by Sarra Cannon
“Literally. He’s not going to do that to you,” she said. “You’re one of his girls. He wouldn’t hurt you. I just think you should be careful. He’s worked hard to get himself under control, but with guys like him, you just never know when something’s gonna set them off? You know?”
She patted my shoulder and threw her cigarette to the ground. She lit a second one, and I glanced back toward the club, thinking of Rend.
A strange man caught my eye, though, and I couldn’t tear my gaze away from him. He was tall and thin, dressed in a perfectly tailored pinstripe suit with a red tie. There was something about him that unnerved me and made me instantly afraid. It was as if there was a darkness that surrounded him.
He strolled out of the shadows and opened the door to Venom, a thin-lipped smile teasing the corners of his mouth.
Lyla continued to talk about relationships, which turned into a rant about men in general, but I was barely paying attention to her.
I couldn’t get the strange man out of my head.
Panic gathered in my core, eating away at me. Something was wrong. I could feel it in every fiber of my being, but I had no idea what to do about it.
“What’s wrong?” Lyla asked, tossing her last cigarette to the ground and stomping it out with her high heeled boots. “Franki? You okay?”
I tried to swallow, but my throat was thick with worry.
The group of girls I’d watched walk in a few moments ago came running back out through the club’s front door, their screams echoing off the building across from us.
“Shit, something’s up.” Lyla grabbed my arm and started to run toward the club, but I held my ground.
I pulled her back into the shadows with me, crouching low.
“What?” she asked.
I put my finger over her mouth and shook my head. I couldn’t find my voice, and I certainly didn’t know how to explain what I was feeling, but I followed my instincts. Stay hidden. Wait for Rend.
Lyla nodded back and leaned against the bricks here in the half-shadows at the mouth of the alley. Her eyes were wide and filled with panic.
Another scream rang out into the night. Slowly, a shadow of a man walked out from the entrance to the club. It was the same man I’d seen walk through just a few seconds ago, but he was only half-formed. Part shadow, part man. His eyes burned red.
In his hand, he held a silver dagger coated in red blood. He took his time, pulling a pristine white cloth from his pocket and wiping each side of the blade on it. He tucked the dagger back into his coat and threw the discarded white cloth onto the ground.
I stared at the streaks of bright red blood that stained the cloth.
My hand rose to my mouth. Whose blood was that?
But I didn’t have to wonder for long. The door to the club opened one last time and a woman stumbled through, falling to her knees as blood ran from a large wound in her side. She reached for him, barely grabbing the back of his pants before collapsing completely onto the graveled pavement in the alley.
Selena.
Hot tears filled my eyes. Lyla tried to stand, but I held onto her for dear life, suddenly sure of who the shadowed man must be. And who he had come here to find.
I stared at Selena, torn between staying hidden and going to try to help her. But the light was already dimming in her beautifully clear eyes. There was nothing anyone could do to help her now.
She groaned and let her head fall to the pavement.
I couldn’t believe we were going to just hide here, watching her die. Where was Rend?
I shook my head as tears streamed down my face.
I’m so sorry, I wanted to tell her. This is all my fault.
I knew she couldn’t hear me, but I could swear for an instant, her eyes locked with mine. She saw me and her lips parted. She sucked in a surprised breath, then struggled to lift her head from the ground.
The Devil, in his half-shadowed form, looked down at her and laughed. “Die already,” he said. “I need to get inside that club.”
Selena’s blood ran like a river against the ground, but she managed to move her hand toward the pocket of her jeans. With labored movements, she reached inside her pocket and pulled something out. Her palm opened and I caught a glimpse of a small clear bead with a red spark glowing inside.
I gasped.
Rend’s gift to her earlier tonight.
I couldn’t breath as I watched her hand close around the small bead. Then, with her eyes locked on mine, she gave me a sad smile and mouthed a singled word.
Run.
With her last breath, she gathered her strength and squeezed.
The world in front of me exploded in fire. The front of the building went up in flames and the Devil flew backward, his body slamming against the brick wall behind him and disappearing into a cloud of ash and flame.
I shielded my face from the flames, coughing on the growing cloud of smoke. Lyla clawed at my arm, urging me to run, but I couldn’t hear her. I couldn’t force myself to move.
All I could do was stare dumbly at the destroyed building that used to be Venom.
Episode 5: The Devil
Chapter 1
Venom Is Gone
Debris floated through the air. Ash coated the side of my face. I screamed, but my voice was lost amidst the wail of sirens. My ears rang from the noise of the explosion and blood trickled into my eyes from a cut on my forehead.
Venom is gone.
Lyla pulled furiously on my arm, but I was too numb to move.
Rend was still inside that building.
But in the flames and smoke, I couldn’t tell how much of the building was still standing.
“Franki, we have to go now,” Lyla said, her voice desperate.
“I can’t,” I yelled, yanking my arm away from her.
I ran toward the fire, but she blocked my way. She placed both hands on my face, forcing me to look at her.
“We have to go,” she said.
