Pisces

by Kim Faulks

  The quick glare of a flashlight caught my focus. I tapped Parry’s arm and motioned him to the curb. A young one clicked off the flashlight, and braced his hands on his knees. There shouldn’t be anyone out at this time. I leaned out of the window as Parry pulled to a stop.

  “Kane…Kane said to come right away…said the man you want was at Cursed now. Gotta hurry,” he gasped and sucked in hard breaths.

  “How long ago?” I murmured.

  The little one lifted his head. “Came straight away.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to my second. “What do you think?”

  “You gave the man a job to do, and it looks like he came through with the goods. Go, find out what you need to know, me and the others will be fine.”

  I hated this. Hated leaving him on his own. Hated the thought of not hunting with the others. Oryn’s face came back to me. She wanted Kane to prove himself and that was just what he was doing.

  “Back home with you,” I murmured to the little one. “And thank you.”

  He scurried forward, legs pumping, arms swinging. He was gone in a heartbeat, blending in with the shadows. There were ways down to the gate, some that didn’t need the power of a sigil at all. But the tunnel doors would only open to those it knew. It was our safeguard against the usurper Blaze and his men.

  “You trust him?”

  “Kane?” Parry snarled. “Not as far as I can kick him. But it’s not my trust he’s after, is it? The question is, do you?”

  My mind said one thing, but my heart said another. All I heard were Oryn’s pleas. She begged for a chance, just one fucking chance. “Goddamnit.”

  “Happy hunting,” Parry murmured as I reached for the door handle and yanked.

  I shouldered open the door and stepped out onto the curb as the rest of the convoy shot past him and into the dark. I gripped the door and eased it shut, giving him one last command. “Be careful out there.”

  “It’s not me I’m worried about. Watch your back, kid.”

  He pulled the truck onto the street and was gone, leaving me behind in the night. Hurry…the urgency tasted like blood on my lips. I turned back toward the entrance to the tunnel, but instead of safety I sought the dark.

  The echo of my boots resounded as I lengthened my stride. The Cursed bar was over on the east side of the city, at least an hour’s walk. I picked up pace pushing off with the balls of my feet to catch the momentum.

  I sucked in hard breaths and felt the burn in my chest. It was a good burn…an honest burn, driving my boots into the ground.

  Panting breath filled my head as my hound pushed closer to the surface.

  She wanted a hunt…she wanted to run. Pounding paws matched my stride, blurring the ache. A growl slipped from my lips, Is that all you got? Flames flickered with excitement.

  I lost myself to the rhythm, clenched my fist, and pumped the air, lunging over the gutter to find the pavement. Streets blurred as she urged me faster. In this moment we were one…hound and hunter racing under the full moon.

  My muscles rippled. Tendons screamed. She wanted more…more freedom…more prey, more running…running…running. I yanked my head high, finding the faint glow of lights in the distance. “Not tonight,” I gasped. “But soon.”

  Soon she’d have all the hunting she wanted.

  Soon Blaze would be in my sights. Soon my family would be safe.

  Slaven…Slaven…Slaven…

  The name was a nail piercing my skull, driving deeper.

  Slaven…Slaven…Slaven…

  My body relaxed, muscles warmed, building power through my body as she took the lead.

  Soon…she growled. Soon…

  Long hunt… The words rose to the surface before they fell away.

  “That’s right.” The words were fire along my throat as I surged ahead. “A long hunt.”

  Bright lights beckoned, separating from one blur into streets and houses and buildings. White and red, and blur twinkles urged me forward. Shadows moved, people standing outside late night diners. Restaurant billboards, flashing once before the lights dimmed for the night. And the smell…the smell of humans, the smell of food.

  I slowed my pace and lunged across the gutter to the shadows. Gotta keep my head down…Blaze’s men would be everywhere. Hiding in plain sight, but most would be on the other end of the city, waiting for my men.

  Only they were on the wrong side of town. I slowed to a walk and sucked in hard breaths. Parry’s idea was brilliant—I glanced to the darkening sky beyond the buildings and the people. They were out there now, weaving their way through the streets to find the small tracks into the woods. They’d hunt, find deer or rabbits, and load the trucks.

