by D. D. Miers
"Don't turn the tables on me." I hugged myself tightly again but stood my ground. "He told you what he did. His friend has got some kind of crazy psychic powers.”
“He’s a necromancer, not a psychic.”
“A what?”
“More commonly known as a warlock.”
“Thanks for the lesson.” I paced back and forth. “How did you not see this coming?"
Bastian took in a sharp breath, taking a few steps toward me. I could tell he wanted to comfort me, to touch me, but he didn't quite dare. "Ivy—"
"He threatened me," I said. "You heard him."
"I know," Bastian replied. "I know. And I'm going to ensure he can't make good on those threats. All right?”
I needed to get to my sisters. They’d never used their powers like I had. They weren’t ready to deal with the shitstorm headed our way. Why hadn’t I taught them to defend themselves? Because I’m stubborn and stupid.
“Haven't I always kept you safe?"
“Safe?” I giggled. Yes, I actually giggled like a six-year-old. “You’re the one who constantly puts me in danger.”
“You’re more than capable of taking care of yourself. You’ve proven that.”
“Not against someone like Dante.”
“You have to trust me, Ivy.”
“No, I did trust you and look where I am now.” I grabbed my sweatshirt from the chair and pulled it overhead before storming off.
“Where are you going?” he called out after me.
“Home!”
I wanted to believe everything would be okay. I’d be safe—we’d be safe—but I couldn't. Not after I’d seen the uncertainty in his eyes.
Chapter 9
Dante
I paced our campsite, breathing in the hot desert air, laced with acrid smoke. My nostrils burned with each inhale, but I welcomed the sting.
I’d never wanted to beat the shit out of something as badly as I did right now. Mad was an understatement. I felt sick. Repressed rage radiated through every muscle, to the point where I thought I’d explode or retch. The image of Ivy cozied up to the piece-of-shit Fae like a kitten craving milk had done a total mind screw on me.
I’d expected betrayal. Hell—I knew it was coming—and yet, the sight of it surprised me. Smug bastard. He didn’t seem shocked to see us burst through the door. Again, images flooded my mind. Ivy’s disheveled hair. Her swollen lips. Her breasts pressed against him like . . . like she wanted him. How had I almost slept with her?
Fuck it. It didn't matter. Nothing really mattered.
So then why was I so amped up? Because she got to you. One night and this woman had me by the balls. She’d reminded me what it was like to want. To need. To feel alive.
Such a depressing admission was enough to subdue my demon’s fury. I tipped my head left, then right, cracking the overly tight muscles. Sundown had dissolved into nightfall, transforming the dry, orange desert into a glittering dome flecked with stars. I stretched out by the campfire, resting my back against a boulder, and focused energy into my hands.
A miniscule black flame rose out of my palm, the tips flaring with orange as It waved and swirled. I could only manage to double its size before it disappeared again. I needed to get a hold on my emotions if I intended to regain my powers. Brax would be back any minute, and I’d already solved the first part of our problem. We needed leverage over Ivy, and I knew exactly how to get it.
Ivy would live and die for her sisters. They were her weak spot—and my way in. A dickhead move? Certainly, but I’d warned her about revealing herself. And after all, she was the one who’d chosen to become my enemy. The next step was finding the girls. I’d known the moment we had shown up, the three of them would get dropped into hiding by Bastian. The Fae knew what he had, and he had no intention of risking it.
But Brax was a master at finding what others wanted hidden. Between his abilities and my determination, there wasn’t a hurdle big enough to stop us.
Motorcycles roared in the distance. A few minutes later, Brax pulled up, followed by Damon, Kylo, and Blaze. I can count the number of people I trust on one hand, and these men were among them. Damon and Kylo were brothers. Rogue dragon shifters who’d never been the kind to take on a clan after their father’s sordid past. Blaze was the master vampire over northeast America. The only one of us we considered “legitimate.”
