The Dead, the Damned, and the Forgotten

by Jocelynn Drake

  “What? Did he flash his official Daylight Coalition membership card hoping to get a discount?” I didn’t mean to be so snide, but fear and frustration were eating away at me. I was running out of time before Bishop arrived to claim my hide.

  “Hardly. I can read his thoughts.” He sounded much calmer than me. It was quiet where he was, making me think that he had called from his office rather than standing over a potentially half-dead man. If it was known that someone was from the Coalition, many of our kind would take it upon themselves to immediately cut short his life span. Neither side did anything to put a halt to these activities as long as no evidence was left behind. It wasn’t a pretty arrangement, but it was get them before they got us.

  “Besides,” the lycanthrope said, his voice dropping a little closer to a growl for the first time since he had called. “We get them on occasion. They pop into the bars, restaurants, and shops with any form of the word moon in the name. I guess they’re hoping to catch us acting like animals so they can do the world a great ser vice and put us down.”

  I paced back toward the car, shoving one hand through my hair, getting my fingers temporarily stuck. My dirty, blood-matted hair was a knotted mess. “Are you going to put him down or are you going to let me talk to him first?” I needed to know if our unexpected guest to the city of Savannah had anything to do with Bryce’s murder.

  “Will he survive the interview?”

  “It depends on his answers. It’s doubtful.”

  “Then you can have him.”

  I clenched my teeth and swallowed my next snide comment. I was determined to have this man regardless of what Barrett’s wishes were. Two nightwalkers were dead, a house had been blown up, and a human was dead in connection to one of the dead nightwalkers. And now I had some unknown Daylight Coalition schmuck wandering around in my territory. He had to be connected to this mess in some way. I just had to figure out how he fit in this puzzle.

  “How much longer do you think he’ll be at the restaurant?” I demanded as I reached into the front pocket of my jeans and pulled out the keys.

  “Probably another thirty minutes at the most. He’s already ordered his dinner and it should be arriving within a couple minutes.”

  “That’s fine. I can be there by then. I’ll park behind the restaurant and follow him after he leaves.”

  I paused as I was about to jump in the car and looked up at Ravana’s house. The fledgling was still in the attic, chained to the wall. For a moment, I wondered if I should go up and free her, but I quickly shook off the thought and got into the car. If she couldn’t find a way to free herself, then she would never survive in my world.

  Back in the car, I was flying across the city. The restaurant was downtown, not far from the Dark Room. I planned on swinging by to get Knox before arriving at the restaurant. I didn’t particularly need the backup, but this was Knox’s investigation, and I had a feeling we would be able to get a lot out of this human if we could keep him alive long enough to pick his brain.

  “I have to get back,” Knox announced as he fell into the passenger seat beside me. “Gregor knew Bryce and Katie.” I had filled him in about Katie’s death when I called to tell him I would pick him up. He already knew about what happened at Justin’s; all the city’s nightwalkers knew about that.

  “Hopefully, he’ll stay alive long enough to be questioned,” I said under my breath.

  “Another body?”

  “Not yet, but our luck hasn’t been that good tonight.” I looked over my shoulder at the front entrance where a nightwalker bouncer by the name of Adam stood glaring at the crowd. His brown hair was cropped short on his head and his black T-shirt was stretched over bulging muscles, making him an impressive figure even if he hadn’t been a nightwalker.

  Adam, tell Gregor that I want him to remain here when he arrives. Knox and I want to speak with him. This message was conveyed with a brief touch of my mind to his. Yet, no matter how brief, I could still feel the flood of fear that shivered through him at my touch. I tried to ignore it, but there were times when it ate at me nonetheless. I was trying to protect him and all of my kind, but he feared me like most nightwalkers feared the Coven. And after what had happened at Ravana’s, it was worse than usual. I could feel a wave of fear crashing off all the nightwalkers that saw me outside the club.

  Turning my attention back to the road, I let off the clutch and jumped out into the traffic. We rushed down to the river, cutting down and around one street after another as we drew closer to Bella Luna. It took only a few minutes to reach the restaurant, leaving me to settle the car in a shadowy area in the back where the deliveries were made.

