by G. K. DeRosa
The portal train ground to a halt and I hugged my purse to my chest. Here goes nothing. As I ascended the steps, the harsh light of the sun scorched my pupils. I held my arm up to block out the light. After over two weeks of darkness, I’d forgotten how bright it was in the rest of Azar. The warm rays caressed my shoulders as I sauntered across Midtowne. Maginaria’s central district was chocked full of cute little cafes and boutiques, not to mention dozens of magic shops.
I drew in a steeling breath as I went over the speech I’d been preparing since we’d settled on this date. I needed to apologize to Kenna and most of all, I needed her to understand why I did this, why I left and why I wouldn’t be returning home.
A head of curly ginger hair bobbed just outside Witch’s Brew, and my heart staggered out a frantic beat as I scrutinized the familiar and yet new figure in front of me. When I’d left, Kenna had just been a kid. Now at fourteen, she was a young woman. An odd, strangled sound erupted from my throat as I took in her long, lithe form and the slight curves beginning to form at her hips. She turned around, and all the air caught in my throat as I compelled my feet forward the last few steps. Kenna was the spitting image of our mom.
“Hey,” I managed awkwardly.
“Hi,” she muttered back.
I reached for her, but she shied away pivoting toward the entrance. My heart sank. Even though I deserved it. I’d promised to take care of her, be with her forever, and I’d failed.
Kenna tugged the door open, and the charred scent of incense and magic floated in the air. She wrinkled her nose, her delicate senses not used to the odor. I wondered if her wolf would surface or if like me, she’d be a lupine dud. From the reports I’d gotten from Deacon, he was fairly certain she’d shift this year. I hoped he was right.
I followed her up to the bar, the silence getting to me. She hopped up on a barstool, her eyes focusing on anything but me. She fiddled with her fingers, the chipped nail polish a bright pink. I couldn’t believe my baby sister was a teenager. “You don’t drink coffee yet, do you?”
She shook her head. “No, Tessa won’t let me until I’m fifteen.”
At least our adoptive mom was looking out for her. With so many kids, I couldn’t blame her for her less than attentive parenting skills. Maybe she’d gotten better now with fewer children in the den.
“How is everyone back home?” The last word sounded foreign on my tongue. No matter how welcoming the tigers were, I never considered High Claw Cliffs home. I’d felt more comfortable at Camp Kill. What did that say about me?
“Good.” She shrugged and pulled out her phone from her purse.
I signaled for the barista and turned back to my sister. “What do you want to drink?”
“I’m not really thirsty.” She didn’t even look up from the screen.
“Come on, Kenna, get something. How about a hot chocolate?”
“I’m not eleven anymore, Phoenix.” She spared me a sidelong glare before returning her attention to the phone.
The barista arrived with a big smile on her face. “What can I get ya?”
“I’ll have a latte with an extra shot of brambleberry boost.” I nudged Kenna in the side. “You sure you don’t want anything?”
“Nope.” She popped the P for emphasis.
As soon as the friendly barista was gone, I turned to my sister. “Kenna, please talk to me. I know you’re angry and you have every right to be, but I want to explain.”
She finally released her phone and seared me with brilliant blue irises. It was like staring into my mother’s eyes. I choked back the stab of pain and drew in a deep breath. “What’s there to explain, Phoenix? You left. You promised you’d come visit and you never did. You abandoned me.”
I reached for her hands, surprised she let me take them, and squeezed. They were soft and squishy just like I remembered. “I’m so sorry, Kenna. I never wanted you to feel that way. Going to the Isle of Mordis was just something I had to do. Not a day went by that I didn’t think about you. Coming back was just too hard.” It was easier for me to throw myself into the training, the routine, the killing. But how could I admit that to my little sister?
“So you left me alone to deal with all the bad memories by myself.” Her lower lip began to tremble, and a crack raced across my heart.
I was awful. Selfish. Horrible.
