Chapter 20 Hello Beastie
Cecil would admit Sin’s office was very posh.
The floors and walls of the room were wooden, and the man’s desk was mahogany.
Two old-looking lights hung on the wall behind the desk, and bookshelves lined the right and left.
There were three reddish-brown, plush leather wing-back chairs in the room, one behind the desk and two in front.
The two in front of the desk were currently facing each other. Cecil was sitting in one and Sin the other. The chair was comfortable as fuck, and Cecil couldn’t even enjoy it. He couldn’t enjoy any of it. Because he was fucking pissed.
Glaring at Sin, Cecil tried to appear fierce with the hope of striking fear. It wasn’t working. At most, Cecil would say Sin appeared regretful, but not the least bit afraid.
“I apologize for not saying anything sooner.”
Eyes still ‘fierce’, Cecil smiled sweetly, crossing his legs as he leaned back in his chair. “So, let me get this straight. You’re telling me that tonight you and your little band of merry immortals are planning to jump knee-deep into a shitshow of guns, power, blood, and guts?”
“Yes…?” Sin said hesitantly.
“And you’ve known about said shitshow, which is taking down men who sell people for funsies, for weeks, and are only just now telling me?”
The man winced and nervously pulled at his tie. “Yes?”
“And these said men just so happen to know my father, who, big shocker, is involved in said selling of said people.”
“Yes,” Sin parroted.
“Is yes all you can say? Why the hell didn’t you tell me sooner?!” Cecil snapped.
Sin had been attending a lot of meetings since they’d arrived days ago, but Cecil had thought it had been normal.
Did Sin not trust him? Did he think Cecil would have tried to stop him? Not that he liked the idea of Sin going into battle. The man didn’t seem very violent, but Cecil would never interfere with his duties.
“I didn’t want you to worry about what I’m sure will turn into a fight. There were also other aspects that needed to be investigated. Which leads me to the rest of what I need to tell you…”
With that, Sin said no more.
By the Gods, Cecil thought in exasperation. “Well, out with it! What else is there?”
Sin licked his lips and said something that Cecil hadn’t been prepared for, or even had the slightest interest in talking about. “It is about your mother.”
“My mother? What about her?” Cecil asked, sounding as disinterested as he could manage.
Sin reached over and took hold of his right hand. “I can only imagine that this is a painful subject for you, but I ask you to please listen to what I have to say.”
Pulling his hand away, he crossed his arms. “She left me, what else is there to tell?”
“She didn’t leave you.”
His eyes widened at that. “I…how…”
“Cecil, she is missing. All traces of her have disappeared, starting, I would say, around the time she ‘left’ you.”
“So what?! She could just be hiding!”
“I do not think that is the case. From what I have been told by a man who read your father’s mind, he is involved in her disappearance. He hired someone to take her. But what happened to her after that, we don’t know.
“Ernest thought that if he knew nothing of what actually happened to her, he couldn’t be charged with anything. I wish I had news that we found her, but right now, we don’t know whether she is alive or dead. We do have someone tracking down the person your father hired.”
Cecil wasn’t sure if he believed Sin. No, it was more that he didn’t want to believe him.
Because that would mean the many disparaging thoughts he’d had about her over the years were toward a woman who hadn’t really abandoned him, but had been taken.
One that had who knows what done to her—a woman who may be dead.
And what would happen if they did find her alive? What if she was alive and free, and she had just never come back for him? It was what he had always believed, but knowing it was true would be worse than just assuming it was.
Sin did not think he would ever understand why some criminals chose places surrounded by trees for their activities. While he supposed it would keep nosey people out, it made it easier for others to sneak up on them.
Sin, however, was about to announce himself to the criminals inside, which would ruin the element of surprise. His team was in place, hidden out of sight around the large, seemingly innocent house.
A slight buzz of energy was running through everyone, as they were anxious to head out. The constant dark flickering at the back of his mind told him they weren’t the only ones.
But Sin felt none of the usual adrenaline that came before a battle. He was too worried about Cecil. The man was angry—he just wasn’t sure how angry.
Hyde and Jekyll sauntered over to where Sin was hiding, both grinning.
They stood six foot tall, with short, dirty-blond hair, and bright, easy-going smiles that hid how dangerous the two were.
Both had a medium, muscular build. Their eyes were the only physical feature that held them apart.
Hyde’s were an eerie light-blue that appeared white under certain lights, while Jekyll’s were a deep-navy.
“So how did Cecil take it?” Hyde asked.
“As one would expect. He was upset.”
“Naturally,” Jekyll drawled.
“Well, I like him! You definitely should keep him, he’s so precious,” Hyde hummed.
“He’s not a puppy, Hyde,” Jekyll snorted, rolling his eyes.
Hyde stuck out his bottom lip. “I didn’t say he was, did I?”
Jekyll ignored his brother’s pout and said, “Though I do agree, he is a good fit for you, Sin.”
Sin smiled. “I’m glad you think so.” Clearing his throat, he pushed Cecil from his mind and announced, “It’s time.”
“A waste of time,” Jekyll grunted.
“Most definitely. But there is always a chance someone in there knows something useful, and it is pretty hard to question someone once they’re dead,” Sin stated.
