Chapter 6

 

Quinn made a mad dash through another Midtown street, hunting for Evalle.

A dark figure at the other end cut a path through the rain, heading straight for him.

Whoever it was had already spotted Quinn, so he kept moving forward, ready to battle.

This part of the city had a substantial Belador population of warriors Quinn could normally call out at a moment’s notice. But he would not put any more of his people in danger tonight.

Dull light from a street lamp outlined the hulking shape walking with a determined stride. He toted a weapon that had been built to destroy nonhumans.

Quinn stopped. “What are you doing here, Isak?”

The black ops soldier flipped up his monocular, leaving only the whites of his eyes showing in a face covered with black camo paint. “We got a report of trouble in this area. Turned out to be a break-in. Nothing paranormal.”

Quinn had no time to waste debating on what to do about Isak. Evalle had a point. No argument would deter this man.

Instead, Quinn said, “Evalle encountered a strange energy. She was east of us, four streets away. I lost telepathic contact with her. I’ve been running every street on my way there to avoid missing her if she’s headed this way.”

“Let’s go.” Isak turned to his side, waiting.

Hello clusterfuck. Quinn didn’t care. Isak could join him if he could keep up. Quinn took off, hearing a string of Isak’s curses in his wake. Heavy-footed splashing followed, surprising Quinn at just how fast Isak could move that much body mass.

Quinn sent a telepathic message to Trey, telling him what was going on and finished with, Let me know if anyone gets eyes on Evalle or Devon.

Will do. Then Trey added, Adrianna and Casper should be intercepting you, Evalle, or both of you pretty soon.

I’ll keep you posted.

Taking a hard right into the neighborhood where Evalle should be, Quinn searched the darkness for any sign of her. A movement at the end of the dark street caught his eye. He ran toward it to find Devon struggling to get up.

Hoisting Devon to his feet none too gently, Quinn growled, “What happened to you? Where’s Evalle?”

Devon shook his head, spraying water like a wet dog, and stepped back from Quinn. He lifted a hand. “Give me a minute to shut up Trey so I can talk to you.”

“We don’t have a minute,” Quinn shouted. “Tell Trey you’re with me and start talking.”

Devon wiped water off his face. “I was following an energy field—”

“Was it buzzing?”

“Yes.”

Quinn confirmed, “Evalle sent me a message about it. She’s tracking it.”

Devon shook his head. “She may think she is, but I’m pretty sure it’s letting her track it and probably dragging her into a trap. I thought I was tracking it, too, but whatever is in that energy field is sentient. When I snuck up to see if I could figure out what was going on, it literally threw me against a tree, but I heard voices.”

“Sentient? Or is it a cloaking device for beings and they attacked you?”

“I have no idea. Just telling you what I noticed. I didn’t have a chance to see anyone before I smacked a tree hard enough to knock me out.” Devon rubbed the back of his head.

What the hell were they up against?

“Did you see Evalle at any point?” Quinn asked.

“No. I caught a snippet of her telepathy, but couldn’t make sense of it.”

“She was heading back toward me,” Quinn muttered. “Dammit. I’ve tried calling her and Trey is trying, but—”

“The minute you get close to that buzzing, it blocks any telepathy. I doubt even Trey could project if he was caught up in it.”

That could be one hell of a cloaking device. Quinn hoped Adrianna could determine what was going on with it.

Isak jogged up to them, holding his demon blaster across his chest, and with his monocular back in place.

Quinn asked, “Are any of your men out here?”

“Just me. I’ve got teams waiting at different spots around the inner city to come the minute I call.” Isak reached into a pocket on his cargo pants and pulled out two comm units, shoving them at Quinn and Devon. “These are tuned for your sensitive hearing. We can’t work as a unit if we’re blind to everyone’s position.”

He designated Quinn as Delta One and Devon as Delta Two.

Devon said, “What’s your handle?”

“Alpha One,” Isak replied in a tone that indicated it should have been obvious and wasn’t up for discussion.

