Devil's Blood

by Amity Cross

  “Marco!” Her voice echoed through the woods, light and playful.

  I groaned inwardly, leaning back against the tree. She was forever trying to crack jokes at my expense. How was she going to learn if she didn’t try?

  There was a rustling to my left and I leaned forward, peering through the wood. Catching a flash of black, I pulled back and began rounding the tree, my back flat against the trunk.

  Rounding the other side, I caught sight of her ahead. She’d passed my position and had come to a complete stop, her head moving left then right as she listened. She stood tall, her body tightly coiled and ready to move if she had to. Silent and deadly.

  Pushing off the tree, I approached from behind, my boots light as air on the packed earth. She had a lot left to learn if she hoped to equal me. She was already good, but she had to be better.

  I stood behind her and breathed in her scent of musk and spice, my breath fluttering her hair. Winding my arm around her neck, I felt her body tense against mine as I pulled her backward. She hadn’t heard or felt my approach…or maybe she had, and this was her game all along. Lure me into a trap so she could strike. I flexed my crotch against her ass, my erection hardening inside my jeans. A sexy web of death.

  “Polo,” I whispered.

  Slinking through the empty streets, I gave the warehouse a wide berth. My boots thudded lightly against the cobblestones as I walked, my breath vaporizing on the icy air. Frost has settled on almost every surface, millions of tiny ice crystals shining in the orange hue of the streetlights above me.

  In hindsight, I wished I’d spent more time savoring those moments alone with Mercy at the cottage. I wish I’d done more to ease her mind about my, perhaps misguided, wish to forget about my unknown past. After this was over, I’d no doubt have more time to process the things I’d done to my own family and grieve properly for what I’d lost, but there was still more of this story to go.

  For one, Greggor would get what was coming to him. For taking me, stealing everything that made me human, and for compelling me to be his means of revenge. Sick, twisted bastard.

  Then there was The Watchman. At the thought of what he was most likely doing to Mercy at this very moment, the monster inside of me reared his head and yearned for blood. I would enjoy killing Greggor, but I would enjoy The Watchman’s pain even more.

  Approaching the side of the warehouse where Hawkes directed me, I found the side entrance. I hovered in the shadows, dragging my eyes across the darkened facade of the building. At the south corner, I made a CCTV camera, a little red light giving away its position. I couldn’t make any at the west, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one there. There was no other way to get to the door other than going out into the open.

  The only thing that would get me through this unseen was luck, so I closed my eyes and said a prayer.

  Casting one last gaze across the scene, I made a run for it. My boots were light against the asphalt of the yard, the orange light way too exposing for my liking. Ten seconds, I was half way across. Fifteen seconds, I launched myself at the space beside the door. Pulling my gun at the last moment, I laid my back flat against the wall, waiting for the assault to begin, but there was nothing. Drawing in a deep breath, I continued on, hoping my luck would hold.

  Pushing in the door, I was greeted with a murky darkness. Ahead, I could just make out the end of the hallway where another door stood. Stepping inside, I tracked the gun in front of me, the silencer weighing down the end slightly.

  A click split the silence, and light flooded the hallway from directly ahead as a form stepped into the space with me. The door shut with a thud, and that’s when our eyes met. It was a guard, his broad shoulders tensing the exact moment he realized he wasn’t alone. His mouth opened as he raised his gun, and I fired. A split second later, his head snapped back, and he crashed against the wall before crumpling to the ground.

  Silent and deadly.

  The hunt had begun.

  Twenty-Seven

  Mercy

  I huddled in the corner of my prison, my knees drawn tightly against my chest.

  Lorelei… Vaughn…

  I was a pawn in a game I had no business being a part of. Fuck, I didn’t even understand it. The more I thought about X, the more I knew this had to do with who he was before. It began and ended with him. Who was Xavier Blood? That’s what it all came down to.

  The more time passed in this hellhole, the more I came to believe I would never know.