  A tremor raced through my chest. Please be safe. Come back to me. All of you…come back to me. Voices called out in the distance, a shout and then a hard bark of laughter, and it reminded me of Motor and Parry. I’d be lost without them.

  Neon blur caught my gaze. I scanned the darkened shops and stilled at the bar. Cursed, splashed bright and beckoning. I winced at the name, and glanced to the darkened window. I knew the kind of clientele they wanted…the desperate, and the lonely, promising shadows and dark corners and any number of women waiting for their pleasure.

  The word on the street was they had hounds, shifters…and humans in there, and for a nice stack of bills you could get whatever your black heart desired. They were my people…women and men who needed protection, not to be forced to bare their bodies like they bared their souls.

  I swallowed the sour taste of anger and tried to focus. It didn’t matter, not tonight.

  Tonight I was just as bad as Kane, Rykor, Ezre, and Stone.

  Tonight the cursed four would get one more black heart added to the list.

  Tonight I wanted a name…I wanted blood…I lifted my head to the towering mountain in the distance. I’m coming for you…just you wait and see. I’ll never give up…never…ever.

  I stopped at the entrance to an alley and watched the streets. Others came and went, passing the bar without a second glance. I could be walking into a trap. Thought took flight inside my head, but even as the words found form they felt wrong.

  I saw the way he looked at Oryn, and even though I hated it, I felt his desire to protect her. I wanted to weigh up the options. But either way, I’d get what I wanted—an audience with the one man I was destined to kill. Blaze Trigg.

  I took a breath, lowered my gaze and crossed the street. My boots skimmed the gutter as I took the first step, gripped the door handle, and yanked. The heavy beat of a song hit me like a blow, and the thick scent of sex and male followed.

  My gut clenched as I scanned the darkened corners of the bar and moved inside. Heads turned my way, men and women who hung onto half-filled glasses took one look and turned away. Still I kept my gaze down and moved through the gloom toward the bar.

  A young bartender dressed in black worked a dishtowel around the rim of a glass. He glanced up as I neared and gave a nod. There was a flare of a brow, and inside the dark moody eyes the tiny flicker of a flame.

  He recognized me…blood called to blood. The stronger the pull the more we both felt. His hands stilled, the glass now forgotten as he moved closer, and all of a sudden I became aware of him, and this place. I glanced down to my thin cotton top and the low-riding jeans. I was dressed to hunt, dressed to fight—but as I stared into his eyes another need roared to the surface.

  “Can I get you a drink?”

  “No, you can’t get her a damn drink,” a male growled and stepped out of a doorway at the back. “Get back to work, Nathan.”

  I winced at the growl. My hand went for my hip. There was a flare of fear as he lifted his head. Dark eyes trapped mine, until they slipped lower. Kane was tall…but this one was taller. The smooth black designer suit couldn’t hide the animal inside.

  And this one was all animal.

  “Stone.”

  There was a glint of excitement as he took a step. Blood called to blood…bu
t also danger, and Goddess help me I could feel him. He was Four. The fourth Hellhound to fall…the fourth to be cursed. The fourth of everything…and the most dangerous of those who lived here.

  “Amaris,” he murmured and held out his hand.

  I stared at the flesh, and the palm that would swallow mine whole. Don’t touch him. The thought raced. But the need wasn’t because I was scared…my body hummed with desire as he took a step closer.

  “I’m not going to harm you,” he murmured. “If that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Jesus the way he said those words make me feel fucking transparent. My chest rose harder with my breath. A current surged. I skimmed perfect smooth lips and the dark stubble of his beard to find the valley of his open-collared shirt.

  There were stories about Stone. Whispered stories…ones that made my heart race standing here, and it wasn’t just the fanciful tales—it was that gleam in his eyes, the one that whispered, They’re all true…every last one of them.

  I refused to let him see me tremble and reached for his hand. “I’m not worried, Stone. Not in the slightest. I’m just trying to figure you out.”

