Torn

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  There wasn’t a single part of me that missed the fact that he didn’t refer to Val as the halfling.

  “And you’re close with Ren. You two are dating.” He sat in the seat across from me, which sucked, because that meant he wasn’t planning to leave anytime soon. “And now he’s MIA. An Elite member missing. That’s odd.”

  I dropped my pen. “Where are you going with this, Miles?”

  “Nowhere, really. Just thinking out loud.”

  “Can you not do that?”

  The chair squeaked as he leaned back. “You know what else I can’t not do?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “Your double negative is confusing as hell.”

  “I can’t shake this feeling I’ve had for about three years that there is something very, very off about you.”

  My breath caught as our gazes locked.

  “David trusts you. He even likes you.” Miles’s stiff smile slipped from his face. “I don’t know why, but I don’t trust you, Ivy.”

  I didn’t look away as I tensed, but hey, good to hear David actually did like me. “Well, thanks for letting me know your personal, irrelevant opinion of me. I appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome,” he replied, smirking. He leaned forward, placing his elbow on the table. “I’m going to be real cliché as hell, too. I’m keeping my eye on you, Ivy.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  I finished my report, which was just a generic breakdown of events leading up to Val’s death, under the watchful eye of Miles. I managed to ignore him and not spin kick him upside the head when I left. I pushed the episode with him to the back of my mind. I had other things to stress over.

  Namely Ren.

  The prince.

  The fact my womb was a walking time bomb.

  I caught a ride over to the warehouse district, to Ren’s place. As I rode the industrial, cage-style elevator up to his floor, I worked through the multiple scenarios of how this could play out. If Ren wasn’t here, I didn’t know what to do next other than scouring the streets for him, but I knew I’d have little luck. After living in New Orleans for three years, I knew the streets could swallow people whole. And if Ren was at his place? Oh gosh, I’d probably just cry out in relief, hug him, and then scamper off. If he was at his place, avoiding David and my calls, he didn’t want to be found.

  My heart was bouncing all over as I walked up to his door. My hand froze as I went to knock on it. Fear held me still. Ridiculous. I could face down a pack of rabid fae, but I was too scared to knock on Ren’s door?

  I rolled my eyes.

  Rapping my knuckles on the steel, I stepped back and waited . . . and waited. I knocked again and waited probably five minutes. Nothing. Either he wasn’t in there or he spotted me through the peephole and wasn’t answering. Either way, I felt sick to my stomach.

  I gave up and went back down the elevator. Outside his apartment, I fought to not give in to the panic building in my stomach. I needed to refocus, and since I was close to Flux, I decided that was better than nothing. And it would totally be worth David’s glare when he saw me.

  It took me about fifteen minutes to get to the stretch of newish buildings and old warehouses converted into clubs and restaurants. There was no missing the fact that some serious crap had gone down at the club. Blue and red lights lit up the street, casting alternating colors along the shiny windows of the nearby buildings.

  My steps slowed as I neared Flux. Yellow police tape spanned the area, roping off the entrance to the club. Reporters were being kept at bay by several police officers. I scanned the crowds but didn’t see David or any other Order member. Remembering the back entrance where Ren and I saw the fae talking with the officers, I skirted around the crowd and cars and headed for the alley.

  Walking past the stone benches and potted plants, I stopped and peered around the corner. Several dark SUVs blocked the doors. There was a back entrance where food service and staff entered. One that I doubted would be easily—

  “Hey.”

  Swallowing a yelp, I nearly came out of my skin as I whipped around. Glenn stood behind me, dark brown eyes wide and brows raised. “Holy crap, are you part ninja?” I exclaimed. “I didn’t even hear you walk up behind me.”

  “It’s called being quiet,” he replied, grinning. “I’m pretty good at it.”

  “I’ll say.”

  He stopped beside me. “Whatcha doing?”

  I turned back to the loading area. “I was hoping I could sneak in the back and see what the hell is going on in there.”

  “It’s a freaking horror show.”

  “You’ve been in there?”

  Glenn nodded. “Got here when David put the call out. Haven’t seen anything like it. Seriously.” He lifted a hand, rubbing it over his skull. “You don’t have to sneak. Only members are inside, and a handful of detectives that David knows.”

  “Crap,” I murmured. If the police were here and most of them were outside while only members and the cops who knew about us and the fae were inside, this was some serious stuff. “Let’s go.”