  The door creaked open, and I raised my head as light flooded my hovel, and a body was thrown inside. Vaughn landed face forward on the concrete as a slam signaled that we were now locked in here together.

  At first, he didn’t move. A murky light ebbed over us, and I wasn’t sure if I should, or even could, go over there and check for a pulse.

  It took a moment for him to push up onto his elbows and drag himself forward. When he found the edge of our prison, he pushed himself to a seated position. He moaned softly, leaning against the wall. It was probably another lesson in emotions, putting him in here with me. His life was tied to my compliance, after all.

  “What are you doing here?” I whispered, glancing at the door.

  He started, his gaze finding mine as he finally realized he wasn’t alone. “I was caught,” he spat, obviously sore about it.

  “Where’s X?”

  “How the fuck should I know?” He scowled, holding his side. “Last I saw, we were trying to get you back. We were double-crossed.”

  Double-crossed? “But—”

  “Don’t rely on X. They set a trap for us, and if they got me, there’s a chance they got him.”

  My mind went back to the last vision of X that I remembered clearly. Is this going to be the last time? Perhaps. It’s hard to say.

  “Then we have to work together,” I whispered, trying not to let the grief of the unknown wash over me.

  “What’s the point?”

  “Vaughn…” I began.

  “You saw her,” he hissed, his eyes ablaze. “All this time…” He closed his eyes, breathing hard.

  “I didn’t know X before,” I tried to reason with him. “But him and I… I was able to get through to him. He was going to kill me, Vaughn.”

  His gaze rose and found mine, confusion etched into his features. “What do you mean?”

  “I was his mark,” I said. “Surely you knew?”

  He shook his head. “Maybe. It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does,” I hissed. “He was compelled to kill me, but his feelings stopped him. They conditioned Lorelei the same way they conditioned X. You can get through to her. Your love can.”

  “Shut up.” He shoved his hands into his hair, bringing his knees up to his chest.

  “Don’t give up on her. She’s been through horrible things, but forgetting is no way to deal—”

  The door flew open, and I shrank back against the wall, instantly falling silent. My eyes widened as Lorelei herself walked into our prison, her face schooled into complete calmness.

  “Shut the fuck up,” she snapped.

  I glanced at Vaughn, who was staring up at her, his expression full of so many emotions it was hard to take stock of them all. He wasn’t talking, so I had to start. If I could get her to crack even the tiniest bit, Vaughn would see that I spoke the truth. The Watchman’s conditioning wasn’t infallible.

  Lorelei might be our only chance to get out of here, so I had to try. If I fucked up, we’d both die, but maybe that fate was better than ending up lost inside my own mind, brainwashed with no way out.

  “Lorelei,” I pleaded. Her gaze snapped to mine. “I was able to bring X back with love. You loved Vaughn once, so he could help you.”

  She glanced at Vaughn then back at me, something unknown flashing through her eyes. Doubt perhaps?

  “You have a death wish,” she drawled. “I’m more than happy to help deliver you, little girl.”

  “He loves you,” I declared. “For better or worse, h
e loves you, Lorelei. You.”

  She blinked hard and took a step toward me, but something had changed. She fisted her hands into the front of my tattered T-shirt and hauled me up, shoving me hard against the wall. I hissed as pain bloomed through my body, and I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out.

  “Shut the fuck up,” Lorelei snarled. “If it wasn’t for Greggor wanting to condition you, I’d choke the life out of you right now.”

  “You don’t remember, but you felt something, didn’t you?” I rasped, determined to play out my death wish to the bitter end. “I know you did. I can see it in your eyes. It was the same as X.”

  “Bitch.” She raised her hand to slap me.

  “Lorelei.”

  She stilled as Vaughn’s hand came down on her shoulder, and her expression dropped.

  “Let her go,” he murmured.

  Lorelei’s grasp began to slacken, and I heaved a sigh of relief. There was a crack. A tiny fissure in her composure and Vaughn believed. He fucking believed.

  “I don’t—” She swallowed hard, stepping away from us.

  “Understand?” I asked.

