Alexa O'Brien, Huntress 09 - Forget About Midnight

by Trina M. Lee

  A sudden and sharp pain in my middle doubled me over. My heart squeezed painfully, and I clutched my chest. Shya’s thick, murky demon power slithered over me, coiling like a snake around my heart. I was on my knees before I realized what hit me.

  Shya stood there unmoving, eyes flashing with malice. “You will be sorry you crossed me. I am very patient. I can wait for the right time. It’s not my intent to destroy you. I want to make you suffer. All I have is time. And now, so do you.”

  He released me from his hold, and I collapsed on the floor next to one of the dead frat guys. For a moment I thought I might vomit. Shya’s power was easier to bear than when I’d been mortal, but it was no less nauseating or intimidating.

  I looked into the vacant, dead stare of the corpse at my side, and I saw who I was now. With that moment of raw awareness came an epiphany. Shya didn’t know me, nor had he ever. I was just beginning to really know myself. I was dark to the core, but I was light too. Willow had given himself to ensure the dark could not wholly consume me. I couldn’t let his sacrifice be in vain. Again it became very clear that to give in to my dark side would be the ultimate failure.

  “Revenge, Shya? That’s really a priority for you right now?” I shoved to my feet and wiped my hands on my clothing. “Well then I might as well make it worthwhile. Things have changed. I’m not going to get you the dreamwalker I owe you.”

  Taunting the demon was not in my best interest. I didn’t care. Shya would never be satisfied. He would always want something from someone. Somehow I would find a way to stop being one of them.

  There was a noise at the top of the stairs. Kale stood there with a body at his feet. Other than a few disheveled hairs out of place and a smear of blood down the side of his face, he appeared just as well put together as he had when we’d arrived.

  “Good of you to join us, Kale,” Shya greeted him with a nod. He watched with curiosity as Kale descended the steps. “We were just discussing the dreamwalker Alexa owes me. You know, the debt she accepted on your behalf.”

  The debt that would never go away. I’d only worn Shya’s mark for a few months, but it felt like much longer. Still, he would’ve killed Kale, and if he resorted to that tactic now, I knew I would do anything he wanted.

  “Are you still on about that damn dreamwalker?” Kale moved with undead grace that drew my appreciative gaze. He joined me as I stood facing off against the demon. “You should just cut your losses and move on.”

  The sound of feathers ruffling was both soothing and threatening in the quiet. Shya stretched his wings before resettling them against his back. I eyed him warily. The Japanese man he appeared to be was a total lie. I’d seen him become a massive, terrifying dragon.

  “The dreamwalker is not the point. It is the fact that Alexa owes me a debt. A debt that will be paid.”

  “So why not just strike a new deal?” Kale suggested. “How much can the dreamwalker really mean to you now anyway? I doubt it’s your biggest concern at the moment.”

  I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that. I liked it even less when Shya appeared to consider it. Giving him a person had never been something I was ok with doing. Part of me had hoped I’d find a way out. But anything Shya would take instead couldn’t possibly be any better.

  Shya pondered me for far too long. I couldn’t help feeling like Kale had just sealed my fate. Finally, the demon shrugged and said, “What do you think, Alexa? Are you willing to change the terms of our deal?”

  I laughed, a bitter sound that left a sour taste in my mouth. “That depends on what kind of change you have in mind.”

  “Oh, there are many things I’d love to have you give me. However, what I’d like most is for you to ally with me. As the vampire queen of the city, you have many powerful creatures at your disposal. I still need the vampires and the wolves. Which if I can recall correctly, you already promised to me.” Shya stood there, openly gloating and loving my growing rage.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I snarled. My fingers crackled with power demanding to be used. “I said I would make connections with them. And I have been. But not for you. Never for you. I will never be your ally, and I will never rally the vampires and werewolves for you.”

  Shya nodded and beamed happily. He’d expected this reaction. “Then a dreamwalker it is. Your month has become less than three weeks I’m afraid. Better get on that.”

