Unleashed (Unmemorable Series Book 2)

by A. P. Jensen

  He raised a brow. “You really think I don’t know the difference between what we have and what I’ve had with other women?”

  She ignored that and asked, “How long was your ‘serious’ relationship?”

  He didn’t pull away or look at her in horror. If anything, he seemed amused by her interrogation.

  “About six months.”

  She considered that. “That wasn’t too long.”

  “No.”

  He didn’t elaborate and she suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Men. Getting information from them was like trying to clean a buildup of hard water on glass. “What happened?”

  “We didn’t work out.”

  Raven shoved away from Cain and got out of bed.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You’re hopeless.”

  “What else do you want to know?” he asked as she pulled on her robe.

  “Why did you break up?”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “If I broke up with someone, wouldn’t you ask me why I broke up with him?” she asked, running her hands through tangled hair.

  “But you haven’t been with anyone but me.”

  Sometimes, she fantasized about smothering him in his sleep. Men were so damn logical. She needed coffee before she beat the answers out of him. Was he playing stupid on purpose? She left the bedroom and ignored his chuckle as she walked downstairs.

  There were high windows that let in morning light. She walked into the kitchen and was about to open a cabinet when she heard a muffled footfall. She turned toward the door that led into the backyard and saw the doorknob turn. She glanced at the alarm unit Cain set last night and saw wires sticking out from the bottom. She was about to call out for Cain when someone grabbed her from behind. Her mind wiped clean and her body slid into survival mode.

  Raven stomped her assailant’s foot with her heel and elbowed him in the stomach with all her might. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the door to the backyard open and a dark figure stepped into the house. Raven grabbed a knife out of a wooden block and let it fly. She didn’t wait to see if the blade hit her target before she grabbed two more knives.

  The man that walked in from the backyard was Luester. He held the knife an inch away from his face and stared at her with hard eyes. Bam Bam, Happy and Harvard stood behind Luester with unreadable expressions. She looked down at her assailant and scowled. Jackie lay on the floor, clutching his stomach. She let out a long breath to control the adrenaline pumping through her veins and twirled the steak knife through her fingers.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” she asked.

  Jackie’s eyes flashed a moment before he kicked her hand. One of the knives went flying and he leapt to his feet. Before he could grab her, she kicked his knee and he went down hard. She moved in for the kill and placed the blade against a vein on his throat. He didn’t even breathe.

  “Move and you’re going to need a trip to the hospital,” she said.

  Jackie’s eyes flicked over her shoulder. Obviously, he didn’t like being bested by a girl when they had an audience. She didn’t care. After yesterday, did they think she’d react differently?

  “You break in and expect me to play nice?” she snapped.

  She nicked him to make her point and muttered under her breath as Jackie complained about bloodstains on his new shirt. She dug through the cabinets and wasn’t surprised to find pots, pans, utensils, colanders and even a set of cookie cutters. Cain thought of everything. She found coffee and a clean mug. She tossed the knife in the sink and rinsed off Jackie’s blood before she got the coffee going.

  None of the Unmemorables spoke as she stood with her back to them and urged the coffee to drip faster. She took a long sip from her mug before she turned to the assembly of men. She didn’t need to look up to know Cain stood at the top of the steps. He saw the whole thing and didn’t interfere. Now that she had a cup of coffee, she was amused by the faint horror on some of the Unmemorables’ faces.

  “How did you know where I was?” she asked.

  “The pendant has a tracking device in it,” Harvard said.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “It doesn’t ward off evil?”

  He held up his hands. “No, it wards off evil, but it has more than one use.”

  “And if I didn’t want to be found by you assholes?” she asked and took another sip of coffee.

  “You said you’d help,” Happy interjected.

  “That doesn’t mean you can barge in whenever the fuck you feel like it. How would you like it if I jumped you first thing in the morning?”

  Bam Bam grinned and opened his mouth. Before he could utter a word, she pointed a finger at him in warning.

  “No.”

