Fate

by Nadine Nightingale

  “Careful.” I pull B back. “Draco is ex-military. He loves booby traps.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Wouldn’t lie about it.” Remember the transgender kid who had an unpleasant encounter with a wendigo? Draco used a damn bear-trap to catch him.

  We head farther inside, watching our steps, aware they could be our last. B, on high alert, scans our surroundings. “Do you smell that?”

  I draw a deep breath, but don’t smell shit. Maybe my senses are as fucked up as I am. Maybe Bonnie smells ghosts. Whatever it is, I don’t have time to dwell on it.

  “I’m telling you,” B insists. “I know that scent. It’s—”

  “Gasoline,” I blurt out, glaring at the empty canister on the floor.

  B stops dead in her tracks. No, not because the place is soaked in a flammable substance and could go poof any second. She freezes for a whole other reason. About two feet away, next to a low burning candle, are JJ, Melinda, and Constantin.

  They look like hell, bruised and barely conscious. Wanna know what’s worse? They’re soaking wet. Something tells me they ain’t dripping with water.

  Where the fuck is Leandro? Not here, that’s for sure. Neither is Bay, or the rest of the hunters.

  “Constantin.” B rushes to her brother.

  She’s so fast, I can’t hold her back. “B, wait!”

  Too fucking late. Wood creaks. The floor gives in. B falls.

  “Fuck,” she cusses.

  As long as she cusses, she’s still alive.

  “Alex!” She sounds a bit hysterical.

  “Hold on,” I shout, scanning the remaining floorboards with great care before I approach her.

  “I’m not sure I can,” she says. “Seriously, you better get me the fuck out of here.”

  Searching the shed one last time, I holster my gun, and move toward the hole. I understand B’s hysteria. She’s backed up against a wall. Across from her, about two seconds away from sinking its poisonous teeth into the mamba, is a massive white cobra. “Fuck.”

  “Get me out of here,” she begs.

  “I will.” But how? That snake will strike before I even attempt to pull her out. “Just stay very still, all right?”

  B shoots me a killer look. “Sure. I’m just going to stand around, waiting for that thing to kill me. No problem whatsoever.”

  “It won’t kill you,” I assure her. “Cobras only attack if they’re scared. Don’t move and you’ll be okay.” I hope Discovery Channel gets its research right.

  I take it all in. Demon-Boy was right. This is a trap. I gotta get them the hell outta here before we all end like that poor kid in the bear-trap.

  I get down on my knees, careful not to trigger any other booby traps. “Listen,” I say, calmly. “I’m going to need some help to pull you out of there.”

  Fear clouds her cognac eyes. “But—”

  “I won’t leave you,” I promise her. “I’m just going over there”—I tilt my chin at the cuffed and bruised rescue-Leandro group—“and get one of them to help me, okay?”

  She ogles the cobra, standing taller than a tree. “Okay.”

  “Be right back.”

  “Just hurry.”

  I reach them without getting myself killed. I call that a win. “JJ?” I pull the sock out of her mouth. “Hey”—I slap her—“you with me?”

  She blinks her eyes open. “Alex?”

  I reach for my tools and work the lock of her cuffs. “You’ll be all right.” The shackles drop. “I’ll get you out of here.”

  Her gaze roams the shed. The girl is totally out of it. My money is on drugs. “Leandro,” she whispers. “They…they took him.”

  “Who?” I ask, freeing Melinda. Manda’s sister looks worse than the others. She’s got a bad shiner, cuts all over her, and several deep holes—cigarette burns. The demons who had her did a real number on her.

  JJ struggles for composure. “Bay, he helped them.”

  I’m going to kill him. Actually, I’m going to kill myself. Because why the fuck did I ever trust him?

  “There are others, too.”

  “Draco, Torres, and the Malleus dicks?” I ask, moving on to free Constantin.

  “The Fords,” she replies.

  “As in the hunters from up north who kill their own kind?”

  “Yeah.” Her gaze darts to Constantin. He’s conscious. “They surprised us. We didn’t stand a chance. The charms Mrs. Lacroix handed out protected them.”

  “Mmmh,” he grumbles.

