My thoughts kept sailing to Ryker. I hadn’t decided if I would come clean about kissing Dante. I ought to stay quiet. Being with Dante had opened up emotions I’d locked up for too long and now they coursed through me out of control. Problem was, I had the same feelings for Ryker, and the two battled within me as if I were a boxing ring. Whichever way I turned, I’d be heartbroken. So, I pushed those thoughts away for later because right now I needed to focus.
I parked outside Clive’s two-story home with flowerbeds dotting the lawn. Was this where little Peter had played before he’d gotten kidnapped? I killed the motor and removed my helmet just as my phone chimed in my pocket.
Ryker. I answered, figuring I’d gauge first if he were still brainwashed. “Hey, babe.”
“Where are you?” His labored breathing sounded as if he’d been running. Was he in danger?
“What’s going on? Are you okay?” I paced across the overgrown lawn.
“Fine. But I’ve been calling you all day. You’re not home and I’m worried.” The darkening tone in his voice bugged me because his words might have made it seem like he cared, but it didn’t really sound like he did. He almost bordered on condescending.
“Visited a friend.” He didn’t need to know more, or how I’d gone to the Lower Corner straight after the mayor’s minions had attacked me. Right then, I was sure I spoke to a puppet.
“Where are you? I’ll come get you.” His words rushed.
“No, you won’t.” My gut churned.
“Fuck that, tell me where you are—now!” he boomed into my earpiece, and I shuddered.
To hear him raise his voice spiked my anger. I squeezed the phone in my hand, reminding myself this wasn’t him, it couldn’t be. My Ryker didn’t speak that way. The mayor was responsible… Fucking’ asswipe, I’d kill him if he hurt Ryker. Maybe I was making a mistake. I ought to meet Ryker somewhere, then find a way to protect him from the mayor.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Robyn.” He said my name in slow motion, almost singing in a creepy tune, and he clicked his tongue, sending shivers down my back. “You’ve been playing around on me, haven’t you?”
I rocked on the spot, air punched out of my lungs. “What?” Had he followed me, seen me with Dante? Unlikely, or I would have sensed being tracked in the woods. But I’d blurted out my relationship with Dante to the mayor, me still caring for him, opening myself up like an idiot under his persuasion spell. Had the mayor done the same to Ryker and discovered he was my boyfriend?
“Let’s talk,” Ryker continued.
But my throat parched, and I couldn’t chat… Not while he remained under a hex… Or was this him being pissed because he’d found out about Dante? Hell, I was allowing paranoia to claim me.
I hung up. Yeah, nothing like acting suspiciously. I ran a hand through my hair, my insides shredded. What was I doing? Ryker was in danger, and it made sense that the mayor had used him to lure me out of hiding. Still, I should go search for my boyfriend. Except how would I snap him out of the trance? The marbles helped me, but they’d do crap-all for him.
What I had to do was chop the snake’s head off, and the persuasion influence should dissipate. In theory… But that was all I had to go by.
The door to the house behind me creaked. “Robyn, you’re here.”
Dread consumed me, but I turned and planted a smile on my face. “Hi, Clive.”
He closed the distance while his wife stayed in the doorway, sniffling, holding their young daughter in her arms.
Clive didn’t even bother inviting me into the house, shoving a plastic sheriff’s star into my hand. “Sunny’s parents were just here half an hour ago and asked me to give you Sunny’s toy. He went missing two hours ago. Last seen in his bedroom in his striped pajamas, but the window was open when they checked on him later. The police are conducting neighborhood surveillance, but…” His voice strangled. “If you can use your ability, maybe it might reveal a clue before it’s too late.”
His eyes glistened. The family had gone through enough tragedy, so how could I say no, even if Clive didn’t know the person had to be dead for my psychometry to work? They’d pinned their hopes on saving another boy because it was too late for their Peter.
“Give me a moment.” I walked several paces away, facing the dark street, and clasped the toy star, asking for insight. After a few moments of sensing nothing, I concentrated, running a thumb over the smooth silver surface, drawing on its energy, on Sunny.
