Page 31

Harlow

Friday Morning

First Floor Group Therapy

“ O ur inner demons are something we are forced to face,” Dr. Bradley said to the group in a solemn voice, but we all burst into laughter at the mention of demons.

He stuttered over whatever he was saying next before stopping completely.

“Why fight inner ones when we can fight the demons in these halls,” Layne deadpanned. “It’s more satisfying.”

“The smell is awful, though,” Hiro countered with a playful shudder. He was truly coming out of his shell now.

“This is not funny, kids,” Dr. Bradley blustered. “You should respect the help you receive here at Dark Haven.”

“Help? People are literally being killed in the halls,” Drake said in a calm tone that had Bradley glaring.

All thoughts of Mr. Rogers were gone now, he was livid.

“Was this really necessary? Pretending is just weird now,” I asked Drake who looked like he was having far too much fun. He’d been true to his word and was showing up more over the last week.

That and he got us our meds steadily, thanks to getting Nurse Drew being put back in place. It was nice to not see shadows and random hallucinations constantly.

It was nice to have a sense of normalcy again, even if it was fleeting.

“Did you know Dr. Bradley is not actually a doctor?” Drake revealed as he quirked an eyebrow at the man in question. Bradley turned white at Drake’s words, mouth gaping as he stared at Drake, stunned.

“What?” Layne and Crew asked simultaneously.

“What is he, then?” Hiro asked, sounding as confused as I was.

Drake waited, watching Bradley stand and clench his fists. His face went from stark white to vivid red as whatever charade this was fell apart.

“He’s just like us. Had so much therapy that he started to pretend to make himself feel better. Vane found out and kept him,” he taunted. “It’s interesting the things I can find hidden away in Vane’s office since he abandoned it. I guess Vane thought it would be easier to manipulate and mold him into what he needed this way.”

“That is a lie ,” Bradley spit out, stalking toward Drake who stood to confront him. Drake had a good two feet on the man but apparently he was full of audacity today. “You have no evidence of your accusations. I am a trained professional.”

“What college did you go to?” Hiro asked. He made it seem innocent but the smirk was unmistakable.

“I... uh, went to Harvard,” he blurted, fumbling over the words.

“No you didn’t,” Drake said. “You didn’t even get a high school diploma. Your name isn’t even Bradley, it’s Charles Dunn. You were admitted for psychosis originally and then were diagnosed here by?—”

“Stop!” Bradley lunged then, but Drake easily sidestepped so he ended up sprawled on the floor with the breath knocked out of him. “Vane will hear of this!”

Drake walked over and crouched down so he was more on his level. “Good. Tell him Drake says hi and that I’m looking for him.”

“You’ll never find him!” he yelled, scurrying to his feet and out of the room, leaving all of his notes behind.

Which Layne promptly snatched up.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Layne said before barking out a laugh that turned hysterical. She was doubled over crying by the time I stood and went over to her, taking away the notebook and looking at it.

The notes ‘Bradley’ had been taking all this time were just stick drawings of his patients. The current one had Drake on the floor with broken legs, Layne had wild hair and huge boobs, Crew had huge clown feet and a smirk, and Hiro had two heads. Mine was drawn with two x’s over my eyes which made it more sinister, but it was so ridiculous I couldn’t even complain.

“Apparently, Layne was his favorite. What a creep. I knew that his advice was too horrible to be professional,” I said, shaking my head and passing it to Hiro who held his hand out waiting patiently.

“Two heads, at least that part is a bit clever.” He laughed. “But I’d say he’s in with Vane. Look at his two targets.”

“I know he is,” Drake said. “Vane’s office has more locks than necessary, but I’ve broken more than a few of them. I found a staff file, half of which he openly falsified their credentials. In fact, attached to Bradley’s was his former patient file. He took on the identity of his therapist and Vane let it happen.”

