Chapter 30
Hanging out with the criminal element was never my scene, so I’d always avoided the Bricks.
We continued our walk down the shadowy street, and my stomach twisted into a pretzel with every step.
There were no businesses, let alone buildings without structural damage, in the heart of the Bricks.
The only traffic belonged to the residents.
We hadn’t gone in yet but were walking along the outer perimeter.
“Why the collar?” I asked.
“To keep my wolf in check.”
“Are you sure we’re going the right way?”
“This definitely isn’t the way,” Darcy piped in while skipping ahead of us. “We’re off to see the wonderful wizard of… What was that movie? Or was it a song?”
“He wanted to meet here,” Krys replied. “I guess he doesn’t want to talk in the place we’re going.”
Lucian had sent the image to his friend, who recognized the suspect immediately. The Vampire went by the name Scorpius, and anyone with a name like that was someone I hoped to never meet in person.
And here we were, on our way to meet him in person.
I stopped and searched the area behind us. “It feels like a trap.”
Krys walked ahead and then faced me. “You should go back.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Do you want to get yourself killed? I’m serious. I can handle this.”
“Like you handled the taxi driver?”
His eyes steered up to the apartment windows. “That asshole was driving in the wrong direction. I know how to read a map.”
A Mage flashed between us and folded his arms. “Lovers’ spat?” he asked in a distinctly British accent. “You two are about as inconspicuous as a church choir in a whorehouse.”
“Fuck off,” Krys growled.
“Is that any way to speak to Lucian’s best friend?”
His mirrored aviators were out of place on the dark streets.
Krys took out his phone and began sending a text.
The man snatched it from his hand. “Oh, for pity’s sake.” He dialed a number.
Lucian answered. “What’s up?”
The man laughed. “That’s what she said. Tell them it’s me, mate.”
“It’s him. He came down for our mating ceremony.”
Krys flicked his eyes up. “Then why doesn’t he look familiar?”
“Because Atticus scrubbed him from your memories. Isn’t that right, Simon?”
“See you at the family reunion.” Simon ended the call and handed it back to Krys.
“Don’t look at me like that. I was tracking down a criminal and couldn’t risk your whole bloody pack remembering I was there.
Just a precaution. Don’t worry your pretty little head.
We caught him before he found me first. Anyhow, it’s supposed to wear off in five years. Follow me.”
Darcy skipped behind him. “Ask him why he’s wearing sunglasses at night. Wait a second. Isn’t that a song?”
“Shh,” I said, reminding her that she’d promised to behave. This was an important mission.
The man gazed over his shoulder at me.
“Why the sunglasses?” I asked.
He placed a finger over his mouth to shush me.
We entered an alleyway and stood by a window where a large dog was barking his head off from the other side of the glass. I hadn’t seen that much drool since the time I went to a Chitah club that featured male exotic dancers.
“This is Rufus.” The man tapped on the glass, which made the dog bark even louder. “Vampires find barking dogs intolerable and tune them out. Gives us privacy.” He folded up his glasses and tucked them into his shirt collar. “A man like me has secrets.”
His tousled brown hair brushed across his shoulders. He had sensual lips and a lithe frame. For some reason, I imagined Lucian hanging out with the quiet deadly types, not men with tattered old bowling shirts that said: Go Balls Deep.
He flashed to the end of the alleyway, peered around the corner, and returned as if he’d never left. “Simon Hunt. The man, the myth, the legend.” He bowed his head.
“Krys Kelso, but I guess you already know that. And it’s spelled with a K.”
“No need to explain. You don’t look anything like the infamous serial killer.”
“You knew him?”
“Who didn’t? He was on every bounty hunter’s wall.”
According to Lucian’s stories, Simon was a strategist who’d dismantled a number of crime rings.
He slid his gaze up and down at our attire.
“Well, you’re dressed for the part. The bloke you’re after goes by the name Scorpius.
I’ve never seen a picture of him until yours, but I know he has two scorpion tattoos—one on each hand.
They’re a unique design, so I’m quite familiar.
Count on him having at least one minion. ”
I drew closer. “Is he a declared outlaw?”
Simon laughed before tapping on the window at Rufus to make him bark even more ferociously. “For thirty years now. I almost nabbed him myself once. Bloody hell, was that a nightmare,” he muttered, lost in his thoughts. “Now he lives in the Bricks.”
Krys put his hands on his hips. “Do you know a way in?”
“I’m afraid you two are on your own. I have one too many enemies down there.” Simon canted his head. “Where are your weapons?”
“I’m the weapon,” Krys replied.
The Mage rolled his eyes and pulled two sharp impalement sticks from his pants pockets.
