Soul Resurrected (Sons of Wrath, #2) (12 page)

“What a complete waste of time that was.” Gavin shook his head. “Watch him,” he warned, nodding his head in the direction Marrick had left. “He’s still Fatman’s tip.”

“Whoa. Can’t.” Zeke’s eyebrow shot up and Calla turned to see what had captured his attention. A redhead sauntered through the bar, her eyes undressing Zeke as she passed him. “I’m seeing red.”

“Jesus, man. One night.” Calix shook his head. “Can you go one night without letting your dick guide you?”

“My dick’s never steered me wrong, Brother.” Zeke craned his neck as red passed him, her skin-tight dress having silent conversation with any who stared. “’Sides, isn’t it some kind of nutritional requirement, or some shit, for an incubus to have sex every night? Talk ’bout calling the kettle black.”

“Hey, wake up.” Gavin nodded after the redhead.

She sidled up to Marrick, who stood among a group of brawny males that could only be lycan with the way they huddled together like some reject football team.

“No shit. Don’t do it, babe,” Zeke muttered, and threw his hands in the air. “So much for standards.”

“Impressive, Zeke. I didn’t know you had any.” Calla cowered, immediately regretting the joke.

“Ha!” Calix offered a fist, which Calla reluctantly bumped. “Good one.”

Gavin smiled beside her.

“S’all right.” Zeke’s eyes narrowed on Calla. “I’ll let that slide. Next time, though, daddy’s gonna have to punish you and that smart mouth of yours.” He winked.

Calla stifled a smile and took a sip of her beer. She had to admit, hanging with the guys was kind of fun. “What did you mean, Fatman’s tip?”

“Fatman’s our human snitch. Came to me about a week ago with a tip on some kids going missing. Thinks the lycans are involved.”

“He knows about lycans? I thought humans … ”

“He’s the reason the humans haven’t waged war on our asses. Good at manipulating evidence. One of the best investigators on the force.”

“Wow. Never realized you guys had ties like that.”

“Gotta be resourceful. Time to roll.” Gavin shifted, as if suddenly anxious to get out of the booth. “Calix you take Calla and grab the car. Asshole left with a group and the woman, out the back of the building. Zeke and I will follow him.”

All three demons and Calla scooted out of the booth and split off as directed. Calla followed behind Calix. He reached back and grabbed her hand, an innocent gesture that caught the attention of every woman she passed on the way out. Each one glanced up at Calix then down to her. Calla could only imagine their thoughts were something along the lines of
how the hell did you manage that?

A brisk wind beat against her face as they stepped out in front of the bar. The Land Rover sat parked where they’d left it.

The tromping of boots reached Calla’s ears and she snapped her head to the right, catching Ayden and Kane jogging toward them down the sidewalk.

“Two blocks down!” Ayden called out. “Let’s go!”

Calix sprinted around the Bentley and hopped inside. Kane piled in the back of the Land Rover, Calla in the passenger seat, Ayden in the driver’s, and both cars sped around the corner.

Zeke and Gavin waited curbside, when Ayden pulled up. She threw the SUV in park, and vaulted into the back as Zeke took her place in the driver’s seat.

“Where’d they go?” Calla asked beside him.

“Couple blocks down. Marrick stayed back at the bar with the female. Must know her. Said they were headed for Carrie and Brimson Street.”

Zipping through side streets lined with dilapidated houses, Zeke followed behind Calix’s Bentley until they parked about a block away, in view of a group of five males who hadn’t yet taken lycan form. Others cars lining the streets meant they’d remain inconspicuous for the most part—despite the demon vehicles being the fanciest on the block.

A grunt had Calla twisting in her seat. Kane’s eyes stared back at her, silver overtaking their regular hue.

“He’s about to bust back here.” Ayden opened the door and shoved Kane out onto the snow-laden patch of grass.

Through the window, Calla watched as Kane curled into himself. As his muscles bulged and protruded, her adrenaline surged, the sight of him inciting a need to attack.
Kill.

