by Raven Steele
“Holy shit!” Luke stared at the weapon in awe. “That is amazing!”
Angel stood up and glanced at Briar. “Are you okay?”
She mumbled something unintelligible and tried to lift her arms.
“How many of those do you have?” Mateo walked over to Oz’s bag and peeked inside.
“Right now, only six, but I spent all day at the Ames de la Terra showing them how to make more.”
“Good. They’ll come in handy when we go up against Korin.” Mateo’s eyes met mine. “Which we will. Soon.”
I nodded in agreement.
Luke had walked over to Briar and helped her up. She stumbled and still looked dazed, but was otherwise unharmed. She lowered into her chair.
“Should we let the fae know?” I asked. “About the college and our plans?”
“No,” Roma said quickly. “I don’t trust them. The less they know, the better.”
She could be right and yet, having Oona at least in the know, could be beneficial. She had a lot of information we might not have, plus connections. “We do need to get Teddy back, though. Let’s get him tonight.”
Briar nodded in agreement.
“What would you like the pack to do?” Luke asked Briar. He was standing behind her, rubbing her shoulders.
She worked her jaw, finding her voice again. After a moment, she said, “Get a team of twelve together. I for sure want Gerald, Loxley, Samantha and Marge on the team. Have them watch the campus tonight and into tomorrow. I want to know if they see any kind of supernaturals step foot there. Also have them keep an eye out for anything Bodian-related.”
“You got it.”
I thought of Loxley. Ever since we’d seen her near the cathedral that night, we’d kept a close eye on her for anything else suspicious, but so far she hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. Maybe it had been a coincidence, her there at the same time as us.
“What would you like the witches to do?” Roma asked.
Briar looked back at me as if I might know.
“Keep working on perfecting that formula to get us through the barrier.” To me, that was the most important thing to focus on. The college was just a distraction. A good one if I got to destroy something of Korin’s, but still a distraction.
“How can the Nocs help?” Mateo asked.
“I wish they could, but they, including you, need to keep their same routine. Korin must not suspect you of being anything but loyal.” I frowned. “Speaking of which, when are you supposed to see him again?”
His expression darkened. “Soon, but he can wait.”
Panic gripped my chest, and my pulse raced. I appeared in front of him. “That’s what I’m talking about! You must do exactly what he tells you. Do you understand? You’re risking not only your own life, but everyone in your covens. Go! Now!”
He blew out a frustrated breath. “You’re right. It’s just,” he took hold of my hands, “I want to be free of him—I want us to be free of him—once and for all!”
“I understand, I do, but please go. Just a little longer.”
His shoulders slumped, and he nodded slowly.
Angel came up behind him and placed his hand on his shoulder. “I’ll go with you. There’s nothing we haven’t been able to do together.”
After they left, I walked with the others to the front door to say goodbye to Roma. Oz had stayed behind when Marge cornered him and bombarded him with personal questions. I should’ve rescued him, but there was something oddly satisfying watching him squirm. Maybe because very little riled him up.
As soon as the door closed, Briar turned to Luke. “Who called you?”
He shifted his weight to his other foot. “No one important.”
“Then why did you have to get up and leave in the middle of an important conversation?”
I wanted to know this, too. It was so unlike him.
He kissed her on the nose. “Don’t worry about it.”
She looked up at him, he was so much taller than her, and she had to bend her neck back to look up to him. “But I do worry about it. You always worry about me, why can’t I worry about you?”
He leaned down to nuzzle her cheek. “Except sometimes, we just simply don’t need to worry.”
She sighed, exasperated. “That’s what I keep telling you.”
He gave her a half smile. “Fine. I’ll stop worrying about you so much.”
She grinned. “Really?”
He laughed. “Not really.”
“Ha,” she puffed, wrapping her arms around him. “I didn’t think so. Really, who was it?”
“No one important.” He squeezed her then kissed her nose again. “I’m going to round up the crew then head over to the college.”
Briar drew her brows together, and I recognized the look in her eye. She didn’t believe him, but she was smart enough not to say anything. Instead, she smiled, “Sounds good. I’ll catch up with you later.”
As soon as he was gone, Briar said in a low voice to me, “Something’s going on with him. This isn’t the first time he’s acted mysterious about a phone call or text.”
“Why don’t you check his phone? I’m sure Oz could give you any information on a phone number.”
She took a moment to think about it, then sighed. “No. I don’t want to go that far yet.” Her eyes met mine. “He hasn’t given me a reason to not trust him.”
“I’m sure he’ll tell you soon enough.” I scratched at the back of my neck, the pains in my stomach becoming unbearable.
She stared up at the closed front door. “Maybe.”
Oz hurried over to us, glancing over his shoulder nervously.
“You escaped her,” Briar said to him.
“Just barely.” He looked at each of us. “I’m going to head over to the Ames de la Terra again and continue working on these weapons.”
Briar slapped him on the back, nearly knocking him over. “It’s good to have you on the team, little man.”
He groaned. “Can’t you call me something else, like Ultimate Brainman or Techno Slayer? Little Man sounds so … “
“Stupid?” I finished for him. “We’ll call you Oz because that’s your name.”
