by Kim Faulks
I stumbled, caught my step, and lifted my hand. “Sonofa…”
Blood glistened on the tips of my fingers. I probed the scratches again and took a step. They wanted me out of there, that was fine by me.
All I wanted was the piece of shit I hunted. I swiped the tips of my fingers against my jeans and kept on moving, leaving the car behind.
The clubs in Midnight were close enough to walk from one to the other. I scanned the street and then crossed, catching the midday sun high overhead.
Guilt stung like a nerve exposed.
Rival and Gabriel wanted me at home—but Titus needed me…needed me to soothe his soul, needed me to touch and hold and whisper, it’ll be alright.
But it wouldn’t…nothing would.
Not for him and not for me—ever again. The sun glinted off the glass double doors as I neared. A sting lashed my arm and then raced. My feet turned heavy, as though my soles were weighed down with steel. My muscles trembled as I pushed, leaning into each step until I sucked in a hard breath and stopped at the double doors.
Bite Me, was splashed in bright red across the glass.
It was more than a name…it was a vibe, carefully controlled by the wards of a protection spell.
I inhaled the scent of black pepper and myrrh as the whirl of a camera overhead drew my gaze. The extra security was new…fitted in the months since I’d been here. I stared into the lens and waited for the clunk of the lock.
But it never came…there was nothing but the silence and the spells. The longer I stood here, the deeper the sting. “Let me in,” I mouthed to the camera and lifted my hand. “Or I’ll huff and I’ll puff…and I’ll burn your house down.”
A heavy click echoed. I reached for the handle and pushed. No one wanted a hunter at their door, least of all this place.
The foyer was cold and empty, leading to an elevator to go up, or two steps of stairs that curled around on each side…going down. I gripped the railing and took the first step, descending into the soft gray lights as I left the midday brightness behind.
Bite Me wasn’t like any other club in Midnight, only the desperate and the depraved were welcome here…it just so happened that Redemption was both.
I’d been here once, and once was more than enough.
Once left me with my heart racing.
Once left me wanting to run.
Once was one too many times…and yet here I was, coming back again.
Power raced as I stepped lower, stopping at a black door. The steel handle glowed, urging me to take hold. I swallowed hard and clenched my fist—this time it was me faltering, this time it was me with fear.
Don’t be weak…you can do this…the words filled my head as I lifted my hand. Nothing frightened me. Not the darkness or the depraved or Lucifer himself.
In my mind, the fantasy filled me—Redemption standing there in the dark, staring at his blood-covered fingers, with my mom at his feet.
He killed her…
He had to have killed her.
I unfurled my fingers and gripped the door handle.
Now I’d come to kill him.
The metal flared, burning bright under my fingers until the glare made me wince and the door swung open. The smooth sound of a seductive beat carried through the space.
The bright decor was so very different to Midnight. Yellow and burgundy like gold on blood…I scanned the room as those inside turned my way. Harmless so far, night walkers and shifters…just your everyday supes.
The flutter of panic flared through the air, drawing my gaze to the corner of the bar. Shadows blurred into black as the creature rose.
I swallowed hard and kept on walking toward the bar as the hair on the nape of my neck rose. The barman turned, caught movement, and stared.
But it was that darkness that drew me as the creature stepped forward. He was towering, growing bigger as he left the murky corner behind.
Big black eyes swallowed his face as the mothman lifted a finger and pointed at me. “That’s her…that’s the hunter I told you about.”
Chapter Eleven
Lorn
The waiter gripped the edge of the bar and leaned in. “Is that true? You’re her…you the one on the highway, the one beaten by humans?”
I flinched with the question and glanced toward the towering male. Dark eyes reflected the room, casting my wide-eyed stared back at me.
“Well,” he murmured, “why would you do that? Why would you let them hurt you like that?” The mothman took a step on gangly legs.
His clipped brown wings trailed behind him, leaving a thick smear of soot behind.
“Gundry, what have I fucking told you about that?” The waiter snarled and stared at the mess. “You know how long I have to scrub to get that shit out of the carpet?”
But there was no sorry from the towering creature. He crossed the room, bending his massive frame to pass under the lights overhead. “They’d kill us if they could. The only thing stopping them is they’re afraid.”
There was a murmur of approval.
“They won’t be afraid if you let them beat you like that, will they?” The mothman lifted his hand, long fingers curled into a fist. “We have to hurt them back, make them afraid of us. Make them so fucking afraid that they’ll leave our side alone.”
I shook my head. They didn’t understand…no one did.
The mothman lowered his gaze, finding the aching burn in my hand. “So much power…what I don’t understand is, why?”
Because it wasn’t his to understand. It wasn’t his to live with. And that made this all the more cruel.
“We want answers, hunter,” someone called from the back.
“No salt ring will protect you here!” yelled another.
There was the scape of a chair, and then footsteps…many…many footsteps. I could feel them surrounding me, blocking off my avenue to the doors. I was here now, and here I’d stay—until they’d had their drop of blood.
