Reapers for hire.
And then a picture of a scythe and a phone number. The reapers I knew didn’t use scythes, they used whips, but...it had to be them.
“What you got there?” Melody asked. She looked over my shoulder. “Shit. No way.”
“Probably not, but it’s worth a try.” I folded up the paper and tucked it into my jeans pocket. “We can give the number a call after the meeting.”
The doors opened and IEPEU agents entered spreading out across the dusty space, and then the first of the supernaturals began to filter in.
“Looks like it’s almost show-time,” Honey said.
***
Fifteen minutes later and The Circle was rammed with bodies, hairy sweaty, muscle bound bodies. Had every yaksha and rakshasa in the city answered Nathaniel’s call? Melody and I stood on the hastily erected podium with Honey, Victor and Urvashi. IEPEU operatives manned the doors. Many of the yaksha were in their beast skin, clawed and snouted, as if ready for whatever.
Melody tapped the mic Victor had set up and the speakers whined in protest. “Testing, testing,” she said, and then shot me a grin. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”
The murmuring crowd fell into silence. Nathaniel’s call to action had really laid it on the line. The paragraph had been in bold, large script, concise, hooky and to the point. Our missing brethren, the missing humans, it all has a cause, he’d said. You’ve felt the wrongness in the air and now it’s time to discover the truth. We must form a united front, it had said. Come to The Circle and be counted.
And here they were.
Melody stepped back and offered me the microphone.
All eyes were on me now, eager, impatient, waiting. “Thank you for coming.”
“Where’s the Night Owl?” someone asked.
“Are you the Night Owl?”
A yaksha behind him snorted. “She’s not an owl, she’s a fucking dragon.”
It was Marco, standing with arms loose at his side, shirt tight over his bulging biceps. His pack was at his back, bored expressions on their faces. Right, bullshit they were bored. They wouldn’t have come if they’d thought this was a waste of time. They respected the night owl and had come on his say so. I just needed to make it worthwhile for both them and us.
I smiled tightly. “No. I’m not the Night Owl. But he is a friend and I asked him to gather you here tonight because I need your help. The city needs your help. In two days’ time, on the day of the eclipse, our city will be purged by a cosmic god.”
The crowd broke into confused murmurs.
Shit, I was doing this all wrong. Okay, I needed to tell them everything, from the beginning. Taking a deep breath, I chose a face at random, locked onto it, and began to speak.
Long minutes passed, and the words spilled from my lips: the missing human families, the missing supernaturals, our staged kidnapping and the revelation of the cosmic gods in our midst. I told them about the purge, about the uncertainty and about the djinn who had joined forces with this new threat.
“Our gods may have deserted us, but we have the demi-gods—the asura—who are willing to fight for our city and our world. But we can’t do it alone. We need you. We don’t know what form this purge will take, but we need to be ready to act against it.”
The crowd broke into a loud rumble of conversation as the yaksha and rakshasa began to talk among themselves.
Marco was staring at the ground while his pack conversed and then another yaksha slipped through the crowd toward the front. I’d recognize that face anywhere. It was Ravi, the fucker who’d tried to rape me. Man, I wish my dragon had gouged out his eyes.
“Why the fuck should we help the humans?” he said. He stepped forward and the crowd parted giving him center stage. “What have the humans ever done for us? They ostracize us, ban us from parts of the city as if we were rats, and they refuse to employ us, forcing us to take the menial jobs.”
The gathered began to murmur in agreement.
Ravi turned his back to the podium, addressing his fellow supernaturals directly. “If you ask me, we’d be better off without them.”
I saw the exact moment I lost the crowd, the yaksha who’d been in part beast form ready for action slipped back into their human skins, and the noise level wound up a notch. I caught Marco’s eye and he offered me a one shoulder shrug as if to say, sorry, you lost them. But not him. Had I lost him?
Honey touched my elbow. “You did good, but we’re losing them. Mind if I give it a shot?”
“God, no. Go ahead. They may respond better to you.”
