by Jessica Gunn
“Not just high up,” I told them. “Lady Azar is Aloysius’s daughter. As in, the creator of all of Darkness’s demons. The creator of the magik that makes them that way. She’s not just an Old One. Lady Azar is one of the originals.”
They stared back at me blankly. Stars above, please tell me they knew even a little bit about Darkness’s founding member.
“We know. And I don’t care. We’ll go extra carefully,” Ben said. “I’m okay with whatever we have to do, but I’m going regardless. I’m done with this waiting game. The Fire Circle hasn’t found Riley yet and they might never. At least now we know where he is.”
“Do you?” I asked. Who the hell was this Riley guy? “Because last I checked, not even the Ether Head Circle knows exactly where Shadow Crest’s lair is. None of the normal locator magiks work, and anyone who’s been sent to find their hideout has never returned, as a human or as a demon.”
“Even I’ve tried, Ben,” Nate said. “And my teacher before me. He’d been given that assignment by the Circles to find them many times.”
I didn’t have it in me to tell Nate that although he was so powerful I now felt his magik on me, he was severely undertrained. Like Ben’s lightning the night before, Nate’s magik rolled off of him in uncontrolled waves. Still, with his abilities, he wouldn’t be able to penetrate any magik shield as powerful as the one protecting Shadow Crest’s lair. Even if his teacher had been assigned to attempt it, Lady Azar wasn’t a normal demon. Her magik was more than ours. The world was very different when she first walked it, and the world’s magik wasn’t any different.
“If you know about them,” I said, “then you know how stupid it’d be to just waltz in there. Shadow Crest is comprised of the strongest demons allied with Aloysius. And his daughter? She’s singlehandedly brought down empires.”
“I wouldn’t be demanding anything,” Ben said, a defiant, arrogant drip in his tone. “They invited me.”
“‘Bring her,’” I echoed. “What does that even mean, other than this is a trap?”
Ben seethed. Rachel dropped her hands as if his skin temperature had skyrocketed to the boiling point. “See, that’s the thing I don’t understand. This demand is new. And you’re the only new ‘her’ I can think of.”
My eyes narrowed even as blind panic slid from the tip of my spine to my toes, dragging dread throughout every node in my body. Me joining a team had been a terrible idea from the start. “That’s ridiculous.” But was it? If Lady Azar knew who I was… that I’d been assigned to the same team that’d pissed her off before…
Who else knew? And what did that mean for every attempt at hiding my destiny that Jaffrin and my mother had made?
Ben’s jaw slid from side to side so hard, I swore the sound of his teeth grinding together reached my ears. “I don’t think so. You show up here and not forty-eighty hours later, a demonic body appears in our house?”
“It’s called a coincidence,” I said. “Just because you don’t trust me—”
“Why the hell should I?” he asked. “No one told us we were getting a fourth team member. No one warned us you were coming. You ran into the fight without giving us any indication you were a Hunter. Never mind it being on the same night two mutilated bodies turn up in demon attacks. And now, now”—he pointed to the piled remains of Rachel’s camera—“now they’re asking for you. Why? Are you tied to Shadow Crest? Is that why Jaffrin only assigned you to a team ten years before retirement?”
“No,” I spat. “The Empire is full of filthy creatures I want nothing to do with. I’m only here because my mother and Jaffrin control this part of my life. I was doing just fucking fine on my own.”
“Is that why you used to hang out at the Guild so much?” Nate asked out of nowhere. “As a safety net?”
I spun around on him, a fire lighting my veins. Adrenaline had turned to rage. How long before that fuel burned out completely? “Excuse me?”
“Other demon haunts, too.” Nate cringed, like he was guilty for having discovered this information. Good. He should have felt that way. “You’ve been escorted by human police from a number of clubs in the city, mostly for causing fights, but occasionally for underage drinking, amongst other things.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I’m twenty-four.”
“Four years ago,” he amended.
“You looked me up last night?” You’ve got to be kidding me. We’d barely had time to sleep, let alone do any research on the demon attacks. When had Nate found time to run a background check on me?
