She stared back at me unblinkingly.
Okay, so she was serious. “Look, Eve… Can I call you Eve?”
“Of course.”
“Okay, Eve, even if I wanted to help you, I have no idea how to track an immortal witch… Warlock? What is he?”
“He’s both, and you would do it with this.” She pulled a silver cuff out of nowhere and handed it to me.
It was warm to the touch, and my fingers prickled a little when they made contact with the smooth metal. It was obviously charged with some kind of power.
Why me? “Let me guess, you want me to put this on him.”
“Yes.”
Of course she did. “Right, so you want me to find an ancient, powerful witch-warlock who happens to be part celestial, with a chip the size of Everest on his shoulder, and cuff him?”
“Yes.”
Wow, she was really going for it. “If you hadn’t noticed, I have your face. He’ll see me and my cover—whatever fucking cover I have—will be blown.”
“No.” She smiled. “Cain doesn’t work that way. He’ll want to talk. He’ll want to persuade you of his cause, whatever it is, but you must remember that his cause will always be vengeance. You will listen, and you will fake empathy, and then, when the moment is right, you will cuff him.” Her eyes gleamed bright. “No hesitation. No doubts. We cannot afford them.”
“I turned the cuff over in my hands. “And if it goes another way? If he attacks me.”
“Right now, he’s weakened. He needs to gather his strength. He’ll lay low until he’s at full power. You have seven days until he’ll be too powerful to take down with the cuff. You must find him before then.” She grabbed my wrist and looked deep into my eyes. “Listen to me carefully, child. The power he wields is unmatched. If he’s allowed to gain his full strength, then he will be unstoppable, and who knows what shape his vengeance will take. What I can tell you is he will bring down anyone and anything standing in his way.”
Shit. It didn’t look like this was one I could walk away from. And I’d so hoped for an interlude before war in the Underealm. Just Grayson, bed, and a bucket of chicken wings, then to the Dominus quarters for some Uri and ice-cream for dessert. But no. I had to do this.
“How do I find him?”
“The cuff will act as a beacon. It will lead you to him by allowing you to see through his eyes.” She looked down at it almost lovingly. “It belonged to him. It was gift from his father. He wore it all the time until… Until Samael marked him. The cuff carries Cain’s essence, and through it you will be able to connect to him. Sleep with it under your pillow. Handle it often in the next few hours and it will help you find him. You have been touched by him, and it will recognize that and open to you.”
She looked over my head, her gaze turning unfocused. “You should go now.”
I stood with her and she held onto my hands for a moment, stroking the backs of them with soothing sweeps of her thumbs. “Do not waste time, child. Find him and the cuff will send him home. To me.”
She stepped close and brushed her lips across my forehead before touching my hair lightly. “His hair was the same exact shade. Like the rays of the moon.”
And then she shoved me, and spring tunneled away.
* * *
“Fee, fee!” Grayson shook me gently.
I opened my eyes and looked up at his concerned face.
“What happened?” he asked.
“So much”
I was getting sick of blacking out and waking up to people scrutinizing me with concern. For once, I wanted to be the concerned party hovering over someone. No, that wasn’t it. I just wanted a few normal days. No blacking out or being taken or losing anyone.
I sat up and rolled my shoulders then looked down at the cuff in my hand.
“Did she give you that?” Grayson followed my gaze.
“Yeah, we talked for a while, then she gave me this. I need a minute to process. Sorry if you were worried.”
He gave me a quizzical look. “Fee, you vanished and reappeared in a matter of seconds. There was no time to worry.”
“No.” I looked up at him with a frown. “That can’t be right. I was gone for at least an hour.”
“No, you weren’t.”
Wait, what had Eve said? This place exists out of time.
“I think time is different where she took me. I think there is no time.”
“Are you all right?” He cupped my cheek and I leaned into him. “I will be. I need coffee, and I need to think.”
“I can help with both of those.”
My stomach grumbled. “And donuts… I could really use a few donuts. I wonder what’s keeping Uri?”
Grayson chuckled. “You were gone two seconds,” he reminded me.
Oh shit. But I wanted a chocolate frosted one…
* * *
Uri
There is too much to choose from. In the Beyond, food is simple and always the same. It’s routine, but here… Here there is color and variety and so many smells. It’s why I love the human world so much. They feel so much, and through them I can feel too, but it’s different now.
Ever since the divine let me go, my senses are heightened. I’m more connected to the human realm than I ever was as a Grigori.
And what am I now?
I push the thought away.
I’m with Fee.
I am with the woman I…I love. Yes. I love her, but it’s too soon to claim her in that way. I need to give her time. These emotions are new and frightening. This tightness in my chest, this heat in the pit of my belly, this slow warmth that blooms in my heart when I think of her and when she touches me is all new.
New and frightening but mine.
“Hey, gorgeous.” Leana, the owner, grins up at me. “Have you decided which donuts you want?”
I came for donuts, but they seem so mundane compared to all the other treats, and Fee deserves the best.
“I’ll take one of each.”
“One of each donut?” Leana asks.
I lean on the counter and smile sweetly at her. “Two chocolate covered donuts and one of everything else.”