“I can't just leave,” I shouted. I shook my head, not wanting to believe this could be happening. This was all my fault. Selena and the others, they were all dead because of me. “We have to find them. What if someone's still alive in there? We have to go back.”
Lyla shook her head, panic in her wide eyes. “Dammit, Franki, you have to listen to me. It’s not what you think, but we have to go now. If we don’t go, you’re going to be dead, too. Do you hear me?”
I nodded, still in shock. I couldn’t focus with the weight of panic and sorrow on my heart.
We couldn’t just leave them here like this. We couldn’t just walk away and leave them. I couldn't leave Rend like this. Not if there was a chance. Didn’t she understand? But a part of my mind registered what she was saying. The Devil had come here for me. He’d been knocked back by the blast, but how long would that keep him down? If he woke up, he'd be coming for me.
“Come on,” she said. “I’ll explain as we go, but we have to move.”
I let her grab my hand and pull me back toward the main street. She led us through the crowd gathered on the sidewalk. A fire truck pulled up on the curb and rescue workers were yelling, running, and directing people to stay away from the alley.
We ducked our heads and ran through the crowd, past the rows of bars and restaurants, and toward the nearest ‘L’ station.
Cars were stopped all along Hubbard street, and people were getting out of their cars to see what was going on. A cab driver motioned to us.
“What’s going on up there?” he asked. “Someone get hurt?”
I just shook my head, unable to put words to what I’d seen. It didn’t seem real. The entire club was gone. Just like that, the building destroyed.
I pictured the Devil flying back against the brick wall, shock registering on his pale face. I pictured Selena's sad smile and the way she had told me to run. Chills broke out along my skin.
Had she died for me? Because of me?
I would never be able to forgive myself.
Lyl
a got us on the first train that pulled up and led me toward a pair of seats in the back.
We sat down and I stared straight ahead. It took all my willpower just to force breath into my lungs.
I couldn’t lose him now. Not when we hadn’t even had a chance to decide what we meant to each other. I might never know if I meant anything to Rend or not, but with the possibility of him being gone forever, I gained a new clarity about my own feelings.
And now it was too late.
My hands were ice cold and shaking uncontrollably. I held them in my lap, unable to stop them.
Lyla leaned over and placed both her hands on top of mine. She put her mouth close to my ear. “You have to get control of that,” she said. “People are going to stare. Franki?”
I shook my head, as if waking from a dream.
I blinked several times. What did she mean? Why would people stare?
Then I saw it. A series of small whirlwinds kicking up dust from the floor of the train. It looked like four miniature tornadoes traveling along down the center of the aisle.
My mouth fell open and I forced a deeper breath. Had I done that?
“I don't know how to stop it,” I said.
“Yes, you do,” she said. “Just breathe. Focus. All you have to do is calm down and find where that energy is coming from and tell it to stop.”
I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. I focused on my body, connecting in a new way to what was going on inside of me. And she was right. Somewhere in the core of my being, a fire burned. Rage. Sorrow. Fear. Regret. My magic was so closely tied to my emotions that I had created small tornadoes of dust and wind right here on the train in downtown Chicago.
I pictured it slowing down and dissipating into nothingness, and the whirlwinds obeyed, collapsing into piles of dust and dirt on the floor at my feet.
Lyla squeezed my hands and looked around at the other passengers on the train.
“We’re safe for now,” she said. “But I have to get you someplace safe.”
“I don’t even understand what’s going on,” I said. I felt more helpless than ever before in my life. “How could this happen?”
“You saw him, didn’t you? Before I even saw what was going on, you noticed him.”
I nodded. “I saw him going in. The second I laid eyes on him, I got this weird feeling. I knew he was a bad man, but it wasn’t until he came out with blood on his hands that I realized who he really was. That was the Devil, wasn’t it?”
She swallowed. “Yes. He’s the worst of the vampires,” she said. “The most evil demon I’ve ever seen. Well, I’d never actually seen him in person, before tonight, but I'm sure that's who he was.”
“He killed Selena,” I said.
“She’s the gatekeeper here in Chicago,” Lyla said. “She understood that danger when she took the job. The gatekeeper decides who is allowed inside that particular gate. If she told him he couldn’t go in, there was no way he could cross that barrier. The only way in would be to kill her. Once a gatekeeper dies, the gate opens to everyone. At least until another gatekeeper arrives. Selena knew that going in. She volunteered for the job.”
I closed my eyes. “She died because of me,” I said. “The Devil was there for me.”
“The Devil was there for you? How do you know that?”
I slumped down in my seat. I wasn’t sure I had the energy to explain all of this to her right now, but I knew she had a right to know the truth.
“He’s the whole reason I ever found Venom in the first place,” I said. “He sent me black roses on my twenty-first birthday, inviting me to the club.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” she said. “He’s been banned from Venom for more than a decade. Why would he invite you there?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I think he wanted to make me discover my own magic. He wanted to make sure I really was who he thought I was.”
“And who is that?” she asked, her voice soft and full of fear.
I swallowed and looked out the window at the city lights. It was just after one in the morning and I had no idea where we were going. Or what the hell I was going to do once morning came. I couldn't just go home and go back to my life before Venom. Before Rend.
