Nowhere to Run: A Dark Paranormal Villain Romance (Midnight Renegades Book 1)

by Imani L. Hawkins

  The mans lips moved but no sound came out

  "Speak up, I can't hear you, Gerald." My fists clenched in anger as I waited for the man to actually vocalize his words.

  He blinked, his face pinching into an expression. "A robbery?" His tone held a humor that was hard to miss.

  "You think that's funny?" I snapped at him, my body moving forward as anger bit at my mood. "You killed a woman when you didn't have to, why did you do it?"

  "Why did I do it?" he threw the question back at me as he titled his head to the side. He let out a snort before it turned into full-blown laughter and I could see the man regaining his confidence. As if having the breath back in his lungs for a minute made him forget what I could do to him. "It wasn't a robbery."

  I jerked back, staring at him. "Yes, it was," I argued. "Maybe you are thinking about the wrong victim, but Anne Mills was a robbery gone wrong. I was there!"

  He laughed louder, the sound bouncing off the walls of the warehouse. Unwanted the unpleasant mental image of him slapping his leg in humor if hands were free appeared in my head. "You couldn't be more wrong, doll."

  "Then correct me," I yelled at him, my nails digging into the palms of my hands. "Tell me what really happened."

  "And why would I do that?" he asked, his lips pursing as his laughter faded from the air.

  I gritted my teeth, moving forward and pointing a finger at him. "You're going to tell me because if you don't I'm going to melt you from the inside out, keeping you alive to feel everything until you tell me what I want to know."

  He narrowed his eyes, his throat moving as he took a large gulp. His tongue came out to trail along his lips before his gaze moved over my head. When his eyes returned to mine, they were hard. Any remnant of amusement completely gone now. "It wasn't a robbery gone wrong, nor was it anything personal, doll." His tone was dripping with condescension.

  "Then why did you do it?" I asked again. My anger was already returning full force, even as Spanky returned to my neck, nuzzling up against it. The warm feel of him against my skin did nothing to head off the anger as I continued to stare at Gerald.

  "It was a job." He enunciated each word clearly. "I didn't have any sort of beef or problem with Anne Miles, she was a job, nothing less, nothing more, just like with my other hits."

  I only stared at the man as a pounding began in my head. I swept my hands out, just barely keeping my magic in. "You killed her because of a job?" I asked in irritation.

  It was bad enough thugs killed my mother, but to find out they killed her simply because they were paid to.

  And by whom?

  "I'm a hit man, doll, and frankly, the price on your mother's head?" A cruel smile twisted his lips. "I would have killed her ten times over for that type of money. As far as I know, she must have deserved it after all." He began to laugh again, tilting his head back as his body shook with deep chuckles.

  Gerald's eyes widening was the last thing I saw before red took over my vision completely. Warmth flushed through my body like a heat wave and it felt like it would suffocate me until I found a way to release it.

  So, I did.

  A scream pierced the air as my tendrils of magic ripped through the air. They pulsed with energy and life as they attacked Gerald, the man's screams never ending. None of it mattered to me though as my magic only continued to grow as it consumed him.

  My vision began to clear and I smiled as I watched Gerald thrash around. Half of his face looked as if it'd been burnt off, skin hanging off of his face. His lips looked as if they'd been torn right in half, faint sounds leaving his lips as agony continued to take over his body.

  I moved closer to him, my eyes meeting his as he continued to suffer. I brought my hand up, whipping tendrils along the raw, exposed skin. Gerald's screams had become silent now, his lips open, but no sound coming out.

  Gerald's last breath came quick and short before I watched the life completely leave his body. I could only stare at his ugly, mutilated body, so disfigured not even his mother would be able to identify the remains.

  Spanky crawled down my arm, perching in the palm of my hand as if he also wanted a view of my handy work. He stared at the body for a couple of moments before jumping onto the corpse. He crawled down to Gerald's lifeless hand where the skin had been burnt to a near crisp, most of the bone exposed.

  I watched as Spanky's teeth chomped down on one of the fingers, a crunch vibrating through the air. He locked the mangled finger in his jaw before jumping back into my hand and presenting it to me.

  I smiled, taking the trophy from him. "Thank you." I let out a satisfied grunt. I glimpsed back at the corpse. "He deserved it," I breathed out, almost echoing Gerald's earlier sentiments word for word.

  My heart was still pounding in my chest, the magic thrumming through my veins wanting another victim to consume. Spanky crawled up my arm, letting out a chirp as he nuzzled against my skin.

  I shook my head, staving off the chaotic energy that wanted to take over.

  "That's it for the night," I said lightly, reassuring not only myself but also Spanky as my wits started to return.

  I continued to stare at the corpse for a moment longer as Gerald's last words wrung through my head.

  It wasn't a robbery gone wrong. It was a hit.

  Things were starting to get a lot more complicated than I anticipated, and yet I knew my mission wasn't going to change. I was going to avenge my mother no matter what it took. Maybe she wasn't the nicest to me, but she was my mother at the end of the day, and she'd cared for me as best she could. I couldn't fault her for having some hang ups about the child of her rapist.

  I nodded to myself, turning away from the body.