I rose from the dirt to greet them. Damon nodded toward me. “What’s up, man?” He rushed passed, headed toward the other side of the boulder. No doubt to take a piss.
Blaze smoothed his hair. “Dante.” His thick Italian accent had diminished since we’d last seen each other.
Kylo stormed over, a grin spread across his tattooed face before he pulled me into a bear hug. “It’s good to see ya, man!”
“All right. All right.” I coughed between protests, trying to regain the air Kylo’s grip had robbed me of. He may’ve been half my size, but his dragon blood left him with bone-crushing strength.
Kylo stepped back. “So, Brax here says you got yourself into some deep shit.”
Damon appeared at Kylo’s side and slapped his brother’s back. “And you’re surprised? This is Dante we’re talking about.”
“Not my fault.” I said
“That’s right. . .” Brax said. “This is the fault of a very hot succubus, who got the best of our good friend.” He leaned over Damon’s shoulder. “How long did it take you to realize she was succubus, Dante?”
“Less time than it would take me to kick your ass.”
Brax smiled. “Noted.” He turned toward the other men. “Shall we get started?”
We settled in around the fire, and Brax looked to me. “Would you like to do the honors, or—?”
“I’ll handle it. How much have you told them?”
“Most of it.“ He shrugged. “Except for the next step.”
I moved closer to the fire, letting the embers and smoke absorb into my demon. “There’s only one way to get my property back. We go for Ivy’s sisters.”
“Ivy?” Kylo asked
“The succubus,” Brax answered.
“Ah.”
It shouldn’t have bothered me, but I hated them calling her that. They meant to demean her by it.
Kylo sat forward. “Why fool around with some chicks? Why not just go for the Fae’s house? We could handle him. You’d already done it before—gotten into his house, I mean.”
“No.” Brax shook his head. “Getting in isn’t the problem. It’s surviving. He’s more powerful than you’d expect and he’s got a shifter army at his call.”
“If you can’t get out, burn the bitch down.” Kylo flipped a lighter in his hand. “Who cares, light the whole town up. If there’s no place to hide, we won’t have to look very hard.”
Brax looked to me. His eyes agreed with Kylo.
Sure, it would’ve been easier to just burn down the whole damn town, but even I had limits. Destroying a bunch of stupid and naïve, but potentially innocent people, to get what I wanted crossed those boundaries.
“No. We’re doing it my way.”
“You’re going through a hell of a lot of trouble to avoid such an option, Dante. Why?” Blaze asked.
The three other men looked to me, the same curious expressions on their faces.
“I’m not here to make a scene. I only want what’s mine.”
No one spoke. I’d surprised them.
Hell, I’d surprised myself, but truth was truth. But this wasn’t just about exposing myself. I didn’t want to expose Ivy. Getting into a territory war on top of the ley lines brought attention from all the wrong kind of supernaturals. Betrayal or not, she didn’t deserve the hell that would come her way.
Finally, Kylo said, “All right, man. You’re the boss.” He cracked his knuckles and cupped the back of his head. “You’ve got a plan then, I assume?”
I smiled. “You bet your ass I do.”
* * *
Three days had passed and our search conti
nued to come up empty. Ivy and her sisters had gone off the radar. Even their house had been warded. We couldn’t get in to gather any of their belongings for Brax, so tracking them required us to use more human methods. The entire town was on some kind of magical lockdown. Blaze, Kylo, and Damon presented their suggestion of burning Shelton Sea to a crisp, but I simply shrugged off the idea.
What was Bastian’s endgame? He knew I had no intention of leaving without what I’d came for. How long could this cat-and-mouse chase last? I sent out feelers, using my powers to try and sense the magical source, but nothing happened. Whatever Ivy had done to me, whatever she’d stolen, I wasn’t myself. Frustrated and furious, I passed out under the night sky and dreamed of smashing in Bastian's face.
A push-turned-full-on shove woke me the next morning. Brax hovered over me, sweat dripping down his brow, out of breath.
