by Laken Cane
Jin nodded solemnly. “That is true.”
Rhys walked to the sink to get himself a glass of water. “No one is cutting off pieces of himself.” He took a long drink of water, then turned to look at us.
Shane gave him a nod. “Not for the fucking humans.”
I understood that. Still, I was curious. “What else, Jin?”
“You will need an aged virgin’s…reproductive fluids.” He stared fixedly at the tabletop. “A small piece of a vampire’s heart. A spoonful of ashes from a burned human.”
“Okay,” I said. “So we need a new plan to deal with the incubus.”
“No,” Angus said, putting his phone away as he walked into the kitchen. “It’s a good plan. We will each gather an ingredient. There will always be demons, even when this one is gone. We need a protection in place.”
“Gathering those ingredients will take forever,” I said. “And besides…we’re not going to cut ourselves for the humans.”
“It’ll take a while, and that will give them time to appreciate the hell out of us when we save them from not only the rifters, but the nasty demons.” He shrugged. “I’m paraphrasing, but those were Himself’s words.”
Jin slunk from the room, leaving us to our plans.
“Smart,” Clayton said. “And the tide begins to turn.”
We could hope.
“I just want to know one thing,” I said. “Who’s going to donate seven ounces of flesh?”
Chapter Nineteen
Because I Am Afraid
“That would be me,” Angus said, sitting down. “Nadine was very specific in her instructions.”
“Then let Nadine donate the flesh.” I scowled at him. “Was she listening in as Jin told us about the hie potion?”
He lifted a quizzical eyebrow. “Hie potion?”
I shrugged. “Jin says the threat alone will make the demon “hie back to hell.”
Angus laughed. “Hie potion it is, then. It’s as good a name as any. I don’t know if Nadine listened while you spoke to Jin. I just know she was murmuring shit into my ear that sounded crazy until it didn’t.” He shrugged. “Repeating things from Himself, instructing me on which of us would give what. And the flesh will come from me.”
“Angus…”
“It’s a few ounces, Trin. I won’t even notice. The demon, like the rifters, is doing us an unintentional favor. Our time is now, and we’re not going to hesitate to grab the opportunity.”
He was right. The feeling of a new beginning hung in the air, like the crisp, fresh excitement of autumn. It was the time of the supernatural. We would continue to protect the humans, but still. It was the time of the supernatural.
I nodded. “All right. Most of the things will be easy to get. My blood, for instance. But where the hell are we going to get the Foam of Aphrodite? And the ashes from a burned human?”
Shane snorted. “I’d be more worried about finding an aged virgin.”
I glanced at Rhys. That wouldn’t be a problem, but I wasn’t telling the rest of them that.
“I’ll take care of that one,” Rhys said.
“And I have the foam.” Clayton didn’t smile, but there was a bright spark in his eyes. “When the sick incubus possessed me, he also gave up some of his secrets. I found his stash.”
“That’s right,” I said. “I remember. In the cabin…”
I remembered more than Clayton finding the stash of foam. I remembered his body on mine, his intensity, his need. And I remembered Miriam calling him out afterward, out into dozens of infecteds. I remembered his captivity.
I remembered Miriam.
So did he.
Our eyes met for a lingering few seconds, and finally, I got up and went to him. I stood behind his chair, leaned over, and wrapped my arms around him. I buried my nose at the side of his cake-scented throat, and I held him.
Soon, Miriam wouldn’t be a problem. I had to believe that.
“Amias will get the chunk of heart,” Angus continued.
“I could do that just as well,” Shane told him.
“No, you’ll get the ashes.”
Shane gave a nod. “Will do.”
“We’re all set, then,” Rhys said. “Retrieving the items won’t be that difficult, after all.”
“Says the man who gets to keep all his flesh,” Angus growled, but he was smiling.
“Before we’re finished with them,” I said, “the humans are going to love us.”
