by K. C. Hamby
Hecate must want me to know something I’ve missed. The question is, what is it?
Chapter 27
I tap my knuckles on Cosma’s office door and the thumps echo in my head. I made my way here after dropping Nathan off at his dorm and I’ve been salivating from the rumbling of nausea ever sense. My intuition is telling me this mission sucks.
“Come in, Falen,” Cosma utters with such bland sharpness, I cringe. I stride in and close the door behind me with a finality in the thud. Cosma sits behind her desk, writing without one glance in my general direction. I stand in front of her and she slides a file toward me. I hold back a sigh. Normally, I would kill—pun intended—for another mission because I crave the hunt and kill, but lately I’ve been thinking of other things. Or, of other people. I would much rather be with Nina right now.
I pick up the thick file full of reasons this person’s life shouldn’t continue and flip through it. My stomach lurches.
I think I may puke.
“Are you fucking serious?” Revulsion rolls over my skin. She cuts her eyes at me and raises a dark eyebrow.
“I don’t recall ever giving you any impression I have a lack of severity regarding missions, or anything at all for that matter, Falen.” I can’t help but be enraged.
There are a lot of monsters in this world and the next, myself included, but pedophiles are the monster of all monsters. Doing such…unspeakable things to children? I’ll be ecstatic to snuff this one out. My bloodlust pushes all thoughts of wanting to be somewhere else out of my mind.
It’s a female pedophile who preys on little boys around Nathan’s age. I clench my jaw at the thought. Apparently, she works at a tutoring center in the heart of Seattle.
I slam the folder shut in my hands. I memorized her despicably smug face from a picture in the file. I know her name and where she works. I don’t need to look at this file ever again. I don’t want to go through all the evidence against her. I won’t. I’ll just kill her.
I twist around to trudge out the door, but Cosma halts me. “Nathan has been showing me what he’s learned.” She claims it in a way that almost sounds like gratitude. Her misty gray eyes are bright, but her face remains passive. She’s proud.
“He is a fast learner. He just needed a little extra help,” I quip, but my lips threaten to tilt up. I clench my jaw harder, making sure it doesn’t happen. Cosma nods.
“Lessons will be off until you return.”
Infuriation pushes its way through my body and heads straight for my mouth. The Alpha in me wants to make her submit. The wolf in me makes me want to snap my jaws at her. I could do both. I’m more dominant.
I swallow the anger, promising myself I’ll take it out on the pedophiliac bitch when I get the chance.
“What if we do it early in the morning instead?” I hate it sounds like I’m begging.
She shakes her head and the fight drains out of me. “I need your complete focus on this.” I hesitate in annoyance, thinking twice about my decision not to overpower her. I nod my head instead.
“Please, tell him to keep practicing.” She nods with an almost smile.
“I don’t think I could stop him if I wanted to.” She huffs and I think it’s supposed to be a laugh.
With that, I turn and walk out of her office, slightly slamming the door behind me. It rattles with the force and I cringe. She’s taking away one of the things I love doing. I love hanging out with Nathan. He’s family to me and I don’t have much family left.
I step out into the cold, darkening night and head to my apartment. As I’m walking, white flakes fall from the gray clouds above. I stop and look up, catching the cold flakes on my face and in my hair. I grin like a moron at nothing but the sky. I’ve never stopped to appreciate it before. My blood is flowing with a liveliness I didn’t have pre-Nina. I march on, watching my breath make clouds in front of me with every exhale, enveloping the snow drifting to the ground.
I walk into my apartment, slightly damp from the snowfall melting in my hair. I slide off my boots and grab the bag I threw in here earlier when I was running late from Nina’s. I hold my arm in front of my face and I study the bracelet. My face is beaming like a fool again. I think my smile muscles have developed since meeting Nina because I’ve never done it this much.
I get ready for bed and my phone chimes. I dive onto the mattress and grab it from the nightstand. My skin tingles a bit when I realize it’s Nina. It’s a text saying she misses me and she hopes I have sweet dreams. I send back something about missing her being in my arms and it makes me blush just typing it out. I’ve become a softy.