Still they poked and prodded with their remarks. “No salt rings here, hunter! No, no one to protect you here!”
And that was just it…wasn’t it? Another ring was resurrected inside my head. A ring around a warehouse that held terror inside. I was drawn back to the docks where we found the wolves, the dealers, and the innocents I’d killed.
My own kind and I killed them.
I swayed on my feet as the memory grew. White eyes glistened, webbed with tiny red veins that hung by a single nerve. I’d caved the wolf’s head in with just a flick of my power. And not just the head…their entire body, fur on the inside, and flesh on the outside.
I killed every single one of them—because they came after what was mine.
They wanted to kill Titus and Rival.
I couldn’t let that happen.
Not now…not ever.
And that was to a shifter. That was to a wolf in his prime. Imagine what I could do to a human? Imagine what I could do to them all.
No, there was no salt ring in here to save me…but salt rings don’t work anymore, now…do they?
Rings of power protected what was inside the ring.
But what it they were the ones in need of protection?
Protection from me…
I lifted my hand and felt that darkness calling me, it was just a whisper now…just a faint call on the breeze. But I knew that underneath the fist clenched around my power, tendrils of the darkness escaped.
If that fist were to ever let go…Hell would be unleashed.
And this time there’d be no going back.
“You speak as though you know me,” danger leaked from my voice as I took a step. “But you don’t. You don’t see how hard I’m fighting to protect you.”
“We don’t need protection!” someone shouted.
“Really?” That fist inside me slipped a little.
Glasses rattled and the walls shook as the tremor grew, leaving tiny fissures in its wake. I closed my eyes and felt the power race, tearing through not just Midnight
…but the entire city.
They’d call it a shift of the tectonic plates.
They’d call it global warming.
But they’d be wrong.
A warning growl slipped through the air, low and dangerous as the shifter stepped closer. Silver eyes glinted like the razor’s edge of a knife. They stared now. They all stared, and they all knew.
“You don’t know me,” I murmured, and lifted my gaze. “You don’t see me fight. I don’t fight them…no. Because I’m fighting a bigger battle…one that’s inside me.”
A scream tore through the air from somewhere deeper inside the club. The waiter wrenched his head toward the shifter and jerked his head toward the sound.
The wolf’s snarl eased and then ended as he skirted around me and turned. The pungent stench of fear wafted through the air.
They were scared of me now.
They should be.
My hands trembled, my bones shuddered and shook. I clenched my fist and held on before I stumbled toward the bar.
Reflections bounced off the mirrored wall behind the glasses. Shadows and shapes blurred as the small mob broke away. But one shape was still moving…striding out from the others…and headed toward me.
Silver glinted in his hand. I lifted my head as the outline sharpened…and stared into the cold eyes of a killer…an unseelie killer—Redemption.
Come, Lorn. You belong to me.
I shoved away from the edge of the bar and spun. Fire and rage ripped from the middle of my palm to lash the room. Someone screamed as I scanned the space….but there was no one.
No one coming toward me.
No one with a gun in their hand.
No Redemption…ready to fight.
“Get out,” the waiter growled, and pointed toward the doors. “Get the fuck out of here, hunter.”
I’m sorry…the words were stuck, wedged just under the stone in my throat. The others stared as I made for the door, but there was more than fear in their eyes now—sadness, sympathy…hate.
And the shit haunted me as I punched through the doors and made for the light.
I saw him.
I could’ve sworn I saw him.
Sunlight bounced off the windows to hit my eyes. I blinked, gripped the railing, and climbed all the way to the top.
Come, Lorn. You belong to me.
I’m pregnant.
He calls himself the unseelie…
Voices swirled inside my head. I was losing my shit…coming apart at the seams. Go home, that quiet voice whispered amongst the clamor. I pressed my hand to the steel door handle and felt the surge of power.
Go home to Titus, and Rival, and Gabriel.
They’ll know what to do…
The lock gave a click and then I was out in the open with the cool breeze on my face. I dragged in the scent of copper and mud and felt the world clear.
Yes, go home. Go home and plan this out like a hunter.
Maps and supernatural lines came to life in my head with that same cursive scrawl…night hag.
Alma was hunting.
I was hunting. Still, I didn’t understand why the Nine? Why create some made-up sect to cover up a killer? Why protect Redemption? She’s given me no answers…not really. Just a bunch of journals that only conjured more questions.
Footsteps haunted me. I yanked my gaze over my shoulder and kept on moving. The streets were quiet…too quiet.
I hadn’t noticed that before. Hadn’t noticed that shops were closed and dark…hadn’t noticed how this place was a ghost town. There were no cars, no people, no smoke wafting from the chimneys, and no voices.
No voices to drown out the ones in my head. I reached for my pocket and grazed the journal. Harbor was my home and my birthplace. I’d walked these streets my entire life—and yet, as I crossed the street and headed for my car, I’d never felt so alone.
Darkness clung to the back end of my car, but the sight was a shot of adrenaline in my veins. My steps quickened. Should never have come here. Should’ve stayed at home when I had the chance.