Honey slipped the mic out of its cradle. “Hey. Hey!” She raised a hand, her voice a deep resonate rumble.
The crowd began to simmer down.
“Shut it!” Marco roared.
There was immediate silence. Wow. That was some trick.
Honey blinked at him in surprise. I nudged her and she cleared her throat, focusing back on the crowd.
“I’ve never been a fan of humans and their incessant whining and prejudice.” She widened her eyes. “Oh, no. The hairy yaksha is gonna get me. Oh, no. I have a yaksha living down the street from me. And my personal favorite, please, don’t eat me.” She rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I wonder how they haven’t been wiped out by natural selection.”
A snicker ran through the crowd. Marco’s eyes narrowed. Probably wondering where she was going with the human bashing. Truth be told, so was I.
Honey began to pace. “But five years ago, when our world was threatened by the void, we banded together and we protected our city, including the humans who were too weak to protect themselves, because you know what? They may be whiny bitches, but they’re our whiny bitches. And now some motherfucking cosmic god walks onto our turf,” she jabbed a finger at the ground, “with the insane idea of taking control of our humans, of taking their free will. So, I ask you, are we going to let him get away with it?”
There was a split second of silence then someone at the front shouted. “Fuck, no!”
Marco’s lips twitched.
Honey shook her head. “No. Fuck, no. Because they’re our humans, we can hate them, we can terrorize them, we can be indifferent to them, but they’re ours. And this city, it’s our home. And if we let this fucker take the humans it’ll let him think he can take our city. That he can wipe us out. No.” She shook her head vehemently. “That is not gonna happen. We attack him head on, and we go in hard.”
“Hell, yeah!” Another yaksha said, his voice distorted by his muzzle.
Bloody hell she was good. I glanced at Victor, but his gaze was fixed on Honey, and, damn, if there shouldn’t be a photo of him in the dictionary next to the word smitten. Marco shook his head, a smile on his face. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was impressed with her too.
Honey stood stock still and swept the crowd with her intense regard. “So, what I need to know now, right this minute, is are you with me?”
The crowd erupted in shouts and yells of fuck, yeah, and hell, yes. And I think I distinctly heard someone call out I love you.
Honey nodded slowly. “That’s what I thought.”
Urvashi gave an eep.
“Good work, Honey,” Melody said.
Honey’s cheeks grew pink. “Thanks.”
“Seriously, that was awesome.” I nudged her.
“You think they’ll listen to me?” Melody asked.
The crowd was riled up, ready for action, but they needed direction.
Honey raised the mic to her lips. “You guys are amazing. Listen up. If this is gonna work, we need to co-ordinate our efforts and my friend, Melody Parker, is gonna fill you in on the plan.”
She handed the mic to Melody.
The plan was simple. To split the yaksha into patrols based on pack, equip them with comms and weapons, and station them around the city. Handing guns to yaksha was a damned bold move, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and we were going up against the djinn and cosmic gods. It was unfair not to give
them some kind of advantage.
“My name is Melody P—”
The air crackled and the fine hairs on my body stood to attention. Melody snapped her mouth shut, sensing the change in the air. Victor let out a warning yell and then the room was filled with djinn.
8
The djinn appeared out of nowhere, just like Paimon and Alara usually did. But unlike the djinn I knew, they didn’t come in peace. They came dressed in leather armor. They came armed and they attacked.
For a moment, the yaksha were stunned. Blood sprayed as they were cut down by swords and scimitars, and then Marco roared, breaking their shocked paralysis. The beasts tore out from beneath the human skin, and the packs attacked.
Victor blurred and leapt into the fray, his rakshasa form on display for all to see.
“Melody, get out of here,” Honey said. “Get Carmella to safety.”
I shrugged off Melody’s hand. “What? No! I’m staying and fighting.”
Honey cupped my face. “Fucking hell. If you get hurt, we lose our anchor and we lose our only shot at bringing down Malachi.”
Dammit she was right. “But I can help. I can let the dragon out.”
