“I’m going to get her. I just thought you’d want to know,” Lucas huffed out as he headed for the door. I didn’t care how much he huffed and puffed; if Savannah was behind one of Conner’s wards, his self-righteous indignation and tenacity weren’t going to be enough. He was going to need magic, and a great deal of it. Gareth and I both knew that, so when he headed for the door, we didn’t make a move to stop him. Logic would do that.
Lucas’s glower darkened his mood to match his clothing. “Levy, if Conner has her, I will need your help,” he admitted quietly. Ordinarily I would have given him a hard time about his humility, but this wasn’t the moment. He seemed genuinely upset that Savannah was missing, and I sympathized. He couldn’t do anything about it without the assistance of others. This was something new for him and couldn’t be easy for him to admit.
Being followed by Gareth and an SG officer and passing two human police cruisers didn’t seem to slow Lucas down as he sped through the streets, barely adhering to any of the traffic signs and ignoring nearly all lights. The homes and buildings we passed were nothing more than blurs of color, stucco, and brick. When he finally stopped, I wasn’t surprised that our trail had led us into the woods where I’d first encountered Conner. I got out of the car, Gareth easing in close behind me as we navigated through trees, thick grass, and magic-coated air. Moving at vampiric speed, Lucas was several feet ahead. We had to run several times to keep in step with him, which was difficult as he moved in flashes without giving us any warning.
Lucas finally stopped in the middle of the forest, his eyes flickering around the area. He frowned, frantically searching. Magic thrummed in the air. I tightened my grip on the twins, looking around, too, trying to get a sense of where Conner might be and hoping to follow the origin of the magic. There wasn’t a pull, just strong magic lingering in the air from being used. I wondered if I’d be treated to another one of Conner’s taunting messages. Gareth noticeably sucked in air and frowned.
“Her scent is here,” he said, taking easy steps to survey the area.
Lucas paled. “Yes, she was here.” Lifting his arm seemed to be an effort as he pointed to a tree. It wasn’t the tree that was affecting him, but the drops of blood that stained the grass in front of it.
“Do you think it was her leaving us a clue?” one of the witches from the SG asked, easing up behind us.
I shook my head. “No, it’s Conner playing games with us.” I pointed to a spot to the right where I’d been left another note. Bright gold calligraphy painted the air. I WILL BREAK YOU AND THEN I WILL KILL YOU.
I blew out a breath but it wasn’t enough. My head pounded and my heart ached. I could deal with Conner and anything he threw in my direction, but I couldn’t deal with him making Savannah a pawn in his sadistic game. I tried to stand up taller but instead, my heavy sigh made me sink further down. If I didn’t pull myself together, I would eventually be balled up in the fetal position. I forced myself upright. I didn’t sense Conner’s magic near me, but if by some chance he was able to see me, I wouldn’t give him the pleasure of watching me crumble piece by piece.
Reining in my erratic emotions, I took several more breaths to make sure I could talk in a steady voice. “Can you track her to any other locations?” I queried, lowering my voice until it was mild and soothing enough to calm Lucas’s incipient rage. His anger was restrained, but I could see it unraveling by the moment.
“He should have been dead. Why isn’t he dead?” Lucas turned his anger to Gareth, who wasn’t exactly the picture of tranquility at the moment. The game of cat and mouse was frustrating.
“I mauled him, dug my claws into his chest, and did everything but rip out his heart.” Gareth took a step toward Lucas. “I doubt you could survive that. I was sure he wouldn’t have.” It was a great explanation if we ignored the subtle threat that lingered in the first part. I held the twins tighter as I strategically eased my way between them and prepared to give Lucas and Gareth a magical bitch slap if needed. I didn’t have the time or patience to play mediator when I had a psycho to deal with. I’d just let my magic do the talking and if necessary give a half-assed apology for my bad behavior later.
“He’s doing this to get back at me. Don’t lose focus. We need to find Savannah,” I urged, maintaining my position between them. It took longer than I wanted, but after several minutes they nodded and backed away to return to their cars.