I pulled her into a hug, but her palms pressed against my chest and shoved me back. A pang of hurt streaked through my heart. But I deserved that. Holding my hands up, I continued, “You’re right, Kenna. I was too scared to deal with the past. It was easier to shut it all out. I took the coward’s way out, and I’m so sorry.”
She glanced up at me, eyes shiny with unshed tears. “Are you coming home now or are you going to keep running?”
A punch in the gut would’ve hurt less. “Not yet. I can’t right now, Kenna. All the training I’ve done was so that I could become a Royal sicari. And keep people safe. So that what happened to us will never happen to another family.”
She shook her head, dropping her gaze from mine.
“I love you, Kenna, so much. I’m doing this for you, for Mom and Dad. I have to make things right somehow.”
“Screw you, Nix!” She hopped out of her chair, but I caught her by the arm before she could get away.
“Please, wait, Kenna.”
“No! I won’t stand by and just wait.”
“Wait for what?”
“Wait for you to die like they did.” A tear spilled over, racing down her cheek.
“I won’t. I promise.”
Her lips puckered then turned into a pout. “Don’t make more promises you can’t keep, Phoenix.” She ripped her arm from my grasp and sprinted out the door.
I wanted to follow her. I knew I should have, but my feet were rooted to the ground. Maybe it was better if she didn’t wait for me. I was too screwed up to give her anything she needed right now.
As I emerged from the portal station, my heart heavy after the failed encounter with Kenna, I vowed to try again with her. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon. I ascended the steps, blinking rapidly to adjust to the darkness, and screams and shouts ricocheted across my eardrums. My heart smacked against my ribcage like a battering ram as my eyes landed on the sicari residences beside Royal Castle. One was fully engulfed in flames.
No!
The pungent odor of smoke filled my nostrils, and dark memories rose to the surface. Squeezing my eyes shut, I shoved them down. My parents’ screams echoed across my mind, my mom’s crumpled, bloodied form flashing on repeat. No. Shaking my head, I forced the images away, refusing to let them drag me under. Focus, Nix.
I raced up the street, my arms pumping like mad. Dozens of sicari poured out of the second building—our building, and I searched the sidewalk for my friends. The blare of approaching sirens turned my head toward the fire trucks. Gods, they’re only arriving now? When had this happened?
I could just make out a few witches and warlocks lined up closest to the smoking high rises, dousing the flames with conjured water. Was Vera up there?
I reached the edge of the commotion and barreled through the growing crowd. “What happened?” I cried out to no one in particular. I cursed myself for leaving my com in the apartment as I rifled through my bag searching for my phone.
“Children of the Night,” someone muttered.
“What?” I breathed out.
“Somehow they found out this was where the sicari lived. They’re trying to make a statement.” I focused on the male in front of me, and I vaguely recognized him from our morning assemblies. The merman was a secondi from team eleven.
“Have you seen anyone from my team? Team one?”
He shook his head. “Building one or two?”
“Two.”
“Thank Thanatos. Hardly anyone made it out of one.”
I scrambled through my call log and hit the send button. “Come on, pick up, pick up.”
Spark’s phone went to voicemail, and I mutter
ed a curse. Then I tried Seline next. The entire realm could’ve been on fire, but there was no way that girl would’ve left her phone.
A dark shadow sped across my peripheral vision, and my heart stopped. Ransom? I searched the crowd, whipping my head back and forth but only sicari encircled me. I dragged my hand through my hair, tugging on the ends. I had to get that vamp out of my head.
The ringing stopped sending me to voicemail, and I cursed again. One more time. Each unanswered ring escalated my heartrate. As I waited, my thoughts flickered back to the annoyingly good-looking vampire. What if that had been him? What if he’d done this?
“Hello?” Seline’s voice sent my thoughts scrambling away.
I almost cried as I choked out, “Where are you? Is everyone okay?”
