by B. F. Simone
Katie held back the smile.
“Also, you have a bit of a jealous streak?” Mercedes smiled wide. “You know, I don’t date shadows. I like my men hairy.”
Katie blushed. He told her about that? “Tristan said you were helping him,” Katie said, hoping Mercedes would stop grinning.
“I was.”
“Did he find what he was looking for?” Katie couldn’t say it. The man who murdered his family and her mother. It was unreal to her, like a movie. She’d caught glimpses of the story Tristan told her, but he never told her how he saw the bodies of this parents—that his father was missing his head and that the last memory of his mother was her covered in blood.
“He did.” Mercedes wiped down the bar.
Another laugh rumbled from in the corner as a man fell off his seat.
“How far are you willing to go for Tristan. What are your limits?” Mercedes said. How was Katie supposed to answer a questions like it? “When he walks through that door, he might not be the same Tristan you last saw. He’s turning into someone who likes the sight of blood. I’ve seen guys go off the deep like that. Bringing them back isn’t easy. And if I’m right, when shadows get blood lust, they don’t come back. Ever.”
Katie nodded. She knew what Mercedes meant—but that didn’t stop her from flinching as the door opened. It wasn’t him.
“I—I’d—” The rest of her words caught in her throat. She was falling. She hit the floor and screamed. Pain seared across her body and she shook from head to toe.
“Katie?” Mercedes jumped over the bar and kneeled next to her. She touched her but snatched her hand back. Flames coursed through Katie’s body, and everything went black. The pain throbbed but the bar came into view.
“Katie?” Mercedes was touching her now. “What the hell just happened? Are you epileptic? Should we take you somewhere? Don’t just stare at me—Talk to me. You’re freaking everyone out.”
Katie looked around, panting as beads of sweat formed on her brow. The bar was in complete silence, someone had even cut the music. Katie stared them all in the faces as if they were the ones who’d done it. They were the ones who’d caused the pain.
“Tristan. Something’s wrong.”
Mercedes nodded for Clyde to come over. He offered to help Katie up but she waved him off. She needed to get out of the door. The feeling of him, it was moving away from her. This wasn’t like anything she’d felt before. Something was wrong. Katie’s own body felt wrong. Breathing was painful, like something was seeping through her veins. A hand planted firm on her shoulder.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?” Mercedes said. Katie turned and looked around the bar again. They were all watching her. “Mind your own business,” Mercedes snapped. The music started and conversations picked up again, but she knew they were all still watching.
“I don’t know. I just know something’s wrong—” Katie sucked in her breath and held on to the bar.
“Quit fighting. He wants you alive. Don’t act like you haven’t been following us around for the last week. This is what you want isn’t it.”
Another surge of pain shot up through her bones. She gripped the bar and steadied her breathing. He’d been taken by someone. “Who’s he been following?”
Mercedes looked alarmed. “How’d you know?”
“Just tell me. He’s been taken by someone. They knew he was following them.” Katie gripped her side.
Mercedes cursed. “Eshmael. I knew it was too easy. I told him it was too easy.”
Eshmael.
The name echoed through her mind and gripped her insides. Larry’s brother.
Katie ripped into her pockets for her cell phone. “Lucy? Lucy, listen. Tristan’s in trouble—I can find him, but you have to come quick. I don’t know how long we have.”
“Katie, slow down. Where are you?”
“Gray City.”
“Katie—you know you aren’t supposed to be there—”
“He’s in trouble. You just have to trust me.”
“Tristan can handle himself. You stay put.”
She didn’t understand. This wasn’t a stupid bar fight. “Lucy, he’s in serious trouble. He’s hurt. I don’t—”
“Don’t move, Katie. I’m going to make a few phone calls and get some people together and then I’ll find him, Okay? If the situation is as bad as you say, you need to go home right now.”
Katie hung up the phone. Lucinda didn’t get it. Katie’s blood was on fire. They’d done something to him. He didn’t have time for her to make phone calls. She needed to talk to someone who understood how urgent this was.
