Adrenalize

by Trina M. Lee

  Couldn’t argue that. I would never stand in the way of Rowen moving on and finding the happiness he deserved. But this was not that situation, and I’d be damned before I would stand aside.

  Storm didn’t know who she was messing with, but she was going to find out.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “HUH?” ROWEN CONSIDERED what we’d just revealed. “Well isn’t that the damnedest thing?”

  After leaving Storm’s bus, Jett and I had sought out the guys where they sat drinking under the beer tent. Gathered around the picnic table, I sat next to Arrow, across from Rowen. Next to me Arrow shook his head and swore, surprised by the revelation that Storm was the man sucker. Rowen, however, didn’t appear all that surprised nor did he appear nearly concerned enough.

  “Yeah, actually it is.” Twirling an unlit cigarette between her fingers, Jett regarded Rowen with thinly veiled scrutiny. “She’s literally sucking the life from you, dude, and you don’t think that’s a problem?”

  Rowen’s brow lifted, and the corner of his mouth curved in a sly smirk. I saw the unsavory thought flit over his face, a filthy remark he somehow suppressed. “Then I guess I probably shouldn’t accept her invitation to spend the night on her bus.”

  I wasn’t touching that one. It wasn’t my place.

  Arrow, however, didn’t have a problem jumping in and bossing his brother around. “Dude, no, you’re not fucking doing that. She’s already killed. You should probably take this seriously.”

  “And you should probably mind your own business. Let me handle mine. Doesn’t sound like she plans to kill me anytime soon anyway.” Tipping a plastic cup of whiskey to his lips, Rowen effectively dismissed Arrow. He set the cup back down hard on the picnic table, waiting expectantly for Arrow’s retort.

  I suspected Rowen had started drinking a while ago. He was a grown-ass man who could do as he pleased. But if he kept carrying on with Storm, knowing what she was up to, then we would have problem. It wasn’t only his safety on the line. Storm was a menace leaving bodies in her wake. It wasn’t like him to make such reckless choices. It was worrisome.

  “What’s gotten into you, man?” Arrow didn’t beat around the bush. He was one for calling people out on their shit. “You’re being a bit of a dick lately.”

  Below the table I gave Arrow’s thigh a warning squeeze. The two of them could go from best friends to rival siblings in a breath, and then right back again. It put me on edge because I often felt it was my fault that the rift between them had grown.

  A tense silence descended over the table as the two of them stared hard at one another. I squirmed in my seat, unable to sit still. We had to do something about Storm. She couldn’t be allowed to continue preying on unsuspecting people.

  “Nothing is wrong with me. Just trying to live my best life here, if that’s ok with all of you.” Drunk and surly was not a good look for Rowen. He sat there stubbornly with no respect for the danger Storm put him in or appreciation for our concern. “On that note, I’m going to go. You guys are bringing me down.” Smashing a fist on the empty plastic cup, Rowen flattened it against the table and walked away.

  Arrow was not the type to sit quietly in the face of such a challenge. He was up, off the bench, and gone before I could stop him. He caught Rowen’s shoulder and jerked him around hard. Rowen’s fists clenched but he didn’t throw one yet. Jett and I were on our feet, ready to break it up. They hadn’t engaged in a physical conflict in some time, and I didn’t want that to change.

  “Get off me, Arrow,” Rowen snarled, raising a fist in warning.

  “Not until you stop acting like a drunk asshole. Take a look around, bro. There’s a thousand places you could put your dick. Is it really worth risking your life just to bang a chick like Storm?” Not the classiest delivery but Arrow made a good point. He released Rowen’s shoulder and dropped both hands to his sides in a show of peace.

  Jett nudged me and pointed to a small group of fangirls clustered several feet away. They had taken notice of the brothers and were watching their exchange with keen interest.

  “What fun would life be without a little risk?” Rowen countered. “Maybe I just want to play in the dark a little. I mean, it’s good enough for Spike, right? Can’t be all that bad.”

