AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No one treats me as well as my babies.” She runs her hands over her monitors. “Data before dicks every time.”
The door opens, and Pen steps into the room, now wearing a pair of dark gray cargo pants and a white tank top. She didn’t waste time drying her hair after her shower, and water drops from her ash-blond hair, turning parts of her shirt transparent.
Darius’s hand tightens on my thigh, and an answering awareness sizzles through me. Even with an apocalypse on the horizon, the sight of Pen stirs the flames within me that long to rise to her call.
I don’t need Darius in my head to know he feels the same draw. It’s in the fire that flickers in his eyes and burns in his touch.
Golden eyes flash toward us, and the firebird inside Pen stares back, the desire to destroy and be reborn never far from the surface.
Darius often calls her a goddess, both revered and feared. The three of us could have wreaked havoc on the world if not for Sharpe and Flint, who temper our destructive instincts.
The shackles work both ways, though. We prevent them from causing harm, and they keep us from unleashing chaos.
Left alone, Flint might become a death god with an army of undead, while Sharpe nearly crossed the edge in his past life before Darius intervened, wiping his memories and granting a reset.
Our family requires a delicate balance, and we have each other’s backs, even when we piss each other off.
But sometimes, the fire calls. Especially when Pen looks at us like that.
Then she blinks, and the firebird vanishes, replaced by a hard determination as she turns to face the crime wall. “What do we know? Any new insights?”
“Nothing concrete that I can see.” Sharpe tosses his tablet onto the table in frustration. “There’s no obvious pattern to the deaths, beyond them filling the role of a sin, and hundreds of people could have filled those roles.”
“I can’t think of anymore more hateful or driven by lust.” I drum my fingers on the arms of my chair. “I agree about Lethoba, though. There are more gluttonous beings than a vampire frog.”
“Let’s look at just the facts for now.” Pen strides to the map on the panel, and points to the first red pin. “Tell us about Shawe’s death.”
“Reverend Shawe.” Meredith taps at her keyboard. “Found in his backyard, throat and stomach ripped out. No signs of how the animal got in and out of his fenced yard.”
She clicks on another screen. “Time of death was determined to be at dawn.”
Pen’s fingers tap against her thigh. “When was sunrise?”
The click of keys fills the silent room. “Five fifty-five.”
“And he was facing northeast.” Pen grabs the note cards and scribbles the information down, tacking it in place.
Sharpe walks closer to the board. “Do you think that matters?”
“With a celestial event involved, it’s possible. I’m just making notes of anything that could be useful. Flint will be better equipped to narrow our focus when he arrives.” She glances at me. “Is he on his way?”
“He should be here soon.” I check my phone for any messages but find none. “He probably hit traffic.”
Darius’s palm heats on my thigh. “Or he got distracted while gathering the books he needed.”
Pulling my leg out from beneath his hand, I kick him under the table.
“What? He is distractible.” He turns accusing eyes on me. “More so when he is at the Conservatory.”
“He’ll be here soon,” I grit out.
“What about Vicki?” Pen moves on to the next pin on the board, bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand.
“Vicki Brown, a fly-by waitress in between jobs. Most often fired for failure to show up at work or for sexually harassing her customers and co-workers.” Meredith clicks her mouse, and a video of a street appears on the white wall.
It shows Vicki stomping across the empty road, heading into the underground parking garage of the closed JTFPI building. “Killed two minutes after she went out of view, at five forty-two. Throat and stomach ripped out.”
“Her head pointed to the southwest,” Darius supplies.
