Even the flat boots were light as I raised my legs. “What is this made from?”
“Leather, but a magically modified version. That’s a one-of-a-kind suit gracing your body. Try not to ruin it on your first outing, and you better love it, because I’ll burn it if you ask for changes.”
“I couldn’t have designed it better myself,” I said.
She scoffed. “Of course you couldn’t have. Now, my turn.” She tossed another handful of dust in the air and began spinning in circles faster than the eye could see. When she came back into view, my fairy friend was wearing the exact same outfit as me, but hers was silver and she was without shoes.
“No boots for you?” I asked while appraising her.
“Not today. I don’t plan on letting my feet touch the ground. Let’s go.”
Nixie landed on my shoulder, and we left Jaxon’s room. Mason and Blake were just headed out but froze when they saw me.
“Holy shit, Siren. Are you trying to stun your victims before you strike?” Mason murmured and received a punch to the back of the head from Blake.
“Don’t make Jaxon’s demon jealous. We don’t have time for that shit. Cara, be safe, and good on you for using all of your assets,” Blake said before pushing Mason the rest of the way out the door and disappearing.
Jaxon’s eyes flashed red, but he didn’t say anything as he continued his conversation with Deacon and Spencer.
“This is going to be so much fun,” Nixie said with glee, but I disagreed.
It would be the first true test of my full abilities, and it was against a mafia of supernatural beings that I was pretty sure wanted nothing more than to control our magical world.
There was literally nothing fun about that.
Chapter 12
Once Deacon had everything he needed and left, Jaxon, Spencer, Nixie, and I were ready as well, but because nothing was ever easy, we had a roadblock to deal with first.
“What do you want, Furball?” Jaxon snarled at Owen as he opened our door.
“We need to talk. In private,” Owen replied, glancing at me a little too long and further pissing off Jaxon.
“No. We have somewhere we need to be, so move the hell out of my way before I make you,” Jaxon snapped.
Owen’s chest rumbled, so I stepped between them. “I don’t have the patience for either of you. Owen, what is it about?”
“I can’t tell you anything other than you need to stay here. Whatever you guys are doing, it’s going to cause more harm than good. Just stay out of it.” Owen was practically pleading with us. Normally, he had an air of cockiness around him, but he seemed pretty serious. Though, he hadn’t given us any reason to trust him, so I was still cautious.
Jaxon pushed forward, but I held my place. “Listen, Owen. You may mean well, but you showed up here without much of a history. We don’t even know who brought you in. All I know is you’ve been asking about people you shouldn’t be. Why should we believe you?”
He reached out to me, but when Jaxon’s chest rumbled, Owen thought better of it. “I know you don’t have any reason to, but there’s a purpose for my being here and a reason I was nice to you. There is more going on and I’m just trying to keep people safe.”
“We can handle the situation ourselves, so stay the hell out of our way,” Jaxon growled.
“Can she, though? Are you really willing to risk what may happen to Cara if you don’t heed my warning?” Owen pressed.
I pushed him back, tired of his games. “I can handle myself, fuck you very much.” Nixie snickered beside me, likely because I’d stolen her line. “So, either tell us what you know or we’re leaving. Other lives depend on us right now, and we don’t have time for bullshit.”
Owen backed away. “I’m not permitted to tell you anything other than offer the warning. If you choose not to listen to it, I guess it’s not my problem.”
Gods, I wanted to punch him in his pretty face.
Jaxon urged me forward as Spencer led the way out. I glanced back at Owen before we turned the corner and he was still against the wall, arms crossed with furrowed brows. He caught my gaze and called out. “Be safe, Cara. We need you.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I asked, but Jaxon didn’t loosen his hold, so I couldn’t go back.
“He’s just trying to get in your head. Pretend we didn’t see him,” Spencer said while Jaxon was barely keeping his cool.
“I’m not sure I agree with all of that, but I know we can keep everyone safe. So, even if Owen was telling some semblance of the truth, at least we’ll find out exactly what’s going on and kick some ass at the same time,” Nixie added.
I wasn’t in agreeance with them and didn’t like it. There had always been something about Owen—even if most days I chose to ignore it—something caring and kind under the surface. During our first meeting, I’d mistaken it for him hitting on me, but maybe there had been more to the situation than we chose to see. Maybe he only had good intentions.
Though, if he couldn’t tell us the truth, then I agreed with Nixie. The risk was too great to make decisions merely off of warnings and emotions.
Spencer led us through an exit I’d never seen before. “Where are we going?” I asked.
“We told the warden we were leaving tomorrow morning. I’d rather him not know we decided to get a head start if we can avoid it,” he replied before opening a metal door leading outside.
Wind smacked us in the face, but the sun was out, so it wasn’t as blistering as it could have been. Even so, I shivered and raced ahead with the others to get in one of the SUVs.
Spencer glanced back at me and Nixie. “From all of things you’ve done since you got your wing back, I’m assuming you can start this without the keys?”
She grinned. “You bet your sweet ass I can.”
I was beginning to realize that nothing made Nixie happier than showing off her abilities. Even though it had hurt the feelings of the guys, I had no regrets about having left to see Greggor without them.
