“Almost there,” Synthia called from in front, her blonde pigtail flicking behind her as she glanced over her shoulder.
A man caught her arms as she careened into him, slamming straight into his chest. “Are you okay?” he asked, a concerned expression etching his features.
No doubt if a man had caught me, he would’ve told me to watch it and let go. Not Synthia, though, she was the type of girl a man wanted to help.
“And you?” the man added, glancing at me when I stopped to wait for Synthia. “Can I help?”
The smile he bestowed on me made my tummy flutter. Apparently, bounty hunting suited me.
Grinning, I grabbed Synthia’s hand and winked at the man. “We’re having a race. I was losing, so thanks for helping me.”
As we sped away, I glanced over my shoulder. The man scratched his jaw as he stared, his mouth gaping open. He had no idea what existed beyond his kind self. A whole world full of crazy creatures who had magical powers or the ability to drink blood.
Shuddering, I rushed onto the bridge with Synthia, trying to dislodge the memory of thirst that I had felt when connected to Jimmy.
“We’re here,” Synthia said when we came to a halt.
Huffing, I rested my hands on the ledge of London Bridge and scanned the riverbank. There was the riverboat jetty and the HMS Belfast naval ship. In between, there were small steps leading to the river. Ah, maybe that’s where I had seen Jimmy.
“There!” Pointing, Synthia snarled in the direction of the riverboat jetty. “He’s on those steps. Is that…?”
A small boat blocked my view as it neared the steps that Synthia had indicated. Was Jimmy on the other side of it?
It wasn’t even that far away, maybe we could jump in and swim. No, Lyla, stupid idea. It was the River Thames after all. Home to hundreds of boats and debris. “Bollocks,” I gasped when the boat moved slightly. “It is.”
Jimmy and two of his men dragged Tinniel down the steps and threw him onto the boat. He was bound, his arms tied behind his back. My chest tightened as I searched for ways to reach him. Why had he betrayed me? If only he’d trusted his team and his brother. He wouldn’t be in this mess.
The motor of the engine revved as the vampires jumped on board. Snatching Synthia’s phone as she dialled Naz, I flicked the camera on, pressed record and zoomed in.
“What’s going on?” Naz’s bark wasn’t loud through the speaker.
Reaching towards me, Synthia pressed a button without interrupting my recording.
Naz’s voice echoed out of the speaker phone, drawing the eyes of passers-by.
The boat reversed and turned, heading towards London Bridge. Biting my lip, I tried to calm my erratic breath. “I’m going in the Thames.”
Thrusting the phone back in Synthia’s hands, I gripped hold of the ledge and lifted a leg. Before I had a chance to pull the other leg up, arms wrapped around me from behind, yanking me back. Synthia’s scent wafted up my nose as I struggled against her. I was strong from my kickboxing training, but boy, that girl had muscles.
Holding my arms up as the boat sped towards us, I surrendered. Synthia released me and stepped back, a sad frown lining her forehead.
People around us watched, each one too afraid to intervene. Which was a good thing, considering I looked like a crazy person about to jump in the river.
“Lyla,” Naz shouted from Synthia’s phone. “I order you not to go in. Film the bastards!”
Swallowing my frustration, I went back to the edge of the bridge. The boat was nearly underneath, the front zooming across the water.
I had to do something. Turning, I hopped over the protection bollards and ran across the road, dodging the traffic and somehow keeping my legs intact. Horns beeped and humans screamed at me, cursing my crazy arse with nasty words. I didn’t care.
Reaching the other side, I leant on the ledge and jumped up and down. “TINNIEL!!”
The boat had already passed underneath the bridge, revealing its back. The sorcerer sat on a bench, his hair falling forward to cover his face. A moment after his name left my lips, he lifted his head and looked up, searching the bridge.
Our gaze met and electric fire blasted through me, making me suck in a breath and clasp my chest. A small shake of the head and a little smile was all he gave me as the boat accelerated down the river, taking the man I had to have away from me.
Chapter Fourteen
Thrusting through the club doors, I crashed into Naz’s hard body. His arms caught me as I fumbled, trying to step away from him. Pulling me closer, he squeezed me in a hug so tight, I couldn’t move, my face pressed against his firm chest.
