Dance With Darkness

by Sheri-Lynn Marean

  Still nothing.

  “What’s this?” Veldi asked.

  Enyowas turned away from Elianna’s closet, where her clothing hung. “What?”

  “An address of an old factory,” Veldi said, and brought the napkin to his nose. “Smells like Genevevia.”

  Enyowas took it from him and had to agree. Then he pulled his phone out and swore again at all the messages from the sphinx. Without listening to them, he pressed her number.

  “Enyowas?”

  “Gen, you stopped by earlier, why?”

  She snorted. “Just like you not to listen to my messages.”

  “Please, just tell me why you were trying to reach me. Is it anything to do with this address on a napkin I found in Elianna’s room?”

  There was a long pause. “I left it with your girlfriend to give to you.”

  “Why?”

  Genevevia sighed. “I already told Elianna, ask her.” Then she hung up.

  Enyowas called her back. “Don’t hang up,” he said with a growl when she answered. “Elianna is missing, clan home was set on fire, and the guard is dead, so don’t you dare hang up on me.”

  “Oh shit, is everyone all right?”

  “Like I said, the guard is dead and Elie is missing,” he answered.

  “Right. Sorry,” she said. “Look, I told Elianna about this guy I met at the club last night. He made a pass at me, and we ended up in one of the dance rooms. But then I started to get a bad vibe and tried to leave. He got angry, but then he got a call. I overheard him mention that address and you as I left the room.”

  “Are you all right? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

  “No, though I believe he would have if I’d stayed,” she said.

  “What did he look like? Can you describe him?”

  “Ahm …well, he was tall, and big. He had shoulder-length blond hair, and I know he was feline, though what breed I’m not sure.” She hesitated. “I was kind of out of it.”

  “Damn it!” Genevevia was the only supe Enyowas knew who could get shit-faced off human booze or drugs.

  “Don’t get all pissy with me,” she said. “You’ve been avoiding me and wouldn’t tell me why. Then I hear from one of your clan mates that you’ve got a new girl, in front of all my coworkers, so don’t blame me for being upset and having a few drinks.”

  Enyowas rubbed his brow, feeling a headache coming on. “You’re right, I’m sorry, I should have told you.”

  “Is there anything else?” she asked, voice testy.

  “No, that’s good,” he said and hung up. “Get a hold of Kells and send her to Club Purgatori, to convince Sin to let us have a look at what her cameras recorded in the club last night.”

  “I’m on it,” Veldi said and pulled out his phone.

  Enyowas looked at the address on the napkin, a bad feeling inside. “If Elianna set fire to the place and left, she’d have taken her new clothes.”

  “I agree.”

  Enyowas went back downstairs and outside. He gazed around. The sun was starting its decent, and shadows filled the yard. Earlier the yard had been filled with clan mates and humans, but now they were the only two out there.

  He drew in a deep breath, hoping to pick up Elianna’s scent and track her.

  “I smell blood,” Veldi said.

  Enyowas followed the coppery scent that belonged to Elianna around the corner of the building.

  There were droplets scattered on the ground. “She’s hurt.”

  “You think she was taken?” Veldi asked.

  “Well, if I go with my gut, which says she didn’t start the fire or kill Dontelly, then someone else did, so yeah, I do.”

  “Think it’s Garner?” his brother asked.

  “Genevevia’s description sounded like Garner, and he’s the likely choice,” Enyowas said.

  “Well, searching this abandoned factory is going to be fun,” Veldi said, showing him a photo he’d pulled up on his phone.

  “It is.”

  “Think it’s a trap?” Veldi asked as they climbed into the truck.

  “Probably.” The question was would they walk back out?

  Chapter 24

  Enyowas hated that because of him, Elianna was now in the very middle of whatever strange shit was going on. He shouldn’t have taunted Garner, but he hadn’t been able to contain his rage over Elsary, and he still believed the bastard was her killer.