"I found something," he said.
I sat up and rubbed a hand over my face. " What?"
He caught his breath for a moment, then pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
"Why do you wear those?" I asked before he could answer my previous question.
"What?"
I nudged my chin, “Those.”
“My glasses?”
"Yeah, you don't really need them. And you could easily fix your shitty vision with magic, so why wear them?"
"I thought they gave me a refined look. Am I wrong?"
"You look like a pompous asshole."
He chuckled. “If you’re done acting like a pompous asshole, I can tell you my news. Unless you’d rather wait?” He started to walk away.
“Get back here.” I stood and dusted off my jeans. My muscles ached from too many hours pressed against the hard, uneven ground. Two centuries of living the high life had made me soft.
Brax leaned on the boulder beside me. “Okay, you remember the dude Blaze had mentioned day before yesterday? Leathery face? The human who seemed shifty?"
"Yeah, I thought nothing came of it?"
"Well, turns out, he’s not human, and he works for Bastian.”
“How’s that possible? I didn’t sense anything. Neither did you.”
“Barrier magic.”
I locked my arms across my chest. “Nobody has barrier magic.”
“Bastian does, and he’s good. No, not just good—really freaking awesome.” Brax smiled to himself as if he’d found a new respect for the man. “It’s pretty incredible.”
“I’m glad you’re so impressed.”
Brax laughed. “Oh, relax. You’re always my number one, sweetie.”
“Smartass.”
“Anyway, turns out Bastian’s ‘Leather Face’ is a ghoul.”
This place really was a mecca for the supes.
Brax continued. “He has a small ranch up near the mountains, and his entire property is filled with at least two dozen ghouls hidden behind barrier magic. I’m betting your girls are there.”
I hated ghouls. Not only were they strong, but they didn’t wound easily. The whole flesh-eating undead trait gave them the ability to take a massive amount of pain and regenerate body parts. One bite and you were screwed. If the infection didn’t turn you into one, it would most definitely kill you.
Not even immortals could avoid un-death.
“We need a diversion.”
“Exactly.” Brax nodded. “And there’s another problem. He’s got shifters guarding.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, but I’m thinking we split up and double the diversion.”
“Attack Bastian and the ghouls?”
“Kind of. Make him think we’re going straight after what’s ours, draw out his resources.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Damon and I take the girls, but we do it quietly. I’ll use his own magic against him. Set up a temporary illusion where everything’s copasetic.”
“I need to be there, too.”
Brax shook his head. “No way. man, you’ve got to be at Bastian’s. It’s the only way he’s going to buy into any of it. You go there, act like you’re gonna muscle him, and then attempt to bargain.”
He was right. Brax could break the barrier magic, and Damon would be able to sift in easily in his vampire shadow form. When you want to end a ghoul, you send in a vampire. And when you want to end a dozen ghouls, you send in a master vampire.
“All right. But I want to move on this quickly.”
“When?” Brax asked
“Tonight.”
“It’s a risk.” Brax shrugged. “They’re stronger at night.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, but a daytime assault, even in a small town like this, leaves too many potential witnesses.”
“You’re the boss.”
Brax called over Kylo, Blaze, and Damon to go over the new plan. We had eight hours to get everything in order and then tonight, we’d go for them.
Chapter 10
Ivy
“You know, I thought after a few days, I’d get used to the smell down here, but I can’t.” Violet tiptoed on a rack, attempting to reach the small cracked window near the ceiling, her voice unnaturally nasally.
I turned the page of the book in my lap. “Don’t be such a drama queen.”
Violet twisted her head to look at me. “It smells like old fruit and B.O.”
“It’s not bad,” Jade chimed in.
“This place makes our apartment look like the Ritz-Carlton.” Violet climbed off the shelf and dropped down onto the couch, crossing her scuffed Doc Martens at the heel. “How long exactly are we supposed to stay down here?”
