“Come on, Romeo, let’s get him.”
Ciar
I watch her when she isn’t looking. The question from when I first met her is lingering in my mind...what is she? I’m patient, but seeing that memory of her being tortured as a child for wanting a friend only raises more questions, but I know I can’t ask her. She isn’t ready and she will shut down, use it as an excuse to keep me out. So I wait, watching, protecting, and reassuring. I had never seen my Bella so nervous, so fucking devastated simply because I saw her memories. If only she saw mine from a kid, it would make her feel better.
We are both damaged, unloved by our parents. Tortured, hurt, and forgotten. I was never the strongest or the most powerful of my brothers, so I blended into the background, into the dark. It was hard to stand out in a house filled with gods...maybe that’s why I’m so over the top, always drawing attention now.
My mate and I have more in common than we could have ever thought. Pushing my thoughts away, I focus on the mission. We are close, she didn’t tell me how she knew and I didn’t ask, knowing she wouldn’t answer. She seems okay now, though, not hurt and back to herself, which settles me down enough to concentrate on the fallen I have to find.
We enter the city, winding through a forest that gives away to tarmac and skyscrapers. She drives like she knows exactly where she’s going, but when we get to the other side of town she hesitates and looks at me. “He is somewhere around here,” she offers, nibbling on her lip. “I don’t know exactly where though.”
That’s my cue. Time to show off a little and prove to my mate how strong and powerful I can really be, so she never has to worry about being unsafe ever again. Until now I had been hiding it, not wanting anyone to feel me awake or read me as a threat, but now? Now I don’t care. Let them come, let them see that I have such a powerful mate. If they try to kill us, to attack us for power or out of fear, then we will destroy them. Together.
Winking at her, I get out of the car, and she follows me onto the side where I stand. I let my power flow out of me and into the city, touching anyone and everything. I feel the humans, could get into their heads and control them if I wanted, but I don’t, I pass them by, stroking every supernatural’s mind. I feel them all look towards me with fear in their eyes at the ancient power crossing their awareness.
I stroke through their powers, discarding those I don’t need, but one makes me a falter, located in a destination out to the left of us. I turn towards it without thinking, feeling his power...a god? Interesting, but he offers no threat. He tips his head in acknowledgment of my power and I move along, finding a fallen up in the air, but it’s not the one we want. This one is hunting a woman, his mate.
Where are you?
Then I feel him. He’s trying to conceal himself deep within a nest on the edge of the city not far from here. She was right. He is scared, and waiting for the council? To betray my mate. I feel no one else with him, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t have told anyone, wanting whatever credit he thinks he will gain for turning her in for himself.
He’s strong, but we are stronger. I pull back before he notices and gets spooked and then look at my mate to see her gaping at me. Did she feel all that?
“Fuck yes I did, vamp. You have been holding back,” she mutters, shaking her head.
“I’ve got to have some surprises to keep you interested,” I tease, and she smirks as she starts to walk in his direction.
“Is that right? I suppose I do get bored easily,” she purrs.
Grabbing her hand, I twine our fingers together, and a thrill goes through me from being able to touch her like this. Mate.
“Calm down, Romeo. Killing first, then we can do all the touching you want,” she scoffs, but she squeezes my hand and doesn’t let go, even as she tugs off her other glove, stretching her fingers like they are aching.
We pass a shop just as the door opens and a blonde comes out with a knowing grin on her face, her eyes flashing black for a moment. She passes Bella, accidently catching her, and my mate freezes, her bare hand inadvertently touching the woman.
She stops next to me, her eyes faraway for a moment, locked on the blonde retreating down the sidewalk with a swing of her hips. There’s an aura around her, a power, something dark and old...and familiar, but I can’t place it. I look at my mate to see her shaking her head as she sucks in a breath, quickly drags her gloves on, and looks at me. She must see my question.
“Wow, did you see that?” she asks, and I shake my head, looking back to where the woman was, but she’s gone.
“No, who was she? What did you see?” I question curiously, as we start to walk again. She pulls me along as we head towards the fallen, her mission still in her mind, so what she must have seen can’t be too bad.
“I don’t know who she was...but she was powerful. So fucking powerful I could taste it. I saw some of her current life and future, she will be important, Ciar. Very important. She will shake up this world, turn it on its head, and if we don’t interfere...”
“Yes?” I prompt.
“Well, let’s just say we one day will meet again, but as equals. As long as we don’t interfere, otherwise it won’t become the future.” She looks at me then, her eyes older and wiser, she sees it all. “And we need it to be, this world needs it to happen. Or the death count will be unimaginable.” She blinks and smiles. “Anyway, ready to kill?”
I want to ask for more, but I have a feeling she doesn’t even know herself. Clairvoyants are like that, only seeing for a moment. A knowing, prophecies, and if that blonde woman is part of one, I pray she makes it out alive, especially if Bella felt so strongly that we needed her to.
That’s when I realise why she felt so familiar. She reminded me of my brother, her power is the same—a skinwalker. How strange.
Bella
We find him easily enough. Honestly, I was expecting it to be harder after we spent the last week or so hunting him. After all this worry and panic, I now have a chance to stop it, to keep myself and my mate safe. Because I know when they turn on us, hunting me, he will be right there with me. Killing, protecting, but it won’t be enough, and I don’t want to risk him. I want a life, and it’s within reach now. Only one fallen stands in the way of that, and I have never been so determined before, never had so much on the line.
He’s in what looks like a fallen halfway house. I heard of them from Raph. They are places for the council’s soldiers to stay when on missions or on the road, like a safe house. I only sense him inside though, clearly waiting for his meeting with the council to tell them what I am and help hunt me down.
“Do you have a plan?” Ciar inquires, I think more out of interest than worry.
I look at him and wink, starting to walk backwards to the front door. “Sure I do, kick down the door and kill his ass.”
He grins as he watches me. “I’ll take the back door,” he offers.
“Hope you’re talking about the house!” I call, as I watch him start to walk away, and I see him stumble in shock and turn to me. Laughing, I leap up the steps to the front door and hammer on the wood. When I glance over my shoulder, Ciar is gone, so I turn back, waiting patiently. I hear a whirr, a camera no doubt, but no one answers.