Wren’s short but sinister visit. “Now the clock is ticking. We have just a few hours to figure out where Cinder is. And I have to somehow not die and not let him kill anyone else either.”
The entire time I spoke Jett regarded me with a knowing glint in her dark eyes. Couldn’t hide anything from a werewolf. Her sense of smell would tell her everything. Because she didn’t suck, she didn’t say anything in front of Rowen. But her eyes said it all.
“And you don’t know where Cinder kept Wren?” Floppy pink mohawk falling into his face, Rowen ambled around the apartment, like he couldn’t stand still.
“No.” I rubbed my forehead, willing back the headache coming on. “I have no idea.”
Jett sat at the table where she could see the rest of us. “There’s got to be a way to find him. Clearly Wren expects you to. So that means it’s doable.” She tapped long fingernails on the table top, pondering our predicament.
Precious minutes passed as we tried and failed to determine where to start. We couldn’t simply drive blindly around the city not knowing what we sought. A trip to the Black Market was suggested. Someone there might know something. However, if that didn’t pan out, it would waste a great deal of time.
“Koda?” Jett tried. “Can we beat anything out of him?”
“He came here last night to tell me to hide. I don’t think he knows anything. Wren wouldn’t make it so easy.” Tugging on the end of my braid, I racked my brain. I’d been given the impression that I should know where to find Cinder. But I didn’t know shit.
Jett scoffed. “Koda told you to hide? What a pussy.”
A glance at Arrow had me doing a double take. He’d produced a small bag of coke from somewhere and proceeded to cut up a line on the counter.
“That’s helpful, Arrow,” Rowen quipped. “Because we have time for another trip to the emergency room.”
“Dude, it’s one fucking line. If I don’t do it, I’ll be in worse shape than if I do. You know that.” Unapologetic, Arrow ignored Rowen and, using a rolled up ten-dollar bill, snorted the line.
Unfortunately, Arrow was right. Withdrawal would put him in a dangerous zone. Jett and I had agreed long ago that hard drugs had no place in Crimson Sin. It wasn’t my thing. I didn’t love that it was Arrow’s thing. But it wasn’t my place to rag on him about it, and ultimately, it would achieve nothing.
“You just pull that shit out of your ass or what?” Laughter from Jett as she tried to diffuse the situation.
“From my wallet, actually.” As he’d promised, Arrow stopped at one.
That didn’t matter much to Rowen who muttered, “I wouldn’t doubt that there is a bag in your ass.”
The stress headache brewing in my temples began to pound. I wasn’t in the mood to listen to them argue. “I’m not sure I can do this, guys. Find Cinder. I just can’t figure out how I’m supposed to know where to look. And we’re running out of time.”
The clock on the microwave said it was just past eight. Four hours might seem like a lot of time, but the minutes seemed to tick faster in the wake of my uncertainty.
Self doubt crept in. Like a virus it took root and began to beat me down. Who was I to have lives in my hands? A nephilim still coming into my own, a newbie in the grand scheme of things. What could I do?
The sound of Jett’s steady stride preceded the scent of her coconut perfume. She pulled my hand from my forehead. “You can do this, Spike. You’re chosen. Cinder’s been grooming you just for shit like this. He’s trained you, and he gave you the Midnight Star. He believes in you. So you have to believe in you.”
My gaze strayed to the Midnight Star. Propped against the wall by the table, it sat there gleaming in the kitchen light. Wings adorned either side of the hilt. Nestled between them was the am
ethyst stone. One of twelve angel stones. A stone that had been entrusted to Cinder. His to protect. Until he put it in my hands.
“Maybe there’s a way.” Hope soared and I clung to it.
With no clue how to use the stone to find Cinder, I had to try. I picked up the sword and carried it to the couch. Laying it on the coffee table before me, I sat down and stared at it.
The others hung back, watching me in silence.
Hesitant, I touched the amethyst. Cool beneath my touch, it sat there gleaming in the light. But nothing happened. Refusing to give up so easily, I closed my eyes and tapped my fire just enough to bring a spark to my fingertips. “Show me Cinder,” I whispered, pleading with the stone. “Show me where he is.”