  “Or what?” My entire body hummed with the force surging inside me, seeking to be released. We’d had a similar conversation recently. “You threaten my sister? Please tell me you have a new threat at least.”

  A shadow enveloped Shya. His face went blank as he stared at me. He moved unseen, one moment several feet away and the next, slamming me into a blood-spattered wall.

  His hand on my throat didn’t affect me as it once would have. I didn’t need to breathe. It still hurt like hell when he smacked my head off the wall with enough force to crack the stud behind the drywall.

  Kale moved to intervene, but Shya flung out his free hand, nailing Kale with a hot blast of demon power. He never took his red gaze from me as he glowered into my face.

  “Don’t provoke me, Alexa. I have very little left to lose at this point. I don’t doubt that your demon will surface soon enough and still attempt to protect you. But demons can’t interfere in another’s deal.” Shya pressed close, pinning me with his body, making me feel the overwhelming pressure and heat of the power he could so easily scorch my insides with. “And Willow can’t protect everything you love.”

  I understood his meaning, loud and clear. He didn’t have to hurt me. He could make me suffer by hurting others. My mind went immediately to Kylarai and the baby she was carrying.

  “I get it, Shya. You’re the bigger bad. Fine. You’ll get your dreamwalker. Now get the fuck out of my face.” My voice was hoarse due to his hand crushing my windpipe.

  My power ran at a much higher frequency than it had as a mortal. Holding it back began to hurt. Using it felt so much better. It burst out like a caged beast finding a weakness in the bars that held it. It hit Shya dead center, and I braced for the moment it would throw him off me. That never happened.

  Anticipating the hit this time, he took it into him, absorbing the blow. His eyes flashed an angry, deep red. “Well I’ll be damned. That actually hurt. A lot. Good for you, Hound. You might actually be a force to be reckoned with.”

  “Thanks for noticing, demon,” I spat, giving him a shove. “But I already was. I stopped you, didn’t I?”

  “With the help of Falon’s sword. Don’t make the mistake of getting too cocky for your own good.” Baring his perfect teeth in an ugly grimace, Shya grabbed me by both arms and threw me. I let out a yelp as I sailed through the air, arms flailing. My back cracked against the side of the island counter in the kitchen. I hit the floor, landing in a puddle of blood.

  It took several tries before I could suck enough air into my lungs to force words out. Being a vampire didn’t eliminate pain, though I was appreciative of the speedy healing. “Motherfucker.”

  I met Kale’s gaze across the distance where he stood with a ball of silver fire blazing in his palm. With a slight shake of my head, I pushed to my feet. We couldn’t take on Shya and win. Our only choice was to let it go. Vengeance against Shya would come, but it would have to be some other way.

  “You should leave now.” Shya tugged at the cuffs of his suit, as if throwing me around had rumpled it again.

  “Me?” I gaped at him. “You’re the uninvited party. You can’t kick me out of my own murder scene.”

  Shya surveyed the room with a strange little half smile that reflected some inner thought he wasn’t about to share. “Had you planned on staying until the FPA shows up? I assume Briggs will resume tracking you once your vampire is done with him.”

  I clutched the edge of the island counter behind me. A piece of the faux stone broke off beneath the pressure of my grip. “Wait, what?”

  “Arys is playing with Agent Briggs to
night. At this very moment he’s luring a team of Briggs’s men into a massacre in the River Valley. I’m sure it will be spectacular.”

  I tried to feel something like shock or surprise. But it was Arys, and I felt no surprise at all that he would do something so dire. He was taking on Briggs as a ploy to throw the Feds off my trail. He was doing it to protect me.

  Turning away from the sight of Shya’s eagerly expectant stare, Kale’s neutral calm, and the mess of blood and bodies, I leaned on the island and drummed my fingers atop the bottle-littered surface. I just needed a moment to gather my thoughts and to blink back the blood tears that filled my eyes.

