Page 22

Neith

“T here’s nothing here,” I say.

It only takes me a few moments to realize that we’re just looking at a blank parking lot, there’s absolutely no sign of what happened here.

“You may not be able to see anything, but I can smell it,” River says with a frown as he inhales deeply.

“Is it the same smell as the other hybrids had?” Raiden asks.

River nods, “Yeah, it’s definitely the same. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that this hybrid was created by the same person as the others.”

“I guess that’s good news,” Griff says. “At least we don’t have to worry about two psychopaths out there trying to create hybrids.”

“Good point,” Evander replies. “Alright, let’s spread out and see what we can find. If you go into the surrounding woodland, don’t go too far, and don’t go by yourself. I’m not taking the risk.”

“Got it,” Reed replies.

We all spread out, looking around the whole of the parking lot and not just the area where the hybrid was. Just because there isn’t any physical evidence right here doesn’t mean that there isn’t elsewhere. We are dealing with someone who is so meticulous in what they are doing that he leaves absolutely no trace of his presence behind, and it means that we need to be just as meticulous when we look for evidence.

As I step closer to the treeline to see if there is anything in there that can help us, that same feeling that I got when I walked that lonely stretch of road near my little house flares to life, and I have to fight the urge to turn and run.

“Do you feel that?” I ask Ransom, who is walking beside me.

He nods, “Yeah. It feels wrong.”

“Guys, I think we may have found something,” I say and they all jog over. Frowns take over their features as soon as they near us and feel what we are.

“There was a similar feeling at the woods where two of our agents died,” River says.

We all head further into the woods, following the feeling instead of moving away from it.

“You know there is a really good chance that he’s dead,” Griff says when we have been walking for a while.

“Yeah, they don’t tend to last very long after they have been spotted,” River agrees.

“I wonder if whoever is making them is letting them go on purpose so that he can somehow watch them and see what happens, like an experiment?” I ask and then add, “Well obviously he or she is letting them go, they can’t all be escaping, it’s being done on purpose.”

The guys all stop walking.

“Shit, you’re right. Why has that never occurred to us?” Reed asks.

Doc shakes his head, “I don’t know. Not all of them are released, there are more that we know have been taken thanks to River’s nose detecting the scent at the places they disappeared. Not all of them showed back up again.”

“I would be willing to bet that those ones didn’t survive what the fucker is doing to them,” Raiden suggests. “He’s letting the ones that survive the experiments free, to see how long they survive, what their behavior is like and all of that sort of thing.”

“The definition of a mad scientist,” I say with a grimace.

“A psychopathic mad scientist,” River agrees. “Come on, let’s keep going and see if we can find the hybrid that ate the other guy, the guy who got eaten, or even some piece of evidence that could help us find the sick fuck and put him away for good.”

We all agree and push forward and end up searching the woods and then back into the parking lot for a good few hours, trying to make sure that we don’t miss anything. River uses his nose, and Ransom scans the surrounding area with magic while the rest of us look for anything physical, and there’s just no trace of anything.

When the light starts to fade, and the temperature drops even more, we reluctantly call it a day.

“Well, that was a bust,” I say as I pull out of the lot, and we head back to the pub.

“Is anyone really surprised though?” Raiden asks.

“Nope,” Van agrees, sighing heavily.

Doc leans forward, “At least we have that last address to check out, the stone cabin? If he’s still alive, maybe he has gone there?”

“Yeah, I suppose it’s possible,” Van agrees. “I mean, if he is capable of thinking to a certain degree, then it would make sense for him to go somewhere where he feels safe.”

“That place is isolated, and as far as he knows, no one knows about it,” River adds. “It would be the perfect place to hide out.”

“Tomorrow though,” I say. “We need to eat. We skipped lunch and we need to get some sleep. We only got a couple of hours before we had to come here.”

Doc nods, “Neith’s right. We are no good to anyone if we are running on fumes.”

“Please tell me that Niamh’s place does food?” River practically begs.

I grin, “She serves the best food. She actually taught Sully’s chef.”

“Oh, thank fuck,” Griff grumbles.

I would laugh at how dramatic they are being about food but honestly, I am just as hungry as they are. I am pretty fucking surprised that my stomach isn’t making itself known and growling loudly.

Whereas the pub looks pretty and idyllic in the daylight, when the sun goes down, you really start to realize how isolated it is. It isn’t in the middle of the town but rather right on the edge, built to service the nearby villages. It is also quite popular, and we’re arriving at the pub’s busiest times, which means that we have to park the van in the overflow parking lot.