Quinn rolled his eyes. He didn’t give a rat’s ass what they called each other. He’d wear an aluminum foil hat right now if it meant finding Evalle.

In spite of Isak’s self-appointed leadership, Quinn started issuing orders, sending Isak in one direction to the main roads and ordering Devon to sit tight.

Isak gave Quinn a quelling look, but to his credit he moved out.

How were they going to find Evalle?

In these older neighborhoods around Midtown, some of the streets were a grid pattern, but not all. There were areas where a street might stop then pick up at an offset point. Then there were curves thrown in just to keep it interesting.

As soon as Isak left, Quinn explained to Devon, “You’re going to wait here until I get four streets down in that direction.” He pointed away from the park. “When I get there, we’re both going to walk east, mirroring each other for as long as we can. We pause to check in when we reach the same cross street. If you can’t hear me or I can’t hear you telepathically, then we head toward the person we can’t hear. By process of elimination, we might find that energy field.”

This would be a great time to have Evalle’s mate on the team. Storm had more than one way to find her quickly, but he was still following a scent trail from one of the crime scenes.

Storm was a possessive bastard who would dismember anyone who harmed Evalle.

He’d have to stand in line behind Quinn if anything happened to her tonight.

Quinn blew down the street to his start point and told Devon to start walking at normal human speed. He shouted out telepathically to Evalle again.

Every silent moment that followed twisted him into one big, frustrated knot.

After vaulting over a wooden fence separating small yards, he made it to the next street over. Dogs howled nearby, maybe one more street down. He could take off at super speed again, but he feared missing sight of Evalle by moving too quickly if she was trying to slip through the shadows.

He headed toward the chorus of dog howls, which took him deeper into the neighborhood.

Isak’s sharp voice shot into Quinn’s ear. He yanked out the comm and could still hear him. Apparently Isak wasn’t quite up to speed on just how sensitive a Belador’s hearing could be. “I’m at the end of the park near Monroe. I’m heading back.”

Devon replied with, “Copy that.”

Quinn had made it three streets when he received no reply from his telepathic call to Devon.

He turned left, heading for where Devon should be.

A figure that matched Evalle’s size and movements rushed across the street two blocks ahead.

Got her. Relief shook the lead out of his feet and he shot forward, only to see her vanish again. Dammit!

He shouted telepathically. Evalle! Eee-valle!

When he closed in on where he thought she’d been, a man in a black coveralls appeared a hundred feet away in the middle of the street as if he’d just teleported in. Except that he was falling backwards.

Then four more men immediately appeared, all huddled around something.

Had they just teleported here?

Or ... had that buzzing cloud been a cloaking device after all, which failed for some reason?

Between Quinn and those men, yet another person entered the mix, but this one had stepped from beside a tree. A woman. She was average size and had a head of curly light-brown hair.

Evalle’s voice shouted in Quinn’s head, telling him the street she was on where men were appearing and for him to meet her.

I hear you, Evalle. I see the men, but not you.

You’ll see me. I’m on my way to kick some butt then we’ll interrogate them.

Everything happened at the same moment.

The guy in the black coveralls jumped up, red eyes glowing. Bloody hell. A demon. The woman from behind the tree headed for the demon and certain death.

The demon charged her.

Quinn rushed to close the distance behind her and shouted, “Get down!”

She swung around, wide-eyed, and dropped as he hit the demon with heavy kinetic power.

That strike sent the demon flying into the four men, breaking up the pile better than a bowling strike. One of the men grabbed a woman who had evidently been what they’d huddled around, slung her over his shoulder and took off running toward Piedmont Park.

Ignoring the human bystander on the ground, whom Quinn would deal with once the threat was handled, he kept moving forward with his hands out, using his power to pin the demon to the wet pavement.

The woman he’d just saved cursed a blue streak and raced past Quinn in the direction of the guy carrying the other woman. Definitely nuts, but Devon should intercept her since he was on the park end of the street.

