Reaching the gates, I turned around in time to notice Mindy watching me. Her head tilted, and a wicked grin played on her lips as she glanced at a witch I’d never seen before with raven-black hair with fluorescent-blue strands woven through it. The girl lifted her hand and waved at me with a saucy smile spread over her cherry lips.
“Catch me if you can, bitch,” she cooed, allowing the wind to carry the words toward me.
“Oh, sugar tits, I don’t need to capture you.” I drew my gun and shot through her palm before she realized my intent. “I just have to see you to make my point. Register. It protects you from other beings and them from you. It’s the law. Have a good day, though, Raven. Oh, and I’d bandage that. It looks painful.” I shoved my pistol back into the holster while Talia cackled at Raven’s horrified expression.
“That bitch shot me! She could have killed me,” she snapped.
Talia patted her back, snorting. “If Xariana wanted you dead, Raven, you’d be dead. She shot your hand as a courtesy to me and my home. That wasn’t a miss. She was aiming at what she hit.” I shook my head, listening until the sound of them talking dimmed to murmured bickering.
“I’m leaving.” I turned to nod at Talia, who observed me from the shadows, a worried crease on her forehead.
“Blessed be, child. May the earth watch over you and keep you safe and protected,” she whispered, allowing the prayer to carry to me. “Next time, shoot them in the knee. I love watching them drop when you do that to them.”
Chapter Fifteen
My team and I returned to the compound long enough for us to change and gather more hunters. I’d chosen a pair of jeans that weren’t tight but made my rounded ass look damn good. My leather boots complimented them, stopping just below the knee, and were loose enough to hide blades in their interior. The leather jacket I wore covered a plain, white t-shirt and concealed the twin 9mm Ruggers with custom grips, perfect for my small hands. Finally, I pulled my hair back in twin braids that started in the front of my head and wrapped around the back. It was the ideal attire for a hunt.
The call about demons openly feeding had come in less than thirty minutes ago. Apparently, Axton had decided to revise the rules of his club, allowing human patrons inside every day of the week. Disturbance calls began lighting up the police switchboards within hours of the rule change. We were notified immediately and were heading into town.
Standing on the Main Street strip that moved through downtown, I watched a lone female coming out of the club. A few moments later, a group of men trailed behind her. Her body language suggested she’d over drank and was having a hard time staying upright. One man slipped in beside her, moving his arm around her back to steady her on her feet.
I signaled my team to move ahead of me, not waiting for the woman to be drained of life before reaching the next block. Then, stepping from the sidewalk, I started down the road slowly, watching the arm at her waist, noting the pulsing tattoos. That alone gave away this predator’s breed and that he was preparing to feed on her.
Sadly, until he made his move, we couldn’t intervene on her behalf. Passing another club, I gagged at the stench of stale alcohol and sweat. Music played from several clubs, each one fighting to draw patrons into their interior.
Passing a lavish restaurant, I turned, peering inside. Midnight eyes locked with mine, but if Kieran recognized me, he hid it well as he helped a beautiful brunette into a long, white jacket. Focusing on the road, I paused, noticing the woman was gone from sight. Unfortunately, so were Onyx and Noah.
My hackles rose, and I stepped back, scanning the shadows when the doors of the restaurant opened, and Kieran and his date walked out into the evening air. I strode past them, hearing his date hiss at me.
“Half-breeds are so disrespectful these days, darling,” she whined, causing me to look in their direction as my brow rose in agitation.
Dismissing them, I searched the darkened street with the sensation of eyes burning into my spine. A whistle sounded, and I stopped cold, turning to see Axton standing in a dimly lit corner. He smiled, but there was something wicked dancing in his gaze. Looking back at where Onyx and Noah should have been, I swallowed down a growl as a demon slinked from the shadows, waving at me before pointing up to the top of the old brick buildings.
“You can save one, maybe. If you’re fast enough, half-breed,” he sneered, laughing menacingly. “You cannot save them both. Your choice, but I’d make it quickly; they’re about to swing. Who do you choose?”
I peered up, staring at Noah, before shifting my gaze to Onyx. Both were held teetering over the edge of two separate buildings. I could see the thick rope wrapped around their throats and knew what the demons intended to do.
“Decide,” he snarled, and Noah and Onyx screamed as I pulled my guns, never taking my eyes from them as I shot the ropes holding them suspended over the side of the buildings. Dropping my weapons, I made the split decision to use one of my suppressed abilities. I would do anything to save my friends—even going against my father’s wishes, teaching me long ago that many of my natural traits should be kept hidden for my safety. I ignited my power and threw my hands in the air, calling water from the ground. When they splashed safely into the levitating pools, I grabbed my dagger, thrusting my arm out and cutting through the throat of the demon that had ordered their death.
“Both, bitch,” I snorted, snapping my finger to release the water that had saved my teammates from dying.
The air beside me shifted, and I dropped, grabbing my gun to aim at a demon trying to stab me with a wicked-looking blade. Then, continuing to roll until I got my legs beneath me, I pushed off the ground with both guns fixed toward the darkness. I narrowed my gaze on Axton, who watched with a dispassionate expression.
Noah and Onyx rushed toward me, both reaching into my boots to retrieve blades as they took up positions around me. “That was a neat trick. Are we going to talk about that?” Noah asked.
“Not today.” My heart pounded, and blood echoed in my brain at the thought of exposing some of my power to the growing crowd. It would be handy if the toys they had in Men in Black existed in real life. Instead, I would need to relay to the press what to release in the morning news to cover this shit up. Typically, we played the whole film crew shooting a movie scene downtown card, donating a crap ton of money to the city to create a trail.
The shadows started to pulse, and I groaned. Werewolves and lone creatures slithered out, murder burning in their eyes. This hadn’t been a tip or an honest citizen calling it in. It was a fucking hit someone had paid to put into play.
“This is going to suck,” Noah muttered.
“If we go down, we do it together,” Onyx yelled, her tone holding hope that we weren’t about to be mauled to death.
“Fuck that,” I said. “The teams are in place already. We will all survive this. Ain’t no one got time to deal with that bullshit this week.” Growling, I fired the first shot at a wolf that walked off the sidewalk and onto the street. “If any of you assholes have a brain, you’ll run. Step one foot off that curb, and you get what you got coming to you. Understood?” I called over the music, still pumping from the bars.
When our pursuers advanced as one, I rolled my eyes. Idiots. My gun exploded, sending bullet after bullet at each creature without prejudice. A wolf barreled through the others, his body contorting with the change, marking him as an alpha. I popped off a round, breaking formation to take a head shot. Noah saddled closer to my exposed back, shooting in the opposite direction.