The Audacity of Demons

by Trina M. Lee

  He kissed me with a possessiveness that both thrilled and scared me. A gentle delving of his tongue into my mouth that quickly turned into a passionate plunder. Nova thrust his tongue between my lips in a forceful command that dampened my panties.

  Even if I hadn’t just been with Rayne, I still wouldn’t have wanted to fuck Nova. His kiss alone promised an unforgettable experience that just might ruin me for other men. I’d heard the tales about the succubus and incubus bloodlines among both demons and vampires. They were addictive. Deadly. One night and you’d be theirs forever.

  Judging by the stories about Alexa, the succubus vampire queen, and her harem of lovers, those rumors must have an element of truth. While I believed that Nova would be a fascinating and mind-blowing lover, I didn’t believe a one-time fling to be worth the risk.

  And yet I couldn’t broadcast that message to the rest of me. Hungrily I kissed Nova back, nipping lightly at his lip as he backed me up against the mirror. I sure as shit hoped everyone really had left.

  I knew I should stop this before it went any further. Nova slid a hand into my tousled hair and pressed his lips harder to mine, obliterating all thought. As I fell deeper into his seductive touch, my want for more grew.

  There’s no telling how far Nova would have let it go. We never got to find out. His phone rang. It made me jump and caused him to curse. He pulled away and dragged the device from a pocket with a silent snarl.

  “This better be good or I swear to Satan I will skin you alive, Smudge.” With black wings rustling about restlessly behind him, Nova turned away to growl into the phone. “Are you sure? Your guys have eyes on them right now? Fine, I’ll bring a team. Let me know if anything changes before we get there.”

  “Who’s Smudge?” I asked when he hung up. My voice came out curious and breathy, sounding as dazed as I felt.

  Nova shook his head, causing black warrior braids to writhe about his shoulders like snakes. “Lead watchdog for The Circle in this city. She monitors a team of people who report supernatural and FPA activity in real time.”

  Only when his gleaming crimson gaze fell to my lips did I realize I’d been absently running a finger over them, basking in the glow his kiss had left behind. Well, that was fucking embarrassing. I jerked my hand away but it was too late. I’d been caught.

  “So what’s up?” I tried for cool and chill. Totally failed.

  “Word on the street is the FPA has a prison transfer coming up. They’ll be moving a supernatural detainee out of the city to an unknown location. We need to find out when and where so we can stop it.” With a sexy smirk, Nova reached for the door, freeing us from the confines of the small room. “How do you feel about interrogating a few Feds?”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Nova wasted no time. In less than ten minutes we were on the road. Five of us had crammed into the black SUV, driven by Dalyn who couldn’t stop her nervous giggles. I sat shotgun, while Rayne, Tavi and Corr rode in the back. Nova had gone on ahead to scout out the scene. We’d meet him a block from the address given.

  Three werewolves, a vampire, and a nervous witch. What a team.

  Everything happened so fast. The moment we parked, Nova was there barking orders. Finger shoved through the open driver window, he firmly told Dalyn, “Stay in the car and keep the engine running. Tonight you’re the driver. Your job is to drive. Have some defensive magic on hand in case anyone spots you.”

  Dalyn rested shaky hands on the steering wheel, nodding vigorously. I was glad that Nova kept her with the vehicle. It felt safer.

  The rest of us piled out and awaited instruction. Nova assessed the four of us, and I could only imagine what he was thinking. “There are two agents inside the sports bar at the end of the block. There were four but two of them left. Keep watch in case they come back. Rayne decides if and when to retreat.”

  In a matter of seconds we were given the breakdown of the task at hand. Tavi and I would enter the sports bar and engage the Feds in chitchat before forcing them out the nearest exit into the back alley where Rayne and Corr would be waiting.

  “Where will you be?” Rayne asked before the demon could disappear.

  “Around. For now.” Nova’s gaze drifted over us, lingering on me for just a second longer than the others. “But I won’t always be around, so get used to running jobs like this on the fly. Work as a team and never turn on each other. Disloyalty is a death sentence.”

