Red-haired Aretes like Lizzie had been almost unheard of. But an Arete born with gray hair? That was legendary.
Aretes with gray hair were called Silvers. It was something unique about our magic system—once an Arete learned all of the elements, his or her hair turned gray. Most had to fight and practice and struggle their way until they became a Silver.
Theoretically, because I had gray hair before I Restarted, I’d be able to control all of the elements when I did. I knew better than to look forward to that moment. Especially considering the fact that I probably wouldn’t survive it.
Having this color of hair had caused problems for me in the past, and like Lizzie, I occasionally had to dye it to hide who I really was. Many casual Aretes wouldn’t know I didn’t have access to my abilities yet.
Lizzie’s eyes widened as something occurred to her. “Your parents named you Abel? Why would they do that? Abel was killed by his brother!”
I shrugged, giving her a half smile. “They didn’t expect me to survive. I don’t expect me to survive.”
She shook her head. “This really bites. Let me know if I can do anything to help.”
I raised my eyebrow. What could she possibly do? Restarts were impossible to prevent or predict. A lot of people had a brief warning they were about to go through it—nausea, dry throat, clammy hands, things like that—but most didn’t. And besides, if Lizzie were present, there was nothing she could actually do to save me. Especially since no one knew exactly how Adam had died. They just knew it happened during his Restart.
“Will you take the job?” I asked, wanting to change the subject.
“I don’t know. Who hired you to do it? And why now? I mean, it’s all too much of a coincidence. I just barely learned about these hounds myself.”
I rested my arm on the back of the chair next to me. “There are a lot of things most regular humans aren’t aware of.”
“I’m not a regular human.”
I could tell what I said had annoyed her, and I leaned forward, wanting to smooth things over. “I know. I’m just saying things aren’t ever coincidences—your instincts are correct. There’s a lot more going on than either of us know.”
She didn’t respond for a while. Then, “I’ll get back with you on it,” she said. “And you think about my offer as well.”
Was she serious? “I’ve offered you the same job you’re offering me. I don’t need to think about it. I’m already on board.”
She flushed again, drawing my eyes to her cheeks once more. If I hadn’t already been pretty much obsessed with her, watching her blush would’ve pushed me over the edge. I couldn’t help but imagine how she’d react if I kissed her.
Before I could make a fool of myself, I shoved the thought away.
Lizzie excused herself to go to the bathroom, and I took the opportunity to gather my thoughts and collect myself, resolving to change the direction of the conversation. I still needed to get to know her.
As soon as she came out, I turned my questions on her. “How did the rest of school go?”
Lizzie got a faraway expression as she filled me in on what she’d been up to the last several years. Apparently, she’d graduated from her Arete university with excellent grades and had been accepted into a very good Fire Impeder training school. After studying there for a few years, she’d taken a three-year internship in Washington D.C.
I asked her several questions about interning in D.C., knowing just how dangerous it would be to work as a Fire Impeder there. She spoke easily, no sense of hesitation, and I knew she wasn’t holding anything back. This woman had nothing to hide.
We finally parted ways, and I left feeling slightly better about working for Alexander. How was I going to handle the assassination thing, though? I hadn’t found a way out of it with the previous five targets, and I’d already exhausted all the avenues I could think of.
The thought of murdering her just killed me, though. No pun intended. Even more so than it had my other targets. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about her as a person. Especially when I really hadn’t gotten to know her at any point. I could see a depth in her eyes that let me know she’d experienced heartache, and that definitely intrigued me. I ached to learn what had put that depth there.
The moment the thought crossed my mind, I pushed it away. I couldn’t get close to her. At least, not that close. I couldn’t allow myself to develop more than an immature, infatuated love for her. It would destroy me if—when—I murdered her.
I rested my hands on my steering wheel before leaving. I’d need to deal with my emotions sooner rather than later. There wasn’t a way out of my “commitments.”
With a sigh, I pulled out of the parking lot and headed to my apartment to rest before leaving again. I needed to research the hounds. See what I could learn about them. I knew the basics, but it wouldn’t be enough. Not like actually meeting one would be.
On the other hand, I also knew learning more would put me in danger.
But there was a reason Alexander had hired me—my experience with incredibly deadly beasts wasn’t matched by many. I’d be able to hold my own against them. For a while, anyway.
Not for the first time in my life, I was grateful I’d inherited a knack for fighting and self-preservation.
I sent out a couple of texts and received responses pretty quickly. There was an underground location similar to mine in Salt Lake City where people gathered to practice and fight—basically to be around others of their kind. I would head there. Seemed a good place to start.
The entire drive up, I couldn’t get Lizzie out of my mind. What did she think of me? I knew she appreciated my physical appearance, especially considering what she’d probably been expecting, but I hadn’t been able to learn much else. I definitely appreciated her appearance—it would be a while before I got over the shock and pleasure I’d felt at seeing her.
When I got off the freeway in SLC, I was finally able to clear my mind and turn it to the task ahead of me.
I hadn’t been to this warehouse in a few years, but I remembered it was generally very busy and that I’d find all sorts of creatures there.
