Sin of Fury

by Avery Duncan

  Talon threw his jacket to the side and smirked at her when she came back to the court. “Don’t be too upset when I beat you, alright?”

  Jamie rolled her eyes at him, and he served the ball --clumsily. When she got the ball, she bumped it back and he barely managed to hit it. For a second, he thought she was going to miss it -- and then she spiked it. Right at his chest. And going by the look in her eye, the small slap of pain he felt because of it had been intentional.

  Talon grabbed the ball, glaring at her.

  “I’m going easy. You’re a little rusty,” he said defensively, serving it again. When the ball landed in the same exact place with the same exact force, he was done. “That’s it. We’re playing basketball. Now.”

  Jamie laughed, and he swore it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. Although, he thought that about everything she did. And the next thing was always more beautiful and perfect than the last.

  He was jogging over to the basketball court when Jamie shot in front of him, stealing the ball and running to the hoop. When she tried shooting and failed miserably, he couldn’t help but laugh. Ms. Perfect wasn’t so great at everything now, was she? He caught the rebound and checked her, making his first shot from the free-throw line.

  She stamped her foot angrily, opening her mouth. “Now, that isn’t fair --”

  He didn’t hear her after the large bang, and then a flash of light shot through the room.

  Everything burst into flames.

  Chapter 19

  The feeling that had spread down to his back now covered over his chest and thighs. Soon enough, he felt like he had stepped into a batch of poison ivy. But by the time he was at the meeting place, right behind the large rec-center in the middle of downtown, it had dissipated.

  Thankfully.

  Materializing near one of the back alley entrances to the rec-center, he took in his surroundings and wondered how long he would be waiting for Devlin. The distant flapping of wings meant nothing to him, nor did the dank stench that came with it.

  Was Zyn actually going to meet them? What was Devlin going to look like out of her suit? He had only seen her one time without it, when she had first been initiated. She’d been adorned in skin tight jeans and a curve hugging shirt. She’d worn plain black shoes and her hair and been short, almost a bob. The second he had seen her, he’d known that he’d do anything to have her. Talon had taken care of the recruits, had mentioned a redhead with potential, but Lucian hadn’t paid any attention.

  Now, as he waited for her, he felt like every gun he owned was going off, like every nerve he had was going to explode. The beating wings got close enough that they were right in his ear. He turned around slowly, the tingle returning. Was he going to piss himself or some shit?

  Rubbing his hands over his thighs, he took his time looking for Devlin. She liked to wait before making an entrance. She clung to the shadows like a spider. It had always been something that he’d admired her for. The way that she held her control with such tight restraint, the confidence she held in herself.

  A painful image crashed into his mind. Tears raining down her cheeks, such...pain in her eyes. Losing her job shouldn’t have been so much of a terror for her, right? He understood that his work was his life, but it had to be. He didn’t have a choice -- she did. She’d only been with him for several years, maybe long enough to get attached but not obsessed. She was still a young woman, young enough to get a life and have children and... marry.

  At the thought, his body hardened and jealousy ran through him. His fists clenched. Lucian was quite fucking sure that any guy with enough balls that came up to her would quickly lose them

  Soft steps. His name was called. Lucian turned around and stared, wondering where the hell she was. And then she was right in front of him.

  Sprouting.

  Fucking.

  Wings.

  “What the fuck?” he barked, jerking backwards. His hand automatically went to his belt, where his gun and blade were holstered. Her hair was pulled back from her face, bright blue eyes sparkling with fire and an inner knowledge that had him backing away even more.

  Black wings, almost the size of his chest, sprung proudly from her back. His jaw clenched at the site. The darkest, more solid part of the wings were close to her back. The more they extended outwards, the more they became almost invisible. In the sunlight that shone behind them, they seemed to glow and wave, and as if it had never happened, disappear completely.