The incessant rain had increased to a downpour now, harder than it had been all day.

There was Evalle on the opposite side of this bunch from Quinn, and now battling two men. But where was the last of their foursome?

Those two ganged up on her to lift her, both using kinetics to toss her over their heads at Quinn.

He had no choice but to release the demon. Quinn angled his power up to catch Evalle, who was flipping head over bottom through the air.

She’d probably land like a damn cat, but he couldn’t risk that she’d hit on her head and crack it like an egg.

He slowed her descent.

She turned at the last minute, hitting feet first. She called out, “Thanks.”

They both turned to find the demon and the three men gone. Devon was shaking his head, walking toward them. “I tried to stop the guy carrying a woman, but he and a buddy ganged up on me. I can’t believe the power they hit me with.”

Quinn asked, “Did you see another woman running behind them?”

Devon shook his head. “Sorry. Guess it’s getting hit twice in a short time. I was addled for a bit.”

Evalle stomped the ground. “How are they using that much kinetic power against us? I know others have kinetic ability, but I can’t think of another group that fights like we do. That was crazy.”

Quinn had many short words to describe it, but crazy would work for now. “Are you okay, Evalle?”

“I’m good.“ She straightened her cockeyed sunglasses and slapped her head. “I heard voices before those men started appearing out of thin air—”

Isak’s voice blasted through Quinn’s comm set again. “I hear screaming coming from Piedmont Park.” Then Isak gave Quinn his location and asked, “Where are you?”

Quinn paused and caught the sound. He acknowledged, “I hear it, too. We’re closer than you and going to the park now.” He tore away through a wall of rain.

“Me, too,” Evalle yelled. She and Devon were doing a hard sprint with Quinn.

When they crossed the highway, the only car in sight was too far away for the headlights to touch them.

Adrianna and Casper were coming in from the left.

Quinn gave hand signals, everyone keeping quiet as they slowed to a fast walk. For once the miserable rain was covering their footsteps.

Red eyes flashed in the dark fifty yards away.

That damn demon.

Quinn motioned for Evalle and Devon to spread out so they could watch each other’s backs. Adrianna followed suit with her and Casper teaming up.

His team spread out just as a scream started again then was cut off in midstream.

Damn. Had they killed one of those women? Or both?

Quinn rushed in to find that crazy, curly-haired woman fighting the demon. The female who had been carried off was on the ground, not moving. The demon dove at the curly-haired woman. Quinn prepared to strike the demon with kinetics, but the woman lashed out with a whip of energy that shot from her right-hand fingers.

A blue-white streak burned a hole through the demon’s head right before he landed on her.

She was not human.

Quinn grabbed the demon off her and had to yank because the demon’s claw had snagged on a cord. Quinn tugged and something that looked like a black coin hit his foot. He flipped it off into the mud.

In two steps, he ended up with a handful of gray dust as the demon decomposed.

“Who are you?” Evalle demanded.

Quinn spun around to see if the demon-killing woman was still alive.

She raked a hand over her out-of-control curls and got to her feet. She replied to Evalle, “That depends.”

“On what?” Evalle asked.

“On if it’s any of your business. The answer is, no, it’s not.”

Adrianna was squatted down checking the body on the ground. She called over. “Medb witch. Dead. Broken neck. It didn’t have time to maul her.”

Devon and Casper walked up. Devon said, “We found nothing. I’m going to keep scouting around.”

Quinn gave him a curt nod of confirmation and Devon took off. Now it was time to take this cocky woman down a notch. “You should tell us your name and what you were doing out here.”

She snorted a laugh. “That’s not going to happen. I walked up on that woman being attacked and tried to help her. End of discussion.”

Hardly. He asked, “What type of being are you?”

“Wow, you’re going all Barbara Walters on me. If you were a vegetable what kind would you be?”

She had powers. She was being evasive and she had a smart mouth. Not a wise combination when outnumbered by nonhumans.