“Do you think that she’s going to have a table for us?” River asks, sounding worried.

I smile, “Don’t worry, we can always take it to go if she doesn’t.”

“Oh, do you think that she will let us do that anyway?” Evander asks. “It would be nice to get back to the house and settle in, make a plan for tomorrow, that kind of thing.”

I shrug, “I don’t see why not.”

What I don’t tell them is that when we get back to the house, we probably won’t be able to eat for a while.

As we’re walking through the darkened overflow parking lot, which is pretty much just a field, the hairs on the back of my neck start to stand up.

I hang back as the guys all walk through the pub doors, just trying to work out what it is I’m feeling.

Just as I’m about to give up, chalk it up to the events of the day, and follow the guys into the pub, my sword appears in my hand. This can’t be good.

“Dimitri’s going to be pleased,” a voice mutters from behind me, a voice I recognize.

Shit.

I spin around. My sword raised as he makes a dive for me. I need to get this fucker away from the pub. He is so incredibly dangerous, and I don’t want him anywhere near Niamh or the humans and supes inside the pub. I fight, pushing him back toward a dark corner of the main lot.

His eyes are lit with interest and excitement, this is so not good.

“What are you doing back in Ireland?” I ask him as I dodge a blow.

He grins, his sharp teeth flashing in the moonlight, “Business. Although now I feel like it may be for dinner.”

I pull a face, “That was so ridiculously cliché, really?”

Anger fills his features, “He never let me taste you, but you’re not under his protection anymore, are you? He won’t give a shit if I take my fill.”

His words make a small stab of hurt that I know I shouldn’t feel flash through me, and to be honest, it just pisses me off more.

As my sword clangs against his again, I ask, “Are you sure about that?”

It’s bullshit; Dimitri doesn’t give a shit anymore, and he probably would be happy to hear of my demise at the hands of the fucker, but it makes him falter, and that’s all I need.

“Neith!” Van calls.

“What the fuck?” I hear Reed add.

Time to end this, I don’t want the guys hurt by this fucker, and he has a unique ability that sort of means that he can turn into shadows, which makes him really fucking difficult to fight, and I have seen many people killed by him when he has snuck up behind them.

“Oh, isn’t this interesting,” he grins widely. “Maybe you are worth more alive anyway. Perhaps I’ll tell him where you are instead.”

His eyes start to cloud, a sure sign that he’s trying to open a communication line, and I would be willing to bet that it’s with Dimitri. Under no circumstances can Dimitri know where I am and what is going on. If he realizes that I am no longer working for HID and under their protection, then he will come for me. He doesn’t care about starting a war with other supernaturals.

I will not have the guys put in danger like that.

My sword buzzes in my hand, and I feel something within me stir. Using speed that I didn’t know I had, I duck his blade and then arc mine upward. My sword glows with gold-tinted black magic as it slices from his left hip up his body and through his left shoulder. His eyes widen in horror as his sword clatters to the floor, and his body crumples to the floor, landing in two separate halves, the light going out of his eyes.

“Whoa,” I mutter as I look at Asael. “That was fucking awesome, good job.”

“What the fuck just happened?” Reed asks urgently, although thankfully, he’s got the presence of mind to keep his voice low.

“Are you okay?” Ransom asks, his eyes running over me to make sure.

I nod, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Your sword sliced straight through him like he was fucking butter,” Raiden mutters, his eyes on the body on the floor.

“That was so fucking cool,” River says.

“Was that the glow that you mentioned that scared off the kelpies when they tried to eat you?” Doc asks curiously as he steps closer to the body on the floor.

I shake my head, “No, actually, that glow was like a golden burst of magic.”

“Maybe it has different colors for different things?” Evander asks, as they all move closer and create a barrier between the body and anyone who comes out of the pub.

“Or it’s your magic,” Raiden adds.

I grin, “You think? That would be so cool. It was so pretty.”

“Guys, I really think we should talk about what just happened and come back to how cool the sword and Neith are later,” Griff says.

“Shit, yeah,” Evander agrees and looks at me expectantly.

I point to the guy on the floor with my sword unnecessarily, it’s not like they aren’t going to know who I’m talking about, there aren’t any other sliced in half vamps around here.

“He works for Dimitri,” I explain, and the guys immediately tense, “he’s always been obsessed with tasting my blood, but Dimitri graphically threatened him with what would happen if he did. He saw you guys and obviously put two and two together and figured he’d tell Dimitri instead. Did you see his eyes begin to cloud?” They nod, and I continue explaining, “They do that when he is trying to open a communication line, I’m guessing with Dimitri. I have no idea if he managed to get through to him.”

