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“You ever show your face here again and it’ll be the last time you have that pretty unmarred face of yours.”
Duly noted. It was my greatest wish I would never need his services again, but I doubted I would get lucky. Nodding to him, I made my own way back downstairs, slipping out past the bouncer. The seedy underbelly was back, my presence from before not deterring them for long. There was no end to it. The AEA could deport hundreds of demons and fae, but more were always coming through illegal portals to Earth.
With my new information making the rounds in my brain, I made my way back to the hotel.
At least we finally knew where Freya fit into all this.
Chapter 11
Oswald
Mycoatwasstifffrom the dried blood, but I had no interest in continuing to clean myself tonight. The instinct was there, nagging me to pause and curl my tail around my feet, but I ignored it. Their blood tasted downright vile. Worse than anything I’d ever consumed, even from a dirty alleyway squirrel or possum. I was tempted to take Freya up on her offer of letting me taste her, but I would never.
She wouldn’t taste how I imagined her to.
The disgusting blood was part of my curse. My body needed it to survive, but I didn’t enjoy the flavour like I had in the past. It was only a small facet of the curse the witch had placed on me, but was the most consistently annoying. A reminder of my situation.
Spying on the two investigators was surprisingly easy. I’d hidden behind a dumpster in the alley where Freya had portalled home, relieved they didn’t get any sense of where she lived. In my slow creep toward them, I’d missed the first portion of their conversation, but it was interesting to learn that Caspian slept with both members of their team. They kept the task of feeding him within the group, which was smart.
I fucking hated to admit that Shan was smart, but he was. Smart enough that it was only a matter of time before he figured out one or both of Freya’s Earth-shattering secrets. Personally, I thought she should bond one or both of them before they found out secret number two, but she wouldn’t. Maisie’s situation had broken her ability to trust an Alpha, even though the vast majority would never betray their bonded Omega.
When Shan spread his wings and shimmered into invisibility, I opted to follow him. He was the bigger threat, and his contact could be a danger or a help to us too, if I found out who they were.
Following a flying angel wasn’t easy, but manageable. My sense of smell was heightened compared to a human, and I could teleport like all familiars. As long as I aimed my teleportation jumps in the right direction, I’d pick up his scent again. He brought us to a hotel on the edge of downtown, low- to mid-range, but I didn’t bother following him inside. I waited for him to exit again, sliding into a waiting yellow cab. Perfect. With the streets half empty because of the late hour, the cab would be easy to follow.
The drive was fifteen minutes across town and my body was hanging on the edge of exhaustion from all the teleporting. This was the worst area of town, a place Freya never went to because she was in grave danger here. I was unfamiliar with the surroundings. Shan got out of the cab and it roared off to a more savoury area, leaving us in its dust.
He walked a couple blocks down, only being hassled by a sex worker who startled and ran shortly after propositioning him. Go figure. The asshole was able to terrify women who worked with people far scarier than him daily. When he turned down a dark alley, every hair on my back stood on end.
I slunk down behind a set of dumpsters, keeping my distance from everyone in the alley. The group of shifters would be a problem if they caught wind of me. Shifters took pleasure in the hunt, and I was a fucking cat. One who couldn’t teleport further than a few feet until I’d had some time to recover my strength. Everyone cleared out, though, as Shan spoke to the bouncer at the front door.
With the hooting and hollering from the shifter pack gone, I heard every word. Jude. I’d never come across the name before, but as my attention shifted off of Shan, I noticed where we were. A graffiti sign above the burgundy painted metal door had fake blood running down the design.Bloodshed Brewing.What the hell did an angel have to do with any of Kylan Jitara’s associates?
I threw curses at him in my head. Him coming here would fuck everything up. Freya had trouble trusting to begin with. Shan speaking civilly to her enemies wouldn’t go over well. And I had to tell her. I was oath bound to serve and spy for her. She hadn’t asked me to do this, but withholding the details would be a betrayal all the same.
She didn’t need to be betrayed by anyone else.
He disappeared inside the building. When the bouncer came back down, alone, he turned and stood resolutely in front of the door. The alley had cleared out, but filled with different people now that Shan wasn’t a deterrent. A vampire descended on the man the succubus had abandoned, sucking the last of the life out of him. The shifters returned to the far end of the alley, taunting people on the street and waiting for someone to walk away too fast so they could give chase.
Moving my weight from foot to foot, I stayed on high alert. Someone might catch my scent, different from a normal cat’s, and I’d be fucked. A few minutes later, Shan came out of the building, frowning. I tailed him back out to the main street, but he got in another cab and gave the address of his hotel. Only one stop tonight. Now it was time for me to make my way home, hopefully without catching any attention, because Freya’s apartment was at least a thirty-minute walk and I was still too weak to teleport. Maybe I would hunt a squirrel on the way back.
I was slinking down the edge of the sidewalk, keeping myself small and away from anyone’s feet, when I realized I was being followed.Fuck.
A pungent scent caught up to me. Wet dog. Well, wet wolf. A shifter had caught wind of my presence and it wouldn’t be long before all his friends would follow me, too. The urge to run made my legs tense, but I kept up my slow pace, not letting on that I knew anyone was behind me. When I ran, I would have to keep running until they gave up.
Wolves could run for hours, even in their human form. And they loved a good chase.
Changing my direction to head to Club Chaos, I plodded slowly along. Another shifter joined the first, this one a bear shifter. Then a third, a bird. How wonderful. This pack would track me from the ground and air. If I got to the club unscathed, I would be surprised. A few minutes later, when I hadn’t yet started to run, there was a growl of frustration from behind me.
I took off, the impatient wolf shifter mere steps behind me in his human form.
The mad dash through the streets had me gasping for air. Fifteen minutes. At this pace, getting to Club Chaos would take that long. Unfortunately, as a cat, I didn’t have many opportunities to do cardio. This sprint would be a stretch.
Above me, the bird shifter was soaring, a giant eagle with deadly sharp talons. I was at risk of him scooping me up. Gods damned cat form. I’d been through some shit, living as the easiest prey in the realm. This was my closest call, though. Careening around a corner, I didn’t see the tiny screw on the ground until it had embedded itself in my front paw. A yowl tore from my throat and I stumbled, giving the wolf shifter the opportunity he needed to catch up to me.
He kicked me with his foot, smirking. The bear shifter was a few steps behind, panting from exertion and also in his human form. They knew better than to shift in public where Nulls might bear witness. The AEA would come down on them. Birds were the exception, since they were easily explained away. Eagles didn’t come into the city often, but it wasn’t an impossibility, like bears or wolves roaming the streets chasing cats.
“Familiars are good toys,” the bear grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. “But why did I have to come? You and Kyle had it.”
