by Dianna Love
She listened, waiting for the attack.
Wouldn’t it be just like Yáahl to drop her in a nest of demons? Where were they? Her energy vibrated, warning her of at least one demon nearby, but she didn’t see him.
That was new.
When had any demon ever hesitated to come running for an energy- meal-to-go?
The air buzzed, and she could hear a humming a little ways off. Was something flying in this crappy weather? Dogs barked down the street. She melted into the available shadows. The humming sound had come from the end of the street, maybe half a mile away where it looked like this road connected with a bigger one.
Nothing stirred in what she recognized as an older section of Atlanta, but where, exactly, was she? A smattering of small to midsize cars parked for the night hugged curbs on both sides, but no one was out and about.
She couldn’t blame them. She’d like to be home with Gibbons on a rainy night like this.
Buzzing increased, and the humming grew louder. Was it coming toward her? The sound died down as if moving away, but… No, it was coming back again.
What in the world was going on in Atlanta these days?
She hadn’t heard anything about this out on the West Coast, even though she kept up with preternatural news.
Down the street near the entrance to this area, a tall figure appeared suddenly. A male wearing dark coveralls. He was running full speed in her direction as if he’d teleported into the middle of a road race.
Had he opened a bolt-hole?
She had no experience with bolt-holes, but understood they existed.
“Get back here!” an invisible person shouted.
This was getting stranger by the minute. Was someone yelling at this guy from the other side of the bolt-hole? Was that even possible?
The guy kept running. He couldn’t have seen her hiding here, but her energy vibrated more the closer he came. Was he ...
He lifted his head, revealing two bright red orbs for eyes.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She yanked out the medallion with her left hand and lifted her right, calling her energy to her fingers.
Nothing happened.
Footsteps were slapping the wet pavement, as loud as gunshots now.
“You will pay for this if you lied to me, Yáahl.” She hadn’t done this in ten years. Calm down and focus. Feeling inside for her power, she pushed it to expand. Her chest warmed in a way it hadn’t in a long time, but not fast enough. That demon would be here in seconds.
“Come on,” she whispered, frantic for anything. Contact would be in ten seconds.
Nine.
Eight.
Heat rolled through her arm and spread to her fingers. Not there yet.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Power hit her hand so hard she thought her fingers might explode. She jumped away from the tree she’d hidden behind and fisted her hand, hitting him an upper cut to the jaw as his sickle-like claws reached for her.
She hit him so hard his head flew back ten feet, dragging his body with it.
Oh, yeah, baby. I’m back. She stomped over to where he was trying to get up. She booted him in the chest. He hit a fire hydrant, but thankfully didn’t break it. She checked all around. No lights on. No humans to interfere.
He made coughing sounds as he reached his feet again. Blood ran down his head from where it must have cracked on the hydrant. He swiped blood from his mouth, turned those unholy eyes on her, and smiled.
His voice sounded like he’d been chewing on rusty nails. “I would have made it fast. Now, I’ll take my time draining you just so I can hear you scream.”
“Sorry, I didn’t get that. I don’t speak bullshit.”
He stopped and crooked his head, confused.
She noticed the buzzing had vanished. “Did you open a bolt-hole?”
He answered with his own question. “What are you?”
“Besides in a bad mood?”
Whatever confusion he’d suffered must have cleared up. He leaped at her and she hoped her power didn’t fail her this time. She slapped her hands together with the medallion between them and sent a bolt of energy at him that blew a hole through his chest.
It knocked her on her ass, but he dropped to the ground, smacking it face first.
Nice.
His body turned into gray dust and made a pfft sound when it shot up and dissipated. Now that was how it oughta happen.
Gotta love easy clean up.
That demon had just appeared in the middle of the the street. She had to choose a direction. Turning around to head away from this street sounded like a good plan.
Reese considered her next move as she covered new ground. “I have nowhere to stay. No money and now I have to spend the night wet because you didn’t even give me an umbrella. Thanks, Yáahl.”
The rain started falling even harder.
Water ran along the street, rushing toward the drains.
She’d heard about Nightstalkers in this area who traded information for a handshake with a powerful being, but she wasn’t sure her babysitter medallion would deem that a worthy use of her powers.
Probably better to avoid the ghouls since they held no allegiance, sharing intel with anyone. That meant they’d tell a Belador she was in the city, which would get her pulled into VIPER. They’d ask too many questions.
She’d lived off the preternatural radar for the past ten years and wanted no part of that coalition. They were the equivalent of Big Brother in the supernatural world. A person like her would have to choose sides in a conflict.
She would not be pushed into joining anybody’s side in any supernatural fight.
All she had to do was find one body.
She’d do it, too. That little taste of her powers hadn’t been enough. Yáahl would have to make good on his offer, because she had every intention of collecting.
At the end of the street, she turned left. There were few streetlights, so darkness shrouded much of the area.
Just the way she liked it.
Without access to Nightstalkers, she had to get to the dark net that might have information on Kizira’s burial. That meant finding a device with internet capabilities. A mobile phone would work, but she hated a thief so stealing one was out. Once she reached the main roads, she might be able to convince some sympathetic soul to loan her their phone. She’d give them a down-on-her-luck story, which wouldn’t take much effort.
