by Jessica Gunn
“The latter. It might get messy, even with the protection magiks—assuming they’re back up.”
“If they’re reopening the Guild I’d bet they’re even stronger this time. You probably won’t be able to so much as swat a fly in there anymore.”
“Not that those stopped Kinder.”
“We’ll be fine,” Krystin said. “What time do we leave?”
“Avery said he’d meet us there in an hour.”
She nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll go get ready.”
“Me too.”
Krystin and I met Avery an hour later as planned. When Rachel asked where we were going, I told her it was part of a mission Jaffrin had assigned. She at least seemed to be happy I wasn’t going alone.
The night air wrapped around me as if I’d dunked myself in ice water. I shivered fiercely as we walked up to the front door of Hunter’s Guild.
“This is the first time we’ve all properly gone out together,” Krystin pointed out.
“Fantastic. Let’s continue this where it’s warm,” I said.
Avery nodded as he flashed his Fire Circle knife at the door. “Agreed. I’m freezing my balls off out here.”
The man working security let us in and, as we entered the building, an unnatural sense of calm exploded over me. For the first time in years, I felt wholly relaxed. “Damn.”
“Oh, yeah,” Krystin said. “That’s their new protection magiks all right. It’s like getting dosed with an anti-psychotic.”
“’Cause you’d know what that’s like,” Avery commented as he scouted out the inside of the Guild.
“And you wouldn’t?”
“Back to your corners, kids,” I said.
Krystin rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.”
“I hear it’s you two that need separate corners, anyway,” Avery said.
Right. Ignoring that.
The inside of Hunter’s Guild looked almost exactly as it had before, two floors and with a wooden staircase leading up to the second. A bar area took up the left side of the ground floor, although now, unlike before, smoke from cigars flowed freely from the space instead of being trapped by an invisible magik wall. Large steel beams now stood in place of the wooden originals that’d fallen during Kinder’s attack, but aside from that, all the booths and stools remained the same. As had the atmosphere—at least, what of it I could feel past the relaxing effects of the protection magiks.
“Whatever magik they’re using, they need to bottle it,” Krystin said as we plunked down into a booth on the far side of the room, back inside a dimly-lit corner. The cushions were a deep brown and not as soft as the old ones. “I haven’t been this relaxed and not wanting to punch something in weeks.”
“Same.” If I thought about things enough—like Riley being in Canada or Kinder killing innocents—the anger still came, but the impulse to act, to do something about it, didn’t.
“Wish they’d use them at Headquarters,” Avery said as he flagged down a waitress and ordered a round of beers for each of us. “The people running the magik illusion on the outside of the building have enough issues, though being able to keep irate Hunters or locked-up demons quiet would be nice.”
Krystin’s eyes narrowed. “You capture that many?”
Avery shrugged, watching the waitress retreat to the bar. Demon waitress, I should clarify. Her deep red eyes were enough to put me off, but Avery seemed less deterred, especially considering the miniskirt and low-cut top beneath those eyes. “You don’t?”
“No,” Krystin said. “We usually dispose of the ones we fight.”
I could almost hear the rest of her sentence, something to the effect of: You know, because we can actually take them down. Unlike you’re powerless team. Though it was true, judging them based on not having magik was stupid. Plenty of Hunters throughout history went after demons without magik. We were just the lucky few who got to deal with learning how to control lightning and whatever else might manifest.
Avery readjusted his focus when the waitress returned with our drinks. “Whatever works for you guys, I guess.”
The waitress unloaded a tray of drinks and Avery paid her. Then he offered up a cheers and the drinking commenced.
“So,” I said. “How did you want to do this tonight?”
“Not sure,” Avery said. “Looks like there are plenty of demons to choose from regarding information.” He looked around the room, staring at each of the three dozen demons in turn. Another group, Hunters, I thought, gathered at the bar.
“That’s not exactly a good starting point,” Krystin said as the front door to Hunter’s Guild opened.
