by Jessica Gunn
Someone loudly cleared their throat from the lobby, leaning into the hallway just enough to see me. They stood there, arms crossed, hip-cocked.
My stomach dropped. “Rachel?”
My cousin swung her blonde hair over her shoulder and stalked down the hall. Too shocked to find she’d followed me here—or worse, had been doing the same and also taking on solo missions—I couldn’t move an inch as she stepped right up to me and snatched the job listings from my hands… and tore them up in front of my eyes. The ripped shreds of paper glided to the ground.
“What are you doing?” Rachel pointed up at the job board. “Because if it’s what I think it is, need I remind you why you were kicked out of Sandra’s house the first time?”
I bent down and retrieved the fallen papers. “I was kicked out because I stopped being a boyfriend, not because of my trip to the ER.”
“Really.” Fire burned in her blue eyes. “Do tell me more about this fantasy world you’re living in. It sounds super interesting.”
“It’s not what you—”
“No? You’re not taking on side missions in a misguided attempt to get revenge on Lady Azar? Or is it that you’re not doing it because you think going all rogue is the way to take more demons off the streets?”
“Well—”
“You forget I grew up with you, Ben. I know you better than anyone else on this team.”
I gulped. Not because she was intimidating, but because she was right. “So, who cares if that’s what I’m here doing? It’s my life.”
“Correction: It’s our lives. You’re the team leader. If you die or get caught up in something while off running solo missions, it becomes our problem.” Rachel looked up at the job board again. “Half of these are ridiculous anyway. You’d need a team.”
I held up my handful of torn papers. “That’s why I stick to the easy ones.”
“Why?”
“Because the world isn’t safe. For anyone. Not just Riley. Especially after last night. So I’m doing my part by killing more demons.”
“Killing isn’t going to make less killing happen, Ben. That’s all I’m here to tell you. You don’t need to do this.”
“Talk to the Circles, then. Killing is all they’ve trained anyone to do since the beginning of time.”
“What is your problem?”
“I don’t have one. I came here to get a job and then go complete it. What’s yours?”
Rachel pointed at the wall next to her, but somehow, combined with her next words, I felt she meant something farther in the distance. “Krystin lost family back there, Ben. And for some time, you lost Riley.”
Heat soared up my neck, lighting a fire in my lungs. “He’s fine now.”
“Now,” Rachel echoed. “For how long? And if you die on a solo mission, what’s going to happen to him then? You can’t go off and do these things, Ben. We’re a team. If not all of us, then just you and me.” Her expression softened. “We started this together. There’s no way I’m going to let you finish it alone.”
She was right, and I knew it. But the papers in my hand weighed too much for me to move them, much less tack the listings back to the job board.
“Put them back, Ben.”
I swallowed hard. “They’re all I have.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “What?”
“Of Riley. If I can’t rid Boston of enough demons, if we can’t stop Darkness and Shadow Crest for good, I’ll never be able to see Riley again. And, if word gets out about him having the Power, he’ll become a target. Hunted all over again.”
“So train with us,” Rachel said as she placed a hand on my shoulder. “Make Krystin take you one-on-one if you want to challenge yourself. Or take on the entire team all at once. We won’t kill you, but any of those demons”—she pointed to the board again—“they’ll do it without hesitation.”
I frowned but eventually let it go. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
Rachel peered up at me with squinted eyes. “I don’t know if I believe you.”
“I’m telling you the truth. Yes, I do still want to go on these missions. Especially since no one else will, now that they’re torn asunder.” I held out the remains of the job listings. “And under normal circumstances, I would probably still go out alone instead of going home with you. But…”
“But what?”
I turned and leaned back against the granite job board, laying my head against the cool stone. “Honestly? I’m tired. Exhausted. Over pretty much everything that’s happening right now.”
“You and me both.” She leaned against the board, too. “But we have to keep marching on.”