Nothing.
I waited, begging silently.
And then something. The stone grew warm. At the same time my forehead warmed as well. In the exact spot where Cinder had kissed me when placing his seal upon me. The warmth grew in intensity but never became hot. An image began to form in my mind. Gradually it grew clearer, until it was a full-blown visual, like looking through a window.
I saw a building. One I recognized as the abandoned hospital that had sat for years untouched. Rumor had it that the place was haunted. I knew it to be the secret headquarters of the Federal Para-Intelligence Agency, the government organization that hunted supernatural beings.
It wasn’t the building itself the stone showed me but the land it sat on. There was power in that land. Evil. And an underground dwelling, hidden from sight. A secret. Hidden even from those who worked within the building.
The stone showed me a bent and withered tree, marking the entrance to the dwelling. An entrance that required angelic or demonic blood. That was what kept it hidden from humans.
And deep within the ground below, inside a place created to be a prison here on this earth, I saw Cinder. Bound in chains, tortured almost beyond recognition, he hung with arms and wings painfully hyperextended. Bloody and beaten, a dagger protruded from his chest. The same dagger that had held Wren immobile in that place.
A cry wrenched from me. My eyes snapped open. “I know where Cinder is.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I’d never been to the old hospital. Having heard the many stories of its history, including torture and experimentation, I’d had no interest in seeing it for myself. Unfortunately, many of Jett’s packmates had met their end inside that building. At the hands of the FPA.
Tonight was not about the human monsters inside the building but the immortal monsters around us all the time. And I was sick to my stomach with nerves. Twice I had to pause as we walked up to the ghostly dwelling. Sucking in deep breaths of winter air, I fought the urge to throw up and pass out.
Despite losing people she cared about right here, Jett talked me through it. She rubbed my back and urged me on. “You were born to do this, Spike. Trust that.”
Rowen and Arrow stood far enough away to give me privacy if I did indeed hurl. They seemed unsure of what to say or do, leaving it to Jett. The tension between them had grown palpable since my apartment, and I worried that might compromise their ability to work together.
“It’s cool. I’m ok.” Perspiration broke out on my brow.
With the Midnight Star strapped to my back and as much fake bravado as I could muster, I continued on. I just couldn’t shake that image of Cinder from my mind. Beaten and broken. My guardian angel. I couldn’t let him down. Wouldn’t. No way. No how.
The tree that marked the underground vault stood on the edge of the property. A metal fence wound around the perimeter. It was ramshackle, knocked down in places, not a real attempt at security but the illusion of it. We paused to survey the building. From the exterior it was dark and quiet. It appeared unoccupied but I knew that was a lie.
“What if they see us?” Worried about a run in with the FPA, I was hesitant to step off the street onto the property. The moment we ventured too far we’d face gun-toting humans.
“I got this.” Arrow stepped forward with hands raised.
Shadows billowed out around him, painting him in a dark cloud. Gradually the shadows thickened and expanded until they surrounded all four of us in absolute black. Blending in with the backdrop of the night, we made our way to the tree.
The ground revealed nothing, just snow and ice packed atop dead grass before the barren tree. I drew my sword and carefully used the tip to prick the palm of my hand. Having no idea what I was doing, I let the blood that welled up fall at the base of the tree. And then we waited.
A hiss began, though we couldn’t tell where exactly it came from. The ground shifted beneath us. A black hole opened up, forcing us back. It was just big enough for one at a time. Wary of plunging into a black pit in the ground, I stuck a hand inside and brought a flame to life in my palm.
A set of stone stairs led downward. We could see nothing.
I swallowed hard and took my last deep breath of above-ground air. “I guess I’ll go first.”
“No.” Rowen shoved in front of me. With a small ball of light glowing in his hand, he started down the stairs. “You bring up the rear.” He didn’t wait. He just plunged down into the blackness.
Arrow was quick to follow with Jett behind him and me last. Between Rowen and I, we were able to create enough light to guide the way. But damn if I didn’t wish we had a freakin’ spotlight instead.