  Without another word he did that demon disappearing act, and like a starter gun had gone off, we all snapped into motion. I checked the small daggers I’d sheathed on my forearms.

  “Stay safe,” Dalyn called after us. “Hit me up if you need anything.”

  “You too,” I called back. “Roll the window up. Lock the doors.”

  We made our way down the street in twos, Rayne and Corr walking just a few paces behind Tavi and me. As we reached the sports bar, Rayne grabbed my elbow and pulled me to a stop.

  “Scope the place out when you get inside,” he advised, amber gaze darting about for signs of anyone suspicious. “Keep your phone on vibrate where you can feel it. Any updates that come in from the watchdog team will come by text. We’ll meet you in the alley in ten minutes. If you’re not out by then, we’re coming in.”

  Rayne stepped into the leadership role like he’d been born for it, an Alpha wolf without a pack. The concern for our safety was etched into the lines of his forehead. Tavi huffed in irritation but I found it endearing. It had been a long time since anyone gave a shit if I was safe or not.

  “Got it.” I nodded. “Ten minutes. See you then.”

  I motioned for Tavi to lead the way, but she was already marching toward the door. The headstrong werewolf might just storm up to the Feds and start smacking their skulls together. I hurried to catch up with her.

  “Tavi, slow down.”

  She passed the ID checker and entered the cacophony of noise.

  “Try to look natural. We can’t let them know we’re onto them until we’re close enough to herd them outside.”

  The onslaught of noise hurt my ears. From the clank of dishes and clatter of utensils to the shouts and jeers of patrons watching everything from soccer to football to fights on an assortment of TVs arranged around the building. It was a tight squeeze, a packed house. I had no way of knowing which sports event had drawn such a crowd. It wasn’t my scene.

  “I can’t wait to get my hands on those sick fucks,” Tavi hissed, loud enough for me to hear amid the chatter. “The FPA’s experiments drove my friend to suicide. I wanted a piece of their organization long before The Circle of the Veil grabbed me.”

  “Ok, I get that. Nobody deserves to be a lab rat. But we have to approach this properly, or we’ll blow the entire thing.” As we made our way through the throng of sports lovers, I scanned the building. Right away I spotted them. “To the right. Near the restrooms.”

  Two men in dark suits sat drinking beer. It wasn’t only the suits that made them stand out like sore thumbs in the crowd of casually dressed patrons. They were so deeply engrossed in conversation, totally oblivious to the games causing such excitement. Was this a regular beer spot for the Feds, or had they also come here with a purpose?

  We made our way toward them, the crowd slowing us down. Trying not to focus on the sound of so many hearts pounding, I kept my gaze moving, watching. I worried about Tavi’s ability to play it cool. The woman seemed to be fueled by rage alone. When we emerged from the sea of bodies next to the two agents at their table, she surprised me.

  Not because she pulled off a spectacular acting job and chatted them up without cause for suspicion. No, that would be too simple, and Tavi seemed to like doing things the hard way.

  Stepping up to their table she slammed both fists down hard enough to make their glasses jump, spilling beer froth down the side. When they glanced up at her, startled and wide eyed, she grabbed the closest one around the throat. Shoving him against the back of his booth seat, she tapped one clawed fingertip against
the side of his neck.

  So much for playing it cool by engaging them in conversation first.

  Tavi would suck as a spy. The woman couldn’t do undercover.

  Since she left me no choice, I slipped up behind the second Fed while he floundered to save his buddy. When he made to grab for a weapon, I seized both of his hands and flattened them against the tabletop.

  “Don’t move,” I warned, trying to keep an eye on Tavi. “You’re going to get up and walk outside through the back exit. No trouble, or we’ll slit your throats and leave you to bleed. Got it?”

  The guy at Tavi’s mercy seeped fear, reminding me that I should probably feed the bloodlust soon.

  After they exchanged a look, my guy gave a sharp nod. “Fine, we’ll go.” Calmer than his friend, late thirties or early forties, I suspected he was more seasoned at hunting supernaturals than his quaking companion.

