Chapter 39
The further Maya got from the cabin, the more piercing the storm became, and it didn’t exactly improve this situation. She wasn’t so much walking as stumbling, with her needing to stop several times and cling to a tree, just to keep herself upright.
She dropped another empty blood bag, gritting her teeth and continuing on. Everything hurt. It felt like a boulder was pressing down on her ribs, and every step taken made it heavier.
She could have waited for the Chains. Could have rested until her strength came back, but her heart wouldn’t let her. Every minute she delayed meant another minute of horror for Harper. Another minute she had to spend in Kieran’s clutches.
Sounds carried on the wind. Coughing, cursing, and angry voices, and despite her mind screaming at her to run, she forced herself to slow down and sneak through the trees.
The forest opened up, revealing a tightly packed collection of industrial-looking buildings. A mill of some sort, filled with old machinery, and with trucks and motorhomes parked in disorderly rows. A handful of people walked around, some limping, many bleeding.
This was the place. She knew it in her heart, and even if she hadn’t trusted that, her sight would have told her the same thing.
Therian packs often congregated in small settlements, so their members could live close to one another, but there wasn’t any actual organization here. Everything seemed randomly placed, as though they hadn’t thought they’d be there for long.
The main focal point was a large decrepit warehouse. It had holes in the roof and shattered windows, and a small cabin was affixed to its side.
Her heart leaped forward. She didn’t have any evidence to support the thought, but it still sang through her mind as indisputable fact.
Harper was in that building.
Maya nearly darted out from the trees right then, but she was in a state. Even though everyone else was too, they had the numbers. She couldn’t afford to rush.
She crept around the side of the mill. Slipping between the shadows, footsteps silent despite the freshly fallen snow.
She didn’t need to bother being quiet. No one patrolled the perimeter, which either meant their losses were severe enough that they couldn’t or everyone was inside.
The cabin and accompanying warehouse could be filled with people hungry for an easy victory.
A limping vampire would serve that up nicely.
She just had to be careful. Had to curb her instincts and move slowly. If she stuck to the shadows and used them to pick people off one by one, then—
“Don’t touch me!”
Maya froze. She was at the back of the warehouse, sneaking towards the adjoining cabin with the switchblade drawn, when a sharp voice flowed out of a broken window.
Evie’s voice.
Maya peeked inside. The space was open, with a stained concrete floor and some burning oil barrels being the only sources of light. A few people were huddled near them, faces dour, and a throne made of pallets sat in the center of the room.
Evie was sitting by a support beam, right next to it. Chained and handcuffed, she glared at the redheaded man grinning down at her.
“Well, isn’t she feisty?” Booker ruffled Evie’s hair, and she flinched away. Maya gripped the knife tighter. “Figured the Chains would have broken her in more by now. That fiend has kept this one for a while, from what I’ve heard.”
“Shut up, Book,” a young woman said. She had a bloody gash over one eyebrow.
Booker laughed. “Why? I didn’t say anything wrong.”
“No, but you’re talking. It’s an annoying noise.”
“Forgive me for trying to lighten the mood. It’s like a graveyard in here.”
Maya glanced around the room. Five people in total, not counting Evie. With the exception of Booker, all of them were either sitting on the floor or slumping against the walls.
She bit back a curse. She couldn’t take that many, especially not in an open space. But that fact became a lot frailer when Booker tilted his head, looking at Evie with a hungry shine in his eyes.
“I always like me a woman after a fight,” Booker said. “I don’t even mind if they struggle. Makes it more fun.”
The pull in Maya’s chest was almost painful. Everything in her was screaming to keep going. To find Harper, now. But if she left, she had a feeling Booker wouldn’t stop at disgusting comments.
And the warehouse wasn’t well lit.
The woman with the bloody forehead scoffed. “Keep it in your pants for once. We’re not supposed to hurt her.”
“I won’t. If she does what she’s told.” Booker grabbed Evie by the chin and leaned in close. “I can be really nice to you. Or really mean. Which will it be, sweetheart?”
Evie scowled at him. Her hands were shaking, the handcuffs clinking.
Then she spat him in the face.
Booker reeled back, shoving Evie to the floor. Everyone looked towards him as he cursed and wiped spit off his mouth.
Maya vaulted through the shattered window, not making a sound as she darted for a shadowy corner and crouched behind a stack of wooden planks.