  Shit. I almost forgot to free him from the damn sock.

  “I’m going to kill them,” he barks, the second the thing is out of his mouth.

  “You and I, both.”

  Melinda groans, slowly opening her eyes. “Alexander?”

  “Yes.”

  She looks behind me. “Amanda?”

  I avert my gaze.

  “No!” She jumps to her feet. “Please, tell me she’s okay.”

  “I wish I could.” But that’d be a lie.

  “Leandro.” She digs her nails in my shoulders, sobbing. “They have him. I can’t lose him, too.”

  Neither can I.

  “Guys,” B yells. “The cobra doesn’t look happy. Unhappy cobra equals dead mamba. So how about you get me the hell out of here?”

  Constantin is with her in a second. “Listen to me, little sis. I’m going to calm the snake and Alex will pull you up, okay?”

  “So you’re an exorcist and a snake whisperer?” Is there anything B’s bro can’t do?

  Ignoring my question, he waves me over. “Help me.”

  I pull JJ up. “Get Melinda out of here.”

  “C’mon.” She wraps her arm around Melinda’s shoulder, slowly moving her toward the exit.

  “Be careful,” I warn JJ. “This place is a death zone.”

  “On my count,” Constantin says.

  I get down on my knees. “Ready.”

  He murmurs something no one understands. It doesn’t really sound like Creole. More like an inhuman hissing.

  “Now,” he orders.

  I seize hold of B’s sweater. This is too easy. Draco didn’t plan to let anyone out of here alive.

  “Pull her up,” Constantin barks.

  I do as he says.

  Something clicks.

  The floorboard beneath the candle lifts on one side. The candle loses its balance, landing right on the gasoline. The fire spreads within seconds. Flames circle the hole. I barely manage to get B out of there before the flames swallow the white cobra like a hungry beast.

  “Run,” I shout at B and Constantin.

  I don’t have to tell them twice.

  We make it out. Alive.

  The fire consumes the shed within minutes, its flames raging high into the night sky. The bastards were going to burn us alive.

  “C’mon.” Constantin drags me toward the cornfield. “We have to get away from the fire.”

  Chapter 55

  We seek refuge in the cornfield, running far enough to bring much needed distance between the fire and us. But some of us are weaker than others.

  Melinda is the first to stop. Hands on her knees, she’s struggling to breathe. “We have to find Leandro.” She looks up at me. “Please, we—”

  Headlights cut her off. They flood the field.

  “Would you look at that.” Draco slams the car door shut. “They all made it out alive. What a bloody shame.”

  Constantin balls his fists. “You—”

  “Stop right there,” Legend warns, stepping out of the car with Leandro on his arm. “We wouldn’t want anything to happen to him, would we?”

  Draco, Daryl, the four Ford brothers—Brian, Bobby Ray, Herman, and John—and Bay “the fucking traitor” jump out of their cars.

  Leandro extends his hands toward me. My knees give in as I drink in his face. God, that boy is the spitting image of his mother. The pictures I saw didn’t do their familiarity justice—same eyes, same smile, same spark.

 
; “Dadada,” he babbles on repeat.

  He knows who I am. He’s Manda’s son. Nothing should surprise me when it comes to that boy. “Give him to me,” I demand, voice low.

  Legend’s gaze darts from him to me. “You know I can’t do that, Remington.”

  B is next to me. “Why?” She points at Leandro. “He’s just a baby. Never hurt a soul in his life.”

  “But he will,” Draco says. “Sooner or later, you all do.”

  Bay stares at his boots. There’s so much I want to say to him, but what’s the point? He made his choice. Now, I’m gonna make mine. I just need to know one thing before I kill him. “Why, Bay?”

  At first, he says nothing.

  “Manda trusted you,” I blurt out. “She fucking trusted you.”

  “Bad choice.” Daryl laughs.

  JJ squints. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Legend frowns. “Did you really think he’d abandon the only hunters who know which demon killed his dad?”