  “They’ll come looking for us if we don’t check in,” blurted the guy struggling to keep from pissing his pants. “If you kill us they’ll hunt you down and make you pay. You won’t get away with anything.”

  Grabbing my quarry by the front of his shirt, I dragged him out of the booth. “Hands behind your back. Walk to the exit. Try anything and I bite into your carotid. Move it.”

  Much to my irritation the jerk laughed. “Haven’t come across one as feisty as you in a while.”

  “Shut the fuck up and walk.” Holding onto his elbows, I shoved him along, glancing back to find Tavi following with the other agent in tow.

  “So what’s the plan here?” he prattled on, ignoring my command. “You take us out back, drain us dry, and consider it payback for some bullshit?”

  The bar was so crowded with people in their own little worlds that nobody looked twice at two women of average height and weight manhandling two men across the room with ease. We reached the door, and I kicked it open, shoving my guy out first.

  Not expecting the small step down, he fell to his knees on the hard gravel. Once Tavi and the other agent joined us and the back door closed, Rayne and Corr stepped out of the shadows. They searched each agent, tossing their guns and phones into a stand of weeds nearby.

  “Something like that. Put your hands in the air, where we can see them.” When he didn’t respond fast enough, I shoved him hard with a booted foot.

  Tavi knocked her agent to the ground with a sucker punch. We all had our personal flare for getting the job done, but I still caught Rayne’s eye and nodded toward her, brows raised. Tavi had the chops for this job, no doubt about that. But did she have the tact?

  Rayne gravitated toward her, leaving Corr to help me. Two on one seemed easy enough. I stood behind the agent, Corr stood in front. He leveled gray wolf eyes on the man who knelt there, wary but not yet afraid. His friend on the other hand shouted threats and pleas.

  “So which one of you wants to tell us about the transfer you have coming up?” Rayne got right to business. “We know you’re planning to move a prisoner out of your facility. When is this scheduled to happen?”

  The calm agent answered with practiced control. “We have no idea what you’re talking about. Nobody tells us stuff like that.”

  Corr snapped into action. His fist cracked across the man’s face hard enough to topple him over. “Wrong answer. Try again.”

  I caught myself gaping at the mysterious werewolf. Who the hell was Corr? Try as I might to deny it, I had to admit that watching him rough the Fed up was pretty damn sexy.

  With a grunt the agent righted himself, spitting blood in the dirt. He kept his hands up where we could see them, but he refused to give us a damn thing. “You can pound me into the pavement, but it won’t change the fact that I don’t know anything about a transfer. We’re not the guys who handle that.”

  Trying another angle, Rayne asked, “Why would a transfer be done? Where are prisoners taken? What happens to them?”

  No answer. So Tavi took it upon herself to try. She nailed the trembling agent at her feet with an open-handed slap that snapped his head hard to one side. Then she followed through by landing another on the other cheek.

  “Got anything to add?” she growled. “The faster you prove you’re both useless the faster you die.”

  Surely she was improvising. Nova hadn’t said anything about killing them, had he? But they’d seen our faces. They knew what information we wanted. We couldn’t very well let them take that back to their bosses.

  Yeah. We were totally going to kill them.

  “I swear we don’t know anything,” the guy said in a rush, eyes wild and darting frantically about. “Prisoners leave and they don’t come back. That’s it. That’s all I know.”

  The handy thing about shifters was that they could smell a lie. So all three of the wolves knew the guys were telling the truth. They really didn’t know anything. The FPA hadn’t been careless enough to entrust such vital information to street agents.

  “Well, this was a waste of time,” Tavi observed aloud.

  Knowing that he was out of time, the frantic agent made the desperate move that many would have made in his position. He went for a small blade hidden in his boot. The back-alley streetlight glinted off the knife as he swung it wildly. He missed Tavi completely, but the blade slashed across Rayne’s side.

  His loud yelp echoed in the alley. Jerking back, his hand went to the wound where blood stained his shirt.