She flew to the dashboard and placed both hands down. “Where to?”
“We’re headed to Portsmouth, Virginia. It will probably take us about six or seven hours to get there without Mason,” Spencer answered.
Nixie peeked back at me and winked. She was enjoying the shit out of this. “Or seconds.” Then, with minimal effort, a portal opened up.
While Spencer and Jaxon gawked over her badassness, I was distracted with a note. A piece of paper that appeared from thin air with my name scrolled across it. Glancing up, I realized nobody else had seen it, so I quickly opened it, thinking it was something from Owen somehow.
Holy demon babies. I was wrong.
Cara, you’re in trouble. You need to come see me. I know who you are. — Your friendly neighborhood demon.
It could only be from Greggor, and he must have found something in my blood. Well, at least he was warning me instead of using the information against me. Unless it was a trap, and if I went to him, then things could go wrong really fast…
Damn it. I had no idea what to do, so instead of sharing it with the others, I shoved the note in one of the pockets on my pants and decided we could deal with it as a group when the mess with Zeke was over. Considering Mason and Blake had lives on the line, whatever Greggor had to say needed to wait.
“We’d probably be trading one evil for another, Brother,” Spencer said, but I’d missed the first part of the conversation.
“The two of you can shut your faces and keep Mason. I won’t be your pilot every time you need to go on a mission,” Nixie retorted, and the conversation began to make more sense as she flew back to me. “Are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah. Just a little nervous,” I mumbled.
She eyed me suspiciously but let the subject drop. The note was burning against my leg, but I couldn’t tell if it was mental or real. Either way, I ignored it and paid attention to the scenery of Virginia.
On my right was the Indian River, I assumed based upon the
café we’d just passed named after it, and on the left, along with out in front of us, there were plenty of buildings taking up the view.
A welcome sign came next, noting the population was over ninety-five thousand people. I wondered just how many of them were vampires. With a shudder, I figured probably too many.
It was nearing midnight, and I let out a yawn. Between all of the travel with Nixie and the excitement of the day, I wasn’t sure how I was going to survive the night staking out buildings, but Nixie could probably zap me with something if I started to nod off.
“So, there are only two places known to be frequented by the vampires around here. One is considerably more populated, so we’re going to start with the other. If we can avoid a fight tonight, we will,” Spencer said while driving through the mostly dark streets.
“Hey, tree-hugger. Quit being such a downer and let us have some fun,” Nixie replied and was in for a surprise.
A vine snaked out from Spencer’s seat and smacked Nixie right on her ass, causing her to squeal like a pig. “What the hell was that?”
“Call me tree-hugger one more time and you’ll get a second look.” Spencer smirked at her in the rear-view mirror, and I couldn’t stop laughing. He rarely used his dryad abilities, so it was nice to see him doing it in good fun.
Nixie kept on mumbling not very nice things about the Fabled Fuckers, which kept me entertained until I met Jaxon’s eyes. His gaze was blazing, red streaking through the grey like lightning. I reached a hand to him, placing it on his shoulder, and he turned toward me.
“You’ve done really well on the last few outings and with training, but the last time we were around the bloodsuckers, you got hurt. I need you to promise me you’ll be careful and remember your limits. None of us are invincible,” he said with heavy emotion I wasn’t used to from him.
“Everything is going to be fine. We’re going to find Zeke. Nixie is going to fairy dust the vamps, so they think they’re in Neverland, and we’ll go home.” I tried to remain positive, but Owen’s warning was still there, loudly reminding me that, most of the time, not everything was as it seemed.
Nixie chatted about how easy things would be from here on out while I paid closer attention to where we were. It wasn’t a warehouse district like I assumed—shady shit always seemed to go down in dingy metal buildings—but it was an older part of town with brick buildings averaging ten or more floors based on the window counts.
Spencer pulled over and Nixie snapped her fingers, turning off the SUV. “If things go wrong, Nixie needs to transport Cara far from here and we’ll meet back up at the prison. Nobody needs to be a hero today. Warden Gillian said we have five days, so even if tonight doesn’t go as planned, it’s not the end of the world.”
Nixie and Jaxon agreed with him, but I didn’t. There was no going back to the prison until we had Zeke in hand. I was done being controlled by the warden. That psychotic fae needed to die as soon as we knew which team he was on and what the ramifications of his death would be for us.
When we exited the vehicle, Jaxon stayed close and Nixie went invisible. “I’m going to fly ahead. Just act casual and I’ll find you wherever you end up,” she said once we couldn’t see her.
“Sure, because it’s totally casual to be walking around the streets after midnight in an area that has zero people out. I’m sure we won’t stand out at all,” I murmured, though nobody else seemed to think it would be a problem.
After five minutes of strolling down one side of the street and not seeing anything out of the ordinary, we crossed to the other. Nixie still wasn’t back, but I wasn’t too worried just yet.
Jaxon nodded. “Look at the door three buildings ahead.”
Doing as he suggested, I noticed a blood red door with a black engraving on it. When we got closer, I still didn’t understand what the logo was, but Jaxon tensed and walked a little faster, so it was safe to assume the building was related to the Luccovinos.