  Bam Bam rolled his eyes. “You’re bitchy this morning.”

  “I don’t know anyone who likes to be accosted first thing in the morning. Do it again and you’ll see what other tricks I have,” she said with a tight smile.

  “Shit, you went to dagger school or something?” Happy asked.

  “You forget that she has the same qualities as you,” Cain said as he came down the stairs. “You think because she’s a girl that she doesn’t know how to fight. You should remember that.”

  “You could have warned us that she’s psychotic,” Jackie grouched.

  “Why would I do that?”

  Cain walked over to her, took the mug from her and sipped. He put his arm around her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his lips twitch. He was amused that she bested her brother and cousins.

  “I only nicked you, Jackie,” she said. “You break in, you pay the consequences. By the way, how did you get in?”

  Jackie glanced at Cain and cleared his throat. “You know it’s a talent of mine. I told you that.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “You said you borrowed Cain’s power, but you’re still using it. How?”

  Jackie sidled toward Luester who didn’t move his eyes from Raven. She had the impression Luester’s near death experience finally convinced him that she was in the same boat as them. Rather than his normal surly self, Luester looked thoughtful as he fingered the knife that nearly did him in.

  “Jackie?” she prompted when he didn’t show signs of coughing up his secrets. She looked at Luester with raised brows. “Well?”

  Luester crossed his arms and glanced at Jackie before he said, “Jackie can ingest someone’s blood and inherit their talent. We took a couple pints from Cain when we jumped him in New Orleans a couple years ago.” Luester met Cain’s eyes. “You nearly killed Jackie and Bam Bam. We had to tranquilize you.”

  She gripped Cain’s wrist when he shifted beside her. “You can take on someone else’s power by drinking their blood?”

  “Jackie’s anemic, so he has to take injections daily. That’s how he found out he can absorb others power. None of us can do what he does.”

  “You’re a vampire?”

  Jackie snorted. “I take injections. I don’t go around biting people like Angel. I can’t afford to lose blood, so don’t cut me.”

  “Don’t jump me and it’s a deal.”

  “Fine.”

  “What happened to the woman Angel shot?” she asked.

  “She’s dead,” Happy said without inflection.

  “What’s her name? Did she have family?”

  “We took care of it.”

  She realized he wasn’t going to give her more than that. The woman’s glassy eyes jolted her awake several times last night. Could she have done something to save that woman?

  “I’ve been thinking about what happened yesterday,” Luester said.

  “What about it?” Cain asked.

  Luester looked at Raven. “Before yesterday, how long has it been since Angel’s had your blood?”

  She ran her hand over her neck even though the bite was long gone. She could still feel the wet drip of blood sliding over her skin and Angel’s teeth tearing through her skin. She shuddered and calculated. “The c
asino fire happened nine days ago. Why?”

  Jackie folded his arms across his chest and looked at Cain. “How often do you replace her hair on your wrist?”

  Cain’s eyes were calculating and he was extremely tense. “I replace the braid once a week but I thread new strands through it every other day just in case.”

  Raven stared at Cain as she asked, “What are you getting at, Jackie?”

  “I’m trying to figure out how long they can remember us,” Jackie said.

  “I think that’s why Angel came after us on the Strip,” Raven said thoughtfully. “He’s not sure how long it lasts either.”

  “Nine days is a long time,” Jackie said.

  “We should run some tests later,” Luester said in a quiet voice, staring down at the knife in his hands.

  The doorbell went off, jolting her.

  “That’s probably Ace,” Harvard said and went to answer the door as if he owned the joint.

  Raven pushed past them and sat on the couch with her coffee. She was a solitary person by nature and now she couldn’t have a quiet, peaceful moment to save her life. She was just about to relax when she noticed that Ace had a leash in his hand. At the end of it was the biggest cat she’d ever seen. It had to be over thirty pounds. Its tail swished as it eyed all of them like they were lunch.

  “What the hell is that?” Bam Bam shouted and backed away.

  “I said get a cat, not a panther!” Harvard said.

