Devil Inside, page 44
“Are you going to answer them?” Harley asked. She was already forming a plan on how to make the woman talk. “Hey,” she said looking at Nya over her shoulder. “You want to use the wire again?”
“Sure,” Nya said with a smile. “It worked last time.” She pulled the bundle out of the pocket of her sweat pants and handed it to Harley.
The Burner’s eyes widened at the sight of the sharp, pointy, silver wire. She licked her lips and finally spoke. “I guess you have something creative in mind for that wire, huh?” Her voice was calm despite her situation.
“Yep,” Harley answered. “You’re Amber, right?”
“I am,” she answered. The Ignis sighed. “And I’m going to die either way, right?”
“Right.”
“So, if I tell you what I know—you won’t use that wire. And you’ll kill me quick.”
“Exactly.” Harley was pleasantly surprised by the Burner’s attitude. If she hadn’t picked up on the fact that the woman not only distributed drugs to local dealers, she also sold drugs to the kids that she taught at a nearby high school, she would almost consider letting her live.
“Fine,” the Ignis said. She wasn’t weak or scared. She just knew the reality of the situation and was choosing to go out with dignity.
“Who do you get your drugs from?” Harley asked her. She took a deep breath. She could smell the chemicals somewhere in the house.
The woman didn’t seem surprised by her question. “His name is Danny. I text him and he texts me back with a pick up location. If you are trying to find him, though, you are going to have a problem. I just got my shipment from him yesterday. He’s not going to meet with me to give me more. It’s against policy. And if I try he will know something is up.”
Harley sighed and looked at Nya and Levi. “Any ideas?” she asked them. Neither of them answered while they thought.
“I have one,” Amber said.
Harley scowled at her. “Why are you being so helpful?”
The Ignis woman shrugged and winced as the silver wire dug into her skin. “You’re going to kill me either way. I’m not stupid. I’d rather not suffer any more than necessary. I’ve heard of you, you know.” She smiled at Harley.
“Excuse me?” Harley asked, feeling her blood run cold. Levi and Nya tensed at the woman’s words.
“Yeah,” Ignis said. “Look, do me a favor. Cut the wires off. I’ll tell you what I know and I’ll even help you find who you are looking for. I’m not going to fight you. There’s no way I would win. I know that. Like I said, this is going to happen and I’d rather it be as quick as possible.” Harley looked at her doubtfully. “OK, OK. The other reason I’m being so helpful is because I really hate that asshole Cutter.”
Harley’s heartbeat slammed in her chest at Cutter’s name. She didn’t need to look to Nya or Levi to know their reactions were the same. Using the serrated edge at the base of her knife she snapped the wires from the Burner’s wrist and the woman shook her hands to relieve the burning stripes in her skin. Harley left the wires on her ankles. The woman’s socks protected her skin from direct contact with the silver wire so the skin wasn’t actually burning. The Burner didn’t complain or try to convince her to free her feet.
“I have heard that there was a Nocte woman that was hunting Cutter. I am assuming that is you, right?”
“Yep.”
Amber nodded. “I don’t have a way to contact him directly. But I know that he is meeting a friend of mine to drop off a shipment of salts that’s going to be taken south.”
Harley’s Nocte growled. “When is the shipment drop?”
“Thursday afternoon at my high school near the beach.” Amber gave them address and time of the meeting.
That gave them three days to prepare. “A school?” Harley confirmed.
“Yeah. School’s not in session right now. But we have meetings often enough that no one would pay attention to cars in the parking lot.”
“Why should we trust you?” Harley knew the question was cliché and moot at this point. But she felt compelled to ask it anyway.
“You’ve met Cutter. Is there much to like about him?” she laughed humorlessly and Harley shrugged her agreement.
“Who told you about me?”
“Cutter has put the word out. We are supposed to kill you on sight.”
“Lovely,” Levi muttered from behind Nya.
“So, Cutter knows I’m in L. A.?”