Once we were a good distance away, Jaxon whispered, “That’s the building we need inside of. Let’s circle around to the back alley and see if there is another entrance.”
“What about Nixie? What if we go inside and she can’t find us?” I asked quietly.
“She’ll be fine. The sooner we get in that building, the better,” Spencer replied, and I picked up speed, hoping he was correct.
Going around the back, there was a ten-foot-wide alley between the rows of buildings. Garbage littered the floor, and several oversized rats scurried behind an overflowing dumpster. All of the structures had metal fire escapes that included a small platform and steep stairs that led down to the alley. All but one went to the ground.
The last two levels of the fire escape to the vamp building were mangled and rusted as if they had been damaged on purpose. Likely to keep people out, which worked in this instance since we didn’t have Nixie with us.
“I’ll take the roof, and you two go through the back door.” Spencer tossed each of us an earpiece. “Keep communication to a minimum. With their hearing, we need to be even more cautious.”
I popped mine into my ear before calling on my well of power. My hands glowed and body vibrated beneath the bodysuit Nixie had made me, the material seeming to soak in the power I was drawing on. “Huh. That’s interesting,” I said.
“What?” Jaxon urged.
“The outfit feels like a conductor to my magic.” Stretching out my arms, I no longer felt tired, but energized and ready to put some bloodsuckers on their asses.
“Just be careful,” Jaxon hissed.
Spencer’s face tensed as he glanced between the two of us. “Should Cara come with me?”
“No, we’re going to be fine. Let’s move,” Jaxon snapped, clearly irritated, but I wasn’t sure why.
Before I could ask, I was distracted by the sight of Spencer’s arms turning into branches and growing long enough to reach the third story fire escape. “Be safe,” he called to us as he pulled himself up.
“That was awesome. I’m going to start calling him Groot,” I joked.
“I’d rather you not get stabbed in the chest, so try to refrain,” Jaxon drawled before turning serious and stepping toward the back door. “We won’t have long before they know we’re here. Stay right on my ass, and do not leave my sight. Do you understand?”
“Sure do. Now, move and don’t worry about me. Let’s just find Zeke and hope Nixie appears from thin air. She should have been back already.”
If that little bitch was off screwing with vamps and having fun while I was worried about her, I was going to kick her ass.
The door to the building was locked, so I stepped in front of Jaxon and placed my hand over the handle. Power zapped out of me and burned, something that hadn’t happened before, but the lock disengaged so I didn’t stress about it, especially when I felt Jaxon’s hands on me.
He grabbed the back of my neck and turned me toward him, smashing his lips into mine in an aggressive, but distracting kiss. “Don’t do anything reckless,” he grunted before moving in front of me and leading the way inside.
Depending on whose definition of reckless we were going by, I wasn’t sure I could agree with that, but we were sure as hell about to find out.
Chapter 13
As we crept into the building, everything around us was dark and quiet. Not what I had expected, considering it was nearing one in the morning and vampires were supposed to be creatures of the night. My skin tingled as the damp air hit us and something didn’t seem right.
“What if they’re not here?” I whispered, but Jaxon shushed me as he kept moving along.
I decided if he wasn’t going to answer me, I’d figure things out for myself. Slowing down, I took an extra minute to peek into rooms, but found nothing other than unmade beds, blood bags, and garbage. Vampires were filthy, disgusting creatures.
We came to another hallway, and Jaxon stopped, holding his hand up. I listened to our surroundings, but I couldn’t hear a thing, not even Spencer which was
probably a good thing. I couldn’t hear him, then maybe the bloodsuckers couldn’t either, but I still wanted to know for sure that he’d gotten in okay.
Tapping on my earpiece, I tried to reach out, but there was no connection. “Jaxon, we need to get out of here. Something is wrong.”
“No, if nobody is here, this is the perfect time to check the place out,” he replied quietly, moving around the corner.
My hand reached for the wall to test for magic; something wasn’t normal about this place, but I didn’t know what. The walls felt solid, but I still had my reservations. Whatever it was, I’d figure it out, preferably not too late.
Jaxon’s phone vibrated, and I glanced around him, but I couldn’t see the screen. “What the hell?” he grunted.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, moving beside him.
“Is your phone working? My screen went black as soon as I tried to view the message.”
Digging into the pocket of my pants, I pulled mine out with the same results. “We need to get out of here. There’s a heaviness in the air that’s making me nervous.”
Even though I’d been convinced we wouldn’t be going back to the prison without Zeke, I wasn’t going to be stupid about the situation.
“I think you’re right. We need to find Spencer, then wait for Mason and Blake to arrive,” Jaxon replied.
“And Nixie,” I reminded him, because there was no way in hell that I was leaving without her. I’d drug her into this mess and I’d make sure she got out of it. Whatever it was.
We turned back for the hallway we’d come from, but the metal door leading toward the alley was gone. The hallway continued for longer than was physically possible with the building structure, even if we’d taken a wrong turn.
“Flower, where did you go?” Jaxon snarled, but I was right next to him.
“What are you talking about?”
Capture (Elite Supernatural Trackers Book 2) Page 9