  It stung that he always tried to diminish my feelings for Arrow. A remark like that deserved a slap. Still, I knew it was mostly the alcohol talking. Not that the sentiment wasn’t real, but Rowen wasn’t usually so straight up shitty.

  Arrow crossed his arms and shifted his weight from foot to foot. I got the feeling he was trying to keep from throwing the first punch. “Say whatever the hell you want about me but leave Spike out of it. She doesn’t deserve that crap and you know it. You obviously have some shit going on. If you want to take it out on me, go right ahead. I’m standing right here.”

  The arrogant manner in which Arrow thrust out his chin had Rowen stepping forward to close the gap between them. That’s when I saw one of the watching girls raise her phone to take a picture.

  I shoved my way between the two guys, gently pushing them away from one another. In a low voice I said, “That’s enough guys. People are watching and they’ve got cameras. Let’s try to keep personal things exactly that, shall we?”

  Seeing as there was enough social media drama going on currently, they both backed off. Rowen booked it out of there pretty damn quick.

  “Just let him go,” I told Arrow when he rocked forward like he might follow. “He’s a big boy. He can make this decision for himself.”

  Jett sidled up to us and leaned in close so as not to be overheard. “The problem isn’t Rowen. It’s her.”

  Arrow nodded his agreement. “So we deal with her. Put the fear in her any way we have to. And this time I’m coming.”

  The buses pulled out right after the show ended. Needing more time to get to the next city, we would be traveling through the night. And just as he’d said, Rowen spent the ride on Storm’s bus.

  Of course it bothered me. Not because of what he was doing with her but because it was so damn reckless. Rowen wasn’t the reckless type. In fact, he was such a play-it-safe kind of guy that he’d broken my heart at the request of a demon because he believed it was the safest way. This new unhinged Rowen, I didn’t like him much. That sucked because I loved him. I always would in my own way, and I wanted better for him.

  I wasn’t as bothered as Arrow. Several times throughout the night he muttered about Rowen. What an idiot he was, how he was supposed to be the smart one, the level-headed one. Arrow didn’t know how to respond to Rowen’s behavior.

  That was because Rowen had spent their entire friendship being the solid one of the two. He’d kept Arrow alive and cleaned up numerous messes for his brother. Now the tables had turned and Arrow was at a loss.

  “Hey, it’s ok. We all have this phase, don’t we? Being stupid and reckless. Rowen can take care of himself. You know that.” We both lay awake in the darkness of the back lounge, listening to the sound of the highway beneath the bus wheels. I lay with my head on Arrow’s chest, lulled by the rise and fall of his breath.

  Arrow’s heartbeat was steady beneath my cheek, relaxing in its rhythmic pattern. He pushed a hand gently through my long tresses. “He’s doing this shit because of us. Because we’re together.”

  Beneath the sheets, I pressed tight against Arrow, marveling at how perfect he felt beside me. Skin on skin, I still couldn’t get enough. “I know. But that’s his problem, not ours. Rowen is responsible for his own decisions. That includes the consequences of them. It’s not on us.” It crushed me to say those words because I meant them.

  Arrow’s arms tightened around me. “I’ve never seen him like this before. I can’t help but feel like I have to do something. I feel like I’m failing him.”

  Even though I could only see him faintly in the waning moonlight that slipped through the window, I tipped my head up, seeking his face. “Oh, Arrow, no, of course you’re not. There’s only so much you c
an do. You’re by his side ready to love and support him, and that’s the most important thing. If he’s not ready to accept that from either of us, then we have to respect that. Rowen just needs to let it out somehow. He’ll come around.”

  I didn’t need to see his face clearly to know that Arrow wrestled with guilt and anguish. His usually seductive low timbre was rife with it when he tentatively asked, “But what if he doesn’t?”

  I lay my head back down and simply held tight to my paramour, trying to give him the comfort I could not provide with words. I had no answer to that question.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  ARROW WAS ALREADY UP having coffee by the time my alarm went off. I stumbled out to the cramped kitchen to try and make my way into the coffee line. He was sitting at the table, scowling at his phone.