  Lightning hits. “You were never on our side, were you?” I knew it. I fucking knew it. Back in Winter Harbor when I first saw him sitting across from Manda, I had this sick feeling. One I couldn’t decipher, one I eventually blamed on jealousy. But it wasn’t just me being fucking scared Manda could like the asshole. It was instinct and I should have listened to it, like I should have when it told me Manda would never go dark.

  Bay’s shoulders hang low. “I—”

  “You played us from day one,” I bark, barely able to keep it together.

  His silence speaks louder than any words.

  “You’re dead.” I’m going to kill them. All of them. Hunters or not, by the end of this night they’ll rot in hell.

  Legend’s hand circles Leandro’s neck. “That’s enough. Let’s not sink that low, shall we?”

  “Says the guy who has his hand around the neck of a kid,” Constantin spits back at him.

  “He’s not just any kid.” Legend meets my gaze. “You don’t know what he’s capable of. Even hell fears him.”

  “So?” B barks.

  “We can’t risk letting him live.” He sighs. “We just can’t.”

  I move closer. “You fucking asshole. His mother just died protecting you and your stupid friends. And you, you—”

  “She was also the one who almost ended the world,” he justifies himself.

  I’m done talking. This ends. Here. And now. “I won’t say it again, let him go.”

  “The answer is still no.” Draco laughs.

  I’m trying to come up with a plan. Anything that could get Leandro and hopefully, everyone else out of here alive. I don’t know about Melinda, but Constantin and B could probably take most of the Fords out without much effort. They don’t wear any protective charms. Only problem, the others do. One of which has my son.

  Think, Remington. Think.

  Despite Legend’s hand around his throat, Leandro doesn’t cry or whimper. His spine is straight, his eyes—Manda’s eyes—are on me. He’s a fighter. Like mother like son.

  “Please.” Melinda is on her knees. “I’m begging you, let him go. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Draco grins like the bitch he is. “That child”—he looks at him—“should have never been born. He’s an abomination. A freak. A—”

  “Watch it.” I’m already wandering on the edge. God knows I don’t need a push to make the jump.

  “Remington.” Legend inches closer. “I get this is hard for you, but you don’t know anything about this child.”

  I stare at my son. My son. I’m his father and I will protect him with my life. I don’t have to know anything else.

  “He’s just a baby,” Melinda cries. “He doesn’t even have any powers yet.”

  “We can’t risk it,” Torres says, looking less thrilled than Draco. “He could erase our whole bloodline.”

  “So that’s what this is about?” Bitter laughter crawls up my throat. “You’re scared he’ll come after you one day?”

  “No,” Legend replies. “We’re scared he’ll come after all of us.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Constantin roars.

  Draco crosses his arms. “Is it?”

  “Yeah, it is,” Constantin assures him. “Being born a witch doesn’t make him any more or less dangerous than anyone else. Hitler was a human, wasn’t he? So was Napoleon, Manson, Bundy, and almost every other serial-killer and whack-job who ever tried to rule the world.” Constantin shrugs. “If your theory stands true, you’ll have to kill every single child just in case it turns out evil one day.”

  “Bullshit,” Draco shouts, hair standing on high ends. “Humans have a right to be on this planet.”

  “And witches don’t?” B shoots back.

  “No,” they all agree. All but Bay. He just stands there like a fucking coward.

  “Funny.” Melinda rises to her feet. “Considering witches are the ones who protect the natural order of all things.”

  “Without us,” Constantin adds. “Humanity would destroy this place.”

  Draco comes at Constantin. “Without you, this planet would be heaven, asshole.”

  “It’s pointless.” Draco pulls his gun on Leandro. “Let’s just get this over with.”

  The second I see the barrel of the gun near Leandro’s head, I lose it. “Wait.” I inch closer, trying to get to him before he pulls the trigger. “Your beef isn’t with him. It’s with me. So go ahead and kill me, but leave my son alone.”

  Draco flashes me his rotten teeth. “How about I kill him first and then you?” He bends to Leandro’s ear. “Say goodbye, Daddy.”

  The kid reaches out to me, smiling as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. “Da…Dada…”

  I extend my hand. Our fingertips connect.

  “What the hell?” Draco yells as a green light bulb builds around Leandro.

  Eyes wide open, he tries to pull the trigger but the gun malfunctions.

