by D. N. Hoxa
I just hoped I was right when I told him I was okay.
Apparently, tubs were like illegal portals that enabled you to jump between places within a world. I’d never heard of them because there were only a handful left that the Guild hadn’t been able to destroy, and they were always hidden by complicated spells.
By the time we got back to the club and made our way up to the second floor, it was way past midnight. We found John and Zane already in the bathroom, but I was no longer surprised, seeing as how fast they moved. Faster than a car.
“Shut the door,” Damian said. “Moira, Emanuel, stay back and keep guard.”
I watched as John took something out of his pocket. It was a square, about two inches wide, made of light wood and iron. He moved to the back of the bathroom, across from the stalls. “This should be the place,” he said to no one in particular, and he set the wooden square down on the tiles. Then, he pressed what looked like a button in the middle and stepped back, lightning fast.
I wanted to ask what they were doing, but the square began to move. The iron pieces opened up on each side, and the wooden plaque they revealed rose half an inch over the tiles before it began to spin. A thin, scream-like sound filled the bathroom and it was coming straight from it. Nobody except Kit and me seemed to mind.
“What is that thing?”
“It’s a key. It opens up existing tubs and forces hidden magic to make itself known,” Damian said. He was a vampire—his hearing was probably a thousand times better than mine. I didn’t understand why that noise didn’t bother him.
“So why didn’t you use this in the first place?” I said, keeping my hands on my ears.
He turned to look at me with an amused smile stretching one corner of his lips. My heart skipped a tiny beat. Asshole.
“You never want to call forth magic if you don’t know exactly what it is,” Damian said, and his eyes lingered on mine for just a second too long.
Then, the sound stopped abruptly. The wooden square no longer spun. The tiles groaned as they were pulled to the side, and something came out from the wall. It was big and grey and round, and it screeched as it moved forward, as if somebody was pushing it from inside the wall.
Ten seconds later, I was looking at a round tub made of what looked like mud painted grey, the surface uneven and dirty. It was half filled with water already, but at least the water looked clean.
Malin had been right. I couldn’t wait to tell her that her foresight was better than the witches the Guild employed. They hadn’t mentioned water anywhere, and Malin had seen it. She would be so proud.
“You stay back here, okay?” I whispered to Kit. “Keep watch, and if you see Sonny, don’t let him move until I get back. And don’t—excuse me, what are you doing?”
Damian, John, and Zane had begun the process of stripping off their clothes. Right in front of me.
Damian turned to me as he pulled off his shirt, revealing a chest and stomach and arms that didn’t look very real. His skin was smooth and even, his muscles not overly visible, just there for me to see. His abs looked like fucking food—very delicious food—and his arms…ugh. They were just big enough—strong but soft, if the way his skin looked was anything to go by.
Aaaand I was staring.
Great. I turned my head to the side, and behold! More male vampire glory. John and Zane were shirtless, too. Don’t even ask.
“We’re only allowed three things in the tub. It can’t carry more,” Damian said, smiling sneakily, as if he knew he had me. Well, fuck, I couldn’t even hold it against him. I was practically drooling. I needed to get laid desperately. It’d been a while and it was showing.
“What do you mean, three things?” I asked just to say something.
“You’re only allowed to have three things on your person in order to use the tub. Otherwise it won’t transport you,” Damian repeated as he toed his shoes off, then took off his socks, too.
“Just get it over with already,” said Moira. I wanted to flip her off, but there were more pressing issues.
“Do I need to get undressed, too?” Because I wasn’t going to do that. Screw them. I wasn’t taking my clothes off.
“If you want to come. It’s okay if you don’t,” he said with a shrug.
My jaw hit the floor. “Of course I want to come. Sonny could be there!” It was the very reason I was even in that stupid bathroom in the first place.
“Three things—that’s all you can take,” Damian said and he moved to the tub with only his pants on, keeping his eyes on me, and stepped inside. If the water was cold, he gave no indication. He sat at the bottom of the tub, and John and Zane, wearing only their pants, joined him.