  Those damn lips curled at one edge in the hint of a smile. “Then you might need that drink after all, you’ll be here a while.”

  Lightning coursed, as the sigil burned with power. That smile stopped cold. The cocky glint of satisfaction turned into the flicker of a flame as the call deepened. A growl resounded in the back of his throat, and slipped from his lips.

  I didn’t have to say it…I didn’t have to say anything at all. Like called to like, remember? And as much as he hated who he’d become, at the essence of the man he was a Hellhound…and as the descendant of the royal line, in some small, twisted way…he belonged to me.

  I dropped my hand into his palm and felt his fingers curl. The yank was hard and sudden, sending me slamming against his chest. He dropped his head. His words low and threatening. “Do that again and we’ll see why I was cursed in the first place.”

  My heart thundered…breath was trapped. I wanted to pull my hand and fight. But the desire wasn’t to get away. The desire was to win. I lifted my gaze and found a dark desire hovering under the surface. He was cruel this one…he was Stone.

  His fingers unfurled, and he stepped away. The air around us was different now…charged with something hungrier than sex. He was afraid of me, just a little…but it was there.

  “You sent for me, remember?”

  One small tilt of his head and he murmured, “Your friend is out the back. We’ve kept him occupied and well lubricated. But you’re going to need to hurry if you want any sense out of the man… Oh, and he’s expecting a new dancer.”

  And there was that smirk again, the one that held all the keys to his fucking castle.

  “Wait.” His words hit me to the core. “That’s not me.”

  There was a slight tilt to his head. “It is if you want what you came here for.”

  Sonofabitch.

  I wanted to take that smirk and shove it where the sun didn’t shine…

  “Don’t worry.” He leaned down to whisper. His eyes roamed over my body. “I’ll be keeping a very close eye on you.”

  A nerve twitched at the corner of my eye. I took a step backwards. I’d not give the bastard the satisfaction. “Where?” Poison slipped from my lips as he lifted his hand and pointed to a door at the back marked Private.

  “Kane. Just wait until I get my hands on you,” I murmured and headed for the door. “Being cursed will feel like a damn holiday by the time I’m done with you.”

  Women hung suspended from poles in the middle of the dance floor, smiling and shaking everything they had at men with ruddy complexions and greedy eyes.

  “Hey!” Someone called out as I walked past. “How much?”

  “You couldn’t afford it,” I snapped and punched the door.

  The damn thing swung open and hit the wall with a thud. The slow grind music seemed to reverberate, it was even worse than out there. The back area was divided into segments. Thick, heavy curtains kept visibility low. I stepped inside and wrenched my gaze right as the biggest damn man I’d ever seen moved forward. “Ma’am,” he murmured. “Honey, right? I’ve been expecting you.”

  “Oh hell no,” I snarled as he reached for my elbow. “I’m not…not with you…”

  “You’ve been paid to dance,” he growled and yanked me close. “Mr. Rock has paid for an hour and he’s been patiently waiting.”

  He took one look around and leaned in close. “Stone said to treat you like glass. So this is me doing that. You need to be careful. He’s had a lot to drink, but he’s still chatty, if you get what I mean?”

  Treat me like glass? Treat me like fucking glass? I stared up into the man-built bulldozer and smiled. “Yes…crystal fucking clear.”

  He gave a nod and then straightened all six-foot-seven of his gigantic frame and towed me toward the hallway.

  His fingers clenched, grinding flesh into bone with every damn step. I kept pace, grinding my jaw…but it wasn’t the damn pain that had me furious. It was the fucking nerve of Stone to treat me as though I was a…as though I was a…damn Princess.

  “Happy dancing," the bouncer growled and shoved me toward a black curtain at the end of the hall. “I’ll be out here if you need anything.”

  Oh I’d be needing him all right. I’d be needing him to pick up Stone’s fucking teeth when I was through. I gripped the heavy fabric and shoved.

  “‘Bout time, starting to get fucking antsy here.”

  The slurred speech was one thing, but the damn breath was another. My stomach tightened at the stench of scotch. I swallowed a retch and moved deeper into the dark.

