by Kim Faulks
Tires howled, screaming like a banshee in the dead of the night as red and blue lights flared behind me, lighting up the inside of the car.
It’s okay…it’s okay…it’s the police, the thought raced before the rear of the car was hit from behind. The impact snapped my head backwards and then threw me sideways.
The armrest was steel knuckles in my side, before the seatbelt snapped tight.
I slammed back into the driver’s door as the car came to a stop against the shoulder. Dust kicked up, stealing the city lights from me as the red and blue stole my world.
A moan slipped free. I tried to lift my hand, but I could barely breathe, barely think. I could only stare into the rear-view mirror as, behind me, the car doors opened and two dark blurs climbed out.
My fingers were useless. I stabbed the latch on the seatbelt, missed, and then tried again, and this time the damn thing recoiled.
Boots crunched, coming closer as the blinding light of a flashlight stole my sight. One tap on the glass window had me fumbling. I found the armrest and slid my hand along the door, finding the handle. Cold night air seeped in as I cracked the window.
“This is a police issue vehicle,” the male snarled.
“I know,” I replied, and blinked into the blur. Fear and anger swirled inside me in a dangerous combination. “My name is—”
“I don’t care,” the bastard snarled.
The door handle gave a clunk and then I was falling into the bitter air. Hands gripped me, yanking and pulling. I slipped, sprawling out of the car head first. “Hey, just hold on a damn minute!”
But there was no waiting, and there were no more questions—only the bite of the asphalt on the palms of my hands as I hit the road.
One of them gripped my shirt and heaved.
They were more than blurs now—more than unknowns as I lifted my gaze, caught sight of the Harbor Metropolitan Police uniform, and then stared into hate-filled eyes.
“Hands on the car,” the officer snarled and shoved me forward.
I threw my hands out and stumbled, the grazes on my palm stinging in the night air. “There’s been some kind of mistake. If you’ll just let me explain…”
The heavy hand on my back shoved me forward until I hit the hot hood of the car. The engine pinged and hissed underneath and steam seeped out of the sides, filling the air with the bitter stench.
Heavy boots kicked the insides of my feet, forcing my legs further apart. His body pushed in hard against mine, leaving me no room to move as he hissed in my ear, “You think I care what you say? Fucking supe.”
I flinched with the venom in his words, until his hand cupped my breast.
An icy chill ran along my spine. This was no routine traffic stop.
Fragments slipped into place…
They never put their lights on…not until after they hit me.
The sudden tear of cloth was brutal, cold licked my flesh as panic set in. I shoved against the hood of the car, pushing against him. He was big, pinning me down by his sheer size alone.
“Stop resisting arrest.” Hunger seeped into his voice.
“What? Get off me…get the fuck off me!” I snarled and shoved, twisting at the waist. “What the fuck am I being arrested for?”
Massive paws closed around my wrists. He yanked my arms, throwing me sideways, then gripped the back of my neck and shoved. My face hit the hood with a sickening thud.
Pain cut along my cheekbone as the fighter in me reared. His hand left my wrist, pinning me down by the force on the back of my neck.
“You’re not so tough now, are you?” he snarled, and shoved his hand between my legs.
Wider…his muscled knees pushed in between my thighs. Terror rose, burning along the back of my throat. This wasn’t happening…this wasn’t happening.
And yet that tiny voice in my head whispered it’s me or them…Through the blur of my sight, tiny black flames came to life, reaching between my fingers. “Don’t do this…please. Titus…Titus…”
“Ain’t no supe lover out here,” he grunted.
“Hurry it up,” the growl came from my left. “Don’t want anyone seeing us.”
Supe lover? He meant Titus—that’s what he meant.
A tremor shot through my body, and under the rush of fear…came anger. Those words were all I needed for the rush of power to come.
I never wanted to hurt anyone…that wasn’t who I was. But, as his heavy paw gouged the seam between my thighs and then reached for the button of my jeans, I knew in my heart it was either me or them… “Stop, stop this right now. I…I don’t want to hurt you.”
