I obliterated that thought before it could take root.
It was more than likely Lena took another path. Sticking together hadn’t exactly panned out for us in the past. Taking separate routes, on the other hand, increased the chances that at least one of us would get to Svinimir.
That was the thought I held on to.
Closing my eyes, I focused on sensing the wards again. There were two of them, stacked one after the other. My fingers went for the device around my neck, but it wouldn’t do me any good here. Shit. I should have asked Lena to teach me how to use her mag-tech when she explained what her various gadgets did. As it was, I only had my fire—
I stilled, then looked at the space before me.
There was no way I was getting around this. I couldn’t double back, and there had been no doors branching off the corridors I’d traveled. I took a few steps back and steadied my breaths.
So much for stealth, I thought, bitter amusement filling my mental tones and drowning the worst of the panic.
Swallowing the remnants of unease, I called up my power. It came hesitantly at first, then in a rejuvenated torrent.
I let the flames loose.
With no more than a split second to spare, I threw myself around the corner. The explosion shook the manor walls, little bits of rubble and dust showering me, but I only coughed and sprinted on.
A pleasant magic-free void greeted me where the two interlaced wards had been. I locked onto that buzz of odd energy I’d felt earlier—that much stronger now that the ethereal barriers were gone—and followed it like a scent.
Shouts and footsteps ricocheted all around me, but with my destination set firmly in my mind, I really didn’t give a fuck. My blue flames blasted a vampire when he tried to ram into me from a chamber that opened up on my right.
Wind scattered his scream as I pushed past, leaving nothing but pain and death behind.
I repeated the process on another guard, then barreled forward. I could feel I was getting closer. The foreign presence had grown from a faint buzz into a vibration that spread through my very flesh. But it wasn’t the only one I sensed.
As if some fucking floodgates opened, a rush of what I recognized as demonic energy signatures slid between me and my mark. I growled and pulled more power from the ethereal lake until embers of brilliant blue engulfed my fingertips.
When the torchlight gave way to the yellow-white glow of electricity, I leaped. I twisted in the air as I soared past the chambers and let the fire fly. Screams echoed, but not nearly as many as I’d hoped. I landed and dropped into a roll, casting my body as far away as I could.
And not a moment too late.
A blaze of red, white, and orange poured across the threshold just behind me. It scorched the floor, the wall, rogue flames bouncing off the sides of the corridor. One singed me across my calf. I gritted my teeth against the pain and scooped up more power.
Deciding this was as good a place as any to make a stand, I shifted into a crouch—and listened.
The demons I’d failed to kill surged forward, but when the first entered the corridor, a mix of energy, gunshots, and screams blasted through the air. The muscular, dark-haired demon snapped his head towards the chaos.
I didn’t give him the chance to remember who his initial target was. A ball of blue hit him in the stomach. He dropped to the floor, limbs flailing before he went still, the reek of intestines and charred flesh oozing into the volatile atmosphere.
A voice rose above the commotion. “Get your ass in here, Lotte!”
She didn’t have to tell me twice.
Keeping a thin sheen of power around me, I ran into the room just as Lena sent her power smashing into Svinimir’s demons.
“Go, go, go!” she shouted.
I threw myself into a roll, narrowly evading a surge of enemy fire, then sprang up and propelled myself towards the heavy doors up ahead.
Another orb flew past me. The punishing heat scalded my ear, but my fingers were already wrapped around the handle. I stumbled into the room and shoved the door closed behind me, only the telltale snick was lost to me as another sound cut through the space.
Burning pain exploded in my left shoulder.
I screamed before I could stop myself, clutching my upper arm to hold it still. Blood spurted from the wound right beneath my collarbone and flowed down my body in thick, warm gusts. I looked up at the figure that materialized from the shadows.
The origin of the wrong, depleted essence—but one that posed no less of a threat despite its state.
Svinimir sneered at me and leveled the gun at my heart, finger poised on the trigger.
Thirty-Three
A twitch.
Just a twitch of his finger before another bullet swooshed my way.
But that damned fragment of a second I’d had to react kept the bastard from hitting anything lethal.
As I twisted away, my body moving almost of its own volition, a sting grazed my arm. The pain hardly registered. I was too busy sprinting for what little cover the antique couch had to offer, the need to get the fuck out of Svinimir’s line of fire overpowering everything else.
The moment I was tucked behind the backrest, instinct overrode rational thought in earnest. I shifted shape to stop the damn blood loss. My healing abilities were better than ever, but that bullet had gone deep.
Clothes tore and fell off my form as my bones changed, a few scraps of leather clinging to my fur. The surge of shapeshifting eliminated the intruding metal from my flesh. The bullet plunked to the floor. I reached for my human form again, but before the magic had the chance to rise, Svinimir kicked the couch and sent it skidding aside.
Pressed for time, I couldn’t do anything as he brought the gun back up—except attack. My hind legs tensed, and I leaped, aiming for the asshole’s chiseled, hate-filled face.
Reality slowed.
Svinimir’s sunset-orange eyes were on me. Unflinching. Merciless. His body a wall of honed muscle despite the energy absence gaping within.