He had opened my eyes to a whole new world. A whole new life. Finding the club had changed me forever. There was no way to turn my back on that now, even if I wanted to.
Of course, without Rend and the club, I wasn't sure how much life I'd have left to live. If the Devil had come to Venom for me, he was going to find me no matter where I tried to hide. Without Rend, there would be no one who could protect me.
“What are we going to do?” I asked. “I can’t go home.”
“No,” she said. “We’re going to a safe-house just outside the city. Rend will come looking for you there.”
I snapped my head toward her. My heart skipped a beat. “Rend? But—”
“I know what it looked like, Franki, but that’s what I was trying to explain to you on the street. The club itself wasn’t destroyed. It was only the Chicago entrance that was destroyed.”
My head pounded. She wasn’t making sense. “What do you mean? How is that possible?”
“There are six entrances to Venom around the world,” she said. “Chicago, Paris, New York City, Berlin, Moscow, and Havana. Only that one entrance to the club was destroyed.”
Hope fluttered in my heart and tears sprang to my eyes. “You mean he’s okay? Don’t fuck with me.”
She smiled and shook her head. “I’m not fucking with you. Anyone who was inside Venom is fine,” she said. “But they won’t be able to get here to Chicago without going through another gateway.”
I felt the first true breath of hope enter my body, and my hands stopped trembling. I needed to talk to Rend and tell him what I saw.
My heart was still sick for Selena, but I was relieved everyone else was okay.
“How does this work?” I asked. “We’re just supposed to wait for word from him? Or do you have some other way of contacting him to let him know we’re okay?”
I groaned, realizing Rend wouldn’t know where I was. Not for sure. He hadn’t seen me leave the club with Lyla. I wasn’t sure Azure had been paying attention, either. The only person I could be sure who knew we had walked out into the streets of Chicago was Selena. And she wouldn't be telling anyone.
“Did you tell anyone else you were going out to smoke?” I asked. “Any of the other dancers?”
She shook her head. “No, I just came to see if you wanted to go out,” she said. “But when they realize I’m not there, they’ll guess where I went, I’m sure.”
“But they won’t know I was with you,” I said, thinking out loud. “Rend won’t even know the Devil was there.”
“I’m sure he has a good idea of what happened,” she said. “It’s not like the doorways get destroyed very often. Selena wouldn’t have blown the door unless it was absolutely necessary. An explosion like that is rare. It's a fail-safe to make sure no one dangerous gets inside the club.”
I closed my eyes, my stomach rolling at the thought of Selena’s death. “I saw Rend arguing with her before we opened tonight,” I said. “She said she didn’t want to risk her life for me.”
Lyla pressed her lips together and shook her head. “You can’t blame yourself.”
“Who else can I blame?” I asked. “This is all my fault.”
“Look, we’re family at Venom. We look out for each other. Remember what I told you earlier? Every single one of us came to be there because we were in some kind of trouble,” she said. “Rend gave us jobs to protect us from people like The Order and The Others.”
I shook my head. “I don’t even know who those people are,” I said. “It feels like the more I learn about this world, the more I don’t know.”
“All you need to know is that there is a constant war going on in this world for the souls and power that witches hold,” she said. “There are those who think we’re evil just
for existing and there are others who want to control us. Once these people realize a witch has great power, they will do whatever it takes to get control of that power. Rend has been around for a very long time, Franki. He’s seen the worst of it first hand, and he wants to do everything he can to save as many people from falling into the hands of evil as he can.”
I sat back against the cold plastic seat on the train and tried to process what she was telling me. How could I have been so clueless to the war between good and evil happening all around me? How could I have missed it?
“If the Devil is after you, you must be extremely valuable to him for some reason,” Lyla said. She chewed on the fingernail on her thumb for a moment. “Something beyond the average witch. Do you have any idea what it could be?”
I bit the inside of my lip. How much could I really trust Lyla? Rend obviously trusted her or he wouldn’t have her working at Venom. On the other hand, I barely knew anything about her. I was still getting used to the idea that I was a descendant of the Mother Crow. Did I want to confide in her about it?
I looked around at the other people on the train. This late at night, there weren’t many people on board, but I didn’t want to take any chances that someone could be listening in on our conversation.
“Rend and I figured out something about my family that makes me unique.” I knew I was being vague, but vague was my only option right now. “I’ll tell you more about it when we get to a safe place, but for now, can we just leave it at that?”
Lyla nodded and sat back in her seat. “Good idea,” she said. “We’re going to have to get off the train at the next stop anyway. Then we’ll get a cab and go the rest of the way. We'll get to the safe-house in half an hour or so, and we should be able to relax until Rend can get word to us.”
“He’ll be expecting us to go there?” I asked.
“Yeah, he’ll know that's where I’ll go if I'm still alive,” she said. “He’ll definitely come looking for us, but I have no idea how long it will take him to find a way here. New York is the closest doorway, and then he’ll have to catch a flight from there. We probably won’t hear from him until tomorrow at the earliest.”