“Why am I not even surprised?” Hiro groaned. “That’s so fucked up, though. We knew Dark Haven had some skeletons, but this is turning into a whole ass graveyard.”

“That’s why I fucked with him. Plus, I’ve been dreaming of that for fucking years. He’s always been a tool.”

“He told me I should forgive my dad for selling me to his friend as a child,” I deadpanned. “When I called him on it, he threw a bitchfit similar to this one.”

“I should have dick punched him,” Hiro added.

“Come on, we just got a free afternoon to go look at more of Vane’s office,” Drake said. “Who’s in?”

It was an obvious attempt to include us in his dealings, and I wasn’t about to say no.

“I’m not stepping foot in there,” Layne said. “I’m heading to the boiler room for a nap.”

The look she gave Crew meant she planned to fuck him, but the guy was oblivious.

“Count me in,” I said. “It will give me a chance to break his shit.”

“Me, too,” Hiro said, shocking both Drake and me. But the look of determination on his face meant he was still on his path of making himself stronger and less reliant.

“Let’s go then,” Crew said.

“Wait, what?” Layne said, looking genuinely offended at his answer. “You’re turning this down?” She lifted her shirt, flashing her boobs to Crew and everyone else facing her.

Hiro gasped and turned, Drake and I laughed, and Crew just put her shirt back in place and kissed her lips.

“If you’re going to play dirty, then I guess a fake nap it is,” Crew said. “I know you can’t get enough of this dick.”

“You’re right,” she said as she pulled him along. The gloating smile on her face as she passed had me giving her a high-five. Crew let out an annoyed grunt but didn’t react.

Hopefully he fucked her and burned something in the boiler room to calm his ass back down.

She’s lucky he wasn’t an alpha. I had a feeling if I pulled that Drake would have me over his knee in seconds and Kol and Monty would pop out of thin air to join in.

“Then there were three,” Drake said. “Let’s go.”

Layne and Crew had taken the elevator so we opted for the stairs. I was out of breath and annoyed by the time we got to the fifth floor, but I think that was more due to the location than anything else.

This floor harbored some of my most degrading and foul memories, and I wasn’t thrilled to be walking these halls again.

But the demon rebellion was about more than just me.

It would affect the city around us, the world itself, and possibly have effects on Helheim as well.

It was impossible to know for sure since Hel seemed happy to keep me in the fucking dark. I couldn’t risk innocent lives if I could do something to stop it.

“Are you two still good?” Drake asked as he stopped outside of Vane’s office door. “You can wait out here.”

“No,” I declared. “I can do this.”

“Good girl,” Drake said, and dammit, apparently his Dom bullshit had something to it because his response had warmth spreading in my chest. My breath hitched and my heart slammed against my ribcage.

Drake simply smirked, knowing I liked it.

“Hiro?” I asked when he didn’t respond. He was staring at the doorway in a dissociated state.

He blinked a few times and nodded. “Yeah. It’s stupid, it wasn’t even me.”

Roman had taken it for him but it was no less his body. For the first time since being with them I could see the struggle to keep his hold on reality, his eyes unfocused and a blank stare taking over until Drake walked over and put his hands on Hiro’s shoulders.

“Don’t,” Drake warned. His voice was firm and sharp and had Hiro swallowing hard. “We don’t downplay our bullshit past. That shit was fucking awful and it affects you.”

“You’re right,” he said, sliding his hand into Drake’s and taking the step toward the door.

Seeing them together like this was such an interesting contrast to their usual personalities. Drake wasn’t as sharp with Hiro as he was with me, but I thrived on both his venom and his praise, whereas Hiro needed his calm.

Our half demon was far more perceptive than anyone gave him credit for. Including himself. Drake painted himself as a monster in his head, undeserving of any praise or appreciation. I wish he could see himself as we did. A leader, protector for not just us but all of Dark Haven, and the man keeping us together.

Hiro stopped so abruptly I ran into him, cursing as my nose burned from the harsh contact.