  The yearning that seized me was sudden and unbearable, bordering on painful. It was an emotional pain though, rooted in the very essence of who I was. I choked back the ragged groan that stuck in my throat. My energy would betray me if I didn’t numb out the agony of longing for Arys.

  “So why do you want me to leave?” I spun back to face Shya, careful to avoid eye contact with Kale. “What are you up to?”

  “You don’t really want to know.” Shya’s expression was purposefully vacant. He was toying with me.

  The way he was looking at the carnage gave me an uneasy feeling. I sighed and checked to make sure I had everything that I’d come in with. “You’re right. I don’t. But tell me anyway.”

  Shya appeared to consider. Then with a short nod and a raised brow, he said, “Lucky for you, I have many uses for the death energy lingering in this house. I’m going to reap all that I can as soon as you go on your merry way. I may even clean up your mess. Or I may just leave it for Briggs. I haven’t decided yet.”

  It was strangely fascinating to me that both Shya and Briggs worked to conceal supernatural activity from human eyes. A demon and a man shouldn’t have the same agenda. Although I suspected that their motivations were different.

  Briefly I considered arguing. It wasn’t worth it. Shya was exhausting merely because he always had a retort or a countermove. And he never ran out of things to say.

  Stifling an exasperated sigh, I made my way toward the door. This night had gone from a little mad to downright batshit crazy. I was so done with it.

  Kale went ahead of me to scope out the exterior. If Briggs was dealing with Arys then he was not going to be a problem for us tonight. I trusted Shya would not allow the police to discover such a scene. It was important to him to keep the creatures of the night a myth, a Hollywood trope dredged up from old folklore. Either way, I was beyond caring. Human authorities were the least of my current worries.

  “Hey, Shya,” I paused, wrestling with the question that rose up from the place where I stored my personal fears. “The Dragon Claw… is it useless to me now? Do you want it back?”

  Asking the demon any question that I wanted a truthful answer to was more than a little stupid. Still, I needed to know. The Dragon Claw had been created to kill vampires. It didn’t even need to pierce the heart. It lay inside its velvet-lined box in the trunk of my car, untouched. I had been too wary to touch it since I turned.

  “Of course not,” he snapped, looking to the ceiling as if unable to comprehend my idiocy. “It was created for you, with your DNA. If a slight slip of the blade is what’s got you worried, then let me assure you that it would take much more than that to kill you. That dagger knows you. I designed it that way.”

  He could have been lying, but my gut told me he spoke the truth. Shya didn’t really want me dead. It would rob him of the chance to torment me.

  “It’s all clear,” Kale announced from the front step.

  I followed him out, leaving Shya to reap some kind of mystical benefit from my slaughter. That right there gave me pause, made me reconsider my reckless actions.

  For just a moment I experienced a fierce, deeply driven urge to head for the River Valley. I stopped on the sidewalk halfway to the Camaro and stared in the direction I knew Arys to be.

  Kale watched me, his face carefully expressionless. He said nothing, and that said more than enough. I forced my feet to move. I wanted to hide the inner turmoil but knew it was too late for that.

  He knew I suffered. He knew that I ached for my dark half. And he accepted that. Now if only I could do the same.

  Chapter Nine

  “Let’s go to The Wicked Kiss.” The first half of the night had been so fabulously disastrous. Why stop now? Actually, the sudden change in my willingness to go to the club had more to do with avoiding being alone with Kale than anything else.

  Kale didn’t question my decision. He navigated the old muscle car through the calm city streets, headed for the downtown core. It was late enough that traffic was sparse, but in a few hours the sun would break over the horizon, bringing with it the folks that lived from sunrise to sunset. We would be forced back inside then, a fact I was having a hard time adjusting to.

  Knowing what Arys was up to made it hard to sit still. I buzzed with the excessive amounts of energy I’d drained from my many victims. This kind of high could potentially last all night. The only upside was that the bloodlust would also be at bay.

  The nerves I’d felt earlier at the thought of walking into the blood den were gone. I felt entirely at ease when we pulled into the parking lot. There was no better time to reveal that I’d turned. We’d all known it was coming. Some had even tried to stop it. But all would respect that I was now the most powerful vampire in the city.

