2 Minutes to Midnight: Urban Fantasy Midnight Trilogy Book 2

by L. M Hatchell

  They made their way through the hallway of the B&B to the bar where a band was busy setting up in the corner. The locals, fresh from evening mass, once more turned their microscopes to examine the newcomers in their midst. She kept her head down and tried to ignore the curious stares as she trailed Ethan to the front of the pub. They’d just reached the door when Maura appeared from nowhere with a tray of drinks in hand.

  “All settled in?” She wiggled her eyebrows with a mischievous glint in her eyes that caused Phoenix’s cheeks to burn again. “You’re just in time. The band should be starting shortly.”

  Ethan returned her smile with a charming grin as he placed a warm hand on the small of Phoenix’s back. “We were actually just going to take a stroll, have a look around the area.”

  The smile fell from Maura’s face and her forehead creased with concern. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to go wandering at this time of the evening.”

  There was an awkward pause as the landlady hesitated. With a conspiratorial glance around her, she leaned in and lowered her voice. “The fairies have been up to no good lately. It’s really not safe out there at night.”

  Phoenix choked in surprise and bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt at keeping a straight face. Mirth sparkled in Ethan’s eyes as he patted her back.

  “Oh really? What have they been up to?” he asked innocently.

  “Well, there’s been a lot of animals killed. And then there’s them freak storms. Now I’m not saying the fair folk can control the weather or anything but …” She gave them a knowing look.

  Ethan raised an eyebrow. “What makes you so sure the fairies are responsible? Maybe there’s a wild animal on the loose?”

  Maura clucked her tongue and shook her head adamantly. “Ain’t no wild animal doing this. Not with the way these animals are being killed. I always said that fairy ring up the hill would bring trouble. John – Lord rest his soul – said I was off my rocker, but I knew.”

  Before either of them could respond, a shout from across the bar grabbed Maura’s attention and, with a smile, she hurried off.

  Phoenix looked after her in disbelief as Ethan chuckled beside her.

  “Fancy checking out a real live fairy ring?”

  ***

  Night had coated the area in a blanket of darkness, broken only by the map of stars twinkling above them and a sliver of the moon. This far from any villages or towns, there was very little artificial light to guide them along the gravelly path that doubled as a highly suspect road. Phoenix shivered as she cast her eyes around at the hedges and forests that provided more hiding places than she was comfortable with.

  “So, what trouble are we in now?”

  She was suddenly conscious of the metaphorical target pinned to her back, and their earlier plan didn’t seem quite so clever. Why the hell had she agreed to be bait? Sure, it would help draw out anyone who might be following them, but it also had the potential side-effect of death.

  “They’re sending the Mists.”

  Ethan’s words broke through her rambling thoughts and she stumbled to a stop. “What?”

  He turned to look at her, running a hand through his hair. “Dad texted. The Council is sending the Mists.”

  She opened her mouth and closed it again. Like every other Supe in existence, she’d grown up with horror stories about the Mists; tales of the bogeyman that were meant to keep young, powerful, unpredictable children in line. She’d never really thought …

  “So, they’re real?”

  His jaw clenched tight as he nodded. “Phoenix, I don’t know if I can protect –”

  He stilled.

  Adrenaline shot through her veins at the sudden tension radiating from him. She strained but couldn’t hear anything aside from the soft rustle of leaves and whistle of wind through the trees.

  Ethan grabbed her hand, motioned for her to stay silent, and pulled her through a small gap in the hedges into the empty field beside them. He urged her to keep low and beckoned her to follow him along the thorny brambles. With the wind at their backs, it took her senses a little longer to catch up to his, but soon the stench of decay hit her and she knew instantly what had put Ethan on high alert.

  It didn’t take them long to reach the small farm at the peak of the hill. Sheep and cows were little more than a blob of shadows huddled together at the far end of the field. Their nervous bleating created an anxious symphony in the otherwise silent night.

