by D. N. Hoxa
Maybe if I’d stayed outside longer, I would have smelled them coming, but no. I went inside and opened my laptop and wrote a list of the things Finn had mentioned people could use when trying to find someone. I had no money for spell stones, and I didn’t have Izzy’s blood anyway. We were raised as sisters, but our blood had nothing in common, so I couldn’t use mine to track her. But what if I could hire a human hacker to monitor the cameras in Jersey City? That would be expensive, but my friend Mandy was good with computers. I’d found her dog once, and we’d hit it off quite nicely. We still got together for coffee regularly. According to her, her boyfriend Steve was even better. Maybe they could help me out if I promised to pay them back as soon as possible. I knew Mandy would.
Or maybe Finn would be a better man for the job. He could give me access to the City’s cameras easily, if he wanted. And I’d already given him Haworth’s name, whoever he was.
Yes, Finn would certainly help me—if I agreed to work with him. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why he told my father about me. Maybe he thought I’d go begging him for help to find my sister, and then he could get me to sign a contract with him easily. Fucking ass. No way was I giving him the pleasure. God, I wished I was a witch. I could have done my own spells then, and I wouldn’t have needed money.
An exasperated sigh left my lips, and I took in a deep breath to calm my nerves.
That’s when I smelled them.
That’s also when I knew I’d smelled them too late.
It was easy to separate smells when you stayed in one place for three years. I already knew what everyone who should be there smelled like, and a group of werewolves and witches would have no business walking up the stairs to my apartment.
Another realization hit me: I’d been the biggest fool in the world to think that coming back home was a safe bet. I’d been the biggest fool in the universe.
I grabbed as many kitchen knives as I could in my shaking hands. I looked around my apartment, trying to think of something that could help me, but there was nothing there. I hadn’t prepared for something like this because I never thought I’d be hunted down and attacked in my own home. Had I known, I would have bought guns and spell stones and a freaking bow with arrows and stuff! Damn it, Victoria. Damn it! I cursed myself in my head.
Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath and tried to locate them. They were coming through the front door. Seven werewolves and two witches. I didn’t think twice. I just put my leather boots on, grabbed a jacket, and I took off through the window.
I hadn’t done this before, but they say necessity is the mother of inventions. I invented a trail through my windowpane, down the red bricks of the building apartment, and onto the big, blue sign that said: Lui’s Fast Food Place. The terrible groaning sound the metal made when I practically threw myself on the double o’s made me think for a second that the letters weren’t going to hold my weight. Not only that, but I’d fallen on my left side, and the wound on my waist throbbed with pain instantly. Gritting my teeth, I rolled over the letters and aimed for the sidewalk.
With my face.
God, it hurt. What the hell was I thinking?
A couple of my teeth felt loose, but I focused on standing. People were already gathering around me, hands wrapped around their mouths, fingers pointed at me. I must have looked worse than I thought. Taking in deep breaths, I managed to get to my feet. The left side of my body was burning, but at least my thigh didn’t hurt as much. My car was parked two blocks down because there were a lot more parking spaces there. So I turned left and tried to make it to it.
I breathed through my nose with every step I took and ignored the stares. There was no way I was blocking my sense of smell again, and I didn’t need to look to know that they were coming after me, fast. In broad daylight.
Who the hell were these people? Was I supposed to call the ECU?
When the gunshots began, I thought I was saved. The people were going to see, and the ECU soldiers were going to be here any minute now. These werewolves and witches were fools to come after me like this. I was going to be just fine as soon as I got to my car. I could drive until the soldiers came and caught them.
But the pain in my waist was getting worse with every passing second. It was so bad even my wolf got interested and woke up from her sleep—or whatever she did when she wasn’t in control of my body. Just another corner and I’d see my car. I tried to ignore the pain because I couldn’t afford to slow down, but it was impossible.
And then, I tried to stop myself from asking her to come out.
Absolutely useless.
When in survival mode, our brains didn’t quite work the same way. What we’re absolutely a hundred percent against in normal conditions becomes completely acceptable when there are nine people running after you, shooting at you like they wanted you dead twice. So I did beg my wolf to come out. Not to kill them, no, just to run away. She could run faster, hide better. And even if they caught up with her, she could take all of them. Me? I couldn’t even take one.
When I saw my car at the side of the road, I cried out. The people were already moving away, having heard the gunshots before they even spotted me. The way to the car was clear. I fished for the keys in my jacket and propelled my legs forward even faster.
But I was not fast enough. Tears streamed from my eyes, and I tried to think of something good to remember. If my life was going to end soon, I’d rather leave this place on a happy note.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a thought to hold onto, other than how to get away. How to create a set of wings and just fly away from the world. My wolf was wide-awake and watching, but she didn’t intend to come out. She didn’t want any part of this either, and I couldn’t understand why. It was almost like something was stopping her, and it confused her as much as it did me.