“Hey,” Zeke said beside her, “your eyes are doing that changing thing, glowing up the window.”

Calla took deep breaths, closed her eyes, and turned to face forward again. “Sorry, I know he’s one of us. A good guy.”

“No worries. I wanted to kill the bastard too at first. Save it for the wolves, though.”

She nodded and opened her eyes, the yellow glow fading from her periphery. Her head snapped back toward the window at the sound of a roar.

Beside Ayden, stood the most horrific looking beast Calla’d ever laid eyes on, his eight feet tall body covered in white fur with black stripes. Thick muscles lined his arms and chest. White frost burst from his mouth with each heaving breath.

Surely the entire block had heard that roar. Yet, no one emerged. As if the whole neighborhood was abandoned.

Gavin and Calix approached, and a quiet growl rumbled in Kane’s throat before diminishing.

“I don’t like this,” Gavin said. “Too quiet.” He pulled his gun from its holster. “I’m going to check it out. You guys case the surrounding neighborhood. We’ll meet back here. Got it?”

“Fuck that, Gavin,” Zeke said from the driver’s seat beside Calla. “I’m going with you. You’re not roaming these shitholes by yourself.”

“I’ll go with Gav.” Calix stepped forward.

Gavin gave a nod. “Zeke, I want you to keep an eye on Calla. It’s her first hunt. Don’t let her out of your sight, got me?”

“Yup.” Zeke flashed Calla a crooked smile. “I’ll keep this beauty in my sights at all times.”

Both Gavin and Calix pulled black hoodies up over their heads and crossed the street.

“Ready to rock?”

“Yeah.” Calla strapped on her wrist-bow.

“Then, let’s roll.” His gaze fell on the weapon. “You know how to use that thing?”

“I think so.”

“Steady your hand and brace yourself for the kickback.”

“Got it.”

“Let’s go kick some ass, sexy.”

Like his brothers, Zeke tugged a black hoodie over his head, as Calla followed him across the yard in the opposite direction. They kept to the shadows, stealing behind trees and buildings. For as big and bulky as Zeke was, he lurked with the grace of a dark ninja. It seemed the only time the man-whore demon remained focused was while stalking his prey—not one sexual innuendo spewed from his mouth.

Two teenage boys, both dressed like hood rats, in their low hanging jeans and oversized sweatshirts, pillaged a parked car outside a fire-gutted building.

Beyond them, two pairs of silver eyes hid behind a copse.

Like they didn’t even notice they were being hunted, the boys kept on, rummaging through the vehicle.

Zeke burst from the shadows with his head bowed down, striding straight toward the teens with Calla on his heels. “Hey, y’all know how to get downtown from here?”

The boys popped out from the car and ran like hell in the opposite direction.

As the wolves emerged from the bushes and lifted up onto their haunches, the rumble of their growls vibrated Calla’s chest.

“Oh, shit!” The distant shout of one boy echoed in the empty parking lot and faded as the both teens disappeared.

Zeke removed his hood and smiled at his oncoming prey. “Time to party. How ’bout you take the smaller one?”

Growls innervated along her spine as energy blazed through Calla’s muscles, the excitement intensifying with Zeke’s play. “Only if you promise to share your leftovers.” She shot a silver arrow straight into the wolf’ right flank.

It snarled and fell back a step at the same time that the lycan’s pack brother charged forward.

Zeke intercepted and, like a linebacker, barreled right into the lycan’s midsection, taking them both to the ground.

Calla took a deep breath as the smaller lycan dislodged the arrow from its flesh and stormed toward her. Bracing herself, she dodged its first swiping claw and issued a powerful kick to its stomach.

The wolf skipped back but steadied itself on its haunches and lunged again.

The glow that burned in her periphery signaled her eyes had changed. Muscles tightened. The wrenching sensation stirred in her gut.
Kill. Kill. Kill.

