Authors: M. R. Merrick
I took in the scene for a few minutes before I turned on the TV, watching as it flickered to life on the news channel. The anchors talked about the weather, calling for more heavy rain and storms. They moved through a few other light topics before one caught my attention.
“Reports of kidnappings have been coming in from throughout the city. Although no names have been released, multiple calls to authorities have been reported.
There have been no missing persons reports filed as of yet, but the police are urging the public to take caution. Reports from witnesses say an unmarked van has been seen pulling up to people on the street, where a group of masked men then pull the unsuspecting citizens into the vehicle.
Again, there have been no missing persons reports filed, but the sheer number of calls placed last night and early this morning have the police on high alert.”
“Breakfast is served!” Marcus announced.
I stared at the TV, wondering if the story had any correlation to the hunters. I shook the thought away and went to the table.
Plates of pancakes, sausages, bacon, eggs, and toast covered the surface and gave off warm aromas. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a meal like this. With Mom working on rotating shifts, we almost never ate together, let alone meals like this. Mom wasn’t a great cook either, so my diet consisted mostly of pizza pockets and salad bowls full of cereal.
We all dug in, loading up our plates with mountains of everything. The food was fantastic and I was grateful for it, but I was astounded by Rayna’s appetite. She out-ate both Marcus and me by a plate and a half before turning in her fork.
We all helped clean up before settling down in the living room to discuss our next move. The TV was still on and everybody was enthralled by the news when it repeated what I’d seen. We were all in agreement that it could be connected to the Circle, and if it wasn’t, it was a strange coincidence. The hunters were searching for someone specific, and now people were getting scooped up. That would be one hell of a coincidence.
We’d need to find out if demons were the ones being taken. The plan laid out was for Rayna and me to go back to Revelations and talk to a few people that weren’t Vincent. The less we had to work with him, the better off we‘d be.
Rayna changed out of her pajamas and into khakis paired with a stretchy dark blue and white striped cotton shirt. Her hair was up again, this time in a high ponytail with two black strands left loose to frame her face. When she sat down to slip brown wedges on her feet, I couldn’t resist the urge to comment.
“Are you sure it’s even worth going down there wearing that much clothing? Nobody is going to want to look at you, let alone talk to you,” I said with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes. “Very funny, but the crowd is different during the day; I can get away with wearing this. Besides, I still look good.”
I frowned, having expected a flaming response. I found myself almost disappointed not to get one.
By the time we got to Revelations, it was well into the afternoon. The club wasn’t as busy as the night before, but it still held an impressive crowd. We grabbed a table near the dartboards, and I wasn’t the slightest bit sad to see that Vincent wasn’t there.
After we settled into our spot, we surveyed the room, trying to figure out who to talk to first. I didn’t have a clue who was who or even what, so I was more or less waiting on Rayna.
“I don’t see anybody who would be of any help. Actually, I don’t see anyone I even recognize,” she said.
I was scanning the room again when Willy came striding through the door, so I waved him over.
Wearing jeans and a white shirt with a spot of what looked like spaghetti sauce on the front, Willy looked as sloppy as usual. His shirt, which was too small, showed an inch of stomach as he moved and made his scrawny, hairy arms looked disproportionate. His brown hair was as messy as it always seemed to be, and his attempt at a beard wasn’t getting much better either.
“You making yourself a regular?” he said in a surprisingly cheerful voice.
“Haven’t decided,” I said.
He ordered a weirdly named drink, and when it came to the table it looked as gross as it sounded, somewhere between a milkshake and the thick glop his Grams had fed me. It smelled like the inside of a gym bag.
“I don’t even want to know what’s in that,” I said.
“Do- don’t be so nervous. Try it.” He slid it over to me, but I cringed. “Su- suit yourself. You don’t know what you’re missing. How about you?” He offered the drink to Rayna who only shook her head, looking almost as disgusted as I did.
“Willy, this is Rayna. Rayna, Willy.”
“Nice to meet you,” Rayna said.
“Sa- same he- here.”
“Willy, have you heard anything about the kidnappings last night?” I asked, getting straight to the point.
“Heard about ’em? I saw one of ’em happen, not long after I saw you two,” he said. “I thought they were coming for me at first. I was relieved to see them grab a shifter instead.”
“Do you think it has something to do with the demons they’re looking for?” I asked.
Willy shook his head. “Not
demons
but
demon
. I heard through a guy who knows a guy, whose sister’s friend’s cousin is dating a warlock, and he knows that it’s just one special type of demon.”
It took me a moment to catch up, but he’d answered my question.
“Do you know what kind of demon they're looking for?” Rayna asked.
Willy shook his head, sipping his drink through the straw. “Not for su- sure, but it looks like it might be som- some kind of shifter.”
“Well, that’s a start,” I said, but Rayna shook her head.
“We need more than a start right now. If hunters are going around nabbing Underworlders, we've got to stop them. Who knows what they're going to do if they find whatever they’re looking for.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I couldn’t believe I was worried about Underworlders to begin with, but I also knew that if the Underworld had more people in it like Rayna and Willy, I didn’t want anything bad to happen to them. I was learning that bloodline doesn’t determine good and evil, but people do. I had a loyalty to myself and the oath I’d made. A hunter didn’t make an oath unless he intended to keep it. Elemental powers or not, I was a hunter.