“We can’t risk it in such a confined space,” Melody said. She gripped my arm and dragged me off the podium.
I shook my head, my gaze fixed on Honey. She smiled and then jumped off the platform, morphing into panther form as she hit the ground. The yaksha were putting up a fight and, yes, they outnumbered the djinn, but the djinn were too powerful.
This was wrong. All wrong. Running wasn’t the answer. “We have to do something. We can’t just leave them.”
“We have no choice,” Melody bit out. “Carmella, by running you’re saving our arses. We need you unscathed. Do you understand?”
I nodded, because, yeah, I did. The logical side of my brain was speaking the same words she was, but my heart, every visceral part of me was screaming at me to stay.
She shoved me at Urvashi and pulled her gun out of its holster. “Get her to Vritra,” she said. She turned to the crowd and began to fire.
Urvashi tugged me, and then we were running toward the exit. Ducking and weaving to avoid conflict—conflict that was everywhere. Blood and gore, and more blood painted the floor. I slipped, cracking a knee on the ground and almost pulled Urvashi down with me, but the apsara was strong. She yanked me to my feet and we continued our dash. We were almost there. The doors were so close. And then an icy breeze blew across the nape of my neck and my feet faltered.
Paimon.
“Carmella, no!” Urvashi cried
But I was already turning to face the djinn who’d almost stolen my heart.
Paimon’s face was impassive, his eyes hard and unyielding.
“Paimon, I—”
His hand shot out. He grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up into the air.
My words died, my thoughts died, and then a stream of questions skimmed through my mind. How could this be happening? Could he really want to hurt me?
Urvashi battered at his torso, and he swatted her away, sending her flying out of the exit. At least she was safe, an ironic part of my brain whispered. Dark spots danced in my vision.
He was squeezing. He wanted to kill me.
I opened my eyes wide, locking gazes with him, trying to communicate my horror, my shock and disappointment that he would turn on me like this. His left eye twitched. And then a whirlwind of pale blue skin and shimmering hair barreled into him from the side. His grip loosened, allowing me to jerk free. I fell to the ground, hands at my throat gasping sweet, sweet air.
“What are you doing?” Alara screamed at Paimon. She shoved him hard sending him back a step. “This isn’t the way. You won’t be able to live with yourself if you do this.” She shoved him again, but this time he didn’t budge.
He stared down at me for a long beat, his jaw ticked, and his eyes narrowed to slits and then he turned on his heel and strode into the melee
Alara yanked me up and shoved me toward the exit. “Go. Get out.” She shook her head, her eyes filled with sorrow. “I’m sorry, so sorry.”
“Wait!” I croaked. “Mira...do you have Mira?”
She nodded, lips pursed. “I’m sorry.”
“Please. You have to help her. Please.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. Just go. Now.” She slammed the door in my face, cutting off the sounds of the massacre.
I pressed my hands to the thick wood. “They were dying. They were all dying.”
A hand wound around my waist. “Carmella we need to go,” Urvashi said.
I allowed her to lead me away, my heart a heavy boulder, my chest an open wound. They were dying and I’d called them here. I’d made them come. They’d come and the djinn had found us.
My pulse kicked hard.
How had they found us?
I gripped Urvashi’s shoulders. “Call the IEPEU, tell them what’s happening.”
She nodded, eyes wide and retrieved her phone from her pocket with shaking fingers. Her usually silken groomed hair was wild and mussed, the pocket of her slacks was torn and her panties were visible through the gap. Her pupils were dilated—she probably had a concussion. Dammit.
While she babbled to the IEPEU operator, I dialed Vritra.
He answered immediately. “Carmella? What’s wrong?”
“The djinn attacked The Circle. Everyone is trapped inside.” A sob tore from my throat and I tried to swallow it back, but my eyes were watering now, and I was way too close to losing my shit. I wasn’t a fighter. I wasn’t a hero, not like Malina, not for something like this. This was way beyond me. “The djinn are killing them and there’s nothing I can do.”