  Devlin took a cautious step forward, even though her eyes were anything but hesitant. Lucian tightened his hold on the Beretta at his hip. “You know, Lucian. I used to really like you,” she said lowly, emotionless eyes peering upward. He snapped his gaze in that direction, wondering if any more demons were going to come as back-up.

  Now that he knew, he could smell the soft scent of evil that permeated the air around her. It came with every demon, some being strong enough to hide it well enough to be considered human. Lucian had thought she was just unique. In their world, some people had no specific race, just labeled as unique or different. Often enough, they weren’t so special that they had to be introduced to Lucian’s world. They had a guardian, someone to make sure that they stayed out of harm and didn’t reveal anything too damaging, and that was it.

  Lucian had been dumb enough to believe that Devlin had been unique. Thick tendrils of betrayal flowed through him, the stench as rotten as a decaying body. Disgust for the woman he had once desired flowed through him freely, and she must have known it. Her nose flared and her gaze shot back to him.

  “Enough that I almost betrayed the only man that ever treated me right,” she continued, backing him into a corner. And... yup, there went the jealousy. Right out of his head and into his dominant hand. In less than a second, he had a gun pressed to her neck and her luscious body was pressed to his.

  If she moved back even an inch, he would fire. And she knew that also.

  “You were our little sneak,” he accused darkly, rage flowing freely now.

  Her head nodded, and her chin kicked into the air with haughtiness. “I’ll do whatever I can to protect him. And now that you’re here?” She paused, smiling wide enough to reveal small little fangs peeking down from her gums. “I can do just that.”

  Her body shot into action, slamming against his. Lucian dropped to a crouch, pulling out the Beretta and aiming. Wings -- those damn fucking wings -- sprung from her back and she was airborne with a great spring. Lucian didn’t notice he was roaring until it became loud enough to hurt his own ears, and before he knew it he was flashing onto her back. Like a snake with prey, he wrapped his arms around her neck and tried weighing them down to the ground. Her wings bat against his body as she tried to stay afloat.

  Silver flashed, and then a sharp pain in his thigh had him hissing. He unleashed his blade and dug it into her back. Devlin let out an inhuman screech and they fell to the ground, spiraling. He only had a second to flash away from her and onto the ground, several feet away from her body. Blood trickled from her lips, and for a second, he thought he had won.

  “No fight?” he asked, shifting the weight of his feet. God, he wanted this. He wanted to tear her apart. She had betrayed him, after everything he had ever fucking done for her. And his team...his men. His only family.

  She was going to pay.

  “You’ve watched me train before,” she snarled, rising to her feet. Her shoulder looked like it was cranking to the right, which was the wing he’d damaged. He knew that even though she was a demon and her body could handle any amount of pain, the wings were the most sensitive part. Their greatest weapon and their weakest point.

  “And?” he asked, throwing his jacket aside. It was causing him a lag in movement, and he knew for a fact that Devlin was a bitch in battle. She played rough and dirty, and didn’t hold back on the cock shots.

  Blood red eyes stared him, seeing past his soul and straight into his future – his death. Grimly, he accepted the fact that unless anything
happened to intervene, neither of them were going to make it out the fight alive.

  Heat boiled through his arms and legs, coursing through his body and going straight through his hands. Instead of melting the metal as his power would have, it caused the bitch to flame up and in less than a second, Devlin was screeching.

  And throwing herself at him.

  He dodged out of her way and slashed the knife across her bicep, barely missing the her frosty wings. He knew enough from fighting with demons that if their wings were damaged, they emitted a coldness strong enough to freeze an arm until it burst apart.

  “Fuck,” he cursed, turning around, only to be kicked in the side. His body slammed against the wall. He brought up his fist, throwing the knife with a death-letting accuracy. It slammed into her shoulder, but she kept coming at him. Her fist connected with his face, and for a brief second he wondered why she wasn’t using her wings.

  The question caused him a dangerous pause.

  Bam.