“I guess he figured that you would be eventually,” Nya said from behind her.
“What do you know about the Rogue?” Harley asked Amber.
“The what?” The Ignis was genuinely confused.
“The one responsible for the killings—of the Lux and the Nocte and the humans.”
Amber shrugged. “I didn’t think that it was anyone in particular. I just figured it was Cutter expanding his territory or something.”
Harley nodded. The woman was telling the truth and there wasn’t anything else that she could help them with. Again, Harley felt a nag of regret at having to kill the woman who had been so helpful. But then she remembered the things this Ignis was guilty of. “Do you like being an Ignis? Do you enjoy the things that you do?”
Amber’s eyes flashed and her previously passive face shifted into a look of hunger. “Of course. Don’t you like being a Nocte?”
It was the only reminder that Harley needed as to what she needed to do. She killed the Ignis quickly with a knife to her heart since none of them needed to feed and the three of them left the small apartment.
“Didn’t that seem entirely too easy?” Harley asked as they made their way back to their hotel.
“If this were a movie,” Nya laughed. “This would be the point that we rush into the trap that was just set up by one of the bad guys.” Anyone who didn’t know them well would never be able to tell just how much they hurt over Cassandra’s death. But Harley could see it. Nya’s eyes didn’t burn quite as madly as they normally did. There was levity behind the hazel that indicated the heaviness of her heart. Levi kept rubbing his face. It was a clear indication that he was stressed. Harley hadn’t seen Evie or Rafe since finding Cassandra, but she knew they would show it as well. As much as Harley hated Rafe, he was Praesidio. He wasn’t an enemy. He would be just as upset by his teammate’s death as the rest of them. Maybe more so if he was feeling any guilt. Harley’s own grief was a bruised heart and ached with each beat.
Levi, who had been leading the way, looked over his shoulder at the two women. “That’s the feeling that I’m getting here. Maybe we should send Castor and his crew to the meeting to see if it really is a trap.”
He turned back and continued to walk as Harley gaped at his back. Nya snorted with barely contained laughter beside her. Levi was being serious she realized ,he wasn’t being funny or ironic. She couldn’t help but wonder how much of the suggestion was intentionally callous.
Chapter 41
Back in their hotel room, Nya, Levi, Harley, and Evie all met to debrief. Their suspicions were confirmed when Evie shared her report. After Cassandra’s death, she had taken over the lead of their team. She had also come across an Ignis who had told her virtually the same things that Amber had. Evie had been told that a drop was happening the following afternoon.
“So, apparently, Cutter wants us to find out about the drop,” Levi said.
“Apparently so,” Evie replied.
“So how do we play this?” Harley asked. “I just can’t believe that Cutter would be stupid enough to believe that we wouldn’t figure this out.”
“Maybe he didn’t care if we did or not,” Levi answered. “Maybe he figured that your desire for revenge would be strong enough that you wouldn’t care if it was a trap.”
Harley bristled at the idea. She hated Cutter’s arrogance. She really hoped that when they found him she would get the chance to torture him before she killed him. Her Nocte purred in agreement.
Evie had been silent since giving her report. “How do we attack someone who is expecting us to attack them?” The five of them drifted back into silence as they mulled the question over.
“We don’t,” Nya finally said quietly.
“What?” Harley asked her surprised.
“We don’t. They are expecting us to attack them. They will be prepared for that. So we need a way to catch them off guard.”
They were all silent as they mulled over the possibilities. Harley watched Levi pace his familiar path across the room. Nya was still as she contemplated the options. Evie sat at the edge of her chair and braided strands of her California blonde hair distractedly. Harley could feel the wheels turning inside her head as she mulled over the situation. Suddenly her mental gears clicked home. “I’ve got it,” she jumped to her feet. Everyone looked at her expectantly. “Cutter is expecting us to make an attack on him. Come in with guns blazing. We’ve already agreed that that would be a stupid thing to do. He is going to be prepared for that. Instead, we need to catch him off guard.”