Everything came to a halt when I touched the hood of my car with my hands, the hope that I’d made it making my heart skip a beat, when something cold stabbed me on my back, right between my shoulder blades. Then came the gunshot. It didn’t feel exactly like the bullets from the night before had felt. It was a bit different but also the same. It shocked my muscles to a halt, and I fell on the hood, rolled, and my face hit the asphalt once again. Somebody screamed. A lot of people were watching me, terrified.
Something moved inside me, and at first, I thought maybe my wolf had finally decided to help, but no. The something was cold and wet and it spread under my skin, covering my flesh and infecting my bloodstream until my eyes could no longer stay open. The werewolves and the witches were barely three feet away from me now. They all breathed heavily but didn’t made a single sound as they stopped, then came close to me slowly, cautiously. I wanted to scream and shout, to tell them that I was going to come back and haunt their asses for the rest of eternity, but a gunshot later and something cold settled on my right shoulder. Darkness claimed me, and the only regret I had was not going to see my mother for five years.
6
At first, I thought I was blind when I came to. I couldn’t see anything. But then I noticed the light coming from far away—or rather from the other side of whatever they’d put over my head.
I was alive.
My first instinct was to move, to jump to my feet and run, but I resisted. If they thought I was still out cold, maybe I could find a way to get out before they killed me. If that’s what they planned to do. But if they did, why would they have taken me, instead of just finishing me off in the street?
Was I supposed to really think that there were worse things than death awaiting me now?
Calm down, I said to myself and closed my eyes again. Taking in a deep breath, I began to make out my surroundings.
First, the black bag that covered my entire head smelled nasty. Blood, dirt, French fries and sweat. I didn’t even give myself the chance to think about throwing up but continued to search wider. The room they’d put me in was big, the ceiling high according to the way the air circulated. It was also mostly made o
f iron and steel. There were no windows, no smell from the outside slipping in unnoticed.
But most importantly, there were twelve people in there with me.
I could try to smell them all and pick them apart, but what good would that do? I’d rather just try to figure out a way to leave that place behind.
“She up?” one of them spoke. Whoever was close to him was scratching on a glass surface impatiently.
“Don’t just stand around. Go check!” said another man, his voice much deeper than the first one.
I held my breath and waited while the werewolf made his way to me slowly. I was sitting on a concrete floor and my hands were tied behind me, but my legs were free. I didn’t need my arms to run. As soon as he took off the black bag from my head, I could make a run for it, no matter that the pain in my left side said that I wouldn’t make it far. I still had to try. Giving up was not an option.
But then the guy took the bag off my head.
And everything changed.
Glass shattered, the screeching sound echoing in the wide ceiling. I was right; the room was mostly made of concrete, iron and steel. It was wide and square, with two sets of stairs at the sides, one of them to my right leading to a dead end—a concrete wall. Ahead of me were metal tables, long and dirty, and around them were chairs of all kinds. Most of the people had been sitting there, all turned to me.
And the glass that had broken had slipped from the hands of one of the witches in the room.
It had slipped from the hands of my sister.
She was the only female in the room besides me. It was her in the flesh and blood, looking half of what she had the last time I saw her. Her cheeks were hollowed, her skin pale, her once rich blonde hair now matted and tied into a messy ponytail behind her head. She looked at me, her wide blue eyes unable to get enough of my face, and I did the same.
A thousand questions invaded my mind, and for a second, I forgot about where I was. What the hell was Izzy doing here? Why did she look at me like she’d just seen a ghost?
“There she is,” one of the werewolves said, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from my sister. She was terrified. Even her chin was quivering.
Had she known?
She hadn’t. She was frozen in shock, something she wouldn’t have done had she known it was me under that black bag.
But what the hell was she doing with these people?
My father’s words came back to me with a jolt. He’d heard rumors that Izzy was involved with some bad people.
Oh, no. Not these bad people!
“You sure it’s her?” a werewolf asked.
“Yes, I’m sure! I already told you, she attacked me!”
My eyes moved to the man who’d spoken. I’d recognized his voice, and now I recognized his face, too. It was the guy from the night before, the one with the leather jacket. The one who’d survived.
“Saw it with my own eyes,” he said, grinning, and he approached me, cautiously. “Stupid whore.”
“Stop it, Kale,” another werewolf said. “Don’t be so fucking rude.”
“See if you care when she almost tears your fucking leg off, Yumi!” Kale shouted, suddenly terrified. My wolf had scared him, apparently. Good.
But Yumi didn’t seem to mind. He turned to me with a smile on his face—a genuine one. He was tall, not as big as his friends, but there was a look in his eyes of pure evil you couldn’t miss. He folded his hands in front of him and took a step closer to me.
“Hello, Victoria. I’m very sorry to meet you under such circumstances, but you really left us no choice.”
No choice? Was he fucking kidding me?
“Let me remind you that you came to my apartment uninvited. You left me no choice, asshole.” No matter how he looked, or how many people he had behind him, I wasn’t going to give any of them the pleasure of seeing me scared. “Anybody want to tell me what the hell I’m doing here?”