  The wall blew out behind him, and once-a-fucking-gain he was tossed – straight into Devlin. She screamed, her body trapped under his. He felt the crush of rubble and large bricks as they landed on his back. Furious, he pushed with his knees and, while stealing the now-bloody and cold knife from her chest—jumped over a large piece of stone.

  Devlin didn’t follow him.

  Smoke curled out of the building that had blown up on them, and he had only a second to whip around before a large, hulking body shuttled its way through the crushed stone. The large bang was deafening, startling. He saw familiar silver eyes, quickly turning to a dangerous onyx, before he was looking towards the building.

  “Jamie,” Talon tried to shout. His voice was rough and panicked, and Talon barely understood what he was saying before he was unconscious.

  “Oh my fucking god,” he groaned, getting ready to save his friends love, and die at the same time. Whatever was going on in there, it wasn’t good. Evil, so dark and black, was pouring out of the building in oily waves. He had no clue what was happening, but he knew that he’d been betrayed. And set up. And everything was going to fucking hell.

  He only made it through the large, gaping hole of the rec-center before another blast echoed and collided with him.

  The last thing he heard was Jamie’s cry of pain, Talon’s unconscious shout, and a small whimper from under the rocks before he was also dropped the fuck out of the world.

  ~*~

  “She’s in danger.”

  The soft voice carried over him, through him. Curled in his gut. Sunk into his soul.

  Zyn turned around, seeing nothing but empty air and trees and a telephone. Emptiness.

  “Who’s there?” he asked into the forest, feeling the pull and lure of it as he had from the beginning. From the beginning of time, the forest had been his only solace, his only home. It was what called to him in his darkest days, what comforted him in his sorry excuse for a life.

  “You need to go to her. She’s in danger!” the voice said, more insistent than before. It was feminine, yet strong. Controlled. As beautiful as a lullaby.

  “Who is?” he asked to the voice, lifting his face to the sky. Nothing was there either. Leaves rustled softly, small drops of moisture falling from their high thrones of beauty. Besides one thing, nothing else had enchanted him as much as the forest had.

  But she was gone.

  Missy had given him a twenty dollar bill, a smile, and a nod toward the diner. He promised to repay her, and could only imagine the look that would come over her face when she opened her purse. The baby had slept the whole way to the diner, and it had been all he could do not to sit there, stare, and cry.

  He’d never gotten to see his daughter as a baby, so innocent and untouched. He’d never gotten to see her first steps, her first word. He’d known nothing about her till she entered school. Every award she received, every performance she’d done, he’d seen. Revealed. Regretted. Loved. She would look so happy, so carefree. So smart and intellectual, just as a woman who was heir to the throne of their world was meant to look.

  And he’d lost her. Because of his own foolishness. Because of his own selfish need to make her know that she was his blood, that he loved her. That someone cared for her as they should.

  Zyn turned away from the forest and stared at the diner. He could hear the graceful steps of a deer a little ways behind the diner, searching through the brush and then loping away.

  “You freaking idiot! Your daughter is in danger!”

  Zyn froze.

  “Are you going to listen to me now?” the voice asked. It was much closer than before, much more clearer. And much more angrier.

  “My daughter is...dead,” he said numbly, walking away from the voice. The twenty was just a folded up paper in his hands, but it could get him something to eat. Something to gain strength with. He’d promised Lucian that he would come back, would take care of things.

  How could he do that when he couldn’t even take care of himself? He thought of the deer, and felt his stomach clench. It was time that he fed. Cleaned up. Got back on track.

  His large, thin frame shuddered. Not with cold or hunger, but with trepidation. For the future. The past.

  Inside of the diner, only a few people sat among the tables, with the rest of them behind the counters, cooking and talking and laughing. The second he stepped inside, though, it became dead silent.

  Awkwardly walking to the counter, he sat down and looked at the menu. The void in his mind was nothing but a normality. He could forget about things in a second if he had to, was used to doing so. But that voice, the female voice with such anger in her voice, was haunting him.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

  Zyn’s head snapped up in the direction of the voice. A large guy, dressed in an apron with grease stains and in checkered pants was standing in front of him. He held a spatula, a plate of fries and burgers, and standing behind him was the whole staff.

