Rage Against the Devil (Wild Beasts Series Book 2)

by T. Birmingham

  “Fuck you, Danny.” But Nicky had a smile on his face, and Ginny’s heart warmed at the look.

  Nicky had changed. He was gradually becoming more like the old Nicky. She’d met Nicky before he’d gone off to serve and he’d been fun, a good kid, and all he’d wanted to do was to cause trouble. Over the years, he’d grown hard and cold and commanding. Part of that was natural to his growth. But much of the hard exterior was due to his experiences in the military.

  Few knew what had happened to him, but Ginny knew, and she understood the changes he had undergone. But the softening she’d seen over the last two years since he’d been home lightened her heart.

  “We’ve got a Fae issue,” Matty said, and she saw Eire bristle near the window, her moment of peace ruined. Ginny flicked Matt’s arm and whispered, “Bad kitty,” and when she looked back toward the Other, a light bulb almost literally turned on in her overactive brain.

  “That’s it!” Ginny said suddenly. The height had thrown her. Fae were usually much taller, but this little thing was at least a half a foot shorter than the average Fae. That bone structure, though… Yeah, she’d bet her last dollar on the Other’s heritage. “You’re Fae, aren’t you?” She really wanted to jump up and down. It had been years since she’d seen a Fae. And being Ginny, she didn’t hold back. She skipped over to the young woman, who was now standing, feet apart, stance battle ready and cold.

  “You are, aren’t you?” she asked again when Eire didn’t answer. “How exciting!” Ginny clapped and jumped up and down. “Sky, Moon, Sun, or Swords?” She moved around the woman and examined her. “Or are you Blood and Bone? Oh, that would be so cool!”

  “You really need to move back,” Eire said and Ginny heard the steel in her voice. Ginny also didn’t miss the bit of pain underneath that steel, though.

  Still, she couldn’t move away. A Fae. In her home.

  Things had just gotten interesting.

  “Forged in fire!” Ginny said, tapping her foot and touching her temple in thought. “I can see that now.”

  “Hell, she’s not fire. That girl is ice,” Kieran said from his corner of the room.

  “Truth!” Ginny yelled, but avoided looking at the Trow. She’d been trying to ignore his presence, but there was something about him that intrigued her. “Forged in fire, but cooled to strengthen her weaponry.” She looked Eire in the eyes, and saw the brightening green. “You’re a Fae of Swords.” She turned her back on the woman and looked to the rest of the group. “Trust me. I can taste it,” she said. Oops. No filter.

  “I don’t know how she does it,” Nicky said from his seat on one of the couches. “That’s a Vuković gift, Gin. You shouldn’t be able to do that. And hell, even a Vuković wouldn’t be able to tell you what kind of Fae Eire is.”

  “I’ve got all sorts of tricks up my sleeves, and you know it.”

  “That I do, Ginny. That I do,” Nicky said, laughing alongside Danny, Matt, and Gem.

  “So, that second piece,” she continued, sniffing at Eire. “Hmmm…that’s a strange smell—”

  Ginny was cut off as the tangy taste of something metallic increased, hitting her tongue. She was never wrong. And she wasn’t at all shocked when Eire’s claws slid out of her nails, long and strong. Damn, she wanted cool claws like that. Skröm had claws, but they were all small and bony. Not cool like those the Fae of Swords had.

  “Oh, shit! That’s so awesome!” Ginny shouted in excitement, and she saw a genuine smile form on Eire’s face. “You’re my new best friend.” Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Nicky stand. “Sorry, Nicky. You’ve been dethroned. This girl is the shit.” Eire’s claws retracted, and the Fae woman tilted her head to the side in an almost wolf-like gesture. Ginny got that reaction a lot.

  “Don’t worry, Eire,” Nicky said from his stance near the edge of one of the couches. Nicky was getting protective. But was he trying to protect Ginny or Eire? “She has that effect on most people.” He chuckled and moved in behind Eire, and Ginny didn’t miss the connection between the two. It was there, under the emotional baggage both carried.

  “I’ll be able to guess the other one later,” Ginny said, referring to the power she couldn’t quite place. It was on the tip of her tongue, but it didn’t quite match Moon, Sky, Sun, or even Blood and Bone.