She searched through her phone for Larry’s number. It was still the only number without a name in her call history list. She never deleted it or saved it. Mercedes was shouting orders around the bar as the phone rang. Katie didn’t even know if this was a number to the ice cream shop, his cell, or his club.
He answered.
“Larry, Eshmael has Tristan and he going to do something to him. They’ve already done something to him. I can find him. I can feel where they’re taking him.”
“Katie, I know. Where are you?”
“I’m in Gray City at a bar. He’s still close by. Maybe ten minutes away from me. I don’t know but I can find him.”
“I know Eshmael has him. I have informants that work for him. I’m on my way to the location their taking him. Everything will be fine. I’ll get him back—What bar are you at?”
“It’s on 8th street. Why?”
Larry cursed. “Stay where you are.”
Everyone wanted her to stay. They didn’t feel the blood he was losing. Her phone beeped. It was her dad. Lucinda must have called him.
“Katie?” Larry’s voice called. “Don’t go anywhere. Eshmael is dangerous. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill you. Or anyone else who was in his way.”
Katie pulled the phone away from her ear. In Eshmael’s way of doing what?
Her mother, Tristan’s Father they were all people Larry cared about.
He didn’t save them.
She ended the call.
“Clyde. Watch the bar. You six are on standby. Follow behind us but not close, we don’t want anyone knowing the pack is moving. We need to attack in small numbers. They won’t be expecting us, so let’s keep it quiet.” Mercedes pointed at two guys already waiting for orders. “You’re not going to like where we’re going.”
“Never do, but I like watching your ass as we go there.” A tall guy smiled at Mercedes.
Mercedes didn’t react to the comment, she was staring at Katie. “Looks like you didn’t have any luck,” she pointed at Katie’s phone. “If it’s Eshmael who’s got him, we’re going to have a hell of a time getting him back, but I need someone to lead me there. How far are you willing to go?”
Katie’s heart pounded. She was scared out of her mind. “As far as it takes.”
“That’s the right answer. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Katie’s adrenaline pumped as she gave Mercedes directions.
Mercedes never let up off the gas peddle. It was just the two of them in the car, but the two guys behind her were right on their tail.
“You’re taking us to Eshmael’s house. I know where it is. Might take us about twenty minutes to get there.”
Katie sat back gripping the door handle. He was loosing blood. Slowly. But since she left the bar, they’d done something to his wrist. Her’s burned.
“I’m not going to pretend that this isn’t weird,” Mercedes said, “You’re like psychic or something.” Mercedes took a hard left. Cars swerved to miss them.
She might die before Tristan.
“It’s not like that. It’s hard to explain.” Katie braced herself as Mercedes hit the brakes. They’d almost hit a woman. Mercedes cursed and sped off. Somehow, the other guys were still right behind them. They never missed a beat.
“I know how to drive,” Mercedes said, maneuvering through cars.
&
nbsp; “Just not used to driving like this.” Sharp Right. “How do you know Tristan?”
“He saved my life once. Back when he was a Death Dealer. Our old pack leader hated the threat of another Alpha in the group, even if it was his own daughter. He hired Tristan’s lead commander to killed me, you know, under the table. Tristan made sure I stayed alive long enough to take my father’s seat at the top.”
Why did everyone have terrible parents or people out to destroy them. Katie counted herself lucky, her dad just drank to much and forgot to come home at night. Then again her other father neglected the only child in his care and had a psycho brother.
“We are almost at Eshmael’s.”
Katie didn’t need her to say it. She felt it. Her bodied burned with every turn that brought them closer.
“My guys, Franco and Johnny, will do whatever I say—they’d die for me. But I don’t want them to. I don’t want them dying for you either.”
Katie cringed. “I’d never want them too.”
“You led us here. It can end there. You can wait in the car, or I can let you out a few blocks away, call your people and have them pick you up. We aren’t walking into a tea party. Shadows will be shooting at us with the intention to kill.”