  Glenn led the way to the doors where the SUVs were parked. “So where are you from?” I asked, realizing I knew very little about him.

  He looked over his shoulder at me. “You’re the second person to ask me that.”

  I glanced around. “Oh?”

  “Yeah. You and Ren.”

  “Oh,” I said again, much lower this time.

  A handsome grin appeared on his face. “I’m from New York City. It’s taking me a bit to get used to this place.”

  “I’ve never been there. Always wanted to see it though.” We walked around one of the SUVs. “I’m originally from Virginia.”

  “So the summers are as bad here as I’ve heard?” He opened the door, holding it out for me. “I was expecting it to be warmer by now. Sort of feels like I’m still in the north.”

  “Yeah. The weather right now is a little weird.”

  Glenn stepped around me and led the way down a narrow hallway with several closed and opened doors. A break room. A door marked “Manager.” A storage room that was open, with liquor bottles everywhere.

  “I’m not sure what you’ve seen before. I’m guessing you’ve seen some crazy stuff since we all have, but this . . .” He trailed off as he stopped in front of a gray door with a small window. “Yeah, this is something else.”

  Unsure of what I was preparing myself for, I walked through the door he opened and made it a couple of steps before I came to a complete stop. Horror rose within me, robbing me of the ability to speak or even think.

  The house lights were on, glittering like sharp diamonds. I spotted David standing next to Miles and Henry. Dylan and Jackie were standing near what used to be the shadowy corners. And then there were detectives staring up, and I had to wonder if they had ever seen anything like this before.

  People hung from the ceiling.

  Humans.

  Their bodies were swaying like branches in the wind.

  People were scattered across the floor.

  Their bodies left behind like discarded trash.

  Some were nude, and some were fully clothed. They looked like staff. The men were in black slacks, and some were still wearing white uniform shirts. Others were bare-chested. Some women wore slinky black dresses. The closest body to me belonged to a female. She had one high heel on her foot. For some reason I looked down to see if I could find the other shoe, and I don’t even know why that was important, but I looked and then I saw her.

  It was the waitress I’d seen the night Ren and I had come to Flux. She’d been serving Marlon and the ancient whose blood had opened the gates. I’d suspected she’d known what they were, based on her wariness around them, and how she seemed to know that she was about to be fed on when the ancient had grabbed her. Now she was dead and cold on the floor, staring up at the dazzling lights.

  They were all dead—dozens and dozens of humans. Some hanging from the ceiling. Others splayed across the flo
or and in between tables and chairs.

  And all of them had been fed on until there was nothing left but pale skin and tainted, darkened veins.

  ~

  It was late Tuesday night when I got home. Tink was asleep, or at least that’s what I guessed he was doing, because his door was closed and no sound was coming from inside. But I was too disturbed to sleep.

  I sat on the corner of the couch, wrapped up in the soft chenille blanket. The TV was on, the volume turned down low, and I had no idea what was being said or what was happening.

  I couldn’t un-see what I’d seen in that club.

  As long as I lived, I would never forget the sight. Glenn had been right. I’d seen a lot of crazy and messed up stuff, but nothing ever like this. So much death—senseless death.

  Even David had been unsettled, and it wasn’t because he couldn’t hide that many deaths from the public. The detectives were going to spin it as some kind of cult—mass suicide or something—but people weren’t stupid. Some were going to be seriously suspicious, but they’d never believe the truth anyway.

  I’d overheard Kyle say he’d seen something like this before once in Dallas, where the fae had turned on the humans that had served them for one reason or another, feeding on all of them until they were gone. That too had been pawned off as a cult offing themselves because a comet hadn’t shown up or something.

  I didn’t understand why this had happened. The fae didn’t need humans for anything other than food, but having their assistance in some areas had to be helpful. Why would they kill them, and why now? There were too many questions.

  Before I left, I’d closed the waitress’ eyes, and on the way back to my place I’d called Ren. There was still no answer, but I didn’t leave a message for him this time.

  Ren’s face blurred with the waitresses’ and back again, and instead of seeing her, I saw him, lying on his back, his beautiful green eyes dull and unfocused, all life gone from them. Once that image was fully implanted in my brain, I couldn’t get it out.

  Hours passed, and I might’ve dozed off, but it felt like I blinked and then it was morning and Tink was sitting on the arm of the couch, a few inches from my face. And not tiny Tink. Oh no. This was full grown Tink . . . in pants.

  A hell of a way to wake up.

