Savior of Midnight

by Debbie Cassidy

  Xavier shook his head sharply. “No. But he told me what to write.”

  I exhaled in a rush. “Can he hear us? Is he here? Can we speak to him?”

  Xavier’s expression shuttered. “Not right now, he’s ... away.”

  “You’re lying.” Rivers’s voice was cold. “You’re afraid that if you let him out, you may not get back in the driver’s seat.”

  Xavier’s jaw flexed. “You need me,” he said. “I can help you bring down Asher. The resistance will follow me.”

  “Tell us exactly how to bring down Asher,” Ryker demanded.

  Xavier’s gaze was suddenly steely and calculating; the general had finally come out to play. “If you help me free my men, I’ll tell you what you need to know to bring down Asher. I’ll tell you exactly how you can overpower him from within.”

  I pushed up off the ground, jerked my head away from the cell, and walked off, indicating the guys to follow.

  We stopped outside the basement doors. “What do you guys think?”

  “It’s too dangerous,” Ryker said. “And he could be lying about knowing how to bring down Asher.”

  “No,” Rivers said. “He was telling the truth about that. But he was lying about Drayton. He could let Drayton speak to us if he wanted to.” His expression was icy determination. “Drayton is alive, and once we have what we want from Xavier, we’re going to get him back for good.”

  There was silence as we absorbed this fact. That this was real, that Drayton was here, back with us. My pulse fluttered in my throat, my hands fisted at my sides. The urge to pummel Xavier into giving us what we wanted was a living entity inside me, but hurting him would hurt Drayton, and whether we liked it or not, right now we needed Xavier and the manpower he could bring to the table.

  “What now?” Ryker asked.

  I exhaled away the tension. “We do the job he wants us to do. We liberate the resistance and get the key to bringing down Asher. Follow my lead.” I headed back to the cell and stood, feet shoulder-width apart. “We’ve made our decision.”

  Xavier pulled himself to his feet. “And?”

  “We’ll help you get your men, but we want more than information from you in return.”

  He watched me warily.

  “You’ll tell us exactly how to weaken Asher, you and your men will join our ranks, and ... you’ll let us speak to Drayton.”

  He sucked in a breath. “Yes to the first two terms, but the last ... I can’t.”

  “Yes. You can,” Rivers said firmly. “And you will. You owe it to us. After everything you’ve done, all the havoc you’ve caused, you owe us.”

  Xavier hung his head and closed his eyes for several long beats. He cocked his head, as if listening to something, and several emotions played across his face. Then he opened his eyes and nodded slowly. “You have a deal. Half an hour with Drayton once my men are free.”

  Had he just had a conversation with Drayton? My pulse was a staccato beat.

  “There’s more,” Ryker said. “We need a couple of shades we can kill.”

  Xavier froze, his eyes darting to me. “I can’t.”

  “Ryker ...” I reached for him, shaking my head.

  He brushed me off. “Deal or no deal?” he pressed.

  I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t ask Xavier to sacrifice his people to keep me alive. “We’ll find another way.”

  “We will,” Rivers said with confidence. “But we need to buy you time.” He crossed his arms. “Deal or no deal, Xavier?”

  Xavier began to pace.

  “Look, you said yourself not all shades are the same,” Ryker reminded him. “So help us get hold of some of the bad guys. Think of it as a necessary sacrifice.”

  He was throwing Xavier’s words back at him, and it had the desired effect. Xavier paused in his trek and looked across at us, his jailers. “I can get you what you need. I think I have a way we can both get what we want in one fell swoop.” His gaze was calculating once more. He was thinking with his general head again.

  “Do we have a deal?” Ryker asked.

  Xavier nodded. “We have a deal.”

  I stuck the keys into the lock and twisted. “Welcome to the MPD.”

  Chapter 2

  Xavier sipped his tea and stared at the plate of biscuits with an expression of longing on his face.

  “You can have another, you know.” Orin nudged the plate across the table toward him.

  Xavier held up his hand in a no-thanks gesture, and then offered us a small smile. “Indulgence is a vice I prefer to avoid. It’s all too easy to get addicted to the flavors of this world.” He eyed the biscuits again. “They are delicious, though.”