My new team’s distrust stung, but the fire it stoked in my gut only solidified my own beliefs: the Hunter Circles were nothing more than an organization filled with quacks and inexperienced people trying to make a difference, but really just escalating the entire situation. And for what? To fight Darkness?
The ancient peoples of the planet had formed the Circles four thousand years ago to combat the demons of Darkness. But that was forever ago and now, in the modern world, the Circles didn’t fit in anymore. Witches handled the protector duties. And guns and other modern weapons made killing demons an easier task. Besides, magik had never been as powerful a force as it was now with so many people having access to it.
The point was: we were supposed to be a team. But how could I join a team when its leader was a hothead ready to explode? I had done better on my own.
“I wanted to—”
“What?” I asked Nate. “Make sure I’m legitimate? Make sure Jaffrin really did send me since my arrival came with bodies? Have you ever known anyone to actually want to meet with that asshole and follow his orders?”
No one responded.
“No. I didn’t think so,” I continued. “Yeah, when I was younger I did stupid things. But when I was younger, I was essentially trapped at my mother’s house, being forced to train all hours of the day to fight Darkness. They placed trackers on my phone, my car. I was essentially their prisoner, unable to go anywhere or talk to anyone without it being monitored because of their misguided attempt to protect me. It grates on a person. And you can’t honestly tell me none of you drank before twenty-one. That’s even crazier than whatever the hell has Ben’s panties—”
“Enough!” Ben roared. “There are a few hangouts we can check for information.” He stood and marched over to the stairs. “Join me or not; I’m going either way.”
Nate and Rachel shared a concerned look before following Ben down the stairs. A few seconds later, the front door slammed open. I hurried behind them as they rushed out into the early-morning darkness.
I ran a hand through my hair and stared after them. They didn’t trust me. And the kicker was that there was a good chance I was the “her” Lady Azar wanted. Because of the prophecy I hadn’t yet told them about. Because of the amount of power inside me.
A Son and Daughter of Alzan, two with the power to save the city from Darkness. To save all realms from threat of a crumbling cianza. Blah, blah, blah.
Jaffrin hadn’t given me permission to tell them about the Alzan prophecy yet, and that was one of the few things I’d obey him on. Because once they knew, there was no going back. They’d be involved, too. And then we’d all be targets for Aloysius.
I CAUGHT up with my team a few blocks down the street. What a group we must have looked like, running into and out of the house at all hours of the night. It was a miracle more Hunters never got brought in or arrested for trespassing or doing things like walking around at night, armed, in groups. Each team got assigned to an area to watch over, but it was usually more of a house-sitting job than anything else. Demons caused more ruckus than Hunters ever had. So, if they kept quiet, so did we.
Except now, when someone had called out Ben.
My stare bore holes into the back of Ben’s head as we walked. It was hard to keep pace with his big, angry strides. After another five-block stretch of road and turning right, I’d figured out where we were headed. And there was no way I could go there with them.
I ran ahead, cutting
off Ben by stopping in front of him, and slammed my palm against his chest. “Stop. Please. For one second. Hear me out.”
His eyes lit afire as if the suggestion had been utterly preposterous. “Why?”
Word this carefully. One misstep and I’d incriminate myself a whole lot more than I needed to. But if I walked into Arnie’s right now, like this, with a Fire Circle knife strapped to my thigh—with an entire team of Hunters, no less—I’d be held there. Killed, possibly. Especially since I’d been there less than forty-eight hours ago. Arnie’s was the same bar I’d been in when Jaffrin had texted me about meeting my team.
“You know that time in college when you called home to Mom and Dad about all those wholesome extracurriculars you’d joined?” I asked him. “The sports, the We Love Jesus club, the chess team?”
“What the hell is your point?” Ben growled.
I shrugged, cringing. “We both told those lies, Ben. Except instead of going to the campus church, I went to Arnie’s.” I gulped, praying Ben wouldn’t make me spell it out for him. I’d been young and stupid back then. Well, if two days ago qualified as “back then.” Except I hadn’t been dealing. I’d just wanted a place to go where Hunters wouldn’t follow and report my whereabouts back to Jaffrin. I hadn’t dealt there in months.
