by Jessica Gunn
“What the hell?” Krystin exclaimed as everyone in the room took a giant step away from the Hunter.
“All will burn,” he said before reeling back his arm. An orb of glowing ether formed in his hand—orange Ember witch ether.
Chapter 2
The deranged Hunter hurled a ball of ether right at Krystin’s face. She ducked and spun out of the path before reaching behind her and drawing a length of metal from a sheath she carried on her back. Flicking her arm, the three-piece sword snapped into place.
“Stop this,” she growled at the Hunter. “We’re all friends here.”
He snarled and grew another ether-based fireball in his hands. This time, he directed it at me. “They all will burn!”
Burn. There it was again. Will had said something similar—Veynix too, now that I thought about it. I’d always assumed “they” meant the Ember witches or the Hunter Circles at large. Now I wasn’t so sure.
The Hunter’s lips twisted as he reeled back his arm and attacked again.
I threw up my own hands to block my face—and also search for magik to protect myself with, but there was no earth to grab in sight. A block of ether came soaring past, knocking the Hunter’s attack off course. I turned to the ether-shaper, a female Hunter named Jennie, and nodded a thank you.
Krystin took that moment to jump in and aim the hilt of her weapon at the Hunter’s head. But he must have seen it coming because he turned fast, readying another ether attack in his hands. I leapt across the room and slammed my palm against his back.
“Requirem!” I yelled. The explosion of ether growing in his hands fizzled out in the next moment. Gone.
Krystin knocked the end of her weapon into his temple. He fell to the ground, unconscious. She spun and addressed the rest of the wounded and poisoned team. “Anyone else want to take a crack at me or the others?”
The poisoned Hunters cowered beneath Krystin’s glare. A set of footfalls echoed down the nearby staircase. Kian and Will, both now functioning again after their bout with Talon’s latest poison, bounded down the stairs.
“Didn’t think so,” Krystin said when no one protested.
“What happened?” Kian asked as he reached my side. “Are you okay?”
I inched away from him. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I didn’t want or need his concern, not when it was obvious other people needed it more. And honestly, as into Kian as I was, being stuck inside Headquarters for the past three months hadn’t exactly done wonders for us. Even this huge building wasn’t enough space sometimes, not when you were around the same people day in and day out.
Krystin walked to the center of the now-large crowd in the lobby. “Anyone wounded from this fight or another, or anyone who was poisoned, needs to head to the Infirmary immediately. Quarantine if you’re infected.” She nudged the knocked-out Hunter’s shoulder with her shoe. “This guy needs to go with you.”
“I got it,” one of the Hunters said. “Everyone join hands.”
Within a matter of moments, they had all used teleportante to bring everyone upstairs.
Krystin stood with her hands on her hips, her eyes closed as her chest heaved a heavy breath. “It’s always something.”
“You’re not worried?” Kian asked with a scowl.
Krystin gave him a hard stare. “If I worried about everything that went wrong in the Fire Circle, I’d never breathe.” She glanced up in the direction of the others. “I’m going to see if I can help at all.”
I took a step toward the stairs. “We’ll go with you.”
“No,” Krystin said. “You’ve all had enough time dealing with this poison. Go practice some more, Ava. Take Kian and Will with you.”
Then she was gone, climbing the stairs to take the long way to the Infirmary.
I pulled both Will and Kian down the side corridor that led to the freelancer job board. At least here, we’d be out of the way. “What the hell was that?”
Kian’s face became a hard mask. “Talon’s enacting its plan.”
“How?” I asked. “We destroyed the entire stockpile beneath Midnight.”
He shrugged. “There’s probably one of equal size beneath Crimson’s ring in L.A. Not to mention any more they had laying around. I doubt Veynix was the sole producer of his mutated platypus venom.”
“You’re probably right.” I crossed my arms and glanced over the job board. Not a single mission had been posted in days. “Wish we could get out of here and look for information ourselves.”
Kian’s eyes lit up. “Why don’t we?”
“Uh, hello,” Will said, pointing to himself. “Mostly Infirmary-bound here.”
I wrapped an arm around my best friend’s shoulders. “Let’s be real, Will. You’re not ready for the limelight anyway.”
He scowled. “I would be if this poison had worn off already. Ben said I’d be training soon.”
“Until then,” Kian said, interrupting us. He inclined his head toward the front entrance to Headquarters. “With everything going on, I bet we could escape for a few hours. It’s been weeks since we’ve left Headquarters.”
Kian was right again. There was a very slim chance we’d be missed, especially if Krystin thought I was training. I bit my lip, considering the risk. They’d be pissed if they found out Kian and I had left the safety of Headquarters, but I could not stand being trapped in this ancient building for any longer. Regardless of what Talon might do to Kian and I if they found us—the reason we’d been confined here in the first place.
“Fine,” I said. “We’ll go for a few hours and check the normal demon haunts around Boston before coming back. Will, you’ll stay here, where you’re safe and taken care of.”
Will pouted.
A grin split Kian’s mischievous expression. “Thank you.”
