by Raven Steele
“Trouble finds me, what can I say? But we’re fine, thanks to Lynx. And you. How did you know?”
“I told you. I know things sometimes.”
She frowned and opened her mouth to respond, but three motorcycles came into view, pushing the engines as fast as they could go. They screeched onto the dying lawn. Aris, Luke, and Gerald jumped off the bikes before they had come to a full stop. Luke led the way, slowing his steps only when he noticed all the dead Hydes surrounding the home, most with exploded heads.
“I gotta go. I’ll call you later, and thanks again.” Briar paused to wait for him to say goodbye, then slid her phone into her back pocket, trying not to get blood all over it. We were drenched in it.
“Are you okay?” Luke jumped over the dead bodies and ran up to Briar, sweeping her up in his arms.
I stepped back to avoid getting hit.
She squealed. “I’m going to get you all bloody!”
“I don’t care. I was so worried when you didn’t come out. I was watching the GPS app and when you passed through that barrier, you just disappeared. Finally, you reappeared again but you were all the way out here.” He set her down to look her over, his eyes wide. “I can’t tell if this is your blood or theirs.” He motioned to the dead Hydes all around us.
She shrugged and shifted her weight. “Nothing time won’t fix.”
I glanced away, knowing time would fix our physical wounds, but more scars had been added to our minds and souls. The carnage I’d seen, the darkness I’d felt. My gaze slid to Lynx. She was staring at the approaching men with wonder on her face, Aris specifically. She moved back a little, concealing herself in the shadows. I frowned.
Aris and Gerald stepped around all the bodies, their expressions switching from shocked to horrified.
“A little late to the party,” Loxley called out to them.
Gerald jogged up to her, his jaw clenching when he saw her condition. “Are you—” He looked at all of us. “Is everyone okay?”
She sighed, then grimaced as she clutched at her side. “More or less.”
I limped down the broken stairs, wishing Mateo could be here. My stomach knotted at the thought of him, and I hoped he was okay. After what Korin had done to him, I feared Korin might try something again, despite thinking he compelled Mateo back into obedience. I pulled out my phone, careful not to get more blood on it, and texted him. When he didn’t respond right away, I slipped it back into my pocket. I’d find him soon.
I faced where the Hydes had come from. The shrub maze we’d exited was gone, completely disappeared. My stomach burned with defeat as I considered everything that had happened. We could’ve easily been killed today. Korin and the Phoenix’s army was too numerous for us alone.
I leaned against the railing, exhaling a long breath. Naburus hadn’t been at the cathedral, and my desire to kill him had put not only my life at risk, but Briar and Loxley’s, too. I could still hear the Kiss whispering in my mind, longing for carnage and death. The Kiss didn’t care for my friends, and I’d let it control my desires. Guilt scratched at my heart.
I had to be more careful.
I shifted my gaze to Loxley. In more ways than one. With the way the Phoenix had been waiting for us, I’d guess someone had tipped him off. Did Loxley alert him somehow? She’d acted scared when we were there, and she did get us to safety … but then who had told him? Did we have a spy, maybe someone in Briar’s pack? Or maybe it was the Phoenix, impersonating as someone close to us. Dread filled my gut and made me feel ill. I hated being suspicious of my friends.
Aris was bent over, inspecting one of the Hydes. He straightened and looked up at me. “What happened here?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but Lynx interrupted me. “Aris? Is it really you?”
I whirled around to look at her standing on the porch, surprised she knew his name. She stepped fully into the moonlight, looking like a true goddess of the night. She was the only one of us not covered in blood. I shifted my gaze to Aris. He had stumbled back, his mouth open and eyes wide. It was one of the few times I’d seen him taken off guard.
“Lynx?” he gasped. “What are you doing here?”
I glanced back and forth at each of them. “How do you two know each other?”
Aris turned to me. “How do you know her? And what is she doing here?”
