by Jessica Gunn
What kind of leader indeed?
Chapter 8
KRYSTIN
I’d missed Boston—something I never thought I’d say. For so long it’d been a prison of Jaffrin’s and my mother’s design. But tonight, the chilly February air, the remnants of yesterday’s snowfall, the city sounds—they all made my heart sing. Freedom. Even incessant honking was better music to listen to than the shouts of demons and rogue Hunters locked in nearby cells.
Even if the Ether Circle twins were walking behind me, watching my every step.
Ben led the way a few yards ahead of us with Shawn at his side, so we looked less weird walking through the city. Not downtown, but through a more residential area. He’d declared tonight an “easy” night, but for Ben that meant anything from one demon to ten, scattered from bar to sidewalk.
I followed on anyway, loving the way my heeled boots felt after wearing slippers in Ether Circle Prison. With them on and with the city’s sounds, it was easy to forget the twin automatons behind me.
Maybe I didn’t deserve to be free and they were just a reminder of that. I knew I was innocent, but I still had the memories of that night. It was my hand that’d killed all of those Hunters. It was our baiting of Kinder that had brought her there that night.
“Earth to Krystin,” Nate said. He walked beside me, questioning me with a concerned glance. “You okay?”
I nodded, staring straight ahead. “Yes. Let’s just find something for me to hit.”
Nate frowned. “It’s okay to be mad at them. And us, for what it’s worth.”
I glanced behind me to make sure the Ether Circle twins were out of direct earshot. “I’m not mad at you guys. Breaking into Ether Circle Prison is no joke. And if Jaffrin hadn’t ordered you and you’d gone in anyway, you wouldn’t have his protection right now. You’d have been imprisoned with me if they’d caught you.”
“It’d still be worth it.”
I gave him a sidelong glance. “No, it’s not. I’m not.”
“Because of the prophecy?” He stopped walking and turned to me. “Krystin, you’re more than some words on parchment telling you you’re meant to save a city no one’s ever seen. I know that Jaffrin might not treat you that way, or your mother, but to me—to all of us—you’re more than that prophecy. You’re our friend. So yes, I’d have broken in there without Jaffrin’s consent if it’d come down to it.”
I considered him for a long moment, wondering when that flip from forced teammates to friendship had happened. Still, prophecy or not, being friends with me might be the biggest danger to them. “Let’s hope you never have to break me out of jail again. How about that?”
He nodded. “I mean, yeah. That’s the ideal option.”
I smirked and pointed ahead. “We’re going to lose Ben if we don’t keep up.” Even Rachel had left us and caught up to her cousin.
But when I looked ahead, I saw Ben waving frantically at us before disappearing down an alleyway.
“Looks like you might get your wish of hitting things after all,” Nate said as we picked up the pace toward Ben.
I lifted my hand to the knife sheath on my back as we closed in on the alleyway. Brick buildings encased us, but unlike on the night we’d all met, they were offices instead of apartments and townhomes. Which meant, thankfully, they were likely empty at this time of night.
My fingertips warmed, burning with magik. Not now, you stupid power.
The magik thrummed in response like a petulant child.
“Oh, fuck you.”
Nate lifted a brow. “Excuse me?”
“Not you—my magik,” I said as we rounded the corner of the cobblestone alleyway. “It’s being stupid. Can you hold the twins back here for a second in case it goes haywire? I don’t want them thinking me incapable.”
Nate nodded. “Sure thing.” Then he rushed out of the alley and back where the twins were walking some distance behind us. Enough to watch me, but not close enough to blow our cover as the seven of us traversed the city.
I swallowed hard, then joined the others in the alleyway. “What do we have—?”
“Cedo match,” Ben ordered, cutting me off. “Now.”
I kept up my jog until I had reached Ben’s side. He, along with Shawn and Rachel, were towering over a body in the alley. Its chest was covered in blood from visible wounds. More blood trickled out of the body’s mouth, though some had dried and caked on its chin and neck. And… Oh, god.