“I won’t,” Briar said. “But I’ll think of something better.” She winked at him.
He eyed her suspiciously, then said goodbye.
As soon as he was gone, Briar turned to me. “Let’s hurry over to Black Glen to retrieve Teddy. I’d like to get it over with so I can have time to go to the college, too. I still can’t believe Korin would choose a college campus to hide his stuff and not have supernaturals guarding it. Something feels off.”
I thought about her words. Korin was very possessive of his belongings. Somehow, he had that place guarded, whether by magic or supernaturals. “I agree. We need to be careful.”
“Let’s go together.” Briar walked with me to the door.
“I’ll have to meet you there. I need to talk to Rocky.”
She grabbed my arm. “I don’t like how much time you’re hanging out in Hell's Peak. That place hands out chlamydia like candy.”
“I assure you, I’m not accepting anyone’s chlamydia. I won’t be long.”
Before we parted ways, Briar rested her hand on my shoulder. I resisted the urge to shrug it off. “I know things are hard right now, and I can tell it’s getting to you, but everything’s going to be okay. We’ve got each other’s backs.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her car keys. She handed them to me. “Take my car. I can grab one of the others.”
I nodded and walked into the coolness of the night, not looking back. Everything wasn’t going to be okay. Didn’t they see that? We were about to declare war on Korin, and I’d fought his battles before.
Very few of us were likely to get out alive.
Chapter 12
It didn’t take me long to get to Hell's Peak. I didn’t waste any time choosing a victim, a man who had already passed out drunk in back of a twenty-four/seven liquor store. The
moment my teeth sank into his flesh and I tasted his alcohol-infused blood, primal and dark energy surged forward.
I drank fast and hard. My nails dug into his shoulders, and I pressed him against the brick wall at the back of the building. Thoughts of cutting him to shreds flashed into my mind so suddenly and violently, I stumbled back, sucking in a great breath. My pulse raced, and my teeth ached for more. He slumped to the floor, his right hand twitching.
Stumbling away from him, I focused on the blood humming through my body and not on the dark energy trying to break through my willpower. It wanted out. Badly.
I waited ten minutes, shaking my hands out and breathing in deeply, before heading across the street to Nine Lives to see Rocky. I expected the back of the club to be crowded by those waiting to get a hit of Scorpion’s Breath, but there wasn’t anyone standing next to the doors where it was sold. However, many of the customers pressed against the bar or dancing kept glancing toward Rocky’s office nervously. Something had happened.
Normally, I’d just walk right in, but the palpable tension in the room gave me pause. I lightly knocked and stepped back. Because of the club’s loud music, I couldn’t hear who or what lay beyond the door.
The door cracked open and Spike peeked his pale green eyes out. He shook his head and whispered, “Not a good time, Samira.”
“I need to see Rocky.”
“Samira?” a voice bellowed from within. “Let her in.”
Spike opened the door just wide enough to let me pass and not enough for others to see inside.
I tentatively walked through, wishing I had brought my swords, but after I took in the scene, I realized they wouldn’t be necessary. This wasn’t my fight.
A man and a woman were on their knees, their hands bound behind their back. Rocky towered over them holding a gun, his face a mask of twisted rage. Two men behind him, equally as big, looked just as tense.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Rocky kicked at the bound man’s chest, nearly knocking him over. The dark-haired man groaned beneath the tape covering his mouth.
“These shit heads,” Rocky began, “were caught giving Scorpion’s Breath to kids and trafficking those same kids across state lines.”
I glanced down at the man and the woman. The thin woman with stringy red hair wore a Walmart name tag as if she’d been snatched from work. Ruby. Her mascara was smudged beneath her eyes and onto her checks. Tears rolled through the black.
The man next to her wore a red flannel shirt that had been torn open in front. He should look terrified, but his cold eyes reflected someone who had long ago stopped caring about life.
Rocky kicked at the man again. “First of all, no one conducts business in Hell's Peak without my knowing about it. And second of all, Rouen has enough monsters living in it. We don’t need to become ones, too. A line has to be drawn somewhere and kids are mine, you sick fucks.”
Though my expression remained even, I was shocked by Rocky’s proclamation. But I shouldn’t have been. All of us drew lines somewhere, even the monsters he was talking about. Like me. And yet, my line kept slipping the more I let the Kiss of Eternal Night rise to the surface.
Rocky looked up at me. “I don’t know why you’re here, but whatever it is, I’ll give it to you if you do me one favor.” His gaze dropped to the couple on their knees. “Well, two.”
My pulse raced, and I licked my lips. “What?”
“I want you to kill them.”
I stared down at the humans. “Why can’t you do it?”
“Because I want them to know what it feels like to suffer under the hands of a real monster. No offense.”
The gazes of the bound humans shot to me and fear widened their bloodshot eyes.
Something dark and cold leapt within me at the offer. A feeling beyond adrenaline. It made every nerve ending hum with energy and new life. The sensation was so powerful, I sucked in a breath, and my fangs elongated.
“Kill them, Samira,” Rocky ordered, his breath hissing past his teeth. “Make them hurt.”