The bouncer recognized me and let me in, and I decided to start with him.
“Have you seen any immortal dog-human shifters here recently?”
Yeah, basically asking for trouble.
He raised an eyebrow. “Does one even exist?”
He couldn’t help. “Never mind.”
I entered the club and stopped people every few feet, asking the same question. But nothing happened.
Come on, dogs. Where are you?
Getting annoyed, I started throwing their real name into the mix—Hounds of Tindalos.
It only took asking that question twice before someone slammed into me, knocking me into a huge minotaur-like man, who growled.
I sent him an apologetic smile, then turned to face the bedraggled man who’d pounced me. I didn’t get even a chance to see his face before he attacked again. Okay, I’d seriously offended him. Good.
Recognizing we had an audience, I acted as if we’d planned to fight and taunted him, “correcting” him—that was sure to anger the guy even more—and leading him to one of the fight mats, where I threw him over my shoulder onto his back.
The man sprang to his feet and attacked with a style of fighting I’d never encountered before. He was strong and fast, and for a moment, I worried, wondering if I’d done something incredibly stupid. I could barely hold him off. I switched back and forth between the multiple martial arts I’d learned, testing out some of the newer ones since the technique he was using was so different.
This guy was serious. If he could, he would kill me. I was surprised he hadn’t pulled out a weapon yet.
“Did my questions provoke you?” I asked.
The man snarled and lunged, hands at my neck.
If it weren’t for the fact that he was so angry, he probably would’ve destroyed me then. It was obvious from how he lunged, parried, jump
ed, and dodged that he was very well trained. He had thousands of years of experience behind him, and I only had around thirty. But he was seriously angry.
The man pinned me to the mat over and over again, and I barely got out at the last minute each time. Not before the timer was up—no, before he slit my throat or did something else to end my life.
The bruises and scratches from this would be glorious. Still, I managed to keep him from killing me, but barely.
Finally, I switched to a style I hadn’t fought with for a very long time—something of a mix between kung fu, which was my favorite, and a type of fighting from Brazil. It seemed to be just different enough to throw him, and I finally slammed him to the mat, using all my weight to pin him. The fight left his body, and he slumped down, winded and done.
The glare he gave me left me with no doubt—he would have killed me if I hadn’t finally gained the upper hand.
“Never turn your back,” he hissed. “Now that I know your scent, your knowledge, I will destroy you. And if I don’t, someone else will.”
“Suits me just fine. I’ll be hunting your kind anyway, so having you come to me will only make my job easier.”
He paused. “Hunting?”
I hadn’t let him go yet, hoping that if I piqued his curiosity enough, he’d give me information. “I’ve been hired to assist the Fire Impeder.”
The hound hissed again. “It’s true, then.”
“Yes.”
He clenched his teeth, grunting against my weight. “Let me up.”
I scoffed. “Right.”
“Come on, do it. I need to think.”
No longer sensing any danger from him, I released him. The man rolled to a sitting position and stared at me. The crowd around us seemed to hold their breath, waiting to see if he would attack again. But he didn’t, and the onlookers lost interest and started mingling and chatting with each other.
Once we weren’t the center of attention anymore, the man said, “If I train you in fighting hounds . . .” His anger continued to dissipate as he contemplated me. “Would you keep me abreast of the Fire Impeder? And train me on that style of fighting you last used?”
“Fighting and training, definitely. I have no problem with that. But keeping you abreast . . . Can’t do it.” If Lizzie died, it wouldn’t be because I’d failed to protect her from these hounds.
The man stared at me for several moments, his gaze still serious.
“Fine. Teach me your style, and I’ll help you learn to fight hounds. But don’t expect me to keep you alive unless you agree to tell me where the Fire Impeder is.”
Seemed like a good trade. “Deal.”
Some might think I was foolish. I’d finally bested him with a style he wasn’t familiar with, and teaching him to fight with it would only give him strength against me. I wasn’t afraid of that, though. Something about my past—about nearly always being on the edge of death—had removed most fear.
There was only one thing I was still afraid of.
Lizzie’s face filtered into my thoughts.
Fine. There were two things I feared.
I pushed both from my mind.
9
I headed home, looking forward to relaxing and resting my sore and throbbing joints. A cut on my cheek stung, and I was sure it had crusted blood on it. Lovely. I hadn’t taken a beating that bad in a very long time.
The moment I pulled into my apartment complex parking lot, I knew I had a visitor. If I’d used my protection tattoo, I would have known right when someone touched my door. But it drained me far too quickly, especially when I was using my energy to fight. Hence, the borrowed magic. Unfortunately, the distance on the borrowed ones wasn’t very good.
I closed my eyes, resting my hands on the steering wheel, wishing I didn’t have to go inside. I knew who it was. Only she would follow me all the way out here.
With a sigh, I got out of the car, knowing I couldn’t put it off. She would find me regardless of where I went, and I already knew she could outwait me.