“Is their tongue…?” I clapped a hand over my mouth, my stomach roiling.
“Gone?” Shawn asked. “Yeah. Fucking gross.”
“Not the first time we’ve seen it, though,” Ben said.
Rachel’s face paled and she looked away, eyes focused on the alleyway opening near the road. “I’ll play lookout—for both civilians and the twins. No way I’m dealing with more of these killings.”
My heart sank as Shawn lit a cedo match and burned the body. But no purple smoke came. They’d been human. Just human.
Oh no.
“Krystin—”
“I know, Ben.”
“But—”
“I said I know.”
We’d found a body in an alleyway just like this on the night we’d all first met. The perpetrator had been Giyano. He’d killed innocent humans like this in order to draw me out. And then Shadow Crest had sent one of Giyano’s victims to the house to bait Ben. Everything about this screamed Giyano was at fault. Except… he’d been in Maine, appearing to be seriously done with everything related to Shadow Crest.
“Did Giyano do this?” Ben asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“Just because he helped you doesn’t mean he’s reformed,” Shawn said. “He’s still a demon. He still needs to feed on life energy.”
“I know,” I snapped at all of them. Then instantly regretted it. Had the twins heard from around the corner? Shit. “That doesn’t mean he killed that poor person, either.”
But as the words passed my lips, my left hand began to ache and burn with the feel of Giyano’s magik. The mark he’d left on my hand months ago writhed, glowing faintly red. I tucked my hand behind my back, out of view from the others.
He was calling me.
You bastard.
A new fear settled in, crawling up my spine. If Giyano had done this, if he was back, what would that mean for me?
I spun on Ben, my heartbeat thudding behind my ears. “You can’t report this, Ben. We have no real proof it’s Giyano, and if the Ether Head Circle finds out, they’ll—”
“Everything okay here?” Iris asked as she, Alexander, and Nate strolled into the alleyway.
Dread rolled down my spine in waves. I looked to Ben. Was he going to tell them the truth?
Ben kicked the dust from the cedo match burn. I watched as the dust flew through the air, catching the light of a streetlamp above us. “Yes. Nothing but a lower level demon out for a quick life energy snack.”
Alexander’s eyes narrowed, examining the leftover scattered dust pile. “It’s about time more demons in this city died.”
“It’s not exactly easy to exterminate a whole city of them,” I said.
But all it earned me in return was a stiffly raised eyebrow from Alexander.
“Onto the next,” Nate said, walking back toward Rachel. “Right guys?”
“Yeah,” Ben said. He scraped his foot against the cobblestone one last time for good measure. “Keep moving.”
Everyone else filed out of the alleyway first, leaving Ben and me behind. We walked much slower, until enough distance between us and the twins had grown.
“I thought Giyano was done attacking people like this in the city while he was trying to help me out.”
“Then we won’t report this,” Ben said. “Any of us. This could be a one-off or a copycat.”
“Wishful thinking. Something’s not right.”
“Until we know more, I’ll make sure everyone stays silent,” Ben said. “Especially to the
twins. End of discussion.”
I nodded at him, though unease settled in my stomach. “Thank you.”
“That’s what teammates are for.”
Chapter 9
BEN
Giyano. I knew it had all been too good to be true. He was back and he’d already killed one person. That we knew of. After all that time hiding away after Kinder had kicked his ass, he was probably in need of more life energy than he’d consumed in the last five years to renew himself.
I almost wished Kinder was around to sufficiently kick his ass again. But she’d screwed so much up, too.
Guess I’d have to settle for permanently removing him from the city myself. Sign me right up.
Throughout the entire walk back to the house all I thought about was how to find him. Nate had said Krystin was able to make him appear, probably because of the mark on her hand. But that was months ago and I hadn’t known Giyano was back in the area until we’d broken into Ether Circle Prison. But since he loved tormenting me too, maybe I could also just walk around and make him appear.
