by D. N. Hoxa
“Something big?” Red asked. “What something?”
“I don’t know yet. Nobody does,” Amara said reluctantly. “But he’s put all his resources into it.”
“And that’s it?” Red raised his hands, disappointed, but Amara was not done yet.
“He’s shut down all contact with his men for two days.” She looked at Red. “I’m assuming you’re the vampire who killed most in that group?”
The group. Shit. She’d heard about what had happened when Haworth’s people had kidnapped me. It brought chills down my spine but also reassured me. At least I could count on her information not being fake.
“You assume right,” he said. “And I’m assuming that’s the real reason you’re here.”
Amara smiled, mischief dancing in her dark eyes. “I’ve heard about you. I just didn’t know it was…” She sized him up a couple times. Not going to lie, it made me feel very uncomfortable for reasons of an unknown nature. “…you.”
“What does that mean?” I turned to Red. “What did she hear?”
“Nothing,” he said, never taking his eyes off Amara, but he wasn’t sizing her up. He was mad. Very mad. “Are you going to continue, or are you going to make me throw you out?”
As if nothing at all had happened, Amara took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders.
What? That was it? I wanted to know what she’d heard, too, damn it!
“Like I said, he’s gone AWOL on everyone and is only using his animals to send messages,” Amara said.
My wolf growled. His animals. They weren’t his.
“Can you tell me more about that part? How is he manipulating those animals? I’ve never seen anything like it,” I said halfheartedly, remembering the look in those wolves’ eyes and that awful smell.
“You’ve seen them?” Amara asked, surprised.
I nodded. “Wolves.”
“It’s a spell,” she said. “It connects them to him.”
I almost choked on my own spit. “To him?” Like…like my wolf and I were connected?
“Kind of, yeah. Whatever his spell does, he’s able to navigate the animals. Kills one to make the ritual for another,” she said with a flinch.
“Okay, so he’s cut all ties with his men. What else?” Red asked impatiently, not as interested as me to know more about the animals. I suppose that was for the best. Now was not the time for my wolf to try to take over my body.
“He’s protecting something—or someone—and he’s got friends in very high places. The ECU, the witches, the packs have been trying to find him, but something always stops them.”
“Because they can’t trace him.” That’s what Finn had told me.
“Or because someone’s stopping them,” Amara said, giving me a knowing look. She thought someone from the witches or the packs or the ECU was in on this with Haworth? That was a heavy accusation.
“What else?” said Red impatiently.
“I know where most of his men are located. I can share those locations with you. I can also sneak in information—false information to them, if it helps,” Amara said in a rush. That could come in handy. I wondered if she knew Izzy personally, but I caught myself before asking.
“Can you confirm something to us?” I asked before Red could stop me. “We’ve heard rumors that he’s working with demons, too. Is that true?”
Pressing her lips together, Amara sighed. “I’ve heard that, too. Haven’t been able to confirm it.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because—like I said, he’s shut down all communications with his men.”
“So you get your information from them. From his men.” It made perfect sense.
“I didn’t say that,” she snapped.
“But you implied it,” said Red.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, she shook her head as if to clear it. “Look, I’m giving you all I know here. Don’t ask me to reveal my source because I won’t.”
“So what are your expectations here, Amara? What do you hope to gain from this?” Red said, waving his hand in a circle between us.
“I hope to get rid of Hector Haworth,” she said without missing a beat.
“Get rid? You mean kill him?” I asked. Was she serious? She had basically told us he was untouchable.
“Yes, exactly. He’s bad. He’s an evil man, and the longer he’s free, the stronger he’ll get,” she said. The passion in her eyes was unmistakable. I had no idea who Haworth had killed, but it must have been someone close to her heart.
“Do you know where he comes from?” asked Red. “Do you know where he learned those spells?”
“He comes from Washington,” Amara said. Her forehead glistened with sweat, and it wasn’t even hot in there. “From what I know, he was an ordinary man before becoming…this.”
“So he’s working with someone,” Red said in a whisper, looking down at the ground.
“Possible. He’s got no family, and he had no money or anything before coming here,” Amara said. “I have no idea what he paid his men with at first, but like I said, he’s protecting someone. It could very well be that he’s working for someone.”
“At first? What about now? How does he pay his men now?” I asked. I wanted to know this. What was Izzy getting out of this whole thing?
“Now? He’s stealing both from paranormals and from humans. He’s already made a fortune,” she said through gritted teeth. Money. Could it be that Izzy got into this for money?
“You said you wanted him dead,” Red said, bringing us back to the point. “Do you have a plan in mind?”
“I don’t,” Amara said. “But I know I can’t do it alone. And I know you can help me.”
Again, she looked at Red like he was the only one in the room. “I’ll do my best, too,” I said, rolling my eyes as if I didn’t suddenly feel like I was sitting on needles. It was so weird, I hoped it stopped soon.
“What about the ECU? Any update on them?” Red said.
“The same,” Amara said. “They’re either stuck, like Victoria says, or they’re focused on the demons and the Storm witches. Either way, nobody’s giving this priority.”
“You’re wrong,” I said reluctantly. “They’ve hired Finn Germain to find him.”