“You did good.” Letting me go, he smiled down at me.
Glaring up at his handsome features, I studied his shaved hair and dark brown eyes. He looked a little like his brother, but they certainly weren’t identical.
I bit my lip as a rush of emotion ran over me, making my knees go weak. Not because of Naz, no. It was the thought of Tinniel, trapped with Jimmy. What would the vampire do to him?
Naz glanced at Synthia and Zac as they joined us, both smiling kindly. They knew that Naz would be churned up inside, fretting about his brother. We all were.
“Don’t worry about me,” Naz said, clearly hearing all our thoughts. “I’m a professional, I can keep my head straight. You need to do the same.” Raising his eyebrows at me, he flicked my windswept hair. “Especially you.”
“I can’t believe she’s bonded with Tinniel,” Synthia said to Naz. “Will the Federation let it stand?”
My insides curdled as I stared, shocked that she knew what had happened between Tinniel and I. Not only that, why did she think it was okay to talk about it as if I wasn’t even there?
Placing a hand on my shoulder, Naz looked pointedly at Synthia, who ducked her head and coughed as her cheeks turned pink. “Sorry,” she muttered, “I forgot myself.”
The anxiety twisting my guts lessened, releasing me from its grip. There was no point in getting het up with Synthia. It wasn’t her I was frustrated with, it was myself. I should’ve done more.
“Lyla, stop beating yourself up.” Naz undid his jacket and pulled out his crossbow.
Shaking it out, he smiled at me when powdered glitter fell from the arrow already loaded, landing on the carpet.
“I hope you’re going to clear that up,” a masculine voice called.
Without looking away from me, Naz rolled his eyes. “I thought I’d give you a gift, Donald. I know how much you love cleansing magic.”
It was my turn to roll my eyes. Trust Naz to make a mess all over the carpet and expect someone else to clean it up. It was becoming pretty clear that the twin sorcerers thought they were indispensable.
“Yeah,” Naz interrupted my musings, “we are. Also…” Turning to Donald, he winked. “He loves it. Makes him feel wanted.”
“Come,” Synthia said, indicating that I should follow her. “Let’s freshen up. I’ll tell you about Jimmy’s case so you know why he’s on our bounty list.”
Leaving the men to inform Donald about our failure, I went with Synthia, blinking twice when we exited the main clubroom through a door beside the bar.
A plush corridor led to a lift and a set of stairs. The walls were covered in marble, the red carpet thick and soft under my feet.
“Who knew there was a posh brothel back here,” I quipped, ready to start crying if I didn’t try to lift my low mood.
So much had happened in such a short amount of time, I’d barely had time to catch up. We’d had such a strong lead when Jimmy claimed that he knew where my mother was, I assumed it would be simple to find him, catch him and torture the info out of him. But no… Tinniel had to be all macho and try to capture the baddie on his own.
When would they learn? Magic, or no magic, you never go after the bad guy alone. It never works out.
Sighing, I stayed silent as Synthia led me up the stairs and onto the next landing. She unlocked one of the doors and gestured f
or me to go inside. A gasp left my lips as I eyed the luxury room. Red velvet drapes hung either side of the Victorian window, cinched by gold rope ties. A king-sized wooden four poster bed dominated the space, the daddy of beds inviting me to join him.
“Sleep,” I murmured as my muscles released the built up tension.
Murmuring a negative sound, Synthia went into the en-suite and returned with a towel. “Refresh yourself. Klarita has called a meeting downstairs in an hour. We don’t have long.”
Licking my lips, I took the offered towel. “Thank you.” Going into the bathroom, I stopped in the doorway, my mouth gaping open. “Can I live here?”
When I looked over my shoulder, Synthia laughed. “Sure. I do. As long as you’re a bounty hunter with the Federation of Magic, you’ll be well looked after.”
“I need to sign a contract first,” I replied, waving as I shut the door.
Taking my time, I climbed into the shower and let the water wash away the failure of the day. Tinniel was tough, he would look after himself, I was sure. Jimmy wouldn’t hurt him, he was worth too much. Wasn’t he?