Chapter 3
For once, the city seemed quiet. Not literally, because Boston would never be a place to hear a pin drop. But no matter where we went, Kian and I didn’t run into any demons. Not the taco bar around the corner from Headquarters, which demons liked to pretend we didn’t know they frequented. Nor any of the normal club hot spots on the other side of downtown.
It was… nice.
“This is weird,” Kian said as we walked the last block to Infinite, a club loved by Hunters.
I slung my arm through his and looked up at the sky. “Why can’t you just enjoy a demon-less night?”
He glanced down at me and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Because it’s never demon-less. They’re always somewhere.”
“Kian. This is the first time in months we’ve been allowed to leave Headquarters. Enjoy the freedom.”
He shook his head and focused his attention on the sidewalk ahead of us. Already, the heavy bass of the music playing at Infinite throbbed in my chest. “We weren’t allowed anything. We escaped.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t make a difference to me at this point. I was losing my mind in there. Krystin’s a great teacher, but even she admits she’d lose it if she were stuck at Headquarters like us.”
Sure, this new version of veritable house-arrest was for our own safety. But that didn’t mean I liked it any more than that apartment Will and I had lived in for six months. At least there we hadn’t been babysat every hour, day in and day out. Which, in hindsight, might have been the reason I’d gotten into that mess at Midnight in the first place.
“Let’s just have a drink and get some dancing in, then head back,” I said as we climbed the front steps of the club.
The bouncer outside, a mountain of a guy, held his hand out. “IDs please.”
I dug around inside my pocket for my wallet and handed my ID over. He checked it out and then stamped my hand. Kian did the same.
Infinite was a typical club, like all the others we’d hopped in and out of. Kian and I headed straight for the bar at the back, lit with neon lights that flashed in time with the music. A dance floor separated the bar from a stage where women danced in white tank tops and shorts beneath a black light.
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br /> “Rum and coke, please,” I said to the bartender. “Whiskey for him.”
Kian nodded a thank you before leaning back against the bar so he could watch the crowd. He was still wearing that mask of seriousness despite being three drinks in for the night and surrounded by normal humans and other Hunters.
I leaned in close to his ear. “This isn’t a demon bar. Relax.”
“I’ll relax when we know more about what happened today.” He frowned. “Maybe this wasn’t a great idea.”
The bartender returned with our drinks. I paid for them and then forced the small tumbler of whiskey into Kian’s hands. “Yes, it was. Now drink up because we’re going to dance.”
He looked at me for a long moment, his brown eyes searching mine for something. Then he threw back his drink and placed the glass back on the table. “Ready?”
I grinned and paraded away from the bar, drink in hand. Kian led me through the crowd, weaving around couples dancing and singles writhing away on their own. A few of the faces looked familiar, but I didn’t worry. No one would turn us in to Dacher for being here tonight. Not these Hunters like us, without magik. We tended to stick together.
Except I did have magik now.
Instead of letting the thought and all that came with it drag me down, I threw back a significant portion of my drink and spun around to dance against Kian. His warm arms wrapped around me and he dipped his mouth against my ear.
“You were right,” he said, his warm breath tickling my neck. “This was a good idea, Ava.”
A smile grew on my lips and I pressed myself against him, molding my body against his strong one. Everything about him felt safe and strong—right. “You’re the only one I trust to watch my back.”
“I’ll never leave.”
I’d learned that the hard way a few months ago, when he, Will, and I had almost gotten caught in the explosion at Midnight. But this admission felt different. Heavier.
Twisting so I now faced him, I looked up into his eyes. “Me either.”
We held that gaze, filled with so many unsaid words, for long moments before Kian lowered his lips nearly to mine. But just before they met, someone knocked into me. What was left of my drink sailed into the air and spilled down my arm.
Kian’s hawk eyes narrowed in on the poor guy. He threw his arm out to put space between me and him. “Watch it.”
The guy threw up his hands. “Sorry, man. Tripped.”
Kian’s entire body went rigid.
I placed a hand on his forearm with a little more pressure than necessary—just to remind him I could handle myself. “It’s okay. It was an accident.” One that had interrupted probably the best thing ever, but an accident all the same.
“Yeah,” the guy continued. “What your girl said.”
Idiot.
Kian moved himself between me and the guy. He had dark hair, but what color it or his eyes were, I couldn’t tell in this dim lighting. Even still, this guy wasn’t that large. Not lanky by any stretch, but it was almost as if he were definitely too young to be inside any bar, even one frequented by so many underage Hunters that sometimes they looked the other way when it came to fake IDs.
“You need to go,” Kian nearly growled.
“Okay,” I said, pushing against his arm. “That’s enough.”
“Whatever,” the guy said before walking away.
Kian watched him go, his eyes narrowing with every step the guy took.
I touched a hand to his arm. “What the hell was that?”
“An asshole getting—”
“Too close?” I touched my fingers to his chin and turned his head to me. The moment our eyes met, Kian’s expression softened. “He tripped, Mr. Overprotective. And even if there was more to it, I don’t need you to fight my battles for me. Remember that it wasn’t long ago that I beat you in the ring.”
A pained look flashed across his eyes, gone in the next breath. “You don’t need to remind me. Want another drink?”