As soon as we’d all made it below the surface, the opening above us sealed. Immediately I felt trapped.
I wasn’t sure how far underground we were when a dank cavern opened before us. The only way to go was straight ahead, where the cavern narrowed into a rather skinny passage.
Rowen didn’t hesitate as I wanted to. Plunging on, he led us through until we reached a fork in the passageway. “Spike?” He waited for me to give direction.
Which way? I didn’t know. Shouting Cinder’s name was tempting but too dangerous. There was no telling who else was here. Wren had to be somewhere.
I closed my eyes and made a gut decision. “Left.”
As we went left I wondered what lay to the right. I continued to turn and shine my fire behind me, ensuring nobody crept along behind us.
We emerged into a large room dimly lit by torchlight. A torture room. Cinder hung on the back wall, strung up by chains that jerked his arms and wings into grotesquely abnormal positions. Blood dripped from various wounds to pool beneath him. His face was near unrecognizable. Swollen and bloody, Cinder’s head hung as if he hadn’t the strength to lift it. The hilt of Ruthless protruded from his sternum.
So there it was. The dagger that had held Wren prisoner in his own body. Now doing the same to Cinder.
This abuse of an angel didn’t fit my version of reality. They were fierce. Strong. Seemingly invincible.
But they were fallible too. And it killed me to see that.
I lunged forward, rushing to him. Afraid to touch him, I gingerly cupped his cheek. As a replicant I could feel the divine power within him. Weakened and crippled but there, his energy struggled against the confines of his physical being.
“Cinder. I’m here.” I turned to shout at the others to help get him down, but they were already on the job.
Cinder’s lips moved but no sound came out. Slowly he cracked open violet eyes. The spark within them had dimmed.
“We’re getting you out of here.” I reached for the handle of the dagger.
A strange, crackling energy encompassed the weapon. Cinder had said it was forged by a demon but with the blood of an angel. A weapon that shouldn’t exist.
The moment my hand touched it, I thought I was being electrocuted. I tried to jerk my hand back, but it was fused to the dagger’s hilt. The power within the dagger continued to electrify me. It hurt so bad I clenched my teeth and wrenched the blade free. Cinder cried out in pain, and I turned to fling the dagger away in an attempt to free myself of it as well. It whistled through the air and stuck between two stones in the wall.
“These chains ar
en’t coming off.” Arrow gritted his teeth in frustration, as he struggled to pry a shackle from Cinder’s wrist.
After shoving him aside Jett grunted and swore but managed to pry it open. Gotta love that werewolf strength. She freed his wrists and went to work on the bindings in his wings.
Cinder slumped forward. Together Arrow and I caught him. Again he mumbled something. Free of the dagger, he could leave. Return to a place of celestial divinity to heal.
“Cinder, go,” I said when his wings were free. “Leave here now and do whatever you have to do to be yourself again.”
“Ember,” he whispered, voice hoarse. From screaming. “You shouldn’t have come. It’s what… he wanted. It’s a trap.”
“I know. He came to my place. But I couldn’t leave you.” Carefully I hugged him, wary of hurting him further. “He said there were others here.”
Cinder hung over Arrow and me, barely able to stand on his own. Each breath he took sounded ragged and bubbly. “A lie. To get you here. He’s already killed everyone in the city with my seal. Except you.”
Perhaps Wren was smarter than I’d thought. He must’ve known he’d never get me here alive by force. He didn’t just want me dead. He wanted to make Cinder watch.
“How did he get out of here anyway?” Jett wondered. “Someone let him out.”
“Damn right I did.” A familiar voice had us all spinning to find the witch standing in the passage entryway. Skylar.
The black-magic witch had married a demon in a weird ritual that I’d accidentally interrupted. She’d hated me since. Although she seemed to hate everyone.
Her demon lover stood behind her. Ransom had served Dash, or rather, they served the same missing queen. But he’d been somewhat of an errand boy for Dash. Ransom and Skylar had been sent after Arrow but found Rowen and me instead.
Unafraid of the witch and her bottom-feeder husband, Arrow sneered, “And why the fuck would you do that?”