  Still, if he’d just listened to his head, and not his dick regarding Elianna, and left her the hell alone, she would be fine right now. Somehow, through no intention of his own, those he cared for always seemed to get hurt around him.

  “Elianna?” He tried to contact her again, but like before, there was no answer. She was either blocking him, or too hurt to answer. He hoped it was the former, for the idea of her being hurt twisted him up in ways he couldn’t stand.

  “Think Garret’s brother is working with the Ilyium?” Veldi asked as they tore out of the yard.

  “No idea,” Enyowas said. “Though the druid witches don’t usually work with supes, I guess anything is possible at this point.”

  “Yeah.” Veldi fell silent for a long moment. “Team two is on their way back to clan home to keep an eye on things. Four and five are almost done cleaning up this afternoon’s crapola, and team one will meet us at the factory, though they’ll be a little bit.”

  “Shit.” Enyowas could feel his nerves fraying. “I’m not waiting when we get there.”

  “I understand you don’t want Elianna hurt, but we need to wait,” Veldi said.

  “And take the chance Garner slits her throat and shreds her while I wait? I think not.” Though it went against all his training, there was no waiting this time. He couldn’t do it. “She means too much to me.”

  “I understand,” Veldi said quietly, and Enyowas knew he probably did.

  Silence fell as they drove to the factory.

  “Ferno?” Enyowas called as they got out of the truck and geared up.

  “Ten minutes out,” Ferno said.

  That was too long. Just the thought of Elianna being in danger sent him over the edge.

  “I know what you’re thinking, but you need to wait,” Ferno said.

  “Noted.” Enyowas turned to his brother. “Ready?”

  “As I can be,” Veldi said, and with their M4s in hand, they made their way to the main door, and eased it open. Then they masked their scents and slipped into the dark interior.

  The place reeked of death. Under that was vomit, piss, feces, oil, gasoline, mold, and decay. Trash littered the place.

  “What the hell happened here?” Veldi asked. “The homeless have obviously been using the place, but do they come here to die as well?”

  “No idea, kids have been here as well, though,” Enyowas said, picking up an old discarded glow stick.

  “Think they’ve been holding raves here?” Veldi asked.

  “I do, and not so long ago either.”

  The stench was nasty and made it impossible to pick up the scents of anyone they were looking for.

  “We’re in the right place. I know it,” he said the farther they went. Dread shivered through Enyowas along with a feeling that they were being watched, and he expected to trip over a body anytime.

  Enyowas gazed into the shadows. The place was massive and filled with rooms and machinery. There was the occasional window scattered about the main and second floors, and while some were broken and let slices of moonlight into the building, most were covered in years of grime.

  “I don’t like this,” Veldi said. “Something’s off. I think that if we’re going to find Elianna in time, we need to split up.”

  “I think you might be right,” Enyowas said.

  “I am, sometimes, you know.” Veldi smirked.

  “Keep all your senses on high alert, and if you find Elianna, get her out of here before coming to find me.”

  “E—”

  “That’s an order.”

  Veldi raised an eyebrow
, but turned away, eyes sweeping all around.

  Enyowas took a set of metal stairs up to the mezzanine and a row of offices.

  He checked out each room, then silently made his way back down to the main floor.

  “Found the bodies—son of a bitch!” Veldi paused.

  “Talk to me,” Enyowas said.

  “Found two females: one shifter and one human,” Veldi said. “They haven’t been dead long.”

  “Shit! Can you tell how they died?”

  “Someone has been keeping people chained up down here,” he said. “They were tortured.”

  Enyowas was about to cross the littered floor to another area, when movement caught his attention. A stealthy shadow that wasn’t Veldi had rounded a corner. It slunk along past some machinery, then disappeared from sight.

  Enyowas followed, inhaling as he went. Nothing but the smell of old clogged pipes, machine oil, mold, and mildew—the decaying factory. Whoever this was could mask his scent as well.

  The shadow turned a corner, and Enyowas followed, noting a faint glow of light spilling from a room up ahead. The same room the shadow slipped into. For a very brief moment, the guy was haloed by the light. “Veldi, I’ve spotted someone.”