They were thicker than the chopsticks Krys had but not much longer.
He twirled them in his hands before offering them to us.
“Hope you have vicious wolves, because you’re dealing with vicious men.
A piece of advice: Scorpius likes to run, so don’t give him an inch.
He’s a narcissist. Prepare yourselves for a conversation so he can plot his way free. I’ll show you a secret entrance.”
“I know how to get there,” Krys told him while squaring his shoulders.
Simon’s eyebrows arched. “You’ve been underground?”
“No.”
“This isn’t topside, so if you’ve been to the Bricks before, you haven’t really been there. Hope you make it out alive.”
My pulse jumped. “Anything we should know?”
Simon tucked his hands in his pockets. “I haven’t been down there in a while, so I can’t tell you much except be prepared for anything. Don’t let your eyes wander. People hate suspicious blokes. Look like you belong.” He jerked his head and strutted off. “Follow me.”
Darcy walked in front of Krys and me while constantly throwing worried looks over her shoulder.
“Cut that out,” I snapped.
Simon looked back at me. “You’re the Gravewalker, aren’t you? If you’ve got a spook tagging along, I hope for your sake they stay uninvolved. Gravewalkers live down there. You don’t want to sound the alarm.” He swiveled his attention to Krys. “Perhaps your friend should stay behind.”
“The ghost is fine,” I told him. “She won’t be an issue, and I trust her.”
Words I had never imagined coming out of my mouth about a specter.
He sharply turned the corner. “If you find your friend, I wouldn’t turn him in.”
I jerked my head back. “Why not?”
“Men like him suss out corruptible guards and politicians to bribe and blackmail. He won’t be in jail for long.”
Krys flipped his hair back. “So we leave him?”
Simon winked. “I didn’t say that either.”
We reached a street that led to the heart of the Bricks. Immortals had so many insiders working for the city and media that it was easy to protect this area of town from developers or the curious.
Simon had a casual swagger, so I tried to relax my shoulders and pretend we were going to the ice cream store in case there were watchmen hidden in the shadows.
Simon dipped into an alleyway and lifted a manhole. “This is the less popular way in. Not many take this route.”
“Why not?” Krys asked, staring into the dark hole.
Simon clapped his shoulder. “You’ll find out soon enough. Good luck. Hope you get the manky bastard.” In a flash, he disappeared.
I stared into the hole. “Darcy goes first.”
“I am not going in there first!” She crossed her arms defiantly.
Krys sat and lowered his legs inside. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“I left it in the woods with the bodies.”
When he dropped the rest of the way, I heard a small splash of water. At least, I hoped it was water. After he struck a match, a faint glow flickered and illuminated his features.
“Come on,” he said. “Or go back.” Krys walked out of sight, probably hoping I’d go home.
Darcy went first. The manhole was too heavy to slide back in place, so I left it alone and lowered myself in.
My feet landed in a small stream trickling down the tunnel.
“Hurry.” Krys cupped his hand around the tiny flame. “I only have nineteen matches left, so let’s get moving.”
Because of the dead end behind us, there was only one way to go.
“This is the biggest adventure I’ve ever had!” Darcy exclaimed before whooshing out of sight.
Krys handed me the match before striking another. “Let’s keep the chitchat to a minimum.”
“We need a torch. Why don’t you strip off your shirt and light it up?”
He gave me a flirty smile across his shoulder. “You just want me naked.”
I tossed the match after it extinguished between my fingers. “Guilty as charged.”
A minute later, Darcy flew back into view, eyes saucer wide. “You don’t wanna go that way!”
I walked through her. “Says who?”
“I’m warning you,” she sang from behind.
“If you want to come, you’d have to keep quiet. That’s the rule.”
Krys cupped his hand around another match. “What’s she saying?”
“The usual. How sexy my ass looks in these jeans. How my sculpted face could launch a thousand ships.”
When Krys gave me a hard slap on the ass, I briefly forgot the mission.
He slowed his pace. “You hear that?”
“Hear what?” I asked, striding ahead.
Something rushed by my foot. When I looked down, a river of shadows moved past my feet. “Rats!”
This was pure, unadulterated nightmare fuel.
In a mad dash to Krys, I stumbled over a rodent. The squeal broke the last thread of sanity keeping me down here, and I threw my arms around Krys’s neck and scaled him like a tree.
“Get them away from me!”
Instead of throwing me off or laughing, Krys held my thighs and pinned me to the wall. I squeezed my eyes shut and clutched him tighter. The stampede put out the match, plunging us into darkness.
“They’re tiny mammals,” he said calmly. “Squeaky toys with bad vision. Take a breath. I got you.”