  "We're done for the night, Spanky, but we still have a lot more to do before we get the justice my mother deserves."

  Spanky wiggled along my skin and I knew it was his way of letting me know he understood. I reached a hand up to rub along his fur. "For now, it's time to celebrate."

  CHAPTER THREE: KNOX

  There was nothing like a little breaking and entering to make a shitty week just a little less shitty.

  Which was why I could already feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins as my best friend, Blue, and I approached the Hell's Point Pharmaceuticals and Research lab. The facility housing and torturing hundreds of animals was at the top of a very long list of facilities we were going to take down.

  The potent mix of chemicals and toxins in the air only served to make me more motivated as we drew closer to the lab. Glancing at Blue's shoulders and finding the tension in them, I knew he was even more ready than I was.

  Taking down labs like this one had been his mission for even longer than it'd been mine.

  I'd met him when I was fresh out of jail, the shackles barely off of my wrists, after serving five years for grand larceny. We'd both been working at a shabby restaurant and while we didn't hit it off right from the start, there was something about the man I couldn't help but to like when I talked to him for the first time. His personality had been a sharp contrast to my own. There was a shyness and softness about him I hadn't felt since I was a child.

  In the kitchen, we'd share small talk while we cooked and I'd started to get to know the shifter.

  I hadn't seen the other side of him, the sharper, fiercer and determined side until a couple weeks of working with Blue.

  It'd been on a night I was late for work, shaking rain droplets out of my hair as I entered the small and cluttered kitchen. It'd taken me a moment to notice how quiet it was, which was something that didn't happen often at the restaurant. While small, it had a plethora of customers, the door always revolving. And yet there wasn't a peep from the lobby or the kitchen.

  I'd hung my coat up and went in search of life. It didn't take me long to find it.

  In the back office where the manager, Terry, always lounged, I found not only him, but also Blue. The chubby, greasy haired manager had been pressed up agains
t the wall, Blue's hands wrapped around his throat as he sneered at the man. My first reaction was to leave the two be. Whatever they had going on wasn't any of my business and I didn't need to get in trouble again, not when I'd only just gotten out of jail. And certainly not when only weeks before I'd been turned into a vampire.

  I already had too much shit going on in my life to add more.

  I took a step back just as Blue's head turned and his bright blue eyes met mine. The fire in the cool orbs was hard to miss as his hands tightened around the neck of the manager. I watched as his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared.

  My body tensed as I waited for the man to speak now that I had been spotted. I couldn't pretend I saw nothing like I wanted to and from the way Blue was looking at me, I couldn't tell if I was going to have to fight to get back out of the office.

  He shook his head slightly, his eyes moving back to Terry before returning to mine, the silence in the air bordering on awkwardness.

  "This asshole has been doing illegal dogfights," he gritted out between clenched teeth.

  I'd kept my face a blank mask as his words processed through my head. At that point, I'd known Blue was a shifter. I'd known there was something different about the way the man smelled when I'd first met him. I hadn't understood what the smell meant at first since the supernatural world was a new concept to me. It'd been after I'd run into a shifter at the corner store and nearly got into a fight that I tracked the same smell back to Blue and pieced things together. I'd always assumed he knew there was something different about me too, even if neither of us had actually verbalized it.

  And yet as I took in the fury on the man's face as he continued to squeeze the life out of our manager, I knew it had to go back to him being a shifter.

  Terry was hurting animals, which is essentially what Blue was, and yet... there seemed to be something even deeper going on as Blue tossed the manager across the room. Files flew through the air and glass shattered as the bigger man landed.

  Blue approached the manager as the man tried to scoot away from him, his eyes wide and his chest heaving. "Help me," he gasped out as he crawled in my direction.

  Blue prowled behind the manager and I couldn't help but to look up at him as Terry continued to crawl toward me.

  A tugging at my pants leg brought my attention down to where the manager rested on his knees, his eyes pleasing as he stared up at me. "Please help." Blood trickled down his forehead from a cut where you could still see a shard of glass sticking out. His lip was bust and the dark bruises on his pale neck were impossible to miss.

  I didn't know what to do as he stared up at me, and yet I knew I didn't feel inclined to help him, not in the slightest. But could I just stand by and let Blue kill him? I'd done the worst things in life, but in that moment it felt like I was at an important crossroads.

  "Well?" The voice didn't belong to the manager, but to Blue. Our eyes met. "What are you going to do?" he asked me even as his hand wrapped in the hair of the other man, pulling his head back and exposing his battered neck. "Are you going to let this piece of shit live or are you going to help end his existence?"

  I glanced back and forth between the two men, an unfamiliar warmth spreading in my chest as the question hung in the air.

  When was the last time I was asked to participate or join in on something, I'd thought to myself as I stared at the manager's exposed neck.

  I'd been lonely since childhood and in prison that feeling of loneliness had turned into a desperation I'd tried not to pay too much attention to. Until I'd met Blue. I'd started to enjoy our little talks in the kitchen, even if they were meaningless.

  And if Terry was really involved in dog fighting, which I had no doubt of, since he'd always been a shady character, then he deserved to die.

