Chapter 1
Chapter one
Istride across the rooftop of a two-story building, heading for a scent I know all too well, one that captures my attention no matter where I am.
Blood. With the massive amounts I’m detecting, I assume I’m going to find a body, but I have to be careful.
You never know if your perp has left the area until you get there.
When I approach the edge, a courtyard comes into view. It would be even more beautiful if there wasn’t a dead woman who’s been nearly ripped to shreds in the center. A pang of sadness echoes through me because I know I’m not here to track down a monster; I’m here for a woman.
Roxanna Emeri Marie Bellavance
Remember how I said I wanted to feel something besides pain and hatred? Well, one look at this beautiful woman nearly a century ago made me feel something different.
Obsession.
At first, I was pissed because out of all the fucking emotions, why did it have to be that one?
I watched over her for nearly three weeks, trying to figure out who she was and why I was having such an intense reaction to her presence.
While I watched her, my mind calmed, like some semblance of peace washed over me, which had never happened before.
But then my hunger tried to take over, and I nearly went feral, so I had to leave. When I returned, the house was empty. I was gone for all of three days. Three fucking days.
I’ve been looking for her ever since, getting tips here and there that haven’t panned out. Something just feels different about this one. I’m not ready to let her go yet.
A man’s voice drifts up to me from the courtyard, bringing me back to reality. “What the fuck is happening in this city? This is the third girl this week. Someone needs to stop this monster before the humans discover what’s happening right under their noses.”
I glance down and find a woman standing beside him.
She shifts on her feet with her arms crossed over her chest, uncomfortable with the scene before her.
“With it being near Halloween, supes are already walking a fine line in this city, especially since these damn humans grow more and more suspicious by the day. There are so many stories about us supes and what we’re rumored to be capable of.
As much as the fuckers scare me, maybe someone should bring the hunters in. ”
At her mention of a hunter, I hop down into the courtyard.
The man and woman startle, accidentally dropping their human glamour slightly and showing what they truly are.
I already know, though. Some of us supes, myself included, can see through glamour, straight to someone’s core.
Just by looking at someone, I know not only what kind of supernatural they are, but I’m also able to see what kind of person they are, including the good and the bad they are capable of.
The man—a centaur—squares his shoulders and balls his fists. He has no chance against me, but I’ll let him think he does. “Who the fuck are you?”
Standing tall, I roll my shoulders back and crack my neck.
“I’m going to guess you guys aren’t detectives of any sort because I’ve been up on that ledge since before you arrived, and I’m about ninety-five percent certain neither of you spotted me up there.
Needless to say, I suggest you brush up on your senses to avoid being attacked in the future.
Now, if you are detectives, I think I need to speak to your supervisor. ”
The woman—a siren—crosses her arms and furrows her brows. “First off, rude. Second, you didn’t answer his question. Who are you?”
I place my hand on my chest and gasp. “You mean you can’t tell just by looking at me?
I actually allowed myself to be in my own skin for once!
Everyone tells me my reputation precedes me, but I have a feeling they lie to make me feel better,” I say.
When neither acknowledges me, I let out an exasperated breath.
“You’re no fun. But you are in luck; you’ve found yourself a hunter.
I smelled the blood of the victim over a mile away, so I came to check it out. ”
The centaur lets his eyes roam up and down my body. I can practically feel the skepticism rolling off him. Rarely am I the one everyone assumes would be involved in this type of work. I’m most definitely not skinny, but there’s a lot of muscle underneath my curves.
Looks can be deceiving, though, especially when you can alter them.
The centaur tenses his jaw. “How do we know you’re not the one who did this?”
I roll my eyes. “You’d know if I was the one to do this because my victims look nothing like this once I’m done with them.”
“Interesting,” the siren muses before tapping her finger on her arm. “What are you doing here? I haven’t heard about any cases from nearby cities being taken over by The D.A.M.N.E.D. recently.”
Okay, let me explain this really quickly.
D.A.M.N.E.D. is the acronym for the organization I work for.
It’s short for Deathless Agents for Monster Neutralization, Erasure, and Destruction.
It’s a mouthful, hence why we call it The D.A.M.N.E.D.
