Page 21

Chapter 21

Storm

No amount of alcohol could dampen the sting of Nathan’s absence. Storm sighed as he took another sip of whatever Wolf had poured him at the snack bar—some new mixture that combined all the hard liquors they’d stocked here. It wasn’t as good as the blood-tainted liquor they used to drink at In Extremis, but it was what the humans could abide keeping in stock.

They hadn’t heard from Nathan since he said he was going in to question the dealer, and Storm knew they were all hanging around to see what he said. For all their sakes, Storm hoped the dealer cracked easy. He just wanted this to be over so he could focus on his human.

With a sigh, he drained his cup and stood for a refill. Ira was sitting on a stool at the snack bar, and he gave Storm a knowing look. Storm set his cup on the glass countertop for Wolf and met Ira’s smug gaze.

“What?” he asked.

Ira smiled at him. “I take it things are going well between you two.”

Storm couldn’t stop his mouth from curling into a smile. “Very well.”

Alex joined them, rounding the snack bar to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. “Yeah, I had no idea Nate was even gay—or bi?” He shrugged one shoulder. “I mean, it’s not like any of us had healthy dating lives while we were with the guild, I guess, so maybe it’s not that strange.”

“He’s not,” Storm said. “Or—he wasn’t. Isn’t?” He shook himself. “He’d never been with a man before me.” There was no hiding his satisfaction, and Wolf rumbled out a chuckle.

“I’m sure you showed him everything there was to know,” Wolf said, sliding his glass back over.

“Well. Some. This stupid case has been getting in the way.”

“With any luck, it’ll be over soon,” Alex said. “Has he mentioned, uh, what his plans are after that? We all know dating a demon and working for the guild never works.”

“He knows he’ll have to decide eventually. His time with them is limited, and when he’s ready to leave, he’ll come live with me. We talked about it a little already.” Storm couldn’t hide his smile. “I’m just glad he’s choosing me.”

Wolf smirked, looking at Ira and gesturing at Storm. “Do we all sound so smitten?”

“Yes,” Ira and Alex said in unison.

Talon strolled over, draping an arm around Alex’s shoulders. “What are we talking about?”

“How head over heels all you demons are for us,” Alex said, leaning in to peck a kiss to Talon’s sharp jaw. The simple gesture made Nathan’s absence feel more pointed.

“I’m only head over heels for one ,” Talon said.

“And I’m not head over heels for anyone ,” Shadrach added, stopping between Ira and Storm.

“Yet,” Ira said with a teasing smirk.

“You’re a cruel, cruel man,” Shadrach said. “You say that, but you won’t tell me who.”

“You’ll find out in time,” Ira replied. “I don’t trust you not to ruin things if I tell you too much.”

“Ruin things how?”

“Like… kill him before you’ve met just to avoid messy feelings.”

Storm had to admit, at least to himself, that that was likely. Shadrach was cold-blooded, and as far as Storm could tell, he liked not being beholden to anyone. Even Talon nodded as though this made perfect sense.

“Well, if the future you see always truly happens, that won’t be possible,” Shadrach said. “Free will is just an illusion. Isn’t that right?”

Ira scowled. “I never said free will is an illusion.”

“But if your visions always come true, then it is. There’s nothing any of us can do to change our own futures. These guys were all destined to meet the one they ended up with. Even if I tried to kill my own human, it wouldn’t work. If it did, the entire future you’ve seen would be undone.”

Storm rolled his eyes. These were exactly the kind of circular arguments Shadrach always pulled Ira into. They could go on for hours, because both of them were too stubborn to know when to let it rest. Storm mostly blamed Shadrach, because he was the one who usually started it. Ira was just too confident in his own visions to let Shadrach have the last word.

Ira took a breath to reply—but froze instead, his gaze going distant. A hush fell over the rest of them as Ira was drawn into a new vision.

“Ooh, this should be interesting,” Shadrach murmured softly.

Storm didn’t know if Ira’s visions could be interrupted, but they all tended to wait in silence until they were over, just in case. He suspected they were overly cautious, since Wolf once said Ira fell over and banged his head during a vision and still didn’t come back to himself until the vision was over. If that didn’t bring him out of it prematurely, he doubted a conversation happening around him would be enough to do it. Still, he waited in silence along with the others, wondering what Ira would say when he came back to himself and found them all waiting.

But Ira didn’t calmly come back to himself like he usually did. He sucked down a sharp breath, closed his eyes, and hung his head. His shoulders shook, and he covered his eyes with one hand.

“Oh, God, all those people,” he whispered. “There’s not—enough time.”

“Ira,” Wolf said, reaching across the countertop and taking his hand.

Ira raised his head, his brown eyes shining with tears. He looked around at all of them, and finally, his gaze settled on Storm .

“We need weapons,” he said. “Everybody get a weapon. Alex, Luke, get the holy water. It’s already starting.”

“What’s starting?” Storm asked as Alex and Luke rushed to the weapons table across the room.

Ira sniffled hard. “The guild is under attack.”

Storm’s heart lurched. It took him far too long to identify the emotion as fear .

“Nathan,” he croaked.

Ira nodded, speaking frantically. “He’s there. Everyone is there. The possessors—they found a way to make it work. Weston—it was a trap. It was all part of the kalmach’s plan. We have to go. They’ll need our help.”