  “Do I scare you?” I asked without warning after sitting in silence for several minutes.

  “I beg your pardon.” Knox turned in his seat and looked at me, his lips twisting slightly as he was fighting to hold back a smile.

  “Do I scare you?” It was harder to say the second time, but I forced the words out.

  “Scare me?” Knox stared at me for a moment before a sigh finally escaped him. He leaned his right elbow on the door and shoved his fingers through his dirty, bloody blond hair. He had taken the time to clean up slightly while at the club, but he still looked ragged. “Mira, I feel like there’s no right answer here.”

  Slumping in my seat, I relaxed my grip on the steering wheel, letting my hand fall into my lap. “You know me, Knox. I want the truth.”

  “Yes, you scare me. You know you do. After the show of power at Justin’s, how could we all not fear you?” Knox said in a sudden rush as if the words were stampeding from his chest. “You’re the Fire Starter. You can kill us all with a thought. And even if you weren’t the Fire Starter, you’re still powerful enough to wipe the floor with any one of us. So, yes, you scare me.”

  “But . . .” I inserted, prompting him to continue when he seemed to hesitate.

  “But I know Valerio. I spent more than two centuries with my maker. You’ve known him for even longer. I think you’re more like him than you sometimes realize. You’re more emotional, but you can be just as methodical. Whether anyone else realizes it, there’s a method to your madness, like Valerio. You’re about protecting the secret and being honorable. As long as a nightwalker doesn’t cross those two lines, he’s going to wake up the next sunset. The others don’t realize it, do they?”

  “I can feel it when I enter a room or when I touch their minds. I can feel the shiver of fear, the recoil when I get too close. I feel trapped. I don’t want them to fear me, yet the only way I can get their complete obedience is for them to fear me.” Each word was forced out between my clenched teeth. I was tired of being the outsider after more than six centuries of life. I was tired of being the outsider within my own domain.

  “Do you know what would make it easier for them to accept you?”

  I shifted in my seat slightly and looked over at my companion, surprised that he was willing to offer me a suggestion. “What?”

  “Date another nightwalker.”

  I chuckled softly to myself and shook my head. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No, I’m not. I’ve been here awhile and I’ve never heard of you with another nightwalker.”

  I looked over at Knox again, stunned to find that he was absolutely serious about this ridiculous suggestion. “Not a chance.”

  “Mira, dating another nightwalker within your domain might convince them that you’re not a heartless killing machine. That there is something feeling about you.”

  “Mmm . . . your comments warm my cold, dead heart,” I mocked. This conversation was taking a turn that I wasn’t expecting. I turned the key in the ignition enough to get the clock radio to flash on. We had been sitting there for only a couple of minutes. Damn it! I had started this nightmare conversation.

  “I’m serious.”

  “So, what? Are you offering to be my boyfriend?”

  Knox stared at me for a long time, his eyes moving over my face. I knew I looked like a
mess. All the wounds I had sustained while at Bryce’s and Justin’s had healed, but I was still covered in my own blood along with dirt and a little of Knox’s blood. There was nothing attractive about me at this moment in time. But it was more than that. Knox knew better than most who I was. He knew of me before we had ever met. His maker, Valerio, and I had run together for a few centuries back in Europe. I had no doubt that Valerio had told his fledgling more than a few entertaining tales of the old days. Beyond that, Knox had been brave enough to try to get to know me when he arrived in Savannah. Unlike anyone else within my domain, I felt like a rejection from Knox would actually be a rejection of who I was, not necessarily of the image I presented to those in my domain.

  And in truth, it had been a couple of centuries since I had last been involved in a serious romantic relationship. The last one had ended badly, and I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to put myself in that vulnerable position again. Certainly not when the peace of my domain was being threatened.

  “Do you honestly want me to offer to be your boyfriend?” he finally asked.