“They’re going to rely on us to keep them safe. We’ll guide their fear toward something else, and they will begin to see us as…” Clayton narrowed his eyes, trying to find the right word.
“Angels,” Leo said.
Shane leaned forward. “They will see us as leaders.” And though he wasn’t exactly a supernatural, he was part of them.
We had a plan—but only for the demons. There was still the coming night. There were still the rifters.
“I’d like to contribute,” Leo said, and I realized how quiet he had become. Left out, as usual. Leo, like most of us, just needed to belong.
His broad, plain face was expressionless, but his eyes were soulful, beautiful, and full of longing.
“You will, my friend.” Angus’s voice was steady, but there was something there—something like a reluctant warning. And Leo knew him well enough to know that whatever Angus had planned for him was not going to be an easy task.
I looked up from Clayton in time to see a look pass between Leo and Angus—a private look, and one full of knowledge that the rest of us were not privy to.
Leo nodded. “I’m here for you.”
I straightened and tried to breathe past the uneasiness that tightened my chest. “Angus?”
He met my stare, impassive. “Don’t worry.” He smacked his hands together, more eager than I’d seen him since his return from prison. “Let’s get started. Tonight, when Amias is awake, we will gather here with our ingredients, rob Trin of her blood, and mix the potion.”
As if he’d been waiting for his cue, Jin appeared, a hammered gold pot in his grip. “I will donate the receptacle.” He set it down, then began gathering up the lunch dishes that still littered the table. “Supper will be early since lunch was barely touched.” His tone was full of disapproval.
Angus grabbed me into his arms and squeezed half the life from me. “I’m going home for a while, and then to the shop. I’ll see you tonight. If you need me…”
“I’ll call.” I took his face between my palms, then pressed my lips to his, shutting out everything else as I took possession of his mouth. I wanted to taste him, so I did. I sucked his bottom lip, slid my tongue across his, kissed him like I might never kiss him again.
I felt him growing hard against me, and he tightened his arms. “Tonight,” he said, into my mouth. “Tonight you’re mine.”
I pulled back, just a little. “I’m always yours. Tonight I will fuck you.”
He threw back his head and roared with pleased laughter, and it lightened my heart to hear it. I would have done anything to chase away the eerie, unmentionable darkness the Byrdcage had created inside him.
That darkness was part of him now. I had to find a way to accept it, because there would be no way to defeat it.
Clayton stood. “I’ll go fetch the foam.”
“You left it in the woods?” I asked, surprised.
“Yes.”
I gave Angus a last quick kiss, then stepped away from him. “Hang on. I’ll go with you.”
“No. I’ll go alone.”
“Why?” I was quickly angry at the thought that he didn’t want me with him.
“Because,” he said, simply, softly, “Fear lingers inside me, and I won’t allow fear to rule me. Because I am afraid, I’ll go alone.”
I was afraid for him. If Seamus and Miriam cornered Clayton when he was alone, he wouldn’t have a chance in hell at escaping them.
I put my hand on his arm when he would have walked by me. “Be careful.”
But A
ngus wasn’t satisfied to let Clayton face danger alone. “This is a justified fear. You’re not afraid because you’re a weak man. You’re afraid because of the very real possibility that the demon and his vicious bitch sword will be waiting for you. Trin is going with you, because none of us will ever have to face shit alone again.”
I put my hand to my full chest. “That’s exactly right.”
“I’ll go with him,” Leo said, eagerly. He got to his feet and as much as I wanted to accompany Clayton, I didn’t have the heart to deny Leo.
Neither did Clayton.
The house emptied quickly as everyone slipped away to do his thing.
I knew when my phone began ringing that it was Crawford calling. I’d been expecting to hear that more women had come forward about the demon attacks.
Eight women, the captain said. And the mayor wanted to talk to me.
“When and where?”
“The station. He and one of his people will meet us in an hour. My office.”
“You told me he was threatening to arrest me. I’m not walking into the station and holding out my wrists, Frank.”