  “They were Drayton’s favorite,” Ryker said flatly.

  Xavier’s expression closed, and I shot Ryker a sharp look. Why the goading? He ignored me and kept his attention on Xavier. I squashed my irritation. How could I be annoyed at my friend? This was hard for Ryker. He’d partnered up regularly with Drayton. They’d been close for years. I’d only known Drayton for a few months and losing him hurt like a bitch, so for the guys, sitting opposite their friend, watching something else driving their buddy’s body like a fancy car, was harder, much harder.

  Orin picked up the pot of tea in the center of the table and poured himself a cup. Rivers was off speaking to Lucifer to tell him he needed to take a trip to Dawn to warn the winged about the biological data Asher had on their kind.

  I placed my mug on the table, half full now, and topped it up from the pot. “I assume you have a plan?”

  Xavier nodded. “The lieutenants meet once every month to give a report to the generals about their unit’s performance—how many human and neph hosts taken, any intelligence on the MPD or winged, that kind of thing.”

  They were organized, real organized. “And you’re a general.”

  “Yes. I would have been attending the meetings. But Asher will have replaced me with someone else by now. I just hope he hasn’t identified the lieutenant who is part of the resistance.”

  “So, we bust in on this meeting?” Orin asked.

  “Yes,” Xavier said. “We catch them unawares. You can have your kills.” He ducked his head, clearly uncomfortable with that. “I can pass a message to my contact. I can tell him to let the others know I’m alive and ask them to meet me at our rendezvous point. Then you can expel him from the host, or whatever you do, and he can deliver my message to the rest of the resistance.”

  “And where is this resistance rendezvous point?” Orin asked.

  “The resistance meets at an abandoned beach house on the coast. It’s a rundown old thing, but it works for us.”

  “When is the next lieutenant and general meeting?” Ryker asked.

  “In two days.”

  “And where will that take place?” Orin asked.

  “There’s an old railway station at the edge of the district close to Sunset. We meet there.”

  I knew the place. They’d shut it down years ago. There was no use for a railway that was meant to cut through the districts when travel between the areas was so limited. It had fallen into disrepair and been fenced off years ago.

  I slapped the table. “Okay, we have a plan. In the meantime, we’ll get you settled in, and you can get some proper rest.” Man, it was weird offering hospitality to a shade.

  “Where can we put him?” Orin pondered.

  “Drayton’s room is available,” Ryker said in a small voice.

  Xavier’s brows shot up and my heart climbed into my throat. Silence fell over us like a shroud. Xavier in Drayton’s room, among Drayton’s things, felt like an invasion.

  Ryker slid his hand onto my thigh and squeezed gently in reassurance. I opened my mouth to shoot down Ryker’s suggestion, but Xavier beat me to it, his tone laced with panic.

  “No. I couldn’t do that. Anywhere else would be fine.”

  I didn’t want him in Drayton’s room either, but why was he so reluctant to take up the offer? Why the anxiety? Unless ... Rea
lization bloomed in my mind. Xavier was afraid that being around Drayton’s things would make Drayton stronger, that it would weaken his shade hold.

  I smiled innocently. “Oh, you really should. Besides, we’re kinda full right now, what with the Black Wings and the Order in residence.”

  His face smoothed out like glass, and he nodded curtly. “In that case, thank you.”

  He’d realized he was giving away too much. But it was too late. He was shaken, losing his grip, and it would be my objective to help him slip even further.

  Orin pushed back his seat. “I’ll show you up. Give you a lay of the land.”

  They headed for the door, and I caught a flash of ink on the back of Xavier’s neck. My fists clenched. Drayton hadn’t had a tattoo. This fucker had marked the incubus’s body, claiming it as his own. Xavier may be helping and, yeah, we should be grateful, but the sooner he was gone, the better.

  ***

  I stared at the notepad on the kitchen counter, at the list of supplies we needed to get in order to stock back up. With so many people in residence, we were running out of food real quick. A trip to the supermarket sounded like such a mundane task, but someone needed to do it.