Once again, drawn to another of Conner’s playgrounds, we were navigating through a crowd of trees, and I could sense the magic that entwined with the smell of oak. Lucas and Gareth inhaled, changed direction, and sped through the dense trees. Bile crept up my throat when we stopped at a tree with a bloodstained leaf pinned to its bark with a knife.
“What the fuck is wrong with him!” Lucas growled. Anger blazed in his eyes and he tensed. Gareth seemed to be holding it together but I didn’t have any doubts that the game was wearing on him as well. This was the third location. Three times Conner had sent us to a false location only to reward us with a taunting message spouting his plans to break me and then kill me. My control seemed to be the only thing keeping Lucas and Gareth from losing it, but even my resolve was faltering.
“You should have killed him when you had the chance,” Lucas said, pushing past us. Gareth, hands balled at his side, started toward him. I grabbed his arm before he could escalate the situation.
“He cares and he’s feeling helpless. It’s Lucas, can you imagine how that makes him feel?” I shrugged and worked at a smile but it was a poor effort. I was unable to commit to it and it quickly faded. Gareth placated me with a faint chuckle.
“This is so frustrating.” His hands ran over his hair, mussing it.
An equally disturbing sight met us when we arrived at the fourth location. The nightgown Savannah’d had on the night before was pooled at the bottom of a tree. I was having a harder time staying strong and being the voice of reason. I wanted to hurt Conner so badly that the thirst for revenge dried my mouth. I imagined the sadistic pleasure he was deriving from tormenting us.
He’s only using her to get at me; he won’t really hurt her.
I really hoped I was right.
Hands shoved deep into his suit pockets, Lucas dropped his head and closed his eyes. “I don’t feel anything anymore.”
Because he’s played his games for the day; he’s done for now.
“He’s using magic to block you from tracking her,” I informed him softly.
“What can we do to find her?” he asked.
“For now, nothing.”
CHAPTER 5
Nearly ten hours had passed, and Lucas’s look of anger and hopeless resignation stayed with me. We hadn’t wanted to give up the search but had nothing else to go on, and blindly canvassing the city would have left us too tired and frustrated. I’d sounded confident enough when I’d told them that Conner wasn’t finished playing with me, and that had offered Lucas some assurance. It was a little disturbing how well he understood the actions of a person driven by the thirst for revenge. Most of the ride back to my home, I’d speculated whether it had to do with his understanding of how Conner would use Savannah. That would confirm my belief that Lucas had guards because of a dark past.
When I entered the Supernatural Guild’s building later in the day, Lucas’s past and Savannah’s abduction dominated my attention, distracting me enough that I just shot my hand up to greet Beth the receptionist. Instead of taking the elevator, I used the stairs to expend more energy as I made my way up to Gareth’s office. Anger and the thirst for revenge made me feel like an idling race car. Jumpy and ready to take off at the release of a brake.
Gareth and Victor, the head of the Federal Supernatural Reinforcement, stood inside the office a couple of feet apart, and the air was thick with tension. My attention bounced between the two of them and I waited in silence as Victor eventually nodded and left.
“I’m sorry, the door was open,” I explained, entering.
Gareth shrugged
off my interruption. “The meeting was over. In fact, it shouldn’t have occurred,” he rumbled.
“Are you two not playing well together? And I thought I was the only one who had that problem.”
He grinned. “Well, that’s not true at all, you and I play together just fine.”
“Really? You can’t possibly be proud of that,” I retorted, giving him a disapproving look. Based on his slanted smile, he definitely was very pleased with himself.
“What’s the deal with Victor?” I redirected as he closed the distance between us. He leaned down and kissed me. Then his hands slipped around my waist, pulling me closer. They moved up my back, to the twins sheathed against it.
“I can’t believe they keep letting you up here with weapons,” he said, exasperated.
“Maybe they don’t see me as a threat. Or maybe they do and secretly want me to stab you with them.” He laughed but it was too loud and self-assured, as if the very idea of me doing it was ridiculous.