Shuddering, I turned the heat up on the shower, opened my mouth and allowed the water to fill it. A flash of Tinniel’s face came into my mind. I could see him, sitting in a dark room, surrounded by hanging symbols made out of sticks and twine.
Ah, I’d connected with Jimmy again. The vampire was shouting, angry that I’d managed to track him.
“Shut her off, I can feel her!” Jimmy hissed to a woman who stood behind a carved oak table.
Waving her hand over a steaming cauldron, – yes, a bloody cauldron – the dreadlocked woman looked straight at me. “Be gone,” she whispered, a grin crossing her face before everything blurred.
Spitting the water out, I leant my forehead against the tiled wall, closed my eyes and sucked in a breath. “Oh, Tinniel.”
Tears popped into my eyes, coming from nowhere. The man had pushed all the right buttons, along with the wrong ones, turning me on, waking me up. Desire filled me every time his face popped into my mind. It was like an uncontrollable urge to find him, kiss him like a crazy woman before ripping his clothes off.
I shouldn’t be so desperate. The man had told me that he didn’t want me. In fact, he’d practically begged me to forget about him, which, der… was impossible.
All the while, my mum was still missing. Why did I have more drive to find Tinniel than I did my own mother? The man had consumed my mind, which was quite frankly, disturbing.
Shaking myself, I stepped out of the shower, dried and dressed quickly and stormed into the room, determined to get answers.
“What evidence does Jimmy have against the warlord? And why would he know where my mother is?” I demanded, my hands on my hips as I faced Synthia, who lounged on the bed, her cute kitten boots crossed at the ankle. “And why…” I braced myself, hoping that I could trust the healer. “…am I so attracted to the miserable twin?”
The corner of her lips lifted into her cheek as she scooted over and patted the space beside her. Reluctantly climbing on the bed, I hugged my arms around myself, the way I had when I felt vulnerable. Not that I’d done it in a while.
“I’ll answer your questions as simply as I can,” Synthia said. “Jimmy has a list of names tattooed on his chest. It’s a spell cast on him by a witch who was on the inside. She didn’t agree with their crimes so she made sure that the men involved could be caught by ensuring their codenames were stripped from their real ones and etched into Jimmy’s skin. She had reached out to the police, arranging a meeting so she could give them the names. They found a note at the café, placed on the table. It was from Jimmy, telling them that he’d killed her. The police managed to catch up to him, but there wasn’t enough evidence to keep him. Also, he’d managed to cover up the tattoo with his own spell. The court had to release him on bond. That’s when he went missing and the bounty hunting ensued.”
“What was their crime?” I interrupted.
Looking down at where her hands were clasped in her lap, she swallowed hard. “Human trafficking for vampires.”
The blood rushed in my ears, knocking the air out of my lungs. Wait. There had been a young woman at Jimmy’s feet when I’d first connected to him. Had she been a trafficked human?
“They’ve made it a business using the excuse that the humans are willing. They even have signed contracts between the humans and warlords. What they don’t show is the pressure or grooming they put on the humans.” Synthia blinked rapidly when water came into her eyes.
My own throat closed as I tried to envision what the humans had suffered. It was bad enough that normal people trafficked humans, let alone vampires. Being sucked to death must be a horrendous way to go.
“I was…” Synthia’s quiet voice made me look at her. Lifting her sleeve, she rubbed her wrist. A thick scarred band of skin encircled the area right over her wrist bone. She’d been tied up, probably for a long time.
“You weren’t…?” I whispered, my eyes widening when she lifted her sleeve further and revealed two circular puncture wounds.
Nodding, she inhaled deeply, her chest rising as she glanced at me. “I was kidnapped by accident. They believed I was human because I hung around with human girls from school. Being fifteen, I hadn’t come into my powers, so it was an easy enough mistake to make.”
“Jeez,” I exclaimed.
