“Hey, we’re supposed to clean this mess up,” the guy called.
I hurried after Adrik without a word, and the guy huffed.
“I’m not doing your jobs,” he added, but it lacked any sort of bite, and I smiled to myself. Maybe there were perks to working with a Nephilim.
Adrik marched up to the driver’s side of the black SUV and opened the door.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
So far, the officer he’d ordered to guard Lester—who was hunched in the backseat, window halfway down—was paying more attention to the nosy reporters than to us.
“Get in,” Adrik said.
“Get in what?” I asked.
“The car,” he answered with a nod toward the SUV’s passenger seat.
“Didn’t you hear our orders?” I asked, hesitating. “We’re supposed to clean up and let Raguel take it from here.”
Adrik scowled. “We don’t have time for this. Just get in the car.”
My brows lifted. Choosing between two Nephilim’s orders was not how I saw this day playing out.
“Gem,” Adrik’s voice became a warning that set off alarms in my head.
My fae senses prickled.
“Get in the damned car. Now. Or I’ll put you in it.”
I shuddered at the power behind his words. One look at his blazing expression, and I knew without a doubt he meant every word of his threat.
I got in the car.
Adrik slid in at the same time.
“Hi, Lester,” I called as Adrik shoved the key into the ignition.
I glanced back to see him handcuffed to the door handle complete with shackles tightly wound around his ankles. The chain’s silver had clearly taken its toll judging by the dark circles lining Lester’s wrinkled eyes.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Gem—”
The car lurched forward then slammed to a stop again.
I clung to the armrest and twisted in my seat in time to see Officer Do-Right fuming at us from the corner of the hood. Judging from his palm currently planted on the chrome bumper, it wasn’t hard to guess Adrik had nearly clipped him.
“What the hell are you doing with the perp?” he yelled at us.
Adrik answered by shifting into neutral and revving the gas.
Officer Do-Right’s face reddened, and he rounded the hood, headed for my side. Adrik depressed the automatic locks, and the moment we were clear, he stomped on the gas, chirping tires as we flew past the angry officer.
In my rearview, I caught sight of him yelling at us, drawing the attention of the crowd. I turned back to Adrik, ready to demand to know what he was thinking when something orange flashed in the sky.
I leaned closer to my side mirror, stunned, then twisted to stare out the back window for a better view.
“What the hell was that?” I breathed, mesmerized by the explosion that flashed orange and red before becoming swallowed up by a puff of gray smoke and ash.
Lester twisted too, bushy eyebrows knitting over large brown eyes as he tried to bend his body around the handcuffs far enough to see what I saw.
Beside me, Adrik jerked the wheel, sending us flying around a corner, and my view of the crime scene vanished. I turned to look at him, wide-eyed and a little too shocked to be sure of what I’d just seen.
“That was a wipeout,” I said.
Adrik didn’t answer. A muscle in his jaw flexed, and my stomach churned because his silence was confirmation enough.
I eased back into my chair, running a hand over my face. Was that why a Nephilim council member had shown up? To assess the need for damage control?
A glance out my window offered a view of curling black smoke rising lazily above the buildings on my right. My mind reeled, and I looked back at Adrik, needing to say it all out loud.
“A wipeout hasn’t been ordered since the invasions. Since Nephilim took over the war against demons.”
No answer.
“The SSF doesn’t do mass wipeouts anymore. It’s against the celestial accords.”
Still, Adrik remained silent.
“Why did they just kill half a block of people?” I yelled. And then another horror hit me. I fumbled for my phone.
“What are you doing?” Adrik asked, side-eyeing me while I dialed.
“My apartment’s on that block.”
“The agency will arrange for replacement housing,” he said quietly.
“I’m not worried about the building,” I snapped just as a voice came over the other end of the line.
“Gem?”
“Jax. Are you okay? Tell me you got out?”
“We’re safe,” he assured me.
In the background, an evil cooing sound rang out.
I sighed in relief.
“And you? The smoke is pretty bad. It looks like it’s coming from the crime scene and the news says—
“I’m fine.” I shot Adrik a look, well aware his Neph hearing was sharp enough to listen to all sides of this conversation. “I can’t talk right now.”
“We’ll be at my place,” Jax said. “I’ll text you the address.” His tone turned teasing. “Wear that little thing I like.”
“You mean my badge?” I said and hung up before he could say anything else.
Or Adrik could hear anything else.
I dropped the phone into the center console and leaned back against the headrest. At least my demon-spawn was safe. But I still couldn’t believe the agency had sent a wipeout.
“I can’t believe that just happened,” I said. “This is crazy. What do we do now?”
“I have an idea.” Adrik didn’t look very reassuring, and I shot him a dubious look.
“That’s what I’m worried about.”
“Trust me,” Adrik assured me.
My eyes narrowed. “Uh, I think that’s one thing I won’t do, actually.”
He glanced at me, brows lifted.
“Your BFF, Raguel, just tried to kill us,” I pointed out, “So I think I’m going to pass on the ‘trusting you’ portion of things. Let’s skip right to the ‘what the hell’s going on’ portion, shall we?”