Still nothing, as if the object was barren of memories. And for the first time, a warmth of possibility filled me. I spun and darted to Clive, returning the sheriff star.
“Good news. I can’t see anything.”
He stared at me with narrowed eyes, his brow in a tangled mess.
“It means Sunny’s still alive.” I pulled back. Little J’s. Every other kid had been to the gymnasium, so that was where I’d go.
“Are you sure?” Clive said, his hand clutched to his chest.
“Yes. Tell the cops to check all the streets and lanes leading from the boy’s home to Little J’s. I’m going there.” Once on my bike, I nosed onto the road.
For those few moments, I couldn’t feel the ache in my shoulder. No time to waste. I had to reach Little J’s. Maybe, just maybe, this was the moment I’d discover the truth. The opportunity to save a kid and end the bastard responsible.
I swerved past traffic, ignoring the honking. Cars filled the roads tonight, people strolled the sidewalks, and music blared from bars, yet images of a young boy dragged to his death filled me. I cruised in between the vehicles… That was the best thing about having a bike.
Twenty minutes later, I careened into the industrial part of town. Past the warehouse Dante had burned down, shut stores, apartments towering over me like disfigured monsters. Lights flickered from the street lamps and a cold wind swirled through my hair. It was funny to think about how the city center less than half a mile away was alive and vibrant, yet here, I would have sworn I’d stepped into a dead, post-apocalyptic world.
Up ahead was Little J’s, shrouded in the night. An enormous tree crowed the other side of the building, rustling, waving in the breeze. The moon slipped in and out of focus in the background. I parked, tossed my helmet down, and ran to the front door. I banged and throttled the handle, but no one responded. With no hesitation, I darted around the enormous gymnasium, targeting the rear.
Night cloaked my vision, and only a distant streetlight offered illumination. Movement caught my attention from the parallel street running at the back of the building. All my thoughts crowded on the visions I’d seen, particularly Dash trying to help Peter in this location.
About thirty feet away, a dark figure stood in the middle of the crossroads: a four-foot-tall person wearing striped pajamas.
While my head screamed to run away, I wouldn’t. I’d come for Sunny. So I moved forward, dried grass crunching under my boots.
“Hello,” I called out. “Sunny?”
He didn’t flinch or move, but the world beneath me trembled. I stumbled as if the ground had belched. “Shit.” Was that a tremor? I’d never felt one before. But when I quickened my pace as I strode toward the child, a darkness blacker than the abyss circled Sunny’s legs. Just like in my vision.
Panic squeezed my lungs. “Sunny, get out of there. Run.”
But he didn’t. And at once, the shadow expanded from behind the boy, curling forward, morphing into a demonic shape before me.
I froze, unable to comprehend what I was seeing.
A male’s voice sounded. “You’re always in the wrong place, Robyn. Tsk tsk. Or maybe this is your fate.”
I jerked around to find the mayor standing at the opposite corner of Little J’s in his buttoned-up suit, his hands pressed into the pockets of his pants. I stood immobile, stunned, confused.
“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, but deep down, I knew this slime was responsible for all the missing children. Had Dash discovered wh
at was going on and the mayor had silenced him?
“Since you’re here, you might as well join the fun.”
“Son of a bitch. You’re stealing kids.” A surge of fiery rage swarmed through me. I’d done everything to help those in need, to protect families, and still, this goddamn ass preyed on kids to feed his own hunger for power. There was a special place in hell for a sadist like him.
The mayor lifted his arm and flicked his hand at the black figure hovering in front of Peter. “I’ve brought you another soul. Now, pay up. I want double.”
The miasma twitched and cinched into the form of a female with raven locks cascading over her shoulders, lengthening to her feet. Smudged makeup around yellow eyes ran down her cheeks. She stood there naked. A ring of gold coiled around her head, sitting inches below two small horns jutting upward from her temples.
My insides throbbed from the rapid beating of my heart… I swore it would explode out of my chest. Was that a ghost or demon? The Lower Corner elders had told me stories of calling on the vile to do your bidding. For a price, of course. Was that where the kids came in?
