Bane had said no patrolling, no sightseeing. With the training and the others ducking in and out on rota, there’d been no time for such trivial shit. But it no longer felt trivial, because if I had to spend another day cooped up within these gray stone walls, I would seriously go insane.
It was time to take a trip into Midnight.
Chapter 15
I found Cassie doing crazy leaps in the training room.
I leaned against the door jamb and waited for her to finish her little obstacle course. She was good. Real good. Fast and agile and her whip skills were pretty epic. She landed in a crouch and shot me a grin.
“You want to train more? Damn. You’re a glutton for punishment, Harker.”
“Nope, I was hoping you’d take me out.”
She rose smoothly to her feet, her brows flicking up. “Bane let you off the leash?”
To lie or not to lie. Fuck it. “Nope. But I want you to take me out anyway.”
She sucked her teeth. “Now that is naughty.”
I pushed off the door frame. “Would you be able to stay cooped up here for two weeks?”
“I get it, Harker. I totally do. But Bane’s the boss and until he says you can patrol, I can’t take you out.”
“I know that. I’m not asking to go on patrol...yet. I want to go out. See the District, get some takeout. You know, get the lay of the land.”
“Oh.” She shrugged. “Sure, that’s actually a great idea. I can show you my sector. Who knows, once Bane clears you, you might end up partnering with me.” She walked away toward the bench. “Actually, I was going to come find you. Bane asked me to give these to you.”
She strolled over and handed me the gold and cream weapons belt I’d seen in the vault before being distracted by the slab and the enchanted daggers.
“I already have daggers.”
“Yeah, ones that only appear when you feel threatened. Sometimes, you need to show force to prevent an altercation, or just like, cut stuff.” She held out the belt. “Take them. Use them. At least until you can figure out how to make the Aether daggers appear consistently at will.”
Excitement fizzed in my belly as I strapped on the belt. “So, can we go now?”
She chuckled and sauntered toward me. “I have a better idea. It’s Drayton’s night off. We’ll grab him too. He probably needs to feed anyway.”
“Feed as in fuck?” My voice went up an octave.
She slid an arch look my way. “You have a problem with that?”
I cleared my throat. “Course not.”
“Good. It’s quite fascinating actually. You should see him work. He is pretty amazing. The way he has the women eating out of the palm of his hand.”
My stomach twisted. “I’m sure he is, I mean he does.”
“Maybe do a little undercover scoping while we’re at it.” She eyed me up and down. “You’ll want to put on something less Protectorate. You’ll want to blend in.”
“And what does blending in look like?”
“Jeans are good. Come on.” She led the way down the corridor and up the flight of stairs to the first floor. “We’re about the same build. I have a top that will totally bring out your eyes.”
***
An hour later we were driving out of the iron gates and into Midnight. My pulse did a little hop, skip and jump. This was my new district. Mine to patrol and keep safe. Drayton steered the vehicle, his shirt sleeves rolled up, his strong forearms on show. So far, I’d only ever seen him in his Protectorate get up or joggers and a t-shirt. Tonight, he was slick and suave in a deep green shirt and dark jeans. His jet black hair fell in just got out of bed waves over his forehead and his hazel eyes blazed from beneath dark brows and lashes, and when I was done admiring him, I needed to roll my tongue back into my mouth and wipe away the drool.
Gah. I was so hopeless.
Cassie locked eyes with me in the rear view mirror, a smirk playing on her lips. “Like what you see, Harker?”
“You look lovely,” I said sweetly.
She bit back a smile. Yeah, she’s caught me checking out Drayton. Thank goodness he was none the wiser though.
“I think Cassie was referring to me,” Drayton drawled. “Do you like what you see? Think the female population of Midnight will approve?”
Shit. “Don’t you control the level of approval with your mojo?”
“It doesn’t work that wa—”
“Yes. I guess I do.” Drayton cut Cassie off.
I checked her out in the rear view and her brow was furrowed. Why had he cut her off like that?
“Check out your new hunting ground, Harker. The night is our friend. We hide in the shadows and pick off the nasty shit that thinks it owns the darkness.”
We were driving through a residential area, lined with neatly kept houses and white picket fences. It looked like Sunset, except it wasn’t bathed in orange.
“The streets look so normal.”
“What did you expect? Carnage and mayhem. Blood spurting as scourge fed.”
Yeah, actually I kinda had. “So, people just get on with it?”
“They know when to keep close to home,” Cassie said from the backseat. “They know when to go into lock-down and batten down the hatches. The scourge runs once a month and we have a strict curfew on those days. Most businesses are closed. All the scourge that have gone under, hunt on mass and it’s the only time the whole of the Protectorate are called to duty. Even then, we can’t prevent the deaths.”
We slid onto a main road chock full of cars and lit up with street lights. Fresh sea air blasted through the vents.
“Are we close to the coast?”
Drayton smiled. “Yes. A half mile to the east. It’s the sea dwellers’ territory.”
“Sea dwellers?”