After Dante’s threat, we’d been shuffled that very night to a property on the eastern edge of Shelton. A small home hidden up in Rayne Mountain. We weren’t chained or locked in a cell, but we definitely didn’t feel like guests.
“I don’t know.” I said.
“I’m not asking you, I’m asking Wrinkles.”
“Shhh!” Jade’s wide eyes looked over her shoulder to our ghoul babysitter.
I’d seen him only a few times around town. He mostly kept to himself and I’d never heard him speak. I honestly didn’t know if he even could.
Violet grabbed an old baseball off the floor and tossed it over her head. “How is it you get trips and money, and we get a cramped ten-by-ten cellar?”
“Trips and money? Seriously Vi? I went one time to Reno and the rest of it’s been within fifty miles of Shelton.” I snapped the book shut. “And as far as the money, you know exactly where it goes. Bills, groceries, savings . . . everything.”
I couldn’t blame Vi for being angry. We weren’t asked to come here we were told. I may have been used to following Bastian’s orders, but they weren’t.
“So what happens if this dude you pissed off doesn’t leave? What if he’s here for the next three months? We’re just gonna live in a dirty cellar?”
I sighed. “Look, I’ll do everything I can to get us out of here as soon as possible, but I’m not a miracle worker.”
Violet balled up a piece of old newspaper and threw it over the ghoul’s shoulder. “Wrinkles.”
“Stop calling him that,” Jade tried to whisper under her breath.
“He doesn’t even speak or understand.”
Jade came over and sat beside me, her eyes glancing to our stoic babysitter. “How do we know him and his ‘friends’ aren’t going to eat us?”
“Because I’d never let that happen.”
“Oh, yeah?” Violet yelled from across the room. “Are we going to get a bit more clarity on how you can protect us?”
I stood and circled the room. “Maybe.”
“Good.” She swung her feet over the sofa and slammed them onto the dusty concrete floor. “Because I’m sick and tired of the secrets.”
“So am I.”
“Okay, so tell us, tell me. What’s really going on? Who are we hiding from? And what does Bastian want with you, with us?”
“I—"
“I want to protect you, Ms. Crane. All of you.”
Bastian stood in the doorway, dressed in a black suit and gray tie. Where in the hell had he been? Or where was he going? There wasn’t a single place in Shelton, or near it, requiring anything even close to his formal attire. And I really doubted he’d gotten dressed up to visit us.
“Holy shit.”
It took me a minute to realize who had spoken. We’d never heard such words out of Jade’s mouth. If I hadn’t been there to see it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it.
The first time I saw Bastian, I’d had the same reaction. No doubt my sisters were taken aback when their mysterious monster turned out to be an exceptionally handsome man. Well, Fae, but you know what I mean.
“Ladies.” Bastian stepped farther into the room, his golden hair smoothed back in his usual style. He grabbed a folding chair, wiped the base with a towel, and sat. “I understand you’re upset. Confused. Perhaps even angry. Let me offer you my sincerest apologies. If there were any other way to keep you from harm, I would have chosen it.”
Violet raised her chin and leaned back against the wall. The “‘Fuck you” radiating in her stare was enough to unnerve even the most confident of men. But Bastian was so much more than a man, and neither of my sisters had the slightest clue of who they were dealing with. The look in Jade’s eyes had me worried. She didn’t appear fearful. If anything, she seemed curious about him—intrigued even.
Hell no. I had to put an end to this. Immediately.
I stepped intentionally between him and my sisters. “Why are you here?”
“I wanted to check on your well-being.”
Bullshit. He didn’t come all the way over here, dressed fancy, just to check on us. I crossed my arms and waited.
“And . . . I need to speak with you, privately.”
“What about?”
“I’d rather not involve your sisters.”
I glanced over my shoulder. Violet now sat beside Jade on the couch, both of them focused on Bastian and me.
“Outside?” I asked.
Bastian nodded and extended his arm out wide for me to lead the way. I turned back to my sisters. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”