“No,” I said, “but we could—”
The noise in the room cut out in an instant, from roars of laughter and raucous drinking to dead quiet immediately. Walking into the Guild were three newcomers, each decked out in pale yellow cloaks that billowed around them as they walked. Their cowl hoods were up, hiding their features. But the clasp in front bore a symbol: EHC intertwined together with a white rose.
“Shit,” Avery said, ducking his head to focus pointedly on his drink.
Krystin and I did the same, she resting her elbow on the table to block her face from view.
“You’re not kidding,” I said.
Krystin spoke quietly, her words sharp. “What’s the Ether Head Circle doing here?”
“It’s just their representatives.”
“That’s what they always say, then some poor town or city ends up on the wrong end of their puppeteering,” Avery said.
Krystin shifted in her seat, closer to me and as far away from the Ether Head Circle representatives as possible as they trailed through the main area and upstairs into one of the private rooms. “Doesn’t make it any better. I thought they didn’t give a shit about what happened here.”
“Yeah, until Kinder attacked,” said Avery. “Now everyone cares.”
“Maybe they’re here for the same reason as us.”
“It’s not Aloysius, for god’s sake,” Krystin snapped, still hiding her face beside her beer bottle. “It’s just Kinder. Is she a traitor to the Fire Circle? Absolutely. And she’s powerful as hell. And immortal.”
“You’re not helping,” I said dryly.
Krystin peeked up at me. “My point is that she’s not more powerful than Aloysius, which means, even though immortal, she can be stopped. If we do it right.”
“And when has ‘doing it right’ ever worked out for us?”
She rolled her eyes and looked up to the door the Ether Circle representatives had gone through.
Avery lifted his head. “They might be there all night. We’re safe for now, but—”
“Let’s not fuck with the Ether Head Circle, okay? I can’t handle them on top of everything else right now,” said Krystin.
“Amen,” I said under my breath.
“Better still stay hidden though,” Avery said. “Especially since Jaffrin doesn’t know we’re here.”
Both Krystin and I nodded, accepting our immediate fates, but something still nagged me about Hunter’s Guild after the rebuild. Magik had rebuilt this place fast, but could it put the divide between demon and Hunter back together?
“Oh, shit,” Avery said, once more looking around the room. “There. Not good.”
Krystin and I followed his line of sight and arrived on a table full with patrons on each side. Seven people crammed around a tiny wooden table.
“What’s that all about?” Avery asked.
Krystin’s eyes narrowed. “At least five of them are actually demons, but…” She stared down at her drink and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. After a few moments, she looked up again. “Their auras are shadowy but bright—fluorescent, actually. All except one. The guy at the head of the table is a witch, not a demon. They’re wearing contacts.”
“Better not blow their cover, then,” I said. “Might be another Hunter.”
Krystin shook her head. “If I can tell, the demons can, too. He’s not hiding his witch
aura at all.”
I looked at her. “Did you when you pretended to be a demon?”
Krystin nodded, but Avery jumped in and asked, “You faked being a demon? Why?”
“Long story,” she said, watching the table. Her face paled. “Ben.”
I watched long enough to see one of the demons nudge the witch closer to the demons on the side of the table. That’s when I saw the handcuffs, heavy chains poorly masked by some failing magik.
Krystin tensed beside me. “What is their obsession with trafficking witches right now?”
Avery peered over his shoulder quickly, masking the action by flagging down our waitress for another drink. Before she arrived, he asked, “Isn’t that what demons in this area do? Kidnap people?”
My fist curled around my beer. “Doesn’t mean it’s right.”
“Obviously,” Avery said. “Nothing we can do about it in here, though.”
“Bullshit.” We could tell someone. Or follow them out, confront the demons, help the witch by providing a distraction, but he didn’t have many options. And, as much as it killed me to admit, neither did we. Without getting out of the building and away from the range of the protection magiks keeping things civil in here, the witch wouldn’t be able to teleportante to freedom. And inside, none of us could use our abilities to fight back. Outside of that barrier and you were looking at a brawl.