  The clip of heels on the steps behind me had my hackles rising. Only one person I knew wore clippy heels, and she was the last person I’d like to be alone in a room with. The fact that she’d moved in was bad enough, but having to actually socialize with her made my fist ache to punch her.

  “Hello, Serenity.” Lilith’s sultry greeting grated on my senses.

  “If you’re looking for lunch, we’re out of food. There’s some coffee left, though.” I made to brush past her, but she grabbed my arm, her grip surprisingly strong.

  “Serenity, you can’t keep avoiding me.”

  Watch me. “I don’t care enough about you to make the effort to avoid you, Lilith. Now let go of my arm before I break your fingers.”

  She released me with a low chuckle. “You’re a child, you know that.”

  “And you’re a fucking coward.”

  She blinked in surprise. “Excuse me?”

  Dammit, getting into an argument meant interaction, but I was so sick of her catching a free ride, acting as if by freeing Lucifer she’d done us all some kind of favor. “Arcadia is under attack. It’s all hands on deck, except you seem to think you’re exempt from getting your talons dirty.”

  “I’m not a fighter, Serenity.”

  “Then what are you?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I’m an ancient being who spent the better part of the last century tied to this place because of a bargain I made with a Black Wing.”

  Was she seriously going to try that shit? “Oh, please. Don’t make yourself out to be a victim. You got plenty out of that agreement. I’m witness to that.”

  Her jaw clenched. “I’m not your enemy, Serenity. I did what I had to.”

  “No, you’re not my enemy, because to be my enemy I’d have to think of you as a threat, and you’re nothing more than a pathetic succubus who gets her rocks off by forcing herself on others. Don’t tell me you couldn’t have found another way to keep Lucifer’s glamour from fading. Don’t tell me there was no other way to siphon his energy so he remained Bane.”

  She arched a brow and pouted. “No. I won’t insult your intelligence by lying to you. I took what I wanted. When Lucifer came to me with the deal, I specifically asked for sexual energy, and he agreed. He signed the contract between us. There were other arcane methods to achieve the same goal, yes, but they wouldn’t have benefited me.” She shrugged. “And what’s the point of a deal if both parties don’t get something from it?”

  I hated that she had a point, but still, so did I. “Lucifer signed that contract, not Bane. You had Lucifer’s permission, not Bane’s.” I took a step closer to her and looked her straight in the eyes. “You never had Bane’s consent, just his reluctant resignation because you waved that fucking contract in his face, a contract he didn’t remember signing because he never fucking did.”

  Her face drained of color. But she tossed back her hair and stared levelly at me. “You can twist it all you want, but the contract was blood binding. Lucifer is Bane and Bane was always Lucifer.”

  She was trying to justify her sickness. The color climbing up her neck, the high spots of red staining her cheeks, spoke volumes. My arguments weren’t new to her, she’d contemplated them herself, and still, she’d taken what she wanted and enjoyed Bane’s discomfort and displeasure.

  I shook my head. “You make me sick. Now get the fuck out of my way.”

  She smiled thinly. “I’m glad to see you finally grew into your claws.”

  “Yeah? Well you better stay out of my way, because right now it wouldn’t take much to tempt me to test them on you.”

  She stepped aside, and I escaped from the room, only to get halfway up the stairs and realize I’d forgotten the damned shopping list. Thank goodness my memory was stellar. Now to find someone to drive me to the damned supermarket.

  ***

  Rivers steered the van through the rain-slicked streets. “Do you want me to teach you to drive?”

  “You don’t like driving me?”

  The corner of his mouth lifted. “I thought you might want some independence.”

  I’d been thinking the same thing not too long ago, but it was one thing telling myself I’d love to drive and another actually doing it. Up until now, I’d convinced everyone, including myself, that driving was something I just hadn’t gotten around to learning, but the truth was that being in control of a vehicle scared the fuck out of me. Easier to just put it off. Yeah, I could take on the scourge but not a bloody car. Go figure.

  “I’m a good teacher, and we have plenty of room on the mansion grounds,” Rivers said casually. A little too casually.