The unmistakable alarm in his voice had me narrowing my eyes at Lynx. What didn’t I know?
Briar had untangled herself from Luke and was also looking at Lynx.
Lynx’s expression darkened. “I have every right to be here. Samira and Briar are my roommates, and I came to help them. The real question, Aris Crow, ninth member on the Ministry, is what the hell are you doing here?”
I looked back and forth at each of them, realization dawning on me. They must’ve met at the Ministry. It wasn’t unlikely for members of the Ministry to attend training sessions for new recruits to the Principes Noctis.
Aris scowled and motioned to all the dead bodies littering the grounds, spitting the words, “You did all this?”
Briar laughed. “This is nothing! You should see the inside of the house! It was like the fourth of July in there but instead of fireworks, heads exploded all around us. Pretty badass, if you ask me.”
Aris stared hard at Lynx, his jaw flexing. “Pretty dangerous, if you ask me.”
“Everything they did tonight was dangerous,” Luke added.
“She saved our lives,” I said quietly to Aris. I knew the dangers he spoke of, though. What Lynx had done was closer to the dark side. She was embracing it, and that powerful feeling could become addictive. That’s how the Principes Noctis had gained so many recruits over the last several decades. They focused their training on teaching supernaturals to use the dark part of their powers while completely ignoring the light side. Using one’s powers for destruction and personal gain made one feel free of burdens, which some might say is when they are most powerful. Caring was a weakness, they taught.
But the light could be just as powerful, if not more. Using the light side of magic created a sense of responsibility for others, building a strong foundation and brotherhood that offered a kind of fortitude and tenacity that could be gained no other way. However, it usually took a lot of restraint and several years of training, time we didn’t have right now. I realized in that moment I’d been neglecting this side of my powers. The light was extremely difficult for me to access with the Kiss so close.
Lynx walked down the steps and brushed my shoulder with her hand. I didn’t mean to, but my body shivered as the darkness inside me reacted to hers. She didn’t seem to notice and continued toward Aris, who had already completed a circle around the house, his expression dark, angry even. By his stiff posture when Lynx approached him, much of his anger seemed to be directed toward her.
Luke and Gerald assisted Loxley off the porch while Briar joined us on the lawn. The smell of the dead was starting to permeate our nostrils.
“Do you want to tell us what happened?” Luke asked Briar.
“It was a shit show,” she answered, glaring at me.
I deserved it. I glanced away as Loxley began to tell them how we’d snuck in and found all the prisoners. She leaned into Gerald for support, her voice growing weaker. “We have to save them.”
“We will,” Gerald promised, holding her protectively.
Briar finished the story, cursing when she spoke about the Phoenix and all the Hydes we’d run from through the seemingly never-ending maze. Lynx finished the tale, telling them how she’d sensed us in trouble then also got a text from Angel telling her where we were.
When she was finished, the guys stared at us in wonder.
Luke wrapped his arm around Briar. “I can’t believe you survived all that! Don’t you dare go back without more help.”
Briar looked at me pointedly. “We won’t, will we?”
“No.” I meant the words. I’d be smarter next time. I glanced to the sky. The sun would be up soon, and I w
as hoping to check in on Mateo before then. “We should go.”
“I agree,” Briar said, glancing down at her clothes, her nose wrinkling. “I smell like bloody ass.”
“Aris and I will go with Lynx back to her house.” I looked at Lynx. “We will fill you on everything that’s happened in your absence.”
“Huh?” Lynx asked.
Briar lifted her eyebrows. “Is that okay? We just figured now that you’re back, we need to catch you up.”
She stepped away from us. “I’m not back. I only came to help.”
“What?” Briar and I asked at the same time.
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I have to return to the Principes Noctis. Tonight.”
Chapter 31
“My training’s not over,” Lynx tried to explain.
Before Briar or I could disagree, Aris said, “Yes, it is. You’re not going back.”
Lynx folded her arms across her chest. “Excuse me?”