  My eyes met Blue's and when I felt the corner of my lips turn up into a rare smile, I knew my answer. "Kill him."

  When Blue's claws dug into the man's neck, ripping his throat out, it'd started a bond between the two of us that could never be broken.

  Which is why four years later, breaking and entering had become a familiar scenery for me.

  And to think I told myself I was going to turn over a new path when I left prison.

  Of course, I should have known that sentiment wasn't going to last long when I got turned into a vampire barely a foot out of the prison gates.

  My thoughts cleared from my mind as we pushed through the doors of the lab. Blue glided in front of me, determination in the set of his shoulders. His short brown hair stuck up slightly from his constant need to run his hands through it. And I had no doubt if I was looking into his blue eyes there'd be a glimmer in them that hinted at the demons below the surface of the shifter's awkward smiles and stuttered words.

  "Fuck," Blue muttered, coming to a stop.

  "What?" I asked, my eyes briefly raking over him as he turned to look at me.

  He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. "The door."

  I glanced past him taking in the tall, foreboding steel door. I stared at the lock on it, swearing when I saw the double locks sitting side by side.

  "Can you get into them?" Blue asked, though he already knew the answer.

  "I can try," I told him instead of the truth. Maybe I should just flat out say no, but the thought of not even trying to get into the door when Blue has been wanting to take this lab down for months now, didn't sit right with me.

  I moved forward, the cool air of the lab brushing along my skin as I reached into my pocket and pulled out the tools I usually used to get into places I shouldn't. I shot a look over my shoulder, even though I knew Blue wasn't going to let anything happen to me while I was distracted. And the facility was empty this time of night. Still, I let my eyes sweep over the room, relaxing when I confirmed we were the only ones around.

  I squatted by the door, pushing the pin into the first lock. I turned and jangled it in the lock, swearing when it didn't budge in the slightest. I put more force behind it, listening closely for a click. When it didn't come, I let out another curse.

  "You can't get it, can you?" Blue asked and I didn't miss the note of disappointment in his voice or the way his words wavered slightly.

  I pressed my lips together, pulling the pin out of the lock and shoving it back in. My body warmed as I tried to continue to make the lock give. "I can, just give me a minute."

  "He's lying. He can't."

  My shoulders stiffened at the unfamiliar, feminine voice before I jumped to my feet, spinning around.

  A short woman watched me, a small smirk on her plump, pink lips. Hair reflecting every shade in the rainbow fell past her shoulders and her light brown eyes danced with mirth. A little animal sat on her shoulder and I tilted my head to the side as I tried to identify what it was.

  She turned away from me to look at Blue who was also watching her in confusion, his body coiled with tension. "He can't get the lock open," she said to him.

  Blue took a step back, moving closer to me. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

  She ignored him as she moved forward, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. "You know it's pretty stupid what you're doing," she drawled, her eyes flitting between us. "Using your abilities to free animals." She let out a small laugh. "Why not do something... more important?" She raised a brow.

  My shoulders stiffened, not liking her tone or her words. I glanced briefly at Blue, finding him just as on guard.

  "They're not just animals, and they are important," I emphasized. "They're living beings, and they don't deserve to be treated like shit." I narrowed my eyes on the little animal on her shoulder. "Surely you understand that."

  She only hummed, her gaze moving around the room, not resting on one place longer than a second.

  "Look lady, I don't know who you are or what you want, but you need to go," Blue said, his voice harder than usual. His fists clenched tightly.

  The woman's gaze finally stopped moving, resting
on Blue. She tilted her head to the side and let out another soft hum before gliding in our direction. She pushed past both of us and I watched as she lifted a hand into the air, moving her fingers.

  The click I'd been listening for only moments before moved through the room. "You're welcome," the girl said, giving a wink.

  My mouth fell open as I moved over to the door. I pulled the handle and the door came open without any resistance. Turning, I found the rainbow haired girl skipping away before disappearing out of sight.

  "What the hell?" I muttered. A part of me wanted to go after the girl, to figure out who she was and what she'd just done to the door. But I also knew we didn't have too much longer to get the job done. So, I only shook my head, staring at Blue.

  "I don't know what just happened," he said, his brows pulled together. He shook his head before letting out a deep sigh. "Let's just go ahead and get this done, and we can figure it out later."

  I nodded in agreement, pulling the door fully open and letting him move in front of me.

  As we moved through the doors, I could already hear the soft whines and mewls from the animals in the facility. And my attention quickly shifted, focusing in on our mission.

  And, so, we went to work.

  By the time we'd loaded the last animal cage into our van, any worries I had faded. Warmth filled my chest as Blue smiled and the struggle of the week was far from my mind.

  "Good job," I told Blue, slapping a hand onto his shoulder.

  He gave me a light smile, but I knew he was trying to hold back his excitement on the outside, since he was thrumming with energy on the inside.

  Every one of our rescues filled a part of him that was broken during his own traumatizing experiences as a shifter.

  "I couldn't do any of this without you," he said, finally letting his smile widen. He shook his head slightly before pointing at the van. "Time to get out of here."

  I nodded in agreement, heading to the driver's seat as Blue went to the passenger's seat.