by R. E. Butler
The lights flickered twice and then went out completely, causing the music to die and leaving the club in eerie silence. A bright flash of light was followed by a loud explosion near the stairs to the family room. She screamed as she rushed forward, worry for Mishka overriding all else. She couldn’t see anything in the darkness, but she knew where Mishka was because of their bond. The crowd reacted with panicked screams. Another bright flash of light was followed by another explosion near the stage. She was blinded for a moment, dropping to her knees and rubbing at her eyes. Her ears rang, and she shook her head. The electric generators kicked on, and she saw her bandmates surrounding her. She could see they were talking, but she couldn’t hear them clearly.
She looked for Mishka and saw him, Vex, and Rage battling with several people dressed entirely in black as the family rushed from the upstairs room. She ignored the ringing in her ears and spots in her vision.
“We have to help!” she shouted.
When she tried to run, something grabbed her ankles, and she stumbled toward the stage floor. She twisted to her back as she fell, and her head smacked hard against the floor. Her vision blurred for a brief moment, but she saw people dressed entirely in black battling with her friends. A man jerked her ankles and pulled her swiftly toward him. She kicked out and nailed him in the cheek, but before she could get away, someone else pulled a fabric bag over her head. A strange scent filled her nose, and her head swam. She knew then that the fabric had been saturated in something meant to knock her out. Her limbs felt heavy, and her tongue felt swollen in her mouth. She tried to fight off the drug, but she slipped away into nothingness, with her last thought on Mishka.
Chapter 11
Mishka didn’t want to leave Harmony at the side of the stage, but her bandmates were nearby, and he was simply going to check in with the family and then he’d return to her. As he ascended the stairs, he thought about her powers, and he was curious to learn all he could. He’d felt her power for himself, seen her hair go from almost completely brown to streaked with bright blue as she sang to him, but he wanted to be a spectator and see what it looked like when she sang for others. He was impressed with her power, especially since he hadn’t known or believed that muses were real.
He skirted the crowded dance floor and headed for the guarded staircase that led to the glass-enclosed family room. Because it was the first night that Harmony was singing with the band as the official house band, all the family had gathered to watch in the private room. Nodding at the guards at the bottom of the stairs, he climbed the steps and glanced toward the stage. Harmony was watching him, and he felt her through their connection.
He paused, halfway up the stairs, tempted to skip his usual check-in with the family and return to her side, when the lights in the club flickered. Because of the strobe lights and lasers, the dancing crowd didn’t seem to notice, but he knew it wasn’t right. Gripping the handrail, he shouted to the guards just as the electricity went out entirely, and then an explosion and a bright flash of light sent the crowd into a panic.
There was a second explosion near the stage. The backup generator kicked on as a group of armed males dressed in all black rushed the stairs. Mishka, Vex, and Rage grappled with the males, easily overpowering them. More flooded the stairs, blocking Mishka’s descent. Harmony screamed, and men attacked her friends. He roared in fury, grabbing the handrail and leaping to the floor. Something heavy dropped behind him, and he glanced back for a brief moment to see Brone had jumped from the stairs. With his oldest friend at his back, Mishka rushed to the stage, hugging the wall to avoid the panicked crowd. Before he could reach the stage, he saw Harmony carried off, while her bandmates were left unconscious on the stage.
Leaping to the stage, he rushed to the steps that led to a storage area. The exit door stood open, and the sound of peeling tires could be heard in the alley behind the club. Mishka raced through the door and looked both ways down the alley. It was empty.
He turned to look at the security door. “How did they get the door open without triggering the alarm?”
Brone closed the door and saw that the locking mechanism had been melted along with the wires to the security system. “I don’t know. Something powerful did this, quickly enough that the system didn’t register that there was anything wrong with the door.”
“I know who did this,” Mishka said, growling. “I will have the church leader’s head on a spike!”
* * *
Harmony’s head ached, and she groaned. It took only a moment for her to remember that she’d been abducted. She was fairly sure it was the vampire-hating church that had set off distracting explosions in the club and taken her.
The hood was pulled from her head, and she squinted in the bright, overhead lighting. Lifting her hands to shield her eyes, she found her wrists encased in handcuffs.
“Don’t try anything funny,” a man said.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” she said, her throat dry and an awful taste in her mouth. The room was windowless, and the walls and floor were painted silver. The man who had spoken to her was the only other occupant, and he stood in front of the only door. He wore all black, and his hand rested on the butt of a gun in a holster at his hip.
Easing into a seated position, she groaned again and rolled her neck. Fear flashed through her, but she knew that panicking would do her no good.
“Why are you okay?” he asked, his head tilting in confusion.
“Excuse me? I’m not remotely okay. You and your friends kidnapped me.”
“The silver…” his voice lowered, and he shook his head. “Is this a trick? You’re the head bloodsucker’s girl. You should be screaming.”
“What the ever-loving hell are you talking about?”
He said nothing as he wrenched open the door and shouted, “There’s a problem,” before walking out and then slamming and locking the door, leaving her alone.