  “Why?”

  The cook blinked and then looked at him as if he were stupid. He cleared his throat awkwardly, and then gestured with the greasy spatula. “No shirt, no shoes, no service.”

  Zyn stared at him.

  He shifted on his feet uncomfortably, eyes flickering away from Zyn’s and then back. “Listen, man. I can’t serve you, so there’s no reason for you to be here. You’re making the Misses uncomfortable,” he tried, his deep voice even more awkward than it had been before.

  Zyn stood up slowly, hating that it felt like needles were being shoved through his joints. Now that he was ready to come back, to take his place in the world once again, all of the pain that he had felt in the past ten years was coming back like a burning flame.

  “Is he?” a quiet, scratchy voice said from the corner. The cook’s eyes shot over to the window-seated booth before landing on Zyn.

  “Ma’am...”

  “Give me one of everything on the menu,” she said. A thin figure peaked up from the booth, frizzy hair and bright blue eyes connecting with his.

  The staff began to disperse, walking away from the cook, who stood his ground -- or tried to. Denying her would be a big loss of money, he thought absently, sitting across from her.

  “Now, boy,” she said, sounding not in the least condescending as she completely forgot he was there and started talking to Zyn. “It’s been so long, I had almost forgot how tall you were,” she said quietly.

  Zyn took in her appearance, nodding. Her hair was white and frizzy, sticking up in the most random places. Her eyes, bright and blue, were insightful and lively. Her hands were nothing but bones, wrapped loosely around a cup of coffee. Her floral patterned shirt hung off of her frail body.

  The last time he had seen her, she’d been so very young. She’d used to have thick brown hair that fell down her back, and she hadn’t had even had laughing lines on her cheeks.

  He nodded, lips lifting. “I almost didn’t recognize you,” he said easily, leaning back into his
seat. He stretched his legs out and steepled his fingers.

  “Well, Zyn, it’s been so long since you’ve graced our lovely world with your presence. I assume you are going to re-take your throne? Talon and Lucian seem to have done a wonderful job, but that still doesn’t account for the fact that we haven’t had our king. Plus, I believe that Talon will be getting married soon.”

  His eyebrows popped up. Talon, marrying? A snort almost left him. “Are you sure your head is on right, Scesia? I can’t see Talon marrying, let alone talking to a female.”

  She gave a small laugh. “I’m as sane as I was ten years ago, Zyn. And yes, they do not know that I’ve been watching over them. Poor Vladimir is at his wits end. He’s my little spy. I hook him up at the hospice and he tells me what is going on with Talon and Lucian.”

  “Who’s Vladimir?”

  “A friend of mine. A diva, but very apt and loyal to the throne. Also the last vampire,” she tacked on, nodding her head at his shocked expression.

  “That’s surprising... Who is Talon getting married to?” he asked, brow furrowing. He knew he should be asking about the throne and his people and the demons, but something was nagging him, pulling at his neck.

  “A fine young woman, I heard. Barely twenty-six, but very mature. Vladimir thinks highly of her,” she told him, fluffing her already frizzy hair as the door opened to the diner. A young man walked past them, shooting Zyn a look before disappearing into the back.

  “And that’s something that I should take into consideration, I’m guessing?”

  “Vladimir isn’t easy to get along with, very judgmental, and highly temperamental. If he trusts someone like he does to this young woman, than you can trust your life with her. Simple as that.”

  “I see,” he said, watching as the door to the kitchen opened. The cook and several of the staff members came out holding plates. With a glare and a disgusted sniff, they started to place plates and plates of food on the table. He waited till they were gone, ignoring the hunger that shot through his stomach at the amazing scent of eggs and bacon. The second the cook’s back disappeared into the kitchen, he dug in. Scesia picked up a piece of toast and took bird-bites while watching him.