“Yes, we’re all fine. We’re at the southwest corner of the street in front of building two. Vera’s up in the front trying to put out the fire, and Callan wouldn’t let her out of his sight.”
“Okay, be right there.” I released the breath I’d been holding since I emerged from the portal station into the smoke-filled nightmare. They were okay.
Weaving through the masses, I made my way to the southwest corner, tears stinging my eyes when they landed on Spark, then Seline and the others. Finally, I found Vera a few yards away from the burning building, her lips pressed in a tight line as she shot wave after wave of water from her splayed hands.
I hurtled into Spark, wrapping my arms around him and Seline. “Thank the gods you guys are okay.” My throat constricted, emotion too thick to swallow down.
Spark held me tight against his chest, the familiar citrus scent calming the raging storm battering my ribcage. He was the only one on the team that knew about the fire. The rest only knew my parents had been killed by fangers, but I’d never shared the details.
“Are you okay?” he whispered in my ear.
I nodded quickly before releasing him. Blinking rapidly, I forced the remaining tears back and shifted into team leader mode. “What happened?”
“No one really knows,” said Archer. “The fire moved too fast to be natural. River thinks the vamps had magical help.”
My mind fluttered to the shadow I’d seen earlier. “How’d they find out this was the sicari strong hold?”
“Could be someone on the inside,” Spark answered.
“Or it was dumb luck.” Cal eyed the crumbling high rise to our right. “The Children of the Night could’ve been trying to do some random damage to piss off the queen.”
I followed Cal’s line of sight, and my stomach dipped. Windows were blown out, dark plumes rising into the night sky. “How many made it out?”
“Not many,” said Seline, her eyes shiny.
“We won’t know for a while.” Spark wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me against him. “They’ll be finding bodies in the rubble for days.”
Anger erupted in my core as memories of the tiger camp flickered to the surface. There’d been so many bodies. Piles of them. Deacon had said they had to be burned in case any turned. The stench of charred flesh ghosted across my nostrils.
“We’ve got to make these mother fangers pay,” I hissed.
Chapter
Fourteen
Phoenix
* * *
Thanks to a high warlock friend of the queen’s, we were back in our apartment by nightfall. The fire damage to our building hadn’t been that bad, and the head of the Coven Council had been able to return it to its pristine condition with only a few magical mutterings. Building one was another story. With the few surviving sicari, the queen had decided to leave the edifice in its decaying state as a reminder. A reminder of what we fought for and the fifty-seven lives lost in the fire.
Fifty-seven.
Just like that, our elite sicari force was cut down by half. And the worst part was that the most senior sicari teams, the secondi and triens had been lost. River was one of the few who’d survived, and it was only because he and his team had been out in the field.
The teams’ leader’s expression was grim as he went over the day’s assignments. Dark circles lined the deep ebony skin beneath his bloodshot eyes. I tore my gaze away from his haggard form and focused on his words.
“We’ve all suffered a great loss, but it should only serve to strengthen our cause. I lost fierce brothers and sisters in there, and I know that they wouldn’t want us to spend another minute mourning them, but instead, they’d expect us to get out there and avenge their deaths.”
Now he was talking my language. The gloomy haze that had settled began to lift as his words incited a fire deep within.
“Today, I will choose two teams to accompany mine to infiltrate the heart of the Children of the Night. It’s time we show those fangers that we’re not screwing around. They killed too many of our own last night, and it’s time to return the favor.”
A wave of whoops and hollers broke out in the assembly room, and my pulse skyrocketed. If we were going after the Children of the Night, chances were high we’d run into Ronin. My team had to be one of the chosen.
“You think River will choose us?” Seline elbowed me, her starry-eyed gaze on the beefy sicari.
“If he’s smart.”
Spark chuckled beside me. “That’s why I love you, Nix, hot and modest.”
I threw him a narrowed glare, but my stomach tightened at his casual use of the L word. We needed to have a talk, but with everything happening lately I hadn’t summoned the nerve.