“You do know that if I wanted to, I could?”
“I’m sure you could, sweetheart,” he mused, giving me a light kiss on the tip of my nose. I glared at him, coaxing another devious smile from him. He was enjoying himself too much at my expense.
I was feeling a little stabby as he mocked me. He’d seen me fight too many times to think I couldn’t handle myself. I smiled. It made my cheeks hurt because it required so much effort.
“That smile is scary. You look like Harley Quinn.”
My mouth dropped open but I quickly snapped it shut. I was impressed with his knowledge. Most of the time if I mentioned anything about comics, he looked at me as if I’d switched to a different language.
Resting against his desk, he folded his arms across his chest, and his lips quirked into an overly confident smile. “I’m pretty hot to you right now, aren’t I?”
“Well, you were about five seconds ago. Once again it’s thwarted by your humility,” I snarked back and then returned to my question. “What is going on between you and Victor?”
“There was an attack at a soccer game yesterday. Three fae and a mage were hit. Victor is getting uncharacteristically nervous. Nervous people are impulsive, and that’s where he is right now. He wants to start bringing in a list of people who have no firm affiliation with Humans First or any of the anti-supernatural organizations. Their only link to those groups is something as nebulous as being Facebook friends. It’s not enough and if we start going that aggressively, the police and other agencies won’t help. They’ll consider us lawless and renegade. Their first instinct will be to protect the humans from us. We’ll need their assistance on this.”
I clenched my teeth so hard my jaw ached as I held back the words. Gareth always considered the political implication of things. It was his job to do so, but it made some of his decisions reactive instead of proactive. The attacks were getting out of control and eventually someone wasn’t going to get to the Isles in time and would die. Then what? The supernaturals had placed their trust in the SG and the FSR, because no one had died from the attacks. I was convinced that once they did, the gloves would come off, the supernaturals would seek their own justice, and innocent people would be hurt or worse in the process.
“Are you going to say what’s on your mind?” he asked wryly. I suspected he could sense that I’d sided with Victor. It was definitely not what I wanted my stance to be, but I wanted to be proactive.
Before I could address it, his office phone rang. He picked it up, and someone said a few things that sounded like angry rumblings from my position a few feet away.
“There’s been another attack, in Coven Row,” he growled, hanging up the phone. I wasn’t going to have the conversation about Victor with him: I could see the concession in his grimace as he rushed out of the room. I allowed myself to get lost in the crowd of agents streaming out the front door; I needed to remain out of Gareth’s sight because I didn’t want him to ask me not to go. There was no way I was going to stay away.
Coven Row wasn’t nearly as deserted as I’d expected it to be after the Solstice festival attack. Supernaturals still attended clubs but seemed reluctant to hang out in obvious places like Coven Row, which catered to humans who enjoyed buying spells, partaking of herba terrae—witch’s weed, something they had in common with supernaturals—and experiencing the magical escapes on offer.
Humans might continue to visit Coven Row, but they’d probably be met with the same CLOSED signs that were visible now. Whoever was responsible for the attacks might not have gotten rid of the supernaturals but they had instilled fear. It might not be their ultimate goal, but it was a result. There was a cure for the virus but it was in limited supply, especially since Savannah wasn’t easily accessible to assist.
I looked around and found an arrow that had missed its target. Standing over it, I examined its location and tried to figure out where the shot had originated. There were no buildings tall enough for the assailant to have remained unseen, which meant they’d had to be lower, maybe in a car—a drive-by like at Devour—or located in the parking garage. Either way, the various cameras would’ve caught them. Gareth was preoccupied with evaluating the area, speaking with store owners, and questioning witnesses. I went to the parking garage. The parking space closest to the stores, which would’ve given the best access, was vacant. It could have been coincidence but it was highly unlikely. This had to be the spot the shooter had used.
Conner’s familiar magic laced around me, yanked me back. The moment it released me, I spun, twins in hand, shoving them into the open space. His deep, goading laugh wisped out of the depths of the garage. Running, I followed the sound, but the area it had come from was empty.
