Stolen Relics

by Karina Espinosa

  I sighed. “We were attacked by this guy,” I pointed to the killer, “who killed that guy,” I jabbed my thumb at the other body, “because he was really after me. It’s a whole ordeal.”

  “Do we call the police?” He frowned, looking confused. “You’re sort of the police.”

  I chuckled. “They’re busy, so we need to bury the bodies. Did you bring the SUV and shovels?”

  He nodded.

  “Good. Let’s start loading them up!”

  By the time we made it back to Brooklyn, we were beyond exhausted. Disposing of bodies was hard work. When we returned to my parents’ house, we had to compel them to forget what they saw since we were covered in blood and dirt. I hated doing that to them, but it was a necessary evil.

  “So let me get this straight,” Bash started. “You buried their bodies in the woods, where their bodies can be unearthed by animals and found by humans?”

  My brows furrowed. “Well, I didn’t think about it like that. But now that you mention it, maybe we should contact the SIU …”

  “You think?” Bash deadpanned.

  “Listen, we were under duress. Did you not hear the part where a human put a bounty out on my head? A human!”

  Bash laid on our bed and crossed his ankles, resting his hands on his stomach. “Yes, I heard you, Mackenzie.”

  “Doesn’t that concern you? It concerns me. I don’t mind having supernatural enemies, but a human? What the hell did I do to them?”

  “Humans don’t scare me. I’m almost positive the ones behind this are the vampires,” Bash said almost certainly.

  “I don’t know, Bash …”

  He shrugged. “Don’t be so quick to believe this man. He was on death’s door. He was probably spouting nonsense to save his own ass.”

  I grinned. “I love it when you curse.”

  “Mackenzie, stay on track.”

  “Sorry,” I winced. “Anyway, tomorrow I’ll give the phone to Finn to trace when I go to work. Let’s see what we can get out of it.”

  I finished drying my hair with a towel and threw on a t-shirt and some underwear and climbed into bed. I was completely drained after the day I had.

  Bash turned on his side to face me. “Don’t think I’m not worried, Mackenzie, because I am. I worry about you every day.” He brushed a damp strand of hair away from my face.

  “You know I worry about you too,” I murmured.

  He quirked a brow. “Really? And why is that?”

  “I have so many enemies. You’re an easy target.”

  He grinned. “I can’t be captured that easily.”

  I gave him a sly smile before I pounced, pushing him on his back and straddling him. I took his wrists and held them above his head. “I find it pretty easy,” I whispered.

  He growled playfully before grabbing me around the waist and flipping me on my back as if I hadn’t just been pinning him down. “Only because I let you,” he taunted. I couldn’t help but laugh.

  Bash brushed his finger over my lips. “Quiet, Mackenzie. Your father is just down the hall.”

  I sighed. I forgot about Alexander. We didn’t want to get caught—again. And with wolves’ sensitive hearing, it would be way too apparent what we were up to. Damn wolf hearing.

  I frowned playfully. “Fine, no play time. Just one little kiss.”

  The gang was already there when I walked into SIU headquarters and headed straight to Finn’s desk, hopping on top of it and handing him the flip phone.

  “This is what we found on the killer,” I said, having called him last night and explained what happened.

  He took it from me and started to dig in his drawers for a cable to plug it into his computer. “It shouldn’t take long,” he said as he found the cable and began to set everything up.

  Cassidy walked over and I filled him in on what happened. “Do you think it might have something to do with the case?” he asked.

  I twisted my mouth to the side as I thought about it. No, it couldn’t have anything to do with … Wait a minute. When I was talking to Úlfur, we both said we couldn’t fall for the allure of the objects because we weren’t human. I said it just to be a smart ass, but when Úlfur said it, he confirmed supernaturals were stronger and could fight the pull of the objects. So that meant our most likely suspect for the case was human.

  “Cas, you’re a genius!” I hopped off the desk. “Our suspect is human!”

  He tilted his head. “How do you know that?”