“There were four of us. We were taken to an underground basement where we were told to keep silent. Of course, we didn’t. Even though we screamed, no one came. Well, not to rescue us, anyway.” Shuddering, Synthia snarled down at her wrist, staring at the reminder of her ordeal. “Then the vampires came, one at a time, each choosing the girl they’d like to take home. Apparently, young teenage blood was the sweetest because of the hormones.”
“Gross!” I couldn’t help the outburst as my stomach rolled.
“Exactly. I was taken last. Evidently, my blood wasn’t as tasty as the others. Now they know why.”
Shaking my head, I reached out for her, withdrawing my hand when she stayed completely frozen, still mesmerised by her scar. “I was a blood slave for a year, although I was mainly used as a housekeeper because he didn’t like the taste of my blood. When I turned sixteen, my powers came in at the same time as Henrick, the twins’ brother, found me.” A smile lit her face, just for a second, before it dropped again, leaving sadness in its wake. My chest squeezed when she looked up at me, her expression open and vulnerable. “They caught my captor and have been working to bring down the warlords who run the whole ring. It’s been eight years since they found me. Henrick…” Her throat closed, cutting off her sentence.
Snapping her gaze up, she looked at me, her eyes clear and back to their usual brightness. She had literally just woken up from a memory that had consumed her. How was she so confident and happy all the time? After everything she’d been through?
“You fell in love with him, didn’t you?” I asked, unable to move on from the conversation as a lump came to my throat.
Synthia flicked her ponytail behind her shoulder and raised her eyebrows. “You don’t miss anything, do you?”
A sigh fell from my lips. “Technically not true, considering I got the wrong hotel chain today.”
“You really do need to give yourself a break,” she said, climbing off the bed. “For a first time tracker, you’re doing incredible. Most witches don’t know how to handle their magic for years. You can tell you’re royalty, it comes naturally to you.”
“I… Well…” A knock on the door interrupted my carefully prepared answer. “Thank you.” Or not.
“Time to go,” Synthia said, grabbing me in a tight hold and not letting go until I’d patted her back.
As I clambered off the bed, I lifted my head high, ready for the onslaught I was bound to receive. Synthia might not think I’d done a bad job, but surely the top dog would be disappointed in me?
“Oh,” Synthia said, turning to me as her hand rested on the door handl
e. “To answer your other questions. Jimmy might know where your mother is because the warlock who was released on bond is Jimmy’s best friend. He cast a spell on the vampire to hide the evidence on his skin, which was why the healer went undercover to find him. The police needed the warlock to undo the spell so they could see the names on Jimmy’s skin. That’s why he also became our bounty.”
“Makes sense.” A rush of adrenaline skipped up my spine.
I liked the thrill that investigating gave me. Every little bit of information meant something. Bounty hunting wasn’t just about getting one guy, it was finding the clues that led to the hit and those involved in the crime. It served a bigger purpose.
“No,” Naz shouted through the door. “It doesn’t serve a bigger purpose, we just bring in the bad guy, deposit him where he needs to go and collect the cash.”
Rolling her eyes, Synthia readied to open the door.
Okay, so maybe he was right. Maybe we didn’t have much more to do other than bring in the ones who got away. It still served a bigger purpose in my mind.
“And lastly,” she whispered. “The charge will never go away, so you may as well accept that you’ll be with Tinniel one way or another. No matter who tries to get in the way.”
Yanking open the door, the American healer plastered a smile on her face and greeted the others, who stood waiting, their arms folded across their chest. Even Zac looked slightly miffed, which was unusual for him. Although, his best friend had just been taken in a boat by a dangerous vampire. I supposed he was allowed to be a bit downcast.
Naz’s gaze met mine as he shook his head. His jovial manner was gone, replaced by an intense seriousness that made me catch my breath. “Don’t fret. Tinniel is strong.”
My cheeks flushed as they all stared at me, clearly wanting me to break apart. If royalty couldn’t keep it together, it would be okay for them to lose it too, surely?
“No one is going to lose it.” Naz made his way towards the stairs, not waiting for me as I jogged to keep up. “You forget that we’ve been hunters for years. If you lost it, however, you’d be forgiven. Let’s go to the meeting.”
The Witch & the Bounty Hunter (Federation of Magic Book 1) Page 14