Katie swallowed.
“If this is as far as you can go, I’d understand. Tristan would understand.”
The car stopped. Did Mercedes mean for her to get out now? Katie couldn’t move. He was so close. Her body hurt, not just from him, but from being this close. The closest they’d been for months.
“If you’re going to get in the way, you’ll get us killed. We can handle ourselves and the shadows. But if we have to protect you too, one of us will end up dead. I can’t lead my guys in there to get killed like that.”
Katie fidgeted in her seat. The words weren’t coming out, but she couldn’t get out now. Mercedes leaned over her and opened the door. “Get out.”
“No,” Katie said. “I’m going. I won’t get in the way. I can’t abandon him because it’s dangerous. He’d save me.”
He’s always saved her. Every time. No matter what. Maybe because he’s bound by the bond, or because he cares. It doesn’t matter. He puts his life on the line. She couldn’t walk away. Not now.
Katie closed the door. “Do you have an extra gun? I have knives and I’m good with them. I’m good with a gun—”
“It’s not just about if you’re good. You’ll have to kill someone. Tristan understands that. He’s killed before. I know you haven’t. A girl who’s killed before doesn’t walk into a bar scared of a few drunk men. We’re going in to kill. Not take prisoners or make friends.” Mercedes opened the glove compartment and put a forty-five pistol, two clips, and a holster on Katie’s lap.
Katie picked it up. It was heavier than she remembered it should be. She wasn’t a little girl anymore. She was a guardian—no she was half-vampire. Lucinda didn’t teach her how to shoot for fun. Always before every lesson Lucinda would say: “Don’t aim unless you’re willing to pull the trigger.” Lucinda was preparing her for the day she’d have to point a gun at a living person.
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to get him back. Drive.”
Mercedes nodded and drove down a few blocks before stopping the car again. They were surrounded by classic victorian-style city buildings. Wrought iron fences around each home and old-style lamp-post lighting up the street. “We have to walk the rest of the way.”
Mercedes signaled for Franco and Johnny to split up and they slipped into the darkness. Mercedes led Katie silently in the shadows. They crept over garbage bags and scaled iron gates that irritated her skin. Katie surprised herself and Mercedes with her stealth. She was in the zone. Her objective was to get Tristan back. No matter what it took. She told herself that over and over. As she unsheathed one of her knives.
“You better use that power you have. We’re here.” Mercedes pointed across the street. A single man stood on the steps of the biggest house on the street—nearly half the city block. He sucked on his cigarette and looked up and down the street. “It’s a shadow nest. Maybe ten or fifteen will be in there. I have no idea which room Tristan will be in. You have to lead me there.”
“How are we going to get past that guy?” Katie watched him throw his cigarette. Her question was answered before the cigarette hit the ground. Franco emerged out of the darkness and a knife flew into the back of the vampire’s head.
“Shadows shouldn’t smoke. It makes it hard to smell when a dog is creeping up from behind.” Mercedes smiled as Franco dragged the body into the darkness.
Johnny signaled for them to cross the street. Katie took in a deep breath as she leaned against the brick. She was closer. He was very close.
They scaled the fence around the house. It wasn’t real iron.
“Everyone ready?” Mercedes said. She touched Katie’s hand. “I told you. Use that power you have.”
Katie panicked. She didn’t know how. She’d only been able to do it for a few seconds before it flew out of control. Now, she would never be able to concentrate long enough.
Mercedes cursed. “I should have left you in the car.”
Johnny waved at them as he peeked around the corner. They ducked.
“Where’s Randall?” a voice said from around the corner. She heard the door open. “Damn idiot and his smoke breaks. This place reeks.” The door closed again. What was the plan? Walk through the front door and go all action movie on them? Would they jump behind couches and shoot up walls? Katie heard a noise. She looked behind them.