“I’m not walking away,” Krystin growled at Avery. “This is wrong. Hunter’s Guild is neutral ground.”
“Nothing’s neutral in this war, Krystin,” Avery said as the waitress approached. He paid her for this beer, too, and gave her a wink. She rolled her eyes and retreated from our table before I could apologize for Avery being a dick.
Krystin pushed her drink his way. “Shove off, Avery. You’re an asshole. How the hell are you the leader of the flagship team with an attitude like that?”
Oh, here we go. Sure, I’d come out here to help Avery, but that didn’t mean we were normally friends. And if Krystin was in for a brawl, I supposed I’d have to take her side by principle.
Avery held up his hands. “I’m just saying. There’s a whole lot of woods between them and safety if they don’t let us back inside the Guild after we act.”
She rolled her eyes. “Retreat must come easy for a non-magik-user like you.”
Avery’s eyes cooled, his lips pursed. His fingers twitched toward what I was sure was a gun holster at his hip. Weapons were allowed inside the Guild. You just weren’t allowed to use them.
“Back off,” I said, watching the demon group more than my fellow Hunters. “Both of you. Looks like they’re getting ready to move. Should we follow?”
The group of demons and the captured witch stood and walked toward the door, the witch dragging his heels as much as possible. We, along with other onlookers who looked equally not ready to act, watched as the demon holding the chain yanked it, pulling the witch forward.
“He’s a Cassano,” Krystin said. “Shit. I can feel it.”
“Can you ID him?” Avery asked as we also stood.
I held up a hand signal. Hold. “Krystin?”
She shook her head. “I haven’t seen him before, but—look!”
As the witch was pulled forward, his shirt rode up his back, where a Water Circle knife had been sheathed. The demons were so sure they’d gotten the witch under control that they hadn’t bothered taking away his weapon. Which meant the witch still had a chance.
“We have to help him,” I said.
Krystin nodded. “So let’s go. We’ll follow their trail.”
Avery hesitated, looking between us and then back to the door, which the group was now hurrying through. “You sure about this?”
Krystin shot him a look. “Yeah, unless you think you can’t handle it?”
Avery’s eyes hardened. “Okay. You’re on.”
We followed the group out the door but gave them space as we all reached the woods. A path led straight from Hunter’s Guild into the dark, tree-laden area. We walked down it, following their footsteps without seeing them in the dark, until Krystin stopped.
“Here,” she said. “The teleportante trail starts here.”
“Good. Let’s go.” I held out my hand and she took it, followed by Avery. “Bring us there, Krystin. Avery, get ready to attack. Who knows what we’re going to find.”
Hopefully not what we had found the other night—a house in the middle of the woods filled to the brim with demons, including Tatiana Viynar.
Krystin teleported us to a new location, following their teleportante trail. We landed in the middle of more dark woods, sure enough, outside of that same house from the previous night.
Krystin placed her hands on her hips. “Well, then. Guess we’re not going in after all.”
I frowned, stepping closer to the house. “They might not all be home.”
“Look,” Avery said as he drew two of his guns and readied them both with silencers, like some stupid action movie. Guns were so cheap. And dangerous. “They’re not inside yet.”
I bit my lip, watching the group approach the door. We only had a few seconds to act or not and… “How fast can we get in there and save the witch before they call for backup from inside the house?”
Krystin shook her head. “Not fast enough, I’d wager.”
“Good thing I’m a gambling man,” said Avery. “You wanted to save him? Let’s do it. We only have right now to act.”
I shifted my weight from one foot to another. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Lightning sparked in my palm on my command, growing into a glowing ball of electricity and power. Krystin drew her Fire Circle knife and stood beside me. I grabbed her hand and she placed her free one on Avery’s shoulder, then we charged.