Adrik sighed.
“Actually—” From the backseat, Lester rattled his shiny bracelets. “I’d love to skip to the part where we get these handcuffs off so I can urinate.”
Lester’s tone was friendly enough, but the words were a reminder that we’d just basically stolen a suspect from an active crime scene. I ran a hand through my hair, struck by how crazy my life had become in as little as forty-eight hours.
I was almost glad my father wasn’t still here to witness the mess I was making of my life. Or of the search for his killer. So far, I had a big fat goose egg in that department.
The envelope Starla had given me still haunted me.
And now it was nothing more than ash inside my exploded apartment.
“My bladder control ain’t what it used to be, folks,” Lester prompted.
Adrik winced.
I wanted to laugh, mostly because it was the first thing I’d seen affect the brooding Nephilim, but the reality was too horrific.
A wipeout.
I couldn’t believe it.
“They violated the accords,” I said when Adrik only continued to drive—and hell if I could tell where we were headed. Away from the city but to where? There was nothing out here except miles and miles of bayou.
“They didn’t,” Adrik said.
I stared at him. “Did you not just see—”
“The accords stipulate a wipeout is only allowed under threat of a greater demon,” he said.
“Hold on. If you know Patrice was killed by a demon, why the hell do we have Lester in custody?”
Adrik gave me a slanted look. “That’s a good question.”
I sat up straighter. “Are you saying Raguel knows Lester’s innocent.”
Adrik didn’t answer, and Jax’s words rang in my head. He’d been right. This was a cover-up. But for what? And who was doing the cover
ing?
I stared hard at Adrik, entertaining the idea that he was a bad guy—but I immediately rejected it. Adrik had just helped me rescue an innocent guy. And even without that proof, there was something about him. Something beyond the lack of social skills and bossy attitude. Adrik was one of the good ones. I had no idea how I knew. Maybe my vagina was doubling as a moral compass now. It made sense considering its lack of action in any other department.
Either way, I trusted my lady-parts to lead me.
They hadn’t let me down yet.
Well, except for Z, but I decided he didn’t count since I ended up making the right decision.
Unfortunately, just thinking about my lady parts while sitting next to Adrik meant my sex drive was behind the wheel—and it was giving our current joyride a run for its money.
“Wait.” I frowned as a new thought occurred, distracting me from the buzzing going on between my legs. “How do you know there’s a greater demon on the loose?”
“Because I sensed its energy,” he said quietly.
Say what?
My phone dinged. Presumably with Jax’s address. But I ignored it and instead stared at Adrik. “You can detect the energy signature of a demon?”
Adrik nodded.
I bit my lip.
Shit. Did that mean he could detect Baby Flesh-Eater on me somehow?
I looked up and caught Adrik watching me.
I was so busted.
From the backseat, Lester whined, reminding us of his own pressing needs. Adrik sighed and veered onto the shoulder of the two-lane highway.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as he came to a stop, his gaze flicking to our rearview every few seconds.
“That’s a longer list than we have time for,” he said with a snort.
I was too busy trying to figure out when Adrik had started making jokes to reply.
“I can’t deal with this right now.” He cut the engine then slid out of the car, but instead of going to let Lester out, he walked around to the hood, glancing up and down the empty road. Through the trees, a low rumble sounded, and I watched as leaves began to shake in the forest beyond.
A branch cracked, and Lester shrieked.
I flinched—mostly at the sound of an old man hitting such a high note.
A moment later, a figure emerged.
It was impossible. Just like with the level six beast I’d seen last night, my heart pounded, and my blood ran cold at the impossibility of seeing it here. Alive. In this dimension.
Scales met flesh in the largest man-lizard I’d ever seen. Or the only man-lizard, if I was being technical. Its beady black eyes were constantly moving, swiveling side to side just like its forked tongue.
It was unsettling, how shifty the thing was.
And then there were the wings. Made of some sort of webbing, it reminded me of a bat. But much bigger.
I could vaguely recall seeing something like it in an old book of folklore my father had once brought home. But this was very, very real. And very, very gross. If what I’d seen in the alley last night was a level six, this guy was a level nineteen at least.
The moment it spotted Adrik, large wings unfolded, and claws slid out from its man-hands. Black eyes turned red as it zeroed in on what it obviously considered prey.
Adrik stepped forward, and I vaulted into action, scrambling for the door. Without turning, Adrik lifted the remote he’d grabbed on his way out and hit the auto-lock button.
My door stuck.
I fumbled for the lock button, and Adrik spun around. I looked up, and our eyes locked. Something flashed in his dark gaze, and I froze as recognition swept over me.
I knew that look.
I knew those eyes.
They’d been set against a mask obscuring his face. But those broad shoulders. That same shock of dark hair. And those eyes flashing at me like a silent message: I’ll fight. You run.
I’d definitely seen it before. The night of The Monster Ball.
Holy Shit.
Adrik was the masked man who had helped me commit murder the night of my final mission.