  The pen that should have contained them was broken in places, the fences trampled and useless in restraining its occupants. It was from there that the stench emanated. She forced herself to take shallow breaths through her mouth as they drew closer.

  The sight in front of them caused her stomach to heave and tears to prick her eyes. It was impossible to count how many lambs lay mauled in the grass with blood staining their once pristine coats. Insides trailed outside, and despite Maura’s earlier words, Phoenix’s first thought was animal attack.

  Ethan crouched down beside one of the lambs for a closer look, and when he turned back to her, his face was puzzled. “These bites are from human teeth.”

  “What?”

  Distracted enough by his comment to block out the gore for a moment, she moved to his side for a closer look. Sure enough, she could make out marks roughly the size of a human bite circumference, and damage that was clearly done by blunt teeth rather than the fangs of an animal.

  “Don’t get me wrong” – she swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat – “I’m no vegetarian, but that’s just gross.”

  He gave her a wry smile and stood, nodding towards the small farmhouse in the distance. “I think we should probably go check on the owners. It’s hard to tell with so much decay nearby, but we might have a few more surprises before the night’s out.”

  She followed him with a resigned sigh, her eyes scanning the darkness for any movement. There were no lights on in the house, but a battered SUV sat in the drive and she saw no obvious sign of intrusion from the outside. Maybe whatever got the animals was full and left?

  Ethan tried the door and it opened with a creak. The stench of death hit them like a furnace of hot air. Darkness filled the hallway, and the only sound was a low buzzing noise that seemed to come from the room at the far end. Ethan drew his hunting knife from inside his jacket and motioned for her to stay behind him.

  Tentatively, they inched their way down the hall, pausing at each open doorway to check the rooms beyond. The further they moved into the house, the stronger the smell became, cloying at the back of her throat and making it hard to swallow.

  The door at the end led to a small kitchen. Faded flower wallpaper covered the walls and a well-used stove sat nestled between oak cabinets. A wooden table filled the centre of the room, one chair occupied and the air around it swarming with flies.

  “What the –”

  The words left her mouth on a whispered breath, and the look she received from Ethan mirrored her own horror. She squinted as her brain struggled to make out what she was seeing.

  The form definitely appeared human, or at least something of a similar shape. But beyond that, the features were almost indiscernible. A thick layer of grey sludge coated the body. It clung in parts, forming dips and troughs that may or may not have been eye sockets and a gaping mouth. And in others, it oozed, as if it were a living organism.

  A floorboard creaked overhead and she froze. Her heart tripled its rhythm. She really did not want to meet whatever was responsible for this. This was a whole new level of fucked up.

  Ethan, however, didn’t seem to have the same reservations, and instead of moving towards the door like a sane person would, he motioned for her to follow him as he slipped back into the hall and made his way to the stairs.

  She glared at his back even as her body stupidly followed. If he got her turned into a slimy corpse, she was so going to come back and haunt him.

  Soft moonlight filtered in from a window at the top of the stairs, but
it did little more than add an eerie backdrop to the horror movie they were so willingly traipsing into. All except one door on the upper level stood open, and she could hear a low scratching sound coming from inside. Her skin crawled and she shuddered.

  Silently, they moved to the door, side by side. She held her breath and mentally cursed him for dragging her up here. He reached for the handle, met her eyes for a second, then pushed the door open.

  Nothing.

  The scratching continued, but nothing came barrelling out of the room to attack them. One breath. Two breaths. She looked at Ethan. He looked at her.

  Her heart hammered in her chest as she slid down to a crouch and peered around the wooden frame of the door. Her jaw dropped.

  The room was an explosion of 1980s floral and impeccably tidy. None of that was what caught her attention, however.

  An old lady was hunkered down on the floor. Her body was in a position Phoenix wouldn’t have thought possible given the fact she looked to easily be in her eighties. Her grey hair was wild around her head, and the white nightgown she wore was covered in dirt and blood.