  “Did you even sleep last night?” I asked, ignoring Paul who tried to usher me ahead of him in the wait for the Keurig.

  With a shrug, Arrow held up his coffee mug. “This is my second.”

  He waited for me to finally join him at the small table before showing me his phone and the series of texts he’d sent Rowen. There had been no reply. Arrow’s brow furrowed in unspoken worry.

  “He’s fine,” I said quietly. “He’s just trying to make a point. Which we’ve received. I’m sure he’ll be back in no time.”

  Right on cue, the bus door opened, and Rowen sauntered in like the fox who’d just raided the henhouse. With a self-satisfied grin, he squeezed through the front and headed for his bunk without so much as a glance in our direction.

  Once Rowen had disappeared into the tiny shower, Arrow turned to me with this dark spark in his eyes. “This shit stops tonight.”

  There wasn’t much I could say to that with Paul’s band crowded around us. Whatever Arrow was thinking, I wasn’t sure I’d like it if the look on his face was anything to go by.

  “Don’t do anything impulsive. I have a local radio interview to get to before we play. Text me when you have some free time. We’ll talk to Rowen together.” After giving Arrow a kiss on the cheek, which turned into a few on the lips, I retreated to the back lounge where Jett and the girls were getting ready.

  I still wasn’t sure how we should deal with Storm. Although she was more than human, she still fit the description. I was light, and killing humans was not in my job description. Again I wanted to try to bring Cinder or Nova in on this, but I couldn’t help but feel like it was something we needed to prove we were capable of handling on our own. We weren’t a bunch of ragtag kids that needed a babysitter.

  When I stepped off the bus, I was able to get a look at our latest location. The travel made me feel incredibly detached from the destination. But when we stepped out to find a field hedged by a small forest instead of the city, I was pleasantly surprised.

  I could see the back of the stage in the distance. People already gathered in a field in front of it, waiting for the first band to start. Smaller cities with rural festival locations were always worth the trip. Back home we had a similar location, though the rock festival had long since been shut down after too many deaths and injuries. Only the country music festival remained.

  That’s rock ’n’ roll for you. I guess rockers were just born to be bad. Some worse than others of course.

  “Son of a bitch,” Jett muttered upon taking in the sight. “We couldn’t have played this place the night of the full moon? Figures.”

  The day went quickly as they often did now. For the most part all interviews and fan interactions went smoothly with little drama or negativity. Aside from the one teenage girl who unashamedly asked me as I signed her T-shirt if it was true that I had dated “those two hot guys” from Molly’s Chamber. Without waiting for a response, she had then asked who was better in bed.

  I left that encounter reeling, wondering when the hell people had gotten so entitled as to believe they deserved that information. Not only that but it wasn’t anybody’s damn business what had gone on between the three of us personally. I’d thought the politics and rumor mill of the immortals was tiresome, but this really took it to a whole new level of uncool.

  “When are you going to just up and pop one of these chicks, Spike?” Jett’s question was met with laughter from Rubi and Tash. “I admire your self-restraint. You probably don’t have a bad bone in your body.”

  “Only Arrow’s on occasion,” Tash giggled with a toss of her long red hair.

  Jett nodded approvingly. “Nice.”

  I laughed half-heartedly as they took turns making inappropriate comments, but inside I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that this was all wrong. Gazing around at the festival, it became increasingly clear that even though I had everything right here that I’d been dreaming of for so many years, something was missing.

  For so long I’d clung to my human side. My human dreams. There was nothing wrong with having them or chasing them. But they were only part of all that I was. Every day I felt it more poignantly. The side of me that was angel blood, it was suppressed here. Stifled in a way that it never should have been.

  By the time we were finally free of obligations, I’d just missed Molly’s Chamber’s set. Seeing as they’d performed without incident, as far as I knew, the guys must be getting along to some extent. There were no messages from Arrow on my phone yet though, and I wanted to touch base with him before he could do anything rash. Something about the determination he’d worn this morning had me concerned. Arrow felt pressured to protect his brother from himself. There was no telling how he might decide to do that.