  Vaughn shot me a glance, and within it, he told me everything. Our fate was now in his hands. If he could get through to Lorelei.

  “Lorelei,” he sighed. The reverence with which he spoke her name with sent shivers down my spine. I didn’t think he had it in him. He was always this cocky bastard, fishing for a bite from his quarry…not this tortured man in front of me. He was baring everything to her.

  “You were this shy, quiet thing,” he murmured. “You were an art dealer. You worked in a gallery in East London…”

  Lorelei cocked her head to the side. She was listening but still shrinking away.

  “We met on the street, and everything between us was instant,” Vaughn continued. “From the first touch, I loved you.”

  I shrank back against the wall, watching their exchange, feeling like an interloper in something that should be private. I was glimpsing Vaughn’s soul and it wasn’t this twisted thing I’d imagined. He’d been forced into becoming The Hangman. He was made this way…it didn’t mean that it was who he was at his core. He had more in common with X than I ever realized.

  “Stop,” Lorelei whispered, her hands rising to rub her temples. It was working.

  Vaughn raised his hand and brushed his fingertips against her cheek. The touch sent her reeling back against the wall like a frightened rabbit.

  “You have all the power,” he whispered. “We can leave this place and find what was lost between us, or you can continue on in denial.”

  Lorelei sucked in a sharp breath, her gaze flickering to mine as she decided which way the chips were going to fall.

  “I never stopped loving you,” Vaughn said, his voice breaking. “And I never will.”

  Her eyes closed as his words filled the room, a tear slipping down her cheek. For the longest moment, we held our breath as her mind teetered on the edge. There was no way of telling which way it would fall.

  Lorelei sighed loudly and stood tall before she stepped forward. “We don’t have much time.”

  Not wanting to question it, I pushed off the wall and moved forward. Lorelei held her hand up to halt us and stole a glance out of the door into the world beyond my prison. A moment later, she gestured that it was clear.

  Vaughn limped forward, his arm around his middle, his features tight with pain. To my surprise, Lorelei moved beside him and wrapped her arm around his waist, forcing his own arm over her shoulder.

  “We need to go quick,” she whispered. “I have a way out, but there are others here.” She nodded down the hall. “Follow me.”

  I paused, feeling that there was something unfinished in the air. As with Sykes, I knew I had to do something about The Watchman and his puppeteer, Greggor, and not only for my sake. For X.

  Vaughn turned slightly when I didn’t move. “Mercy, come with us.”

  I glanced the opposite way, the feeling beginning to overcome me until it was almost unbearable.

  “I can’t,” I said, shaking my head. “There’s something I need to do first.”

  “You’re going after him?” Lorelei asked. “I can’t help you, Mercy…”

  I frowned, not understanding. I knew she had Vaughn to worry about, but he still had enough in him to fight if he needed to.

  “They’ve conditioned more into me than forgetting my past,” she said. “I cannot fight The Watchman.”

  Memories began to flood my mind, pieces of conversations I’d had with X, his dreams, the things that he’d forgotten… They had a way to make him forget, and they’d encoded the same switch inside Lorelei’s mind…except in this case she understood it.

  I nodded. “Go. Be safe. Find each other again.”

  Lorelei smiled and Vaughn raised his head, his black eye looking blacker out here in the light.

  “May we meet again, Mercy Reid.”

  Smiling in return, I pulled my gaze away and walked down the hall in search of mine and X’s redemption.

  I was about to get motherfucking emotional.

  Twenty-Eight

  X

  I made my way through the murky warehouse, a monster wreathed in darkness.

  It was quiet… Too quiet for my liking, but I pushed on, searching every room and every corner for signs that Mercy and Vaughn were here. She had to be. I couldn’t suffer another failure, and neither could she.

  From the lack of movement, I had to assume I’d been made. Hidden CCTV or something else, it didn’t matter.

  I pushed in another door and was greeted with darkness. Listening, there was no movement or sound, so I backed out and tried the next opening along the hall. I was fast running out of places to look.

