Suck It by Linsey Hall
11
Mac
Drakon cursed. “Let’s move. We need to get that cannister before it goes off. Warn your friends.”
Warmth flowed through me. I had literally nothing to go on other than my gut and the new power that was driving me, but he believed me.
As he pushed his way through the crowd, I dragged my phone from my pocket and typed out a quick warning to Carrow. I finished it as we reached the edge of the dance floor. The band sat on a stage on the far side, playing a fast song that had the participants dancing in a line.
Tension tightened every inch of my body, coming from somewhere I couldn’t identify. Whether it was outside or inside, I had no idea.
But I just knew that shit was about to go down.
Normally, I’d try to sneak through the dancers, maybe join in as a way to blend. This time, however, I just shoved Drakon and said, “Go. You’re faster. I’ll try to warn them.”
He gave me one look and nodded, then turned and cut through the crowd.
I shoved my way closer to the center of the crowd and screamed, “Bomb!”
Several dancers turned to look at me like I was a lunatic, and I felt like one. But I couldn’t give up. “Seriously! There’s going to be a bomb. Get out of here!”
Worried looks crossed people’s faces, but they looked to each other for confirmation. No doubt they felt comfortable in a huge group surrounded by those they trusted most, but they shouldn’t.
It didn’t help that only a few shifters heard me. The band was still playing, and people were dancing. The music rose, the beat going faster and faster as if the musicians knew something was going to happen. The feeling of knowing grew itchier, like a rash spreading over my body.
I pushed my way through the crowd, shouting, “Bomb!” More and more people turned to look at me. I tried to use my power to convince them to believe me. Either it worked, or I’d alerted enough people, because the crowd began to jostle. Dancers broke out of formation as they tried to get off the dance floor.
Thank fates.
It was chaos as people tried to leave. I sought out Drakon as he slipped to the side of the stage.
Thank fates, he’d made it.
Then the world exploded. A thunderous boom shook my chest as a massive gray cloud rolled out from beneath the stage. It filled the air in less than a second, drifting over me with the green scent of wolfsbane.
No!
There were still too many shifters on the dance floor. All around, they coughed and clutched their hands over their mouths, panicked eyes searching for an escape.
But the wolfsbane was too strong. They dropped to the ground, unconscious.
Panic thundered through me as the smoke burned my lungs. It made me slightly woozy, but I managed to stay on my feet. Whatever was in it didn’t affect non-shifters.
Coughing, I spun in a circle and searched for Drakon. For my friends. For anyone.
And yet all I could see was a field of bodies as the shifters collapsed. Panic raced through me as I fumbled for my phone, sending a quick message.
Get Eve out of here. Cannisters going off.
Eve was our only shifter. I didn’t know the long-term effects of wolfsbane, but I didn’t want her encountering it.
I didn’t wait for a response. I needed to find Drakon. He’d been under the stage when the cannister had gone off.
Heart thundering, I raced through the crowd of collapsed shifters. The gray smoke wouldn’t dissipate, making it hard to see through the apocalyptic setting.
From the side of the dance floor, I spotted figures moving toward me. Hope flared.
My friends.
The figures moved closer, and the hope vanished.
Not my friends. Ludovic’s men, more than a dozen of them. They spread out around the edges of the dance floor, their gazes on me.
Oh fates, I was surrounded by sorcerers.
Through the shifting fog, I could only see some of them, but I could hear them all.
Their chants began to fill the air, and I panicked. Was this the ceremony that would steal the shifters’ souls?
Frantic, I pulled the dagger from the shaft of my boot and hurled it at the nearest sorcerer. It plunged into his chest, dropping him like a bag of rocks.
“Get her!” The voice sounded from behind me, and two people chased after me.
Crap. I’d sought them out, which meant that Eve’s potion wasn’t working. They could see me, and Ludovic no doubt still wanted to kidnap me.
I raced toward the stage, determined to lose myself at the edge of the dance floor while picking off these bastards one by one. The heavy fog of wolfsbane still hung in the air, providing cover. With every second, it shifted, revealing and obscuring my surroundings and opponents.
As I slipped past the front of the stage, I pulled the bag that Eve had given me from the ether. Fumbling, I plucked a potion bomb from the depths and turned to hurl it at a woman pursuing me.
Her eyes widened as she tried to dodge, but she was too slow. The potion bomb exploded against her chest. She shrieked, tumbling backward with the force of the blast.