Nothing. It was like metal dragging across cement. The others heard it too. They crept farther down the side of the house until they found the origin. A small window at the bottom of the wall. Katie peered through. Down below, a man dragged a filing cabinet across the floor. Katie felt the pull. Tristan was close. Down there somewhere. He wasn’t up top in the house.
She pointed at the window and Mercedes nodded. Katie could hardly make out the muffled voices.
“It’s not down here—you look then—when’s the last time he’s even seen his golf clubs?”
Golf clubs? Tristan was somewhere being tortured and they were looking for golf clubs. Another sick thought filed her. What did they want the golf clubs for? The man left the room. The window was small, but Katie could fit through it if she tried. The drop to the ground would be far. She pulled at it. It didn’t budge.
Mercedes pushed her aside and started working on the lock.
Franco appeared from the darkness. “The body’s gone, but there’s no way in except the front door, and we’re too big to fit through that window,” he whispered.
The lock clicked. “You and Johnny stay out here and keep an eye out. If it gets noisy, call in for back up. If it looks like we’re dead. Don’t stick around. Go back and you better avenge me or I’ll haunt you until you die.” Mercedes smiled, but Franco didn’t return it.
“You aren’t going to go in there by yourself. I don’t care how good you think you are.”
“I’m not going alone.” Mercedes winked at Katie.
Franco frowned. “I’ll find an opening in the front. Johnny and I will be enough of a distraction for you to slip in, find the blood licker and get out.”
Mercedes and Franco watched each other for a moment. “Don’t die. You’re second in charge.”
“You don’t have to do this, Mer. You don’t owe him anything.”
“I owe him my life.”
Franco pulled her up and to him. Katie blushed. “What about the pack? What about me?”
Mercedes pulled away. “If you wanna keep watching my ass, you better go and make a good diversion.” Mercedes pulled away from him, opened the window and shimmied through.
Katie looked back but Franco was gone.
This was it.
She put her knife away. Working her legs through, she dropped through the window. She landed on her feet, but didn’t anticipate the far drop. She tripped, but Mercedes caught her.
>
“Sorry,” Katie whispered. She looked around the room. It was a storage room, piles of boxes and furniture lay scattered throughout.
“Be more careful.”
“I mean about Franco. I didn’t know you guys were—you know.”
Mercedes’s hazel eyes flickered. “Don’t get me killed and there won’t be anything to feel sorry about.”
Katie nodded and followed Mercedes to the door. Mercedes motioned for her to wait on the other side.
“He’s on the other side of the house.” Katie’s wrist burned and she felt Tristan jerk in his chains. He knew she was there. Hysteria filled him and Katie lost her balance.
“What’s the matter?” A voice said to him. She couldn’t see him, but she could hear him. “She’s coming isn’t she?—Oh. You didn’t know that I knew did you? How about we give her a reason to hurry?”
Katie fell to the ground and Mercedes jumped on top of her and covered her mouth. She was screaming, but it didn’t matter if anyone heard her. Tristan’s scream was much louder. Katie curled onto her side. He’d cut him with more flames. Iron.
It was iron, slicing down his chest.
Mercedes’s eyes widened and she looked to the door. They waited. Had anyone heard her? Seconds passed and the door stayed closed. “Did he kill him?” Mercedes whispered.
Katie shook her head and Mercedes uncovered her mouth.
“We better hurry up then.” Mercedes got up and began to open the door.
Katie stopped her. “Eshmael knows I’m coming. He—he knows.”
Mercedes searched the room with her eyes. “He’s going to have the front door guarded.”
She opened the door slowly and sniffed. “There are only four bodies down here—and a lot of blood.” She closed the door again and looked towards the window.
“What about Franco and Johnny?” Katie said.
“I don’t know. There are a lot of bodies in this house, but I don’t know exactly where. Franco and Johnny will be fine. They’re night hunters.” Thunder struck the house and Katie pressed her hands over her ears. Brick and cement rumbled as the building shook. Mercedes smiled. “And they’ve just started.” Mercedes grabbed the door once more. “Are you ready?”