  Shit, how can I explain this without telling him about Úlfur? “Uh … Phineas mentioned that supernaturals couldn’t fall for the attraction of the objects, unlike humans,” I lied. “He told me when we were walking out of his house.”

  “Well, that’s good to know.” Cas nodded. “But it also broadens our scope and makes it harder to find our culprit.”

  “Hey, Michaels?” Finn called out. “Help me with this trace. I’ll give you the number.”

  “Go ahead,” Michaels said, and Finn rattled off the number.

  “We have a registry of humans who are aware of the supernatural community. We can start there,” Cas suggested. “The suspect must know about us if they hired a Gemini to do their dirty work.”

  “Yeah, that sounds good. We can compile a list of suspects from there and see if Maximos knows any of them—”

  “End the trace!” Finn shouted as he shot up from his chair, knocking it back in his haste. “Now!”

  Cas and I jumped and turned to Michaels, who was scrambling at his computer trying to shut it off.

  “Unplug everything!” Finn yelled. He started to unplug his computer and Michaels followed suit while Cas and I stood idly by, not comprehending what just happened. After they were done, Finn was breathing heavily and running a hand through his hair.

  “Dude, what happened?” I asked once the quiet got to be too much.

  “I didn’t finish the trace,” Michaels complained. “It was almost complete—”

  “I got a general location,” Finn muttered, avoiding eye contact. “We may have a problem.”

  I looked at each of them, but Michaels and Cas appeared just as confused as I was. “Finn, what’s wrong?”

  He shook his head. “Not here. It’s not safe. Conference room. I’ll unplug the cameras.”

  We all tried to inconspicuously meander to the conference room as Finn unplugged the cameras. Michaels closed the blinds for privacy and we stood around the table waiting for Finn to finish.

  When all the monitoring devices had been unplugged, he locked the door. I’d never seen Finn so nervous. He was never nervous. He was the most self-assured person I’d ever met. It was almost annoying.

  “The number your killer called came from 1PP,” Finn finally said.

  My eyes bugged out. “What?” Everyone froze.

  1PP was One Police Plaza, the human police headquarters, and where I originally interned for Michaels.

  “That can’t be right,” Michaels sputtered, looking at the three of us. “A cop wouldn’t—”

  “Are you sure about that?” Cas raised a brow. “Humans are known to do a lot of shady things.”

  Cassidy was right. If the call was to someone from 1PP, they were human. The SIU building was nowhere near the human police headquarters, which meant the guy we killed wasn’t lying—the hit order came from a human.

  “We had to shut everything down, but if they’re smart, they already figured out we traced their number,” Finn said. “This is fucked up.”

  He could say that again. What kind of mess did I get myself into this time, and how? I took a seat in the nearest chair and slumped down, completely drained.

  “We need to tell Briggs,” Cas suggested. “He needs to know what’s going on.”

  “Can we trust him?” Finn countered. I was surprised he didn’t trust Briggs.

  “Of course we can trust him,” Michaels scoffed. “He had Grey’s back when she needed him most.”

  “This is different,” Finn argued, placing his h
ands on his hips. “We know the SIU is corrupt—”

  “Not Briggs,” I interrupted. “It’s higher up than him.”

  “If someone in the force is after you, they have the resources. You aren’t safe, Grey,” Michaels said tightly. Quiet encompassed the room; no one tried to refute his claim.

  The truth was obvious: I was royally fucked. A human with the police force in his pocket and supernatural connections was a powerful combination.

  “Cas,” I turned to the Lycan, “go get Briggs. We’ll tell him everything.”

  He nodded and left the conference room, leaving me alone with Finn and Michaels. I knew I should call Bash and tell him what was going on, but this wasn’t something I could convey over the phone. My phone could already be tapped. I didn’t know how far this person was willing to take their resources. If they were listening in on my conversations, nothing I said over the phone was safe.

