3 Minutes to Midnight: Urban Fantasy Midnight Trilogy Book 1

by L. M Hatchell

  He saw recognition flash across her face as her eyes met his. The connection sent a jolt through him, and he couldn’t look away. For what seemed like an eternity, her gaze held his. Eventually she turned away and went back to her work. Tension was evident in the stiff set of her shoulders as she busied herself behind the bar.

  Ethan found himself fascinated by the sinuous flow of her movements and wondered again what mix of hybrid she was. At a quick glance, he would have dismissed her as a vamp, but her signature was too rich and too full of life.

  The more he watched her, the more confused he became. What was she doing working in such a quaint pub in a small suburb? It didn’t exactly reek of world-domination ambitions. He hadn’t even come across another Supe the whole time he’d been in the area. It was almost like a Lore blackout zone.

  The sudden blaring of music from the jukebox broke Ethan out of his reverie. A moment later he found his view of the bar obscured as the group of tourists enthusiastically took to the small dancefloor. Downing his pint, he stood quickly from the table. That was his cue to get back to business. With one last glance in her direction, he slipped out the door and back into the cold January night to wait.

  ***

  Phoenix put all of her focus into emptying the bins behind the bar. She was more shaken than she’d like to admit by the pull she felt from Mr. Tall, Dark, and Inconvenient. Her pulse thrummed in her ears. An uncomfortable nervousness flitted in her stomach, making her fidgety.

  Why the hell is he here?

  She’d left the vampire lair behind four years ago, and with it, the Lore and all its bullshit. In that time, she’d largely managed to avoid the hundreds of Supes that called Dublin home. She’d mostly lived a nice, normal life. So why was one landing on her doorstep now? And why was he looking so interested in her?

  “Hey –”

  Phoenix jumped a mile. The cute tourist from earlier was standing to the side of the bar, hands up in surrender. It took a second for her to realise she’d stepped back into a fighting stance on reflex. Heat crept up her cheeks as she forced herself to relax back into a normal posture.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you … again.” He flashed his dimple as he lowered his hands and gestured towards the bags at her feet. “I thought you might like a hand?”

  Looking at the four bulging black bags, she was about to dismiss his offer as unnecessary. After all, she could probably lift him and the bags without breaking a sweat. But then the soft thud of his heartbeat echoed in her ears.

  Her breath caught sharply. She found herself taking a step back, her mouth watering at the mere thought of the rich, coppery liquid. She stopped that thought in its tracks. There was still the problem of the other Supe. No way could she feed with him around.

  A sideways glance towards the stage found her an empty table, complete with an empty pint glass. Surprised, she turned to scan the pub. No sign.

  Is he gone?

  His signature still tingled over her skin, but faint, like a scent that lingered after a person had left the room. A sigh of relief escaped her lips, and for the first time since he’d come in, Phoenix’s heart rate began to calm.

  A loud clearing of the throat drew her attention back to the cute tourist that was now starting to fidget awkwardly. “I’ll just leave you to it, will I?”

  Phoenix glanced around the pub once more. The Supe definitely seemed to be gone. Abi had the floor covered, and it was pretty quiet; she wouldn’t notice if Phoenix snuck out for a quick break. Maybe just a little sip to soothe her nerves …

  “I’d love some help.” She gave him the first genuine smile of the night as she handed him two bags and followed him out the side exit.

  ***

  His eyes rolled back when Phoenix slid her fangs gently out of his neck. A look of ecstasy relaxed the lines of his face as he leaned against the wall, dazed and weak from blood loss. He’d have one hell of a hangover tomorrow, but at least she wouldn’t have to worry about him remembering anything. The alcohol and blood loss combination nicely made up for her inability to wipe memories.

  Pressing against the solid angles of his chest, she licked slowly over the two small puncture wounds. The natural healing property of her saliva was already beginning to remove all trace of the feeding. The masculine groan and obvious feel of his arousal against her hip made her smile.

  Glad you had fun too.

  She nudged him back through the emergency exit and closed the door so she could have a minute to tidy herself up. It was only then that she noticed the unusual quiet of the night and the rush of air as something moved unnaturally fast behind her.

  Before she could react, a large, solid form hit her from behind and pinned her to the wall. A surprised yelp slipped from her lips, and for a moment, all of the self-defence training her father had taught her left her mind completely.

  A large hand covered her mouth as a deep voice growled low in her ear, “Don’t scream.”

  Don’t scream? Fuck that!

  Phoenix began struggling in earnest. She should have been strong enough – she was half vamp, dammit – but she wasn’t. No matter how hard she tried, she remained wedged between a solid wall of muscle and the rough brick wall. Anger and frustration threatened to overwhelm her at the sense of weakness, but she fought to push it back down.

  The grip holding her lessened for the briefest moment as her attacker removed his hand from her mouth and turned her to face him. She had only a second to recognise the Supe from the bar before a glint of metal drew her attention to a large hunting knife tucked into his belt.

  Fear spiked through her as the dim light of the moon flashed off the razor-sharp blade. Her vision blurred and everything went black. When it cleared, she found the Supe from the bar sprawled on the ground looking stunned, and the knife lying far out of reach.