  Ace shrugged. “I went to the animal shelter and they were gonna put him down.”

  “Because he’s freakishly big!”

  Ace frowned at all of them. “He’s a bit bigger than the average cat. So what?”

  Raven was in the middle of the most intense staring contest of her life. The cat’s yellow eyes were fixed on her and she felt like it was getting ready to pounce.

  “Ace?” she asked, trying to keep her cool. “Has it had shots?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Just checking.”

  “Why is there a cat in my house?” Cain asked as he leaned against the counter.

  “Black cats absorb evil,” Harvard said.

  “So?”

  “So, if the curse breaks, I’m hoping the cat will absorb the leftover crap.”

  “That thing can’t stay here!” Raven protested and stiffened when the cat tugged on the leash and tried to come toward her.

  “You don’t like cats?” Ace asked.

  “I don’t like cats that are bigger than dogs!” She’d always thought about getting a pet, but she never pictured getting something this large. She looked toward Cain for help. “This is crazy, right?”

  Cain shrugged. “It’s worth a try.”

  Raven grit her teeth as Ace beamed and let the demon loose. The cat padded over to Raven who resisted the urge to make a run for it. When the cat jumped onto her lap its claws pierced through her robe to skin. Damn, this thing was closer to forty pounds. Luester and Jackie were enjoying her discomfort. She’d get them back later.

  “What are we supposed to do with it when the experiment is over?” she asked Harvard in a strained voice.

  Harvard was flipping through the pages of his notebook and wasn’t really paying attention to her. “You can do whatever you want with it.”

  “Since you geniuses bought a cat, did you buy stuff for it?” she asked.

  “Like what?” Ace asked.

  “Food.”

  “Oh.”

  She opened her mouth to yell at him, but the cat chose that moment to look up at her. Once again, they did that weird staring thing and she wasn’t sure if the cat liked her or was trying to figure out if she was a scratching post.

  “What is it?” she asked in a strained voice.

  “I swear it’s not a panther,” Ace said.

  “Sex.”

  “Can’t you and Cain wait until we leave?”

  “Can I watch?” Bam Bam leered.

  Cain turned his head to look at Bam Bam who took a hasty step back and put the other guys between them.

  She took a deep breath to calm herself. “What sex is the cat?”

  “Oh. Male.”

  Of course he was. As if she didn’t have enough men around.

  “Shoo,” she said.

  The cat didn’t budge. Sitting on her lap as it was, the damn beast and her were on the same eye level. His pointy ears were pricked straight up and his tail twitched restlessly.

  “Can somebody get this thing off of me?” she hissed.

  None of the Unmemorables moved. She wasn’t sure if it was because they were scared or pissed that she ruined their grand entry. She saw Bam Bam reenacting the whole thing to Ace who shot her a measuring glance. Great. Cain came over and scooped up the cat. She immediately got up and rushed upstairs to change. Sitting around in her robe with her brother and cousins around didn’t appeal to her.

  When she came back downstairs, Bam Bam was lighting lavender and jasmine incense. He walked around the house with a white feather and wafted smoke into every nook and cranny while Jackie sprinkled a thin row of salt in front of the doorways. She froze in her tracks when the cat trotted over, sat in front of her and looked up.

  “Is he hungry or something?” she asked.

  “I don’t think so. He ate half of my breakfast,” Ace said.

  She walked around the cat and watched Harvard light candles while the others pushed the furniture off to the side to clear a space in the middle of the living room. Cain sat on a stool, watching the Unmemorables do the preparations for the latest experiment.

  “Okay, Raven, let’s do this,” Ace said eagerly and rubbed his hands together and blew on them as if he was getting ready to toss dice.

  She shot Cain a suspicious look before she walked into the circle of Unmemorables. “What are we doing?”

  “This is a complicated spell,” Harvard said in a voice filled with anticipation. “We had to go out of our way to get all the ingredients.”

  The guys snickered and Bam Bam gave a grand bow. She crossed her arms.