There was a snarl, and then a snigger. His hand slipped away from my waist, and a second later there was a snap of a button before something heavy hit the hood next to my head.
Black and yellow stole my focus as I stared at the taser. One way or another there would be pain, but it wouldn’t be the kind he thought of. “This is your last warning,” I whispered and dragged my gaze from the weapon. “Let me go now.”
His hand went around the trigger of the taser. “Or what? You gonna turn into a big bad wolf?”
“Seb, hurry the fuck up, dude!”
I flinched with the desperation and scanned the dark. They had no idea who I was…no, they had no idea what I was. Stupid fucking morons. “You ran the plates, right? Before you rammed the car. You had time…before you decided to let me know Harbor’s finest were tailing me. So you knew who’s car this was.”
“I know he’s not one of us. I know he’s gonna get what’s comin’ to him in the end.”
My hands trembled, but my voice was rock fucking steady as I whispered. “We’re not the enemy here.”
The answer was a snigger as he lifted the taser and pressed it between my thighs. “We’ll see about that. You gonna growl for me, little wolf?”
I tried to turn, twisting at the waist and slowly walking my hands from the hood of the car. “I’m not a shifter, you pathetic fucking excuse for a human.”
And in the glare of the headlights, I caught the flinch. Black flames reached higher, lapping my fingers with hungry tongues.
Rage was my lover, and I let the power roam. Dark tendrils reached out into the night air to lick his skin. There was a sudden catch of breath, and then stillness, as my energy touched deeper than flesh and bone.
Anger and resentment floated to the surface. No wonder he was fucked up in the head. “Such a stupid little boy, aren’t you? Can’t get anything right, not your friends, or your family. No one loved you then, and no one loves you now.”
His eyes widened with the words. “What…what did you say?”
“Better get to your room, Sebastian. Harvey’s coming home now, and you know how he gets.”
Brown eyes darkened to almost black. His skin paled, turning ashen in the glow of the car’s headlights. He dropped the taser, leaving behind the ache of the weapon’s edge.
“For fuck’s sake,” the other officer growled at my left.
A pop echoed, and fire lashed, cutting into my side. My knees buckled, and the pain was unforgiving, sending me to the ground.
Black flames were smothered on the blacktop. Agony came again, jerking and shuddering until my elbows buckled, slamming my face into the ground.
“Let’s just get out of here,” the gutless bastard in the dark snarled.
Stars danced behind my eyes as I tried to suck in a breath.
My arms trembled, bones shuddered and shook like sticks as I speared my fingers into the ground and shoved. “They’re gonna know. Everyone will know what you did here tonight.”
The sedan’s engine pinged and hissed, drowning out the crunch of asphalt until it was too late.
Headlights caught the shine of leather boots, but it was too late to move. The blow caught me in the side, snatching my hands from the ground as I flew backwards.
My head hit the blacktop with a sickening thud. Thoughts scattered, leaving me helpless. I rolled, shoved, clawing the asphalt, and cr
awled.
“Leave her!” The hidden piece of shit yelled.
There was a scuffle, and a grunt. Soft blows handed on a hard chest.
Fucking gutless…fucking pathetic. The words took flight as I shoved. Power coursed through my body, shaking my bones, and spearing into the ground. The asphalt cracked, shuddering and shaking.
A scream tore free and a lick of fire followed. I lifted a trembling hand in the air and unleashed. I couldn’t focus…couldn’t control it, and the dark beast inside me roamed.
A deep guttural grunt tore from their direction as my elbows buckled. I drove my boots against the asphalt and shoved as a bitter breeze kicked dirt and grit into my eyes.
And with the breeze, came the scene. I stilled, arms trembling, and waited. Danger danced along my skin, as a growl slipped through the dark further along the road.
“What the fuck…what the hell is that?” The cop barked.