Her hoarse laughter left me coated in goosebumps, and a filthy sensation filled me with grotesque, deprived thoughts about butchering people. Turning the city into a slaughter house. Ghoulish bodies littering the streets, bones and arteries sticking out. Blood running down the gutters. The revolting images had me gagging.
What had the mayor summoned? Every hair on my body stood on end.
The beast thrust an arm out and inky tendrils threaded out from her fingers, twirling through the air like tentacles, sweeping into the mayor’s gaping mouth. Seconds later, he collapsed to his knees, laughing like a lunatic, loud and all for show with his palms across his stomach. “Yes! That’s what I want!”
Shit. I couldn’t believe my eyes—didn’t want to. The horror of such a creature existing held me locked in place. Yet, I’d returned from the dead with a supernatural ability, so why was the summoned demon so hard for me to swallow?
“What have you done?” I demanded of the mayor.
The demon studied me, and the corner of her thin lips lifted. Yet, her skin seemed to pale to a translucent gray.
With each second that passed, I wanted to bolt out of there, stop her gaze from penetrating through me. She kept staring. What was I supposed to do?
“Robyn, come here,” the mayor called out.
My legs moved of their own accord. I jammed my hand into my pocket, grasping the marbles in desperation. Their snap of energy crackled up my arm, and the fog crawling through my mind faded.
I recoiled. “Fuck you.”
His eyes narrowed. He turned to the thing standing between Sunny and me and growled, “Kill her.”
The ground quivered once more, and the demon levitated into the air. She flew straight for me with frightening grace.
Chills coated me and numbed my brain. My feet were full of lead and moving was an impossibility. Death was coming for me. Again. And this time, I wasn’t sure I’d survive.
Chapter 16
The night carried the promise of death. Sweat drenched me as the completely naked demonic female rushed toward me. Fear knocked all other thoughts aside. Just survival remained.
A force slammed into me, the impact sending me reeling. My legs tangled beneath me, and an involuntary cry spilled from my mouth. We fell to the ground, her weight crushing the breath from my lungs. I shoved my hands onto her shoulders, but she lay on top of me, our faces inches apart.
“Robyn, child.” She licked my cheek, and the need to vomit surged through my gut. “You disappoint me.”
“Get the hell off me!” I kicked her, squirming, and she rolled onto her side, grinning. I scrambled to my feet.
But the demon remained laying on her side, her bent arm holding up her head, her ebony hair sweeping across her groin. Since when did a hellish beast care about modesty, anyway?
I scanned the building and found no sign of the mayor. He’d left. Son of a bitch… If I got out of his, I was skinning him alive. My gaze flew to Sunny still in the middle of the crossroads, the black mist climbing his legs. While he said nothing, the moonlight hitting his eyes screamed terror.
“Keep fighting. I’m coming.” I charged toward Sunny, my arms reaching for him.
Something twirled around my ankles and jerked them out from under me.
I smacked the asphalt with my face. Stars smeared my vision, and I rubbed the blood from my nose. I rolled onto my back to see her standing there, twirling a strand of her locks around a finger. Her hair, wrapped around my legs, hauled me across the lawn.
I ripped at the lawn, fingers digging into soil for leverage.
“You will not win, Robyn. Just accept me into your life.” Her lips peeled back over pointy teeth in a strange half-smile, half-snarl, and her yellow eyes gleamed.
“Fuck you.” I leaned over and slashed the knife across her hair, the strands breaking, freeing me.
She shrieked as a fume of smoke rose from around her form, and she recoiled.
Adrenaline pumped through me. I scrambled up and darted for the boy. The moment I touched him, a bolt zapped my hand. I staggered backward and fell to my knees, convulsing.
The demonic bitch appeared next to me, staring down with her head tilted. “Such a sad puppy dog, aren’t you?”
Rage drove my pulse to get up, to finish this, to save Sunny. I stuffed my hand into my pocket, taking hold of the metal marble, inhaling its energy into me. My flesh sizzled and took on a silvery tinge.