I shrugged. “Or we could run with our tails between our legs. No one back home would know the difference. Not Michael. Not Amanda. Hell, your parents would be ecstatic. And we’d never have to tell them the truth about what we’ve been doing.”
Rachel was quiet. Not even her facial expression had changed. A ten-second span of silence grew into thirty. The sound of nothing deafened my ears.
“Yeah,” I finally said. “I thought it was a shitty plan, too. Let’s go back to the house and get some sleep.”
She nodded and pushed off the board. “Glad we had this conversation.”
I smirked. “You’ve always been good at telling me what to do without telling me what to do.”
“And sometimes being more direct,” she offered.
“Yeah, that too.” I held out my hand to her. “Ready?”
She placed her hand in mine and I teleported us both back to the house.
The crumpled remains of the dharksa raid and the demon bounty papers were still pressed between my fingers when I walked back into my bedroom alone. I flicked on the light.
That was when I saw it: a picture I’d taken with Riley a week ago, his adorable two-year-old goofy grin wide as ever.
Determination swelled inside my gut, pushing out my fear of demons and death. My fist curled around the job listings, the sound of crinkling paper echoing against the walls of my bedroom.
I had to make this world safe for him, no matter what.
And it’d start with these stupid jobs.
CHAPTER 6
KRYSTIN
I gave myself until 9 P.M to grieve for Drew before I wiped the tears from my face and got dressed for a fight. Now that we were off-duty, Jaffrin shouldn’t be looking for us for a while. Which was good. I had something to attend to and answers to demand.
I glanced down my hand, the mark from a few weeks ago still fading. Giyano’s blemish, the one left by his magik when it had invaded me and turned my own magik dark. Demonic. The dark power thrummed in my veins, growing stronger in the week since we’d last spoken.
I hated to admit it, but my body seemed to crave his power.
So tonight I’d set out on my own, walking the shore along Castle Island to seek out my “other escape.” I didn’t know where Giyano usually hung out, but I didn’t want to go too far from our house. Not with some rogue demon out there.
The stars shone bright against the clear nighttime sky. My breath wisped up from my lips in slow spirals on each exhale. A chilly wind swept through my leather jacket, sending a shiver down my spine. Winter was really starting to set in—my least favorite season out of the year.
My father had died in winter. And that was, really, all I knew about him.
I shoved my hands into my pockets and ducked my mouth and nose below the collar of my zipped-up jacket. Freaking winter. The cold seeped into everything, even my tired bones.
Footsteps sounded in a steady rhythm against the paved path behind me. I gulped, not stopping my walk. I wasn’t afraid of the normal passerby. Even if they had some sort of weapon, the odds they’d catch me off guard enough that I couldn’t react were low. But the confident rhythm of their steps told me I’d gotten what I’d wanted: Giyano.
Didn’t think you’d actually come.
“You really need a new pastime,” I called over my shoulder, not bothering to look. �
��This is getting old.”
“Then don’t come looking for me,” Giyano replied, the gravelly tone of his voice sifting into the space between us. Now that I knew more about him, I picked up on the lilting way he spoke certain words, the last threads of his English heritage rising to the surface.
I stopped and spun on my heel to face Giyano.
He stopped walking and slid both of his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. His young face, highlighted with high cheekbones and a strong jaw below burgundy eyes and a head of jet-black hair, masked his age well. Giyano was an Old One, though young for their kind. He was turned in the Old World, at the tail end of it before the Colonists had come over from England to America. That meant he was powerful to some degree, but I wondered how deep that fire-elemental power actually went.
He looked at me, unwavering. Like he was expecting a response.
“I wasn’t looking for you in particular, so don’t get all excited,” I said, placing my hands on my hips. That much closer to my knife sheath, if need be. I wasn’t sure how many shots I’d get in before he tried to requirem me. Still, I took comfort in the knowledge that my telekinesis would act faster than any fire he threw my way.
“Then why are we here, Krystin?” He nodded at my hand. “I see you still wear my mark.”