Cursing out loud—I didn’t care if they could hear—I began to take my clothes off. Fucking vampires. Fucking, shitty vampires!
I toed my sneakers off, then took off my jacket and left it by the sink. I only had a white tank top on, so I was going to keep that. I untied the sheaths of my daggers. Was it smart to go without weapons to wherever it was we were going?
No, it was not. I pulled out one dagger and proceeded to unfasten my jeans. Mortified. All of them watched me.
“A bit of privacy would be nice,” I said through gritted teeth, and they all turned their heads away. But I could still feel their eyes on me. I could feel his eyes on me.
Just get it over with, I said to myself and pulled off my jeans. Now, I was only in my underwear. In front of them. At least they were boxer panties—one of my favorite pair, purple with pink hearts printed on my ass. Keeping my head down, I made for the tub.
“Three items, little thief,” Damian said, speaking his nickname for me like a damn caress again.
“I only—” I stopped speaking when I realized that I didn’t have only three items on me. I had five—I’d completely forgotten about my bra. And my hair tie.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I left the dagger by the sink, took off the hair tie, and then my white bra. My hardened nipples peaked through my white top. Goddamn it, why were the tiles so fucking cold? I pulled my long hair in front of me for a little cover.
I was going to kill Sonny for this. I was going to murder him for making me take off my clothes in front of vampires. I walked to the tub again, and this time, Damian didn’t stop me. I slipped into the water—freezing cold water—and I sat down as fast as I could, wrapping my arms in front of me. I risked a glance up, and I found Damian staring at me. At least he wasn’t smiling. He looked like he was about to eat someone instead.
“What now?” I said to break the awkward silence. These people were not very friendly.
“Now, the key takes us to the last place this tub was used for,” John said while Damian kept watching me. My teeth chattered—the water was extremely cold. Before I could ask how long we’d have to wait, the water in the tub began to move, as if someone was moving the entire tub from one side to the other. Water splashed on one side, then the other.
“Is this normal?”
They didn’t get to answer. The slippery bottom of the tub disappeared. I dove into the ice-cold water as if some invisible force was pulling me down under the ground. Trying to breathe made it worse. I’d never been a good swimmer. Water freaked me out. Too much going on under the surface and you had so little control. But when I blinked my eyes, I saw light over me. Ignoring the panic that wanted me to try to breathe again, I swam up with all my strength. It took forever to break the surface, and when I could finally breathe again, I took in a mouthful of air, so happy I wanted to cry.
Until a hand clamped over my mouth and an arm wrapped around my waist.
My feet touched bottom—and it wasn’t slippery like it had been before. Damian was right behind me, holding me against his body, closing my mouth. I froze. I’d been making too much noise in my excitement, and I realized we didn’t know where we’d come.
A bathroom. Of course. This one was much different than the one we left behind, but it was pretty hard to concentrate on anything other than Damia
n’s body flat against mine. Not to mention that we were both half naked. And my body was reacting to him in a way that mortified me, where, instead of pushing away, I was actually holding onto his arms, perfectly comfortable.
Stupid body.
I tapped his arm because I didn’t dare turn to look at him for fear he’d see something in my eyes I didn’t want him to see. He let go of me, and I moved forward at the same time, desperate to get away.
This bathroom was smaller than the one we left. No stalls—just a sink, a toilet, and a white stand with drawers under a small window that was close to the ceiling. Round blue rugs were on the floor. I pulled myself out of the tub—this one white and oval shaped, and I stepped onto one of the rugs. There was no towel that I could see, and I needed one desperately to cover myself. My clothes were wet, and they’d become completely see through. I caught my reflection in the mirror as I went to the stand, and I might as well have been naked.