  She watched with a disturbed sense of detachment as the woman scratched words into the floral wallpaper with her fingernail. She’d obviously been doing it for quite some time as blood ran in rivulets from her fingers. When she was done, the words “THEY’RE COMING” were smeared across the wall in jagged letters.

  Slowly the woman’s head turned in their direction, red eyes pulsing as she tilted her head at an unnatural angle to regard them.

  “Shit,” Ethan muttered under his breath.

  Phoenix couldn’t help but agree. The Council, Mists, and now this? Surely they shouldn’t have to worry about demons on top of everything else.

  For a moment everyone stood still, assessing each other. The old lady eyed them like she’d just found her next meal. Then, with a hiss that showcased rotten black teeth, the demon lunged.

  Ethan met the frail body in a clash that should have caused it to crumble. Instead, the demon’s essence infused it with a speed and strength that beggared belief, and the old woman easily countered his attack.

  Phoenix flung herself onto the demon’s back in an attempt to slow it down, but a layer of slime seeped out from the woman’s pores and her hands slipped off, unable to gain purchase.

  Rotten teeth snapped at her face before Ethan grabbed the demon and flung it against the wall.

  “Tell me you have an amulet with you?” He grunted as the demon rebounded and threw itself at him once more.

  She fumbled in her pocket for the amulet she’d tucked away, but the slime coating her hands caused it to slip from her grasp and clatter to the floor. With a curse, she lunged to grab it, the sounds of fighting a ticking time bomb to her ears. In her panic, she sent it skittering under the bed.

  Before she could reach for it, a strangled noise drew her attention upward. The demon had Ethan by the throat and appeared ready to eat his face off. His face turned puce as he struggled against the vicelike grip that was crushing his windpipe.

  A glint of metal caught her eye and she saw Ethan’s hunting knife lying on the ground a couple of feet from her. She grabbed it and flung it at the demon.

  The blade lodged in the old woman’s eye, and she let an inhuman screech that caused the windows, and Phoenix’s bones, to rattle. With a final shrieking roar in their direction, the demon took a running leap and crashed through the first-floor window.

  Phoenix reached the broken glass at the same time as Ethan. Her resounding “Fuck!” was echoed by his own as they looked out into the empty night beyond.

  Lily gritted her teeth and tried to sidestep Nate. At the far end of the safe house training studio, she could hear Abi on the phone, but she couldn’t make out what was being said because he wouldn’t shut the hell up.

  “I’m worried about you. I know it’s been hard for you since –” Nate prattled on as she tried in vain to block him out.

  Was Abi frowning? Had something happened? She craned her neck, but Nate moved with her, blocking her eye-line again. She hadn’t given Diana the location yet so the Council couldn’t have gotten to Phoenix already. Could Ethan have found out that they contacted her? Was Abi going to turn around any minute now and point an accusing finger in her direction?

  “I just wanted you to know that I’m here if you need to talk or anything –”

  What if they’d found Phoenix? What if they’d found another source and didn’t need her anymore? Her heart stopped cold.

  If they didn’t need her, they’d have no reason to help her. At that thought, her chest tightened and she grew lightheaded, each breath she took seeming void of oxygen.

  Beside her, Nate sighed in resignation. “I’ll leave you alone.”

  She turned in a daze towards him and a distant part of her noted a deep sadness in his amber eyes; she’d never seen that look on his face before. When she didn’t say anything in return, he gave her a small smile and headed for the changing room behind them.

  Guilt twisted her gut, and she opened her mouth to call him back and apologise. But she closed it just as quickly. There was nothing she could say to make him understand. Nothing that wouldn’t make him hate her at least.

  At that moment, Abi hung up the phone and her concerns about Nate’s feelings were forgotten. She made a beeline in Abi’s direction, only for Shade to step out in front of her before she got across the room. She bit back a scream of frustration and met his intense blue gaze.

  “What?”