  Had he guessed my fear? “Once we deal with Asher, we’ll see.”

  We took a left onto a main street, and the lights of the twenty-four-hour supermarket came into view—a one-story building sat in the center of a small car park which was about half full. The dashboard clock showed it had just gone two p.m. Ryker parked close to the store. We’d be buying in bulk, and who the heck wanted to lug boxes all the way across the car park in the pouring rain?

  We jumped out and headed into the store at a sprint to avoid the worst of the downpour. The automatic doors swished open and a cheery cashier greeted us with a raised hand as we passed the checkout. The harsh lights made everything look bright and enticing, and shoppers milled about browsing the aisles. The fact that they felt so safe was a testament to the hard work the MPD and every other neph who’d jumped on board was doing, but my gut told me the reprieve would be short-lived, because Asher may be taking a breather, but he would in no way be backing down.

  Rivers grabbed a cart and we headed into the pasta aisle. Pasta had become a staple food at the mansion. It was versatile and loaded with carbs that we could then burn off out in the field. Beef and chicken would be next, and the Order had a thing for vegetables. We walked side by side down the aisle, and if not for the Protectorate gear we could have been an average couple out for our weekly shop.

  A pang of longing assaulted me as that long-lost desire for normality resurfaced, but I shoved it away. Normal meant giving up the guys. Normal would suck.

  Rivers started loading the cart with fusilli, spaghetti, and macaroni. I grabbed some sauces off a nearby shelf and added those.

  “We might need another cart,” Rivers said.

  “I’ll go get it.” I headed back up the aisle toward the front of the supermarket. A young couple with a toddler strapped into their cart cut across the entrance to my aisle; the woman caught my eye and smiled before they walked out of sight. And then a scream of horror ripped through the pleasant hum of the supermarket. What the heck? I broke into a sprint, rounding the aisle, adrenaline flooding my veins as I caught a glimpse of the commotion by the entrance. But then I was being forcefully yanked back into the mouth of the aisle.
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br />   Rivers held a finger to his lips. God. Oh, God. The Breed. So many fucking Breed. And so much blood.

  More screams lit up the air.

  “Don’t move,” a thick, guttural voice said. “Stay exactly where you are.”

  My hackles rose, but it wasn’t us the Breed was talking to. He was talking to the humans at the front of the store.

  I patted Rivers’s hand, and he released me, allowing me to inch toward the front of the aisle and peer around the corner. Rivers’s fingers curled around my wrist in a question. Ten—no, eleven—Breed prowled the front of the store. One held the cashier captive, two manned the doors, and the rest herded the humans by the checkouts.

  I ducked back and mouthed eleven.

  Rivers’s jaw ticked as he calculated the odds of us taking out eleven Breed. I jerked my head back toward the entrance. We had to try and take them out.

  Rivers frowned and pointed toward the back of the store—toward the other exit. He wanted us to escape? What the fuck? We couldn’t just run. What about the humans? Hopefully my eyes were communicating my concerns.

  Rivers’s jaw flexed, and he shook his head and pointed at his back, his back that wasn’t loaded with his sword. Shit, he’d left it in the van. I flicked my wrists and summoned my daggers, holding them up for inspection with raised brows.

  Someone screeched, high-pitched and awful, and then the sound of bone crunching and flesh tearing was accompanied by crazy sobs and whimpers. There was a moment of silence and then ...

  “Dinner is served!” one of the Breed said.

  Another bloodcurdling shriek lit up my brain, and the supermarket broke into chaos as the humans realized that standing still wasn’t going to save them from the monsters.

  Rivers yanked me toward the back of the store.

  “No. We need to do something.”

  “We can’t take them on alone,” Rivers said. “I need my sword, and we need backup.”

  “The humans will be dead by the time backup arrives.”

  “And if we stay, so will we.”

  Something crashed into the shelves on the other side of our aisle, and claws clicked and scraped against the tiles. Rivers grabbed my hand and we ran. Two against eleven was suicide. We were good, but not that good. But the humans .... those poor humans. The couple and their baby. My feet faltered, but Rivers pulled me along.