I found several towels in the drawers, and I took two—one to wrap around my body, and one to dry myself with. The vampires grabbed one each, but they didn’t bother to try to conceal their naked torsos. Damian held a finger in front of his lips when he stopped by the door. My dagger was in my hand. I was ready.
Chapter Nine
We were in someone’s house—and it seemed like we were on the second floor. The vampires went out first to search the place. The narrow hallway outside the bathroom was dimly lit with four doors in it. They’d checked them all, and when Damian came out of the last room, he brought with him a black men’s shirt.
He handed it to me.
I slipped into the bathroom and put it on immediately. It was perfect—two sizes too big for me, and it reached down to my thighs. It smelled clean, too. It covered my nipples and my lady parts, and it was much more comfortable than the towels, which I left on the bathroom floor.
There was a spiral stairway at the end of the hallway. The closer we got to it, the more we could hear voices. A TV was on downstairs, and some sort of machine was humming. It sounded like a dishwasher. Damian held up a finger, and John and Zane stayed back while he proceeded down the stairs. It was impossible to hear him move, even though his black jeans were soaking wet. If I closed my eyes, I’d never be able to tell that he was there.
When he was halfway down the stairs, he stopped, squatted down, and looked at whatever there was right under us.
The next heartbeat, he was in front of us, holding up three fingers. “There are three of them down there. We’ll take the man with the amulet around his neck first,” he whispered, so slowly I almost didn’t understand him.
The vampires nodded, and so did I.
Damian looked at me. “Wait for my signal,” he said, and moved for the stairs, turning into a blur.
Like hell. As soon as John and Zane went after him, I moved, too.
Something fell on the floor hard downstairs. I’d take that as my signal. I rushed down the stairs as voices erupted. Shouts chased away the silence, and I could no longer hear the TV over them.
When I reached the first floor, I saw them. At the end of the hallway, the door was open, showing part of a kitchen, and a man against the cabinets, holding his hands up while John tried to get to him but couldn’t. He looked about forty, a bit on the chubby side, with greasy hair stuck to the sides of his head, a white shirt and a blue robe over it. That, together with his fluffy grey slippers, said he hadn’t expected to be ambushed here tonight.
The air crackled with magic, so thick it was like trying to breathe through water all over again.
I entered the kitchen in time to see Damian charge at the man. He was in full vampire mode, fangs extended, eyes dark with raw hunger. Shivers washed down my back at the sight of him. Gone was the man who smiled like everything amused him. In his place was a monster, driven by hunger, and he had found his prey. He slammed into an invisible barrier—the ward that wizard was holding up. John moved back a step and charged again. He, too, hit the barrier, and then it was Damian’s turn. He got a foot closer to the man. The ward was getting weaker, even though the wizard kept on chanting the words of his spell.
I decided they were doing just fine. On the other side of the kitchen, there was a TV mounted on the wall, and two couches across from one another with a low, square coffee table in between. There, Zane was holding two men by the throat. They were young, the both of them, but Sonny wasn’t with them. Half-relieved, half-panicked, I tapped Zane on the shoulder. He, too, was in vampire mode, his eyes two spheres of darkness, his fangs extended, reaching almost down to his chin. He blinked and looked at me, as if he were seeing me for the first time.
“I’ll handle them. Go help your friends,” I said, waving behind me at the kitchen. Zane didn’t need any more persuading. He let go of the kids disappearing from my sight.
I jumped on the table as the two boys coughed for air, trying to breathe in. I stepped on the couch in between them and leaned down, holding my dagger under the blond guy’s chin, and grabbed the other by his ginger hair that reached down to the nape of his neck.
“Hello, boys. I’m looking for Sonny Montero. You wouldn’t happen to know where he is, would you?”
The one on the right tried to pry my hand from his hair, so I indulged him. I grabbed him by the throat instead. And squeezed. “I’m going to hurt you if you don’t tell me what I want to know.” I turned to the other, Blondie, who refrained from moving because of the tip of my dagger pressed against his neck. “Where is Sonny?”