“Nephs like Orin and Rivers,” Cassie said. “But minor ones who can’t dwell on land for extended periods of time. They hang out at The Deep. It’s a pretty popular club. Some people believe that the sea dwellers are nephs descended not from human and Black Wing unions, but from the Black Wing union with an ancient race from another plane of existence. One that walked this world for a time before retreating back to their realm.”
“It’s almost impossible to think of different planes of existence when we’re stuck in a single city. I’d be happy to see the world outside of Arcadia, never mind another realm.”
“I took a boat once,” Drayton said softly. “Rowed until my arms ached. Rowed as far as I could. Into the middle of the ocean so the land vanished behind me. For a moment, I actually thought I’d made it out, and then land appeared before me. I rowed like a mad man, my heart in my mouth believing I’d found the outside world and then the sky line became clear and I realized I was back where I’d started.” He shot me an apologetic smile. “If there is a way out, then we have yet to find it. The only creatures that know for sure are the winged, and they’re not talking.”
Shit, that was depressing. I focused on the scenery outside my window, at all the twinkling lights that obscured the moon. “And what is this place?”
“The strip. East side belongs to the Sanguinata, West side to the Lupin. Their businesses are in constant competition.”
“And the Breed?”
His jaw tightened. “We still haven’t pinpointed their base of operations. Those fuckers need to be put down.”
Cassie shifted forward in her seat and slid a hand onto his shoulder. “We’ll get them, hon. I promise.”
There was a story here and I made a note to quiz Cassie about it first chance I got. “So, where are we headed?”
“The Deep.” Cassie grinned, her eyes gleaming as they caught the street lights. “Aside from being awesome, you can pick up a lot of information about what the houses are up to. The place is gossip central.”
We turned onto a narrow road, and began to move away from the strip. The street lights became sparser and then died all together.
“It’s been too quiet recently,” Drayton said softly. “
The scourge is due to run in a few nights, and nasties usually begin crawling out the woodwork the week leading up.”
“What kind of nasties? I thought the scourge were the nasties?”
“Yeah, so did we until about a year ago, but we’ve been coming across new creatures all the time. Bane has Rivers doing the research and cataloguing. We even considered approaching the Black Wings about it. Maybe even trying to get an audience with the White Wing council. But Bane has asked us to hold off until we have more information. If this shit gets worse, then I’m not sure even the Protectorate can keep on top of it, and if that happens it’ll spill into Sunset and, eventually, Dawn.”
The road spiraled down and land rose up on either side of us creating an open top tunnel, and then we were breaking free, with the ocean up ahead and the twinkling stars above. A dark shape rose up out of the water, the peak of a cliff, and, atop it, a towering black building with tiny amber dots for eyes.
I leaned across Drayton’s to point. “What is that?”
He didn’t even turn his head to look. “Black Wing manor. We don’t go there and they don’t come out.”
Yeah, they did. But he wasn’t supposed to know that. Bane had been pretty clear. “If no one goes there, and they never come out, how do you know they even exist?”
“You can see them sometimes.” Cassie said. “Flying around the manor. If you aren’t looking too closely you’d think they were huge birds.”
The road wound alongside the serene ocean far below. The view was breathtaking. If I’d thought Sunset was gorgeous, then the ocean at midnight, bathed in silver moonlight, was a sight to capture your breath and stall your pulse.
We traveled in silence until a low long building strung with lights came into view. Cassie let out an eep of excitement and even Drayton, who’d been pretty somber since the mention of the Breed, cracked a smile.
It was like a Christmas tree, if a building was a Christmas tree. Green and yellow light bulbs were strung along the guttering and wound up pillars and a blue neon sign flashed the words, The Deep.
We swung into the car park and came to a halt. The engine died with a graceful purr and Drayton turned in his seat to look at me. “Stick with Cassie.”
My face fell. “Aren’t you coming with us?”
His gaze dropped to my lips, his mouth parted and his pupils dilated.
“He needs to get his fix, right, Drayton?” Cassie nudged.
His expression shuttered and he pulled back. “Just stay with Cassie.” His tone was suddenly distant, as if he’d already stepped away into the club. As if he was already with someone else.
My chest tightened, and I wanted to kick myself. He wasn’t mine. I didn’t even want him to be mine. Relationships were off the table for me. It was all these bloody training sessions with all the sexual energy he’d been blasting me with. Thank goodness I’d fed off him earlier, even though that hadn’t been the plan. At least my hunger was in check.
“Watch her,” Drayton said to Cassie. “She fed off me earlier, and probably hasn’t burned through all the power. It may leak out of her shields and attract unsavory types.”
“You can speak to me directly you know. And my shields are perfectly airtight, thank you.”
“Good, keep it that way.”
I was about to snap back but Cassie grabbed my arm from the back seat and shook her head. Then we were piling out of the car. Drayton strode off immediately, leaving Cassie and I to trail after him.
“What is up his arse all of a sudden?”
“You’ve seen the playful chilled out Drayton. This is his alter ego, the incubus. And when he’s on the hunt, he’s a different person. Single minded, intense, and detached.”
“How can he be detached when he needs to lure women to him, how can he be detached when...you know, fucking them?”