Behind her, I spotted Genevieve clinging to the back of my other pursuer. I left her to it, slipping around behind the sorcerers on the edge of the dance floor and drawing my sword from the ether.
I snuck up on the nearest sorcerer and swung the sword at his neck, decapitating him in one blow. As his head thudded to the ground, I cringed. It was rare that I killed non-demons, but this man was currently participating in mass murder.
Quickly, I spun to find another target. There were still so many of them, though, and their chants grew louder and louder.
“Mac!” Carrow's voice sounded from behind me. “What’s going on?”
“We’ve got to stop them.” I reached for another bomb. “They’re hurting the shifters somehow.”
“On it.” Carrow raced by me, followed by Beatrix and Seraphia. They made quick work of attacking the sorcerers from behind.
Hope flared.
Maybe we could do this.
But as I sprinted for the next sorcerer, I noticed that the bodies of some of the shifters were disappearing.
My skin chilled.
Where were they going?
Their bodies were disappearing more quickly as the sorcerer’s chants filled the air. I set my sights on the nearest sorcerer, but another one of Ludovic’s goons appeared through the mist, his gaze on me.
“You’re coming with me,” he growled.
“Hell no, I’m not.” I lowered my sword and plunged my hand into the bag that Eve had given me, hurling a potion bomb at his chest as he charged me. It exploded in a burst of pale green smoke and stopped him dead in his tracks. He toppled like a tree.
Where the hell was Drakon?
Screams echoed through the mist as my friends took out some of the sorcerers surrounding the dance floor. I couldn't see them through the fog, but it was easy enough to guess what was happening.
Unfortunately, it was over all too soon. Silence fell as the dance floor was cleared of shifters. The fog began to dissipate, and I spotted the bodies of some of the sorcerers at the edges of the dance floor.
My friends remained standing, thank fates, along with dozens of other shifters who hadn’t been on the dance floor when the cannister had exploded.
Slowly, their faces shocked, they approached from the sides. Blame flickered in their eyes as they looked at me and my friends. We were the only ones still standing among the carnage.
Oh shit.
I met Carrow’s gaze, and she nodded. The message was clear—we needed to get the hell out of here.
As Carrow shoved her hand into her pocket, I raced for her. I could come back for Drakon if he hadn’t already escaped. For now, we needed to get the hell out of here.
With a swift movement, Carrow flung a transport charm to the ground. A silvery cloud burst forth.
A half dozen feet to the left, I spotted the collapsed body of Valerie, Ludovic’s second in command from the house party last week. She looked stunned rather than dead, and I lunged for her. We still needed answers from Ludovic about Drakon’s curse, and she would be our best bet for finding him.
With a grunt, I hauled her over my back in a fireman's carry and threw myself into the portal that Carrow had created, escaping before the shifters reached us.
We spun through the ether, spilling out in the middle of the Shadow Guild courtyard. Panting, I stumbled and deposited Valerie's limp body on the ground. She was still unconscious, and I was pretty sure she’d stay that way for a while. Maybe forever, though I hoped she’d wake so that I could question her.
Panting, I turned to face my three friends. “Is Eve okay?”
Carrow nodded, her hair wild and her face streaked with dust. “She cleared out when the cannister went off.”
“Did you get the cannister you were after?”
“We did. Grey got it out of there. But those bastards still managed to do a hell of a lot of damage.” Carrow turned to Beatrix and Seraphia. “Are you all right?”
They nodded, though they both looked worse for wear. Bruises were forming on their exposed skin, and Seraphia appeared to be favoring one leg.
“Has anyone seen Drakon?” I shouldn’t be so worried, but I was.
Abducted. I looked down to see Genevieve at my side. I saw him get taken by the sorcerers.
“Shit.” Dread made my insides feel hollow.
Valerie stirred. Anger surged through me as I strode toward her. She was groggy. Working quickly, I bound her arms with my belt.
Carrow came to stand over us. “She’s with the secret society?”
I nodded. “And she’s our best hope for finding Drakon. And the shifters they captured, if they aren’t dead yet.”
Just saying the words made my stomach turn. We’d eliminated five of the six cannisters, and still we’d lost so many. If they were dead, I’d never forgive myself. I’d thought we’d handled this the right way, but now I wasn’t so sure.
“We should take her to the Shifters’ Guild tower,” Carrow said. “If she’s that valuable, we need guards on her all the time, and they have the resources to hold her.”
“Good idea.” I stood, heart pounding. We didn’t have a lot of time, and damned if I was going to let these bastards win.