“What the hell?” I asked but Hiro turned abruptly, vomiting all over the back wall.

I stepped back, horrified at his sudden change until I looked past him and saw why.

Drake was already moving to stand between him and the macabre scene.

“What the fuck?” I gasped, unable to look away.

There, in the center of Vane’s office, where the couch once stood, was another body.

This time the blonde girl was naked, her long hair roughly cut off and thrown into the pool of blood beside her. There were x’s carved into her eyes with a jagged blade, the delicate skin tearing but you could barely see it in the carnage it had left behind.

“Was it Bradley?” I whispered, the visage eerily similar to the faux therapist’s journal.

“Doing Vane’s bidding I assume,” Drake answered as he walked to the side to take in the letters sprawled on her body.

There was a single word, spanning from the bottom of her breasts to her pelvis.

Welcome

“He knew we were coming,” Drake said, taking off his shirt and covering the girl. “Harlow, go carve out the sigil on the door and call Ivar. I meant to do it when I found it a few days ago, but got called away. We can’t dispose of bodies here but he can.”

“Okay.” I uttered the word, my mind stunned into near silence. Things were escalating swiftly, and I didn’t like the taunting Vane was doing. He was far more psychotic than anyone admitted to this godforsaken hospital.

The sigil was just inside the door, behind a coat rack. My body froze as a figure moved to stand in the doorway, looming over me as if to dare me to continue.

Letting out a growl at the hallucination, I shoved the rack down and took out my dagger, stabbing it into the wall repeatedly, using it to get out the horror and devastation I felt for the dead girl in the other room.

The fear I felt for myself.

He wanted that to be me.

The figure continued to move closer as shadows closed around me. I ignored them as I tried to move past the biggest emotion I couldn’t shake.

Guilt.

She died because she looked like me . I hadn’t realized I was crying until my vision blurred with tears.

Even then I didn’t stop stabbing the wall, cutting through the ward until it was barely visible.

This time, I didn’t have to call for my monster, he just came.

The shiver of cold my only warning before he pulled me into his chest and away from the wall.

“Stop, little human, you’ll hurt yourself,” he demanded, clearly annoyed by my dramatics.

“Sorry,” I muttered, letting his presence push away the bad feelings. “I hadn’t expected this to hit so hard.”

“You avoided it before, we shouldn’t be surprised,” Hiro said with a shaky laugh, stepping up close enough to run a hand down my back. The fact he comforted me now meant he was pushing away the initial reaction.

Hiro approaching Monty to do so was a huge sign of that.

Hell, at this point he was doing better than I was.

“Listen to your human, he probably knows,” Monty said but he gave me a long hug before passing me off to Hiro.

“You’re here. Come look,” Drake called out. He had yet to move away from the body.

“I’m not here at your beck and call half-breed,” Monty said but it lacked the usual ire. He stalked over and loud curses followed a moment later.

“What’s going on?!” Kol yelled from the hallway before he burst through the door, his huge body taking out half the door frame. “Is something wrong with my mate?”

Apparently, there was even more to this connection with him than I realized. If ever there was a high-emotion moment to call him, this would be it.

“And we’re the dramatic ones?” Hiro whispered, and I couldn’t hide my chuckle from Kol.

“I felt you. What happened?”

“That guy you’re looking for?” I had to wait for him to wrench my body from Hiro and inspect me to the point I was hiding an eye roll, to continue.

“What about him?” he finally husked out.

“There’s a body that looks like me again, though a bit more violently placed. But this is the place Vane hurt me, and many others. The memories hit me and so did that, I didn’t take it well. Sorry, I didn’t mean to alarm you, I didn’t know you could feel my emotions,” I said, not sure how to process the latest mindfuck.

There wasn’t even a hint of snark in my voice. That should have been enough to worry the gargoyle.

Kol’s response was to let out a roar, his features distorting even further to fit the rage my gargoyle was feeling.