“OK,” Levi agreed. “How do we do that?”
Harley explained her idea. Her excitement grew in her gut. She just knew that this would work. This was their chance to capture Cutter. They needed to make sure that he carried their message to the Rogue. They knew that he was the only one who was able to contact the Rogue. So far, the Rogue had been little more than rumor among the Burners on the street. No one that low level was going to be able to contact the Rogue Lux. It had been hard enough to find some way to contact Cutter. If they didn’t take this chance they could spend weeks, months—years even—trying to find Cutter and the Lux. They knew that they didn’t have that long. They needed to stop the Rogue as soon as they could. The more power he got, the more followers he would acquire, the harder it would be to stop him. If they didn’t stop him there would be plenty of more murders—human, Nocte and Lux. That was the very least possible outcome. They still didn’t know exactly what the Rogue’s plan was—but they needed to stop it and soon.
After Harley laid out her plan everyone thought it over for a moment. There was minimal arguing and debating and more than a little tweaking before everyone was in agreement that they had a good plan. It would involve the least amount of casualties with the least amount of attention from the public possible. They could gather guns and a small army and attack the school. But there was no way the public wouldn’t notice and call the police and complicate the entire situation.
“So, it’s a plan,” Nya said. “Harley, can you talk to Castor now? Or do you need to wait for sunrise?”
Harley looked at the pile of her stuff sitting on the table. She had noticed that there was an extra key card sitting there just before they left to hunt at sundown. She hadn’t seen Cas leave it, but she knew it was his key. She could smell him on it and it even held some of his warmth. “No,” said. “I can go wake him up.” Not looking at the others she picked the key up and put it in her pocket. She turned to leave the room as Nya stretched out across the bed and turned the TV on. Levi caught her before she made it to the door. He didn’t say anything, or look angry. But his eyes blazed as he gripped her arm firmly and kissed her before she left. The kiss was rough and quick but it caused her stomach flip flop. She smiled at him before she opened the door and it took a lot of effort for her to not roll her eyes at his territory claiming.
Using the key card, Harley quietly entered Castor’s room. The room was so dark that if she had been human she wouldn’t have even been able to see the bed. Cas was sleeping peacefully on his stomach and she felt bad for waking him up. She crawled onto the bed as gently as she could but Cas was apparently a light sleeper.
“If you are going to wake me up in the middle of the night you had better at least be naked.” He sounded like his face was buried in a pillow. Harley didn’t ask how he had known it was her so quickly. It was same way that she could tell that he or Levi were within ten feet of her. It was like knowing where her hand was without having to look.
“Well, I’m not presently naked—but I could be…”
She crawled on top of Cas as he rolled onto his back. She placed her hands on his chest and smiled down at him. He sighed with contentment and she could tell he liked the idea of her sitting on top of him. Concentrate, dammit! There is a reason you are here, she told herself, trying to stay focused on the task at hand. “I come with news. And a plan.”
“OK,” Cas said. “First thing first though.” He began pulling her shirt over her head. She started to protest but finally gave up laughing.
“OK, OK.” Pleasure before business, Harley decided letting Castor pull her clothes off. Once he had her shirt and bra off he sat up in the bed pulling her closer to him. He ran his face over her neck and chest. She could feel his breath sweep over her skin and it caused the hairs on her arms and neck to rise and her breath catch. He softly kissed his way up her throat to her ear where he caught the lobe between his lips. His breath rushed across her ear and her stomach muscles shuddered. Harley gripped Castor’s short hair and gritted her teeth. It took all of her self control to not shove him back against the bed and have her way with him. Instead, she fought the urge so that she could enjoy his soft teasing.