  “You can’t travel alone,” Finn said. “I’ll take you home today.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes and tell him I was fine on my own, that I could handle myself — and I could — but something nagged me. What if I got arrested by the human police again and I was alone? No one would know, and they could deny me my one phone call. There were too many unknown variables and I didn’t want to risk it. I decided to accept his help and not be stubborn, for once.

  I nodded.

  Cas walked in with Briggs behind him. When Cas locked the door behind them, Briggs raised a brow in confusion.

  “What the hell is going on here?” he grumbled.

  “There’s a bounty on my head,” I started. “I caught someone trying to kill me when I went home this weekend, and then I found a burner phone in their pocket.”

  “It had one number in it,” Finn picked up the story, “containing the number of the person who we assume put the hit out on Grey.”

  Briggs looked between us. “Okay, and?”

  “We traced the number, boss,” Finn said. “It came from 1PP.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Briggs shouted, slamming a fist on the conference table. His face turned beet red and a vein popped on his forehead as he clenched his jaw.

  “So, I take it this isn’t a surprise?” Michaels asked as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

  “You’ve made a lot of people angry, Grey,” Briggs gritted through his teeth. “Including the Police Commissioner.”

  “Billie Cardona?” Cas gasped. “That’s who put the hit out? Why?”

  Briggs shook his head. “I’m not a hundred percent sure it’s him, but he was furious after your father called to request your reinstatement to the force. He’ll know you traced him to 1PP.”

  “I’ll lay low.” I stood from the chair. “Cas can handle the case on his own. We have somewhat of a lead that I can work on from home.”

  Briggs nodded and stomped out of the conference room, slamming the door behind him so hard, the windows trembled from the force. It made the rest of us jump and we could only stare at one another, speechless. We dispersed shortly after. Cas handed over the registry that contained the list of humans aware of the supernatural community, and I placed it in my messenger bag to look through when I got home.

  “Come on, Grey, I’ll take you home,” Finn said as he waited for me by the door.

  “See you guys later.” I waved to Cas and Michaels and followed the Reaper out of the station.

  The heat wave blanketing New York City was starting to release its grip and my body temperature was finally beginning to regulate. It was still sweltering, though.

  We walked to the train station and hopped on the L train to catch a transfer to Brooklyn Heights, where the Brooklyn Pack resided and where I now lived with Bash. Our home wasn’t too far from the Pack’s former warehouse in Dumbo, and it was definitely an upgrade.

  “You know, you didn’t have to walk me home.” I smiled sweetly at Finn as we stood and held onto the anchored pole to keep from falling as it swayed and clattered. The train was practically empty, but I wasn’t in the mood to sit down.

  “I’m going in the same direction. It’s no big deal.”

  “Right.” I rolled my eyes. “Well, no one would be stupid enough to attack me on Pack land, so I should be safe at home. I’ll stay in the Compound instead of the house, just to be sure.”

  Finn peered over at me. “You’re taking all of this relatively well. I expected some fight from you.”

  I scoffed. “I do have some self-preservation, you know.”

  “Yeah, but you usually think you can take on the world by yourself.”

  The train jerked and screeched to a stop. The doors opened and a stream of people entered our train car, while others exited.

  “I’m not the same person I was when I was twenty-two. Things have changed.” I looked down at my sneaker-clad feet. A lot had happened to force me to grow up since I met Bash and Jonah.

  The train started with a lurch and we approached a tunnel, where the lights flickered off and everything went black, which was normal. At least it would have been, until someone wrapped an arm around my neck and yanked me back.

  “Shit!” I yelled, releasing my hold on the pole unconsciously.

  “Grey!” Finn shouted in the darkness, and I heard a bunch of shuffling in his direction.

  I jabbed my elbow into the gut of whomever grabbed me, eliciting a pained grunt, but they kept their hold painfully tight. Someone else grabbed my legs and lifted me up and I started to flail in their grip. I switched on my night vision and scanned my surroundings. Finn was fighting four men, and two others were trying to capture me.

