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I looked to him for answers, and his smile grew wider. “It’s interesting how every time you wake up, you don’t seem to remember who I am.” He seemed annoyed, which meant that Dark and Daemon had been around at one point or another.
“How long have I been here?”
“Always the same goddamn question. Never who am I or what are you doing here.”
I tried to search for the answers but came up empty. “They’re going to be very angry. I didn’t tell them where I was going.”
“No, but you did place a very… desperate call.”
“That was real? Oh good.” So, Samael would be able to find me even though I had no idea where I was. Eventually. Hopefully, before I was dead.
“Why aren’t you more terrified?”
I shrugged. “Who are you?”
“The coldness in your eyes… I didn’t think I would understand what they saw in you. But I see it now. It’s fascinating.”
“Right. So…”
“I’m Finn, and you’ve been kind of a problem.”
“For who?” I sifted through a few hazy memories, but nothing explained why I was tied up in a random warehouse answering to Finn. He didn’t even seem terrifying. Everything about him seemed… wrong. He was definitely acting, but it was like the entire act was for someone else.
“Those men that you love so much? You’re getting in the way of their urges. There hasn’t been a good kill for weeks. This city is getting complacent.”
“Why is that my fault?”
“You’re a distraction.”
I nodded – because in my twisted mind, that made perfect sense – eyes still roaming. They fell on the blood caked on my arm, and I tried to read the letters, but it looked like something was missing.
“It’s not finished yet, but it will be. And then they’ll understand.”
I looked up to see Finn brandishing a knife, but no matter how hard the kid tried to hide, I could see the tremble dwarfing his entire body. He was terrified. But of what? Even as he crept closer, threatening pain and violence, I couldn’t make sense of what was wrong.
The knife carved into my arm, adding to the crimson letters, as a blood-curdling scream was ripped from my lips, sirens in the back sounding the end to this criminal charade.
But Finn didn’t stop, shaking as he continued. For some reason, he had a job to do. A point to prove. Beneath the terror gripping his body, he had a path to follow.
I just didn’t know what that path was or why he insisted on playing this… Finn. Because whoever this kid was, I didn’t believe for a second he was Finn. From the few reports I had read on the body left by the lake and the tidbits I heard my guys whispering about, Finn was much more calculated in his movements. This kid seemed terrified, and unless it was an act, Finn must have hired a cover. Which meant that this kid’s life and mine were now in danger.
SAMAEL
Finding Killian hadn’t been too much of a chore after tracking his phone, the kid melting in my arms as I gathered him up from the ropes holding him in place. His wrists and ankles were chaffed raw, his arm bloodied from the carving Finn so delicately gifted him. Killian’s cheeks were tear-stained, his eyes bloodshot, and his entire body catatonic and unresponsive. But he was breathing.
Knowing that I couldn’t have the other detectives seeing him like this, I handed him off to Aeron, staying with Finn until my backup showed up. I’d pay for removing Killian later, but this shit had been aimed at us, and fuck if I was going to let them consume Killian.
Finn had still been crouched by Killian when I arrived, just seconds before the police stormed the warehouse. His eyes were the same golden hazel as Killian’s, but there was innocence where I expected to see darkness. Not like the innocence that Killian exhibited – but true innocence as if Finn wasn’t supposed to be there at all. The officers wrangled him into custody, but there hadn’t been much resistance on his part, which surprised me.
In fact, he seemed almost glad to go with them.
This kid – Finn – had given us the run around for the better part of three years, and he just gave in? That didn’t make a lick of sense, but I was more worried about Killian than I was about figuring out Finn’s mindset at the moment.
He would be dealt with eventually.
Killian was now tucked into my side as I reclined onto the couch in my living room, Aeron trying to bandage his arm. He seemed to be using too much cloth, but neither of us was in the correct headspace to do it properly. We could have really used our resident doctor’s help, but that was unlikely. Slash hadn’t emerged from the bedroom, but when he did, I was sure he’d be ready to either fuck something or fuck something up. I didn’t think I had the mental capacity to deal with it either.
Aeron’s expression was pulled tight as he finished up, slowly running his hand up and down the bandage. He seemed lost – as did I, but he had a softness that neither Slash nor I had. His emotions ran high. “How the fuck did this happen?” he whispered, still pressing light touches on Killian’s arm, caressing his cheek with the other hand, tears in his eyes. Aeron didn’t even spare me a glance.