Harley’s Nocte was eagerly striving for control but she resisted for as long as she could. Castor’s slow, soft touch prolonged their desire and Harley could feel the tension building inside her. When she couldn’t stand it any longer she rose to her knees and Castor unbuttoned her jeans. Working together they removed her pants and his shorts, not breaking eye contact during the whole process. Castor’s eyes had faded to their strange whiteness and Harley could feel the darkness of her own. As she lowered herself onto him Cas wrapped his hands in her hair and sighed against her mouth.
When Harley sank her teeth into Castor’s artery the rush of warm, bright light drowned out the noise of her thoughts. Castor’s energy flowing through her helped Harley calm her mind. It didn’t take away the memory of seeing two of her friends dead, but it soothed her nonetheless. The white noise that always came along with his feeding was less disturbing this time than it was comforting. She ran her hand along Castor’s back and he sighed softly. It brought a smile to her face in spite of her attempts to stop herself from caring too much about the Lux.
Afterwards, she lay with Castor as he fell back to sleep. She had told him of their plans and he, predictably, had argued why it was a bad idea. However, in the end he had agreed it was the best they had come up with so far. Sighing, she rolled onto her back. As much as she hated to admit it, she enjoyed the soft comfort that Castor inspired in her. It was a quiet to the storm of her life. Harley shivered against the cold as she got dressed and left Castor’s room.
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Harley returned to her and Levi’s room. She had stayed with Castor until the sun had begun to rise, but she had finally left before he woke. She could still felt the lingering buzz of energy after feeding from Castor. When she let herself into the room Levi had just gotten into bed and she crawled in to join him. She let him pull her close and even relaxed against his chest.
“Is everything set?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Harley answered. Cas had agreed to their plan because he couldn’t come up with anything that sounded better.
Levi tightened his arms around her. She was somewhat surprised by the fact that Levi never questioned what she did with Cas. She knew he wasn’t stupid—he knew what was going on. Harley also knew that he didn’t not say anything because he didn’t care. He did care. She could feel it in the way he looked at her and touched her. But, she refused to ask him about it—it was a conversation she just didn’t have the energy for yet. Harley sighed as the Lux energy coursing through her finally began to dissipate. As she absorbed it, it settled into her body and left her feeling as at ease as Levi’s dark energy did when she fed from him. She wondered if he could pick up on any changes in her after feeding from the Lux. If he did he didn’t mention it and, again, she didn’t ask.
Chapter 41
Early the next afternoon Nya, Evie, Levi and Harley waited for Castor to check in. The Nocte weren’t used to being up this early and the daylight’s effect was showing on them. Evie sat at the small table while Nya and Harley sat on the bed and Levi leaned against the dresser. With everyone here Harley was even more aware of Cassandra’s absence but she refused to get sucked into those feelings right now. When Cas entered the room he looked uncomfortable under the scrutiny of so many Nocte. Harley distinctly saw Levi’s jaw tighten when Cas smiled at her but he said nothing. They all went over the plan again to make sure that everyone was on the same page. Cas stood near the door with his hands on his hips. He looked deceptively relaxed but Harley could pick up on the tension due to their connection. Levi continued to lean against the dresser with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked as calm as he always did but Harley could sense his unease as well. She just didn’t know what the primary cause for his tension was. Her, Cas, or the fight they had ahead of them or all of the above.
After going over the plans Cas turned to leave but Levi stopped him.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Castor looked back at him with a wary look. “Sure,” he turned with his hand on the door knob.
Levi motioned towards the door. “I’ll walk down with you.” They both left the room with no further explanation and not even a backwards glance at Harley.
When they were both gone Harley looked to the other women, bewildered. Levi didn’t seem like he was angry or looking for a fight but she couldn’t fathom why he wanted to talk to Cas alone.
“What was that?” The rest of the Nocte looked as confused as she felt. Harley let out a heavy sigh. “I’m going to have to choose eventually aren’t I?”
“Well, when you do, make sure that you choose the hot sexy one,” Nya answered with a completely straight face. To her credit Evie waited maybe five whole seconds before she busted out laughing with Nya. The light moment felt good in contrast to how they had all been feeling.