I looked at the others and my eyes fell on my sister’s face again. She’d composed herself, no longer as pale as before but just as worried. Her wide eyes were trying to reach out to me. She was begging me. Begging me to shut up.
About her? Did she really think that I’d tell these guys that she was my sister?
“Two things,” Yumi said, raising two fingers in front of me.
“I’m not deaf,” I spit, in case he’d missed it. Try as I might, I couldn’t give my sister any signals. I couldn’t tell her that I wasn’t about to tell anyone anything and I couldn’t ask for her help. She could get me out of here. She could get us both out of here, and then we could go home and see Mom.
But even I knew that things were far, far more complicated than that.
“First, you took something from us. Something that belongs to us,” Yumi continued, as if I hadn’t spoken at all.
My stomach fell. The steel plate that witch had given me. God, was I glad I had left it in the mailbox. I looked at Yumi. Was it worth it to try to lie to him and pretend I didn’t know what he was talking about?
I didn’t think so.
“I don’t have it. I threw it away,” I said, holding his eyes. He could try to intimidate me all he liked. I was still trying to process the fact that my sister was barely ten feet away from me, and I’d found her without having to even look. How deep into this was she? Did she even know who these people were? I doubted she did; otherwise she’d have gone far away from here by now.
“Okay, so tell us where,” Yumi said, trying not to sound pissed off, though he was. I could smell it on his skin. “Tell us where you put it, and we’ll go look for it. No hard feelings.”
“I tucked it in your momma’s bra.”
As soon as the last word left my mouth, he slapped me. I didn’t even see it coming. He was extremely fast—and extremely strong, too.
Blood came out of my mouth, and I spit it on the floor. Only then did I realize that the floor around me was drawn in chalk. And there were leaves around me. And some sticks. And three drops of already dried blood that I could see.
Oh, my God. It was a ritual drawing.
I was sitting right in the middle of a trap.
My wolf heard my thoughts. I felt her as if she was standing in all fours, trying to get a better look at the outside world through my eyes.
“Where did you put it, Victoria?” Yumi asked again.
I spit another mouthful of blood at his feet, but it didn’t reach his shoes by an inch. Damn it.
“In the apartment where I found it,” I said, not wanting to be slapped again. I was sitting in the middle of a ritual, and I didn’t know what it would do to me yet. “I hid it in the second bedroom.”
“Is that so?” Yumi said, clearly not believing me.
“I knew you’d come searching for it. I thought I’d have time to go look for it later,” I sang the lie. It was easy now that I knew my chances of escaping were very close to zero.
And Izzy…
She was just standing there by the chair where she’d been sitting, not moving a single muscle. She watched me, and I saw the battle raging inside her through her eyes. She was trying to decide. But what was there to decide? Why wasn’t she attacking them already? She had a gun, didn’t she? All these men had their backs turned to her. They were all looking at me.
And she was a witch! She could spell them all, couldn’t she?
I don’t know why she didn’t.
“If I find out you’re lying, Victoria, things will not end well for you, I promise,” Yumi said. Slowly, he squatted in front of me. “We’re not exactly a patient bunch.”
God, how I wanted to spit on his face. “We’ve got that in common,” I said instead.
“Very well.” He grinned and raised his hand with a curt wave. Two werewolves and a witch standing behind him immediately moved to the left, to the stairway with a door on top. So they were going to check right now. I had even less time than I thought.
“Now, for the second thing,” said Yumi and stood up. He backed away and his friend
Kale, aka the first man my wolf had ever let escape, stepped forward.
“Shift, whore!” he spit.
Oh, shit.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked halfheartedly. There was no point in pretending now. He’d seen me. He’d seen my wolf. “You know what happened last time. You barely got away with your life,” I reminded him. I hadn’t actually seen my wolf attack him, but it was a pretty easy guess.
“Don’t mind him, Victoria,” Yumi said. “You shift, and we’ll take care of the rest. I promise you, we are all safe.” And he looked pointedly at the ritual drawing around me.
So that’s what it was. A protective circle. It was going to make sure my wolf couldn’t leave it without dying.
I looked at Izzy again. What was she waiting for? Three of them had already left to look for the steel plate. She’d only have to kill eight of them and get me out.
It was my turn to beg her, with my eyes, to take action. Don’t just stand there, do something!
“It will all be over quicker if you just do what we say,” said Yumi through gritted teeth.
“I can’t do it,” I said. “Trust me, that’s a good thing—for you. If I shift, you’re all dead.”
But were they? The man who’d survived the night before was standing right there. Alive. Barely wounded. Was my wolf as strong as I thought she was, or had I just created that illusion for myself?
A growl in my mind, almost like a word spreading through my thoughts: powerful. I probably imagined it.
Yumi laughed a bit; the sound reminded me of an ice shard. “Very well. We’ve got ways to make you, but I sure wish we didn’t have to.” He pressed his lips together as if he wanted to fool me into thinking he was sorry. “Liam?”
One of the men stepped forward. A Blood witch. He was shorter than Yumi but wider, and his dark eyes looked almost like dark pits from hell.