by A. C. Arthur
“Just drive,” she said between breaths.
“But that’s not a place you wanna be at this time of night,” he insisted. “Nothing’s down that end of town but old abandoned buildings. You can’t possibly want to go there.”
“I said drive!”
Those three words came out in a deeper tone of voice than she’d ever used before and they’d burned her throat on the way. She lowered her forehead to the not-so-fresh-smelling upholstery of the seat and closed her eyes.
What the hell had just happened?
Her hands shook as she lifted them to her chest to press against the slight bulge the sheathed knife created.
Good. It’s still there.
Where else would it be? She’d stolen it from the case where Vertis had said it was being kept. And then she’d had to make a run for it, into the attic and up on the roof where... Why was he there? And why hadn’t he arrested her? Because he wasn’t an enforcer, at least that’s what he’d said. And that made sense, at least a little.
A brisk breeze blew over her cheeks as she looked to the window above her head the moment she heard the whishing sound of the wind. The car was going fast, whizzing by homes and landmarks until they were just a blur. It was a twenty-minute drive from Sodesto to downtown Burgess. She knew the way because she’d taken rides out there several times in the last few months and could probably walk from there to Safeside if she had the time or inclination. So why was she staring out that window as if there was something new for her to see now?
Because there was.
It appeared to be there one minute and gone the next, so she closed her eyes tightly, opening them slowly after a few seconds to try again. After that strange bout of lightning, the moon had appeared and now seemed extra bright. Far, far away, she thought she saw something weaving in and out of clouds. Something that seemed to be following them. What “it” was, she had no clue but she had an eerie feeling that just as she was watching it, it was watching her.
“Lady, I’m not gonna be responsible if something happens to you down here. You meetin’ somebody?”
The driver’s voice snapped her out of what she presumed was a hallucination and Ravyn pushed herself up on the seat.
“That’s none of your business. Just take me to the address I keyed into the database and be on your way.”
If she were any other person, given any other life, she might have felt some measure of gratitude that the guy seemed so concerned for her welfare. But she wasn’t, and hers wasn’t what anyone would call a “normal” life. She’d been born to Ford Walsh, a general in the U.S. military. Her mother had died in childbirth, leaving her father with a girl child he despised for no other reason than because she was a girl child. Each day of her life Ford had reminded her of his disappointment in her, from the way she chewed her food, to the way she walked and eventually to the way she talked. She’d never been good enough for him. So no, normalcy wasn’t in the cards for her and she was fine with that. Adapting, surviving, overcoming, those were her claims to fame and tonight she’d used them all to make what might be the only score needed to see Safeside through to the spring.
But now somebody, or rather something, was following her.
She turned her head to look out the window on the other side of the car. There was more darkness, more buildings, but by now they were nearing the downtown area so there were at least the familiar streetlights lining the curb. The driver was staying on the outskirts of the city, skimming past the business district, instead of going straight through downtown where the clubs and more seedy parts of the city were. She should probably thank him for that, but she remained silent, her gaze focused toward the sky.
She sighed heavily. There was nothing there, just as there shouldn’t be. Nothing but clouds hiding the glow of the moon. A breeze still coasted through the windows since the guy had all four of them rolled down to the halfway point. The fresh air was needed to combat the smelly interior, but it was chilling her, to the point that she folded her arms over her chest.
“Here ya go,” he snapped.
Ravyn didn’t bother responding, but pulled on the door handle and stepped out the moment she’d pushed the door open. She slammed it behind her and stood on the curb looking pointedly at the driver.
“Lady,” he said in an effort to plead with her once more.
“Thank you for the ride, sir.”
Her tone was rude and snappish and probably uncalled for, but it was what it was. And when he pulled away from the curb, tires screeching against the asphalt, she sighed again, rolling her eyes upward. She was thankful he hadn’t gotten out of the car and tossed her back inside, or worse, called the enforcers. It wasn’t much of a leap to make that if she insisted on being in this part of town, she might be up to no good. But he was gone, and she sort of was up to no good, so she turned quickly, running down one block until she could duck into a dark alley.
“Shit!” she yelled when another gush of air hit her so hard she stumbled forward a few steps.
Her gaze flew immediately to the sky. What was up there? Was it coming for her now that it knew she was alone?
“Girl, you gotta get a grip!” She yelled the words into the alley just in case there was someone lurking. Maybe they’d think she was with someone and leave her alone. Or perhaps they’d just assume—as she was starting to do—that she was losing her mind.
Slapping a palm to her chest to remind herself the knife was still there, she broke into a run, going straight down the alley about twenty yards until she came to an old manhole. Across from the drain was a Dumpster. Taking the few steps to the Dumpster, she knelt and reached her hand behind the back wheel, grabbing the crowbar she kept there. With the crowbar she pulled the top off the storm drain, sliding it to the side before going back to put the crowbar in its hiding place. With one last glance around to ensure nobody was in the alley with her, Ravyn turned around and stepped down the ladder hidden inside the drain. Once her head was below street level, she reached up, sticking her finger through a hole on the side of the drain top, and pulled it over the opening to cover the tunnel she was about to travel through.