Two more streets down, she looked back to the right.
No buzzing. Maybe she could zip up this street to the main road and get out of this neighborhood.
This area reminded her of Midtown. If it was, she’d head for somewhere like the Flying Biscuit near Piedmont Park. That had been one of her favorite places to eat. Nice people. Someone would help her out.
Halfway up the street, she picked up that buzzing sound again. Energy in her chest revved up. This time, she anticipated a demon, but where was it?
What was this place? Preternatural central?
Well, hello. Atlanta was the headquarters for VIPER and the Beladors in North America.
She moved to stand by another tree. Not that it kept her out of sight last time, but at least she had something at her back.
Now that she knew to watch for something to emerge from the buzzing, she grasped the medallion where it dangled from the leather cord tied around her neck. The minute she concentrated on the humming sound, she could see the air wobble and undulate. Like looking through wavy glass, she could see through to the other side, just not clearly.
Barking cranked up again at a house on her right.
A movement close by pulled Reese’s gaze to a woman who hurried out of her house with an umbrella in one hand and the leash to a big, lumbering mutt in the other.
She missed Gibbons. That goofy dog would love all this rain.
The odd vibrating noise got louder and seemed to rise above her head. Was it spreading?
Reese waited, gaugin
g when the cloud of buzzing would reach the woman. Was another demon hidden in it?
She tightened her grip on the medallion and called up a shield to prevent a demon from sensing her power, which would work great until she needed her hands free to defend herself. But if she could avoid a battle, all the better.
Shouting broke out in the middle of the street, but no one was there.
The woman with the umbrella turned toward the noise. Then she was sucked off her feet and yanked by some invisible tether to the middle of the street, where she vanished.
The umbrella fell to the ground.
Her dog went crazy barking at the street.
Reese sighed. She dropped her shield. If a demon had the woman, Reese couldn’t stand by and allow that death.
A demon appeared out of the air just like the last one and fell backwards from where the strange vibrating noise had parked in the street.
All at once, the buzzing quieted and four men appeared. They were holding the woman and looking up as if they’d been caught with their pants down.
The demon was on his feet. Red eyes glowed in Reese’s direction.
“I could have stayed in San Diego if I wanted to fight demons all night.” She gripped the medallion, ready to put it to use again.
Chapter 6
Quinn made a mad dash through another Midtown street, hunting for Evalle.
A dark figure at the other end cut a path through the rain, heading straight for him.
Whoever it was had already spotted Quinn, so he kept moving forward, ready to battle.
This part of the city had a substantial Belador population of warriors Quinn could normally call out at a moment’s notice. But he would not put any more of his people in danger tonight.
Dull light from a street lamp outlined the hulking shape walking with a determined stride. He toted a weapon that had been built to destroy nonhumans.
Quinn stopped. “What are you doing here, Isak?”
The black ops soldier flipped up his monocular, leaving only the whites of his eyes showing in a face covered with black camo paint. “We got a report of trouble in this area. Turned out to be a breakin. Nothing paranormal.”
Quinn had no time to waste debating on what to do about Isak. Evalle had a point. No argument would deter this man.
Instead, Quinn said, “Evalle encountered a strange energy. She was east of us, four streets away. I lost telepathic contact with her. I’ve been running every street on my way there to avoid missing her if she’s headed this way.”
“Let’s go.” Isak turned to his side, waiting.
Hello clusterfuck. Quinn didn’t care. Isak could join him if he could keep up. Quinn took off, hearing a string of Isak’s curses in his wake. Heavy-footed splashing followed, surprising Quinn at just how fast Isak could move that much body mass.
Quinn sent a telepathic message to Trey, telling him what was going on and finished with, Let me know if anyone gets eyes on Evalle or Devon.
Will do. Then Trey added, Adrianna and Casper should be intercepting you, Evalle, or both of you pretty soon.
I’ll keep you posted.
Taking a hard right into the neighborhood where Evalle should be, Quinn searched the darkness for any sign of her. A movement at the end of the dark street caught his eye. He ran toward it to find Devon struggling to get up.
Hoisting Devon to his feet none too gently, Quinn growled, “What happened to you? Where’s Evalle?”
Devon shook his head, spraying water like a wet dog, and stepped back from Quinn. He lifted a hand. “Give me a minute to shut up Trey so I can talk to you.”
“We don’t have a minute,” Quinn shouted. “Tell Trey you’re with me and start talking.”
Devon wiped water off his face. “I was following an energy field—”
“Was it buzzing?”
“Yes.”
Quinn confirmed, “Evalle sent me a message about it. She’s tracking it.”
Devon shook his head. “She may think she is, but I’m pretty sure it’s letting her track it and probably dragging her into a trap. I thought I was tracking it, too, but whatever is in that energy field is sentient. When I snuck up to see if I could figure out what was going on, it literally threw me against a tree, but I heard voices.”