Tremors wracked my body, and muscles tightened. Silver eyes glinted in the dark. One feral snarl melted into another, and another, until the chorus of terrifying danger filled the cold, night air.
I wanted to smile. I wanted to howl with the words, this isn’t just your world anymore…and we are far more dangerous than you.
The spindled brush shuddered in front of me. I jerked my gaze to the sight and waited. But there was no shine of those silver eyes for me, only an emptiness that seemed to swallow my sight.
The darkness grew like a black hole, swallowing the brush, and the earth. Fear gripped my heart, spearing talons into the pulsing flesh.
I tried to shove myself upright, tried to run. But I was frozen, as out of the darkness came a beast.
The bone mask seemed to swallow the soft glare of the sedan’s headlights. Tiny fissures spread out like fingers along the hollow dip of its cheeks.
It was a mask…just a mask. But the beast underneath the mask was the thing that gripped me.
Empty black pits were fixed on me. I searched for a reflection, for a glint of life, and found nothing.
Run, that voice whispered in my head. Get the fuck out of here!
I tried to move, tried to scream—tried to scurry like a rabbit in a wolf’s hunt. But there was no escaping this predator…no skirting this trap, and as the first gunshot cracked through the night, the beast in front of me moved.
It rose like an apparition, rising up through the dark nothing, and reached for me. Come, Lorn, it whispered in my head. You belong to me.
My soul trembled, recoiling from its touch as the beast’s cold fingers pressed against my cheek. A whimper tore free, small and pathetic—but the sound had no substance, instead it bounced around inside my head.
Bright sparks lit up the night sky behind me as gunshots rang loud, bringing to life this thing hidden by the bushes until rough hands lifted me from the ground.
“Fucking stupid bitch. You’re gonna pay for this,” the cop’s words were raw and savage against my ear.
Cold steel slapped around my wrists as he held me. My boots found no grip on the road as he dragged me from the infernal beast.
Until slowly, step by step, beyond the claws of paralysis, I found a tiny breath of life.
The metal edges of the cuffs bit into my wrists as he yanked, and stumbled. I swallowed the pain, using it to drag my feet forward one fumbling step at a time.
Titus’s sedan was a blur as I left it behind. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t fight, only keep myself upright as the back door of the police cruiser was yanked open and I was thrown inside.
The headlights of Titus’ car dimmed in front and the thud of the driver’s door echoed. I was alone now…alone with the terrifying remnant of that beast breathing down my neck.
What the hell was that?
Scattered thoughts found no substance. I gripped the seat of the cruiser and stared out the window as the tremors of fear took hold.
Doors opened, and then slammed shut before the guttural snarl of the engine swallowed everything else.
Stones and dirt pinged against the underside of the car as we shot forward. Heavy breaths filled the space. The bitter scent of gunpowder seeped through the metal divider. I licked my lips and forced the words. “Did you kill it?”
There was no answer from the front, only the roar of the motor.
“’Cause if you didn’t…then you might want to drive a little faster.”
The hard thrust against the side of the car spun us sideways. Their screams of surprise filled the cruiser as I closed my eyes.
I didn’t shoot it…that was all I had to hold onto—I didn’t shoot…so maybe when this all goes to hell, whatever shifter it was wouldn’t eat me.
The driver spun the wheel, grunting with the effort, and righted the spin. There was a rush of movement from outside the window before the deafening howl of the Hemi engine filled the car.
Tires bit deep for traction. I waited for the blow as we tore through the night. But none came…only the oncoming lights of the city as we raced for salvation.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” the passenger whimpered.
He turned his head, and in the opaque glow of the dashboard lights, I caught sight of his face.
I stiffened with the sight. “You.”
He jerked his head toward me and then away.
“I know you…” I snarled.
He was too familiar...faces and jobs slipped through my mind. He looked almost like… “Jeffries…you’re his…brother, right?”