  She turned to the group, ready to hear what the hell was up. “So. What’s with the full-on posse?”

  “The Fae killings,” Matty said from his spot on the couch, bringing it all back to his comment from before.

  “Fae killings…?” Ginny asked, moving to sit down on the arm of the corner couch nearest the kitchen.

  “Roman didn’t say anything to you?” Nicky gaze sharpened and he looked at her suspiciously.

  Ginny raised her eyebrow. “Fucking Roman only shares what he wants to share. Grumpy bastard.” She looked to Eire. “Fae killings, huh? Someone you know?”

  The beautiful Fae with the steel running through her veins had a face made of stone, but when the stone slipped, the truth was revealed. Oh, no. This woman did not like being associated with the Fae.

  “I’ll take that face as a no.” She turned back to the group. “Deets, dudes. I need details. I have no idea what the fuck you’re all so tense about.”

  It was Kieran who spoke up. She felt his power like the growing vines on her back trellis as he relayed the facts of the case. His words were slow and steady. Consistent and timeless. She closed her eyes for a minute and let his voice wash over her.

  “Gin?” Nicky.

  “Huh?” Insane. She was totally okay with being insane, right? “I’m focusing.”

  “You looked like Kieran was putting you to sleep,” Nicky said, but there was a slight smirk on his face. Goddamned Nicky was spending too much time with Danny.

  “Not asleep. I like his voice. It’s soothing,” Ginny said. She always made it a point to be truthful. Kieran smirked at her and she smiled back. “I was listening. Promise.” She crossed her heart and zipped her lips. “Continue, Kieran.”

  He looked at her briefly, almost quizzically, and she felt a stab of pain in her chest that he was yet another person perplexed by her odd behaviors. We could have had so much fun, she thought.

  “That’s about it. We’ve got an unknown Fae leaving remains of Others all over the state.” His eyes met hers again and she flicked each of her fingers nervously at his intense gaze. “Eight murders so far, but me and Eire were just brought in on this. We don’t want the Council involved if we can help it.”

  “The Council won’t touch this,” Ginny said absently as she thought about the particulars of the crimes. Why there were pictograms of wolves escaped her, but exploding bodies…that she knew. “I’m assuming these victims were devoured by a powerful Fae?”

  The group nodded, but no one spoke. Devouring. That was a rare ability for a Fae to have.

  “Well,” Ginny said, standing, adrenaline filling her up inch by pleasant inch. She loved a good mystery, but she wouldn’t lie and say she wasn’t going to have words with Roman about this. A fucking Fae who could devour in her own backyard, and he’d what? Decided to back off. Or not…she thought, looking back to the group. Her uncle was a wily one.

  “Did Roman warn Alexia off this case?” Ginny asked turning back to the group.

  “Yeah, fucking told her not to investigate and she left you, me, and Danny in the dark,” Nicky said, running his hands through his hair. Then his gaze sharpened again. “How’d you know?”

  Ginny just shook her head and smiled.

  “What?” Nicky asked, a bit defensively.

  “Nicky,” Ginny said looking across the room at him and meeting his gaze directly, “when have we ever known Alexia to back off?” She paused as his stance relaxed. “I keep telling you all…Roman is really just a big ted—”

  “Yeah, yeah…a big teddy bear,” Nicky said dismissively. Then, his tone grew more serious. “Are you saying Roman told Lex to stay out of this case just so she wouldn’t?”
<
br />   “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Ginny gave Nicky a meaningful look and moved toward the loft area where her office was. “Hey,” she said, before stepping inside. “Who’s taking me to see the body parts?

  “Other Enforcers cleansed the other seven scenes, but the one in Montville is still there,” Nicky said, looking to Kieran for confirmation, and the Trow nodded. “You can come with us this afternoon.”

  “This is going to be fun.” She took off her flats and threw them into the box of shoes near the large, wooden ladder that led up to her loft bedroom. “I’m just gonna give my manager, Darragh, a call before I join y’all!” She added excitedly, “It’s been a couple decades since I was able to actually go after a Fae.” Ginny looked to the Fae woman, whose cool exterior was so perfectly a Fae of Swords. She still couldn’t pinpoint the second gift, but she would. It was rare for a Fae to have two gifts, but she’d smelled the minerals beneath the snow. “No offense.”

