Crimson Night (Night Series Book 1)

by R. S. Black

  “Work your magick,” Billy said, voice near a low rumble, never taking his eyes off the man.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked slowly, hoping he wasn’t asking me to do what I thought he was asking.

  He pinned me with a cold stare. “Do you want inside?”

  “Do you follow me around all the time, or do you have a crystal ball on you? How the hell do you know so much about me?” I ground my jaw, muscles tensing.

  “Just do it.”

  In our exchange he must have let off some of the pressure on the man’s neck. The man wiggled, fighting against Billy’s grip. Billy punched him in the face, and blood squirted everywhere. I jumped back, not wanting to get my sparkly shoes dirty. Hey, they might be ugly, but Billy bought them for me.

  He slammed the man’s head against the concrete, and I heard a sick crunch. I winced, not in sympathy, but recalling how he’d had done the same to me last night. I touched the back of my head, remembering the goose egg I’d sported several hours afterward.

  “Hurry up,” he snarled. “We’re too exposed out in the open.”

  I rolled my eyes. “He’s human, Priest. You split his head open like a melon. What am I supposed to get out of him now?”

  “He’ll survive.”

  I sighed, knelt, and touched my finger to his sweat-slickened forehead. The man moaned, eyelashes flickering open. I thralled him so that he couldn’t look away.

  I grabbed his head to keep him still and pushed my glamour at him, trying to sift out whatever information I could through the pain-addled brain.

  It was like trying to wade through swamp. All he could focus on was his pain. It was nearly impossible to find that secret place inside him where truth lay naked and exposed.

  “Billy, you suck at finesse, you know that? You could have at least waited for me to turn before you bashed his brains in.”

  My lips quirked at the sound of his low chuckle.

  I shoved my glamour at the man harder, cutting through the muck of driving pain until finally I found it. It sat like a little treasure trove in the corner of his mind. But unlike most prey, his was padlocked shut, dark and foreboding.

  Cold shivered down my spine. I licked my lips, knowing I would not like what I found. When desire is this hidden, this buried, it’s because it’s so perverse it’s shameful. I steadied my nerves, then flung open the floodgates and almost retched when I saw it.

  The man whimpered. Sweat poured freely down his face. “No, no, no,” he whispered.

  I growled, anger riding me hard, and my demon shrieked to life. My nails grew into sharp claws, piercing the man’s flesh. He tried to scream, but Billy cut off the sound by squeezing his vocal chords until all that came out was a muffled rasp.

  Now I knew why Billy had bought me this outfit.

  “You sick pervert!” I hissed.

  Blue eyes, blazing with pain and fogged with fear, pleaded for mercy. But there would be none from me. Yesterday he’d intrigued me. Today, I hated him.

  And my hate was Lust’s hate. She fed off my energy, growing darker, filling me fuller, gaining strength and stretching me wide. My breathing grew heavy.

  Memories of a little girl, her skirt hiked up with a man’s leering face staring down at her as he thrust himself deep inside, over and over, ignoring her strangled pleas for mercy as she bled out, seared my mind. I screamed, lost to the vision, smelling the sweat and the musk of his body, the blood of my own.

  Take it, Demon. Take it. This is what you’re good for. This is all you’re good for... that was the night I’d first killed, the night I realized that as much as I wanted to be all human, sometimes the demon needed to come out too. I’d been ten.

  “Neph.” Billy’s voice was a gentle warning.

  I hissed and twirled on the voice. My eyes swirled with bands of lavender and deep purple.

  “Pandora.”

  I blinked. That was me. I blinked again. I wasn’t in a marshy field. I was here. With him. With Billy.

  “Priest.” I whispered his name like a prayer.

  “Yes.” He nodded. I trembled, his silky voice cutting through the memories like a swift blade. “Yes. Listen to me.” He was cool reason, pulling me back from the demonic abyss. “You can’t kill him, not now.”

  The muscle under my eye throbbed as I fought to understand and regain control of myself.