  A quick check of the schedule, and I knew that Storm would be hitting the stage later in the evening. So if she wasn’t out here sucking the life out of random dudes, she’d be in her bus hiding out as she seemed to do.

  After parting ways with Rubi and Tash, I dragged Jett along with me in search of either Arrow or Storm. When Jett tried Sam he’d told her that he was near the stage and Arrow wasn’t with him.

  Even though the last thing I wanted to do was look at her smug face, I went to Storm’s bus. To my surprise one of the guys in her band informed us that she wasn’t there. He wasn’t sure where she’d gone.

  As we walked away, I turned to Jett with a brow raised. “Think you can track him? I’m afraid he tried to get her alone.”

  “In this form? Maybe. It might be easier to sniff out Storm’s noxious perfume.” She raised her nose to the air.

  My gaze landed on the thatch of trees behind the buses, and my skin crawled. “I have a really bad feeling about this.”

  Following my gaze, Jett started toward the trees. I hesitated before going after her, glancing back to see if anyone watched. It was the closest place that offered a sense of privacy. Though not a true forest by any means, the trees were thick enough for someone to disappear into should they want to get lost.

  The deeper into the treed area that we went, the more my sick feeling grew. When we came across a shred of torn black fabric clinging to some brush, I swallowed hard, steeling myself for anything.

  Jett plucked the fabric from the brush and gave it a sniff. “Definitely Storm’s. I don’t think they’ve gone far.”

  All I could think about was how Arrow had killed before. It wasn’t something that defined who he was to me, and I never wanted it to be. Whatever he was up to, I had to stop him.

  “So just out of curiosity, Spike, what exactly do we plan to do with this woman? I mean, if you don’t plan to kill her, then how do you expect this to stop? She’ll just keep preying on guys who cross her path. Rowen included.”

  I came to a stop, needing a moment to clear my head. The sound of birds singing and chirping in the trees above made it easy to forget there was a city nearby. It was calming and peaceful. Jett seemed to revel in it.

  “Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve never dealt with this kind of thing before without some kind of guidance. Do you think I should call Cinder in on this?”

  I trusted Jett’s opinion, but I also knew her well enough to anticipate
her response. Sucking the edge of her lip into her mouth, she mulled it over. “No, I don’t think so. There are going to be a lot of times in this life when you have to make a call without him. Why not this one?”

  She was right and that sucked. Still, I couldn’t help but feel a little anxious. What if I made the wrong choice? Or what if it wasn’t even my choice to make? Who’d appointed me the leader?

  “Maybe we can find a way to get her to back off of Rowen. We only have a couple weeks left on the tour. She lives in L.A. I doubt she’ll really make the trip to see him.” I started to babble. I was not prepared for this situation. We were supposed to be here for some rock ’n’ roll and good times. I hadn’t signed on for this.

  Except that I had. Demons were my usual, but dark people up to no good were my duty too. I knew that if it was me or some ancient witch, I would choose me and everyone I loved, even if my friends were acting like assholes.

  “Now you’re just talking crazy talk. Come on. Let’s find them. As for what happens, Storm is the one who will choose how this goes down.” Jett led the way, pausing every few steps to sniff around.

  Once she started moving faster, I knew she’d picked something up. We broke through a cluster of thick brush to find Storm standing over Arrow. On his knees with blood trickling from one nostril, he spat on her shiny black boots.

  My heart fell along with my stomach into my toes.

  Storm didn’t seem surprised to see us. In one hand burned a brilliant green orb. “Must be handy having a werewolf around to track people down,” she said, all sass and attitude. “Did you send him? Or did you come to stop him?”

  She didn’t give us a chance to answer. Storm hauled off and kicked Arrow hard in the face. The toe of her leather boot split open a gash beneath his eye.

  The witchy orb in her hand should have deterred me. Nothing did. I snapped. I went at her hard enough to take us both down to the ground, rolling in a tangle of limbs. She lost control of the orb in the process, and it flickered out.