  “None taken. I’d like to get some Fae hunts in myself.” Seemed Eire had a few Fae she was looking to take out herself.

  “Fantastic!” Ginny exclaimed. She walked to her office, squishing her bare feet into the carpet and feeling the soft, plush fibers against her feet. She picked up her office phone and dialed Darragh’s number. “Der, need you at the club,” she said when he picked up.

  She heard the rustling of fabric and then his, “Shit!” before she spoke up again.

  “Ummm… I can call back if you haven’t finished.” She wasn’t going to be shy about it. Poor guy should finish for his mate. And what if his mate hadn’t finished? “Or if Candace needs to finish—”

  “Just stop, Ginny. Jesus,” she heard him start laughing, and the unmistakable sound of Danny’s obnoxious guffaw in her living room.

  “Just sayin’. When a man leaves me hangin’, I get über grumpy. Happy wife, happy life and all that shit. I don’t need you feeling shitty because your home life sucks. I’m trying to help you out.”

  “Don’t,” Darragh said. His Irish brogue wasn’t soothing like Kieran’s.

  “Fine. I won’t help.”

  “Thank you.” His voice was stuck between frustration and laughter. She got that a lot.

  “All right. I need you to come in. And you’ll have to switch shifts for at least this week with Jaimie and Steph.”

  “Sounds good, Boss.” Boss. Yech. She hated when he called her that. And he knew it. “This isn’t the first time you’ve needed to leave on a case. We know the drill.”

  “Thanks, Der.”

  “Anytime, Boss.”

  She turned back to the others as she hung up, and suddenly wished her entire apartment wasn’t an open floor plan. Their faces were a mixture of laughter and confusion. Welcome to my life, she thought.

  “Good to go!”

  She raced up the ladder to grab some clothes as she heard the others sit back on the couches and take advantage of the snacks she and the guys had brought out. She heard Eire ask, “Is she always so insane and…bubbly?”

  “Pretty much everyone’s assessment of Ginny.” Danny’s voice was filled with laughter, and she smiled.

  “She get that crazy when feeding?” Eire’s continued. “Because despite what you’ve heard of Others, me and Gimp here don’t kill unless we have to. I’ve killed my fair share of Skröm, though.”

  “Happily,” she heard Kieran say, his deep voice doing things to Ginny’s insides that made her feel dirty because of the subject matter. The Clans treated the Skröm like Others, and the Others didn’t even want them.

  “She doesn’t feed on humans at all.”

  “What do you mean? She has to feed.” Kieran’s voice was curious. And then he turned serious. “She’ll die without blood.”

  “She doesn’t feed often, but when she does, it’s from Clan or blood bags, I think. I haven’t really asked,” Nicky said. “How’s it coming, Ginny?” Nicky questioned and Ginny put on a bit of a sadistic smile.

  “Awesome, Nicky!” She threw the last of the things she needed into her bags and climbed down the ladder. “I just have to hide the human bodies in the basement that I have up there before we leave,” she said as she walked into the room. “Who wants to help? It’ll be real quick! Promise.” She smiled at the room at large and she knew her fangs had descended. “I just hate it when they start to smell, the mangy beasts.”

  She saw the smiles on Nicky, Danny, Gem, and Matty’s faces, and she winked at them. Then she heard the deep, feminine chuckle from the other side of the room. She followed Nicky’s gaze to Eire. He looked at the Fae woman like her laugh was a homing beacon. He zoned in on the sound and she heard his breath catch and she smiled serenely. Nicky was falling hard.

  She turned back to Kieran.

  “So, you look burly enough to help me carry a few dozen bodies downstairs to my dank, eerie basement. What do ‘ya say, Kieran?” Instead of anger or confusion or even fear, he gave her the same wink he’d given when she’d talked to him earlier.

  “I’d love to go into the basement with you. Name the time, princess.”