I’d kill him, and we’d finally be done with this game. That was the only option.
The team and I got back to the house around midnight. The Ether Circle twins paused in the living room, inspecting us all.
“Was that a typical night for you all?” Alexander asked.
I nodded. “We don’t see tons of activity every night. We’re usually more concerned with raiding demon dens.”
“Hm,” Iris said, judgment rolling off of her in waves. “Very well.”
“We’re tired,” I said quickly. “Everyone should hit the sack.”
“Good idea,” Rachel said. She retreated up the stairs first, followed by the others.
Krystin remained by my side, eyeing me as though waiting for me to join the others.
“We would like to speak to Ben,” Iris said. “You’re excused, Krystin.”
“Excused?” she asked. “It’s our house.”
“Actually, it belongs to the Fire Circle,” Alexander said, his eyes seemingly empty of all emotion. “And since the Fire Circle is currently employing us to—”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Krystin said, waving them off. “Goodnight. Holler if you need anything, Ben.”
I nodded. “Will do.”
But all I needed right now was a drink and to sleep. Not necessarily in that order.
As soon as Krystin was out of earshot, the twins approached me in weird unison. Robots. They had to be robots. That was the only explanation.
“What’s up?” I asked them.
Iris glanced up at me. Despite her small stature, her gaze suddenly held a fierce, powerful undertone that made me back up a step. “We’d like to discuss the meager protections given to your son Riley by the Fire Circle.”
My stomach plummeted, brow slicking with sweat. “Excuse me?”
“We do not believe the protections are strong enough,” Alexander said. “For someone with the Power, a simple country line will not keep Darkness at bay for long. Especially if Lady Azar is at the helm.”
“Jaffrin has sworn Riley’s protection detail is filled with top-notch Hunters, and that the Canadian teams are handling the situation,” I said. “Not that you two are even supposed to know about him.”
How did they? Jaffrin had kept Riley a secret from everyone who hadn’t been there the day my team had brought him home from Shadow Crest’s lair. And no one outside of my team, Jaffrin, and his Command, even knew Riley had the Power. And I didn’t know exactly where Riley was.
“The Ether Head Circle knows all,” Alexander said.
“And even if they didn’t, it’s not hard to figure out,” Iris said. “You’ve called a Canadian number several times over the past few months. You’ve applied for a passport that Jaffrin knows nothing about, or he wouldn’t have let it get approved. And you’ve been conducting Internet searches looking for—”
“Enough!” I shouted, swiping my hand through the air. “Fucking enough of this game. You’re here to supervise Krystin—unnecessarily, might I add. You are not here to pry into anyone else’s business, especially mine. Back the hell off or I’ll have Jaffrin remove you.”
The twins laughed in unison, the sound so creepy, I thought I was in a horror movie for a moment. Then Iris stepped forward, looking up at me again with those terrifying eyes. “Jaffrin only wishes he had that authority. We will leave when we are told to. Until then, everything that happens in this house affects Krystin’s standing. Therefore, everything in this house is our business.”
“Even your son and his incredibly dangerous magik,” Alexander added.
Jaw tightened, hands balling into fists, I said, “His magik is bound. You have nothing to worry about.” And if you try to hunt them like the Circles did to the others, I’ll kill you both myself. I bit down hard on my tongue to keep from saying those words aloud, in case it hurt Krystin’s chances at freedom or got me reprimanded. But that I didn’t speak them despite the pain of the bite or the slight coppery taste coating my mouth was a god-given miracle.
“Good,” Alexander said. “We’d hate to have had to bring in a child for magik he can’t control.”
Iris nodded. “It’d be most unfortunate.”
Anger flared in my mind, my vision washing over in red. My fists curled and uncurled, but I bit my tongue harder. Breathe, Hallen. “Yes. It would. Are we done here for tonight?”