“Listen to him,” Briar urged Lynx.
Aris squared up to Lynx. “You heard me. You’re not going back. Your training is over.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
A smile tugged on the corners of his mouth until it was full born smirk. “Actually I can. As a member of the Ministry, I officially release you from our training program. You are no longer welcome.”
“I hate you.” She scowled and flipped him off, then spun around and stormed off to the bikes.
“Pouting doesn’t look good on you,” he called after. He looked back at us and shrugged helplessly.
“Thank you,” I told him.
“Seriously,” Briar added. “If she spends any more time with your people, we won’t recognize her anymore.”
The steel in Aris’s eyes turned cold. “They are not my people.”
“Let’s call it a night,” I said quickly, sensing the rising tension. “The sun will be up soon.”
“I’m not riding with Aris,” Lynx called out, and I frowned. What had happened between them?
“I think you’re going to have to,” I said, mostly to myself.
We all found a spot on a bike, and I ended up squeezing between Aris and Lynx, a cold place to be with how mad they were with each other. Ignoring all speed limits, we punched through the darkness, trying to beat the sun. By the way the sky had turned a deep gray in the last few minutes, we were close. But Rouen was close, too.
As soon as we touched the border of the city, we split ways. Luke and Briar, along with Gerald and Loxley, turned toward Fire Ridge, Briar saluting me as she drove away. As soon as we arrived at the house, Lynx jumped off, running away from us like a vampire on fire.
Aris stared after her, a teasing grin splitting his face. Then the first of the sun’s rays kissed the night sky, and we darted inside as fast as Lynx had run, smoke on our backs. Lynx had already run around the house to draw all the blinds. She collapsed on the couch. “I’ve missed this place!”
“We missed you, too.” I stood over her, feeling incredibly disgusting. “I need a shower.”
She stared at me. “You did?”
“What?”
“You said you missed me.”
“Yes, Lynx. Briar and I are practically animals without you. Mostly Briar.”
She laughed. “I doubt that.”
I rubbed at my arms, daylight weighing on my bones. I needed to rest. But first, a shower.
Aris was too busy watching Lynx to notice the sun’s rays beating at the windows.
“I only have one coffin,” I said to Aris.
He didn’t seem to hear me. He was tracking Lynx across the living room as she walked into the kitchen grumbling about being hungry.
“Aris?”
His head snapped toward me. “Huh?”
“I only have one coffin.”
“Not a problem. I’ll find a tight space in the basement.” He frowned and looked to the floor. “There is a basement, right?”
I nodded. “It’s plenty dark.”
“Good.” His gaze returned to Lynx, and I wondered how much time they had spent together at the training center.
“Will you be up for a while?” I asked him. “If so, will you tell Lynx everything that’s been going in Rouen?” With Aris’ modified genetics, he didn’t need as much sleep as normal vampires.
“Happy to.”
“Okay, I’m getting in the shower.”
He didn’t hear me.
After taking an elaborate amount of time to get every bit of blood and filth off me, I dressed and entered my room in the basement, my body aching to sleep. But I found myself standing at the bottom of the stairs staring upward. Despite how I was feeling, I considered going up to speak to Lynx. I had a lot of questions for her, plus I really had missed her.
“She’s already gone.” Aris’ voice came from a dark corner in the room.
“What? Where?”
“After I told her what’s been going on, and telling her again that she can’t return to the Principes Noctis, she insisted on going to see her mother. Face the music.”
Regret filled me; I didn’t want her to have to face her mom alone. “Why did you forbid her?”
He scowled. “Are you kidding me?”
“You’re right. She needs a break.” I sighed and climbed into my coffin, exhaustion seeping over me. “Are you sure you’re okay down here?”
He glanced upward as if he could see through the floorboards. “This is perfect.”