  “You’re good, Trow.” She let out a laugh, despite the use of the nickname ‘princess.’ She’d always hated the moniker, like her place as Roman’s confident – when he felt like sharing – hadn’t been earned with every ounce of blood and sweat a lifetime could conjure. But he’d said it like he’d treat her like a queen in bed. That she could forgive.

  “Danny, you got your Mustang?” she asked, leading them out of her place as she threw on her brown knee-high boots. “I need a ride in a muscle car today. Top down preferably.” She paused. “And, just for the record, I may maim you if you bore me with ‘that’s what she said’ jokes the whole ride.”

  “You ruin all of my fun, Gin.”

  “I am all the fun, Danny.” She placed her hand against the door to set the lock as the group started making their way down Stealth’s main hallway. “Let’s go catch us some crazy ass motherfuckin’ Fae,” she said and she picked up her bags and skipped out of the club, waving goodbye to everyone in the main part of Stealth, including those getting super cozy in the corners. She loved her club. All the love. All the smexiness. All the joy. All the pain.

  She’d inherited the club at eighteen. She’d used her trust fund from her psychopathic parents, and at first she’d refused to take it, but Roman had convinced her to do what she wanted with it. So, at nineteen, she’d opened Stealth, and for over forty years, it had been one of the top Clan clubs in the Northeast. It was also one of the only clubs the Others were allowed in.

  She hated that she had to have a back entrance for them, but that was the way of her world. The Trow and the Fae had gotten away with it because they’d come in with Nicky, Danny, Gem, and Matty. But she’d have to say something if they wanted to come in the future. Shit, she felt like an ass even thinking that. She liked Eire. And she really liked Kieran.

  They followed her out of the club, everyone hopping onto bikes and into cars. She looked over at Danny as she put on her seatbelt and noticed he’d turned the heat up full throttle. She’d forgotten he was human for a minute. It was way too cold to open the top, but she still opened her window for a bit as they sailed down the highway on their way to Montville.

  She watched the motorcycle climb the hills in front of them and the Rav4 Hybrid keep pace from behind as Gem drove Matty and Kieran back to Montville. Ginny had dealt with Fae before. They weren’t a fun bunch. She’d loved learning about their history though. She’d also met some interesting Fae who weren’t all bad, but most of those motherfuckers were insane. Their gifts drove them a little crazy. She got that.

  They were different than the Clans. The Clans had come by their powers via the gods.

  The Fae were different. They were Other. Created by the Darkness. And the Darkness, as Ginny knew, was rarely kind, but ever present. Inevitable. Ginny had her own way of dealing with the Darkness though.

  The only way to move the fuck forward was to first accept that the Darkn
ess just was. It was a part of her whether she wanted it or not. She’d let each piercing moment of sorrow and anger fill her up, and then she’d breathe through the moment as her Darkness changed her. Because that was the nature of the Dark. It changed a person.

  But after she breathed through that pain, she would let the moment go, taking up her peace and sense of play once again. That’s how she lived. That’s how she survived. That’s how she was who she was.

  “Gin?” Danny asked from next to her. “It’s still bothering me from earlier. What exactly did you show Antonio?”

  “His worst fear.”

  “Yeah, no, I got that. I know how your power works,” Danny said as he looked over at her like she really was as scary as she felt sometimes. “But what was his worst fear?”

  “Oh,” she said, changing the music station to modern country. She preferred the twang and the comfort of something with a bit more pep. Traditional meets pop culture. “He’s terrified of bunnies.”

  “Bunnies?” Danny’s voice was incredulous. Did humans still not understand that fears were, in their very nature, the stupidest thing ever? Hell, not just humans. Most of the Others and Clan members she knew were the same. Fear. They let it rule them. There was never a rhyme or reason to fear. That was why they were fears. The thing we feared the most would still happen.

  “You’re one of a kind, you know that, Ginny?” he said as he laughed and drove on toward Montville.

  Yeah, yeah. She without a doubt knew that.

  Ginny was quiet the rest of the ride as she let the Darkness settle for a bit. She had to let the scar form before she could play. And from what she’d gathered of the situation, she’d have plenty of time to play when she got to Montville.

  Seven days came and went before Kieran received a call that another murder had occurred. With Danny in tow, they’d all decided to drive again. It was probably for the best. Eire was not in top shape.