A hot wave of power exploded from his body and I stepped back to avoid the burn of it.

“Get back, Harlow!” Monty yelled, moving between us faster than should be possible while Drake went to Hiro.

“He won’t hurt me,” I protested but it didn’t ring with confidence. I’d yet to see Kol lose it like this, and I was genuinely startled as saliva fell from his fangs. He could barely close his mouth now that they’d elongated.

His wings spanned out even farther than before, nearly knocking Drake and Hiro out if they hadn’t dove out of the way.

He took a horn from his pocket and blew it, the entire office rattling with the force of it.

It was mere seconds before the rest of the gargoyles were with us, far more than I thought possible as they surrounded us and spilled into the hallway.

“We find Vane, now. He’s harmed my mate, he will pay with his blood.” Kol’s deep voice echoed in the space, so gravelly it sounded distorted.

The gargoyles collectively slammed a fist to their chest and the entire brood left the room without a second glance.

The silence in their wake was almost deafening. Even Monty’s usual petty snark was absent.

“Come on,” Drake said. “Look for anything on the demons. We have to figure this out. Ivar, if you could get rid of the body, please. Our mate needs it.”

I raised my eyebrows at the “please.” They were working shockingly well together.

“We need blueprints of Dark Haven as well,” Monty said as he walked toward the body. “Harlow pointed out that the wards against me could point us in the right direction.”

“Impressive,” Drake agreed, already shuffling through book after book, tossing the useless ones aside. Hiro went for the computer, and I grabbed the secretary’s laptop.

Monty made quick work of the body, his shadows filling the space for a second, but I couldn’t bring myself to watch.

Not when I just now found composure.

The laptop wasn’t password protected so I logged right into her search engine and searched for demon portals. Even with the added keywords like Helheim and mythology I kept getting the most ridiculous sites that felt like fanfic more than actual reality.

Or whatever type of reality this was.

A dark shadow passed behind me, and I turned to ask Monty if he had suggestions only to find it wasn’t him but another demon. His lack of scent should have been my first clue.

Yet the chill, though less than Monty’s, was real.

This demon looked different. Wrong. His blue flames were there but they were tainted with shocks of green. I let out a scream, but he was faster than I was, pinning me on the desk and cracking the laptop as it flattened under me.

“Get the fuck off of her!” Hiro’s screams were followed by a squelch of blood. The demon was off me and after him in seconds, but Monty was there by then, lifting him and letting the shadows dissolve the intruder.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Drake demanded and Hiro didn’t back down this time.

“I was thinking she was going to die, so I acted,” Hiro yelled back. “Why did you give me this fucking dagger if you didn’t want me to use it?”

“To use when I’m not here,” Drake said, running a hand over the back of his neck and pacing. His eyes bounced between me and Hiro in his panic.

“I’m warding again,” Monty said as he let the shadows fall back into his robes, stalking to the door and using his claws to draw out a sigil on the frame. “Now I’m going to join the search. I’m not letting this fucker beat me. He’s a useless fucking human. There’s someone else at play here. I’ll find them, even if it takes every resource I have left. I’m not one to stand idle and allow another to make a fool of me.”

His voice was a low hiss laced with ice. It sent a shiver through me though I didn’t fear my demon in the least. He’d proven to have far better values than the humans in this place.

Monty turned to me, eyes slowly taking me in before he let out a long breath. It felt like he was reassuring himself that I was alive and safe.

With that, he disappeared, leaving the rest of us in a tense silence.

Drake simply gathered the laptops and a stack of books and walked out, pausing only to ensure we followed.

I had a strong feeling I was about to be locked away in a tower again, a damsel in distress while her knights in not-so-shining armor saved the day.

If they thought that was how this would play out, they were dead fucking wrong. I’d be safe, but I’d keep searching for a way to end this. I was really fucking tired of almost dying and seeing my men hurt.

We’d end this soon.

We had to.

For their sake and mine.