It didn’t take long to transport Valerie’s semi-conscious body to the Shifters’ Tower. We were a bit of an odd sight rolling her down the street in a wagon, but Guild City was used to odd sights. Anyway, her magic reeked of darkness, so it was obvious we weren’t kidnapping an innocent.
By the time we reached the courtyard in front of the Shifters’ Guild, my heart was racing. Anxiety for Drakon was like a rodent gnawing at my insides and worry over the missing shifters was nearly as bad.
The fact that I was more worried for one person instead of dozens was something I didn’t want to analyze. Fortunately, Lachlan stepped out of the wide front doors of his tower as we approached, distracting me.
Eve was at his side, her face dusty from the rodeo and her silver-pink hair still pulled up in a high ponytail. She must have come here when the wolfsbane cannisters had started going off, and I was grateful that she’d gotten away before experiencing any of the ill effects.
“This one of them?” She nodded to Valerie, a scowl twisting her pretty face.
“Yep.” I wanted to kick the unconscious woman but resisted because I was a damned grownup. “We’re hoping you can lend us a cell and a few guards. She’s too powerful to risk losing, and we don’t have the numbers to keep an eye on her like you do.”
“Of course.” Lachlan turned to the two guards who stood by the door. Both shifters were roped with muscle and had the thick necks of prize fighters. “Gordon, alert the head of security that we need a cell immediately.”
Gordon, who had a shock of bright red hair, nodded and slipped through the door. Within minutes, we were down in the dungeons, a troop of shifter guards carrying Valerie into one of the cells.
I liked our tiny guild full of misfits, but there were some perks to being in a big guild like this one. By the time they cuffed her to a large wooden chair, she was fully awake and spitting mad. Her leather pants and black silk shirt were torn and dusty, and her dark hair was a mess.
She growled low in her throat as she looked at me.
“Oh, suck it,” I said. “You shouldn’t have chosen the wrong side.”
“You’ll regret this,” she hissed.
“I regret a lot of things,” I said. “Like a fifth margarita. But I won’t regret this.”
I could feel my friends’ gazes on me as I approached her chair. Carrow, Eve, Seraphia, and Beatrix all stood against the wall. Lachlan and the guards were still there as well, and I liked having the backup. I wasn’t worried about Valerie—especially since she was bound—but it was nice to have them at my back.
“Where did your people take Drakon?”
She laughed. “As if I would tell you.”
Anger surged through me. Not knowing where Drakon was being held made fear bubble in my stomach like acid. I’d do just about anything to make that feeling go away, and from the way the blood drained from Valerie’s face, she was beginning to sense that.
I stalked to her and gripped her shoulder, determined to use my new power against her. I was weak and exhausted from the fight at the rodeo, but I had enough to force her to speak.
Her mouth twisted as she watched me, dark eyes gleaming. “It won’t work on me. I’m immune to compulsion.”
“Not my compulsion.” I still didn’t know what the hell it was, but I was becoming more practiced. And fear was giving me a bit of juice, if I were perfectly honest with myself.
It wasn't hard to reach for the new magic that lingered inside of me and force her to speak. After making the man at the rodeo walk away and leave me alone, this was downright easy.
“Tell me where Drakon is being kept.”
She resisted for only half a second before spitting out, “A tower on the coast of Norway.”
I felt my brows rise. “Norway? Ludovic has quite the collection of creepy houses, huh?”
“You have no idea.”
“I’m sure I don’t. But I’ll figure it out.” I fed more of my power into her, feeling her will crumble beneath my touch. It was a heady feeling, one that I could get addicted to. One that I could learn to abuse if I weren't careful. “How do I get there?”
“Only with a special transportation charm. I can’t give you instructions.”
I believed her. “But you can give me a charm.”
Her lips twisted and her eyes glinted with malice, but I could read from her mind that there was a charm in her pocket. I reached for it, pulling the small metal object free from the tight leather.
“Anything I should know about the place before I try to break in?”
“Go alone.” Her shoulders sagged, and I could feel her animosity draining. She still hated me, but she was realizing I had her beat. And Valerie was smart. She’d try to turn this to her advantage somehow. That could work for us. For now, I was confident that she was telling the truth. My new power made it easy to read her.
“Alone?” I asked. “Why?”
“It will be easier to sneak in. If I had to bet, he’s got your man on the roof.”
My man.
Was he my man?
No. But there were times when he felt like it, even though I knew it was a terrible idea. It didn’t matter, though. Fear for Drakon seemed to have jump started some of my emotions, and there was no turning back now.