  “Dada,” Leandro repeats, struggling to get away from Legend.

  The green light around Leandro quickly turns into blazing flames, searing Legend’s hands. He drops him. I catch him inches above the ground.

  Another battle ensues. The Ford Brothers march toward me. Constantin smirks, chants. Next thing I know, all four brothers are on the ground, holding their heads, screaming in agony.

  JJ and B take on Daryl. “The charm,” B shouts. “Take off his charm.”

  “With pleasure,” JJ says, deflecting Daryl’s fists like a pro.

  She makes it close enough to rip off the protective charm. It dangles from her index finger.

  B’s eyes light up. “Take your knife,” she orders him.

  He complies immediately.

  “Run it through your goddamn leg.” I wish she’d said head, but she ain’t no killer.

  “Watch out,” Constantin screams.

  Legend comes at us. Something tells me Leandro’s shield won’t protect us from his hunting blade.

  “No!” Melinda steps between the knife and us. It pierces through her backbone, killing her instantly.

  Legend isn’t done. He goes for another kill. This time, Leandro and I. I shield him with my body, waiting for the blade to hit a major organ. It never happens.

  “I knew you couldn’t be trusted.”

  Demon-Boy?

  I peek over my shoulder. Demon-Boy caught Legend by the throat, dangling him above the ground. “You’re not so mighty after all.” He laughs, crushing the hunter’s gullet.

  And this is how the great Legend dies. At the hands of a lower-class demon, not standing a damn chance. Pretty anti-climactic, huh?

  “You okay?” Demon-Boy asks, rubbing his palms on his jeans.

  Leandro smiles at me. “Yeah,” I say. “Thanks to you, we are.”

  Demon-Boy shrugs. “Call it even.”

  The demon just saved my son’s life; we’re not even close to even. “I owe you. Just say the word and—”

  “Hey.” He flashes me a boyish grin. “That�
��s what teammates are for, right?”

  The fact a demon sounds so incredibly human would fuck with my mind if it wasn’t for the fight that’s still raging. Carter versus Draco. Constantin versus Torres. This should be fun to watch. Except it’s not. Carter simply shoots the bitch between the eyes—he was most definitely aiming for the leg—and Constantin has Torres on his back and begging for mercy in under a minute.

  JJ helps me up. “You guys okay?”

  “O-kay,” Leandro babbles, smiling down at the feisty huntress.

  She isn’t immune to his charms. “Hey, pretty boy.” She grabs his small hand. “Looking just like your mama, do you?”

  I’m all set to admit she’s right when I spot Bay. He’s still standing in the same spot, not moving a damn inch. “Take care of him,” I mutter, passing my son to JJ.

  “Sure.” She holds him tight against her chest.

  I stalk toward Bay, Beretta drawn. He doesn’t even try to run. “Go ahead,” he says when I aim at him. “I deserve it.”

  “Damn right you do,” JJ barks.

  My finger itches. He’s a traitor. Almost got us all killed. He doesn’t deserve to live. Then why haven’t I pulled the trigger yet?

  “Alex.” Carter nudges me. “Look.”

  I follow his gaze. Leandro sits on JJ’s arm, that same green light circling him. “Dada…Dada.”

  I lower the gun. Shooting Bay won’t bring Manda back. But it will forever change the way my son looks at me. “Carter?”

  “Huh?”

  I turn away from Bay. “Get this son of a bitch away from me before I change my damn mind.”

  Carter grabs him by the arm. “My pleasure.”

  Chapter 56

  The crows are gone, allowing the beams of the bloated moon to break through the massive tree canopy. At the end of this path lies my fate—a lifetime of regret and desire. Or should I say the lifeless body of the woman I love? Every step I take, every move I make reminds me how badly I fucked up. Some mistakes can’t be fixed. This—not trusting Manda—is one of them.

  I keep walking, drawing willpower from Leandro’s shamrock eyes. He’s snuggled up against my chest, holding onto my jacket as if he fears I might leave him. I won’t make the same mistake twice, though. Leaving him will never be an option. He’s my blood, my family. And I swear to every creature willing to listen I won’t fuck this up.