  I was saved from having to reply to his strange question when the heavy metal door leading into Bella Luna’s kitchen exploded open, banging against the brick wall of the building. A large mass came flying out of the doorway and landed halfway across the back parking lot. It rolled a few feet before stopping and groaning. Whoever it was, was still alive . . . for now.

  A series of low growls filled the darkness, drawing my gaze back toward the restaurant. Three men stepped out of the restaurant, their eyes glowing a frightening copperishred. They were all dressed in black slacks and pristine white shirts. The trio was followed by Barrett, who stood outlined by the light coming from the doorway. His broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist. He was one hundred percent hard muscle, and by the way he clenched his fists at his side, seriously pissed.

  “Did the guy try to leave without paying his check?” Knox whispered below the blood-chilling growls.

  “No,” I murmured, my concentration elsewhere. I had already reached out to the creature to discover the mass was human; he had pulled a knife on a female server in the restaurant—a female shapeshifter. Sifting briefly through the thoughts in his mind, I discovered that his name was Franklin Thomas and he was from the Daylight Coalition. “Shit,” I hissed. This lump of blood and stupidity was the one I had come to fetch.

  Putting one sneaker on the soft leather seat, I launched myself over the door of the convertible. I had to get between the schmuck and the lycans before they tore him up. My stomach knotted and I struggled to keep my voice firm and even. “You can’t do this, Barrett.”

  “I’m sorry, but our agreement is off,” Barrett replied in a low voice, not at all sounding sorry. “He attacked Erica, threatened her.”

  Damn it all to hell. I didn’t know most of the lycanthropes by name, but I had made a point of learning the names of Barrett’s immediate family. Erica was Barrett’s younger sister. Of all the people the human could have picked, he chose a blood member of the ruling family. I was no longer sure I could delay his execution now.

  “Barrett, we both know that business comes before personal in our world,” I countered in a gentle yet firm voice. With four lycans spread out before me, I wasn’t sure I could keep them all at bay. “The secret comes before personal vendettas.”

  “I’ll not let you tie my hands like this!” Barrett took a step closer to me, and the other werewolves closed in as well. The air seemed to shimmer with power. They wouldn’t bother to shift, but they would call on whatever energy they had at their disposal to take me down and get to the human.

  Slowly walk over to the man and get him to his feet, I directed Knox telepathically.

  “I need your patience. This man owes me answers. He may have killed Bryce and I think he attempted to kill Knox and me earlier tonight.”

  “No!” The sound was more of a snarl than actual English, but I got the point and so did his compatriots. They all thought I was going to kill the human because he potentially attacked me first. It would be my right, and Barrett was pissed because his sister’s slight would never be properly avenged. But, no, I didn’t plan on killing the human. I had a much better idea in mind.

  As the werewolves lurched forward, I threw out my hands to my sides, creating a semicircle of fire between me and the lycans. It wouldn’t stop them for long, but I needed only a few seconds.

  Get him out of here, I ordered Knox. I’ll catch up.

  I heard the man groan once and then there was only the soft whisper of fabric. Knox had lifted up the human and run to a safer location. I didn’t need to tell him to be careful. My main concern was the man doing something stupid to anger Knox, who could kill him before I’d had my chance to question the Coalition flunky.

  The moment I felt that Knox was a few blocks away, I lowered and extinguished the flames. The lycanthropes didn’t hesitate. I narrowly dodged one fist flying toward my face and answered by slamming the heel of my palm into his solar plexus. The air exploded from his lungs, dropping him to his knees as he gasped for air. Balanced on the balls of my feet, I spun to my left and ducked down as another charged. I landed two blows and dodged one before I finally sent him flying across the parking lot.

  The third stood back, his body hunched over as he struggled to find a way to take me down when his two companions so quickly failed. Barrett also remained in the background, his large hands clenched into fists. He was still smart enough to know that if he attacked me it could cause an all-out war between the shifters and the vampires in my domain. For now, this was just a little scuffle and I was simply defending myself.

  I was shaky on my feet and there was a fine trembling in my fingers, but the rest in the car had given me the strength I needed to face off against Barrett if it came down to it. “I won’t kill him, Barrett,” I called out, my eyes locked on the one lycanthrope besides the Alpha that was still standing. “I need answers, and that man dead won’t help me get those answers.”

