I couldn’t lie to myself. It made me want to rip it off her body and beat the shit out of her with it. It took everything in me to remain still. Silently, I counted to three to calm down before I spoke. “Look, I know I haven’t been here, but like Savannah said you don’t know what I’ve been through. Just like I don’t know what you guys have been through without me. It sounds like nothing was easy here, but I didn’t have it easy either. Trust me.” I paused, shivering.
I could still taste the rotting food I had to eat from the dumpsters to keep from starving. The nights I sat alone, cold and afraid, wondering if I would ever find what I was looking for. The feeling the Darkness invoked in me. The hatred that couldn’t be pacified until I faced it. The fear that I would never remember who I was. Or worse, the fear that I would never want to remember who I was.
“Like it or not I’m back. I came here for one purpose…to finish what I started. It’s up to me to kill Dermetheus.” I jammed my index finger into my chest. “My destiny. He’s taken everything from me,” I choked out.
I couldn’t let them see me get emotional. I swallowed my feelings. Savagely they went down to fester in the pit of my stomach, leaving a gnawing sensation in their wake. My words didn’t seem to affect their rigid postures. The only thing it accomplished was a few eye rolls and words muttered too low for me to hear. I knew it didn’t matter, but I had to get the words off my chest.
“I’m only human. I know you guys are hurt and think I abandoned you, but I didn’t. No matter what you want to think.” I raised my head high, daring anyone for rebuttal. “But…there’s no way in hell you can put the blame on me for any of this. We started all this years ago, and I’m here with you now to finish it.”
A few shifted from foot to foot and for a split second, I thought Raven was going to start up again, but Fuzz held up a hand to keep that from happening. “What do you want us to do, Reese?” Fuzz asked softly.
Me? Suddenly I saw Fuzz through new eyes. He was allowing me to lead with him following. It was the oddest thing. The both of us had known this day would come sooner or later. We had discussed it that day in his office when I came to him with the fear I would never be any good at what I was training for. I couldn’t help but smile. That girl was so young and clueless. I’d give anything to be her again. She didn’t know what she had then. My heart hurt. I couldn’t go there. Thinking of Steele was something I had to avoid.
I paced in front of everyone, deciphering the thoughts firing off in my mind. I was born for this. Leading was in my blood. It should be no problem. I spout off orders, they follow. Simple enough. We get the job done no matter what it takes. I came to a dead halt in front of Sammie, still puzzled on what she was doing here. “We need to split into two teams. One needs to start working on finding Abby. The longer she’s gone, well, we all know what could happen. I don’t need to sugarcoat it for anyone here.”
Then I spun around and marched close to Masey and stopped. She took a small step back, her breath catching. Inwardly, I smiled. That’s what I thought. They didn’t need to like the fact that I was back, but they did need to respect me in order to get anything accomplished. If fear was the angle I needed to make that happen, then so be it.
“Another team needs to run through this place. Our facility was destroyed.” I looked around me. “Looks like a good place to rebuild right here. If you find anything trying to hide, capture or kill them. Let’s get this place on lock down.” I turned to focus on Harley. “Can you have the wolves and dragons do a sweep of the outside perimeter?”
“They’re already on it.”
“Good,” I said, returning my attention to Fuzz. “I’ll take the team to find Abby. You lead the other one.”
He nodded and picked off a few people to help him. I was left with Harley, Shayla, Savannah, and hardly mobile Lance. The five of us found an area to sit down to get a game plan put together.
All of them peered over to me, expectant expressions on their faces.
I pointed a finger at Shayla. “Tell me what we know. Everything.” My tone was clipped. Not like our usual friendly banter. It was strictly down to business. It felt wrong. So wrong.
She ran her hands down the front of her jeans. “Well, Dax hacked into some computer shit. He found out that Dermetheus was having some type of energy levels measured. The highest peak was at Devil’s Den of all fucking places.” She paused and shuddered. “We went to see if we could find out what they were looking for.”
“Did you?”
“We were attacked.” She closed her eyes. “Tortured. That’s why Lance is in such shitty shape.” Her hands curled, pulling at the fabric of her pants until her knuckles whitened. She opened her eyes and looked at me. “But to answer your question, yes. Eight Ball was there with us. He told us it was the portal to their realm. He said now that they’ve found it, they could bring over their army and rebuild the other portals that were destroyed.”
“But the portals were never destroyed, only locked. All except the one. The one that he’s now found apparently,” I muttered, more to myself than the others. Nonetheless, they all heard.
Silence fell over everyone. I leaned back, taking it all in. The news gutted me. This was worse than I’d thought. We were already fighting a much larger group, but an army? We’d be slaughtered within seconds.
There was no hope.
3
Reese
After a few moments, I jumped to my feet. I wasn’t going down without a fight. I would be a thorn in Dermetheus’s side until I took my last breath or ended his, whichever came first. “So Devil’s Den, huh? Didn’t have a bad enough experience down there the last time you went?” I asked Shayla.
She shrugged. “You know me. I’m a dumb-ass, I guess.” She let out a lighthearted laugh that seemed forced. Things were awkward between us. How was that even possible for two people who had been friends for so long and been through everything we had together? It was like we were strangers.