  His scowl deepened. “Don’t push your friends away, Lily.”

  His words made her bristle, but she held her tongue. With a defiant glare, she shoved past him and hurried to Abi’s side. “Is everything okay?”

  Abi nodded and gave her a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It appears Phoenix and Ethan have run into a slight demon problem. It got away and they’ve been out all night trying to track it down.”

  Lily’s knees went weak with relief. Just a demon, not the Council. They still needed her.

  “What are they going to do about it?”

  “She said they’re going to stick around another day to try to track the demon.” Abi chewed her lip and looked at the blank screen of her phone. “Is that safe? Should they not keep moving in case the Council find them? Phoenix played it down when I asked, but I could tell she was worried.”

  Lily rubbed the girl’s arm absently, her mind busy assessing how that affected her own plan. “I’m sure Ethan knows what he’s doing.”

  Shade let out a low grunt from behind her, making her jump. “Yeah ’cause he always thinks clearly when he’s around her.” With that, he turned and stalked towards the changing room.

  Abi raised an eyebrow and looked at her. “I don’t mean to overstep the mark or anything, but what’s his deal?”

  Lily stared in the direction of the changing rooms, something about the vampire’s strange mood making her uneasy. “Shade doesn’t exactly like Phoenix.”

  “He blames her for the prophecy.”

  She flicked her eyes back to Abi. “I guess so.”

  The other girl chewed that over for a few moments before excusing herself with a frown. Lily watched her go and let out a shuddering breath. Her hands were shaking from the adrenaline thrumming through her veins, and she couldn’t shake that terrifying thought of “what if”. The longer she waited, the more chance they’d find another way. She couldn’t let that happen.

  She squared her shoulders, and with renewed purpose made her way back through the winding corridors of the safe house until she came to a door that would lead her outside. The cold air hit her like a slap, and dark clouds threatened rain as she stumbled her way through the vast grounds that surrounded the property. Once she was far enough from prying eyes and ears, she pulled her phone out and pressed the call button.

  “Diana, it’s Lily.”

  Phoenix hung her head and let the water from the shower pound across her shoulder blades until it tu
rned cold and she was forced to step away from the soothing stream or face hypothermia. Shivering, she grabbed the nearby towel and wrapped it around herself. Steam fogged the small bathroom and she breathed deeply, letting the residual heat flow through her lungs.

  After almost twelve hours straight searching the area, they still hadn’t managed to find the demon, and she was starting to grow antsy. They couldn’t just leave the locals at the mercy of a rampant slime monster, but how long would it take for the Council to find them? And if they were really sending the Mists … Well, that didn’t even bear thinking about.

  When Ethan had suggested they try get some rest before one last-ditch search, she’d agreed wearily. One more night, then they had to leave; demon or no demon.

  With a sigh, she grabbed her clothes from the radiator and started dressing. She had her trousers half on when she heard Ethan’s voice on the other side of the door. He was speaking quietly, but the agitation was evident in his tone. Balancing precariously with one leg in and one leg out of her trousers, she paused to listen.

  “What does it matter if he knows? … Of course I didn’t contact him … When? … TONIGHT?”

  She didn’t have a chance to react to Ethan’s roar before the bathroom door was flung open to reveal the werewolf with his phone pressed to his ear. He barely even blinked at her state of undress, simply ordered, “We need to go,” before slamming the bathroom door closed.

  Not quite sure what had happened, she gaped after him. An unreasonable voice in the back of her head mumbled that a little acknowledgement of her nakedness wouldn’t go amiss as she shoved her foot through the other leg of her jeans.

  When she emerged from the bathroom minutes later, she found him pacing the room, his hands clenching and unclenching as he stared at the door. Before she could even ask what was going on, he yanked open the door and waved for her to follow. She raced to catch up with him, giving Maura a quick wave as they hurried through the pub and out into the night.

  “Dammit, Ethan, what the hell is up?”