  A roar ripped out of me as I morphed into a half-shift. I reached my clawed hands overhead to the one holding my upper body and dug my claws into their face, hoping I could puncture an eye. When they shrieked and released me I collapsed to the ground, my head bouncing on the train floor. I blinked a couple of times, trying to clear the fuzziness. The one holding my legs started dragging me, but I dug my claws into the floor. As he dragged me, I scraped and gouged the floor, leaving claw marks in our wake. My hand finally latched onto a pole and I didn’t let go.

  “You stupid bitch!” the man snarled as he was yanked to a stop. He released me for just a moment, only to pull me up with the intention of tossing me over his shoulders, but that was the reprieve I needed.

  I did a back flip and managed a roundhouse kick to his face. His neck snapped to the side, breaking from the force. I thought I’d gotten him good, but then he adjusted his head and snapped it back in place. He faced me, looking angrier than ever.

  “Fuck,” I muttered, completely out of breath.

  The train continued in motion, but the lights flickered back on and I could see their faces more clearly. I looked over at Finn and noticed the fangs on his attackers. Vampires.

  Normally, when I snapped a vampire’s neck, it knocked them out for a little while, at least. What the hell were they?

  “Come with us,” the one in front of me growled.

  “Who are you?” My eyes ping-ponged between all of them. If Finn wasn’t careful, they’d overpower him.

  In response, the guy charged and tackled me to the ground like a linebacker. I slid across the grimy train floor, landing all the way on the other end, away from Finn. The guy who tackled me was a burly man with a military-style buzz cut.

  He prowled toward me and I scrambled to my feet, crouching in a fighting stance. When he got close enough, I didn’t wait for him to make the first move. I jabbed him in the side and gut, and when he crouched forward, I chopped him on his throat, making him choke. I twirled around behind him, kicking him behind the knee and making him fall to one knee. I ripped my belt off in a flash, unstitching my belt loops from my jeans from the force, and wrapped the leather around his neck, tightening my hold.

  “Tell me who sent you!” I growled in his ear. “Or else your head’s coming off.”

  “I’m not telling you shit,” he choked out as he scrabbled to release the belt from his neck.


  I tightened it, turning around so we were back-to-back, and pulled the belt straps over my shoulder with as much force as I could muster. Over my gritted yell, I heard the pop of his neck and the ripping of his skin. Then I was propelled forward as his head released from his body and rolled down the floor. His body collapsed with a trembling thud.

  I clambered to my feet just as another assailant headed my way, but the train was slowing down and I knew we were coming to a stop. This was their opportunity to snatch me up, especially if they had someone waiting at this stop.

  Finn was thinking the same thing, because he suddenly dissolved before their eyes just as one of them tried to grab him, becoming a wispy cloud of black smoke. Finn swirled toward me and engulfed me completely. I lost all sense of touch and sight, but I could tell I was no longer on my feet. I was weightless, floating within the cloud that was Finn. I didn’t know if we were moving or not, but I twirled around and stayed calm. I had to trust Finn. The smoke didn’t feel hot or cold; it didn’t have a feeling at all, other than being strange.

  After a while I started to get nervous. “Finn? Hello? Say something!” Silence. It went on for some time, and then, just as I was about to start panicking, I touched solid ground and the black cloud wafted around me to in front of me and materialized into Finn.

  I was startled to realize we were in front of my brownstone house. “How did we get here?” I asked, completely perplexed.

  “I flew us here. It wasn’t safe to travel by foot—”

  “What do you mean you flew here? Wouldn’t it have been obvious that I was floating in the sky?”

  He shrugged. “I turned you into a cloud of smoke with me.”

  My jaw dropped. “You can do that?”

  He nodded.

  “Who were those guys on the train?” I asked, shaking my head as I shook out the idea that I’d been a cloud of smoke.

  Finn scanned the streets warily. “They were vampires for sure, and they asked me for the Gjöll, one of the objects.”

  “That’s …” I squinted as I tried to remember the objects, rubbing my forehead. “I think that’s Fenrir’s rock, the one he was bound to. Supposedly, he’s a wolf in Norse mythology.”