“Do you think I’d let him do that, Sinclair?”
I hesitated. “I don’t know.”
He hung up without reassuring me. My choice to show up or not.
“I’ll show up,” I muttered, “but I’m not coming alone.”
“I don’t think we’ll be back for dinner, Jin,” I said, as I headed for the front door.
I climbed into my car and drove to the city.
Another night was already speeding toward us, and who knew what fresh, dark hell would ride along with it?
Chapter Twenty
Dark and Twisty
I called Alejandro on my way out of Bay Town. I told him where I was headed and why. “I could use some backup.”
“I’ll meet you there,” he said.
When I pulled into the station—early, as usual—I sat in the parking lot watching the bustle for ten minutes or so before Al arrived. He wasn’t alone.
Jade Noel climbed out of the passenger side of his car.
“Shit,” I muttered. I didn’t know what it was about her, but she rubbed me the wrong way. She pissed me off, and there was no reason for it. I didn’t even have a gut feeling, a niggling doubt, or a worry that she’d turn on me.
She just pissed me off.
“Jade was with me when you called,” Al said, smiling as he walked toward me. “She offered to come along just in case we need extra muscle.”
He looked from me to Jade as we stood silently staring at each other, both of us grim and unfriendly.
“Uh,” he said, “I hope you don’t mind, Trinity. You can’t get better backup than Jade.”
“Of course not.” I gave her a nod. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” she said.
“Delaney is toying with the idea of arresting me,” I told her as we walked across the parking lot. “And I’m not even a supernat. You’re not worried he’ll try to take you?”
She snorted loud enough to scare away a couple of starlings scavenging a discarded wrapper littering the asphalt. “Fucking Todd Delaney doesn’t scare me.”
“He’s scared of you,” Al said.
“Scared humans are dangerous,” I growled. “They don’t like anything that makes them afraid.”
“You’d know what makes humans tick better than I would.” Her voice was mild but in no way hid her contempt.
She didn’t like me any more than I liked her. I wondered if she had a better idea of why, but I wasn’t going to ask.
As soon as we entered the station and people caught sight of us—or Jade, rather—they quieted. Their expressions were mostly curious.
I hadn’t recognized Jade when I’d first seen her in Willow-Wisp. She rarely made appearances in the city. Anything she did was carried out behind the scenes, away from the humans’ attention, and little was actually said about her. Jade Noel was a very private person.
I glanced at her, wondering how she kept such a low profile, as curious—and in the dark—as the rest of the humans.
“We’re here to see Captain Crawford,” I told the man at the desk.
Crawford yanked open his door, then groaned when he spotted Jade. He glanced back over his shoulder, then hurried out, closing the door behind him. He glowered at me. “What the hell, Sinclair?”
“I didn’t invite her.” I squinted at her. “Why are you here, anyway? This is not exactly a friendly place for supernaturals.”
Al hung back and kept his mouth shut.
“When the humans have reached their lowest low, I’m going to be one of the heroes who swoop in to save their whiny, entitled asses. I want them to get used to seeing me before that happens.” She shrugged. “As Himself said, it’s time.”
I looked at Crawford. “Delaney in there?”
He nodded. “Jade, wait out here. You know how the mayor feels about you. And please…don’t cause any trouble.”
Jade put her hand over her heart. “Now you’re just being mean.”
He tossed a glare around the room. “Yell if you need help.”
She merely raised an eyebrow, then leaned back against the wall outside his door and crossed her arms.
“I’ll stay with Trinity,” Alejandro said. “I’d rather she didn’t face the mayor alone.”
“She won’t be alone, for God’s sake,” Crawford said. “She’s in a building full of cops, and I’ll be with her.”
“Still,” Al said.
Crawford shrugged. “Fine. The mayor doesn’t have a problem with you.”
“How well do you know Jade?” I asked Crawford, as he walked me into his office.
“Well enough,” he muttered, then, “Mayor, you’ve met Trinity.”