He was there, I knew he was. “How long do you plan to play this game?” I yelled into the darkness.
“Until it no longer entertains me, and then I’ll kill you,” he drawled. Ice coated his words.
Sai still in hand, I searched the garage and found him tucked away at the far end, watching me. Something I was sure he’d been doing the entire time I searched for him. His lips lifted at one corner into a half-smirk as he moved closer. I stood in a vacant parking space, and he kept one car between us.
“Return Savannah. You don’t have a problem with her. It’s me you want to hurt—not her.”
“True. I don’t want to hurt her, but I will for no other reason than to get back at you. You left me for dead, after I saved you.” His voice dropped low, and his last words quivered. I wasn’t sure if it was from sorrow or anger or a combination of both.
“You were going to keep me there.”
“So? With me is where you belonged. This…” His gaze swept over the garage and then settled on the view outside of it. While he was distracted, I considered attacking him. As if he knew my intentions, his eyes snapped back to me. Frowning, he continued, “This…this isn’t a world for us. We deserve better, and you’re too foolish and complacent with it to even consider obtaining more. They’ve made you ashamed of who you are. We are the most powerful beings that exist—we should not be ashamed. We should be feared and revered.” The crisp coolness had returned to his voice and made its way to his eyes as if he blamed me personally for the absence of the nirvana he’d never experience.
“This paradise you speak of could’ve only been achieved by killing others. That’s why I stopped you. Don’t make me the villain in your delusional story.” I quickly relaxed my clenched jaw. Guilt rose and settled heavily on me. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if he took his anger with me out on Savannah.
“In a war there are always casualties,” he said softly and too casually for a discussion about murder.
“It’s a war of your creation. There doesn’t have to be one. If you do another Cleanse, a new chapter in history is added, and once again we are the antagonists. Our children will deal with the same things we have to now. They’ll be viewed the same way people view us—as monsters,” I pointed out. Reasoning with Conner didn’t work and I wasn’t s
ure why I continued doing it.
Remaining silent, he studied me. His eyes were deep, penetrating, and dark, and reading them was difficult. Gripping my sai, I prepared to react if necessary.
“If you had stayed longer, I do believe I would have convinced you.”
“Return Savannah’s memories and let her go home and I’ll go with you. We can talk then, see if we can come to a mutual agreement,” I offered. Spending more time with Conner, hearing his inane spiel about a paradise where Vertu and Legacy lived, with only a few allies living outside of our separate world, mingling with the humans and ensuring they wouldn’t rise again, was less appealing than gouging my eyes out with my sai, but to save Savannah, I would do it.
Feeling the weight of his penetrating gaze, I tensed. He shook his head. “No. Now you are lost beyond redemption. Your commitment to them can’t be broken.” He disappeared.
“Conner!” I kept calling his name. For several long minutes I waited for him to return, although I knew he wouldn’t. He hated me and wanted to make me suffer in a way he felt I deserved for my alleged betrayal. It was written all over his face and hard to deny.
CHAPTER 6
It took me hours to fall asleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about my interaction with Conner. Consequently, I wasn’t in a good mood when Kalen called me at five in the morning to tell me he needed to talk and was on his way to my apartment.
Less than five minutes after I hung up the phone, there was a knock at the door. I opened it, rubbing my eyes before widening them to try to wake up. Gareth was as alert as if he’d been awake for hours. I hated people who could just spring out of bed and leap into action, and that was exactly what he was. He’d pulled on his pants and was standing near the door by the time I had put on my clothes.
Blu and Kalen were more casually dressed than I ever thought I would see. She had on a simple tank top, yoga pants, and a hooded sweatshirt, and her hair was pulled back in a braid. Kalen wore what he considered casual wear, a pair of pants and a V-neck t-shirt that conformed to his thin, toned physique. They looked slightly disheveled—or their version of it—and I guessed that they’d pulled an all-nighter doing research. His eyes were alight with excitement, a feeling that Blu clearly didn’t share.
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