Fifteen minutes of grudging travel arrangements later, a one-way ticket to Anchorage showed up in my email inbox. A small buzz of mixed emotions surged through me to be going back to where I grew up, where I’d get to see my best friend again. I had gone back a few times since moving to Seattle after the vampire attack, and each time, my stomach churned with nerves and excitement.
I had fifteen hours to get my shit together before takeoff. That meant packing—and figuring out what to do about school while I was gone.
“Thank you, V. I appreciate this so much.”
“Don’t even worry about it, seriously. But I’ve gotta go if I’m going to make this work. We’ll talk when I get to Alaska.”
“Sounds good. I’m excited to see you!”
The feeling was mutual. I could count on one hand the number of times I had actually gotten to spend time with Lian since I’d moved back to Seattle with my grandma after my parents were killed and I miraculously survived the vampire attack. Before that, Lian and I were together all the time.
I pulled my laptop over and opened up the email client, copied all my professors onto a blank message. The words flowed from my fingers as automatically as if I had planned them out for days.
“Dear Professors. I regret to inform you that I need to take an immediate leave from all classes, due to an unforeseen personal emergency…”
Outside the bedroom window, the smallest sliver of moon continued its slow sail across the darkened sky. In a matter of hours, I’d be on the train to SeaTac Airport, headed into the unknown without so much as a backward glance.
A flare of unease spiked through me… Anchorage brought back many memories that for so long I tried to push to the back of my mind. But I couldn’t let that stop me from helping Lian.
Chapter 2
Seth
Parked on a stool at the Rabbit’s Foot bar, on the south side of Anchorage, I could see the blurry shapes of wet snowflakes hitting the window. I scowled. If there was one thing to complain about on the mortal plane of existence, the lousy weather occupied a place high up on my list.
But I had been promised rich rewards dependent on my ability to follow through on this mission, and I was never one to miss collecting on a debt once it was owed.
Nor did I turn down a chance to shed blood. The very thought made the edges of my mouth pull into half a smile.
The thing was, Orion, the local vampire clanmaster of Anchorage had found himself in trouble recently. The territory he’d been ruling over for decades was under threat by the vampire master from Seattle who sent over a tribe of shifters and vamps to claim the place on his behalf.
So, Orion hired me and one other guy to be the muscle and help remind these intruders the area wasn’t for the taking. A brutal, violent reminder that would terrify the asshole to stay back in Seattle where he belonged.
And tonight we were rolling out the beginning of our retribution with me kicking us off. I couldn’t wait.
I was ready to do what was needed to get my reward; Orion promised me my own realm in which to indulge without any rules hindering me, or others sticking their noses in my business. I had faced my fair share of shit down in the Underworld, fought to climb the hierarchy of legions, and it still got me betrayed by those closest to me. My gut churned at the thought of everything I lost…
Including her.
An ache sharpened in my chest.
Grinding my teeth, I shoved the memories aside, loathing how they made me feel sick to my stomach.
Fuck everything and everyone. After I finished the mission with Orion, I was on my own.
As I sat back on the stool and stretched my powerfully muscled arms and shoulders, stiff from hunching for the last few hours, I glanced around the room. My mark still sat stuffed into a booth in the far corner— I could only see the edge of the man’s burly right shoulder, leading down into an arm like a tree trunk. No signs of movement, let alone an intent to depart.
I resented the jackass more with every passing minute for making me wait. More than anything I wanted to march over there and finish already, but that wasn’t my plan. I sighed and kept waiting for him to leave.
Twin tendrils of smoke slipped from my nostrils into air already choked by cigarette fumes. The bar was proving to be the perfect cover, in a way. Dark, hazy, full of transients and weirdos. Nobody thought twice about some guy in a long coat blowing smoke at the corner of the bar.
The whiskey had almost disappeared by the time my mark finally struggled up out of his seat. The testimony of his partial silhouette proved truthful; he was a giant of a man. A bear, one might say. I tracked the man’s lumbering movement toward the door leading out into the unpleasant Alaskan night. As soon as it began to swing open, I made my long-awaited move.
The glass clunked down onto the bar, cushioned by a bill. “Keep the change,” I muttered to the barkeep.
My gaze cut through the miserable, snowy night to the shadow trudging away from the Rabbit Foot’s dim circle of radiance.
The hulking shadow moved slowly, weighed down by the massive quantities of alcohol percolating through his system.
When I exhaled, jets of smoke poured from my nose and leaked from the corners of my mouth. I had been instructed not to throw my strength around if I could help it.
Too bad. Showing off was one of my favorite things to do. I was always performing, whether my audience was going to live through it or not.
The mammoth stranger staggered to a halt at the side of the road. I watched with a mix of amusement and disgust as the man bent forward, hands on his knees. He coughed and sputtered.
Pathetic.
I was standing within arm’s reach by the time my quarry finally caught on to my presence.
“Who’re you?” The words slurred from the depths of a silvered brown beard, aimed lazily over one burly shoulder. “And what the hell d’you want?”
My left hand emerged from my pocket to scratch the side of his jaw. Wreaths of steam had started to billow up from where the soles of my feet melted snow back into clear rivulets of water. I stared into the man’s unfocused eyes and saw the fury smoldering there, but I’d still caught him off guard.
My right hand closed around the hilt of a long knife bearing a sharp, mean blade. If I struck true, it could puncture the heart of this giant and bring him down in seconds. On the other hand, if I was feeling exceptionally cruel…
Still sheathed inside the coat, the knife’s hungry blade began to glow, first fire-orange, and then white-hot. As I drew it, the weapon lit me from beneath.
But the beast-man was undeterred. He faced me, rising to his full, impressive height. The cotton fibers of his shirt strained to contain masses of muscle beneath. “I said, what the hell do you want?” His gaze narrowed into dark slits, all traces of sickness chased away by the rush of adrenaline.
I raised the blade and its arc streaked through the night like a meteorite, drawing a trail of fire behind it. I saw a hand coming up to meet it, but his counter was far too slow.
I plunged the knife into his chest, the blade sinking into soft flesh.
Still, five huge claws raked into the flesh of my forearm, drawing a slow stream of black blood.
The stench of burning meat and hair lingered in the air, and I hissed at the second of sharpening ache before it started to heal.