“How do you know?” both of them asked me.
“Because Finn wanted me to help him locate Haworth.” That werewolf had started everything. From the second he’d come to speak to me at the bar, my whole life had started to go down the drain.
“You’re a werewolf, right?” Amara said, squinting her eyes at me. I nodded. “Are you specialized in finding others?”
“I guess you could say that.” Animals are beings, too, right?
“If Finn asked for your help, you must be good.”
Oh! Finally, she was looking at me like I was worthy of her attention, too! Would you look at that?
“She’s got the best nose around. If we can find anything that belongs to Haworth, or if we find a place he’s been to recently, she can track him easily,” Red said.
My stomach went all crazy, and I got all fuzzy for a second. A vampire talking all that sweet-talk about me? Never thought I’d see the day.
“Impossible. He uses spells—much stronger ones than I do,” Amara said.
“I can smell the spell, too, I think,” I said. I could smell her, couldn’t I? Red was right; my nose was much better than I’d first thought. “I can track it just as well as his scent.” If you heard me speak and didn’t know me before, you’d think I was a hundred percent sure of my abilities, which, sadly, wasn’t the case at all.
“The spells are designed to not have a scent,” she said, slowly, as if speaking to a child.
I wanted to flip her off so bad, my middle finger itched. “Your spell is designed to not have a scent, either, but I can smell it on you like a perfume.”
She narrowed her brows. “No, you can’t.”
I smiled. “Smells like chamomile and honey. I could track you just from this
, if I had to.” My, my, I would pat myself on the back if I could. I never knew I could sound so ballsy.
Amara turned to look at Red, who was grinning.
“Don’t look so surprised, Amara. You’re not the only one with tricks up your sleeves,” he said.
“That’s…impressive, yes, but it’s still not going to help us. There’s no way to find out where Haworth is or was.”
“But he’s not going to keep away from his people forever, right? We can track them. Follow them around until they lead us to him,” I said. Can’t was not what I wanted to hear, not when I could practically see Izzy in front of me now.
“Useless,” Red said. “He’s not an amateur.”
“And even if it would work, who knows when he’ll get back on the grid. There isn’t much his men can do to attract his attention,” Amara said. “He’s not coming out anytime soon.”
For whatever reason, Yumi the werewolf came to my mind.
“Whoever’s feeding you this must know a way. He’s not untouchable, for fuck’s sake,” said Red, apparently angry now.
But I still couldn’t get Yumi out of my head. That guy had been so surprised to see me shift. To see my wolf. His eyes had glazed over, his face could barely contain his smile. He was proud.
And what was it that he told the other? That the master was going to be so happy, they all were going to have a prime spot in his “heaven?” Yes, that’s what he’d said. So…
“What if…”
No. I wasn’t serious, was I? Even my wolf was speechless.
“What if, what?” Red asked.
I looked at him and tried to think, but I couldn’t. The idea was too loud in my head, demanding to be spoken. I opened my mouth without realizing it.
“What if I become the bait?”
Red’s eyes widened instantly. “No.”
“What do you mean, no?” He really confused me.
“Bait? Why would you become the bait? What’s the point?” Amara asked. She was confused, too, but for a different reason.
“Look, it could work. You heard them yourself—he wants me. It he thinks he got me, he’ll come out—I know it.” The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Yes, the fear was making my hands shake terribly, but I could just put them under my thighs and ignore them. This was Izzy we were talking about. If we didn’t do something about this Haworth guy, she was done, and I couldn’t accept that. I wouldn’t.
But Red had other ideas.
“Absolutely not. No way in hell. Forget it,” he said, showing me his teeth, his eyes growing darker.
“Think about it! We’re desperate here! Didn’t you hear her? He’s cut himself off from everyone,” I said.
“I said, forget it,” he insisted. “It’s not going to happen, Victoria.”
Did he know that the more he objected, the more he made me want to fight him over this?
Probably not.
“Does anybody want to tell me what the hell is happening?” Amara asked, but I was busy looking at Red.
“I’m not asking for your permission, asshole. You don’t get to make my decisions for me,” I reminded him.
For a moment there, I’d forgotten how he felt about insults, but now I knew. I remembered very well when the whites of his eyes turned red, and he seemed to become bigger in size. I was intimidated, absolutely, but I’d die before I’d cower back. This was my decision to make.
“I do when your decisions are stupid. You’re going to let this go, right now, or I’m going to lock you in that fucking room!” he shot back.
I laughed. “Lock me? You think a door can hold me? Oh, try it! Please, please, try it, fucktard.”
Then he grabbed me by my wrist so fast, I didn’t even see him move. “Don’t tempt me,” he whispered.
“It’s my body. My decision, and I don’t need you to understand or to like it. I’m doing this, Red. I’m doing it for her.” Maybe he forgot what was at stake for me. For him, it was just a thing, an enchanted item, but for me, it was my sister. Desperate times called for desperate measures.
“Okay, time out!” Amara shouted, raising her hands in surrender. “Would you please tell me why you seem to think that you being bait would somehow work in luring Haworth out of hiding?”