Slipping into attack mode, Calla lithely swung around swiping claws and teeth as if lost to some kind of dance—every kick and punch she delivered accurate and swift.

She leaped through the air and dropkicked the wolf, landing atop of it.

Between her thighs, it writhed and bared its teeth.

Calla grabbed either side of its skull and snapped its neck before yanking the dagger from her holster. A slice across the wolf’s throat separated its head from its body.

A cool sensation blanketed her insides as adrenaline pumped through her veins—exhilarating.

God, what a rush.

CHAPTER 10

Gavin and Calix roamed the entire block.

Nothing.

Every dilapidated house stood empty, not a trace to suggest that wolves even passed by. The pack they’d stalked had disappeared—odd, since lycans moved through predominantly empty neighborhoods like a cluster of tornados tearing shit up.

At the very least, Gavin should have picked up on the scent. Hell, he’d seen six burst into form as they fled the alley back at Moonshines.

Like they’d been picked off along the way, though, not a single wolf prowled the block.

“I thought, for sure, we’d find something.” Gavin shook his head, emerging from a small, ransacked bedroom, and placed his hands on his hips. “The hell are they after here?”

“You were wrong. It happens.” Calix sneered as he came out of one of the empty bedrooms. For a shithole neighborhood, the house appeared relatively well kempt—the only one on the block that still had furniture.

“Something doesn’t feel right about this, though.”

Gavin led the way down the stairs into the kitchen. He paced for a moment but paused, moved to the side and paused again. He bounced slightly in place.

“What’s wrong?” Calix asked.

“Look for a basement entrance.”

After scouring the kitchen and living room for an entrance, the two wandered outside, and found the cellar door sloped up out of a mound of the recently fallen snow.

Calix strode up from behind and Gavin gave him the signal to be quiet as he listened for sounds from within.

Nothing.

With a single jab of his fist, Gavin busted the lock, sending bits of metal flying upward. A long creak stamped out the silence as Gavin pulled back the door to reveal only darkness. Flashlight in hand, he stepped down inside the ice-cold cellar.

The scent of blood hit Gavin’s nose on descent.

Pungent, metallic, with a hint of lycan, it damn near choked him as it traveled to the back of his throat.

Forced to duck his nearly seven-foot frame beneath the low ceiling, Gavin ventured deeper into the cellar.

Something had been left down there—abandoned and cold, he could almost sense it shivering in the darkness.

Whimpers rose above the quiet.

Gavin turned.

Calix gave a nod to the side.

Gavin fell into step behind his brother. Their flashlights roved the cement walls and the floors of the cellars, flecks of red telling Gavin what they’d find likely wouldn’t be good.

Please don’t be a half-eaten kid. Fuck.

A moment of hesitation and Gavin lurched forward. He took the lead but swung around and flashed the light on Calix, who threw his arms up to his face, shielding the brightness. “You pull any of that hallucination shit that you did the last time, and I’ll knock you flat on your ass, clear?”

Calix chuckled.

Whimpering became louder than before.

The two rounded a protruding wall of wooden shelves, and Gavin cringed. “What the …?”

A young boy, perhaps fifteen years old, lay naked and chained to the wall. Judging by the welts and weeping wounds, he’d been recently beaten. Christ, maybe more than that, even, had been done.

Gavin reached out to move the straggled hair from his face, but the boy jerked back against the wall and buried his face in his chained arm.

“Calix, talk to him,” Gavin commanded, keeping his eyes on the kid; the chains rattled against the cement as he trembled. “These don’t look like lycan injuries. Looks calculated. Like a blade.”

His brother, half-incubus, born not only with unearthly beauty, but the gift of putting others at ease, knelt beside the boy. Calix removed his black hoodie and covered the boy’s bloodied body with it. “It’s all right. We’re here to help you.” Calix’s deep voice carried like a song.

Gavin stood and went to work on the chains. He tugged at them, dislodging a long link embedded inside the walls.