He was silent for the longest beat and then when he spoke his voice was a rough, harsh rasp. “You can break down that door and you can kick some fucking ass.”
“The space is too confined, what if I hurt someone. What if I fuck up and the bridge between me and the skein falls?”
“You won’t and it won’t. Because baby, you are not alone.”
Heat flooded my veins, but not the familiar warmth of my dragon. No. This was something new—wild and feral and…Vritra.
“I’m with you and I’m on my way.” He hung up.
My spine straightened and my limbs tingled with fresh power. Yes, he was with me, and our dragons were ready.
My skin prickled as armor sheathed me, and the familiar red haze blanketed my vision. Urvashi let out an exclamation, but I was in asura mode, and her words no longer mattered. All that mattered was what lay inside The Circle. The world shrunk around me and with a roar I charged the building.
9
The door shattered beneath my claws. Another roar had the djinn pausing in their assault. I attacked, swiping and slamming them into the walls and the ceiling. My dragon wanted to crush them with her teeth and feel their otherworld blood pooling in her mouth. She wanted to rend their flesh from their bones, and watch the life drain from their eyes. But the djinn weren’t the enemy, they were just soldiers following orders, and I wouldn’t let my dragon’s instincts overwhelm me. Vritra’s power tugged on the reins of mine, helping me to stay focused, and, yes, it was working. With a bigger threat in the room, the djinn turned to me and the yaksha were given a reprieve, long enough for them to gather their wits and attack the distracted djinn in force. With growls, snarls and roars the supernaturals took back the upper hand. A flash of blue to my left, a brush of chill and I was turning my dragon body to pin Paimon with my red hazed glare.
He locked gazes with me, his mouth agape, and his chest rising and falling.
Yeah, bitch. This is what you messed with. I bared my teeth and emitted a bone chilling snarl. Swords glanced off my hide and someone tried to mount me. I turned my head, grabbed his arm between my teeth and flung him at Paimon. Paimon dove out the way just in time, and my blood fizzed with the desire to hurt him. I advanced a step, but caught a flash of deep red through my crimson haze. My head whipped around be
cause I knew that shade of crimson.
A djinn had Melody backed up against a wall. No! My hold on the dragon snapped as she acted on protective instinct toward a woman I cared about. In that moment, I was a beast, a crushing tornado, a force of fucking nature. The dragon swiped djinn out of the way in its quest to save my friend. Metal scraped against its hide sending embers flashing in the periphery of her vision.
The djinn accosting Melody pulled back its sword arm ready to spear her with the wicked blade. He never made it. We swiped and wicked dragon claws severed his head from his body. Blood sprayed, Melody screamed and for a moment the body simply stood there, blade in hand, and then it hit the dirt.
Melody’s shaking, pale form raised its arms as if to ward me off. She was scared. Of me? No. No, don’t be afraid. But only growls fell from my lips. Vritra’s power surged, and my mind cleared. I’d killed the djinn. I’d torn off his head.
But he’d been about to kill Melody.
But now she was looking at me as if I was a monster. I stared into her emerald eyes and then she lowered her arms and took a step toward me. I huffed. Smoke billowing from my nostrils. She nodded, her lips pressed together and then we turned back to the room, back to the fight.
But the battle was over. The djinn had vanished, taking their dead with them, and we were faced by injured yaksha and rakshasa and the bodies of their brethren. My dragon let go, and the world swelled, taking the red haze with it. Vritra burst into the room, several asura at his back, including Laila and the huge dude that moved like a shadow. I took a trembling step and buckled, but Melody was there to grab me and hold me up. Vritra threw his coat over my naked form, swung me up into his arms and hugged me to his chest. The asura studied the scene, but their faces showed no shock or disgust. These were seasoned warriors, probably used to ten times worse than what was within these walls.
IEPEU agents swarmed the building taking in the damage and calling for paramedics to assist the injured. Yaksha healed though, right? Yaksha healed…
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