One teleportante landed us directly behind the group of demons, which Krystin pushed away from the witch with her telekinesis. She came up short, one hand on the witch, and the other holding demons back, though one took a swipe with a blade before she’d gotten to him. Red bloomed across her shoulder as the slice split the arm of her jacket.
I threw my lightning ball at the closest two demons, who’d fallen in a huddle in the snow with Krystin’s attack. Two soft clicks went off as Avery shot one demon, then two more clicks as another fell to the ground, both with bullets in their heads.
He crouched as a third demon, this one taller than he was, attacked him and was forced to block hand-to-hand attacks. I slid around my current attacker, cracking an elbow into the demon’s temple before frying him with lightning, and kicked Avery’s demon in the side. Suddenly, the demon lifted up into the air and then sailed into a tree, impaled on a tree branch, with something gold glittering around his neck.
Wait a second… no. I peered closer, as well as I could through the nighttime darkness. “He’s Shadow Crest!”
Their medallion dangled at his chest, the chain it rested on twisting in the moonlight.
I looked around. Krystin stood, one hand raised as though holding the demon impaled to the tree in place. Her other hand clutched her Fire Circle knife.
“Look out!” Avery yelled as Krystin almost spun right into the last demon.
I shot out a lightning strike, freezing and burning the demon in his tracks.
Krystin looked up at me, thankfulness shining in her eyes. It lasted for a single moment before she turned, grabbed hold of the Cassano witch she’d saved, and ran with him to Avery and me. We joined hands and used teleportante to bring us outside Hunter’s Guild once more.
“Coming here should dilute the trail enough,” she said, though I had doubts considering she’d followed the demon’s trail well enough to find them. We used teleportante a few more times, jumping around to Boston, then Vermont, before landing at Fire Circle Headquarters.
The Cassano witch tore his hand out of Krystin’s grasp when we landed, sputtering his words. “You shouldn’t have done that. You shouldn’t have gotten involved. They’ll figure it out and they’ll come here and—”
&
nbsp; “Save it,” Avery said, jumping in on Krystin’s behalf before I’d even processed the witch’s words. Shouldn’t he be happy we’d saved him?
No. He was right. The reasons he listed were all reasons we’d backed off saving the Ember witches the night before.
“We had to,” I said. “They were Shadow Crest, not Landshaft bounty hunters. We’ll be fine.”
“Except that’s the same damn house from the other night,” Krystin said. “Tatiana Viynar’s hideout. We’re screwed.”
I shook my head and paced away, trying to put the pieces of this puzzle together. I froze, my pulse thudding loudly behind my ears. I looked up at Krystin. “Maybe Lady Azar has got Shadow Crest working with Tatiana Viynar; maybe she has her looking for Riley. Lady Azar is still after my son.”
Krystin’s eyes widened, her face paling. She didn’t have to say it.
If Jaffrin wouldn’t update me on Sandra’s whereabouts, on her safety, I’d go up there and take Riley back to Fire Circle Headquarters myself. Canadian non-demon border be damned to Hell and back.
I ran up the stairs to Jaffrin’s office and banged on his locked door until my knuckles bled.
“He’s not here,” Krystin said from behind me, quietly, slowly. “Ben, you have to wait until morning.”
I spun on her, rage boiling dangerously close to the surface. “That bitch is still after my son. No way in hell am I waiting until morning. We just got him back. I’ll keep her away from him or die trying.”
“Because that’ll help the situation,” she said dryly.
I sucked in a deep breath and felt lightning sparking around my fingers.
Krystin’s gaze dropped to the mini-lightning strikes. “Cool it, Ben. I’m not the enemy.”
“No,” I said. “But Lady Azar is. And she won’t survive the week.”
Chapter 12
Krystin
Ben’s statement was a bold one, and I knew we’d never see it through. But still, we called Jaffrin in and told him what we’d found. Avery related the story, how he’d asked Ben to accompany him and what we’d discovered. That was when Jaffrin pulled Ben aside to video conference with Sandra and Riley.