Melissa was inside my apartment, as I’d known she’d be. I fought off the urge to throw her out a window, rip off her head, or slash her neck, knowing it wouldn’t do me any good. I’d killed her before. The Shadow Prophet always undid her deaths. He said the spell he’d put on her wouldn’t go away until I accomplished the task he’d hired me to do.
I’d just have to deal with her until she left. It made my insides snarl, though, thinking of holding a conversation with her.
I shut the door behind me, deliberately taking my time to lock it and keeping my back to the room and refusing to acknowledge her. I felt her approaching and clenched my jaw, trying to control my anger.
“You tracked me down,” I said.
Melissa put her hands on my back, caressing the muscles as she inched her way to my shoulders before finally trailing them down my arms and taking my hands. She rested her chin on my shoulder.
“Of course I did. Don’t I always? He commanded it. Again.”
“Why isn’t he happy with the five I’ve already done?”
“You know the answer to that. It won’t be complete until the seventh.”
I finally turned around, cringing as her hands immediately raced to my chest, stopping on my pecs. She stroked my muscles, her gaze admiring and longing.
My back and neck started to twitch, and it took everything I had not to punch her.
“Who did you fool this time?”
“Fool?” She tilted her head, her brown eyes big and wide. “Oh, Abel, you think so poorly of me.”
I didn’t respond, and she sighed. “I’m your manager.” She held up a set of keys before tucking them back in her pocket. “I get to see you anytime I want.” She licked her lower lip, obviously trying to look seductive. “Anytime you want me here, I’ll be ready. Just let me know.”
She tugged at my shirt, untucking it, and I knew exactly what she wanted. I would never give it to her. Memories of the first time I’d interacted with her—before knowing who she was—filled my mind. It had involved making out. A lot of making out. I shuddered, remembering the nasty sewage taste that had developed as we kissed. I still didn’t know where that had come from. Probably a rotted corpse that hid somewhere under the beautiful surface.
Since then, she’d frequently shown up in my apartments and houses and sometimes even while I’d been on jobs, acting like a crazed and sex-addicted porn star. I’d nearly died more than once trying to get her off me while fighting a demon at the same time.
Melissa wasn’t exactly a law-abiding citizen. She wasn’t exactly a physics-abiding citizen either. The fact that she was basically immortal until I killed seven innocent people definitely did not turn me on to her.
I gritted my teeth. “Okay. You made your point. Please leave.”
She gave me a pouty expression, her full lips turned downward at the corners. “Are you sure, baby? I’ll help you wind down after your tough day.” She raised a hand to the cut on my face. “I can take care of this, you know.”
I shook her off, stepping away and walking to the kitchen, where I started filling a Ziploc bag with ice. I knew better than to encourage her to do anything to help me. She always got frisky, regardless of the task.
“Fine. I know when I’m not wanted anymore.”
I snorted. “You’ve never been wanted.”
Melissa laughed and came to put her arms around my waist, placing a kiss on my neck. “I’ll be back to check on you later, honey.”
“I might shoot you again.”
“You probably will. But you don’t scare me.”
She finally left, shutting the door behind her, and I breathed a sigh of relief, resting my hands on the counter and closing my eyes. I couldn’t handle much more of her. I’d already tried killing the Shadow Prophet. That hadn’t led me anywhere. Except for a week of horrible torture I couldn’t bring myself to think of.
Since Melissa had undone them when she’d broken into my apartment, I had to set up the bo
oby traps and my spells again. Stupid woman.
Once finished, I looked at my wrist. My nightshade tattoo was almost empty, and I obviously needed to sleep again. It had been too long since I’d last filled the circle completely. And so, I went to my bedroom, setting up a little charm that would ring if someone got past my other spells.
When I awakened, I would visit Lizzie. She’d probably have enough time by then to make a decision.
With her face on my mind, I fell asleep.
10
The nightshade tattoo circle wasn’t even close to being full when my phone rang, waking me. I almost rejected the call, but seeing it was from the previous owner of my warehouse, I thought better of it.
“One of my bouncers is in the hospital and won’t be out for a week. I need you to take over two of his shifts.”
“Okay. When? Where?”
“Tonight.” He rattled off the rest of the details, and I agreed to do it.
I hung up the phone and rolled out of bed. Time to head to Lizzie’s. A weird lump grew in my stomach at the thought of seeing her again. Instead of giving it room, I squished it down, finding I wasn’t as terrified as I’d been before. I hoped that meant I was ready to be a normal person.
I snorted. Yeah, right.
My palms got sweaty as I drove to her house, and that lump grew, regardless of what I did. By the time I parked, my insides were knotted so tightly, I could taste acid at the back of my mouth.
I could see Lizzie through the lace curtain on her door after I knocked. She pushed the curtain aside and nodded at me, talking on the phone, and held up a finger. The curtain dropped back into place, and her muffled voice grew quieter as she stepped away. Moments later, she opened the door a crack, keeping the chain in place. “How did you find my house?”
“It wasn’t hard.” I did have a file that told me everything about her, after all. But that, I couldn’t tell her. “You’re the only Fire Impeder in the area, and most people know who you are, and as a result, where you live.”
Shadow Prophet (Midnight Chronicles Book 1) Page 4