“What the fuck!” Booker shouted. The woman with the bloody brow snorted.
“I don’t think she likes you, Book. Seems she has decent taste.”
Booker spun towards her, turning away from the back of the warehouse. Maya melded into the darkness and slinked behind the makeshift throne.
Evie was only a few feet away now. Her green eyes were filled with anger, except when they darted for the door near one wall in the warehouse—the one leading to the adjoining building. Then, they filled with fear.
Maya clenched her jaw. Please give me a quick fucking opening.
“What’s your problem? All of you, frankly.” Booker made a wide gesture at the room. “So we had a setback. Big deal. We can’t just quit because things got a little difficult.”
“A little difficult?” The woman pushed off the wall she was leaning against. “That was a goddamn bloodbath! The squad I was in got cornered and then picked apart by Chains fairies of all things. All that snow fucked us. We were blind and upwind from them, so we didn’t know they were there until they were already on our asses. ”
“Don’t be a bitch about it,” Booker said disdainfully. The woman glared at him.
“I stuck with this pack because I believed in it. Even when we got out of the city and Jackie’s people showed up, promising protection, I stayed.
Despite basically no one else doing so. But then, instead of pulling back, Kieran orders us to run straight into enemy territory, risking all our lives just so he could pick up his precious fucking human. ”
She threw her hands in the air. “You know what? Screw this. I’m out. I should have been out a long time ago. Kieran may have the right idea on some things, but he’s clearly lost it.”
She marched out the warehouse exit, slamming the door behind her. A few seconds later, the other three people followed suit.
“You’re all fucking weak!” Booker yelled at the closed door. Maya turned her knife in her hand.
That’s right. Stay in here, you disgusting piece of shit.
Booker huffed. He turned back towards Evie, eyes glinting with menace.
“You pathetic little cunt.”
He grabbed the chain affixed to Evie’s ankle, yanking her closer. She let out a pained cry.
“You’re nothing! You hear me?” He pulled at the chain again, dragging Evie over the concrete floor. “You’re worthless. A weak human nobody, who’s only important because a fiend made you its toy.” He grinned down at her. Evie’s eyes went wide. “I’m curious what the fuss is about.”
Maya darted away from the throne, surging across the floor with her blade raised. The movement pulled a pained groan from her lips, and Booker stiffened right as Maya threw herself at his back.
She grappled him from behind, wrapping one arm around his neck and her legs around his waist, and then stabbed her knife towards his heart.
If he hadn’t noticed her, she would have gotten him. Instead, he raised his arm just in time to divert the attack, her knife hitting his clavicle rather than his chest.
His flesh sizzled under the silver. He yelled out, stumbling back and spinning around as Maya clung to him.
She stabbed at him again. Flurried, imprecise hits that barely broke the skin.
Booker spun in a panic, thrashing and cursing, and then reached over his shoulder, grabbed her arm, and threw her to the floor.
The switchblade skittered over the concrete, and he darted for it, picking it up with a hand that shook.
“Y-you?” he stammered. “How? You’re supposed to be dead.”
Maya got to her feet. Her eyes drilled into Booker’s, and he staggered back. Fear thickened the air, his breath panting. Blood dripped from his chest onto the floor, helped along by a racing heartbeat.
“Haven’t you gotten it by now?” She flashed her teeth, fangs extending. “Nothing can kill me. Not the sun. Not a stake. Not that knife you’re barely holding onto.”
Booker stumbled back further, shaking his head.
“Please,” he whispered. “No. No, I didn’t do anything wrong! I just did what I was told.”
She didn’t dignify that with an answer. They both knew terror had turned him into a liar.
Stifling the pain still flaring through her body, she rushed forward. She wasn’t as fast or precise as when she’d fought Kieran earlier, but she didn’t need to be. Not when Booker wailed like a frightened child, swinging the knife wildly as she closed in.
She grabbed his armed hand by the wrist, taking a cut to the side, but she’d anticipated the pain.
Fabric tore, and she pushed his knife hand away, leaping onto his chest and knocking him backwards.
Her fangs sank into his neck before he even hit the floor, his scream of protest being cut off by a sudden gurgle.