  With one hand still firmly pressed against the man’s throat, Billy reached up and cupped my cheek. I swallowed hard, taking a deep breath. After several seconds I was finally able to open my eyes.

  “You okay?” he asked softly.

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  “Can you do this?”

  I glanced at the man, who was clearly slipping into unconsciousness from Billy’s death grip on his neck. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, heart-fluttering, panicked wings in my chest. But I wouldn’t back down, not now. I had to get inside. Oh God, did I really want to? What the hell was down there? Did I want to know? Could I handle the truth?

  Billy gripped my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Can you do this?” he asked again.

  With a deep breath, I nodded. “Yes.” Then I smiled, attempting to put on a happy face. Grin and bear it, as they say.

  He moved his hand and let me lean over the man. It took every ounce of courage I possessed to touch him. Not because I feared him, but because I wasn’t sure I trusted myself not to grab his balls, rip them off, and shove them down his throat. Maybe later, if I had time, I’d gift him to Bubba. One less bastard like this in the world would help me rest easier at night.

  I shoved his eyelids open. His pupils were wide, but his breathing was easy. Billy had cut off his oxygen, but had not done much damage otherwise. He’d have one helluva headache when he woke up, a couple of stitches, but the bastard would live. At least for one more night.

  His face was covered in his own gore, and it made it difficult to keep his eyes open.

  “Dammit,” I growled. “He’s slippery.” I used the edge of my dress to try to clean as much of the blood off as I could, but it kept oozing. Head wounds don’t even have to be bad to bleed profusely.

  “Here.” Billy scooted back, resting on the man’s thighs, and patted the chest like one might pat an extra space on a couch. “Maybe you can get better leverage this way.”

  I sat. And even for me, using the dude like a chair was a bit bizarre. But then I thought about what he did to little girls, and I wished I was my buxom size sixteen again so I could squish him.

  Billy leaned around me, grabbed the eyelids and held them open. I peered into the doorway of the soul and sieved the information I needed.

  All at once I felt myself begin to shrink. My legs, my arms, my torso, even my face. I had to push chubby hands against his chest to hold myself upright. I turned, and instead of staring straight into Billy’s eyes, I had to look way up.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” I said in high-pitched falsetto, the lisp coming naturally.

  Billy’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t look at me. He got up, offered me his hand, and I clasped it tight, feeling suddenly very insecure and unsure. I hated this. I’d never turned into a child before, and I prayed I’d never have to do it again.

  Before we left, I gave the guy a swift kick in the groin with my tiny slippered foot, then dug in my heel for good measure. “Stupid sack of—”

  “Don’t swear,” Billy said, turning me and walking toward the alley.

  I narrowed my eyes. “I may wook five, but don’t forget who you’re tawkin’ to.” Unfortunately, the high-pitched voice coupled with the fact that I said w’s instead of l’s made the threat more than absurd.

  His lips twitched, and I had the irrational urge to kick him in the shin. “You’re five,” he said patiently, grabbing my hand in his. I sighed and snuggled against his thigh. He looked down, a frown worrying his brow. “If you want this to look believable, try to act it.”

  We were nearly to the door. “Fine, but one last thing...” I
pinched his butt and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

  “Don’t do that,” he snapped.

  “What?” I grinned. “You don’t wike it?”

  He glared at me.

  I giggled. “Oh, I think I’m gonna enjoy dis.”

  Billy knocked on the door. Pounded it, more like, with the tap, tap, taptaptap, I’d heard the tall man use yesterday.

  I straightened my face and gripped Billy’s hand tighter. It wasn’t really much of a stretch to pretend nervousness. I was nervous. My mouth had grown dry and my stomach roiled.

  A bald head poked out; the shiver of parasite pulsed across my skin. I stared up at the scar-covered face peeking out from behind a red cowl and felt immediate sympathy for all the countless children who’d been in my position.

  “Moloch. Sacrifice,” Billy said.

  What? My heart thudded violently. I shot a glance at him. Moloch, as in the ancient god of sacrifice? As a girl in Edom I had seen streets filled with obelisk statues of the half-man, half-bull idol, the granite stones usually a dark shade of brown from the blood of countless children sacrificed upon it.