The organization has hunters all over the world, and while I may work for them, I’m more of a freelancer.
I take the cases I want, not what they try to give me.
I’m older than nearly all our council members, and everyone has learned over the years just to let me do what I please.
They know things will get done when I feel they’re important enough.
“I was just passing through to get myself home. Just got done with a case a few days ago and I needed to rest for a bit,” I lie.
The siren glances between me and the centaur.
“I know we don’t really have the jurisdiction, but would you be able to look over the scene and coordinate with the responding agency when they get here?
At least this way, someone can kick-start this investigation.
We can’t afford for there to be any more bodies. ”
“Why not,” I say as I stroll over to where the woman lies facedown and squat beside her lifeless body. She’s still got some color to her, and when I touch her, I find she’s still warm, which means she was likely killed only a few hours ago.
I look back at the siren, hoping she’d be the one to be more aware of her surroundings than her male counterpart, and ask, “Did you guys pass anyone, or anything, on your way into the courtyard?”
Her brows furrow as she takes a moment to think, and then looks at the centaur.
“I don’t think there was anything that stood out, but I guess I wasn’t really paying attention.
” Of fucking course she wasn’t. Assuming makes an ass out of you and me after all.
She continues, “One of our tenants in this apartment building told us something weird was going on out here, but wouldn’t tell us what, so we just came to check things out. ”
Quirking my head, I ask, “Wait. Are you guys part of T.I.T.S.?”
Yes, you read that right… T.I.T.S. It’s short for Taskforce for the Integration and Tracking of Supernaturals. Whoever named the organization was not thinking about what everyone would shorten it down to.
The siren rolls her eyes and huffs out a breath. “I wish people would stop calling it that. It’s so fucking childish.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Maybe y’all should change the name then.”
The centaur joins in my laughter. “I still think it’s funny, but clearly not everyone on the force thinks like I do. Especially Maliah here.”
Maliah’s head whips to where the centaur stands. Her teal eyes take on a metallic shine as she stares him down. “Grow the fuck up, Alastair.”
“So testy tonight. Have you not lured someone to their death recently?” Alastair asks with a playful lilt to his voice.
The color of Maliah’s eyes intensifies as her cheeks flush a beautiful shade of pink. “That’s not fucking funny, and you know it. Especially in the presence of a hunter. While we’re mere feet from a dead body.”
I shrug my shoulders. “We all do what we have to in order to survive in this world. There isn’t a contract out for you, and I know you’re a siren, so these marks aren’t from you. Nothing to worry about from me.”
All color drains from Maliah’s face, and her mouth falls open. “That one moment where my glamour slipped wasn’t enough for you to tell what I am.”
A smirk tips up the corners of my lips. “Sweetheart, I’m a hunter. It’s my job to know what—and who—surrounds me at any given time. Plus, I can see through glamour.”
Maliah’s eyes roll again, and I let out a light laugh before returning my attention to the body before me. I brush the hair from the woman’s face, revealing deep gashes across her cheeks and mouth. The four gashes are spaced just far enough apart that I know they were caused by claws.
I run my gaze further down her body, looking for any other wounds the attacker may have inflicted.
There’s a pool of blood under her midsection, but I can’t see the extent of the wound with the way her body is positioned, so I roll her onto her back.
On the side that was facing the ground, I see the exact reason why there’s so much blood.
Her intestines have been ripped apart, and all her remaining organs are now spilling out of her abdomen.
Something feasted on her. And I have a feeling the only reason it stopped was because it was interrupted.
“You guys said this is the third victim, right?” I ask.
Maliah and Alastair sidle up next to me, but the former gags and runs off, retching into the bushes on the opposite side of the courtyard.
“Thank you for taking that elsewhere,” I say.
Alastair shifts on his feet. “To answer your question, yes, this is the third victim. They’ve all been found in courtyards with claw marks across their cheeks and mouths, but this is tame compared to the last one.”
“How so?” I ask, thinking I may already know the answer.
“The monster nearly ripped the abdomens of the others in two, and their organs were almost all gone,” Alastair explains.
“I think I’m going to be sick again,” Maliah whines as she gags.