  I jerked into a sitting position and drew back, staring up at Tink dumbly. “You’re . . . people-sized.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “There’s something about using the word ‘people-sized’ that just sounds offensive.”

  My gaze dropped. “And you’re wearing jeans.”

  “You like them?” He looked down at himself and nodded. “Got them off of Amazon. They were something called True Religion.”

  “You . . . you bought True Religion jeans?”

  Tink batted his blue eyes at me. “They were like two hundred dollars, so I figured they were good jeans.”

  I stared at them and plopped down on the other end of the couch, planting my face into the pillow.

  “I thought you’d be happy about the fact my junk isn’t hanging out,” he said.

  I closed my eyes.

  “And here I thought I was doing a good thing.” Tink paused. “I guess I could go naked—”

  “No.”

  There was a moment of silence. “I think I have a rather attractive form when I am small and tall. I also think that most women and a lot of men would be more than happy to see me naked.”

  I closed my eyes.

  “You should be happy,” he continued.

  I grimaced.

  “Because I’m quite attractive,” Tink added. “Just in case—”

  “I get it, Tink.”

  “Goody gum drops.” Another pause. “Why are you sleeping on the couch?”

  I didn’t answer.

  Tink nudged my leg with his hand, which felt weird because he was people-sized. “Are you and Ren still fighting? If so, there’s a chance you might want to see my junk.”

  I pried one eye open. “I don’t want to see your junk again, Tink.”

  “Huh,” he said.

  Several seconds passed and then I said in a scratchy voice, “A whole bunch of people were killed last night. They were fed on until they died, and some of their bodies were hung from the ceiling.”

  “Whoa,” Tink said. “That’s a buzzkill.”

  “Yeah,” I murmured, sucking in a deep breath. “And Ren is missing.”

  “What?” Tink shrieked, startling me. I sat up and he jumped—all six and a half feet of him—onto the coffee table. He crouched there, on the edge in a feat of anti-gravity. “What do you mean he’s missing?”

  I broke it down for Tink, skipping the whole “telling Ren what I was” part and ending with, “I don’t know what to do.”

  Tink hopped down and sat on the coffee table. “I don’t know what to tell you. I mean, who knows? Maybe he’s off licking his man wounds? Or maybe the prince has captured him. Both make sense. Ren’s his competition.”

  My heart flopped over in my chest as I rose, unable to sit or be in the apartment any longer. My muscles ached from sleeping in a cramped position. “That’s not helping,” I said.

  “Sorry?” He stood. “I’m really not good at saying sorry and sounding like I mean it, but I do mean it.”

  I walked around the couch and stopped by the bedroom door. “I get it.”

  Tink followed behind me. “Would now be a bad time to talk about getting that kitten you—”

  Shutting the door behind me, I walked into the bathroom. I showered and changed in record time, gathering up my wet hair and securing it in a knot. I grabbed my weapons and walked back out.

  Tink popped up from the couch. “You’re leaving already? It’s like nine in the morning.”

  “I know.” I walked to my purse. “I just can’t sit in the house. I need to be out there.”

  “Doing what?”

  That was a good question and something I’d thought about while I showered. We had some intel at headquarters on possible locations of fae cells—homes where we had evidence fae lived. Places we kept an eye on, but hadn’t raided because we weren’t a hundred percent positive fae actually lived there. I was this close to knocking on their doors.

  “You’re going to do something dumb, aren’t you?”

  “No.” I picked up my bag and draped it over my shoulder. “I’m just going to go out.”

  Tink leaned over the back of the couch. “I can go with you.”

  I raised an eyebrow as I picked up my keys.

  “Not like this. I haven’t gotten around to buying a shirt yet, but I can make myself small and you can put me in your purse,” he offered.

  “I am not putting you in my purse.”

  Tink folded his extremely well-muscled arms over an extremely well-defined chest. “It could work. I can help you look for Ren.”

  I walked to the door. “Maybe next time.” I stopped, thinking of something I should’ve done a long time ago. “Order a new phone from Amazon for me, one that comes with an answering machine.”

  Tink wrinkled his nose. “Why? I don’t use the house phone.”

  I exhaled noisily through my nose. “I know, but I can call it and leave you messages. Like if I’m running late or if there’s a problem.”

  “Oh.” His gaze roamed to the ceiling. “Good idea. I bet I can one-hour that shiz. Let me see.” He started toward the kitchen, and