by Jasmine Walt
Table of Contents
Glossary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
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About the Authors
Also by Debbie Cassidy
Also by Jasmine Walt
Hunted by Sin
Jasmine Walt
Debbie Cassidy
Dynamo Press
Copyright © 2017, Jasmine Walt & Debbie Cassidy All rights reserved. Published by Dynamo Press.
This novel is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and incidents described in this publication are used fictitiously, or are entirely fictional. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, except by an authorized retailer, or with written permission of the publisher. Inquiries may be addressed via email to [email protected]
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Contents
Glossary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Have you joined my reader group yet?
About the Authors
Also by Debbie Cassidy
Also by Jasmine Walt
Glossary
This short, spoiler-free glossary will give you a quick overview of the various Hindu mythology terms and deities that appear in this book.
Amrit – Ambrosia of the gods. Any who drink it will be granted immortality.
Apsara – Water nymphs who used to grace the god Indra’s court with their beautiful dancing
Garuda – A large, legendary bird created by the gods to hunt and kill naga. He is the only one of his kind.
Ghandava – Winged male nature spirits. Some have the body of a horse. Renowned for their musical ability, they also graced the court of the gods.
Indra – Vedic Deity, God of the first heaven. God of lightning, thunderstorms, rain, and river flows.
Kubera – A sect of supernaturals hell-bent on reopening the gates of the underworld
Naga – Snake shifters who were once hunted by Garuda for the crime of stealing amrit from the gods
Narada – Vedic Sage and messenger god
Narak - Hell
Shaitan - Demon
Varuna – God of the celestial ocean and the underwater world
Yaksha – Wolf people born from the union of Shaitan and man
Yama – Lord of the Underworld
1
Boots pounding the pavement, heart hammering against my ribcage, I barreled down the alleyway after the bloodsucker. Up ahead was a wall at least eight feet high and easy for me to scale since the change, but there was no way he was getting over it. I decelerated, hand going to my weapons belt where Vindra, my Indian Jambiya dagger, waited eagerly.
“Give it up!” I called out. “It’s over.”
He didn’t stop, didn’t even break stride. The crazy fucker was going to try to vault the barrier. Vamps were strong. Some were even charismatic, taking over the big screen and weaseling their way into politics. They most certainly didn’t go in for the high jump though, but maybe someone had forgotten to send this guy the memo. My target did the impossible—leaping into the air and vaulting effortlessly over the brick wall.
Crap! No way was he getting away. I sailed over the wall, landing lightly on the other side before continuing the chase.
We’d been tracking him for two weeks. He was the last entity to be seen with each of our missing persons, and we’d finally tracked him down to a dirty bar on the outskirts of Camden with the intention of having a little tête-à-tête, but he’d bolted. He was our only link, and his evasiveness screamed guilty.
I came to an intersection and stopped to scan the unlit houses that lined the streets around me—neat red brick affairs with clean-cut gardens and picket fences. Dammit, where did he go? Closing my eyes, I listened for the sound of his footfalls, but the world was as silent as a tomb. But then, what should I expect at three o’clock in the morning in the sleepy little district of Serenity? This was the south side of London, a predominantly human area, with Serenity itself rumored to be pure human territory. Not sure how true that was because pure humans were pretty rare, but whatever.
My earpiece crackled, and Drake’s voice filtered through. “Malina, any luck?”
I tapped the earpiece. “I lost him.”
“Crap!”
“Malina,” Ajitah’s voice cut through. “I have him headed down Bute Street.”
“That’s two streets away from you,” Drake said. “Head left, and take the first right. You can cut him off.”
He didn’t need to tell me twice. We were catching this bloodsucker if it was the last thing we did. I broke into a sprint, racing down the street, my feet barely touching the ground. The change had made me faster, stronger, but this vamp seemed to be something else.
“Bute is off Vine, next one down,” Drake said.
No point replying. He had Ajitah and me on Tracker. He knew I was mid-run. Garland Street flew by, and I angled my body, ready to barrel down Bute and grab a vamp. The flare of headlights cut through the night, followed closely by the screech of tires on asphalt. Shit! I skidded to a stop, heart crashing against my ribs as the vehicle swerved, kicking up dust as it came to a halt.
What the fuck?