Delaney sat on a battered settee that had been shoved against the wall. He didn’t stand or offer to shake my hand. He peered at me over his glasses, not a bad looking man, not a particularly heinous man, but an asshole, just the same. “Just this morning, actually.”
“Did Frank explain about the rifters?” I asked, taking a seat. “And the demons?” Al stood behind me. Crawford sat down on the sofa beside the mayor, worry in his eyes, though he tried to hide it.
There was another man in the room, but he stood a short distance away, apparently trying to be unobtrusive.
“Straight to the point,” Delaney said, after giving Al a long look. “I like it.”
“I’d rather not waste any more time,” I told him. “Not when so many lives are at stake.”
He leaned forward. “All right. I can get on board with that. So here is how things will go from now on. You’re going to continue doing your job—which is killing monsters—and you’re going to live in town until this nightmare passes. Frank said he has offered you free room and board. I suggest you take him up on that offer.”
I crossed my legs and let him talk.
“You’re not going to interfere with the way I run my city or the way I run my supernaturals. Do you understand me so far?”
I kept my voice bland, unemotional, non-confrontational, even if my words were full of anger, disgust, and emotion. “See, that’s part of your problem. They’re not your supernaturals. And I will not lead my hunters into the city to protect the ones who persecute them.”
I wouldn’t underestimate him. The man was not without power. He held sway with the humans, and he ruled the city. He was dangerous.
He would order our arrests—or our deaths—if he thought it would benefit him. “You have to understand,” Delaney said. “I wasn’t the only one who initiated the city’s new rules and regulations, and I certainly can’t snap my fingers and order them suspended.”
“I’m sure you can do whatever you want to do.”
He shrugged and gave me a tiny, pleased smile. “I don’t singlehandedly run the city, even though it sometimes feels like I do.” He laughed, then sobered quickly when no one laughed with him.
“We’re more than willing to
help,” I told him. “We’ll protect you. We’ll protect all the humans. But you need to retract the regulations you put into place and you need to do it before tonight. Trust me—you give us a chance and you won’t have to worry about the city.” I stared him down, stared into his thick, arrogant silence, and I refused to look away. “It’s time for change, Mayor. Just not the changes you want.”
He studied me, his anger at my continued resistance obvious in the tight line of his lips, his narrowed eyes, his clenched hands. “Why should I coddle them, Ms. Sinclair? The nonhumans are attacking our city. Turning people into vampires. Killing people. And you ask me to make things easier for them?” He crossed his arms and sat back. “We’ve allowed them to exist on this land for centuries, and this is how they repay us. Bay Town is theirs.” He pursed his lips, then shot Crawford a quick, angry grin. “Sort of, right? They should be grateful.”
“The vampires attacking the city are not Red Valley vampires,” I said, forcing myself to unclench my jaw. “They’re not even vampires. They’re rifters. Our vampires are dead and gone and these monsters want to take their place.” I leaned toward him. “Believe me when I say that you do not want that to happen.”
“What I want is for my people to be safe. What I want is a city where monsters don’t roam the streets expecting equality. Once they get that shit into their heads, it’s almost impossible to get them back to where they’re satisfied with their lot.”
He was trying to provoke me. I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “The thing is, if you don’t do as we ask, the city will fall to the rifters. And,” I added, “to the demons. You may not have been touched by the horror yet, Mayor, but you will be.”
The captain didn’t move, but he closed his eyes in a long, slow blink. He said nothing.
Delaney uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “Are you threatening me, Ms. Sinclair?”
“I’m simply stating the facts.”
“You realize I could have you arrested,” he said.
“I realize you could try.”
I could almost feel Alejandro stiffening behind me, and Crawford’s entire body tensed.
But Delaney only laughed. “You have confidence in yourself. I like that. But make no mistake, Trinity, with the snap of my fingers I could have you thrown into the darkest, nastiest jail for the rest of your life.”