  I was feeling very much like Ms. Hyde, having abandoned my Jekyll side back in that frat house. This was me now, the monster within.

  “Glad to see the building is still standing,” I observed as we walked up to the front entry.

  “Well neither of us has been here to raise hell lately.” Kale’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. Whatever he was feeling, he was fighting hard to repress it.

  “We don’t have to stay long. I just want to talk to Justin. I’ve missed a few of his calls.” I’d missed a crap ton of calls from several people. Communication hadn’t been my strong suit in recent days.

  Kale walked beside me but kept enough distance between us so that we wouldn’t accidentally touch. He was feeling the strain, and I hated myself for it. It wasn’t fair. He didn’t deserve to suffer. His willingness to participate in this charade didn’t make it ok.

  “The sooner everyone knows you’ve turned, the better,” he said. “They need to know things have changed.”

  “Agreed. I’m done with rebel vampire bullshit. I almost hope someone takes a shot at me. I’d love a good fight right now.” It was true. Shya was a battle I couldn’t win, but vampires? That I could handle. Taking and giving a beating sounded really damn good. Working out some of this frustration and angst on someone’s face was just what I needed.

  People loitered outside the door, puffing on cigarettes and talking on cell phones. I bypassed the line to get in and strode through the lobby, feeling empowered.

  Justin was working security at the main door leading from the lobby into the heart of the club. He looked up suddenly, having felt my approach. His jaw dropped, and his dark eyes widened.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” he greeted me with a broad, fang-revealing grin. “So the rumors are true. You look good, boss lady. Real good.”

  “Thanks.” I knew I must be glowing with all of the power roiling about inside me. As it was, my feet barely touched the ground as I glided with a grace I’d never had before. “So everyone knows.”

  “Everyone knows.” His head bobbed, and though he never moved a single beefy muscle, it was apparent that he was trying to avoid accidentally touching me. “Everything has been pretty solid here, all things considered. Nobody wants to risk the wrath of the queen.”

  “Is that royalty shit still going around?” I scowled, hating that vampires were as bad as humans when it came to rumors and hearsay.

  Justin chuckled, a hearty laugh that shook his broad shoulders. “Come on now, Alexa, the vampire queen talk started over a year ago. We all knew something was coming down the line. We didn’t
all know it was you, specifically. I knew though. The first time I met you, I knew.”

  “Well, thanks for not being a dick about it.” I flashed him a grateful smile. Justin had been a little intense during that first meeting, demanding to know what I was. However, he had never harmed me, and in fact, he was one of the few people outside my immediate circle who now had my trust. “And thanks for holding down the fort.”

  His fangs shone especially bright in contrast with his dark skin as he grinned. Holding out a hand for a fist bump, Justin said, “Happy to see you back here. It hasn’t been the same without you. Or Willow.”

  “He hasn’t been here?” It was as I’d expected, but the disappointment was still crushing.

  “No. I’m afraid not.”

  “Thanks, J.”

  Kale remained behind to speak with Justin as I continued into the club. I paused near the entry to take in the flurry of sensations. This was my first venture out into such a populated public place. It was an attack on my senses in a way that was both pleasing and excruciating.

  The lighting was dim, easy on the eyes for the most part, but bright enough for people to find their way through the club while leaving many shadows for those seeking seclusion and privacy. The stage lights flashed various colors, drawing people to the shadowed dance floor in front of it. I didn’t know the band playing. Crimson Sin must have been playing at The Spirit Room, the human-dominated rock bar where Jez went to find a fix.

  My ears were painfully sensitive. My wolf cringed at the noise though the vampire part of me heard much more than that. Rather than the combined sound of instruments and voices, I was able to pick out specific notes from each musician and even focus in on conversations happening a great distance away.

  Perfume and alcohol lay thick on the air. Beneath it was the intriguing odor of sweat and desire. But the blood pumping through so many pounding hearts drew my focus.