Must tell no one.
I slip under the covers and my smile fades, remembering the almost argument we had earlier today. She’s definitely not okay with what I do. Which, I understand, I guess. I’m essentially a murderer.
Well, I am. Like, I definitely am.
But, her rejection has made me ashamed of the beastly monster inside me. I can’t help it. It’s who I am. It’s what I’m made for. There is no way I can explain it to her and make her understand the thirst for blood I have digging into my bones. It’s something I need and I want to curse Hecate for making Lupi so bloodthirsty. It’s understandably terrifying Nina. I don’t know what I’m going to do if she can’t handle this life.
My eyelids droop, wanting my thoughts to shut off so I can rest. I reluctantly close them and slip into a deep sleep free of sweet dreams and terrifying nightmares.
***
I shift into park in Ash’s driveway. After waking up fully rested and staring at the stones on my wrist as if they are alive and the culprit, I got all my stuff together for this mission and came here. I stand in front of the front door now, hesitating because I don’t want to start this mission.
I shove my keys in the lock and let myself in. Everything is quiet. I open my senses and hear Ash’s slow, deep breathing coming from the backyard. I peer out the window and find him meditating. Huh. I didn’t know he still meditated.
I wait on the couch after dropping my bag in my room. After a few minutes, Ash comes inside, not surprised to see me at all. I guess he notices the solemn set to my features and senses the silent anger radiating off me because he immediately snaps into business mode.
“What’s up, Fal?”
I say nothing. I just hand him the file I’ve refused to look at since leaving Cosma’s office. He arches an eyebrow at me as he opens it. I watch as his face goes from confusion to fury as he reads down the front page.
His head jerks back at the information and he slams the file on the coffee table. The wood cracks under his force. He closes his eyes and rubs his temples before he can even look at me again.
“What can I do to help?” he growls, his dark amber eyes flashing bright.
“I need you to drop me off at the tutoring company. I’ll take care of it.” My eyes dilate, and canines extend. I’m losing control on my wolf. He nods, and I send out a prayer for the strength to do this mission. Serenity flows through my essence with every breath I take. I nod at nothing in a thank you.
I meet Ash outside and slip in the passenger seat of the SUV. We ride with the radio—and not PennyForward—playing at a low volume. I giggle under my breath and grab my phone to send Nina a sappy ‘I miss you’ text. I get one back a few seconds later telling me I need to hurry my ass back to her. It’s punctuated with a kiss emoji. I shoot my eyes upward in exasperation and slip my phone in my bag.
After riding for a good forty-five minutes, Ash drops me off a block down from the tutoring center. Before I can get out, his large hand grabs my forearm and my attention.
“No mercy,” he growls. I nod once.
“Never mercy.” I gnash my teeth darkly and get out of the SUV, slamming the door behind me.
I find the tutoring center and pick the building next to it to be my base camp. I pull down the rusting fire escape ladder and climb quietly to the top of the building, my palms knocking off flecks of rust with each rung I climb. You�
��d think the city would maintain these things more efficiently since, you know, they could save people’s lives, but what do I know? I’m not a politician. There are apparently things more important than human lives. Building up egos—among other things—and whatnot.
This building is slightly taller than the tutoring center, so I’ll have a good bird’s eye view of everything going on below. At five floors up, I’ll be one floor higher than the center, so falling from up here would hurt like a bitch. I make sure each rung I climb on is sturdy before ascending further.
I pull myself over the edge of the building and stand up to get my bearings. The snow flurries slap me in the face, making my skin tingle from the sudden cold. I wipe the frozen flakes from my eyes and try to make myself presentable enough to go into a tutoring center. I pull my leather jacket in close and wiggle my beanie down to cover my ears and somewhat keep my wavy hair in place. I need to do some recon before I just waltz in there, guns blaring. This isn’t like the big mission with Boss. I can’t go in at night because I’m sure they have high security procedures because of all the school shootings happening recently.