Ben’s face hardened even more, if that were possible. “Are you saying you frequented that cesspool?”
I lifted a finger. “‘Frequented’ is such a strong word, it was really more of a—”
Ben shoved me out of the way and hurried down the street. Rachel followed after him while Nate walked to my side.
“Arnie’s?” Nate asked me. “Are you serious?”
“I was bored. It’s complicated.” The words came out as a squeak. Arnie was not going to be happy to see me. Not without burgundy eyes.
ARNIE’S BLENDED in with the buildings surrounding it. Built out of brick and mortar some hundreds of years ago, the building served as a wayward bar and meeting area for some of Boston’s lower-level demons. The new spawn haunted Arnie’s bar like vampires stranded in brightly-shining daylight. Only vampires didn’t exist and demons didn’t shy away from the sun. It had no effect on them. They were, after all, human. Mostly. The dark magik in their veins wasn’t originally theirs. But it’d twisted their minds and bodies all the same. Made them all but immortal, lengthening their lives to the degree of their magik.
Ever since I’d turned eighteen, I’d come to Arnie’s under a demonic disguise—dark clothes, burgundy contact lenses, spells hiding the scent of my Blackwood ether magik—and interacted with the demonic locals. Most of the time, nothing happened. It was usually a boring night filled with underage drinking. But sometimes, when I got lucky, I’d catch information about the newest demonic hideout or some other type of gossip about Darkness’s Empire.
I’d never told the Fire Circle—especially not my mother or Jaffrin—where I’d gotten the information. But every time it panned out and the Fire Circle cleared another nest of demons for the greater good of the Powers, I received a reluctant nod of approval.
I liked to pretend they didn’t know that their good girl Hunter-witch was a regular at the demon bar, but Jaffrin did. Why he never reported it, I had no idea. I’d never stuck around long enough to ask that question. But now I had bigger problems at hand.
Ben made quick time to the door to Arnie’s. He barged right in, not even bothering to knock. I gulped as two dozen pairs of burgundy eyes turned on us. A sick feeling sloshed through my stomach, warning me I’d be teleportante-ing all of us out of here very quickly and just in the nick of time.
“Ben,” I warned. “This is a super shitty idea.”
“She’s right,” said Rachel. “We shouldn’t be here. There are other ways to get information. Let’s go.”
Ben ignored her and strode down the middle of the bar right up to the bartender behind the counter. “Tell me where she is, where they all are.”
Right. Because that’s descriptive enough for Arnie. The video hadn’t said, “Go to Arnie’s and he’ll tell you everything!” Idiot. Ben would be better off interviewing demons at Hunter’s Guild than here. At least there he wouldn’t be attacked.
Arnie, the bartender and owner, a huge dude with biceps larger than my face and deep burgundy eyes in which a dark shadow swirled alive, threw his head back and laughed. Laughed. “Who the hell do you think you are? Do you all hear this guy?”
Ben’s jaw worked. “I need to know where I can find Shadow Crest’s hideout. Where I can find her.”
Silence sliced through the room as if someone had vacuumed out the sound of every heartbeat and breath. I hadn’t realized Ben was the type of person who not only loved to tread the line between stupidity and bravery, but that he lived for it, especially if it put his own family at risk.
I sucked in a deep breath to calm my nerves and then stepped in front of Rachel and Nate. If this went south, I’d at least be able to get them out. Maybe not every person on my new team had to die tonight.
Maybe it’d just be me.
I tried to keep my eyes from wandering, from spending too much time looking at any one demon, as Ben’s conversation with the bartender devolved into hell.
“You foolish, insolent Hunter,” Arnie spat. “Coming onto my property and demanding answers of me, about Shadow Crest no less? Are you insane?”
Everyone—every demon—in the bar stood, hands raised at their sides. Whether reaching for their weapons or their magik, I couldn’t tell. This wasn’t going to end well either way.