  I squeezed Billy’s hand until I nearly crushed the bone. This was supposed to be about a rogue Neph, maybe even a widespread molestation ring, not about some antiquated god whose popularity had died out eons ago.

  “Cool it,” he whispered, smacking my hand.

  “Sorry.” I released some of the pressure.

  The vamp stepped aside and ushered us in.

  When I stepped inside, a rush of cool air lifted the skirt of my dress. I glanced at the large gaping hole that led into utter darkness. This was an underground cave, lit red by the soft glow of lamplight spaced at odd intervals.

  A crowd of maybe fifteen to twenty men and women, each holding on to a child’s hand, huddled inside the stone antechamber. None of the children screamed, but many of them cried softly for their parents and friends.

  My heart squeezed.

  For a kid, this must have looked like the gateway to hell. I clenched my jaw, breathing growing harder and faster. Billy knelt and grabbed my face between his large hands.

  “Relax,” he whispered.

  “Why didn’t you warn me about this?” I snapped.

  Some of the people turned, casting hard frowns at both Billy and myself. “Trying to calm her down,” he said

  A redhead with frizzy bangs laughed. She patted the dark hair of her charge, a little guy who snuggled his face into her neck seeking comfort. “Sometimes I find a firm hand can go a long way with the more...” She eyed me up and down. “Rebellious ones.”

  I shook with the violent urge to scalp that mop top off her head. I smiled, licked my lips, and tagged her. Redhead was dead.

  Billy snapped his fingers.

  “What!” I hissed.

  “Remember why we’re here.” He lifted a brow.

  “Oh, I remember, all right. Don’t you worry about me.” I crossed my arms.

  The vamp who’d opened the door walked to the front of the group and held up his hands. An expectant hush spilled over the crowd. All eyes turned toward him, even the children’s. It was a minor thrall. Bubba was better, or maybe I was in the mood to be contrary.

  “Follow me,” he said, then turned and entered the yawning hole.

  The people moved out, and we followed, last to get in line. At the top of the staircase Billy scooped me up and held me in his arms. I frowned.

  “Not that I mind,” I whispered, “but what do you think you are doin’?”

  He rested his cheek against mine, his warm breath on my ear when he said in a voice audible to few, “As soon as we can, we’re going to separate from the herd.”

  I squirmed as he started down the flight of stairs. The squeal of rubber-soled shoes on the wet metal was the only sound around us.

  It was quiet, and the deeper we walked, the more eerie the hush. The procession felt somber, like marching toward a funeral.

  I shifted in his arms again. It actually wasn’t comfortable being held like this. No wonder kids were always trying to squirm out of their parents’ arms.

  “Stop moving.”

  “Your arm is making my thong slide up,” I hissed.

  His nose curled, and I had to swallow my giggle. His look had been priceless, as if seeing a five-year-old face admit to wearing a thong was creepy.

  “What’s wrong, baby,” I nibbled on his ear, “don’t you find me sexy?” Oh man, that was about as inappropriate as it came. But honestly, sometimes I couldn’t help myself.

  He growled and swung at my head with his free hand. I dipped, missing the blow by inches. I grabbed his hand, brought it to my mouth and bit down.

  If looks could kill, I’d be six feet under.

  I shrugged and fluffed out my hair. “Don’t swing at me again.”

  Finally the stairs ended and we entered an even darker room. I could see fine, but most of the others were glancing around in wide-eyed dread.

  I looked around too, studying the layout, committing it to memory. Now that I knew my way inside, I’d be back.

  The vamp swung open another steel door, and this time when he did the silence was shattered. The screams of children echoed like thunder down the hall.

  And one other thing snared my attention, making my pulse hammer and my knees weak, the unmistakable odor of sulfur. A Neph was here. I closed my eyes, hugging Billy’s neck.

  I’d hoped Grace was wrong, but I could no longer deny the truth.

  Chapter 21

  Some of the kids around me started crying, others screamed, and some simply stood in numb terror.