I shove my bag of weapons in a vent and crawl back down the rickety fire escape. I walk up to the entrance of the building once I’m back on ground level, take a deep breath, and pull the door open, scanning and taking note of all the security measures. I’ve walked into a holding room of some sort and have a lovely guard to keep me company. Cameras from every corner are pointed in my direction and I immediately feel like a criminal. The guard gives me a slow, disgusting once over and barely hides his grimace when his eyes fall on my face. I do the same with him because I’m feeling petty. He doesn’t look like he could take down a bunny rabbit with his rounded shape.
“What’s ya business here?” His voice is a gruff Chicago flare, sounding bored of me already.
“Tutoring for my little brother.” The lie effortlessly purrs from my lips. He huffs a laugh and it turns into a throaty cough with disbelief. He shrugs after he collects himself and types a code into the keypad behind him. I listen to the beeps. They have a different pitch for each number. 4752#. I hide my devious smile when he turns back around to look at me. The door slides open automatically, and I throw the guard a beaming grin just for him that’s so sickly sweet, he cringes.
I glide through the door to the rounded reception desk where a woman going through a midlife crisis sits doing paperwork. Her hair is so bleached, it’s yellow and the fried ends are trying to break free. Her pink shirt screams ‘I’m not in my fifties’ and ‘I’m the cool teacher’ as it clings to her pear-shaped physique. To top it off, it says “Teaching is my jam!” She looks up at me and I notice the too-dark lipstick on her teeth as she smiles warmly. I guess she notices my scar too, because her jaw slacks.
“How can I help you, miss?” At least she attempts to hide the nervous tremor in her words with a half-assed tilt of her lips. I curl mine up in my best fake grin. The gesture makes me want to slap it off myself.
“I heard that a woman named Carrie does private tutoring here,” I inform her, making my voice slightly more high-pitched and sweet sounding. I throw a valley girl accent in there because why not? The less recognizable I can make my voice, the better. She opens her mouth to say something, but is interrupted by a woman who comes barreling out of a back office beaming like a seemingly normal person. She doesn’t fool me. I see the disgusting monster in her crazy, hazel eyes. I have to pinch my stomach slyly to keep from snarling.
It’s her.
“That’s me!” she exclaims, making her short gray/brown hair bounce around her face. Rage swells in every pore of my body and I have to clench every muscle to keep me from slitting her throat right now. She’s in her mid-forties and looks like a regular suburban mom. She wears black pants and a light blue shirt under her black blazer. It infuriates me more that she looks normal. She should look like a monster. “Tonight is the night I do private tutoring, actually.” I keep my composer and play my part, keeping my voice high and sweet.
“Great! Is there any way you can tutor my little brother?” I lean against the reception desk in fake elation. “He has a lot of trouble in math.”
“How old is your little brother?” My stomach turns.
“He’s nine,” I tell Carrie and almost choke her when she smiles a little wider.
“Well, I’m booked tonight, but the same day next week should work out fine.” She’s almost too excited. She produces a card from a holder on the counter and holds it gingerly between her fingers in my direction. “Call me tomorrow and let me know what time would be best for….?”
“Nathan. His name is Nathan.”
“Nathan. Okay.” I grab the card from her and shove it in my pocket. “What’s your name?” She holds out her hand for me to shake.
I grab it eagerly and a little too hard. Giving it a firm shake, I let my voice drop back to its naturally deep, gravelly tone. “I’m Justice,” I growl, letting the name sound like a threat. Carrie’s smile falters. “It’s very nice to meet you,” I add, transitioning back to the sweet voice. I turn around and leave the building as casually as I can muster. My hands are shaking with need for her blood.
I have no idea how the hell I’m going to stop her, but I have to. And I have to do it tonight.
An idea smacks me in the head. I look up to the top of the building as soon as I’m outside and away from ole grumpy guard. There isn’t a way for me to get to the top of the building from the ground. I glance around and smile. The building I’m using for my base camp is close enough for me to jump.