“Malina, why’d you stop? What’s going on?” Drake said in my ear.
The lights died, and the door opened. A petite woman dressed in jeans and running shoes jumped out.
“Get back!” she yelled before turning and sprinting toward Bute Street.
Like hell. This was my case. I took off in pursuit, overtaking her in a matter of seconds. And there he was, slimy bastard—eyes glowing, face as pale as death, his spindly body almost a blur as he headed toward me.
I braced for impact.
“I se
e you,” Ajitah said on the Bluetooth device.
“Yeah, and I see the target.”
But then the vamp was leaping into the air like a fucking ninja. He sailed over my head, hit the ground behind the woman, and carried on running.
“Malina! Move,” Ajitah urged.
I turned and headed in the opposite direction. The woman I’d left eating my dust was now ahead of me, in pursuit of my target. With a burst of speed, I overtook her again. The vamp was blurring down Vine, and we were losing him. My heart sank. Shit. We couldn’t lose him—not again.
The screech of rubber on tarmac ripped through the relative silence as a black SUV came peeling around the corner up ahead, cutting off the vamp. He leapt into the air just as the doors slid open. A bolt of what looked like lightning burst from the vehicle, hitting the vamp square in the chest and bringing him down.
“Malina? Ajitah? What’s going on?” Drake said.
Neither of us answered, too intent on getting to the vehicle before it made off with our target. Two black-garbed figures jumped out, grabbed the limp vamp, and bundled him into the vehicle.
“Hey! Wait. Stop!” the woman called out from behind us.
We were barely two meters off when the vehicle peeled away, taking our vamp with it.
“What the heck just happened?” Drake asked.
He was parked on the outskirts of Serenity in our brand-new surveillance van. A sleek navy-blue machine fitted with the latest technology to help us track and bag hostile targets or retrieve innocents from the clutches of hostile targets—a small, sorry-one-of-our-gods-tried-to-kill-you gift from Brahma Corp. The comms and tech did make our jobs easier. In the last three months, we’d taken on, and solved, eight cases. Ten more marks down, and feeling great, until now.
“Guys? You there?” Drake prompted.
“Black SUV picked him up,” Ajitah replied.
The woman drew level with us and doubled over, hands on knees, as she caught her breath.
Human?
She straightened, her green eyes flashing. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Heat climbed up my neck. “Catching a bad vamp. What were you doing? Taking a stroll?”
Her lips tightened. “I was doing my bloody job.”
“Malina. Ajitah. There’s a vehicle headed toward you. No. Make that two vehicles.”
I glanced over her shoulder as two cars came around the bend. Crap, I recognized the insignia painted on the sides.
Ajitah placed a hand on my elbow, his expression solemn. He recognized the damn insignia too.
The Inter-Entity Pact Enforcement Unit, or IEPEU for short, was the specialist department created to bring supernatural lawbreakers to justice. Eamon had warned us to stay off their radar. Sticklers for protocol, they didn’t take kindly to anyone stepping on their toes.
The woman smoothed back her hair, crimson in the moonlight, and crossed her arms under her breasts. Doors slammed, and four operatives loped toward us. I glanced at the woman and then at the operatives, my chest suddenly hollow. Had I just mouthed off to an IEPEU operative?
They rushed to flank her, batons at the ready, eyes on us.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Cuff them,” she said.
Two operatives broke off and moved toward us.
I backed up. Okay, so I may have mouthed off, but last I checked, that wasn’t a crime. “On what charge?”
“Obstruction of justice.”
Was she fucking serious? The heat was back, my neck and ears on fire with indignation. “You have to be kidding me!”
“Malina. It’s okay.” Ajitah offered his wrists to be cuffed.
I pressed my lips together to hold back my protests, but the smug look on her heart-shaped face was too much. “No, it is not all right. We’ve done nothing wrong. In fact, if she hadn’t shown up and distracted me, we’d have him in custody.”
“Really?” Her tone was saccharine. “And how would you have subdued your vampire target?”
I held up my hands. “With my fists.” I fluttered my eyelashes. “What would you have done? Doubled over and gasped at him?”
Her lips curled in a superior smile. The woman reached into her jacket and withdrew a gun, but not just any gun—this was a Sunshot. She fluttered her lashes. “I would have shot him with my pretty sun gun.”