She was also toned as if she worked hard to be in fighting shape. No delicate flower, even if she did have heart-shaped lips and smooth skin.

He grimaced. Not a description he’d share in a mission report.

He gave her one more chance. “Are you registered with VIPER? And before you give me lip, you should know that I’m the Maistir over the North American Beladors. I can take you in and keep you there indefinitely.”

Light colored eyes—blue?—locked with his.

Hers narrowed. “Are you always a surly bastard? Really, who killed your dog?”

Evalle glanced at him, her gaze searching his face for a reaction.

Yes, he was a surly bastard, but he hadn’t lost a dog. It had been a woman. He stopped short of yelling that at this crazy person—whatever she was. He had more control than that, which he showed by calmly telling her, “You’ll need to come with us until we can confirm why you’re in Atlanta.”

“I’m going to warn you one time to leave me alone,” she said in the cool voice of someone who knew she could back up her words.

He suffered a moment of admiration for this woman who stood her ground in spite of being surrounded by preternatural beings. That mental slip irritated him, which caused him to double down on the steel in his voice.

“I’ll give you fair warning as well. Threaten anyone here again and you’ll regret it. We’re investigating Medb murders in this area. You’re not going anywhere until I get answers.”

That should have put an unholy fear in her.

Not even.

Fury lit her gaze. She took two steps back. “I don’t want to hurt any of you, but I’m leaving now. If anyone tries to stop me, I will hurt you.”

With that said, she extended her right hand as she patted her left hand around her open collar. Her face registered shock.

Evalle and Quinn reacted just as fast, pushing up a wall of kinetic power to stop her strike.

In the microsecond it took for all of that to happen, Adrianna spit out two words and the stranger doubled over and fell to her knees, then flat out on the ground.

Casper had stood by during all of it, because he had unusual gifts but not like a Belador or Adrianna. He looked at Adrianna. “Damn, that’s hot.”

She gave him a wry glance and one of her almost smiles.

Isak came striding up and took in everything.

Quinn followed Isak’s gaze to where a white glow the size of a tennis ball spun in Adrianna’s palm. That was just a tiny example of the mighty Witchlock power.

Evalle asked, “How long will she be out?”

Adrianna’s mouth twisted with regret. “I’m not sure. That was something new I’ve been practicing with Witchlock. I’m relatively sure it won’t kill her though.”

Evalle said, “I hope not. We need to know what she knows.”

Based on what Evalle had told Quinn about Isak and Adrianna having a relationship, Quinn expected Adrianna to fill Isak in, but she ignored him.

Evalle must have noticed. Her gaze ping-ponged between the pair then she told Isak what had happened.

He said, “Wish I’d been here. I could have stunned her instead.”

Adrianna argued, “By the time you could have done that, she would have cut you in half with the power from her little finger.”

“Never happen,” he said in a dismissive tone.

Evalle walked out from between them to pull Quinn aside and whisper, “We have to talk about those men in the energy field. I heard one of them.”

“What’d he say?”

“He was trying to get the demon back in place and telling one of the others to grab the Medb.”

Quinn thought back. “I didn’t hear him say anything.”

She started to explain more, but he halted her with his hand when Devon’s voice came into Quinn’s mind.

I’m over by the bridge. The four men from the energy field are here and nothing is buzzing. We should be able to take them.

You mean Park Drive Bridge? No water flowed beneath the bridge. Only urban art donated by nameless crafters who’d decorated a hangout spot for teens.

That’s the one, Devon confirmed.

Adrenaline rushed through Quinn at the chance to get his hands on these men, but his gut warned him something was very off with all of this. That he should pull his people back and keep them safe.

What would Tzader have done in his shoes when Tzader was Maistir?

His friend would have told his gut to shut the hell up and trust the skills of his people. Beladors were powerful beings who backed down from no fight, not even one against an unknown enemy that had outmaneuvered them already.

Yeah, this sucked.

Quinn told Devon, Stay close but don’t engage. We’re coming after them.