She twisted her wrists and inspected the handcuffs. Giving them an experimental tug, she decided that if she tried to pull her hands out of them, she’d just waste her time and energy. Her legs weren’t tied up, so they hadn’t considered her a threat. Pressing her fingertips to the floor, she realized it wasn’t silver-colored paint but actual melted silver.
Silver didn’t bother vampires. It was one of those myths that hung around no matter how many times in the past vampires had said it wasn’t true. The fanatics had coated the room in melted silver and then left her in there, believing it would burn her.
They were pure evil.
Footsteps echoed outside of the door. She rolled to her knees and rose to her feet, moving as far away from the door as possible. It creaked as it opened, and three men and one woman, all wearing angry expressions, stomped into the room.
All but the woman rushed Harmony, shoving her against the wall and making her head crack against it with the force. She fought the wave of dizziness as the men inspected her.
“Maybe the clothes are protecting her?” the woman asked.
“Strip her,” one of the men said, his voice booming.
“I’m not a vampire!” Harmony yelled, kicking the men who reached for her clothing.
“She’s lying,” the woman said. “The head bloodsucker wouldn’t screw a human.”
Twisting her body, Harmony wrenched herself free from their grasps. “Why did you take me? I didn’t do anything to any of you.”
The men took a menacing step toward her, but the woman put up her hand so they stopped. “You’re living with the bloodsuckers. That makes you one of them or a groupie. We saw you with him. He’ll come for you.”
Harmony didn’t bother lying. She had a feeling they knew a lot about her and Mishka, but she was baffled by them thinking she was a vampire.
“I’m not a vampire. This room won’t hurt me.”
“Maybe not, but it will hurt him,” the woman said. “He’s lived for far too long. We will not stand idly by while he encourages the bloodsuckers to kill our people in the name of food.
Dead people should stay dead.”
“You’re masquerading as a religion, but you’re off your rocker. Vampires don’t hurt people, but you knocked me out and abducted me. You’ve attacked the people at the club numerous times, all in the name of humanity. Move the hell out of Cleveland if you don’t like vampires, but don’t push your beliefs on everyone else.”
“We have our reasons,” one of the men said.
“Well, so do I.”
“You’re a whore,” another man said.
Rolling her eyes, Harmony said, “Yeah, sure, whatever. Mishka’s sexy as hell and rocks my world. You should be so lucky.”
“I’d rather die,” the woman said with a sneer.
“Promise?” Harmony asked sweetly.
Her instincts told her that these fanatics were not going to let her leave the room alive. If Mishka could find her, then he, and anyone with him, could be killed too. She wasn’t about to let anyone harm a hair on her beloved’s head. They could do what they wanted to her, but he was off limits.
Ordering her power not to go off the deep end, she reached for the darkness within her and opened her mouth. As the words fell from her lips, she sent her power toward the four people. She immediately grasped their emotions and searched for the negative ones.
“What’s going on?” the woman demanded. “Shut her up.”
“I feel…weird,” one of the men said, rubbing his chest.
The woman pressed her hands over her ears. “Make her stop!”
Harmony sang louder and faster, throwing her power toward the people as she closed the distance between them. She found fear within all of them, and she magnified it. Their heartbeats quickened, and their chests heaved as they panted. Sweat broke out on their foreheads. They struggled as if they wanted to move, but they were frozen in place by the sheer terror that raced through them.
Louder. Faster. Stronger.
The power built within her, stronger than she’d ever felt it. One of the men collapsed to the floor, clutching his chest. Part of her knew she could stop. They were terrified and would pass out soon. But the power pushed her, made her want to ensure that no one ever tried to come between her and Mishka again. He was her beloved, her everything, and she would do whatever it took to ensure his safety.
Power pulsed inside her, writhing and twisting as she amplified their fears even more. She felt their hearts race, pounding impossibly fast, and then there was silence. With faces frozen in pain and fear, bodies tense, and blood seeping from the corners of their mouths, they crumpled to the floor, their hearts no longer beating.
Cracking her neck, she sent her power searching for more people. As long as the church had members, they would still come after Harmony’s coven. She couldn’t allow it. Wouldn’t allow it.
“Mine,” she whispered, stepping over the dead to hunt. Her nature wanted more. Wanted to glut on the fear, to take people to the absolute limit of their terror and then kill them.
“Mine.”
* * *
Mishka stared at his cell screen as Brone drove the SUV with his foot pressed to the floor and the engine roaring. Temple had been able to hack into the street cameras and follow the van that took Harmony.
“Turn right at the next street,” Mishka said. Behind him sat Harmony’s friends, who’d regained consciousness quickly. Rage and Vex sat in the third row, glowering. Harmony’s guards followed in another vehicle, along with family members Traz and Ven.
“I don’t mean to be an asshole, but how the hell did they get away with Harmony? Why is there so much security at the front of the building and in the basement, but not at the fucking back door?” Wyst demanded.
“It was a solid, metal security door, with multiple deadbolts and electronic monitoring,” Rage said. “They used something that bypassed our security.”
Mishka growled. “He’s not wrong. There are no other security measures other than the back door. Literally, they walked in from the alley, through the storage area, and onto the stage.”