She continued down the ladder until taking the two-foot drop to the bottom level. The moment her feet hit the floor he was on her.
“I’m so glad you made it!” Cree was yelling as his arms flew around her, grabbing her to him in a hug that took her breath. “I’ve been waiting right here since you left. You said it would take up to three hours, but you’ve been gone almost four and a half. I was so worried I started to wake up the Megs to have them come with me to look for you.”
She patted Cree’s back and took a steadying breath the moment he finally released her. “No, not the Megs. The last thing we need are those two roaming the streets looking for a fight.”
Cree gave her his crooked smile. “That’s what they do best.”
She nodded and turned to walk in the direction that would take them around the main area of Safeside to the private rooms and office along the edge of the complex. This was once an old subway station with stairs that led even farther underground to the tunnels and tracks where trains used to take people from one side of the city to the other. But that had been more than fifty years ago. Now all public transportation was aboveground by buses or the lifts that traveled on wires that crisscrossed throughout Burgess like vines.
When she was younger, the kids in school would talk about stories they heard of an army of men and women who could change shape into big cats, living underground. The story was that those people had attacked humans in Washington D.C. and were then run underground by the U.S. military, which began an all-out war against them. When she’d gone home to ask her father about it, Ford had immediately chastised her for believing every silly story she heard. “This world belongs to the humans, now and forever,” he’d said in that tone that told her she’d better not ever ask him about cat people
or any other type of beings again.
“They’re good at what they do.” Cree fell into step beside her, still talking about the Megs. His narrow shoulders were hunched while his long legs kept pace with her.
“Former wrestlers aren’t what’s needed to move us ahead,” she said and turned the corner that would lead to her office and private suite.
“But stealing is?”
This was the second time tonight Cree had spoken to her as if he despised what she was doing, or like she was some common criminal. “Stealing is what built this entire secret living space where people like us are allowed to be who and what we are and thrive.”
“We’re living underground, away from the world and all that’s going on up there, how is that considered thriving?”
She moved quickly, turning so that she was now face-to-face with him. “All that’s going on up there is every type of discrimination imaginable and corruption that reaches from the top of the food chain down to strangle those just managing to grab a few scraps to live on. So, what would you suggest we do differently? Do you really want to go back up there and deal with all that bullshit?”
Cree took a slow, deep breath. He blinked at her and folded wispy arms over his chest.
“I’m not the enemy,” he said. “And you know I appreciate all you’ve done to create this safe space for us, but in the beginning, you said it would be temporary until we figured out a way to exist aboveground with everyone else.”
She had said that. And for a while she’d actually believed it. Now, not so much.
“I’m trying,” she replied and turned away.
Reaching down into the top of her suit she pulled out the key she wore around her neck on a black cord. Using the key to open the door to her office she stepped inside. Knowing that Cree intended to follow her and feeling like she needed a lot of space right now, she turned back to face him but blocked the entrance.
“I know you want to talk about our next steps and I believe it’s time to do so, but not tonight. I’m tired and I need to rest and figure some things out.”
He turned his head slightly, twisting his lips in that way that said he only half believed her. “Did you at least get what you went up there for?”
Ravyn smiled. “I did. And it’s going to bring us big bucks!”
“Big illegal bucks, just like the enforcers collecting their fee from all the establishments aboveground at the first of every month. That’s what brought us down here, Ravyn. All I’m saying is how does this make us any better than them?”
His words stung and Ravyn had to blink back the urge to lash out at him. Cree had been with her at one of the lowest moments of her life. He’d risked his life to save hers and had come out with permanent physical and mental scars. He was like a younger brother to her, one she was responsible for and indebted to, one that was royally pissing her off at this moment.
“It makes us survivors, Cree. That’s all I’ve been able to focus on these past four years, surviving. We’re doing that aren’t we? They don’t know where we are so they can’t steal from us and beat us at their whim. We beat them this time!”
Cree shook his head. “I don’t feel like we beat anybody at anything. I feel like we’re hiding and I’m getting sick of it.”
Then go! She wanted to scream those words, but she couldn’t because if Cree left, Ravyn wasn’t sure what she’d do. All of this—the miles of lodging and community they’d created together to help the displaced citizens of the city—wouldn’t seem like much without him there to help her. Likewise, if anything happened to her, it would be on Cree to keep this place afloat and she wasn’t sure he would. He was her best friend and her partner, and he was partially right.
“Get some sleep, Cree. We’ll talk about this in the morning.”
He nodded. “Yeah, you get some rest too. And tomorrow think about where you’re going to unload that thing because you’re never gonna be able to hide it as long as it glows like that.”
With those words she looked down at her chest to see the shimmering gold light visible through the thick black material of her catsuit. Had it been glowing like that all night? She hadn’t seen it but now she wondered.