“Because of my wolf,” I said, my voice still high with anger. “I turn into a wolf. Not a werewolf—just a wolf, and Haworth wants me, okay?”
Her eyes wide with horror, she shook her head. “It’s you.”
I slammed my hands on my thighs. “Great.” She’d heard about me, too. Was somebody left out there who hadn’t?
“You can’t do it,” Amara said.
“Thank you!” shouted Red.
I gave him a pointed look. “I don’t care. I’m doing it.”
“Over my dead body.”
“Sooo…I just cross over you right now, and I’m good to go?” I said, unable to help it. He rolled his eyes, but I could tell he wanted to smile. It was a good joke, maybe not at the perfect moment. But he was dead.
“Victoria, he’s right. When Haworth wants something, Haworth gets it. You’re under the impression that if they take you to him, you’ll survive,” Amara said.
Now, I didn’t like that look she gave me, like all her focus was on me.
“I will survive. My wolf is—” Red didn’t let me finish.
“Weak. Untrained. With no experience,” he spit.
“No experience? I’d tell you to ask all the people she’s attacked, but they’re all dead. Like really dead—unlike you,” I said reluctantly. It wasn’t fun to remember, but if he needed the reminder, I was going to give it to him.
“You’re missing the point,” Amara said. “Whatever you got, he’s got something better.”
They couldn’t be serious.
“So, what, you’re just going to sit here and wait for him to decide to show up in a year or two?” I stood up and Red followed immediately. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. My sister is counting on me to save her from him, and I’m going to do it with or without you.” My eyes were filled with angry tears. I just wanted them to see that I couldn’t just sit and wait. This wasn’t how it worked.
“So he has your sister?” Amara whispered, slowly rising to her feet, too. Great. Now we were all standing, and it was weird as fuck in that small living room.
“He does,” I said. I hadn’t wanted to tell her that part, but to hell with it. “And she told me herself, the only way she’ll get out is if she’s dead, but that’s not an option. If Haworth dies, however, then she’s free. I’m free.” And we could get the hell out of the country and never look back.
“She’s right,” Amara said with a nod.
“I’m doing it.” I turned to Red. He didn’t look as angry as before when he looked at me wiping my tears. I had a little hope that maybe he saw things the way I saw them—the right way. “I have to.”
“No, you don’t,” he said. There went my hope. I was about to start shouting, but he beat me to it. “It doesn’t have to be you.”
“It doesn’t?” I could see he was onto something, so I let him speak.
“He wants wolves, doesn’t he? I doubt he’d have complaints if his people brought him one, even if he didn’t ask for it.”
The light went on in my head. “A pack wolf.” Of course. Finn had showed me the pictures. Haworth used usual wolves, but pack wolves had more magic. More strength. More everything. Not that I planned to let that asshole do to another wolf what he’d done to those in Finn’s pictures, but we could use one to take us to Haworth. Then, we could kill that asshole.
“Just how do you think you can get a pack wolf out of the pack?” Amara asked.
Red looked at me, grinning. “Victoria can.”
Chills washed down the length of me when I realized what exactly he was saying and what I was thinking.
Get a wolf into Haworth’s hands.
“Are you sure she can? Because I believe that could work,” Amara said. “His men would ha
ve to take the wolf somewhere, and Haworth wouldn’t miss an opportunity to spell a pack wolf. He’d want it, and we’d know where it was going. We’d be tailing his men every second of the way.”
My wolf growled—a warning. She didn’t want any part of it, and I understood. I understood, but she still felt the need to remind me of the pictures Finn had showed me. What that murderer had done to the wolves. How could I even think of bringing one to him after that?
“I don’t think I can do it,” I said as my stomach rolled and rolled, bringing bile up my throat. Then, my heart began to squeeze. Oh, shit.
“Sure you can. Victoria, you can get a wolf out, and we can set it up nicely for Haworth’s men,” Red said.
“I can give them the tip easily,” Amara said, finally sounding excited.
“I just… I can’t…” My wolf. God, it was so hard to breathe. She was squeezing my insides, crumbling them like they were made of paper.
“They’d find the wolf and send word to Haworth. Then, all we’d have to do was wait for him to get back to them. And we’d follow. It’ll lead us straight to him, and no matter what spells his men use, you can still track them,” Red said.
I turned away from them. “If you’ll excuse me for one second.”
I don’t know how I made it to the bathroom. They both called after me, asked me if I was okay, but I couldn’t speak. I turned the faucet on and splashed the water on my face, but it was no use. I was sweating. I was shivering. My wolf had gone fucking mad. She tightened my heart, and it was barely beating. Blood filled my mouth, making it impossible for air to get to my lungs. I fell to my knees, knowing I should call for Red, but for whatever fucked up reason, I had myself convinced that I could do it. I could control her. I could stop her.
I couldn’t.
By the time Red broke the door and walked in, it was already too late. A howl left my lips, and I realized they weren’t my lips any longer. She’d taken over, and she pushed me back with all her strength until nothing was left of me anymore.
11
My heart beat in my head. The smells were terrifying but still nothing compared to the view in front of me. And the sounds. So many sounds.