I met her gaze evenly, refusing to brush this under the rug and ignore it. “I’ve changed, I know. But the same girl that you were friends with is still here.” A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. “I’m just a little extra now, I guess.” I turned my wrists up so they could see the symbols marked there.
“You got tats?” She pushed closer to me and took each hand in her own. “Savannah and me got one too.” Both of them showed theirs off. “Savannah nearly shit herself in the chair. Like literally.”
For a moment, everything felt like it used to. It was odd. Like I didn’t belong there anymore.
“No, I didn’t. Take that back!” Savannah screamed, shoving Shayla’s shoulder. She turned in Lance’s direction. “I didn’t, baby. You know how she is. Always has to make things up to make her stories sound better.”
Shayla’s eyes went wide as she squared her shoulders back. “Bullshit. Why don’t we call Sammie over here so we can ask her?” The two of them started screaming at each other, their words becoming blurred so it was impossible to determine who was saying what.
I tried to interrupt. “Guys—”
“You always have to do that. Just because you don’t care about what you say or do doesn’t mean everyone else is like that!” Savannah yelled.
“That’s right. I do me. Fuck what everyone else thinks or does. Maybe you should be like that too. But you have to get the stick out of your ass to do it. Lance could probably help you with it since he’s always down there sucking the hell outta it,” Shayla retorted.
“Guys!” I screamed, and blue fire erupted from the tattoos on the insides of my wrists. The two of them instantly became quiet and glanced down while taking a few steps back.
“No need to catch anyone on fire,” Shayla said. Her eyes cut to the side in Savannah’s direction. “Except maybe that bitch.” Savannah’s mouth dropped, but closed a second later seemingly to decide against continuing the argument.
I smothered the flames out against my thighs. “Sorry. It’s hard to control
sometimes. I didn’t mean to—”
“No need to apologize,” Harley said, giving everyone a stern look. “No one should give you shit about something you’re still learning to do.”
Shayla and Savannah’s brows rose almost in unison. I bit my tongue to keep from laughing. One minute at each other’s throats, and next too interested in something that no doubt had their minds going zero to sixty.
Shayla’s arm flung around as her hip snapped out to the side. “Who do you think you are to get into this? I’ve seen you like a total of three times. As far as I’m concerned, in order to take up for this girl over here,” she nodded in my direction, “you have to get my approval.”
“Your approval?” Hollywood barked, appearing behind her with a few others in tow. “Woman, you need to get in the kitchen and cook. Stop getting in my bro’s business.” His head tilted toward her as his expression grew mocking. “Unless you got a dick in them tight ass pants.”
I had never seen Shayla get so angry. The day she found Jace and Casey was bad, but this… There were no words to properly describe the rage, hate, and desire to kill etched into her features.
Within a second, a pistol was drawn from behind her back. Her teeth gritted as she used the handle to strike his face. Blood splattered across the floor when his head whipped to the side.
“Pistol whip him! Keep going!” Dax yelled from across the room.
“Shut up before you make this worse,” Fuzz commanded.
Hollywood’s large hands wrapped around Shayla’s shoulders and lifted her freely into the air until she was eye-level with him. “You’ll pay for that spilled blood.”
Instead of begging for forgiveness, she spit in his face and laughed maniacally. “Suck my dick. That’s right. You’re looking at the president of the IDC. Invisible Dick Click if you didn’t know what that was.”
“Put her down, Hollywood. This fighting isn’t getting us anywhere. We’ve got bigger things to focus on,” Harley said, stepping closer and slightly shoving Hollywood’s shoulders.
Hollywood snarled, released Shayla, and paced inches from her disheveled form once it hit the ground. He bent so he was face to face with her. “Stay away from me.”
She rolled back and gave him a dismissive wave with her hand. “What was it we said about this one? Cobwebs in the dick hair? Someone needs to get laid, for sure. It was true the last time I saw you and it still is.”
Without another word, he left the room. A second later, it sounded as if the wall was being beat on with a hammer. Tables rattled around us, sending papers and other oddities scattering across the floor.
“Can we ignore the stupid shit for a minute and focus on what just happened?” Raven spat in my direction. Her hand sliced the air. “She had fire coming from her hands, yeah, I saw that. When did this happen?” She didn’t wait for me to answer the question. I didn’t think she really wanted to know. “What was that about being ‘only human’ earlier? Ummm, no. Looks like you’re a freak.”
I almost hyperventilated. What a way for them to find out I wasn’t entirely human. It was a secret that I had only shared with Shayla and Steele. It wasn’t that I had wanted to keep it from the rest of them back then, but I was scared of this exact reaction.
Her eyes darted between me and Harley. “You and your friends are freaks.” She stepped forward. “Where have you been, Reese? How do we know you haven’t been somewhere with Dermetheus? I’m not buying the whole ‘Oh, she was probably so hurt over Steele she didn’t want to come back here.’ That’s bull. So what if he died—”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence. My hands wrapped around her neck and squeezed. Terror filled her wide eyes as they swam with tears. I could feel myself drifting, drifting to that dark place. I didn’t want to stop myself. How dare she speak his name that way. Muffled screams echoed around me. I ignored them and focused on her dilated pupils. I could see my reflection within them. Cold and determined. Just when her eyes rolled to the top of her skull, I let go. She hit the ground and reached for her neck. Red handprints marked her.