There was a flinch and then a hard swallow. Now I knew why he’d stood in the darkness…now I knew why he was the man behind the puppet.
“You shut your mouth.” The cruel prick behind the wheel turned his head to glare at me. “You shut your lying fucking mouth or it’ll be more than a taser you’ll get from us, you understand me? We know where you live. We know everything about you…when you drive to work, the assholes you fuck, even little old granny back there. One fucking word…”
Rage mingled with the sting of fear.
And inside that emptiness, the darkness grew.
My fingers slipped from the wire to touch my cheek. Those black orbs filled my mind…and the icy grip of its words still clung tight.
Come, Lorn. You belong to me.
My lip trembled as I closed my eyes. There was no escaping who I was…and no escaping those who came for me…not human, or the beasts who found me in the dead of the night.
And all I wanted was the one thing I was denied…
Answers to my mother’s death.
Chapter Five
Lorn
“Hey, you! Red-headed bitch over there! Look at me when I talk to you.”
I turned my head to stare at the painted white brick walls and tried to block out their rage.
The cells were filled with it, sickening and bitter, their emotions were a rag stuffed down my throat. I shifted my hands, lifting the cuffs to twist my wrists, swollen flesh pinched and scraped. Pain was an anchor, lashing my wrists, my side, my cheek to this moment.
Inside, I was a scared fucking child, reeling from the touch of an icy finger on my cheek. I couldn’t shake it. Not the black hollow eyes, or the words inside my head.
“You’re one of them, aren’t you?” The male human spat from the other row of cells. “A fucking supe. I hate fucking supes. They stink like dogs.”
“Shut the fuck up,” another human male snarled further along the cells. “I hope she tears out your goddamn throat. Then I might be able to get some sleep.”
“You stay on your side of the line, bitch,” the drunken male across from me slurred through the bars. “And I’ll stay on mine.”
“And if she doesn’t?” The growl was rolling thunder through the lock-up.
My breath caught at the sound.
He was a dark blur at the end of the walkway.
A beautiful dark blur, as long strides ate the distance between us.
“Well?” The dark Lord of Hell whispered and he turned his head. “What if she doesn’t want to
stay behind her line? What will you do then?”
The air trembled with unforgiving power. I swallowed my fear and felt the dark power rise inside me.
The harsh overhead lights caught the shine of silver through midnight hair and, for a second, I was seized by how utterly beautiful he was…men like him…power like his…had a way of drawing you in, until you forgot you were face to face with the deadliest of all.
The human in the cell gave a whimper and stumbled backwards. Gone was the rage, gone was the screaming…
He had that effect on people…even without whispering a word, and then, slowly, the Lord of the Underworld, my father, turned his head and found me.
There was a scuff of his step, perfect timing misaligned. His eyes widened for a second as the corner of his mouth twitched.
The Sergeant beside him fell back, allowing Lucifer to step close to the cell bars.
“And you tell me I have a temper,” I snarled, and then winced as I rose from the metal seat.
“Lorn,” my father murmured, his gaze dancing across my face. “Let’s go, honey.”
There was a nod of his head before the Sergeant scurried forward.
I didn’t care about them anymore, not their threats, not their lives. In that moment, I was a kid, shuddering and shaking, desperate to feel the arms of someone.
The Sergeant shoved the key into the lock and twisted. I forced my legs to move, forced myself to not run into his arms and took a slow step forward. My father held my gaze, offering no comfort—and that was all I needed.
His strength became my strength.
His power, my own.
I lifted my head, straightened my spine and strode from the cell.
There was a glint of fierce pride in his eyes, just a hint of the man underneath the name. We left the echo of our boots, and stunned silence, behind as I followed my father to the end of the cells.
Before I turned the corner, I caught the whisper. “Do you know who that was? That right there was Lucifer himself. That’s the one they call the Dark Lord.”
My chest swelled with a hard breath. I let my father lead the way through the corridors of processing, out the steel-lined doors and into the Precinct’s foyer.