I knew chaos existed just on the other side of the door, but right now, it was just us and the promise of death shaping the world.
Svinimir pulled the trigger.
I heard the mechanism fire. Felt the bullet leave the barrel.
But no impact.
The demon’s thin lips pulled into a snarl, but his eyes were wide, a hint of fear permeating the vivid orange. And as I stretched out my wolf legs before me, claws out, I realized why.
A blue glow coated my brown fur, illuminating every single hair.
Power.
I irradiated power.
Svinimir screamed as my claws dug into his chest and time resumed its course. Using the motion as well as my weight, I brought the bastard down. He bucked and tried to fight me off, but I snapped at his hands with my canine teeth, then drew several deep gouges with my claws across his chest for good measure.
The aroma of blood had never been sweeter.
As Svinimir writhed in pain, I called to my human form, straddled the bastard, then ripped the device off the lanyard that had remained safely around my neck during the shift.
I placed the dark metallic circle on his chest and activated it with an arrow of blue power.
Tension rode the air for a moment, oxygen levels seeming to drop—or maybe that was just me, holding my breath and hoping to the gods this part of the plan would work without a glitch.
A vibration reverberated through my body, but I didn’t move back.
The magic that rushed out of the circular disk in shimmering ropes wouldn’t touch me. The same, however, didn’t apply to Svinimir.
I bared my teeth in a smile when the fucker realized he was a neatly bound package of filth, trapped within a containment ward. He jerked his head to spit in my face, but the barrier rebounded his attack. Saliva dripped down his cheek.
I snorted.
“You know, Svinimir, I dreamed about killing you at first,” I said as my fingers passed through the ward without fault and grippe
d his stubbled chin hard enough to bruise. “But seeing you like this…I think enduring ICRA’s hospitality in one of their enhanced containment cells was the right call to make. Infinitely more fun than a swift death, don’t you agree?”
Thirty-Four
I traced my fingertips down Melina’s arm, mindful to avoid the IV helping her body recover. The bruises had begun to fade, and her heartbeat was much stronger, but she had yet to regain consciousness.
“I got the bastard, Melina.” I entwined my fingers with hers. “Svinimir will rot away in ICRA’s special prison for what he did to you. And”—a cold smile touched my lips—“without access to his demonic powers, they believe his near immortality is shaved down to a lengthy human lifetime. He won’t ever set foot in our world again.”
It still didn’t feel like punishment enough, not when I was looking at her, at what the bastard’s obsession had led to, but it was the most I could do.
Both Svinimir and his lackey would experience the full weight of their crimes. And then some.
ICRA might be many things, but they weren’t ones to let criminals off easy.
Even if a dark, vindictive part of me would have preferred outright torture.
“The doctor said she might wake within the week.” A soft voice broke the steady hum of machines.
I looked up. Niram lingered on the threshold, his gaze on his daughter.
Letting go of Melina’s hand, I pushed from the chair and walked out into the corridor. Niram shut the door behind him, then, much to my surprise, the Air Fae drew me into a hug.
“I can’t thank you enough.” His voice trembled, as did his entire body. “I am in your debt, Lotte Freundenberger.”
I started to protest as we stepped apart, but Niram stopped me with a shake of his head.
“You don’t have to call in the debt if you do not wish to. But know that you can, should the need arise.”
“Thank you, Niram.”
“Believe me, it is I who is thankful.”
My throat threatened to close up at the vulnerability permeating his words. Not trusting myself to speak, I merely nodded, then left the Fae to spend some time alone with Melina before business called him back to Faery.
Cold winds lashed at my cheeks when I exited the building, and I was all too eager to climb into my borrowed car, despite the fact that my destination wasn’t exactly one I would choose for myself right now. But as I recalled Niram’s gratitude, a deep sense of peace drowned out the jitters.
This was why it was worth it.
I was still far from comfortable with the turn my life had inadvertently taken, but at least there was a purpose lining the path. Better than ever, I understood what drove Greta and the twins to pursue a career where they constantly flirted with death. It wasn’t a peaceful way to spend your days, but it definitely was a way to ensure others could.
In some messed-up part of my mind, I knew the reward outweighed the risk.
As I merged with the dense traffic headed into the center of town, I glanced at my phone. Not late yet, but I would be if the slow-asses before me wouldn’t stop fucking around at every stoplight. Isa wasn’t too keen on being kept waiting, and given the circumstances of our meeting, I really didn’t want to antagonize her.
True to my rotten luck, when I pulled into the garage beneath ICRA HQ, there wasn’t a single free spot on the first level. Cursing, I took the ramp down, then squeezed my car between two hulking SUVs and wiggled my way out through the narrow space.
I breezed past the security in the lobby, immensely grateful there were no dreadful lines of people waiting for admission to the upper areas, then caught the elevator to the eleventh floor. I licked my somewhat dry lips as I watched the numbers flicker up on the sleek black screen, yet at the same time I couldn’t help but look forward to seeing the Ice Queen of Fang.
She’d done more for me than I could have ever expected, though I knew her actions hadn’t been selfless. After all, saying yes to my terms meant she, too, got precisely what she wanted. A win for all, if bittersweet.
