Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
Hailey
It started at ten in the morning. Well, the parties apparently started at sunrise, but by ten, most of the creatures who could normally handle their booze hit their alcohol limit, and shit got wild. It had been seven hours since then, and the phone hadn’t stopped ringing.
The guys had split into two teams and were spread throughout the city. We’d called in Deuce and Liam around three because the cops were struggling. Louis said even the enforcers in the pack were helping out on the outskirts of the city in the more rural locations.
The phone rang again.
“Creature Crisis Hotline. If you are injured or in immediate danger, please hang up and dial 911.”
“Uh, I don’t think anyone is in immediate danger?” a small, squeaky voice answered.
“What can we help you with?” I asked in a calm, professional tone that I’d cultivated in the last few weeks. It conveyed that they were important and it would all be okay. At least, I hoped it did.
“A couple of elves stole my friend’s coat and won’t give it back.”
I screwed up my nose. I didn’t think this was a prank call, but we got a lot of those today too. There was something about the small voice on the other end that made me think this was more serious. “Has she asked for it back?”
“Yeah, but they are fucking assholes and think it’s funny.”
“Have you tried ignoring them? A game is no fun if there isn’t someone playing back.”
The voice on the other end let out a little squeak of indignation. “The problem is, my friend is a selkie. They know that. They are being pricks.” I typed selkie in my database. There were so many different types of creatures with different reactions and cultures, I was glad I had a database.
Selkies
Variant: Shapeshifter
Origin: North Sea
Can shift between human and seal forms. Codependent with their seal fur. Most are extremely protective of it because they will be landbound if it’s stolen or lost. Normally gentle, but will turn aggressive the longer they are without their fur.
They really were being pricks. “What’s your address?”
She rattled it off, and I could see Deuce and Liam were close by.
“I’ll send out a team. Try to keep your friend calm, and tell her that they’ll get her fur back and probably smash some skulls together while they are at it.
They’ll be approximately… forty minutes though. It’s a crazy day.” I chuckled softly.
“That’s an understatement,” the small voice replied.
“If they aren’t there in an hour, call the cops, and then call me back, okay?”
The caller agreed, and I got a few details before I hung up. I sat there, waiting for the phone to ring again, and when the hotline phone didn’t immediately light up, I breathed a sigh of relief and sprinted for the bathroom.
I hadn’t eaten or taken a break since ten, and my bladder was about to burst. I’d worked most summer solstices at either the strip club or the diner, because no matter which appetite was being fed, the tips were good that day, so I wasn’t sure I fully comprehended just how crazy it got outside.
My phone chirped in my pocket as I was washing my hands, and I saw it was Eric.
Eric: Got held up at work. One of our high profile clients climbed to the top of the Buckley monument and flew a flag about creature rights before being arrested.
I have to make sure they don’t do anything stupid because, somehow, I ended up being the senior partner today.
It should only be an hour, but I already ordered the Thai.
I can see if they’ll hold it for us or get it delivered.
Me: Don’t worry, it’s only a block away. I’ll get it myself. I need to see the sunlight anyway. I’ll save you some… probably.
Eric: Be careful. Everyone is extra crazy today. Love you.
Me: Love you too.
My heart flip-flopped in my chest at the words on the screen. Someone loved me unconditionally. Eric didn’t care where I’d come from, that my parents died in the riots, or that I was a stripper or a waitress or any of the other shitty jobs I’d had to take just to survive.
Eric just loved me and wanted me to be happy. Now I had to let myself be exactly that, but being happy without trepidation was difficult.
I grabbed the on call phone and stuck it in my pocket beside my own.
No one would be able to get in or out without a keycard, so it should be fine.
It was just weird leaving the center unattended.
When I hurried onto the street, the mood was joyous.
Despite the calls I got all day, there were thousands of creatures peacefully celebrating, with nothing but a long day of sunshine and too many margaritas ahead of them.
“Miss Swoon,” someone called, and I was surprised when Officer Nextra pulled up beside me in a black sedan that screamed cop.
“Officer,” I replied and continued to walk. “I hope you’re having a good solstice.” I tried not to look like I was running, but I definitely increased my pace.
The oversized orc grunted at me, or maybe he was an average sized orc, and Eric was just smaller than most. Given the stories Eric had told me, I didn’t particularly want to find out either way.
“It’s mayhem, but it normally is. I need to see Eric.”
My steps slowed. “Well, I assume you know where he works. You should make an appointment.”
“Of course I know where he works, but the king has prevented anyone from even speaking his name under pain of excommunication, so you can imagine turning up to his place of work would be bad.”
I grimaced but turned and kept walking, even though Nextra had pulled his car over and climbed out. He walked beside me, but I hoped that being out here in the open would prevent him from doing anything drastic. “That doesn’t sound like a problem for me or Eric. That sounds like a problem for you.”
“I could make it a you problem,” Nextra growled. “I know Eric bonded you without your knowledge.”
It took everything inside me not to react. “I’m sure I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. I love Eric. He’s my mate, and our bond is, and always has been, mutual. Have a joyous solstice, Officer.”