I don’t know why I choose chocolate; it just feels right.
Her eyes go wide. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
“I better get some boxes then.”
I wait as she makes up pastry boxes and absently watch the other patrons. There are a few familiar faces here. Fae mainly. Lumiers’ clientele attracts otherworld creatures. I’ve never had to interact with them though. A Grigori is concerned with keeping humans safe and the shining ones, as they were once called, don’t interact with humans much any longer. They keep to their spaces of in-between: ley roads, deep dark forests, shimmering lakes, nooks found under bridges and mountains. I sometimes forget their existence.
One looks up at me now and smiles, showcasing tiny, childlike teeth that sit strangely in his adult sized face. But his eyes are kind and Lumiers is a safe haven, so I smile back. Not that I could do much else. Aside from the fact that the wards on this place prevent altercation, I have no idea if I have access to my celestial weapons. I’ve been too afraid to try and summon them, afraid to accept I’m a celestial without celestial armor.
What am I now?
No. Don’t think about it.
My gaze flicks up to the balcony, and I spot a flash of ebony tresses on a broad-shouldered man. He’s hunched forward in his seat, poring over something. Probably a newspaper or a book. I’m about to turn away when he looks up and I’m snared in his gaze. Gray eyes so sharp they could cut through ice but familiar too. He stares at me for a long moment, and I feel the need to go to him. To get closer. I take a step—
“There you go, Uriel,” Leana says. “Your order.”
I turn to a counter piled high with boxes. Ah, that is a lot of cake.
Leana peers around the side of the boxes and wiggles her brows. “You might need to make two trips, love.”
&nbs
p; Yes, yes it seems like I’ll have to.
I grab several boxes and head for the door. There’s no jumping allowed inside the building, the wards don’t allow, it but I can’t help stopping to peer over my shoulder to locate the man with the gray eyes that could cut through ice.
But the table is empty.
He’s gone.
* * *
Fee
The air crackled and Uri appeared balancing a stack of boxes each with a Lumiers logo on them.
“What the fuck?” Grayson said good-naturedly.
Uri set the boxes on the island. “I couldn’t decide what to get, so I got one of each.”
“Each donut?” Grayson asked.
“I’ll be right back,” Uri winked out.
I joined Grayson at the island and lifted the lid off one of the boxes. Éclair, shortcake, cinnamon swirl, teacake. “Um…I think he meant one of everything Lumiers has.”
Uri reappeared with more boxes and set them on the island too. “I’ll make tea.”
“Coffee for me, babe.” The endearment just slipped out.
He didn’t falter as he filled the kettle with water, but the slight tinge to his cheeks told me he’d picked up on the endearment, and that he liked it.
I loved how I could make the warrior celestial blush, how I could make his body respond to mine like a weapon would respond to my grip and the twist of my wrist.
And now was not the time to be thinking about sex. I turned the cuff over again then slipped it on.
“Fee, what is that thing?” Grayson asked.
“Coffee first, story after.”
“Deal.”
Uri finished putting sugar and coffee into mugs and then leaned back against the counter, arms cross over his broad chest to look at us. “Why do I get the impression I’ve missed something vital.”
I gave him an innocent smile. “Around here, if you blink you lose.”
“I’m beginning to see that,” Uri said. His attention went to the cuff. “I can feel the power coming off that thing. Where did you get it?”
He’s slipped into Grigori mode. The watcher, the curator—and the intensity in his expression, the slight pout of his mouth—were sexy as hell.
I shook my head. “Coffee first.”
The kettle boiled, and Uri made the drinks. I made sure to get at least two huge bites of my donut – chocolate covered, just like I’d been craving—and then sat back, licking my lips.
“Fee…” Grayson’s jaw tightened with impatience.
“I know. I just…I needed a minute to gather my thoughts.” I took a sip of my coffee and filled then in on what Eve had told me.
“No,” Grayson said. “It’s too dangerous. She’s insane. This Cain character is an ancient. He’s powerful and he’s tried to kill you already—several fucking times.”
“I know, but what choice do we have? I’m the only one that can do this.”
Grayson sighed heavily. “Fate of the world?”
“Isn’t it always?” I picked at my donut, suddenly not so hungry anymore. “I dunno. She didn’t really specify what would happen, just that it would be bad.”
“Then we do this,” Grayson said. “Together.”
“Together,” Uri added.
I lightly touched the cuff. “Thanks guys. I guess now I just need to wait for this thing to give me a vision or whatever to show me where he is.”
“She said you’d be able to see through his eyes?” Uri asked.
“Yeah, but I need to keep it on me to attune to it.”
“Like a frequency,” Uriel nodded. “You need to tap into the frequency.”
“Exactly.”
Bastian padded into the kitchen, bare foot, bare chested, scratching his head. “You got cakes?”
Grayson pushed a box toward the monolith. “Help yourself.”
Loup slowly began to emerge from slumber and joined us on the ground floor, spilling into the lounge and gravitating toward the kitchen. After the tough few days we’d had, Grayson had ordered everyone to get some rest, but rest-time was over, and thanks to Uri there were enough cakes to go around.