Three agents piled into the elevator when I got off. I turned down the corridor, hastening my steps as Isa’s door came into sight. I rapped my knuckles against the gleaming wood, then pushed down on the handle.
Only the scent that hit me wasn’t Isa’s.
I blinked at the burly-looking vampire with a military cut and a scar on his temple sitting behind the desk, his hard gray eyes taking me in.
“I’m sorry.” I backpedaled. “I thought this was Senior Agent Vogt’s office.”
“It is.”
His reply stopped me in my tracks. I released the door but didn’t walk inside.
“I’m Lotte Freundenberger. I have a meeting scheduled with Senior Agent Vogt. Do you happen to know where she is?”
“On an assignment.”
My eyebrows rose. I’d spoken to her just yesterday morning, and she certainly didn’t mention going away. It must have been a last minute thing, but still, something felt disgustingly off.
“You will settle your matters with me,” the vampire said and motioned me to sit.
I did as asked.
“I’m sorry,” I said once I settled into the chair, “I don’t recall catching your name.”
“Dieter Gabler, Superintendent General.”
Oh, fuck. Way to make a first impression, Lotte.
I offered him my best professional nod of acknowledgment, hoping he wouldn’t count my ignorance against me. Unfortunately, since I’d started working for Isa, things had been a little too wild to Google images of my superiors. Although right now, I honestly would have given my eyeteeth to turn back time and do my research like a good little pup.
Gabler opened a side drawer on Isa’s desk and pulled out two folders. My heart hammered as I recognized what they were.
Blood-bound compacts.
I just hoped the superintendent general wouldn’t pull the rug from under my feet.
I fought to steady my breath as he opened the first of the two documents with calloused fingers.
“I have reviewed the agreement you and Senior Agent Vogt had drawn up. Regardless of her absence, I am prepared to honor your pledge into our service, as well as the carte blanche deal you demanded in exchange.” A hint of annoyance flashed briefly across his face. “I would have preferred to seal the agreement with your colleague in person, but I suppose you will stand your ground on keeping the Nightwraith away until the terms are active.”
He was right on that count.
It was part of my verbal agreement with Isa when we negotiated the terms. While I didn’t think Isa would break her promise of safety, I still didn’t feel comfortable bringing Lena anywhere near ICRA HQ until her blood touched the document, effectively sealing the contract.
“That’s correct, sir,” I forced myself to say, then wiped my sweaty hands against the fabric of my pants. “I will deliver her signature personally first thing tomorrow.”
“When you report for duty.”
I swallowed. “When I report for duty.”
Gabler slid the document outlining my own working relationship with ICRA across the table, then handed me a dagger. Masking how badly my hands trembled, I quickly sliced the blade across my left forearm and dipped a finger in the welling crimson.
I signed my name in blood on the designated spot on both copies, then gave over the knife, as well as the papers to the superintendent general. He looked them over, apparently finding everything in order since he dropped his own blood at the bottom. He slid one copy into an envelope and sealed it with wax, then handed the other to me.
“Welcome to ICRA, Agent Freundenberger.”
Thirty-Five
The snow had thawed under the warm sunlight and infused Olympiapark with color. Lena and I sat at a table in my favorite Biergarten by one of the small lakes—me basking in the lovely weather and enjoying my last afternoon of freedom; Lena reading through the papers that would mark the beginning of hers.
“You’re really not shitting me?” she asked, finally able to tear her gaze away from the contract I’d negotiated for her. “I’m pardoned of all my past crimes and basically have a license to kill?”
“As long as you don’t switch up your menu from criminals to innocents, yeah.” I grinned, then swallowed a mouthful of Paulaner.
“Lotte, this…” She shook her head. “It’s too much.”
I’d never seen Lena look so unguarded, so…hopeful. I could have sworn there was even a hint of tears in her eyes.
Which was unacceptable.
“Don’t get soft on me now, Bounty Hunting Queen. You deserve it. And”—my lips quirked up as I saluted the words with my pitcher—“you won’t have to keep to the shadows when it comes to hunting Kauer any longer. I know it’ll be an adjustment, but you can work with law enforcement agencies on this, all the while retaining your complete independence.”
“No loopholes?”
“None.”
She opened her mouth, hesitated, then splayed her fingers across the document. “You’re saying this contract can’t be revoked? Ever?”
“If you stick to your end, ICRA has no choice but to stick to theirs,” I said, conveying the gist of what Isa had explained to me when I marched into her office, still pissed off after my fight with Afanasiy and adamant to finally do something that would be worth a fuck. “Blood-bound agreements are rare since ICRA basically has to give up a lot of power once they’re sealed. They usually only offer them when their gain is that much greater than their loss. But under certain circumstances…” I shrugged. “I guess a determined pain-in-their-ass werewolf is enough to convince them to dole these beauties out.”
Especially if said individual was willing to bind herself to the Agency for ten years of her life, with an additional five optional should both parties wish it. But I left that part out.
My fate didn’t matter right now.
“Gabler already signed the copies. As soon as your blood touches the parchment and activates the inlaid magic,” I told Lena, “it’s done.”
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