I turned and hurried down the sidewalk. “Miss Swoon?” Huffing out an angry breath, I slowed my steps. “Freddie was my brother. He was a fucking asshole, but he was still my brother, and because of Eric, he’s dead.”
Whirling around, I marched right up to Nextra.
“I don’t know what you’re insinuating right now, but fuck you.
” Apparently, I no longer cared that I was talking to a cop.
“Freddie made his own choices, and his choices led him to wherever he ended up.” Dead.
We both knew he was dead. “It isn’t Eric’s fault.
He’s as much of a victim of your fucked up society as Freddie was.
” I sucked in a deep breath before I let shit slip that I couldn’t take back.
“I don’t know what your problem is, but if you want to talk to Eric, call his office.
Otherwise, leave us both the hell alone before I file a complaint for police harassment. ”
I marched off. I wouldn’t turn back around and didn’t care if he called out to me again. I’d made my point.
When I saw the Thai restaurant up ahead, I almost cried with relief.
I wanted to get my food and get back to the safety of the CCC.
I gave them Eric’s name, and they gave me more food than either of us could consume.
They had to put it all in a cardboard box and kept making excited comments about solstice parties.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it was just for the two of us, though perhaps Eric really had bought enough for the whole team.
Someone held the door for me, and I walked down the block to the center. I was still unsettled, but the smell of the food was making my stomach growl.
I was almost to the doors of the center when someone grabbed me from behind and dragged me into an alley. I dropped the Thai food, and it splattered across the pavement.
Throwing an elbow back, I heard someone grunt, but I went really still when the sharp edge of a knife pressed against my throat.
“Don’t fucking move, little girl.” The person holding me sounded like they’d been throat punched too many times.
Eric! Syke! I screamed in my mind.
“I know who you are, Hailey Swoon. I know who your parents are, and I know what happened to Graham.” The guy had one arm around my waist, and the knife pressed tighter to my throat.
“I’m happy to tell the CVPD that you murdered him in cold blood.
If you don’t want me to do that, this is what you’re going to do. ”
The guy holding me had the sour stench of a drug addict, a smell I knew way too well. He also smelled like he hadn’t used deodorant in a decade. “Fuck you, I’m not doing shit for you.”
My phone began to buzz in my pocket, but I couldn’t tell if it was my phone or the hotline phone.
“Your parents would be fucking ashamed of you, monster fucker, killing the last vestiges of humanity with your diseased cunt.” I felt the sting of the knife.
“This is what you’re going to do, or else I’m going to slit your worthless throat right now.
When this buzzer goes off, you’re going to come downstairs to the dumpster over there, grab the bag that’s inside, then walk it back up to the office. That’s it.”
Louis! Ilyas! I tried calling through the bonds, even though it was a long shot because the only person I really had a bond with was Eric. “How about fuck you?” I snarled.
“You’ve been pumped full of monster jizz.
No fucking way would I put my cock anywhere near any part of your body…
but maybe I’ll fuck your corpse if you keep talking.
” He dragged the knife up my cheek, and I felt blood dripping down.
“Tell a soul, and I’ll fucking come for all of you.
I’ll cut slices off every single one of those freaks, and I’ll make you watch.
Understand?” He dragged his knife up my face, and I screamed as the blade cut through my skin.
Then he was gone.
My body shook violently, and I stood there, staring at the brick wall in the shadows of the Creature Crisis Center.
The shadows coalesced, and Syke appeared.
“Hailey?” he whispered, moving so swiftly toward me that I flinched.
He stilled, his eyes wide as he stared at the blood trickling down my face and neck, then his expression morphed into something terrifying, something entirely demonic. “Who. Fucking. Hurt. You?”
I crumpled. Like a wet tissue in a monsoon, I fell apart in the dirty alleyway. Syke picked me up in his arms, carrying me swiftly into the crisis center foyer and through the elevator doors. He hummed a soft noise, whispering things that felt more like tones than words—the demonic language.
He grabbed my phone out of my pocket and called someone. “I found her. Someone attacked her. I don’t know who. She’s in shock.”
Was I in shock? I didn’t think I was. My entire body felt like it was disconnected from my head, and when I looked at my hands, they were shaking violently. I felt almost… detached? Okay, maybe a little in shock.
“I’m okay. They need to stay out. People need them,” I murmured.
Syke walked me into the bathroom, pulling a first aid kit from beneath the sink.
“I don’t care what people need. I don’t care about anyone but you right now.
” He tilted my chin, and the pain of the knife wound stung.
I hissed, and all the mirrors exploded in the room, even the one behind my back.
Syke must have put up a protective barrier first, because not even a single shard of glass touched me.
He sucked in a deep, calming breath. “Tell me what happened.”
My attacker’s words briefly played in my mind about what would happen if I told anyone, but one thing I’d learned growing up was that fear was the greatest tool in a manipulator’s arsenal. Most would never follow through, but your mind kept you in chains far longer than anyone else could.
I explained about Nextra, the Thai food, and what the human in the alley had said. As I spoke, Syke cleaned and bandaged the wounds. When he was done, he dragged me into his arms and held me.
“No one will ever hurt you again.”
Man, where had I heard that before? I wanted to believe him, but I knew it was a promise that not even a demon could keep.