“Sure.”
He was gone before I could say another word.
It wasn’t long after that second drink that we had decided we’d pressed our luck enough. Eventually, Ben or Krystin or someone would look for us at Headquarters. And when they couldn’t find either of us, Krystin would run some sort of locator magik and discover we were out at a bar.
Kian led the way out of Infinite. Though his glare and general brooding had worn off with the second drink, I could tell he was still pissed about what I’d said. But I didn’t care; it was the truth. Sure, we all got knocked down sometimes, but in the greater scheme of things, I didn’t need a bodyguard. I needed a partner. And if Kian couldn’t see that and settle his own issues with it, then it wasn’t my problem.
I shoved my hands into the pockets of my new leather jacket as we walked. It was a hell of a lot nicer than the black sweatshirt I’d lived out of for the six months Will and I had spent in New York. We were so late into the August summer now that the jacket wasn’t totally needed at night, but I relished the feeling of safety it gave me anyway. It reminded me of Kian when we’d first met, and to me, it kept my scars, mental and physical, hidden.
Kian froze.
I took another couple of steps before realizing it and turning to him. “What is it?”
His eyes were focused on something ahead of us. “Look.”
I glanced back at the road. At the end of the street, where it branched off into a three-way intersection, a guy followed another couple a little too closely. “Could just be a mugger.” Which we would absolutely move to intervene with, but considering what that person could be up to…
Kian reached behind him to the sheath at his back. “Not so sure about that. Look at their hands.”
I tried to peer closer despite the distance between us. Sure enough, a low, red-orange glow outlined the man’s fingers—ether magik. I withdrew my own Fire Circle knife from my right boot. “Well, then. Up for some fun?”
“Always,” he said before basically launching forward and charging straight for the demon. Kian’s quick feet carried him a number of yards before I’d even realized he was gone. So much for teamwork. He fully drew his blade before reaching the intersection.
“Hey!” I called after him as I began my own sprint.
My heart pounded in my chest as I closed the distance between Kian and me, then between us and the demon. By the time Kian had reached the demon, the stalker had cornered the couple in an alleyway.
“Stop!” Kian barked, his Fire Circle knife in hand. “Leave them alone.”
Without so much as turning around, the demon said, “Keep away, Hunters. You have no idea what you’re doing here.”
I scoffed. “Oh really?”
Kian grunted and pushed off the ground, preparing to fully tackle the demon. A move I’d now watched him do a hundred times. The demon whipped out his arm, sending a fiery ball of distinctly red-tinted orange ether directly at Kian. The ether attack connected with a slam, stopping Kian’s forward motion with immense force and sending him careening against the brick wall of a building.
I gasped. “Kian!”
The demon turned to me. “Don’t make a move. Any of you.”
My eyes widened as the street lamps finally cast a light on the man’s face. The young man’s face. The same guy from the club who’d run into me, spilling my drink. He had the burgundy eyes of a demon but the magik of an Ember witch. The ether swirled around his fingers with ease, although the red tint to the orange magik wasn’t typical.
This man had once been a witch and then turned into a demon.
“I have to admit,” the young man said, “I wasn’t intending to run into you at that club tonight.”
My eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
Kian let out a battle cry and charged him again. The demon flicked another shot of Ember ether that sent Kian right back into the wall, the fabric of his shirt smoking as though on fire.
The couple screamed and tried to make a run for i
t.
“Not so fast,” the demon called. A wall of orange ether sprouted up around them, blazing with energy and heat that filled the alleyway.
Holy shit. I’d never seen an Ember witch do that. To be fair, I hadn’t seen many Ember witches, period. But even the ether-shapers I knew couldn’t just make a wall like that without ether coming out of their hands first.
I closed my eyes and reached out all around me with my magik. The ground, dirt. Even the metal of the street lights. I felt it all. Feeling with my magik wasn’t the problem. It was using it actively once I locked on.
Kian’s knife. It’d been knocked out of his hand and now lay on the ground. My magik picked up on it, wrapping around the familiar feel of steel. Eyes now open, I imagined picking it up with a magik-made hand and throwing it at the demon like I would have if I’d actually held the knife.
“Leave them alone,” I said, holding the demon’s attention as the knife rose from the ground.
Kian’s eyes went wide. He watched as his blade danced in the air in front of him. But instead of amazement or pride, he scowled.
“Or what? You’ll kill me?” Warm wind swept through the alley, covering the demon’s eyes with long, dark hair. But nothing could hide the demon magik in his hands, a twisted form of Ember witch ether. Was he one of Veynix and Talon’s victims?
“Yes,” I said. The knife now hovered at head height. I lifted my fingers and flicked them toward the demon, giving the knife a trail to follow. It soared across the alley, right for the demon’s head.
But at the last moment, he reached up and surrounded the blade with Ember ether, an orange wave that froze the knife’s motion. The red-orange glow died down as the demon examined the knife closely.
“You know, I never thought you’d stay a Fire Circle Hunter,” the demon said as he lifted his burgundy gaze to me. “Not after you killed Veynix. I figured you’d quit after winning.”