I stared at the Sunshot, capable of emitting a blast of concentrated solar radiation that was rumored to completely incapacitate a vamp for twenty-four hours. We had one in the armory at the guild, but I hadn’t had the pleasure of using it. They were damned expensive. Bet the IEPEU had a truckload of the little gems. They were funded by Brahma Corp, after all. I needed to ask Eamon to speak to Indra about getting us a couple.
She tucked the gun away, that smug smile still playing on her lips. The guard stepped toward me, cuffs at the ready, and I tensed.
“Malina . . .” There was warning in Ajitah’s tone.
Dammit. It wasn’t as if I could beat the crap out of a bunch of operatives in good conscience, no matter how tempting it was.
I held out my wrists.
2
The interrogation room smelled like moldy cheese. Melody—call me Operative Parker—had left me sitting there for over an hour. The offices of the IEPEU were situated on the south bank in a gray office building overlooking the river. Bet the view from the upper floors was awesome, not that I’d get to see it stuck in this bland, smelly room.
Ajitah was in the interview room next door. Our comms had been confiscated upon arrival. I was completely isolated—not to mention bored. If she just came and talked to me, we could get this squared away because there was no specific law prohibiting me from going after a target, no law prohibiting a citizen from helping people. And I was helping someone—a mother trying to find her missing daughter, who’d last been seen with our target, otherwise known as a vamp who could leap for Britain. Since that file showed up on our doorstep, four more cases of missing persons had cropped up, all last seen with our vamp, and all taken from neighboring districts in the Borough of Camden.
I could understand Parker was pissed the suspect had gotten away, but stepping on someone’s toes wasn’t a crime.
The door opened, and Operative Parker strode in, followed by a smirking bloke with a fake tan and thinning blond hair. Jacket off, sleeves rolled up, she was ready for business. Tendrils of red hair escaped from the knot at the nape of her neck, softening her delicate features, but the steely glint in her green peepers warned not to mess with her.
“You already know who I am. This is my colleague Officer Sloane,” Parker said. She was clutching a thin brown folder and placed it on the desk before taking a seat. Sloane took the chair next to her.
Time to kick this thing off. “I wasn’t obstructing your justice. I was simply doing my job.”
“Which is what, exactly?”
“Helping people. I’m investigating the disappearance of a young woman. The vamp was the last person to see her.”
“So, you’re a PI?”
Okay, I could see where she was going with this. I had no official documentation to justify working this case, so I plastered a polite smile on my face. “Not officially.”
The left side of her mouth curled up. “So, you have no real documentation that qualifies you to be working this case?”
I clenched my fists, resisting the urge to smack the smug smile off her face. “Last I checked, there was no law against helping out a fellow human.”
She quirked a brow. “Fellow human? I doubt very much you fall into that category. So, tell me, what are you?”
Sloane snorted in disgust. When he spoke, his tone was saturated with bitterness. “I told you, Parker, these freaks should be made to register and carry some kind of ID card.”
I knew his type—average human with the odd freak in his family but no discernible abilities of his own, tainted by association but unable to claim to be pure human or supernatural. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
It was a low blow, but the way he was looking at me, as if I were something stuck to the bottom of his shoe, stirred the cinders of rage in the pit of my stomach.
He tensed, his eyes narrowing to slits. “Parker, can we just move this along and book her?”
Parker ignored him, her attention locked on me. “You didn’t answer my question. What are you?”
I held her gaze. “A concerned citizen helping her fellow man.”
Parker blew out a breath and sat back. “Have it your way.” She placed an index finger on the brown folder and slid it across the table.
The first shiver of unease crept up my spine. “What is that?”
“Why don’t you take a look?”
I reached out, flipped open the folder, and read the single sheet of paper inside. Most of it was legal jargon, but the words that stood out were Official Vigilante Enforcement Act. The document was dated a week ago.
My stomach churned. “What is this?”
“Oh, just my viable reason for arresting you.” And there was the smug smile again. “This law covers people like you. People who believe themselves to be above the law, who think they can play operative without undergoing the hard graft and training that comes before the badge.” She sat back and clasped her hands on the desk. “The bill was passed silently last week.”
“The council passed this?”