“Well then, we need to figure out where Vincent is and see what he can do for us,” I said.
“Marcus said it’s too dangerous and I think he might be right. Vincent isn’t as willing to help this time. Besides, you said yourself he was bad news. We have to find another way.”
“Well, I’m changing my mind. Doing things Marcus’s way isn’t going to be the quickest way to get answers. Whatever the hunters want, they want it badly enough to start grabbing demons off the street and that’s not their style. They thrive on being discreet. Besides, if you’ve gotten information from Vincent before, why should this time be different?”
“I don’t know why it’s different. It just is. And Marcus said…”
“Look, we tried Marcus’s way and it didn’t work. He sent us here to see what we could find, right?”
She nodded.
“Well, we found Vincent. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with Marcus. He is dangerous and I don’t want to work with him, but he’s the only lead we’ve got right now.”
Rayna took a minute to think about it. “You’re right.”
“Great, so where do we find him?”
“I don’t have a clue. I’ve always met him here.”
“Well, it’s daytime, so we’ve got to figure out where his nest is.”
“I know where it is,” Willy said.
I smiled at Willy. He was proving to be more helpful than I’d guessed.
After listening to Willy’s directions three times, I still couldn’t figure out how to get to the nest. I looked to Rayna for support, pleading with my eyes in the hope that she could figure out what he meant, but she shook her head.
I interrupted Willy while he was drawing a very sad excuse for a map on a stained napkin. “Willy, I’m glad you’re helping, I really am, but neither of us can make sense of what you’re saying. Have you ever actually been there?”
Willy nodded, but looked haunted at the thought. I hated to put him through this, especially after seeing how scared he had been last night, but I didn’t have a choice.
“Willy, you have to take us there.”
Willy’s face drained of all color and he shook his head firmly. “Forget it. I’m happy to help, but I’m more of a stand-on-the sidelines-and-shout sort of guy, not the get-in-the-game type. I said I’d give you directions. Look, I even have a map now.” He held up the stained napkin with a sheepish grin.
“Willy, you’re coming with us. Besides, it’s daytime. What could possibly happen?”
~~~~~~
Willy wasn’t happy and he wouldn’t let us forget it for a moment, making the cab ride nearly unbearable. We passed through downtown and a few residential areas, and a ridiculous fare later we emerged from the car in Stonewall’s industrial area. The sun was getting lower in the sky, but we still had a few hours before it would set.
We passed a few small buildings that looked abandoned, their windows smashed and the doors barely hanging on. Willy slowed and shook as we approached a large brick building. A chain link fence topped with barbed wire surrounded it, broken only by two giant gates in the middle. I tugged on one, but a chain and padlock held them shut.
“You sure this is the right place? It looks a little rundown to be the home of the head of a vampire family.” I pulled on the gate again, but I hadn’t brought anything to pick the lock, so we’d need another way in. “Willy, is this the right place or not?” I repeated. Frustrated, I turned to look him in the eye and saw a man with a gun to Willy’s head.
The guy was shorter than me, but his tight black shirt showed off defined muscles. One gloved hand pushed the gun hard against Willy’s temple while the other covered his mouth. Another man was holding Rayna the same way.
I stepped forward and reached for my blade, but the cold barrel of a gun against the back of my head stopped me. I closed my eyes and cursed under my breath. “I guess this is the right place.”
The gunmen unlocked the gate and led us into the warehouse. We entered a large open room littered with furniture, most of it old and giving off a stale smell.
Our captors pushed us to the middle of the room, where other lackeys waited. They forced us each into old wooden chairs and tied our hands and legs with rope. I stayed silent and tried to figure out what to do. After all, these people were vamplings: humans who knew the Underworld existed and had fallen in love with their idea of it. They were unpredictable at best, and they were everywhere. Vampires, werewolves, witches, and, in fact, almost all demons had various uses for them. These ones would watch over the vampires during the day, in the hope that if they served long enough, they would be turned.
I should’ve known Vincent would have such minions; a vampire of his status didn’t leave himself vulnerable to being staked in broad daylight. It was considered bad business to go to a vampire’s nest during the day, since it signified you meant them harm.
The more I thought about it, the more I kicked myself and realized that everything was far from alright. The thought of how scared Willy had been to come here made my gut hurt. I had put everyone in danger.
“Vincent will be pleased to have such a fresh meal for breakfast,” a woman said as she stepped in front of us. She was short, with a high blonde ponytail that reached her butt. Pink lips set in pale skin formed a smile that sent chills down my spine.
“Actually, we’re here to see Vincent,” I said.
“Isn’t that what they all say?”
“I’m not sure. This is my first time.”
I watched anger fill her eyes and she raised her hand to prepare a response of her own. I braced for impact, but I smiled when I felt the back of her hand on my cheek. She was a human and I was a hunter. She couldn’t compete with my supernatural strength. I might not be immortal like the vampires, but I could take a hell of lot more than she could dish out. At my laugh, the self-satisfied look drained from her face.
“You’re a
mortal
. You’re going to have to try harder than that,” I said.
A larger man moved towards me with his gun held by the barrel and smashed it against my jaw. This was more effective than the slap and it did hurt, but the pain was replaced by a burst of adrenaline. “And what exactly are you, boy?” the man said, leaning down to push his face against mine.