“How can he not?” Cassie looked at me as if I was a moron. “He is fucking to feed. Would you get attached to a burger, or a steak when you knew you were about to devour it?”
“No, but it’s not like he’s about to kill them?”
“No, he’s about to make them fall in lust with him and leave them crazy for more. Laying with an incubus is an addiction. Whomever he chooses will crave his touch for weeks to come, doesn’t matter if his conquest is a neph or a human. He never hits the same target twice in three months.” Her eyes grew dark with sorrow. “Incubi can’t fall in love and have long term relationships, Serenity. That kind of connection would drive both the female and the incubus insane. Then love and lust and the need to feed would become entangled. Drayton survives by compartmentalizing his emotions. There is the incubus, hungry, intense and single minded in his pursuit of what he needs, and then there is playful Drayton, sated and chilled.”
Was that what had happened to my mother? An incubus liaison? Maybe more than one? Had she gone crazy and abandoned me, leading me to stumble into Arcadia? Had she recovered and looked for me or had she succumbed to madness?
“Why are you even telling me all of this?”
“Because I care about Drayton, and I see the way you look at him, the way he looks at you. I just...I wanted you to know the score.”
My neck heated. “Thanks for the heads up, but I’m seriously not looking for a relationship or anything like that. Trust me, I tried it once, and it’s just not for me.”
She slipped her arm through mine. “Let me guess, you dated a human and almost fed off him?”
I glanced sharply at her. “That obvious?”
“Logical. You’re a neph who lived amongst humans all your life. Who else would you have dated? But you see, now you’re amongst your own kind. You can drain their power but it will recharge. It would be pretty hard for you to kill us.”
Her words clicked into place and a small part of me lit up with hope. Of course, how the heck hadn’t I thought of it before? Oh yeah, because I’d been too busy holding on to the rule I’d set six years ago. The no relationship thing had become ingrained in my psyche, and it hadn’t even occurred to me that everything was different now. I could date...I could have a relationship.
Just not with Drayton. Not that I wanted to date him anyway.
I fixed a smile on my face. “Well, that’s good to know.”
Drayton was long gone. Off on the prowl inside. Cassie and I walked toward the entrance arm in arm.
“What did the Breed do to Drayton?”
Cassie’s arm tensed. “That’s something you’ll need to ask him.” Her tone was hoarse and saturated with memories.
A knot formed in my belly. It was bad, something really bad.
We climbed the steps and entered the warm confines of The Deep. We’d barely stepped through the door when Cassie’s arm was tugged from mine. For a moment, I thought she’d merely pulled away but then she let out a shriek. I whipped round.
“Cassie? Cassie?”
Another shriek and a flash of red hair.
She was bobbing against a mammoth back.
And then the crowd closed on her and she vanished.
Chapter 16
Cassie vanished into the throng of clubbers bopping to the music. The whole place was a dance floor. Strobe lights glanced across interesting faces, turning blue hair green and green hair blue and man it was just too much sensory information. I wound and squeezed my way through the bodies. Human and neph, there were so many of them, and everyone seemed to be chilled and having a good time, and if I hadn’t been stressing about Cassie’s wellbeing, I’d have stopped to study some of the nephs that smelled of the sea. These sea dwellers with large eyes and flat mouths, slightly pointed teeth and ears and skin tinged green and blue, but not by the lights.
The crowd thinned and a squeal cut through the beat, I caught a glimpse of Cassie as she was hauled up onto the bar by an epic creature with rippling arm muscles who had abducted her. I picked up pace, ready to defend her, and then she threw back her head and laughed—a throaty sexy sound that immediately had me faltering.
Her gaze met
mine over the nephs shoulder. “Serenity!” She waved me over. “Come meet my friends.”
I approached warily, and the guy standing between Cassie’s thighs, his hands gripping her hips, turned his head to look at me. His eyes flashed pale grey as he studied me. Damn, he was almost as big as Bane. Long hair hung in seaweed mimicking ropes down his back, green and blue and turquoise. His face was chiseled and proud.
He arched a winged brow. “You hanging with humans now, Cassie?” He kept his gaze on me.
Cassie punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Aha, she had you fooled too, huh? Serenity is a neph, she just has awesome shields.”
He scanned me from head to foot as if looking for a crack. “Shields?” he scoffed. “You and your jokes.” He dismissed me, turning his attention back to Cassie. “Tell her to go away. She’s making me hungry.”
Cassie’s expression sobered. “Killion, please tell me you haven’t...”
He snorted. “You know I can never lie to you.”
“Dammit!” She shoved his shoulder hard. “How many times do I have to tell you—” She broke off and glanced my way. “Um, Serenity, can you give us a minute?”
Drayton had asked me to stay with her, but this guy, Killion, gave me the creeps. “Sure. I’m gonna grab a drink.”
I strode off along the bar, found a gap and slipped through to the front. A tall broad shouldered purple tinged Neph was doing the serving. His head was bald, and his green eyes seemed to shine with an inner glow. He poured and slid drinks across the bar to customers, his gaze constantly scanning the floor as if in vigilance mode. Finally, he made his way to me.
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