The twins nodded and Alexander spoke. “We are. See you in the morning.”
“Yeah. Morning.”
I spun and hightailed it up the stairs before I ensured neither of them would make it until sunrise.
No one threatened my family and got away with it. No one.
I made it up the stairs without incident. Krystin was waiting for me at the top, her expression weary. I shook my head and pointed down the hall toward my bedroom. Not that I thought the twins could hear us whispering from downstairs, but I wasn’t unconvinced they hadn’t bugged the place. Jaffrin had been worried about it at Fire Circle Headquarters, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to think they’d done the same here. At least behind a closed door I’d feel somewhat safer.
We padded down the carpeted hall into my bedroom, luckily at the farthest point from the stairs.
I shut the door behind us. “They know about Riley.”
Krystin nodded, stepping closer to me. “I heard. How do they know, Ben?”
“I don’t know.” I scrubbed my face with my palms and paced the short distance between Krystin and the door. “I don’t fucking know. But where Jaffrin was all for hiding him away and pretending he didn’t have the Power, I don’t know that the Ether Head Circle will play ball.”
Her nodding increased along with the intensity in her eyes. “Do you know where Riley and Sandra are? We could go up to Canada and move them ourselves.”
I spun on her. “To where? Seems like nowhere is fucking safe for them.”
Krystin held up her hands. “I don’t know, Ben. Somewhere new. Anywhere new.”
“This is beyond stupid.”
If I’d been able to fight off Giyano three years ago, none of this would have happened. Or if I’d never been struck by lightning. Or if Sandra and I had used a damn condom. But now that Riley was in my life, however little that time with him might be, I couldn’t imagine him ever not being there. This wasn’t his fault. It was mine. Entirely fucking mine.
My hands fell to my sides and I looked at Krystin. “I don’t even understand how Shadow Crest knew about Riley in the first place. I’d only had my magik for a year when he was born. And my sister doesn’t have any. Michael, Rachel’s older brother, doesn’t either. And it’s not like Riley’s aura shows the Power, right?”
Krystin looked aside, remembering, then shook her head. “No, not that I can recall.”
“Exactly. So how do they know?”
The obvious answer was Giyano. He’d known about Krystin’s destiny when she’d been a baby. And his ex had the Power too, right?
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“It’s not him,” Krystin said, watching me with cautious eyes.
I lifted a brow. “I thought you didn’t have any of your old magik anymore?”
“I don’t need to be able to read your mind to tell what’s on it, Ben,” she said as she laid a hand on my arm. “You’re a pretty open book most days.”
“Of course I am.” I closed my eyes and forced a deep breath into my lungs. The new oxygen reignited my determination. “I can’t help it, Krystin. They threatened Riley.”
She squeezed my arm. Just knowing she was there settled my angry mind. It was hard to remember how mad at her I’d been only months ago. I tried to summon some of that anger now, the hatred of her seeking out Giyano for help instead of us. None came, not while she was touching me.
“They won’t hurt him.” Her voice was firm, reassuring. “I won’t let them.”
“Assuming there’s enough left for you to hurt after I’m done.”
She leveled me with a look. “We should probably stop talking about attacking fellow Hunters.”
“You’re right.”
We fell into a comfortable silence as we stood there. I didn’t want to open the door to let her out of here, if only because it’d mean opening the door to the reality waiting outside. The war, the threat to Riley. The twins spying on us at all moments of the day. I just wanted this quiet, this peace, forever.
But peace was a lie in this war.
“We should go to bed,” I said.
Krystin nodded. “Probably.” She scooted past me to the door, but she paused as her hand clasped the doorknob. “Thank you for not telling the twins about the body we found. That it… might be Giyano’s work.”
I held her gaze, two sides warring with myself. The part of me that wanted to play by the rules despite the rules constantly changing, and the part of me that wanted to keep feeling something for Krystin. But maybe we’d both gotten too deep into this war for anything other than friendship to develop.