  Ankle-high lights illuminated the small dance floor, but they kept my face in the shadows. That was good…that was all I needed. Just don’t lose your shit and he won’t see the flames in your eyes.

  “You stink like the pit,” he growled.

  I clenched my jaw and stared at a larger stage that sat higher and ran the length of the hallway. I was betting every seedy cubicle had a bird’s-eye view of the bigger show.

  I turned my head to the murmur of voices along the hallway. A groan slipped free. But it looked like the up-close and personal shows were the only ones performing now.

  “Mmm, just how I like them,” the man murmured.

  Something touched my thigh. I flinched, moved deeper inside and took a step onto the small platform.

  “I like them dirty. Like them down in the pits. Like the smell of sulphur on their skin…you are beautiful, aren’t you?”

  I swallowed the gag rising in the back of my throat.

  “Well? You gonna just stand there…fucking dance.”

  Jesus, I couldn’t believe I was doing this. I clenched my fist and rocked my hips.

  “Fuck yeah.” Beady eyes glimmered with excitement in the dark. “Dance for me and I’ll give you anything you want.”

  I smiled and dropped my hand to the hilt of my knife.

  Dance or no dance. This bastard would scream.

  8

  Amaris

  “You want another drink?” I murmured and glanced to the half-filled gas at his right. “I can get you another.”

  “No,” he snarled and eased back into his seat. The soft floor lights threw shadows across his face as he moved. “I just want you to dance. Turn around, let me see that ass.”

  Fingers trembled. Stab him…right in the fucking heart…Slaven or no Slaven… I forced a smile—or maybe a grimace—turned on the small stage and swung my hips. “Stone tells me you’re pretty important to the new King. Says I gotta treat you good.”

  “Yeah…yeah well, Stone’s got a big mouth. I don’t pay him good money to talk. I pay him good money to watch. Now honey…show me some of that flesh.”

  My fingers skimmed the knife and went for the bottom of my top. I turned and angled my left side forward to hide the blade.

  “Oh yeah,” he muttered. Beady ey
es fixed at my waist as I dragged my shirt higher.

  I had to get the sonofabitch talking, without shedding all my damn clothes. Fire lashed my cheeks as he sat back and stared with a hopeful gaze as my fist skimmed my stomach.

  “Take it all off,” he whispered. “I wanna see it all.”

  The music seemed to take on a life of its own as I dragged the hem at a snail's crawl toward my breasts. The beat hardened, morphing from one song into another. Shadows danced with a slow throb from somewhere else.

  But I couldn’t turn. I couldn’t lift my gaze. I had him, right here…right in the palm of my hand. I rocked and rolled, thrusting my hips a little higher each time. “I like important men,” I growled. “So when they told me you were Blaze’s right hand man I got all excited.”

  “Yeah?”

  I forced a smile. “Yeah. Real excited. Cause I heard someone say something the other day and it got me all curious.”

  “Yeah, what’s that?”

  The beat pulsed harder, shuddering the floor, pulsing through my veins, and those lights seemed to dance across my skin as I cupped the hem of my shirt and rode the swell of my breast.

  I opened my mouth…Slaven. The word ready to spill from my lips as movement came from my right. The bastard wrenched his head toward the larger stage and stared. “Holy shit,” he whispered.

  But I had him. I almost had him. “Back here, sugar. Back to me.”

  The whites of his eyes shone in the dark. Even from here I could see his chest was still…breath caught.

  “Goddamn sonofa—” the snarl was swallowed by the heady thud of the music as I turned my head.

  My hips stilled. Hand still cupped a breast. But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do a damn thing as Stone slowly strode across the center of the stage—eyes fixed on nothing—and slowly unbuttoned his jacket.

  The man moved like a goddamn lion. He was all predator…all fucking power as he unsheathed his jacket and let it drop to the floor. I wanted to turn away…wanted to stare at anything but this man as his fingers went for the collar of his shirt.

  His hard gaze said, Don’t touch me…don’t even fucking look at me. And Goddess above if that wasn’t the drug that had you hooked. Hate rolled off the dance floor in waves. Hate and rage and agony… The Cursed…