  “What kind of ingredients?” She jumped when the cat wove between her ankles and then plunked himself between her legs. When she tried to step away, Harvard shook his head.

  “Let it be. Maybe it’s a sign,” he said.

  “What kind of ingredients?” she repeated.

  Bam Bam pulled a tiny vial out of his pocket and blew her a kiss. “Just for you, Raven. Took me a couple hours to get enough of it.”

  She glared at him. “Enough of what?”

  “Sweat from a scarlet woman,” Harvard said distractedly, handling the vial as if it was gold.

  Her mouth dropped. “Excuse me?”

  “You know, a prostitute,” Jackie said.

  “I know what the hell a scarlet woman is. You needed sweat from a prostitute for a spell? That’s disgusting!”

  Bam Bam put his thumbs into his jeans and sighed. “I just followed my orders.”

  “What about the priest?” Harvard asked him.

  “You had to screw a priest?” she shouted.

  Bam Bam scowled at her. “Of course not.”

  Bam Bam pulled a flask out of his jacket and handed it to Harvard. She watched with great trepidation as Harvard pulled the cork out of the vial and poured the ‘sweat from a scarlet woman’ into the flask and shook it three times. She was unprepared when Harvard splashed the liquid from the flask in her face. She let out a screech and lunged for him, but Jackie and Luester hauled her back.

  “It’s holy water,” Harvard said patiently.

  “And sweat from a whore!” she spat.

  “The holy water cleanses the sin,” Harvard explained.

  “Yeah, I took care of the most important ingredients,” Bam Bam said proudly. “The priest blessed the candles and water and I got the sweat from the hottest piece of ass I’ve ever...”

  “You got a priest to bless holy water for you?” Cain asked from the sidelines.

  Bam Bam shrugged. “Yeah, I just paid him a c
ouple hundred.”

  Harvard whirled around to face him. “If you paid him, he’s not a good priest! I need holy water. If that’s the case, I would have asked you to bless the water.”

  Bam Bam rolled his eyes. “Fine. Think of the money as a tithe then.”

  “I gave you two jobs and you find the most crooked priest in Las Vegas..."

  “It’s Vegas, what do you expect?” Bam Bam demanded.

  Harvard took a step toward Bam Bam, but Happy shoved them apart.

  “Let’s just try it,” Happy said.

  Harvard gave Bam Bam a killing look and got on with the spell. He grabbed a twig and without warning yanked out a strand of her hair. She bellowed and fought Jackie and Luester who held her back. With piercing focus, Harvard twined her hair around the stick. When he finished, he held the twig aloft and closed his eyes.

  “Whoever has cursed us, let the curse rebound on them because they deserve to burn in hell!” Harvard shouted dramatically.

  There was a long moment of silence and Bam Bam coughed to smother a laugh. Harvard froze in place as if he were waiting for a sign from God.

  “Is that it?” Raven asked skeptically.

  “I have to bury the stick, that’s part of the ritual,” Harvard said and hurried to the backyard.

  Raven shrugged off Luester and Jackie and sat on the couch while she wiped the holy water and whore sweat off her face. She wasn’t all that surprised when the cat leapt onto her lap again. Tentatively, she reached out a hand and when the cat didn’t swat her, ran a hand down his back. He purred and closed his eyes as she pet him.

  Harvard came back in from the backyard and Bam Bam, Ace and Happy started for the front door.

  “Let’s see if it worked,” Bam Bam said.

  Harvard brought out his notepad and tapped his pen on the paper as he went over every part of the spell. He looked up anxiously when the guys came back in.

  “No go,” Bam Bam reported. “We’re still cursed.”

  “Maybe it takes a while for it to go into effect,” Harvard said with an uncertain frown.

  “Isn’t there someone we can talk to? Like, a professional curse breaker?” Raven asked.

  “Like who?” Luester drawled. “One of the witches in the Council or Battalion? I’m sure they’d love to help us break a curse that makes us valuable to them.”