“Not by choice.”
He shrugged. “And yet it remains.”
“Why do you think the Powers want to use my Alzan destiny for evil?” It was the biggest question of them all, since even Giyano kidnapping Riley ultimately came back to Alzan. What was so dangerous about that place, other than the cianza?
Giyano chuckled and stepped toward me. My skin crawled. “The Powers… Darkness… they both have one thing in common,” Giyano purred. “The one thing all sentient life craves.”
“Power.”
The longer I stood next to him, the more his aura overwhelmed both the area and me. Warm and strong, dark. Demonic. And familiar.
“So that’s what you’re after too, right?” I asked. Made sense. He’d had some falling out with Lady Azar after the Salem Witch Trials but had worked for her once again. That implied she still had something on him, even though he’d turned against her a week ago.
Giyano shook his head. “Not in so many words. My time for power ended long ago, and my magik is strong enough on its own. No. There are far worse things to worry about. Say, how is Ben’s son doing? Riley, was it?”
My jaw clenched, fists falling on my hips. “He’s just fine, thank you. He’s safe and—”
“If you don’t keep him hidden well enough, not even the Canadian border will be good enough to keep Shadow Crest out.”
“Stay away from him,” I spat. “He was never yours to take in the first place, you bastard. What’d we ever do to you, anyway? Why’d you zero in on us?”
“Merely happenstance, I assure you,” he said as he leaned back on his heels, the most carefree demon-man in all of Boston. “Lady Azar found out about a boy with the Power being born. It was only a matter of time before we tracked him down. And his elemental father.”
“Just be happy Ben wasn’t trained then. He’d have taken you out.”
Giyano shrugged again, a perfect picture of nonchalance. “We may never know. As for you, my dear…”
I charged forward three steps, coming within three feet of him. “I’m not anyone’s dear.” I held up my hand between us, ready to attack. Why I didn’t just do it, why I didn’t take advantage of the momentary surprise on his face and utilize those precious seconds to end his life, I’ll never know.
But in my moment of non-action, Giyano thrust his palm against my outstretched hand. I expected a requirem, but instead a pulse of demonic energy slammed into me, knocking me back. Giyano closed his fist around mine, holding me steady as he pumped wave after wave of magik into me, a red glow forming around our connected fingers. Fire. He was pulsing fire into me, the magik of change, and it…
Didn’t burn like it used to.
I glanced up at him, blinking rapidly to clear my vision as I watched the veins in my left arm turn a dark blue, then black. Giyano’s magik. My body sighed, relaxing as his magik poured into me, like drinking a glass of water after months in the desert. My body shuddered and I suppressed a moan. Demonic power felt free and powerful and untamed. So much of everything I’d been denied both growing up and now on a real team of Hunters.
But it was demonic. Evil. I wrenched my hand from his grasp, which had loosened as he, too, watched my veins change color.
“What did you do?” I clutched my hand to my chest. There wasn’t any pain, but his power pulsed beneath my skin. “I don’t have elemental magik. This shouldn’t be possible.”
Giyano’s eyebrows rose, his hand still outstretched, although no longer glowing red. “And yet…”
Did I have the Power? No. Definitely not. For one, I was a Blackwood witch, which pretty much determined the nature of my magik. And for another thing, the chances that either the Son or Daughter of Alzan would have the Power were so slim that it’d be ridiculous.
Although, Shawn didn’t have any magik at all…
“Stay the hell away from me,” I shouted at him. “Th-This isn’t normal. Or safe. Or—”
“Worry not,” he said, glancing up at me with intense, wild burgundy eyes. “I know what I’m doing.”
Well, that makes one of us.
“You’re insane,” I said, and so was I for letting him get this close to me. Again. “Who attacked Hunter’s Guild? That’s what I’m here to find out.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “The Guild? I’m not sure.”
“Liar.”
“If you don’t believe me, then why come here?”