I climb back up the fire escape that makes me grateful Lupi don’t need tetanus shots and pull myself on top of the building once more. I clap my hands together, knocking rust from the metal off my skin. The breeze hits my nose and I smell the dirty copper from the particles of rust in the air. I crinkle my nose and glance between my building and the tutoring center, sighing loudly. I can definitely make the jump, but it’s going to be a hell of a landing since it’s a story lower.
I groan. Hopefully, my skin doesn’t take too much of a beating. I back up about fifteen feet, breath in, and take off running toward the edge of the building. The gravel crunches under my light steps as I make it to the edge. I give myself a powerful launch, the muscles in my legs tensing and releasing as my feet leave the roof.
And I’m flying through the air, watching the gap beneath me open up and close as I cross to the other side. Time seems to slow down.
Until it doesn’t. I come down on the roof of the tutoring center hard. I roll at the impact, but it doesn’t stop the shock reverberating through the bones of my legs. I roll through the gravel until my body comes to a stop on its own. I don’t move after a stop. I absolutely overestimated the jump and my hair hangs off the other side of the building. My legs felt more powerful than usual.
I sit up slowly and dust off the gravel from my clothes and hands, wincing at the small cuts newly opened on my palms. I stand and shake off the remaining gravel from my pants as I search for a vent or anything that may get me inside.
After looking around and testing out the sizes of air vents I absolutely cannot fit into, I find one I can possibly squeeze in. You know, if I’m not worried about having room for air to breathe. It’ll have to do.
I yank off the vent cover and toss it aside, looking down into a claustrophobic nightmare. Luckily, I got rid of whatever fear of small spaces I had in training. My trainers made me crawl for a mile—I’m not exaggerating—in the tiniest vent I could possibly fit into located under the Complex. It took three hours and after two mild panic attacks and a mental breakdown, I got out and felt like I could take on the smallest mouse hole.
I rake in a deep breath and wiggle down into the vent headfirst and catch myself on my hands at the point it becomes horizontal. I lower the rest of my body into the bottom of the vent and crawl through the rusty, spider web-filled space. After a few minutes of slowly crawling and wondering if spiders have climbed in my clothes
, I see light ahead. I slow myself and pull forward silently, toward the light. As the ventilation shaft grows brighter, I realize it’s a vent opening. I pull myself forward and look down into a classroom.
Bingo. I give the classroom a deviously victorious smile.
Now, to get out of this hellhole.
I crawl backward toward the entrance I made at a deathly slow pace and pray to Hecate I can find a way to get out of here. My feet finally tap the wall of the shaft. Now I have to go up to get out. I need to somehow turn around in this impossibly small space and go head first so I can pull myself out. I didn’t think this through very well. I slam my hands on the vent floor in frustration.
“Shit!” I curse when the metal I’m lying on gives under my fists. It doesn’t fall out from under me, though. It just dips in, hitting something below that’s preventing collapse. I test it with my palms, gradually applying more pressure. It dips down, giving me enough room to turn around!
I let out a quiet ‘whoop’ and maneuver myself around, which allows me to go up and out of the vent head first. I pull myself into the fresh air and roll out and onto the roof, taking in huge breaths. I stand and dust myself off for the second time and wiggle, trying to encourage any too friendly spiders to get out if they made the terrible choice of crawling in my clothes.
I look up and my stomach plummets. It’s a near impossible jump back to the neighboring base camp building and four stories is too high for me to fall without causing an injury I can’t afford to wait to heal.
I have to try to jump to the base camp building.
I back up all the way to the other edge of the tutoring center for a running start. I have to make it. I have to get back to Nina. I have to kill this evil monster of a woman who preys on little kids. Little kids like Nathan. I can’t fail. I can’t become a big pile of broken Fal on the sidewalk.
No pressure.
I take a deep breath and run as fast as I can.
My feet pound on the gravel as I build up—hopefully—enough power to make the jump. The wind pushes at my back.