I didn’t have any remorse for what I had done. She deserved it. They could think whatever they wanted about me, but not about Steele. They couldn’t make his death nothing. He had died fighting.
“Don’t ever say his name again.” I locked my jaw as she scrambled across the floor to put distance between us. “You don’t deserve to.”
No one said anything until Masey broke the uncomfortable silence.
“Can we get back to what we need to focus on? Abby is missing! And we’re here standing around with our thumbs up our asses watching Shayla and some meathead have the weirdest flirting confrontation ever, and Reese have a crazy moment,” Masey cried out. Some guy I didn’t know leaned in close to her and draped an arm over her bouncing shoulders. Before I could ask who he was, a door behind them flew off the hinges. A Valk stomped through the room, holding its bloody side.
“I’ll kill all of you!” it screamed. He reached out, yanking a handful of Masey’s hair while throwing a bulky arm into the stranger. He flew back, but with catlike reflexes caught himself in a crouching position before hitting the ground. To my horror he transformed into something I loathed. Snake Demon. He leaped onto the Valk’s back, wrapping his arms around its neck. The Valk shoved Masey to the ground.
She cried out in pain, shuffling to the side. “Lyric!”
The Snake Demon’s head pulled back and then snapped forward, sinking his teeth deep into the Valk’s neck. The Valk stumbled. Its big arms desperately fought to free itself. After a moment, it dropped to its knees, then hit the floor and didn’t move.
The Snake Demon stood and swiped his bloody mouth with the back of his hand. He morphed back, finding Masey. “Are you okay?”
My eyes narrowed. Instinct kicked into overdrive, and within a second, my weapon was at his throat. “Back off, Snake Demon, before I cut your head off.”
How was everyone else not freaking out about this too?
His pupils dilated as both hands went into the air.
“What? No! Reese, this is my boyfriend,” Masey said, shoving him back and stepping toward my outdrawn blade. “He’s not like the rest.”
“Snake Demons are all the same.” My gaze remained unwavering, locked onto him. “They’re monsters.”
“Why? Because he isn’t normal? This coming from someone that can produce fire from their wrists? That isn’t something humans can do, Reese. Does that make you a monster too?”
My hand shook as my attention shifted in her direction. I remained steel-faced, but on the inside rage boiled just beneath the surface. She had no idea how close her words hit home. In my opinion, I was a monster, and that made me hate myself. Without a word, I lowered my arm. She turned to him and clung to his body. My stomach twisted at the sight, but I remained quiet nonetheless.
Things had obviously changed. I had a lot to catch up on.
Shayla came to stand near me. “I had the same reservations about Lyric, but he’s actually okay,” she said just loud enough for me to hear.
Lyric. That thing had a name. So did Neko. So did Zane. So did Asher. All dead. They’d received what they had deserved.
“Reese?” Shayla said softly. “You okay?”
I blinked, touching my temple. “Um, yeah.” I glanced back at Masey and Lyric.
Why did it bother me so bad? Masey was right. I wasn’t like them. I could do things that made me different. I had fought the Darkness and won, but it would never leave me. I could have easily been taken over by it. If that had happened, the reunion would have been very different. I surveyed the room, not stopping too long on any face for an extended amount of time. They would be dead. All of my friends. The people I loved. Their blood would have stained this concrete floor. I had seen the vision.
I shivered although it wasn’t cold. My experience couldn’t make me hate every creature I came across. Not all were bad. I knew that. I took a sharp breath and crossed the room.
Lyric
turned toward me with a sharp intake of breath.
With my hand, I rubbed the back of my neck. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
I shook my head. “It’s not. When you’ve been through what I’ve been through, it’s hard to, um, trust people I guess. I’m ready to assume the worst in the ones I meet.” I swallowed, realizing that the room had fallen quiet. All eyes were on me. I knew they all wanted to know where I’d been, what I’d been doing, but it was better for all of them that they not know.
Otherwise, I would be the monster in their eyes.
4
Reese
I switched my focus. I didn’t wait for my group. Spinning on my heels, I darted out the door. Enough time had been wasted. Nothing was getting accomplished. Tensions were too high with all of them. They needed time to adjust to me as well as the group that came with me, as did we with being back with them. Here. In Jackson. I gritted my teeth.
The crisp night air nipped at my skin as the door slammed shut behind me. I stopped, taking several deep breaths. Why did coming back have to be so hard? I didn’t get time to ponder the question. The sound of the door opening pulled my attention back to the reason I had rushed out. A vehicle. We needed a way to get to Devil’s Den. I searched the immediate area. Sand. I knew this. Why did I come out here thinking there would be a line of cars waiting for me to select from?
“Weren’t going to tell us you were leaving?” Harley said, coming up beside me.
War Page 2