Soon the kitchen was filled with the scent of coffee and the rumble of conversation, stools were scraped back as my Loup took seats and the boxes of cakes were passed around.
A warm feeling of security and safety washed over me. This was my pack. This was my home, and whatever happened, we’d face it together.
The phone rang shrilly, rising above the conversation and stalling it.
Bobby was closest to the landline and answered. His eyes widened before he looked over at me.
My heart sank. Something was wrong. “What is it?”
He spoke into the phone then hung up.
“Bobby, what’s happened?” My voice was louder now, cutting through the buzz of conversation and shutting it down. All eyes were on me. ”Bobby?”
He took a deep breath. “That was Hunter. Eldrick’s pack turned on him. He’s hurt. Bad.”
Chapter Three
I was on my feet, stool clattering to the ground in a heartbeat. “Where are they?”
“Safe house,” Bobby said. “Hunter said to knock four times.”
He rattled off coordinates while Dean flipped on his phone and found the location.
“Got it,” my beta said. “I’ll drive.”
“Bastian, Uri, you hold the fort!” Grayson said.
Bastian raised both brows.
“He’s one of us now,” Grayson said. “He may not be a Loup, but he’s a celestial warrior. Do you have a problem with that?”
Bastian’s eyes narrowed as he studied Uri and then he grinned. “Nah, Uri and I are cool.”
Uri smirked. Actually smirked. Wait, there was a story here and I needed to know it. I gave Uri a look that said we’ll talk about this later but right now I needed to get to Eldrick.
“We need Petra.”
But Bobby was already at the lift, on his way to get her.
We took the van, loaded with first aid supplies and our resident shaman. Dean drove like a demon, cutting through the streets like a knife. Mid-afternoon traffic was a bitch.
No one spoke, and I was glad. My mind whirred with possibilities, filling with guilt. Eldrick had asked me to help him. He’d asked me to take over for him. I’d seen the shadows in his eyes, and I’d ignored them.
There were traitors in his midst, we’d known that. I should have helped. I should have stepped up and maybe he’d be okay.
Please, please don’t let him die.
Please.
Dean cut down a side street, through an abandoned parking lot and onto the edge of Rising pack territory—a residential area on the poorer track. The houses here were all three-story affairs, squished together on the narrow street. Dean pulled up outside a house with a blue door and brass knocker in the shape of a wolf head. Nice touch.
I hopped out first and was already at the door when the guys and Petra joined me.
Knock four times, Bobby had said.
I did just that and waited.
Long seconds passed and then the door swung open to reveal a disheveled Hunter. His cream T was covered in patches of both dried and fresh blood.
“Come in.” He walked off, leaving us to enter. “He’s through here. I can’t stop the bleeding.”
Copper hit my nostrils as we hurried in. I moved aside to let Petra go first with the first aid box.
The drapes were drawn in the lounge, which was dimly lit by a free-standing lamp. Eldrick was on the sofa, his face a pale oval in the gloom. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing erratically. My gaze dropped to his chest and my heart stalled. It was red. A mass of red.
Torn flesh.
Blood.
Oh god.
Petra let out a string of curses and hurried to his side. She fell to her knees and set to work, yanking bandages and gauze from the first aid box.
“Hot water and towels now!” she ordered.
Dean and Grayson left the room.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the gaping, lethal wound.
“Will he be okay?” My voice was a whisper, and I was surprised Petra heard me when she replied.
“I don’t know. I don’t—” She broke off to press more gauze to Eldrick’s chest. “Towels now!”
Oh shit. The gauze was soaked in seconds. He wasn’t healing fast enough. He was dying. He was… No! I wouldn’t allow it.
I fell to my knees beside Petra. “What can I do to help?”
“Keep pressure. Keep packing. I need to prepare the herbs.”
Her face was pinched with anxiety, lips pressed so tightly together they were bloodless. She grabbed her bag and turned away to work at the coffee table.
He wasn’t healing, why wasn’t he…I caught a metallic and familiar scent. Grayson had reeked of it when the vamps had bitten him in the museum.
“Silver.” I looked across the room at Hunter, standing in the shadows his expression a mask of supressed rage. “What happened?”
“Not now,” he snapped. “Stabilize him, then we talk.”
I wanted to snap back at him, but he was right. We needed to save Eldrick first and then the people who’d done this to him would pay.
Grayson and Dean returned with hot water and towels.
“Use the towels to staunch the blood,” Petra said to me. “I need to draw out the silver.”
I worked fast, but he was bleeding too quickly, his face bloodless now, his body limp. The only indication he was alive was the fact he kept bleeding.
I choked back a sob as I worked. I couldn’t lose him. I’d only just found him.
Petra began to slather on the herbs, lifting the towels here and there to do it. They acted like a tourniquet and the bleeding began to slow. An acrid smell filled the room.
“It’s working,” she said finally.
Long minutes passed as we worked in silence with the guys watching from the shadows.
“Good,” Petra said finally. “You did good, Fee.”
“Is he…Is he going to make it?” I couldn’t tear my attention from his ashen face. “Petra?”
Reaper Unleashed: Deadside Reapers: Book 7 Page 2