A Nephilim. My new boss. And clearly about to save my ass again by taking on this lizard demon, who I was pretty sure had never met a meal he didn’t finish.
If he noticed my shock, he didn’t react. Instead, Adrik’s eyes shone with worry.
“Wait until I’ve drawn it away then get to safety. Take Lester,” he said and despite his low voice, it rumbled easily into the car. A Nephilim trick. Too bad I wasn’t in the mood for tricks—not where it involved Adrik taking on a monster for me.
I grabbed frantically at the handle, sensing Adrik’s next move a fraction of a second before he made it.
But it was too late.
By the time I managed to swing the door open, he’d launched himself high into the sky. The lizard-demon-guy followed. I scrambled out and craned my neck, watching the demon’s massive bat wings stretch then bend as they lifted him high above me. Further up, Adrik hovered, waiting for the demon. With a roar that shook the ground, they finally collided, both their bodies spinning wildly then freefalling before their wings caught and righted them again.
Over and over, they came together in a collision that shook the sky, each one taking them farther and farther away until they were nothing more than a speck in the distance.
A moment later, they were both gone.
From down the road, sirens sounded.
I looked into the backseat at Lester, debating my options, which were looking pretty slim unless I wanted to go to jail for aiding and abetting.
“Shit,” I muttered before hurrying around to free Lester from his iron cage.
Reaching for the cuffs, I called up my beast and waited while my fingers sprouted into claws. With a stab and a click, I released the lock on Lester’s cuffs, followed by the shackles.
Lester climbed out, his hand cupped around his crotch. He danced a little then hurried for the trees. I let him go, using the moments while he relieved himself to transform into my griffin. By the time he zipped his fly and turned to look, Gem-the-blonde-girl was gone.
Lester took one look at my griffin and yelped.
“Calm down,” I snarled at him, doing my best to talk through my enormous beak. “And hop on. We’re running out of time.”
“You’re….”
“A griffin,” I supplied. “Among other things. And right now, I’m your ride out of here.”
I glanced toward the main road where two marked SSF cars now approached, sirens flashing. To any human, they looked like police, but I knew better. I could smell them.
Warlocks.
“We need to go,” I growled.
Lester jumped, and from the look on his face, I was glad he’d just relieved himself because I did not want old man pee dripping down my fur for the remainder of the flight. Finally, Lester seemed to decide escape was more important than his fear and hurried forward. I crouched and waited while he climbed on my back.
The moment I felt his hands clutch my fur, I leaped upward.
“Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times,” I recited.
“Where are we going?” Lester called once we were fully airborne.
“That’s something I was hoping you could tell me.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.” Lester’s voice wobbled as we soared then banked toward the city.
“Your alpha, Lester. Tell me where I can find him.”
“I, uh. . .”
“Tell me now, or I’ll do a figure eight that’ll turn you into the hairiest pancake the Garden District has ever seen.”
Lester, apparently smarter than he looked, started talking.
Chapter Eight
As Lester and I flew, my shock gave way to reality, and I spent a few minutes assessing our circumstances. Adrik had long since disappeared from view. I had no idea if they’d flown that far away or landed somewhere to continue the fight. Either way, getting out of the sky was a priority. Too easily spotted
if SSF knew to look up. I got us as far into the bayou as I dared and then headed for a clearing in the trees.
Lester, clearly relieved at our choice, slid unsteadily to his feet the moment we touched down.
“Oh good, I needed a break,” he said.
“Get comfortable,” I told him. “The bayou’s the best place to hide for now.”
“We’re not going back to the city?”
“We’ll wait it out until we know it’s safe,” I told him.
And until I could come to terms with the fact that Adrik was the masked stranger I’d met at the ball.
Shit.
What were the odds that both of the men I’d met that night had found their way back into my life? Ugh. Maybe Milo wasn’t the only one who made questionable relationship choices.
Around us, the forest was silent as Lester and I trudged along. No sign of Adrik—a fact that made me more nervous as the minutes ticked by. Once he’d relieved himself, Lester wasn’t nearly as concerned by the Nephilim’s disappearance. Twice, I had to double back and nudge him along from where he’d stopped to pick berries.
“You’re meaner than the last griffin I met,” he said when I fussed at him a third time.
I froze, forgetting that I should have been listening for signs of the demon bat we’d left behind.
“What did you say?” I asked, whirling on Lester.
“You’re kind of grumpy, you know. Maybe you need more protein in your diet.” Lester brushed past me, oblivious.
I blinked, counting to ten before hurrying to catch up with him. “What griffin?”
When he still didn’t react, I grabbed his wrist and yanked him to a stop.
“What. Griffin?” I said again through clenched teeth.
“Uh, I think his name was Hawkeye or something.”
All of the air left my lungs.
I dropped his wrist, and he seemed to finally register my reaction.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I think you mean Hawkins. Vic Hawkins.”
“Yeah, that sounds right. You know him?”
“He was my father. He was killed a few months ago.” Lester’s eyes widened. “How did you know him?”
Knock Em Dead (Supernatural Security Force Book 2) Page 10