Because he had to know. He might not be on Lady Azar’s roster anymore, but Giyano didn’t strike me as the type of person who stayed out of the loop, either. He knew. He had to.
I set my jaw. “Tell me.”
Giyano’s eyes narrowed. “You’re scared.”
“We all are, you idiot.” My breath came in heavy gasps, both from the magik he’d put into my system and from fear—for myself, for the Circles. For everyone.
Giyano stared at me for a long moment, then turned and began walking away. “I’ll find out.” After a few more paces, he teleported out of there.
I watched the empty darkness where he’d stood and tried to slow my breathing. He really hadn’t known anything. Which meant I’d come out here for nothing except to risk my life with this demon-man. Again.
I backpedaled down the road, then used teleportante to bring me to my bedroom, where I ran to my small window and drew the blinds shut. I sat down in the middle of my bed, cross-legged, and I looked down at my black-veined arm. It was only a matter of time before Giyano found me again, which meant I had even less time to figure out why he was doing this. But one fact remained: I’d held both elemental and ether magik within me simultaneously. Even in a small amount, it was impossible. Still, I’d somehow withstood it.
Was the Alzan prophecy to blame?
I ripped up the sleeve of my shirt and inspected my birthmark removal scar. The black veins had seeped up my arm but stopped short of my elbow.
“Shit.”
CHAPTER 7
BEN
My limbs, lethargic and heavy, barely carried me to the front door of the team’s house the next morning. I’d had requirem thrown my way at the very end of the fight—and had thrown it right back at the demon, leaving us both magik-less thanks to the word magik. It was about the only reason I’d gotten out of that solo mission alive.
I climbed the front steps of our townhome, one arm clutching my middle, and fumbled for the keys… that were no longer in my pocket. I smacked my head against the door. “Son of bitch.”
Rachel had been right. She usually was. But I rarely listened to her, and now I’d pay the price. Both via the small head injury bleeding down my right cheek, and via the lecture I was sure to get as soon as I went inside.
If only that d
emon hadn’t used requirem on me. That fight would have ended a lot sooner, the demons wouldn’t have beaten me bloody.
No luck.
With a deep breath, I swallowed whatever pride remained and, for the first time since moving in here over a year ago, rang the damn doorbell. Like a guest. Like someone locked out by their own stupidity.
I tugged my phone out of my pocket and checked the time. 6:38 A.M. I’d been out for way too long, and the odds that anyone was awake were dismal at best. Not after the last thirty-six hours. Settling in for the long haul, I rested my forehead against the cool door. Stupid. That’s what I was.
Rustling sounded behind the door, then Rachel’s face appeared in the window. Scowling. She glared at me, holding my gaze with the fire of a hundred suns. I dropped my stare. She wouldn’t let me in and it wasn’t worth it to fight. I’d go to Headquarters, and rest there.
I turned to walk away, back toward the sidewalk and to the closest T stop, but Rachel unlocked the door before I’d gotten more than a few steps away.
“Thought you were done with solo missions,” she said, moving to let me inside.
I stepped down into the living room and plunked onto the couch. The moment I sat, my legs turned to jelly and my feet tingled instead of throbbing. It’d been a long walk, and my ribs screamed. Maybe the demon had broken them instead of just bruising them like I’d thought. “Me too.”
“You too?” she asked. “Are you serious, Ben? You do have control of your own body. You know that, right?” She rushed to the water cooler we kept in the living room and poured me a cup of cold water. “You’re an idiot.”
“Yeah. Pretty much.” The cushion behind my head was the softest reassurance of safety I’d ever experienced. I settled further into the couch. “I’m sorry.”
Rachel’s expression softened, but fire still burned in her eyes. “If you’re sorry, you’ll stop doing this to yourself. It’s only been a week. Riley’s safe, Ben. He’s with Sandra in Canada with a team of the Fire Circle’s best Hunters watching them—all backed up by a Canadian team.”