“Goodnight then.” After I closed the coffin lid over my head, I sent a text to Mateo, worried because he still hadn’t responded. I had to know he was okay. When no message returned, my worry grew. I tried calling him, twice, but both times, it rang to his voicemail. That wasn’t like him. Something was wrong.
Groaning, I was about to call Briar and ask her to hunt down Mateo, even calling Angel if she had to, when my phone buzzed. A message from Mateo. The tension in my shoulders relaxed as I read it.
I apologize for not responding sooner. Can’t speak now. Busy. Korin has me on a new weapons project.
I sucked in a breath. A new weapon? I typed back: Are you okay?
I’m fine, but I really need to talk to you. It’s important.
When and where?
Somewhere Korin wouldn’t go. The old St. Michael’s Church on Aspen street. Tomorrow night. Ten o’clock.
I’ll be there.
Sighing in relief, I settled into my coffin, squirming in uneasiness. There was still something not right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It must be this new weapon of Korin’s. But just like everything else of his, I’d find a way to destroy it.
After dropping off Aris at Fire Ridge to join the others, including Lynx who’d arrived there earlier in the day, I drove to Nine Lives for fresh blood and to talk with Rocky. I wanted to know if he’d gotten any more pictures, but discovered he wasn’t there. In fact, hardly anyone was there. Only the bartender and Spike, who was leaning against the bar, his head lowered toward a beer.
“Where is everyone?” I asked him.
He slowly looked up at me, his pupils dilated. I glanced at his drink. It looked like regular beer, but it must have something else in. Scorpion’s Breath probably.
He blinked heavy eyelids. “You look really pretty tonight, Samira.”
I shook him upright. “Where’s Rocky?’
“Rocky’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
His eyes filled with tears, and he took a long swig of his drink.
“Spike! Tell me where Rocky is.”
“The beast took him. I tried to save him, but they just disappeared.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
My nostrils flared, anger flooding my system. I stormed from the bar, slamming the door behind me. Spike hurried after me, nearly tripping over a crack in the concrete. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to find a way to get him back.” In a normal world, Rocky and I would be enemies, but no
t now. He was an ally and an important one. He had connections in the human world I’d never be able to reach as a vampire. I reached behind my jacket and removed the wind blaster I’d brought. I handed it to him. “Use this to protect yourself.”
He turned it over in his hand. “What is this?”
“A weapon that works, but if I catch you using it against anyone other than bad guys, I’ll kill you.”
“Thanks, Samira. I don’t care what the others say about you. You’re alright.”
I snorted and stopped walking when I reached Raven Street and the edge of the property the cathedral sat on. It towered over Hell's Peak, a deadly threat no one knew about.
He followed my line of sight. “You can see something, can’t you?”
The place appeared quiet, almost as if no one lived there. Had I not known what those massive stone walls concealed, the place might’ve looked inviting, peaceful even. I looked at Spike. “Stay away from this area. It’s not safe.”
He stared into the distance, unaware of the great building in front of him. “It hasn’t been for a while.”
“That’s all about to change.”
I left him standing alone on the sidewalk and headed back toward Nine Lives. I deviated from my path only when I spotted an inebriated human shuffling down an ally. After quickly satisfying the hunger eating at my gut, I returned to my car. I inhaled a shaky breath and gripped the steering wheel tight. Rocky was gone, joining the hundreds of others who had also been taken by Korin and the Phoenix. The numbers could be much higher if they had been taking people from all over the country and for the last several years.
I drove across the city to where Mateo was waiting for me. It didn’t surprise me he wanted to meet there. It was only a few blocks from his hotel and also a place Korin would never go to. Korin hated churches. That’s why in our past, we’d sneak off to a local church if we ever needed to discuss something in private.
And yet, as I parked in front of the old stone church, something felt off. I reached up and rubbed at sudden tension in my shoulders. The stained-glass windows in front of me were lit up with soft light, the last of candles burning. A couple walked past in front, arms linked together. Nothing looked amiss, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.