“Sentient? Or is it a cloaking device for beings and they attacked you?”
“I have no idea. Just telling you what I noticed. I didn’t have a chance to see anyone before I smacked a tree hard enough to knock me out.” Devon rubbed the back of his head.
What the hell were they up against?
“Did you see Evalle at any point?” Quinn asked.
“No. I caught a snippet of her telepathy, but couldn’t make sense of it.”
“She was heading back toward me,” Quinn muttered. “Dammit. I’ve tried calling her and Trey is trying, but—”
“The minute you get close to that buzzing, it blocks any telepathy. I doubt even Trey could project if he was caught up in it.”
That could be one hell of a cloaking device. Quinn hoped Adrianna could determine what was going on with it.
Isak jogged up to them, holding his demon blaster across his chest, and with his monocular back in place.
Quinn asked, “Are any of your men out here?”
“Just me. I’ve got teams waiting at different spots around the inner city to come the minute I call.” Isak reached into a pocket on his cargo pants and pulled out two comm units, shoving them at Quinn and Devon. “These are tuned for your sensitive hearing. We can’t work as a unit if we’re blind to everyone’s position.”
He designated Quinn as Delta One and Devon as Delta Two.
Devon said, “What’s your handle?”
“Alpha One,” Isak replied in a tone that indicated it should have been obvious and wasn’t up for discussion.
Quinn rolled his eyes. He didn’t give a rat’s ass what they called each other. He’d wear an aluminum foil hat right now if it meant finding Evalle.
In spite of Isak’s self-appointed leadership, Quinn started issuing orders, sending Isak in one direction to the main roads and ordering Devon to sit tight.
Isak gave Quinn a quelling look, but to his credit he moved out.
How were they going to find Evalle?
In these older neighborhoods around Midtown, some of the streets were a grid pattern, but not all. There were areas where a street might stop then pick up at an offset point. Then there were curves thrown in just to keep it interesting.
As soon as Isak left, Quinn explained to Devon, “You’re going to wait here until I get four streets down in that direction.” He pointed away from the park. “When I get there, we’re both going to walk east, mirroring each other for as long as we can. We pause to check in when we reach the same cross street. If you can’t hear me or I can’t hear you telepathically, then we head toward the person we can’t hear. By process of elimination, we might find that energy field.”
This would be a great time to have Evalle’s mate on the team. Storm had more than one way to find her quickly, but he was still following a scent trail from one of the crime scenes.
Storm was a possessive bastard who would dismember anyone who harmed Evalle.
He’d have to stand in line behind Quinn if anything happened to her tonight.
Quinn blew down the street to his start point and told Devon to start walking at normal human speed. He shouted out telepathically to Evalle again.
Every silent moment that followed twisted him into one big, frustrated knot.
After vaulting over a wooden fence separating small yards, he made it to the next street over. Dogs howled nearby, maybe one more street down. He could take off at super speed again, but he feared missing sight of Evalle by moving too quickly if she was trying to slip through the shadows.
He headed toward the chorus of dog howls, which took him deeper into the neighborhood.
Isak’s sharp voice shot into Quinn’s ear. He yanked out the comm and could still hear h
im. Apparently Isak wasn’t quite up to speed on just how sensitive a Belador’s hearing could be. “I’m at the end of the park near Monroe. I’m heading back.”
Devon replied with, “Copy that.”
Quinn had made it three streets when he received no reply from his telepathic call to Devon.
He turned left, heading for where Devon should be.
A figure that matched Evalle’s size and movements rushed across the street two blocks ahead.
Got her. Relief shook the lead out of his feet and he shot forward, only to see her vanish again. Dammit!
He shouted telepathically. Evalle! Eee-valle!
When he closed in on where he thought she’d been, a man in a black coveralls appeared a hundred feet away in the middle of the street as if he’d just teleported in. Except that he was falling backwards.
Then four more men immediately appeared, all huddled around something.
Had they just teleported here?
Or ... had that buzzing cloud been a cloaking device after all, which failed for some reason?
Between Quinn and those men, yet another person entered the mix, but this one had stepped from beside a tree. A woman. She was average size and had a head of curly light-brown hair.
Evalle’s voice shouted in Quinn’s head, telling him the street she was on where men were appearing and for him to meet her.
I hear you, Evalle. I see the men, but not you.
You’ll see me. I’m on my way to kick some butt then we’ll interrogate them.
Everything happened at the same moment.
The guy in the black coveralls jumped up, red eyes glowing. Bloody hell. A demon. The woman from behind the tree headed for the demon and certain death.
The demon charged her.
Quinn rushed to close the distance behind her and shouted, “Get down!”
She swung around, wide-eyed, and dropped as he hit the demon with heavy kinetic power.
That strike sent the demon flying into the four men, breaking up the pile better than a bowling strike. One of the men grabbed a woman who had evidently been what they’d huddled around, slung her over his shoulder and took off running toward Piedmont Park.
Ignoring the human bystander on the ground, whom Quinn would deal with once the threat was handled, he kept moving forward with his hands out, using his power to pin the demon to the wet pavement.
