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Blackhook was nearly two hours from Abelaum, but it still wasn’t exempt from the God’s influence. The Deep One’s tainted essence could still be felt here, pungent in the air, like an ever-present odor of mold and rotten fish. Those who lived here likely didn’t even notice. But Abelaum’s rot had spread, as rot always does.
Especially now that Kent and his Libiri had succeeded in offering their first sacrifice.
All of Abelaum was talking about it: the sad fate of Juniper’s brother. I could assume his murder was what brought her back here, but I was curious what she’d want. A new life, perhaps, somewhere far from Abelaum. Maybe she’d want money. Maybe she’d want Kent Hadleigh killed, which I certainly wouldn’t mind doing, although it would prove tricky. There was a reason Leon hadn’t already killed him.
The best hunts were difficult, but the best deals were simple. After all, once a deal was done, the idea was to quickly move on to the next. I had places to be and souls to collect, humans to fuck, pleasure to be had. Although I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to linger with her for a while, to squeeze a few extra benefits out of the deal for myself.
She was a damn good fuck. Beautiful and dangerous. An anomaly born of blood and pain, terror and sacrifice. A human who, against all odds, flouted God and destiny, and emerged, bloodied and broken, to be made into something new.
My own little wolf, a beast in human form. A fragmented piece of destiny.
I sensed her long before she reached the doors. Her smell was absolutely irresistible. Like honeysuckle blooming in the morning, like earth after the rain, like pine needles crushed underfoot. Wild and invigorating, once it got inside your nose, there was no shaking it. When she entered the bar, it was like watching a storm pass over the mountains.
She wore ripped jeans, hiking boots so worn the laces were fraying, and a black hoodie withThrasheremblazoned across the front. Her long, wild brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, revealing the shaved undercut on the side of her head. And her face…fuck. The heart of the storm was in those dark eyes and dripped to her full, liquor-tinted lips. Her skin was browned by the sun, and a slim pale scar — like the slice of a knife’s blade — ran along her jaw.
She stood just inside the doorway, swaying slightly, not bothering to wipe the mist of rain from her face.
She was drunk. I couldn’t blame her.
She spotted me as her eyes swept the room, and lightning flashed in her storm. There was a moment of fear, of indecision, but she didn’t turn back. She didn’t come up to me right away either. Instead she went up to the bar, where she embraced the older woman serving drinks, and companionably grasped the shoulders of a few grizzled fishermen hunched over their drinks.
She was surrounded by friends here, and wanted me to know it.
I leaned back, grinning in my chair. How cute! She thought a bar full of humans would actually have a chance of stopping me. She was lucky I didn’t want to hurt her; at least not in ways her dark, twisted heart didn’t desire.
After a brief conversation with the bartender, she made her way over to me. Her eyes were wary but her walk was confident, and she settled in the chair across from me.
“You remembered what I look like this time,” I said. “I feel so special.”
“Don’t,” she said flatly. Her voice was deep and a little husky. But I knew how it sounded when it softened with pleasure, when it heightened with pain. “I always try to remember useful things. Hopefully, I’m not wrong in assuming you’re going to be useful.”
“Hopefully, I’m not wrong in assuming the same of you.” I nodded toward the bartender, who was watching us like a fucking hawk, and held up two fingers for drinks. She glared at me as she began to pour.
“That’s Joanie,” Juniper said. She’d folded her arms, her shoulders rigid. “She and her wife have owned this place for twenty years. Most of the people in here wouldn’t hesitate to shoot you if you try anything.”
I smirked. “I know. You came here when you first left Abelaum. Joanie gave you a job and a place to stay for a little while. You stayed until the Eld tracked you out here.” My smirk widened as her jaw tightened with anger. “When they started swarming around this place every night, you decided to leave.”
She swallowed hard, her eyes locked on me. “Why the fuck have you followed me all this time? What makes me so goddamn special to you?”
“A good hunter tracks his prey,” I said, “and waits for just the right moment to take his prize.” I smiled as Joanie brought over two beers, slamming mine down a little harder than need be. As she walked away, I said, “What the hell did you tell her anyway? Am I an awful cheating ex, an unpleasant cousin?”
“My business is my business,” she said. “They don’t care about who you are. All they care about is that I leave here alive.”
“And you will. What a waste if I were to justkillyou after all these years. I guess you could say I’ve gotten attached.” I leaned forward over the table, not missing the way she tensed as I got closer. “But you came here to discuss a deal, so let me tell you the first thing about deals: theyhurt. They’re supposed to. But deals with me? They hurt even more.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because I want them to. I happen to enjoy making humans suffer for what they want. And by the time a human is ready to make a deal with me, it isverymuch what they want.”
She snorted. “Try working in a BDSM dungeon. Sounds like what you’re looking for.”
“Oh, I already did. They found my methods a bit too...extreme. But I only cater to what the masochists want. Who am I to tell someone, no, I won’t sew your mouth shut and make you scream, after I’ve beenbeggedto do exactly that?”
Her expression didn’t change. “You talk too much. Sorry to burst your bubble, but pain doesn’t scare me.”
“You shouldn’t tell me things like that, Juniper.” I kept my smile reserved, but I was all tingly. There was nothing more exciting than a challenging human, nothing sweeter than a mortal who pretended they weren’t afraid. “It sounds an awful lot like a challenge.”
“I’m not interested in your games. I want to make a deal, Zane. What are your terms?”