Bitter rot filled her mouth, but she kept her teeth in place. Kept tearing at him until she was sure the damage couldn’t be undone. Only when his throat was a mess of shredded flesh did she lean back, spitting on the floor with a grimace.
Blood spattered out of his mouth. His eyes were wide, his breathing raspy.
“But… how…”
She stayed quiet. This insect of a man wasn’t owed clarity in his last moments of breathing.
She wrenched the knife from his hand, snarling, and plunged it into his chest. Silver to the heart was a certain way to kill a therian. Unlike her, Booker wasn’t an exception.
He tensed. Then gargled. His fingers twitched, blood bubbling from his lips and neck, before his eyes went dim.
Pain surged back into her body. She fell onto all fours, catching herself on shaking arms. That burst of an attack was all she’d had in her, and even that had been too much. Her bones felt like they were coated in acid.
And fear was still present in the air. As thick and insistent as before. Its source was just different.
Evie was staring at her. Eyes wide, body frozen, breathing shallow.
The chilling hatred faded. The fear oozing off Booker’s body had spurred her on, but Evie’s did the opposite. It was a sharp, needling scent that she’d sensed whenever this woman saw her. An ever-present terror that time did nothing to lessen.
Not that she could blame Evie for this reaction. Maya’s clothes were ripped, her hands and feet stained from dirty snow. Blood covered her mouth and chin, and in the low light of the warehouse, her black eyes would be glinting silver.
She looked like a monster. Even if she wasn’t one.
Maya retracted her fangs and wiped her mouth with the bottom of her t-shirt. There wasn’t much she could do about her bloodied appearance, but she could at least lessen it.
When she picked up the knife and pushed to her feet, Evie flinched. She crawled backwards until the ankle chain snapped taut. A pained whimper slipped past her lips.
Maya stopped. Even though she didn’t want to stop. She wanted to rush over there, grab Evie by the shoulders, and shake her until she explained exactly where Harper was and how many people were guarding her.
But that would only make things worse.
Moving slowly and with her hands raised, Maya limped closer. Other than trail her with her eyes, Evie didn’t move a muscle.
Her ankle was an angry red color. It was bleeding, too. A thin scarlet line had beaded on her skin, and the scent it produced brimmed with energy, as though infused with the sun itself.
To most vampires, it might be close to irresistible. But Maya had no reaction. There was no ache in her teeth, no hunger wanting to be filled.
Evie’s blood might be rare, but it didn’t hold a candle to the taste of paradise she’d experienced earlier that night.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” Maya crouched a few feet away. “But I need you to listen. I have to find Harper, now, and if I leave you here on your own, I’m fairly sure she’s going to kill me. So please. Will you let me take the restraints off?”
Evie stared at her, still frozen. She’d been fighting just a moment before, and now it looked like she had disappeared inside herself.
“Evie?” It took great effort to keep her voice calm. “Please say something. Or move. Anything to let me know you understand.”
Her eyes remained unfocused for another moment. Then they flicked between Maya’s, falling to her outstretched hands, and then down further. To her side.
Booker had ripped her shirt. Maya hadn’t even noticed, and the torn fabric bared part of her ribs. And the four lines of text tattooed there.
Evie took a sharp breath, shallow panting following. Fear still oozed off her body, but when her eyes found Maya’s again, resolve glinted behind the terror.
She extended her hands. They shook, but even as Maya touched her wrists, she didn’t pull away.
“Tell me what happened.” Maya pulled at the cuffs, breaking them off, before doing the same to the ankle chain.
“W-we woke up in here. T-tied up.” Evie stiffened when Maya held out her hand before taking it and letting herself be pulled upright.
“Kieran came in, with a woman. They talked about a deal or something, but to me it seemed more like she was here to gloat. She knew who we were, too. And she said something about a storm. That it might give us time?”
Maya frowned. Róisín had been here?
The blizzard was still raging. It would be hard to drive in, if not impossible. If it hadn’t been there, Kieran might have fled by now.
“And Harper?” Maya asked, letting Evie lean against her. She winced every time her foot touched the floor.
“He took her away. In there.” She pointed at the door leading to the adjoining cabin. “When he left, he said he didn’t want to be disturbed.”
Ice formed in Maya’s stomach. “How long have they been gone?”
Evie’s jaw clenched. Fear returned to her eyes, even stronger than when she’d been staring at Maya just before.
“Almost an hour.”