Arnie’s gaze lifted to the bar’s entrance, where the rest of our team stood. To me. “And you. You haven’t been a regular here for a while. Might it have something to do with your new friends?” But then he must have seen it, my lack of demonic-characteristics, and he hissed. “Heathen.”
“Okay,” I said. “Enough with the Old English speak. Not all of us are trapped in the fourteenth century.”
He and every other demon in the room sniffed theatrically. I hadn’t bothered hiding the scent of my magik this time. There wasn’t a point. I’d walked in here with Hunters and I’d be discovered to also be one no matter what I did.
“Leave,” Arnie growled, the darkness in his eyes shimmering like comets against the night. “Leave now and I’ll let you go with your lives. You Hunters think you own this city, that you can push us around whenever and however you like. But you won’t do that here, and you won’t get any information from me.”
“My, my,” said a new voice from behind me. The low brass of it skittered up my spine as his magik reached out to mine. “To think I’ve been dealing with a witch this entire time.”
I swallowed hard but turned to the newcomer with confidence. Eldric. I’d sold him dharksa for two years before leaving him to die in a deal gone wrong. I hadn’t had another choice. It was him or me, and I liked me a lot more than him. Besides, the Hunter Circles were counting on me to be there for Alzan. That stupid, mythological city from the prophecy.
“Apologies, dear,” I said. There’d never been anything romantic between Eldric and me, at least on my end. He’d been a means to an end, a way to funnel more information from Darkness to the Circles.
“‘Dear’?” Ben hissed.
“Oh, shut up,” I said. “You dragged us in here, and for what? Did you really think Arnie was going to tell you where to find Shadow Crest? They’re hidden—and feared—for a reason.”
Eldric’s eyes narrowed. “Traitor. We were partners.”
I spun around. “Hey, I never lied about who I was. You just believed what was presented to you.” And what a fool he’d been. No young demon dealt in dharksa.
“You know about the Trade,” he hissed. “I can’t let you walk out of here alive.”
I leveled him with a look. “I knew about it before coming here. We all did. I just didn’t have direct access to dharksa. Thank you, by the way, for facilitating my business and for buying it from me afterward.”
“Dharksa?” Nate
asked. His eyes narrowed. Oh good. More reason for them not to trust me. “Why were you dealing in that?”
The demons in the room stalked toward us, weapon and magik hands raising.
Arnie clicked his tongue loudly and they backed down. Marginally. “If you leave now, you may leave with your lives. Never come here again.”
“Where is Lady Azar?” Ben demanded.
Both Arnie and me flinched. There was a brilliant plan. I wasn’t scared of her name, but I sure as hell was terrified of her, like everybody else.
“Out!” Arnie shouted. The warmth from the fire in his palms scorched the air in front of us. Sparks shone in his dark eyes. “Now!”
The other demons pulled up their magik and weapons.
I grabbed Ben’s shirt and tugged him toward the exit. “Let’s go. This is stupid.”
We got all the way to the door before my body froze, unmoving. No matter how hard I tried, my muscles wouldn’t oblige my commands.
“Not so fast, witch.” Eldric.
“Look. I get you’re mad, but—”
“We have a payment conflict,” he purred.
“As in, you remember how I never paid you back and then didn’t return?” Okay. So maybe Arnie’s wasn’t exactly dangerous for the team. Everyone in here was a fledgling or lower-level demon. But Eldric and his dharska chain leaders? Very dangerous indeed. And I’d pissed them off. Big time. And then I’d left Eldric to die. “I will. Let me just go get my wallet from home and—”
Eldric pushed me out into the alley, slamming the door to Arnie’s behind us, and pressed his free hand to my collarbone. “Now. You’re going to pay now. With interest.”
The door swung open and Ben, Nate, and Rachel filed through. Lightning spawned behind us, sparking in the air. The hair on my arms stood up. Eldric pulled me closer to him as though I were a human shield.
“Don’t, Ben,” I said. “This is my debt to pay.” Here’s hoping it won’t kill me.
Ben backed down, anger clenching his fists and jaw, but he didn’t speak another word. Whether from fear or from actually realizing I had this situation somewhat under control, I didn’t know.