“Interesting,” I muse. Then Maliah retches again. “You ought to get your friend out of here. She clearly doesn’t have the stomach for this work. And on your way home—or wherever you’re going—could you contact someone so we can get this body out of here? I don’t have any contacts nearby.”
Alastair hastily steps back. “I’ll get in contact with S.I.R.E.N. They should have the other bodies as well. Good luck finding this… thing that’s killing these girls.”
For fuck’s sake, we have a lot of acronyms. S.I.R.E.N.
—Supernatural Incident Response and Enforcement Network—is akin to a homicide unit in the human world, but they usually stick to the bigger cities.
Given that this city isn’t particularly big, I wasn’t sure if they’d have a team to cover this area.
“Thanks,” I say without looking up from the body.
As they walk away, I mumble to myself, “They sure don’t make agents for any of the organizations like they used to—even some of the recent hunters I’ve met have been lackluster. They’re all so sensitive and squeamish nowadays.”
I spend a few more minutes looking over the body before I stand to look around the courtyard.
It’s not big—about the size of a two-bedroom apartment—with a tall tree in the center.
I approach the trunk and look up, wondering if the killer could’ve escaped up it.
Since it’s likely a supe that’s been killing these women, it could’ve climbed high enough up so it could jump onto one of the roofs.
But with the fact I’d been on the roof, I would’ve seen something because, let’s face it, the supe ripped into a woman’s abdomen.
It had to have left some sort of blood trail when it took off.
Not finding anything suspicious in the tree, I return to the body and look for stray blood droplets in the vicinity.
It doesn’t take me long to pick up on a minuscule trail—this thing was far cleaner than I expected after what it had done—that leads to the entry of the courtyard.
With my head down, following the trail, I run directly into someone.
I look up and start to apologize, but immediately stop when I’m met with a face I know all too well, one I’d hoped never to see again.
She’s still as gorgeous as ever, and it pisses me off.
“Well, well, well. What a pleasant surprise,” she says in her sickeningly sweet voice.
Schooling my features to seem indifferent, I say, “Hello, Adrestia. I’d say it’s nice to see you too, but that’d be a blatant lie.”
She sticks out her bottom lip and attempts to soften her eyes. “You wound me with your words. And by calling me by my full first name. What happened to Addie? I quite miss your calling me that. Actually, I miss a lot about you, Avie.”
“You have no right to call me Avie. Not after what you allowed your family to do,” I hiss.
She takes a step toward me and drops her glamour, letting her griffin form take over.
For whatever reason, she thinks she can intimidate me with how massive she is, but she can’t.
I’ve faced off with supes far bigger and scarier than her.
I stand my ground, and she growls. The rumble vibrates through my chest, only fueling my intolerance of her.
The timbre of her voice drops several octaves when she speaks again. “You don’t know the whole story.”
“Nor do I want to. It’s in the past; let’s leave it there.”
Her nostrils flare. “Fine. What are you doing here, Avyanna?”
“I could ask you the same question,” I say, gritting my teeth.
Adrestia huffs. “What’s with this fucking attitude? Have you not gotten fucked in a while? I can always help you with that.”
“You deserve every ounce of attitude I’m giving you right now. I will never forgive you, so leave me the fuck alone and—not so kindly—go fuck yourself.”
A dry laugh escapes Adrestia’s lips as she brings her human glamour back up. “I forgot how dramatic you can be.”
“I sure as fuck didn’t forget how much of a bitch you can be.”
“Whatever. Back to the matter at hand. A newer agency by the name of B.I.T.E. hired me to track down whatever has been terrorizing the area, so this is my case. With that being said, your help isn’t needed, and you can leave,” Adrestia says, flicking her golden hair over her shoulder.
Throwing my hands up, I back away and almost trip over a Jack-o’-lantern in the process.
The stupid things litter the entire courtyard.
“By all means, be my guest. I’m only here because I happened across the body, and the T.I.T.S.
agents asked me to look over things until the responding agency showed up.
But you’ve got this, so I won’t bother you with my observations or anything.
” Then, I turn to leave and flash her both my middle fingers.