My muscles clenched tight as I attempted to hold myself back. It was too much. Too much blood. Too much anger.
Rocky reached into his pocket and shoved a photo near my face. “This was one of their victims. Look at it!”
My gaze lowered to the photograph. A young girl with long blond hair stared at the camera, her gaze void of life. Bruises of deep purples and blues marred her beautiful face. The lighting of the room she was in reflected against her eyes making them appear paler than they probably were. For a fraction of a second, I saw Faithe in those dead orbs.
The connection was enough to break through my hold on the Kiss. It came roaring out of me, gnashing of teeth and claws drawn. I sliced through the woman’s neck first and dropped my face to the open wound on her neck. I sucked fast and hard while my hands ripped open the flesh on her chest, wanting to feel her warm, meaty insides.
Faithe was gone. My only child.
The man next to me began to scream, a horrible muffled sound that grated on my nerves. I snapped my hand out and tore open his throat while I continued to drink from the woman, my teeth ripping through flesh and bone.
“Enough!” a voice boomed.
My head snapped up, and I snarled.
In a calmer voice, Rocky said, “They’re dead. Time to calm the fuck down.”
He was holding his hands away from his clothing that had been spattered with blood. The rest of the room looked the same, and the men who had been behind Rocky were cowering in the corner of the room. Only Rocky seemed unafraid. I noted the gun in his hand. It hadn’t been there before.
Despite every part of me yearning to continue the carnage, I rooted myself to the floor, too shocked by the horror around me. But the Kiss continued to fight for control over me, scraping and gnawing at my mind. I clutched at my head and yelled, the pain considerable. I’d let the darkness come to close to the surface.
“Tell me why you came to see me, mio amore,” Rocky said, his voice gentle.
That phrase. My head snapped up and instant clarity filled my mind at the term of endearment Mateo reserved only for me. My love. I gasped for air and tears stung my eyes.
“Are you calm now?” Rocky asked, his voice returning to its usual sound, deep and gravelly.
“Those words,” I said, feeling the confusion on my face. “How did you know?”
“I make it my business to know everything I can about my friends and enemies.”
“How did you know it would,” I struggled to find the right words, “bring me back?”
“I didn’t, but I sure hoped it would. You looked like you were about to beast out, and the last thing I wanted to do was shoot your beautiful ass.”
I shook my head sadly. “It wouldn't have mattered.”
He tapped his large gun to his chest. “It would’ve. Rare wooden bullets. Now tell me why you came here.”
I looked up from his gun, a little unnerved that he had it. How many more of those were there in the city? “I need your men to watch the corner of Raven Street and Eighth and tell me when you see Naburus or anyone else disappear there. And get pictures if possible.”
“Disappear?”
I lifted my head and opened my eyes, looking only at Rocky. “Yes.”
“Does this have anything to do with my missing people?”
I slowly rose, ignoring the suctioning sounds of the blood separating from my knees against the linoleum flooring. “Yes.”
Rocky lowered his hand just enough to remove the shirt from his body. Beneath the bloodied t-shirt was a hard and chiseled chest and stomach. The Kiss purred inside me and the sudden urge to screw him was just as strong as it was to drink his blood.
“I have to go.”
“Don’t go out the front,” he said. “Not with how you’re looking. You’ll further scare off my customers. They’re already spooked by my earlier outburst.” He motioned his head toward a back door. “Go that way. There’s a bathroom if you
need it.”
Still avoiding what lay at my feet, I shuffled around them, my body and mind numb. I clung to that feeling as I opened the door and found the bathroom. I locked it behind me and turned the water as hot as it would go.
Blood ran off my hands and into the dirty porcelain sink. I inhaled a hitched breath as the temperature scalded my skin. I deserved the pain it caused.
Lies, a voice whispered inside my head, curling around my mind and heart. It caressed those fragile organs tenderly, urging me to just give up control once and for all. The Kiss would take away any pain I felt. All it needed was a willing body to enact out its dark desires. And in the process, it would protect my mind and heart.
The pain of Faithe’s death had left every part of me raw. Had this happened even a year ago, I might’ve given up control to the Kiss, but things were different now. I had friends. Mateo. The Kiss held no such love for them, but it would want to consume the emotions I might feel should I kill them.
Both sensations tugged at me, nearly rending me in two. I could give up control to the Kiss. Exact my revenge.
Or I could protect my friends from myself.
I looked up, meeting my reflection in the mirror. Blood stained my chin and neck, and my hair had been splattered with blood. For a fraction of a second, I swore I smiled, pleased by my actions. But that reflection was more the Kiss than me.
Curling my fingers into my palms, I struck at the mirror over and over until it shattered, and my knuckles were bloody and torn. As much as I wanted to not feel, I couldn’t let go. Not yet anyway. Aris was coming soon, and maybe with his help, just maybe, we might stand a chance against Korin and the Phoenix. I had to give that plan a chance before I lost myself forever.
Chapter 13
With a full belly, I snuck up on Briar waiting for me at the entrance to Black Glen. I licked the last of the blood on my lips, and watched Briar as she fisted her hands. She closed her eyes and whispered a bunch of gibberish words that didn’t sound like any language I’d ever heard.