  “So, you finally found your way home.”

  I moved into the room, aiming the gun at the sound of the husky voice. A man stood in the center, a pool of light illuminating him and a chair that looked very, very familiar. His dark, slate gray suit was out of place in our surroundings, which meant he was someone important. His hair was dark with a generous amount of gray hair, his stature giving away his position of power. He looked familiar, yet he didn’t.

  “Greggor,” I stated, fixing my gaze on his.

  “Very clever,” he said, clapping his hands. “I can see The Watchman needs to readjust his expectations. His work isn’t quite as flawless as he’d hoped.” He paused, tapping his index finger against his chin. “Or it is because the merchandise was faulty.”

  “Where are they?” I snapped, not giving a fuck about his inner monologue.

  Greggor smiled. “He cut you, flayed you, and burned you for six months, Xavier.”

  Six months?

  “It was the longest anyone had ever lasted. Sometimes his subjects died; sometimes they just gave in like pathetic little weasels. We had high hopes for you. You lasted the longest, so when we finally broke your mind, it was like we’d struck gold. Eight years is a long time to keep a pet like you, Xavier.”

  “Where are they?” I asked, ignoring his taunts. He was just trying to worm his way into my mind and break what was already broken. He couldn’t harm me with words, not unless I let him.

  Greggor smirked. “And why would I tell you that?”

  “If you don’t tell me, I’ll tear this place apart to find them.” Knowing I wouldn’t be satisfied with merely shooting him, I placed the gun in the back of my jeans.

  “With your bare hands?” he asked with a laugh. “Even you’re not that good.”

  “Where is Mercy Reid?” I snarled, edging forward.

  “Hanging around.”

  “We can do this the easy way…or the hard way. Up to you, Greggor. How much do you want it to hurt?”

  “You think you have this all tied up in a nice little package, Xavier. Or should I call you Oliver? How much do I have to take from you to make you see that fighting is futile? All this is for your own good. Your father was a double-crosser, your brother was way too easy…”
Greggor laughed, shaking his head. “You called yourself a fucking MI6 agent? You made it so easy for us. I took your life from you and made you stronger, Xavier. I improved you.”

  “You are such a fucking hypocrite,” I snarled. “You took everything from me. You made me your pawn, your fucking dog to order around. You took Lorelei from Vaughn, and you’re even worse than he ever was. And now you want to do the same thing to Mercy? You can’t be happy, so everyone else has to suffer? Or are you just a psychopath? Is that it?”

  Greggor stepped forward, his fists curled tight. “The Hangman will meet his fate, the same fate that he condemned my daughter to. Lorelei was my light… My everything…”

  “Lorelei?” I asked. “She was meant to be dead, or was that all an elaborate ruse?”

  “I remade her,” Greggor snarled. “All the weaknesses she had, all the fear, we took it away. She’s much better now. Much, much better than you ever were.”

  My eyes widened. He’d put his only daughter through the same horror I’d suffered with The Watchman. Lorelei never went back to Vaughn because she didn’t remember him. How fucking dare he.

  Lunging forward with a roar, I toppled Greggor to the ground and we rolled, grasping at each other.

  “I’ll fucking kill you,” I snarled as I came out on top. “I’ll rip you apart.”

  He grasped my wrists as I curled my hands around his throat, digging his fingers into the bandages I still wore. Crying out as he tore through the stitches, I lost my grip, and he pushed me off him. I fell onto my side heavily, jarring my shoulder, and my gun fell to the floor with a clatter. I should’ve just shot him and been done with it, but I’d wanted his pain too badly. I got emotional, and I might lose everything because of it.

  Fuck!

  We dove for the gun at the same time, and my fingers slipped against the silencer. Greggor kicked, knowing he wouldn’t reach it in time, and it flew across the floor, hitting the opposite wall. Ignoring the pain that burned through my wrists, I grasped his ankle and pulled. He fell face forward, smashing onto the concrete floor with an oomph that pushed the air right out of his lungs.