  The handlers dragged some, picked others up, and any pretense of nicety was suddenly stripped away. The humans slapped, kicked, and boxed the ears of the kids unwilling to move forward.

  I trembled with rage and dug my claws into Billy’s shoulders, this close to losing my composure. He rubbed my back in a soothing gesture. I took a deep breath and clipped a hard nod. I was okay.

  We all walked inside. The vamp closed the door behind us, locking us inside with the screams.

  Blue fog rolled around the dank, earthen floor, and the room stretched for what seemed like miles on either side. Spaced side by side were large iron cages with beds of straw and one tiny body apiece inside.

  Some of the kids were screaming, several different dialects warring against each other, rattling the metal bars, voices grown hoarse from hours of abuse. Others stared with the blank look of utter hopelessness, and some were curled on their sides, sucking their thumbs, mud-streaked faces gazing out at nothing.

  One thing disturbed me about the children—their ethnicity. Asian, African, Hispanic, European, and many, if not most, looked native to their homeland. And if that was the case, then these kids came from all parts of the globe. The likelihood of the parents ever finding their kids again was slim to none.

  I choked on my fury and looked away before I did something I’d regret.

  The vamp shoved his glamour at us. The weak pulse of it slapped my face, and I swatted it away. He was attempting to thrall the kids into quieting down. My lip curled, exposing my fangs.

  Billy’s arms tightened. “Look above us. Do you see the beams?”

  I looked. “Yes.”

  “When I say go”—He patted my hair as if he were trying to soothe me—“you go. Got it?”

  I nodded. He set me down.

  The group started walking again, and aside from the lone vamp guiding us, I didn’t see any others. This wasn’t it. Couldn’t be. This had to be a holding cell of some sort; the real action was still someplace else.

  Little by little, Billy separated away from the pack, walking slower and slower until we were several paces behind the rest of the group.

  “Do you see anyone behind us?” he whispered.

  I scanned the darkness for any moving shapes, but I really didn’t need to. There was nothing there aside from the children.

  “No.”

  “Then go.”

&
nbsp; I ported. The moment my feet touched the beams, I heaved a heavy sigh of relief and turned to find Billy gazing out at the sea of cages.

  “We need to follow them,” he said. The second he looked at me, I shifted back to normal and shuddered. I wanted to wipe the memory of being a little girl from my mind.

  Teasing Billy had been fun, but not enough to tempt me to ever do that again.

  He started running and I followed, jumping from beam to beam with balanced ease. Just as I caught sight of the group, I was overcome by a powerful shiver of paras. The second I turned the corner there were several more vamps. They were grabbing the screaming children from the adults’ arms and dragging them away down separate paths. In all the confusion, no one seemed to notice we’d gone missing.

  I bit the inside of my cheek and crouched low.

  “Look.” Billy pointed straight ahead. “Do you see that yellow light?”

  The vamp we’d been following turned and headed in the direction he’d pointed, and I could make out the barest flicker of golden yellow.

  “Looks like flame,” I said.

  “I think so. That’s where we need to go.”

  We waited until the space cleared, then Billy hopped and I ported down. The heavy stench of sulfur clung to my clothes and hair. The farther down the cave the stronger the smell, and my certainty grew that I was indeed tracking a rogue Neph. Only a demon smelled of hell.

  I hugged the damp stone. Billy peeked down the hall, then motioned for me to follow. Even here, walking inside the narrow confines of the hall, there were children.

  The cages hung from the ceiling by metal hooks. They stared at us, eyes forlorn, hopeless. I tamped down my anger. It was one thing to have lab rats, but kids, little beings who’d never had a chance to live... I couldn’t take it.

  I turned my eyes, didn’t look. Tried not to hear the whimpered pleas or see the outstretched hands. If I looked at one more bruised face, saw one more bloody lip, I’d never be able to press on. I’d have to turn back and free them all now, and I couldn’t do it. I ran the risk of not only exposing myself but making it impossible to eventually free them. I didn’t know how many vamps I was dealing with. I would come back for them, but only when I knew the odds and was better prepared.