CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Myra
I ended up staying to close that night; impressive for someone who wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place.
Apparently, everything had gone to shit after I bailed for my paranoid adventure, and by the time I returned, Laney was locked in the bathroom crying, Sasha was in the kitchen waving a knife around, and half the kitchen staff was missing, courtesy of a spell she’d cast that had gone horribly wrong.
My special-stash antics seemed to pale in comparison, so when Ravi announced he was shutting down early, I offered to stay so the rest of the bedraggled crew could go home.
Once they’d all filed out, Ravi popped his head into the bar area, looking exhausted. “I’ve got to go meet someone by the tracks. I’ll be back right after to finish up in the kitchen, then take you home. I’m taking the van, so I shouldn’t be too long.”
“Okay, sounds good,” I replied with a smile.
“You locked the front door?”
“Ravi, I’m not going to let the Playground’s degenerates, or worse yet, drunk college kids wander in here.” We both cringed at the thought. “I’ll see you in a few.”
“Because you’ll be waiting for me, correct?” he asked with a definite parental note in his tone.
“I’ll be waiting.”
Once he appeared to be convinced, Ravi disappeared into the kitchen, and I heard the heavy metal side door slam and lock behind him.
I let out a long breath and looked at all the glasses on the counter waiting to be stacked.
The sooner I got that and everything else I needed to do finished, the sooner I got to go home.
I relished the thought of a good night’s sleep.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had one. Between wondering what Yael was up to, what was wrong with my power, and just how ridiculous the search for Jemma might get before we actually found her—if we found her at all—restful slumber was hard to come by.
“I probably should have asked Sasha to magic these things onto the shelf before I sent her ass home,” I muttered to myself.
“That would have been impressive.” Knowing that ship had sailed, I walked behind the bar and started arranging bottles on the back wall, doing my best not to break anything in the process.
We’d been slammed that night and were out of just about everything, so I pulled the empties down and set them aside so I could restock for the next day.
With both arms full of jangling bottles, I almost didn’t hear the front door rattling.
My head snapped toward it, and I watched the lock shake as a rather determined party continued to try it.
I envisioned some drunk co-ed who’d stumbled into the wrong part of town trying to squeeze in one more drink for the night, and annoyance took over.
“We’re closed!” I shouted over my shoulder as I balanced the neck of a whiskey bottle between my fingers.
The door rattled again, and a thought occurred to me, one that involved Yael trapped outside because he’d lost the key he was so proud of—or Ravi had warded the place against him.
I smiled at the thought. “Kinda hard to pull off that stealthy, sneaky shit when your dumb ass can’t get in anymore, isn’t it?
Really kills your whole mysterious vibe. ”
“We don’t care about mystery,” a low, threatening male voice called out.
I wheeled around so fast that several bottles crashed to the floor at my feet, but that was the least of my current worries.
The trio of males staring me down seemed far more important—especially the big shifter in the center smiling at me like the predator he was.
“But we do care a whole lot about getting our hands on you.”
With fear jamming up my circuits, it took a moment to recognize who they were.
The vampire and two shifters had been there earlier that week, part of the party who’d started the fight—and the one slowly stalking toward me was the guy who’d jacked me in the face.
I involuntarily traced the edge of the shiner that had long since faded with my fingertips.
“So you remember me,” he said with a wry smile.
“Listen, if you’re pissed about getting booted, you should have thought about that before starting a war in the dining room. You can take it up with Ravi when he gets back. He should be walking through the door any second now.”
“But we’re not here for him—and we won’t be long.”
“So, you came to apologize for that cheap shot, then?” I asked as I edged out from behind the bar. “Don’t bother. I’ve had worse. So you can go now…”
That wolfish smile grew to a malevolent grin that sent a shiver down my spine. “We’re not here for that, either.”
The walls seemed to be closing in around me, making it hard to breathe as I realized just how fucked I was unless I could buy myself enough time for Ravi to return or somehow escape the trio of death inching their way closer by the second.
Using the Siren’s Song was an option, but with its unpredictability and the fact that there were three of them, I didn’t want to chance it unless I was out of options.
I needed to hold it together for as long as I could.
“Well, the kitchen is closed and we’re all tapped out for the night, so…
” I said, waving one of the unbroken bottles for effect, “you know where the door is. I’ll let you see yourselves out.
” Trying to keep up my bravado, I turned my back to them and headed for the kitchen with the two bottles that hadn’t broken.
If I could keep my cool long enough to disappear behind the doors unfollowed, I’d have a shot at bolting for the side exit.
If I made it that far, I could sprint toward the trolley tracks and hopefully intercept Ravi on his way back.
Even if he wasn’t, I liked my odds outside way better than cooped up in an empty bar with three goons who looked primed for violence.
They might not have come right out and said why they came back, but the subtext was clear enough, and I wanted no part of it.
I pushed the door open with my hip and backed into the kitchen so I could see how far away they were before the doors swung shut.
The second they did, I tossed the bottles and ran.
Arms and legs pumping, I darted past the prep counter for the door.
My fingers wrapped around the handle and I yanked as hard as I could, praying I could just make it outside. There, I’d at least have a chance.
The door swung open, letting the fetid air of the alley rush in, and the faintest hint of hope seeped into my heart.
I launched myself through the doorway, one step closer to help, but it was cut short when my head snapped backward, courtesy of the fistful of hair one of the hulking assholes had caught.
He dragged me back into the kitchen kicking and screaming until my back slammed against the stainless steel countertop.
My head bounced off the surface hard enough for me to see stars, and the room swam around me as I tried to get up—to do anything to get out of there.
“They always think they can get away,” he said as his blurred form hovered above me, “but it’s a bit too late for that. You’re coming with us.”
His hand smoothed my hair back from my face in a gesture that made my skin crawl—but it also presented an opportunity. One I hadn’t had before that moment.
I threw my hand up to capture his, pushing all the strength I could into the Siren’s Song, and growled, “kill them.” Though I was still seeing two of him, I watched the whites of his eyes as they went wide with my compulsion.
His hand fell away from my cheek as his attention drifted to where his buddies stood.
Seconds later, bone-breaking noises accented by the wet, sucking sounds of a shifter changing filled the room, and I wondered if or how my power might glitch this time.
But he wasn’t holding me down any more, and that was enough for me.
I shot up as quickly as I could and stumbled to the door. Pots and pans clattered as shouting began, but I didn’t bother to hang out to see why. Instead, I staggered out into the alleyway as my vision finally converged, and I ran into the street, searching for Ravi.
Closing in on the border to Demon’s Horn, I pushed hard against the splitting pain in my head, thinking that maybe my plan had worked; that I’d actually pulled it off.
I leapt up onto the sidewalk, but my feet never hit the ground.
Instead, my entire body slapped down against the concrete, courtesy of the juggernaut that sacked me around the legs.
He landed on my back but immediately flipped me over and pinned me down.
Before I could open my mouth, the vampire’s massive palm slapped across it and gripped my jaw for good measure, ensuring I couldn’t speak.
I was trapped under a murderous mountain that blocked out everything around me.
All I could see was his snarling face and my impending death in his menacing glare.
“I’m going to make you pay for that, you little bitch.” Silver flared in his irises and his canines began to elongate, and I knew I was out of time. I stared into the eyes of death and thought about the ocean. About the waves. About the life I’d never have there.
Then I thought about The Riff Raff. About Ravi and the others I’d never see again—and Yael. Without me, he might never find his sister, and for some bizarre reason, a sense of guilt tugged at my heart.