  Tavi reacted like lightning. Her clawed hand swung in a wide arc, slashing across the agent’s throat. A wide gash split open; buckets of blood rushed down his front. By the time his face hit the ground, he was dead.

  Inspired by his colleague’s idiocy, the agent before me shoved to his feet and tackled Corr around the waist. The two of them wrestled to the ground. I lunged forward to grab the guy by the throat, throwing him off Corr.

  Then I was on him and he was all mine.

  My fangs plunged into his neck. Blood filled my mouth, satisfying that deep inner ache. His struggle quickly ceased as his life spilled out. Driven by the frenzy of bloodlust, I bit him a second time.

  Lost in the kill, I didn’t realize Rayne was saying my name until he grabbed my arm. I whirled around with bloody fangs bared, only to stop short when I saw that it was him. He still held a hand to the bleeding gash in his side.

  “We’ve gotta go.” Taking my hand, he pulled me along after Tavi and Corr who were already at the end of the alley.

  “Are you ok? You’re bleeding. How bad is it?” I hurried along beside him, whispering frantically.

  With a shake of his head he said, “It’s nothing. Just a flesh wound. No big deal.”

  We split into pairs and took separate routes back to the SUV, just in case. Rayne and I circled up from one side, slipping between buildings and down a side street. It took us off route, but once Rayne was sure we weren’t being followed, we angled back toward the waiting car.

  “Was it supposed to go down like that?” I asked, easily matching pace with his lengthy stride. “Were we always going to kill them?”

  Rayne suddenly realized he was still holding my hand and released it with an embarrassed eye roll. “It’s rare that we don’t. They don’t show our kind any mercy. Why should we show them any?”

  A fair question. One I had no answer for.

  The fact that Tavi and I had killed two men who’d been involved in the mistreatment of supernaturals didn’t bother me. What bothered me was that The Circle of the Veil had orchestrated it. They issued the command and we obeyed. I might be a killer, but I was nobody’s junkyard dog to unleash as they saw fit. My victims were chosen. They fit a certain profile. Tonight had been necessary because of the position I’d been put in. But the kill commands would keep coming. What happened when that command went against my personal moral code?

  Rayne and I clambered into the SUV to find the others already there. Dalyn threw it into gear and sped away into the night. I couldn’t focus on her animated questions as we drove through the city streets, taking an alternate route back
to the house.

  A smothering swell of dread filled my chest. The longer I stayed, the deeper I would fall. If I was going to make a run for it, sooner might be better than later.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  During the ride, I was a mess of nerves. At the house the atmosphere exploded with excited energy. It was too much. I needed to get away from it all.

  I held myself together long enough to see Rayne’s injury. Gathered in the kitchen with the others, I helped him clean the gash, a deeper wound than he’d let on. Thankfully, it wasn’t life threatening. This time.

  Rayne laughed off my concern, making light of the whole ordeal.

  Don’t get attached. I’d gone from getting to know Rayne, forging a connection with him, to watching him come within inches of death. The risk of attachment was very real in this place. Tonight had been a reminder of that.

  Maybe we shouldn’t continue our fling. Maybe it should end here. For both our sakes.

  Nova showed up briefly to sarcastically congratulate us on making it back relatively unscathed. Like the rest of us, he was disappointed in how it had played out. “You did good though. All of you.” Turning his scorching gaze on Tavi, he shoved a finger in her face. “You though, you better watch your ass, wolf. There’s a time and place for an attitude like yours. Figure out when and where that is.”

  After warning us to be ready should the watchdogs learn anything further, the demon left to do whatever he would occupy himself with until dawn. I got the impression that he was a busy guy, always up to something. Although, that seemed to be all demons’ general MO.

  “Fuck you, asshole,” Tavi muttered to the place where Nova had just stood. The woman had no fear. Some would call it stupid.

  I called it genuine badass, but it still concerned me. “Tavi, I think I love you,” I deadpanned, keeping a straight face despite the smile that teased my lips. “Don’t get us killed though, k?”