“Fuck you, bitch,” his friend Ginger said and made an attempt to spit at me. I moved away at the last second, but some of it got caught in my hair. Ugh.
I pulled my hand back and slapped him with all my strength. A cry escaped him.
“Where is Sonny?”
Blondie got brave, pushed my hand away while I tried to grab his friend by the throat again, and made an attempt to get away. I spun around with my leg outstretched and hit him right in the chest, sending him flying back on the couch again. Then, I slammed the butt of my dagger to the side of his head. Ginger was trying to get away, too, so I pulled him back by the shirt, and as soon as he faced me, I slammed my forehead against his. Ouch, that hurt, but it hurt him more. He fell against the couch, blinking rapidly.
“I’m going to ask nicely, one more time: where is Sonny?”
“He’s where he wants to be. He’s with them,” Blondie said.
My heart skipped a long beat. They knew Sonny. I leaned closer to Blondie and put my foot against Ginger’s neck so he wouldn’t get away. Not an ideal position, but I’d rather they were sitting than standing up, so I had to make do.
“Tell me where he is, right now, or I’ll cut your balls off.” I pressed the tip of my dagger to the side of his neck, right under his earlobe.
He pulled his lips inside his mouth and shook his head, his baby blues filling with tears.
“Last chance, boy.” I pulled up my hand, aiming my dagger right at his eye so he could see it.
“I don’t know where he is,” Blondie said, his voice shaking. His friend Ginger was already feeling better, trying to push my foot away from him so he could get up. I pushed back and held him in place. “They haven’t told us where they’re staying, I swear!”
My blood was at a boiling point. I hit him on his temple with the butt of my dagger. He fell on the couch, unconscious. I turned to Ginger and showed him my dagger. Maybe he could be persuaded to talk.
“What about you? Do you wanna die tonight, or do you wanna tell me where Sonny is?”
“I don’t know!” he shouted at the top of his voice, making my ears whistle. “They don’t tell us where they are! They don’t tell us where they are! They don’t—” I slammed the butt of my dagger to the side of his head but not as hard as I had with Blondie.
They weren’t going to talk. Fine. I looked up to see the vampires staring at me. The wizard they’d been trying to get was sitting on a chair, with his head down, motionless. He was unconscious—I could see h
is chest moving slowly as he breathed, just like Blondie here. The vampires were done. Now they were just waiting for me.
I cleared my throat. “Damian, do you mind doing your thing on this guy? He’s not telling me anything.”
A sneaky smile stretched his full lips. I blinked and he was in front of me, on the other side of the couch. I don’t know if it was the thrill of the fight or that he was naked or that I was wet—from the tub, obviously—but I kinda wanted to slam him against the floor.
“With pleasure,” he said and lowered his head. A weak cry escaped from Ginger’s lips, his eyes wide as he stared at the ceiling. I looked away, feeling guilty as hell for putting the kid through this, but I had no other choice. I needed to find Sonny—preferably tonight.
Damian raised his head up again, not two seconds later. That was fast. With me, it had lasts hours! Or so it had felt.
“He doesn’t know,” Damian said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“What?”
“He was telling the truth,” he said, his chest moving up and down, as if he were breathing heavily. “Your brother was here two nights ago, but tonight, they parted ways before this guy went to Three Hills, and he doesn’t know where your brother was going.” Two nights ago, Sonny was supposed to be out with Travis. It wasn’t a nice feeling to find out you’d been lied to—and I hadn’t suspected a single thing.
Shit. “Now what?”
Damian pointed at the man sitting on the chair. “Now, we interrogate him.”
“Can’t you just bite him?” I was getting very comfortable with this whole biting thing.
“Not while he’s unconscious. The mind needs to be active for me to see into it,” he said. “Come on, let’s go. Zane and John will take care of the boys.”
Blondie was still unconscious, and Ginger was holding onto his neck, squeezing his eyes shut. He no longer tried to get up.