  “Mira—”

  “You can have him back when I’m done, I promise.”

  “Are you serious?” The hardened edge had left his voice—he seemed surprised by my offer. The change in tone was enough to get his people to give me a little more space.

  “Dead serious.”

  “Leave us.” Without another word, the three werewolves filed out of the parking lot and back into the restaurant, closing the door behind them. The power that had flooded the small parking lot instantly left with the light breeze that blew through, shifting the leaves in the nearby trees. “He tried to kill you?” Barrett said once we were alone.

  “He’s not the only one.”

  “We didn’t—”

  I knew what he was about to say and I cut him off. “He’s not the only one who’s tried to kill me tonight and he won’t be the last. There’s always someone trying to kill me. It’s the world we live in.”

  “Your world, not mine,” Barrett corrected.

  I smiled at him as I walked over to my car. “I’ll contact you when I’m done with the human,” I said, then drove off before he could say anything further. Whether Barrett wanted to admit it or not, we lived in the same world, with rules that threatened to choke those that could not accept it. I loved this world and its tight boundaries. Finding ways to manipulate the system we all lived in was one of the few things that still got the blood pumping in my veins, so to speak.

  Chapter 7

  I located Knox at a warehouse a few blocks away from Bella Luna. It seemed as if he was reluctant to stray too far considering I had been outnumbered by a group of angry lycanthropes. But then, Knox still had a touching tendency to underestimate me.

  After my car was properly stowed, I joined him in the nearly empty warehouse with the Daylight Coalition member. The dark-haired man paced the open area, his eyes never straying long from Knox as he looked for possible exit routes.

  “There are two doors on the ground floor and a third on the second floor
that leads to the roof,” I announced as I soundlessly walked across the main floor. I knew the warehouse because I owned it. It was kept empty for meetings just like this one.

  The overhead lights remained out, but patches of light spilled through dirty windows into the gritty expanse filled with large crates and warped wooden pallets. I stepped into a square of light and stayed there so Franklin could see me clearly. “But you won’t make it to any of those exits unless I want you to.”

  “Why’d you kidnap me?” he demanded in a harsh, ugly voice. His accent didn’t contain any of the soft Southern drawl that I had become accustomed to when dealing with humans. He was from somewhere up north originally.

  “Kidnap you? I think you mean saved your sorry ass.” Knox laughed deeply, shoving his hands into the back pockets of his torn jeans as he leaned against the wall. “You threaten the sister of the owner of Bella Luna, and you expect to walk out with your balls still attached? Very unlikely, my friend.”

  “I’m not your friend!” he raged, taking one step closer to Knox before backing off again.

  “I know what you are!” Franklin shouted. He paced toward me as if his courage had returned for a second before it left him and he paced away. “You’re a vampire.”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to deny it, but I let the comment pass. If he was the one that blew up Bryce’s house, then he mostly likely saw me at the house seconds before it exploded, and now I stood unharmed before him. Was there a better explanation than the fact that I was a nightwalker? Well, none that would make any sense.

  “And you’re a member of the Daylight Coalition,” I said with a light shrug of my shoulders. He honestly seemed shocked by my sudden pronouncement. He stumbled backward a couple steps and shook his head, causing me to laugh. “You know about us, but do you honestly think we wouldn’t know about you?”

  I stopped laughing suddenly, letting the silence overwhelm him before I started speaking again. “You kill nightwalkers. This morning, you killed one by the name of Bryce at the edge of town. He was tall, slender, with brown hair and freckles. He looked like he was nineteen. You killed him and made sure the body was left in a spot where the sunlight could reach it.” As I spoke, I watched the memories playing back in his mind like a silent movie. In a slightly broken jumble, I saw Franklin drag Bryce’s unconscious body up from the basement. With an enormous knife, he sawed opened the nightwalker’s chest and cut out the heart. He then removed the head. The whole time, Franklin was grinning as he was washed in Bryce’s blood.