“We can’t cross the property line.” Storm focused on his breaths, keeping them even and deep, to combat the panic that threatened to swallow him whole. Nathan was there, being ambushed with the guild. Storm had to help him .

“That won’t be a problem. They’ve disabled the wards. The demons—there are so many…” Ira shook his head, as though to focus. “We have to help. There are bad people in the guild, yes, but just as many who are good . Nathan, Isaac, Judah, Daniel, the children .”

Alex turned a wide-eyed gaze toward Talon, his arms full of sheathed swords. “Talon,” he entreated.

Talon nodded, cupping the side of Alex’s neck with one hand. “Yes, we’ll help, little bird.” He lifted one of the swords from Alex’s arms, looking dubious. “I’ve never been on this end of one of these before.”

Storm took one of the swords and met Alex’s eyes. “Let’s go. I don’t know the way, so I’ll follow behind you and Talon.”

The rest of them grabbed swords—even Shadrach. And then they were all rushing out to the parking lot and piling into the cars. To Storm’s surprise, Ira clambered into the truck with him, and Wolf followed on his heels. Malachi and Luke took the backseat, and Shadrach climbed into the Viper with Talon and Alex.

“Why are you all in my truck?” Storm asked as he put it in drive and squealed tires pulling out after Talon’s sleek black sports car.

“Because there’s no point in taking all of our cars,” Malachi said.

“And you’ll drive like a maniac to get us there as fast as possible,” Wolf said.

“But not so crazy that you’d risk wrecking,” Ira added.

“All right, all right,” he groused, pulling out onto the highway. The engine roared under his foot. No matter how fast he tried to be, he couldn’t get there soon enough. He just hoped Nathan would be okay until he made it.

The ride was tense and quiet. Storm had to consciously relax his hands so he didn’t bend the steering wheel. The sun was hanging low on the horizon, molten colors streaking across the sky, when Ira sucked down a sharp breath and pointed.

“Up ahead there. You see that?”

A plume of dark gray rose into the air above the trees.

Luke leaned forward. “That’s smoke.”

“That’s the guild.” Ira’s voice was strangled, and Wolf laid a hand on his knee.

“You stay here,” Wolf told him. “You’re not a fighter.”

“No, screw that! I’m coming. I have to help. I can at least help Principal Barker get the kids to safety.”

Wolf blew out a hard breath. “Ira…”

“I’m not staying in the car,” he said harshly.

Wolf opened his mouth to speak, but the cheerful jingle of a ringtone interrupted him. With a growl, he dug his phone from his pocket and put it on speaker.

“What’s up?”

“ How do you guys want to do this? ” It was Talon. “ Alex says we’re getting close .”

Storm looked at Ira. “You saw it. What are we running into? How do we approach?”

“Um.” Ira smoothed the loose strands of hair behind his ears, his brown face paler than normal. “The gate’s open. We can just drive right in. We—We should go to the admin building. It’s the main building at the front of the compound. It’s where most of the demons descended when they broke the wall.”

“ How did they break the wall?” Luke asked. “How the hell did this happen?”

“They had explosives,” Ira said hollowly. “Breaking the wall broke the wards.”

“ Shit ,” Alex murmured through the speaker.

“ How likely are we to be killed on sight for showing up here ?” Shadrach drawled.

“You all look human,” Ira said. “Soon enough, the possessor demons won’t. That’ll be enough for most people to overlook you.”

“What?” Storm asked. “What does that mean?”

“It means they perfected the drug,” Ira said. “They’re going to break out.”

“ Oh my god ,” Alex breathed. “ How many? ”

Ira’s eyes were glassy with unshed tears, his gaze unfocused with remembered horror. “I don’t know.”

The wall became visible first, running alongside the road. They couldn’t see the hole from here, but the smoke was a heavy gray cloud above. Talon barely slowed as his sports car skidded through the open gate. Storm did the same as best as his larger truck would allow.

“Where was Nate?” he asked suddenly.

The admin building, directly up ahead where the circular drive was leading them, was also smoking. One wall had fallen in, and men and women were visible both inside and out. Some had swords, and some had guns .

“ Nate said he was going to talk to Weston ,” Alex said. “ He would’ve been around back, where the jail is. We have no idea if he’d still be there, though. ”

“I’m going there,” Storm said, stopping crookedly at the edge of the drive behind Talon’s car. “I have to find him.”

“We’ll help you get there,” Luke said as they all spilled from the truck. Talon, Alex, and Shadrach joined them. They all left the sheaths behind and turned toward the broken building.

Screams and shouts filled the air, interspersed with demonic snarls and guttural hisses. The pop and crack of gunfire set Storm’s teeth on edge. The demons had brought guns ? Guns gave them too much of an advantage. It would be all too easy for Nathan to take a stray bullet. He’d never had Storm’s blood to help him heal. A bullet would kill him. Hell, a bullet to the head or heart would still kill any of the other Rink humans, but at least they stood a chance if it landed anywhere else. What if Nathan was bleeding out somewhere, and Storm was too late?

Ira grabbed his arm, his eyes wide but his jaw set firmly, shaking Storm from his spiral. “Don’t panic. You can do this.”

Storm nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”