“Oh, he got through to me, Beautiful,” Dimitri’s voice echoes around us, and the guys tense, their eyes scanning the space around us.

“He’s not here,” I say, and they look at me confused until I point to the head of the dead vamp. “I fucking hate it when you do that.”

The dead vamp’s lips move as Dimitri’s voice comes out, “I know, but we haven’t had a sighting of you for too long. Are you going to tell me where you are?”

I laugh, “Yeah, because that’s likely.”

“I need to talk to you,” he says, his voice sounding strange in a way that I can’t quite put a finger on.

“I’m sure you do,” I reply. I glance over at the guys who look very disturbed by this turn in events. I mime needing a lighter, and then mouth the word gas to Doc. Thankfully, he seems to understand what I’m trying to communicate with him because he conjures both a lighter and a can of gas, I take them both and start covering the body and head.

“Seriously, Neith,” Dimitri says.

“Oh, he used seriously and my name, that means I have to listen,” I reply in a voice that is obvious I’m not taking him seriously. The guys eyes widen even more at the way that I’m talking to him. I flick the lighter so that the flames burst to life, he can’t move the dead vamp’s body to see where he is but he can hear and see.

“You stupid cunt!” he bellows, “Don’t you fucking dare, you useless whore.”

I chuckle, “Ah, there he is. Bye, Dimitri.”

I drop the lighter, and the body goes up in flames with a whoosh.

His voice changes, “Fuck, no, that wasn’t, I . . .”

I frown, that sounds almost like panic. I shake my head. For fuck sake , Neith, don’t fucking fall for it. Stop looking for the person that he was. The flames quickly sever the connection that he has with the body. Asael disappears again, letting me know that the immediate threat is over, so at least I don’t have to worry about anyone else jumping out at me.

I jump as an arm wraps around my shoulders and then lean into the comfort when I realize that it's Griff.

He asks, “Are you okay?”

I shake my head, “Not really. He hasn’t been the person that I knew for a very long time, but for a moment then he sounded just like him. Not the harsh, dark, and ruthless person that everyone knows him to be now, but the person who helped save my life—the one who protected me and who I could count on for everything. Coen knew him too, that him. Not this one.”

The guys are silent for a moment as they absorb my words, although there is surprise in all of their eyes at the mention of Coen knowing Dimitri as well.

“It’s really difficult when someone changes so drastically, I’m sorry,” Griff says.

I look up and study his features, and I realize that he really means it. Most people find it difficult to feel anything other than fear when Dimitri is mentioned, and they definitely don’t understand how I can still be sad and miss him after he made me do jobs and stay with him. The thing that most people don’t realize is that the jobs that we did at first were actually helping people. Sure, we were doing it outside of the law, and some of it involved illegally getting into places or creatively getting information out of very bad people, but we were doing it to help people.

I know that sounds strange, but we helped wives who couldn’t escape their very powerful husbands, set them up with new identities, and all that. We brought down Fae sex rings and a couple of succubus and incubus ones where they were being used against their will. We found stolen goods and returned them back to their owners. We provided protection for high profile supes, and we found missing people and children.

Then something changed. Dimitri changed, and instead of wanting to help people, he wanted to hurt; I didn’t realize it at first, and when I did, I became very careful about looking into the jobs he gave me. I became a problem, and I’m still not sure why he didn’t kill me. The fight ring had been going on for a while before I found out about it, and he had me fight in it a couple of times. I was trapped, but I was biding my time gathering as much information on him as possible so I could put him behind bars. So, I played along, and I behaved, well, as much as I can behave.

Finally, I had enough. I contacted SID and let them know what was going on, and they contacted HID because I was human, and they didn’t have human liaisons at that point. I gave the information to HID, and fuck knows what they did with it. HID knew about my involvement with Dimitri and all of the things that I did outside of the law. They didn’t care that I did it to help people, and after that, I did it because I had no choice. So, they made me a deal, and that’s how I ended up working for them.

Swallowing around a lump of emotion and pushing the memories back, I say, “Thank you. I’ll explain it all to you guys one day.”

“We’ll be here when you’re ready,” Doc says.

“Okay, we need to get rid of the body properly before it gains attention,” Evander says.

“The good news is we’re in the middle of nowhere so hopefully it hasn’t already garnered attention,” River says, his gaze is on me and worried. As soon as he realizes that I’m looking at him he opens his arms for me.

Griff kisses the top of my head and then nudges me toward River. That’s the second time he’s done that now, and I have to admit that I really like it.