  Before she could figure out what had happened, or what to do next, she heard a sound that caused her blood to freeze in her veins.

  “Fifi, what in God’s name are you doing out here making all that racket?”

  Ethan watched from his horizontal position on the ground as the human bartender stuck her head out the emergency exit. The shadows hid him from sight, but he remained completely still so as not to attract her attention.

  His head was reeling from the blinding flash of light that the hybrid – Fifi? Really? – had emitted. The force had thrown him well clear of her and blobs of light now floated in front of his eyes as if he’d looked directly at the sun.

  At least that clarified the other half of her nature.

  The thought of her recent feeding rose unbidden to Ethan’s mind, causing blood to rush to places that made his current position even more uncomfortable. He should’ve been disgusted watching her, but all he could remember was the look of ecstasy on the guy’s face. The memory caused a low growl from his wolf and he forced the image from his mind.

  Cleary she was half vamp, but as for the rest, there was only one power he knew of like the one she’d used, and only one species with that power. Fae.

  But it was night, and it took the strongest of the elemental fae to call on the sun at night. She’d looked as shocked by the power as he was. None of this made sense.

  “Oh, I uh tripped over a stupid cat and stubbed my toe. Go inside. I got this.”

  Her nervous babbling drew his attention back to the scene before him. The hybrid stood with her back to him – brave move – blocking him further from sight. Her shoulders were stiff and the tension was pronounced enough that he could see the lines of taut muscle through her tight, black top. The scent of fear oozed from her, stronger now than it had been a moment ago.

  “Are you sure you don’t need help?” the human asked, her eyebrows raised.

  “No, no, I’m good. Go inside before you get cold.”

  The hybrid urged the other girl through the door and quickly closed it behind her. She slumped against the metal, her chest rising and falling in deep hypnotic movements as she turned to eye him wa
rily.

  Ethan knew that he’d gone the wrong way about this if he was hoping for her cooperation, but he still needed answers. He’d just have to make the most of the situation.

  “You seem awfully worried about the human for someone who’s trying to kill them all.” He kept his tone casual and watched her reaction closely for the slightest tick or flinch. Just two old pals talking about getting rid of that pesky human race.

  The look of wariness on her face turned to confusion, swiftly followed by anger. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Ethan shifted himself to a seated position, moving his back to the wall. Her confusion appeared genuine; the indignation most definitely was.

  “You’re not really going to tell me you know nothing about the prophecy are you?”

  She looked at him blankly.

  “You know,” he prompted, “the one where you bring about the end of humanity.”

  “Are you insane?” Anger gave way to a look of utter disbelief as she gaped at him. “Who the hell are you?”

  “You are the hybrid, aren’t you?”

  The quick change of direction caused a shift in her demeanour so slight he would’ve missed it if he’d blinked.

  “It’s okay, you don’t have to answer that. I already know you are.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “Well I was hoping we could have a chat, but I’ll settle for your name to start. Tell me it’s not really Fifi?”

  Lucky for him, shooting the sun from your eyes wasn’t a real power, because with the glare now fixed on him, he was pretty sure he’d be burned to a crisp.

  “No, it’s not Fifi,” she said through gritted teeth.

  He waited, but no other name was forthcoming.

  Fifi it is.

  “So, Fifi, about this prophecy –”

  “How many times do I need to tell you? I don’t know anything about a goddamn prophecy! All I want is to be left alone.”

  “That makes two of us.” His laugh held no trace of humour. “But somehow it seems to have become my problem. And from what I hear, you’re the one I need to talk to.”

  “Well, I’ve no intention of hurting anyone, so your information is obviously wrong.” She pushed away from the door, standing straight and defiant.

  Ethan looked at her, then down at himself and raised one eyebrow.

  “Well you deserved it. You attacked me first.” She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

  Ethan felt his lips quirk at the gesture. This girl fascinated him.

  Nothing about her reactions felt forced or faked, and all of his instincts were telling him she was being truthful. At least in her mind. If she was to be responsible for ending humanity, he didn’t believe it would be intentional. But that didn’t rule out unintentional, so where did that leave them?

  “Okay, let’s say you really don’t know anything about this prophecy.” Ethan leaned forward and rested his forearms loosely on bent knees. “Do you know of any other hybrids like you?”

  For a moment he thought she would refuse to answer, but she sighed and shook her head mutely.

  “I don’t either.” He nodded in acknowledgement of her honesty. “So, let’s – for argument’s sake – assume you’re the hybrid in the prophecy. How might you be involved in bringing about the end of humanity?”

  Her jaw dropped and she stared at him dumbfounded for a minute before speaking. “Are you seriously asking me that? What the hell does this so-called prophecy say anyway?”

  “Well, the details are a bit vague at the moment –”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Her voice reached glass-shattering pitches as she picked up one of the bags of rubbish that had been discarded in favour of feeding and flung it at him.

  “You came here to kill me because of some vague, bullshit prophecy you don’t even know the details of?”

  Ethan held his hands up, palms forward, as he struggled to stand. He was way too much of a sitting duck for flying projectiles if he stayed on the ground.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa! I didn’t come here to kill you.”