I kicked out a leg, whacking the demon in the shin. She gasped as she lost her balance and stumbled over the curb.
Fear tore at me, but I couldn’t run away. I hurried to Sunny and took hold of his hand, squeezing tight, ready to do what it took to save him. The snap of energy fed into me. As a shadowy presence loomed over me, I turned and stuck out a palm, forcing all my power down my arms and out the tips of my fingers. Blue electricity crackled outward in a zigzag form, striking the demon in the chest. It engulfed all of her as if it were a prison, holding her.
Her screams filled the night. She crouched, burying her head into her knees.
“Die for all I care.” I returned to Sunny, with half his body submerged in the asphalt, and grabbed his arms. I pulled him up, but he wasn’t moving. And he was sucked in deeper, slipping out of my hold. Why wasn’t the ground melting under me too?
“Sunny, fight it.” Panic gripped me, and I kept grasping for him, towing him, but he wouldn’t budge. While he didn’t make a sound, his eyes pleaded. Tears filled them.
“Fuck no, no, no.”
The demon remained a ball, her hair covering every inch of her. She sat inside a dome made of electrifying bars. “Release him. Now!”
No response. For those few moments, I wasn’t sure what to do next. Running for help was useless. Sunny had sat already sunk two feet in the ground.
Think, Robyn. All the knowledge I had on hell came from elders and their myths, but I’d never paid attention to them, thinking they were tales to scare kids. But demons loved to negotiate.
“I’ll free you if you let the boy go,” I yelled.
Her head lifted, one eye peering out from behind a curtain of hair. “I-I w-want-t-t m-m-more.” Her stuttering grew worse. I stared at Sunny, lowering into the ground.
“What do you want?” I marched closer to the monster. “I’m offering not to kill you right now.” How exactly I’d accomplish that wasn’t clear, but the filth staring at me didn’t need to know.
A deep chuckle pierced the air, carrying with it an underlying growl. “Child, I’m already dead.”
“Okay, then…” Tears trailed down Sunny’s cheeks. I’d never be able to live with myself if he died. My thoughts filled with Dash’s death, and my brother’s. Friends I’d miss for eternity. If I had the chance to save them, I’d give my own life for theirs. And Sunny deserved that opportunity—as did his parents. I spun toward the demon, who was on her feet, shaking from the crackli
ng lines of energy imprisoning her.
“I’ll replace Sunny. Take me instead.” My words shook.
“No deal,” she snapped back.
“What?” I stepped closer. “Why the hell not?”
Black hair parted of its own accord off her face. The corner of the witch’s mouth peeled upward in a snarl. “I already own part of your soul, sweetie. Who do you think gifted you with the stones of Lilith?” She offered me a shark-like grin, sharp teeth bared wide as if planning to eat me. “You’re welcome.”
I retreated, touching the outline of the marbles in my jean’s pocket. “No, that’s not true.”
Her laughter lifted the hairs on my arms. Demons lied; they used trickery. My ability was a blessing, not a curse. “What do you want?” I demanded, rushing up to her, electricity snaking down my arm. I pushed my arm through barriers of the cage and grasped her neck. She continued her menacing laughter.
“Bring me two fresh souls and he goes free.”
“Not in this motherfucking lifetime!” I darted to Sunny’s side. “Please, Sunny. Listen to my voice. You can do this.” My muscles strained with no success, and with all the black smoke in my face, I couldn’t see the surrounding road.
“H-He’s mine,” the demon called out. “H-He offered himself.”
“Bullshit, he was coerced by the mayor. He never agreed of his own accord.”
“S-Semantics and loopholes.”
The boy slipped from my hand and dipped to his armpits. The wind dissipated the smoke and I found him sunken into a gooey black substance. Anger bubbled beneath my flesh. Everything hit me like a tank—losing my brother and Dash, the Hood members detesting me, Dante confusing my head and heart, the guilt of betraying Ryker. But I couldn’t ignore his aggression, him striking me. Fuck, he was under a spell, but my emotions were so at breaking point. My head boomed from the overload, and I shook with rage.
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