  “Garner?”

  “I don’t think so,” he said, and eased into the room. Filled with shadows set off by a single candle burning on a shelf, Enyowas could see the male bent over a broken body on the floor.

  Elianna! No, wait, it wasn’t her. Enyowas drew in a deep breath and felt like he’d been electrified. What the ever-loving fuck?

  Elsary?

  It was impossible. He’d seen her dead.

  But there was no mistaking his sister’s scent.

  Enyowas let out a deep growl and the black-garbed male looked up. The candlelight showed him to have short sandy-blond hair. But his hate-filled eyes, they were the same ones he’d seen at Club Purgatori not so long ago. And though he couldn’t see them clearly, for some reason Enyowas knew what they looked like. A deep sense of familiarity tingled his mind, though Enyowas couldn’t place the guy.

  A pained whimper came from the body, snapping him into action.

  “Sary!” Rage clouded his vision. “Get the fuck away from her.”

  Anger flashed in his eyes, but the male backed off. With his gun trained on the guy, Enyowas crouched over his sister. Though covered in bruises, fresh and dried blood, there was no doubt. As impossible as it seamed, this really was his sister. “Sary?”

  “Yowas?”

  Oh God, he’d thought her dead and had stopped looking for her. Now, she was close to death and guilt bit him hard. This was his sister. He was supposed to protect her. “What the fuck did you do?” Enyowas asked the male.

  “Nothing, asshole.”

  Enyowas raised his gun.

  The male snarled and put his hands up. Hands covered in Elsary’s blood.

  “Motherfucker!” Vision filled with red, Enyowas set his M4 down, and launched himself at the guy, and they both hit the ground hard. They rolled, and fists flew as he let out years of rage.

  Then the guy was back on his feet.

  Elsary whimpered and Enyowas shifted into his half-form and went back after him.

  He finally managed to get Elsary’s attacker down on the filthy floor again. “You are so dead!” he said, not registering the other person who entered the room until he heard a gasp.

  “Don’t do it, Enyo, he’s your brother,” a masculine voice said, sounding shaken.

  Enyowas paused, and then shook his head as if to erase what he’d just heard, for it couldn’t be real. Definitely not real, he had to be dreaming, or … someone was playing a prank on him.

  But it sounded real. Deeper and huskier than he remembered, but one he’d never forget.

  Enyowas looked back and up.

  A tall, lean male, also dressed in black combat gear, stood mere feet from him. Candlelight glinted off black hair cut short. But it was the emerald eyes that stared at Enyowas as if he were a ghost that did it.

  Amit?

  “I … I know seeing me is a shock. Seeing you is as well, but you need to let him go.”

  “What?” Had he rolled over on a drug-filled needle and somehow gotten high?

  “Let him go. I’d be really upset if you hurt Ky more than you already have.”

  Enyowas couldn’t draw air into his lungs. “H-how …?” He blinked, then the actual words his no-longer-dead brother spoke, registered.

  What was this? It was like he was in a fucking dream, because in real life, people didn’t come back from the dead. And yet, everything about this felt real. He looked from Amit to the blond he’d beaten to the ground. The one he’d been moments away from killing. Enyowas removed his claws from the guy’s throat. “Ky?”

  Ky. Ky was his … brother?

  “Yeah, get off me, motherfucker.” Ky snarled. Streaks of crimson trickled down his neck.

  Enyowas fell back sickened as he realized Ky hadn’t raised a single fist in his defense. “How … how is this possible?”

  “I know we have some explaining to do,” Amit said.

  “Yeah, some … explaining,” Enyowas repeated, trying to catch up to what was happened. Then he focused on what he remembered. “How can you trust him? Ky betrayed us.”

  Ky snarled and started for him, but Amit held him back. “No. Ky never betrayed us.”