Glass crunched under my boot as I stepped up to my car. I glanced down to the sparkling shards at my feet. There was more…in a trail to my car.
“No…no…no…no…”
The jagged hole in the passenger’s side window hit me like a blow. I shoved forward, lunging past the rear door to stare inside.
The report was gone.
I pressed my hand to the shattered glass.
The report was gone… “Stupid…stupid…stupid. Why did you leave it out there like that?”
Something moved in the darkness, drawing my gaze. I heard the sound of paper fluttering like it was caught on the breeze. I swallowed and stared into the gloom at the end of the alley.
Paper fluttered again, and I was moving before I knew it. “Anyone there?”
I caught sight of the Harbor Metropolitan Police stamp and lunged. The breeze came from out of nowhere, snatching the paper away.
The report kicked and skidded across the ground, catching the edge of a stone before it flipped. I stumbled forward, slapped my boot to the ground, just missing the corner before it fluttered away and sank into the shadows before it stopped. The corners flapped, smacking against something dark. I reached forward and grasped the corner of the report with my heart in my mouth and then lifted my gaze.
The white shine of bone was all I saw at first, until the beast lifted its hand and drew the mask aside.
Night hag…the words filled my head as terror consumed me.
You belong to me…It whispered from the sunken hollow of its face.
You belong to me.
You belong to me.
You belong to me…
Chapter Twelve
Titus
“Over there,” the hellhound snarled and shoved his finger under my nose.
Headlights splashed against the side of the building as I swung the car wide and turned.
Tires squealed through the night. We’d been driving for hours. Hours where every damn street in this part of the city looked the same…
Still I couldn’t find her.
None of us could.
“Check again,” Gabriel whimpered beside me and glanced to the two-way beside the wheel.
I swallowed a moan and then tried to speak. “I just checked five minutes ago.”
Pale skin shone under the dashboard lights. The sheen of sweat, beading together to trickle down his brow, made him look sickly. “Check a-fucking-gain.”
Pain had a way of changing you.
It twisted and hacked, leaving a bloody mess in its wake.
It made a hellhound dangerous and an archangel weak.
The crescent mark on my shoulder burned and stung, carving through flesh and muscle like the tip of a blade. Her power surged through everyone of us…desperate…searching.
“She needs us,” Gabriel moaned. “She needs us now.”
I clenched the wheel as oncoming lights swam and blurred, and then reached for the mic. I couldn’t stop the shake in my damn hands as I rode the brakes and turned into a darkened alley. “Harbor 5-6 to Dispatch.”
The faint voice cracked through the speaker. “Harbor 5-6, go ahead.”
“Status update on case number 59248.”
There was silence before the operator answered. “Nothing in the last ten minutes, Harbor 5-6.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Rival snarled.
The headrest behind me gave a pop…pop…pop as claws punctured the cheap ass fake leather.
I wrenched my gaze over my shoulder and stared into the fiery pits of Hell. “Get your nails out of my goddamn seat.”
Metal moaned, bowing under the sheer strength as the hellhound whispered a warning. “Find her cop…fucking find her.”
Or else…
But there was no or else, not for me. It was my fault…all my fucking fault. I spun the wheel hard and bounced off the curb. Feathers scratched the roof of the car.
“Jesus, Titus. Watch the fuck
ing road,” Rival muttered.
I punched the accelerator as we hit back down, swinging the ass end of the sedan before it hunkered low. “Where now?”
“She has to be here…” Gabriel turned to stare out of the window.
The further we drove from her, the less pain. I swung the wheel and turned back around.
“Down there,” Rival pointed to a back street. “We haven’t tried down there.”
I tapped the brake, nosed the car down the busy street, and then turned. Alleys speared off left and right. The place was packed. Busy shops still trading even at eleven o’clock at night.
Spells and sex were what sold down here in Midnight. I should know, I’d cornered my fair share of hyped-up supes before I called The Circle for backup. The Circle…Lorn was my fucking circle. The woman had a way of crawling under my skin like a habit I never wanted to kick.
“Hey, what’s that?”
The headlights bounced of red brake light covers. I glanced at the number plate and pumped the brakes. “It’s hers…it’s fucking hers.”
The sedan skidded as I pulled in behind hers. Doors were opened before the car stopped. I shoved it into park and slammed my shoulder into the door. The headlights bounced as our weight left the car.
“Lorn!” Rival screamed. He sounded frantic and unhinged.
I swallowed hard and neared the smashed window of the passenger’s door. Jesus…
“Over here,” Gabriel called.
White feathers fluttered as the archangel opened his wings. The tips scraped against the bricks on one side and skimmed the wall on the other, blocking my view.
“Let me see.” I strode forward and reached out.
Thick bones were unyielding. I gave a shove and got nowhere. Power coursed through his body, keeping me behind him. “Gabriel, for fuck’s sake.”
“She’s…” he muttered, and stared. “You don’t want to see her like this.”
“Jesus Christ,” Rival snarled on the other side.