I hated running, especially without my magical caffeinated beans flowing through my system. My body ached, screaming in pain as I ran barefooted over the bushes covering the earth. I wasn’t stealthy or even anywhere close to being silent.
Branches smashed beneath my steps, and I entered the yard looking in each direction before running to the open gate, growling at the knowledge that whoever was here had slipped into the woods. I crept forward, forcing the pain from the fall to take a backseat as I tracked down the person who had been inside the house.
A branch broke to my left, and I shifted towards the sound. I released my safety, readying the weapon to fire at whoever had been stupid enough to be spying on me. Rounding a large boulder, I paused as my heart hammered in my ears, coursing blood through my veins.
Scanning the area, I started forward again, checking each crevice of the rocky terrain as I trailed through the forest. I could hear feet crunching through the path at my back, alerting me that my team was coming in hard and heavy on my heels. Birds chirped, and ravens squawked deeper in the forest, stirred up by the movement of my team.
Fighting to regain control of my breathing, I slowly slipped behind one of the large rocks, easing around it to ensure I wasn’t heading into a trap. I slid through the mud and barely contained the urge to groan as the slimy earth stuck to the bottom of my feet and between my toes.
Coming out on the other side of the rocky gorge, I glanced down at a boot print left behind. Smiling at the irony of it irking me and leaving a trail to follow, I started down a narrow pathway. Creeping around a corner, I felt the barrel of a gun pressing against my forehead as I stared into moss green eyes, trembling while also holding my pistol aimed at her head. I didn’t buy into the fact that this woman was blood, because my father wouldn’t have deceived me. He wouldn’t be that guy, since it would sever our trust if he had lied to me about something this important.
“Who the fuck are you?” I demanded through clenched teeth, glaring at her.
“We need to talk, Xariana. Your life is in danger,” the woman whispered, removing the gun barrel from my head, even though I didn’t return the favor. “You don’t trust me because you don’t know me. I understand that more than you think. If they took your father, then they’re here looking for what he has concealed from them. They will come for you. You need to stay hidden, do you hear me? Remain in the light, Xariana, and away from the shadows, for he hides within them. God, you’re so beautiful. You look like my mother. Did he tell you about me? Did he tell you who I am?”
“He told me the woman you’re pretending to be died many years ago, and I believe him. So, I will ask you this one more time before I pull the trigger. Who the fuck are you?” I carefully noted each detail of her face was a dead ringer for my Aunt Sandra.
Branches crunched from multiple directions, taking my focus away from her for a second. I turned back, staring at the air that was vacant of anything or anyone. Noah burst into the clearing beside me, his footsteps barely making a sound over the dried-up vegetation. He paused, aiming his weapon in the same direction as mine, turning to look at me.
I blinked slowly, searching the area until Micah approached from the path where we had our guns aimed. Silently, I lowered mine and exhaled the air I’d been holding in my lungs. Either I was going insane, or I’d just come face-to-face with a ghost.
“We need to get more salt,” I stated, turning to Noah, who frowned before sliding his attention through the empty forest around us.
“Who the hell are we chasing?” he asked, putting the safety on his weapon before shoving it into his jeans.
I did the same, pushing it into the waistband of the yoga pants I’d found in my mother’s dressers. My body ached and would be bruised from jumping from the balcony. It hadn’t seemed that far down, but I could feel the bruises already spreading.
“How the hell did you get past the door? Kaderyn was at the back, and I was at the front,” Onyx grumbled, scratching her dark head.
“I jumped out the window,” I admitted.
“You jumped from the second-floor window?” Micah asked, creasing his brow as he pushed his gun into the holster.
“Balcony, but yeah,” I grunted. “I didn’t land gracefully either.” I limped back to the path, grimacing when I stepped into the mud again, but I stopped, staring down at the boot print. Kneeling in front of it, the others paused to inspect it.
“I’d say size thirteen, easily,” Noah said, while holding his foot against the imprint. It was larger than his, and the shoe didn’t look to be name brand. He peered around us, slowly scratching his head before he spoke. “Was the person you were chasing inside the room you slept in, Xari?”
“Yeah, I woke up and saw a shadow in the curtains. They jumped, and I followed them out here,” I confirmed, keeping the fact that it was my dead aunt to myself.
“You didn’t see them?” Kaderyn asked, moving behind Micah to look around for more prints.
“No, just the shadow. Then it leaped over the edge, and I gave chase. I haven’t even had coffee yet. You think I’d be out here if it wasn’t something I thought should be hunted down?” I muttered, slowly starting up the hill to the house.
“You haven’t been sleeping well, Xari,” Noah snorted, shaking his head when I opened my mouth to argue. “We understand. Trust us, we know. There’s a lot of shit happening, and everything is crashing down around us. Your dad’s missing, and that should take priority, but we don’t have a clue as to where to start looking. We have every motherfucker we know out helping to look for him. You ran a grid search for clues, and it came back with nothing. We have bodies piling up and people shutting us out because they think they have a new savior in town. Right now, you’re under a lot of stress, and we get it. Let us help you. You should be delegating jobs, and you keep forcing everyone to remain in teams. That isn’t helping.”
“Noah is right, Xari. You need your team, and we’re here to help, so let us. You can’t do this one alone,” Kaderyn stated, enforcing Noah’s words. I looked at the others, watching them nod in agreement.
“He’s my dad.” I swallowed past the tears in my throat. “I am doing what he would do.”
“You’re not Xavier, though. Are you? You’re his daughter. You can delegate tasks and send out teams. But you have to stay healthy, and you’re hardly sleeping. You are barely eating, living off caffeine and protein bars. Hell, you walked into a fucking club of assassins wearing a bomb!” Micah exploded. “You’re not immune to iron, Xar. You’re not, and you can’t tell us you are. We are your fucking people. Don’t shut us out. That’s all we’re trying to say. Let us in so we can help.”
“I just saw my dead aunt,” I blurted, watching their jaws drop at the words I’d been holding back. “Yeah, so what can you do about that? I’ll wait while you formulate a fucking plan to get an exorcist up in this bitch.”
“You’re certain it was her?” Noah pushed his fingers through his dark hair, staring at me like I’d grown a second head.
“I had my gun on her forehead while she held hers to mine. It felt real to me. She told me I was in danger if my father had been taken. Then she vanished, disappearing into thin air. It sounds insane, and even more so when said out loud.”