  Enyowas felt like he’d been punched in the gut and left for dead. How was this all possible? And the fact his brother stood before him, made him question his whole life—everything he knew. Still … it had been sixteen years. Where had they been? What had they been doing?

  As a million questions and scenarios raced through his mind, Enyowas rose to his feet, once more warily, prepared for anything. He’d left his brother dead, and left the other alive, even if he didn’t know Ky had been his brother at the time. The fact that Amit wasn’t dead, made him wonder where their loyalties lay.

  Did Amit and Ky blame him for leaving them? God he hoped not, but people change. For all he knew, they could be the ones who snatched Elsary and Elianna.

  Elsary.

  Damn, his sister was alive.

  “That night, you told me he betrayed us,” Enyowas said.

  “No, that wasn’t what I said. I was trying to tell you I’d just found out he was our brother,” Amit said softly.

  “But …” Enyowas inched closer to his sister again as years of buried emotion rose inside of him. “How are you even alive? I saw you dead.”

  “It’s a long story. I was pretty damn close to dead. Ky actually saved my life,” Amit said.

  Elsary made a noise, and Enyowas crouched over her protectively. “And what are you both doing here?”

  “We’re here to help,” Amit said softly. “We’re on assignment, tracking a couple assassins—our cousins.”

  Enyowas frowned. “Our cousins?”

  “We think so, they’re pretty good at disguising their scent, but they’ve left a trail of bodies, both supe and human across the country.”

  Was that who Garner was working with?

  “But I saw Ky with Elsary—” Enyowas started to say.

  “You’re still an asshole.” Ky glared at him. “I wasn’t trying to hurt her. I was cutting the zip-tie off her wrists.”

  His gut plummeted as he spotted the strips of plastic on the ground. Without looking at either of his brothers, Enyowas stroked Sary’s hair softly. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but was terrified of hurting her more than she already was. “Sary, can you hear me?”

  “Look, I know you have a lot of questions,” Amit said, crouching next to him. “I’ll explain later, but right now we need to get our baby sister out of here before anyone comes back for her.”

  Enyowas tucked a blood-caked strand of black hair out of Sary’s face and caught the faint odor of cigars, and feline musk, the same sickly sweet scent he’d picked up from Garner. “I can’t leave until I find my … mate.”

  Yup, he said
it. Elianna was his mate. God, he was so fucked up, but he couldn’t think about it all right now.

  Amit sucked in a breath, and Enyowas looked up at him, hoping, praying he could be trusted, that he was still the brother he knew and loved. “I need you to get Sary out of here. I have a team that should be pulling up any second. They can help her. Get her to our doctor.”

  “Then Ky can carry her out, and I’ll come with you,” Amit said.

  “No, if he’s carrying Sary, he won’t be able to fight if anyone tries to stop him.” Enyowas carefully scooped up his baby sister, cradling her close. “You have to go with them.”

  “Yowas?”

  “It’s me, sis, I got you,” he said.

  “I tried to get away …” Bloodshot green eyes met his before falling closed again.

  “We’re getting you out of here. Ky is going to carry you out. Ferno and his team are waiting. They’ll take you to Doc,” he said, but there was no response. Enyowas carefully transferred her to Ky’s arms. He looked at the male he should have known was his brother. “You take care of her.”

  “Of course, dickhead, she’s my sister too.”

  Enyowas swallowed the guilt and faced his other brother. The one he’d mourned for so long. Emotion swamped him—he had so many things to say. “Amit.” He punched him in the chest. “How are you fucking alive?”

  “I missed you, too, brother,” Amit said, yanking him into a hug.

  Enyowas hugged him back, still in shock, then he moved away. “We had a plan all mapped out for the first six months. You knew where we’d be, why didn’t you meet up with us?”

  Sadness filled Amit’s face. “I wanted to, but by the time I was well enough to try and leave, our uncle was watching us. He was waiting for us to lead him to you. Later, I didn’t know where you were. Half of the pride split after you left, and more took off over the next few years. We did as well, once we could safely get away. We’ve been working for the human government—”