“We will fix the problem so this never occurs again,” Vex said.
The SUV made a hard right turn. They were on the outskirts of Cleveland. He knew the church was too smart to take Harmony to their headquarters. He was just thankful they’d been able to get moving as quickly as they had. She’d been taken an hour earlier, which felt like an eternity.
“It looks like they’re in the building all the way at the end of this fenced area,” Mishka said, not taking his eyes off the GPS screen.
“I see the van,” Brone said, a snarl rumbling in his chest.
He pulled the SUV to a stop next to another building, in the area that was known as the warehouse district. At one time, the businesses had thrived, but the warehouses stood empty now.
Mishka dropped his phone into the cup holder and rushed from the SUV. Behind him, Brone, Vex, and Rage gathered their weapons and followed closely. Wyst, Tamar, and Bridge were behind them, ready to fight, with the rest bringing up the rear.
“I’ll find us a way in,” Wyst said, stopping and removing his shirt, planning to shift into his falcon form in order to gain access to the building.
There was an unholy scream from inside the building. The sound made Mishka’s skin crawl. One of the doors burst open, and a male with blood dripping from his eyes and ears stumbled toward them.
“Help! She’s going to kill me!” he wailed, falling to his knees.
A bright blue glow lit up the doorway, and Harmony strode out. Her hair was entirely blue, and she was glowing. Blue electricity crackled over her fingers. She was singing, but it wasn’t in a language he recognized.
Her hands clenched, and the man made a choked, gasping sound as he writhed on the ground. Mishka heard the man’s heart stop, and then he lay on the ground lifeless.
“Shit,” Tamar whispered. “She tapped into the dark side of her power.”
Mishka took a step forward. Harmony stared at him, but it didn’t appear that she recognized him. “My heart? I’m so proud of you for saving yourself when I failed. Release your power and come to me so I can take care of you.”
Her head tilted, and the electricity flashed brightly across her fingertips.
“Everybody down!” Wyst shouted.
Everyone around Mishka dropped to the ground, but he stayed standing. Harmony was in trouble, and he’d help her.
Mishka felt her power touch him. He gasped at how strong she was now. The power tried to latch onto him, but Mishka pushed it out. He was older and stronger than her. Walking slowly toward her, he ignored the waves of her power that pushed at him and closed the distance between them.
Her voice rose higher, and he winced, feeling her push at him, trying to get into his emotions. Her power was far greater than he expected, and he wasn’t sure how long he could hold her off. He didn’t spare a glance behind him, but he could hear the coven and band members groaning as they struggled to fend her off.
“Forgive me, my heart,” he whispered, drawing on every ounce of strength he possessed.
Moving as fast as possible, he rushed her, grabbing her by the throat and slamming her into the side of the building. Her voice stuttered, and he applied more pressure to cut off her air supply. She raked her nails down his arms, hitting and kicking as he prevented her from inhaling another breath.
Her eyes flickered, the brightness of them dimming slightly.
She blinked slowly and stopped struggling. The glow around her body faded swiftly, and she slumped in his hold. Releasing his grip on her throat, he settled his fingertips against her pulse and felt the steady beat. A moment later she was breathing, her chest rising and falling, even though she remained unconscious.
Lifting her into his arms, he cradled her close and turned to face his comrades. They rose to their feet looking haggard, as if they’d gone ten rounds in a boxing ring.
“Is everyone all right?”
Traz nodded. “That was…intense.”
“That’s what she was always afraid of,” Brid
ge said. “That she’d get caught up in the power and be unable to stop.”
“That was some scary shit. I was aware that there was nothing to be afraid of, but I was petrified,” Tamar said.
“We’ll secure the building. You can take her to the club,” Rage said.
“I’ll stay with her in the SUV, but I’m not leaving.”
Rage nodded. “As you wish.”
Brone said, “I’ll stand guard at the SUV.”
Mishka followed him to the SUV. Brone held open the door to the second row seat and Mishka climbed in, careful not to bump Harmony. The door shut softly, and Brone faced away from them, watching for danger.
Brushing his fingers down her face, he whispered, “I promised I wouldn’t let you get caught up in your power.”
* * *
Harmony woke slowly, her limbs heavy and her head pounding. Her fingertips tingled, and her skin itched. Groaning, she opened her eyes and blinked to clear her blurry vision.
Mishka was looking down at her, smiling, and wearing a hopeful expression.
“Oh!” She ignored the aches in her joints and grabbed him around the neck, hugging him tightly. “You saved me!”
He held her close, gently but firmly. “No, my heart. You saved yourself.”
She froze, the events of the night replaying through her mind like a movie. She gasped as she leaned back with tears stinging her eyes. “I almost killed you. I almost killed everyone.”
“But you didn’t,” he said, cupping her chin and forcing her to look him in the eyes. “You set yourself free, and that is the most important thing. Everything else is just details.”
“Deadly details.”
“I’m here, you’re here, and no one of importance is injured.”
“The power. The darkness engulfed me. Once I touched the dark side of the power, I couldn’t get out from under it.” Tears slid down her cheeks, and he brushed them away tenderly.