“Yeah, I’ll um, I’ll take care of this first thing tomorrow morning.”
When he walked away, Ravyn closed and locked her door. She walked through her office and to another door that opened into her private suite. Her hands were already working the catsuit down past her shoulders and to her waist as she sat on her bed. Lifting one leg at a time she unlaced and removed her tennis shoes, tossing them across the room in the direction of the closet. Once they were off, she pushed the catsuit farther down and then returned her attention to the knife she’d stuck into her sports bra.
The golden light was intense and when she grabbed the handle that humming she’d heard back at the house started once more. This time the sound also vibrated through the knife as she pulled it slowly from between her breasts. Once it was away from her chest the light blinked out and it looked like an old dirty knife again.
“What the hell?”
The words hung in the air as she turned her hand back and forth staring at the front and then the back of the knife.
“Maybe Cree’s right and we need to get out of here, because now we’re both cracking up.” The knife couldn’t be glowing, there were no batteries inside of it, and it wasn’t humming to any rhythm in her head. She was tired and still buzzed from pulling off the robbery.
She stood, walking in just her panties and sports bra over to the dresser where she planned to hide the knife in the secret compartment beneath one of the drawers. But as she pulled the drawer out, she changed her mind. Closing it slowly, she walked back across the room and lifted the pillows at the top of her bed. She slid the knife beneath three of them and then fluffed them before falling back on the bed and folding her hands over her stomach. There she stayed for who knew how long, until her lids became heavy and she thought sleep was going to take her.
But the humming sound persisted and with the humming came a cool breeze. She moved until she had the blankets covering her body and then flipped over onto her stomach. When that still didn’t feel quite right, she slipped a hand beneath the pillows, until her fingers found the hilt of the knife once more. Curling her fingers around it had warmth spreading throughout her body and the sound lowered to a steady rhythm that matched her heartbeat. Then she slept and wondered about the golden light and the handsome man who had appeared on the roof tonight.
* * *
She was gone, but she was alive.
Steele told himself that was all that mattered. Her heart still beat, he could tell because he hadn’t felt that cold slice that sifted through his soul each time a being he’d dreamed of dying had succumbed to the Reaper’s quest. He entered his hotel room and lay down on his bed, welcoming the warmth that immediately filled him. The beast was awake even as the man sought rest. It moved throughout the human body with slow precision, reminding each limb, every vein and the steady stream of blood to whom it really belonged.
As long as he’d lived, Steele’s beast had never lain dormant. He’d always allowed it freedom on his command. Tonight, once the woman had run so far that Steele could no longer see her, the beast had ripped free, taking to the sky to track her. In those moments he hadn’t been able to control the beast and that worried him. Every second the beast’s eyes were on the car she was in, it breathed easier, and the moment it knew she was in the same area she went to each night, it relaxed, finally heeding Steele’s command and bringing him back to the hotel, where he’d had to use his strength to kick down a door to a service entrance. He used dream dust on the two laundry room workers so he could grab a kitchen uniform to wear. A six-foot-three-inch black man with locks hanging to his shoulders walking naked through the hotel was sure to cause a commotion.
The fury between man and his beast at the mom
ent was at an all-time high and couldn’t be ignored. All Drakon controlled the beast within them, and some were even able to hold their beast at bay for hundreds of years—Theo had done that for the first three hundred years he’d been on the Human Realm. Steele, on the other hand, had always been one with his beast, though he gave it a wide berth whenever possible, even after his clan had moved from the Far Realm to the Yorubaland area of the Human Realm. His beast had space to grow and flourish on both realms, even to the point of entering battle—the battle which had cost his sister her life.
“Fuck!” he yelled when he was closed in the room, alone. What was he supposed to do now?
All his life, Steele had been proud of who and what he was. Until tonight, when he’d stood close to that woman, staring into those enigmatic eyes and watching her lips move as she questioned him. In those moments Steele wished he were anything other than the one tasked with leading her to the Reaper. Should he attribute his insubordinate decision to keep her safe to his beast and the way it acted as if it would do anything—even disobey Steele’s commands—for her? That thought made him queasy, even as his beast moved, rubbing along his muscles as if it were proving its point. Steele scrubbed his hands down his face and hoped that wasn’t the case. He prayed his beast wasn’t interfering, not this time. And if it was, he wanted to run as far away from that scenario as possible. Only, leaving her wasn’t an option, because the thought of her dying was more than he could bear. More than he was willing to accept, again.
Chapter Four
Her hands shook and she swallowed back the wave of nausea that rippled through her for the billionth time today. It had been almost a week, dammit, she should be feeling better by now. But no, sweat still dotted her brow, shivers still shook her body and she couldn’t hold down any food or drink. Only stubbornness, resilience and the knowledge that she needed to hurry up and get rid of this knife had brought her out late Thursday afternoon before the pawnshop could close.