  Her hand froze as it reached for the next bag of rubbish and she gaped at him. Opening and closing her mouth repeatedly as if she couldn’t form the words, she jabbed her finger towards the ground to the left of him.

  He glanced quickly to where she pointed and realisation dawned on him when he caught sight of his hunting knife glinting in the moonlight.

  “Oh, that.” He grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, I kind of forgot that was there. I always carry it on me.”

  “What, like a safety blanket?” She snorted her disbelief.

  “Things are bad out there.” Ethan grew serious. For some inexplicable reason, he needed her to understand.

  “What do you expect me to do about it?”

  He blew out a breath. How the hell could he get through to her?

  “I know you don’t want to hear this, and I know I’ve gone about this the wrong way, but when I say things are bad, I mean they’re really bad.”

  He ran his fingers through his hair, forcing it out of his eyes. “Innocent people are dying, and I can’t stop it. I don’t know how you fit into all this, but you do. Help me figure it out … please.”

  She shook her head and took a step back until she was wedged more firmly against the door. “No way. I’m not getting dragged into this. You people wanted nothing to do with me, so I want nothing to do with you people.”

  With that she grabbed the handle of the door, her forearm tensed to tug it open.

  “But it’s not us that will suffer, is it? It’s the humans. It’s people like your friend inside.”

  She hesitated, and for a minute, Ethan felt hopeful, but then she pulled the door open and rushed inside, leaving him with a resounding thud as the door closed behind her.

  Ethan blew out the breath he didn’t realise he was holding and bent to pick up his knife.

  That really went to plan, didn’t it?

  ***

  Phoenix was still shaking as the door slammed behind her.

  How dare he!

  Coming to her job, attacking her, accusing her of trying to hurt people, and then having the nerve to ask for her help. Where the hell did he get off?

  “I hope you gave that cat a piece of your mind.”

  Phoenix jumped as Abi walked towards her, throwing a towel in her direction, her blue eyes twinkling. She looked at the towel she was now holding and smiled weakly at her friend.

  “Hey, you okay?” Abi’s smile quickly faded as concern caused her forehead to crease.

  “I’m fine, just a bit of a headache.”

  “Well look, the bar is quiet, why don’t you head upstairs and I can finish down here?” Abi began gathering the empty glasses from tables around her, obviously satisfied the matter was settled.

  It was only then that Phoenix noticed the lack of music, the jukebox sitting silently in the corner. Most of the customers had gone home for the night and the last few stragglers, the tourists, were preparing themselves to head out into the cold night beyond. The cute guy smiled sleepily and waved as he followed his friends out the door.

  She looked back in Abi’s direction and her throat constricted. If anything had happened to Abi tonight, Phoenix wasn’t sure what she’d have done.

  But if what the Supe said was true, then something could happen to her. And it would be all her fault.

  And what about everyone else? The people she saw every day? The regulars who would sit at the bar laughing and joking with them while she and Abi worked through the night? Dear old Betty who always had a tale to tell when she came in to help them clean? The other bar staff who helped out when they were busy?

  Innocent people are dying. His words repeated in her head. She wanted to cover her ears so she wouldn’t continue to hear them.

  What could she do? She didn’t know anything about a so-called prophecy, never mind how to stop it. How could she be involved in something she knew noth
ing about? Sure, maybe he was just some unhinged lunatic, and it was pure coincidence that he happened to land on her doorstep. But could she really take that chance? Could she hope everything he said was rubbish and nothing came of it? Hope the people she cared about weren’t hurt?

  “Abi?” Phoenix heard her voice crack slightly as she called out. “How about you choose the movie tonight?”

  Abi smiled at her and made a shooing motion with her hands.

  Still clutching the towel, Phoenix headed to the back of the bar and made her way upstairs. Maybe Darius could do some digging if she asked him. After all, he was the head of the most powerful vampire clan in Ireland, and a Witness on the Council. Surely if something was going on, he’d know about it.

  Plus, she’d been avoiding his calls since their dinner on Thursday. If she didn’t make contact soon, he’d land on her doorstep too.

  Resolving to call him tomorrow, she threw on an oversized hoody and headed into the sitting room. She grabbed the soft, blue throw off the back of the sofa and wrapped it tightly around herself, attempting in vain to stop the shivers while she waited for Abi.

  “Where the hell have you been?”

  Ethan shifted his gaze from his city view to the icy blue eyes glaring at him from the doorway and grinned. “What’s wrong, Shade? You miss me?”

  “Dammit, man. We didn’t know what the hell happened to you.” Shade’s glare softened only fractionally.

  “Yeah, Ethan. Considering how much you’ve needed saving lately, you could’ve been getting your ass whooped somewhere.” Nate grinned as he pushed past Shade into the large open-plan apartment, Lily and Annabelle hot on his heels.

  Dragging himself up from the nice comfortable groove he’d made in the sofa, Ethan sighed and made a mental note to start locking his door. He walked to the large fridge and pulled out a beer, two cans of coke, and a cool bag of O negative fresh from the blood bank, then set the items onto the marble island where the others were now sitting.