River cleared his throat, and we went silent. “The two teams that will be accompanying me today are team eleven and team one.”
My breath hitched as adrenaline shot through my veins. This was it. I was finally going to get a crack at Ronin. And find out if he really was the vampire that led the attack on my camp all those years ago.
I hadn’t told anyone about Ronin. Not even Spark. There was too much at risk and speaking the words would make it too real.
“Looks like you got your wish,” Spark whispered.
I didn’t answer, couldn’t speak. All the words were stuck at the back of my throat.
After River finished assigning missions to the remaining teams, the room cleared out. Only what was left of his team and our two squads stayed seated. He eyed me from across the room and crooked a finger. “Phoenix, you think you guys are up for this? You’re one of our newest teams, but you’ve done exceptionally well so far. I need only A players tonight. Can I count on you?”
My head bounced up and down. “Absolutely. We’re ready.”
“Denver?” He ticked his head at a tall male with a shaved head, shifter by the size of him.
“Eleven is always ready,” he answered.
“Good. Gather up, guys.” He ushered us all to the front of the room, and we huddled around the large screen. He flipped through some images on his tablet, and they appeared in life size on the display. “I need you to be on the lookout for these vampires. Most of the Children of the Night are serviles, low level scum. They serve no purpose other than fangs to cut down Ronin’s enemies. The fangers I’m about to show you are their leaders: Jekyll, Dinah, Lazlo, Mercer...” The long list tumbled around in my mind. “You bring them down and his whole organization crumbles.”
I memorized the names and faces of the vampires as they whirled across the screen. Like the Royals we’d encountered so far, they were as beautiful as they were deadly. The perfect killer combination.
“And finally this one: Ransom De La Sangue.”
My heart catapulted against my ribcage, sucking all the air in my lungs along with it. Mother fanger… It had been him yesterday.
“We don’t know much about this guy,” River continued. “He’s never run with Ronin’s gang before.” His mouth curled into a scowl. “Our orders are to bring him in alive, per the queen herself. Unless it’s between our lives or his. In that case, you always choose your own life.”
“What’s so special about this guy?” Spark asked. Heat seared into the side of my f
ace, and I could feel him watching my reaction.
“Doesn’t matter. We have our orders, and we follow them.” River ticked his head at me. “Any questions?”
“Nope.”
“Good. We move in twenty. I want you armed to the fangs.”
I eyed the blown-out windows of the old motel as we approached, creeping silently across the cracked asphalt. Between River’s team, Denver’s, and ours we had two witches and a warlock, which meant we’d been traveling beneath a cloak since we set foot into the Darklands. Nothing like catching the enemy off guard.
River signaled for us to stop, and we all flattened ourselves against the wall of the adjacent rundown building. According to our teams’ leader, Ronin and his Children didn’t remain in one place for long. The fact that we’d caught wind of this hideout had been pure luck, and we had to capitalize on it. If we could take out the head of the snake, the rest would fall.
I squeezed my eyes shut and drew in a calming breath. This was what I lived for. The stillness that came over me, the complete sense of control, the quiet before the storm.
Two deep pools of obsidian darted across my mind, and my Zen was obliterated.
My lids snapped open, and I shoved the unwanted image to the farthest recesses of my subconscious. Gods, Phoenix, what is wrong with you? Ran—he was the enemy. He’d killed dozens of sicari. He was a soulless bloodsucker just like the rest of them, despite that stupid charming smile.
“Move!” River’s voice crackled through the com and shattered my wandering thoughts.
I signaled to my team and rushed forward, taking the east entrance like we’d planned. River’s gang would attack from the top floor and Denver’s from the west. We’d set the trap and pull the noose.
Spark kicked the back door in, the rotted wood splintering into kindling as we raced inside. A sharp crack echoed from the opposite corner of the space, signaling Denver’s team was in. Cries and screams rang out as the surprised vampires scrambled to get away.