“Think on this, brother. If they do surrender, their deaths will be much more painful and fun for us.” Hyde chuckled.
“True,” Jekyll conceded.
Hyde was right. It would be death for the individuals inside either way, but announcing that surrendering would lead to a more painful demise would be counterproductive.
Rolling his eyes at the two men, Sin cupped his hands to his mouth and cast a spell that would allow his words to carry. “This is the Zaytari, surrender now or face death.”
His words were met with gunfire—how predictable.
Smoothing down his suit, he clicked his headpiece and said, “After such a rude greeting, why don’t we show them some manners?” His words were met with chuckles, and an explosion rocked the side of the house. Wood debris flew everywhere, but it gave them an instant entrance. His people set off.
Preferring swords over guns, Sin pulled out his and jumped into the fray. He easily finished off less experienced opponents. None of the men in the house appeared to have the training to withstand his skilled soldiers.
The fight had barely started, but the scent of blood had already spread through the air. It stained the carpets, seeped into the unwashed broken floorboards, and sprayed on the peeling wallpaper. While the outside of the house had been pristine, the inside looked like it should be condemned.
The creature inside him was reveling in the death around them, trying to stretch toward the surface—it wanted out. In times of violence, it always became difficult to suppress.
Sin maneuvered around those fighting. He walked deeper into the house, searching for hidden enemies.
Slipping cautiously around a corner, he caught sight of a man disappearing into a room at the end of the hallway.
While many of those he had killed so far had been nameless, mere grunts, this man he knew.
Albert Jones—a man Jayden hadn’t gotten close enough to read, but one he had seen with all of those in charge of the small branch of miscreants.
Following Jones, Sin eased the door open and found an office, but the room was empty.
Sin cautiously walked inside, but he sensed the danger too late.
His other side was too distracted by the stench of death to notice, and while his other senses were heightened, they were too focused on keeping the other at bay.
He missed the hidden door, and he underestimated the depravity of his opponent. A gun went off. Sin cried out in pain when bullets tore through his shoulder and chest. They were not normal bullets, but enchanted ones that caused massive damage. Someone’s life had been sacrificed to forge them.
The roar of pain he let out next was animalistic. It shook the ground as a fury that was not his own rose to the surface. And then his beast broke free.
But Sin was not a true shifter. He was an oddity, a freak. There was no being inside him that he could call his other half, no animal that stayed willingly by his side. No, it was a creature that he felt but barely saw, its mind too separate and filled with murderous intentions.
Sin’s body, not truly meant to undergo such drastic changes, contorted painfully, bringing tears to his eyes.
The colors of the world drained to gray.
His nails turned into claws as the beast’s blinding rage took over.
Bones popped, limbs lengthened, and skin tore, until it ended in an explosion of blood and flesh.
His personality, all that he was, became subdued, and a mind much darker than his replaced it.
Jekyll wiped his blade off on the dead man’s clothes. He turned in time to see Hyde sever his opponent’s head with his twin blades. A spray of blood coated his brother’s face. Hyde’s preference for up-close battles usually meant he ended up covered.
Hyde let out a maniacal cackle that had a smile pulling at Jekyll’s lips. It appeared all his brother had needed, to pull him out of the funk of his latest breakup, was a little bloodshed.
Just then, another man came around the corner. The guy’s gaze went from them to the bodies on the ground, before letting out a yelp.
Jekyll rolled his eyes when—for dramatics, no doubt—his brother licked one of his blades and grinned wickedly. The action sent the man fleeing. They started to chase him, but froze in place as a loud animalistic roar broke through the commotion of the battle.
Hyde clucked his tongue. “Well, shit. That’s not good.”
“Oh, hell,” Jekyll cursed. Together they took off, with the hope of finding their leader before someone else had the unfortunate luck of doing so.
They followed Sin’s scent to a back hallway, one they reached just as a bloodcurdling scream was let loose. Pausing, they stared at the door it had come from.
“You have the shot with you, right?” Jekyll asked. They had to get Sin out of here. And to do that, they would need to shoot him up with a concoction that temporarily forced his other side down.
“Of course,” Hyde stated, his expression hard. Any joy the man had felt from slaying their enemies was now gone.
Taking a deep breath, Jekyll prepared himself for what he was about to face.
“Let’s do this.” With a nod from his brother, he pushed the door open.
It was a bloodbath. The walls and floor were coated—like someone had thrown buckets of paint on them. A shredded body laid in the center of the room. And crouched over it was a monstrous beast, feasting on its innards.
Covered in black fur, the only hint of the man it had been before were the patches of suit hanging on by threads.
Even crouching, the creature was huge. Having faced it before, Jekyll knew it stood around eight feet tall. The thing’s limbs were unnaturally long and skeletal. Its yellow eyes were sunken in, and the creature always appeared to be on the brink of starvation.
But its half-dead appearance belied its strength. The beast’s claws could tear an immortal in half. Vaguely wolf-like, it had an elongated snout, with fangs just as deadly. The thing’s fangs and claws were currently dripping with blood.
The beast that was Sin’s other half growled, its eyes glowing with malice. The thing knew them, and it knew what was coming.
“Hello, beastie,” Hyde crowed and taunted it by waving the automatic injector in the air.
Snarling, it charged.