Bold Mercy by Laken Cane

Chapter Two

The house was blissfully silent when I slipped inside—for about two seconds. Then Ash came barreling around the corner, sliding over the shiny wood, and slammed his wiggly little body against my legs.

“Hey, buddy,” I crooned. “First sleep, then play.” I was so tired my eyes were crossing. He followed me to my bedroom and waited for me to fall into bed before he jumped up on the mattress, then turned in a circle for what seemed like three days before finally, he flopped down atop my feet and fell immediately to sleep.

I’d only managed to take off my shoes before I went into my coma, but the instant I closed my eyes, my cell began to ring. I vaguely remembered it ringing as I’d fled with joyful abandon into the woods with my alpha and my pack, and I knew it would continue to ring until I shut it down. With way more effort than it should have taken me, I pulled it from my pocket and then peered blearily at the screen before putting it on silent.

I didn’t recognize the number, but something bothered me—maybe the fact that I hadn’t listened to my messages and something was quite possibly wrong. And maybe someone legitimately needed me…

So I answered.

“Kait Silver,” a man said.

I yawned so hard my jaws cracked. “Yeah?”

“My name is Saul. I am your handler. We need to talk.”

I frowned at the phone. “My handler.”

“Yes. I was assigned to you.”

“Oh. The council. Look, how about we call you my contact. Handler sounds distinctly…stupid.” I was a little cranky from lack of sleep. “Can you call me back in a few hours when I’m awake?”

“You’re awake,” he pointed out, “and I’ll brief you now. Frederick Axton—”

“Is dead,” I interrupted.

“—created a human servant named Avis Vine. She didn’t die with her master, which is both unusual and regrettable. Your task is to terminate her. Call me if you need something your friend Sixten can’t deliver.” His voice went dry and somewhat mocking, as though he were slightly contemptuous of my relationship with the odd Sixten.

As my muddled mind was sifting through his words and his attitude and my own immediate anger—and the fact that he even knew Sixten existed—he continued. “I will send all the information you need to your phone. Axton infused her with his own scent, of course, and it has twisted with hers to create a unique smell you will track. A box will be delivered to your home in four hours.” He hesitated. “Prepare for what’s coming. Avis Vine will not die easy, and you may lose people you care about before you can neutralize her. You can’t allow that to hinder you. You can work your job during the day and hunt at night. It is important that you find her soon, as she is already taking the lives of innocent humans.”

“Look, Saul. I—”

“You belong to the councils now,” he said calmly. “And you have been ordered to find and kill a very dangerous vampire. This is your purpose. You must not allow someone else to kill her. Do you understand?”

My anger woke me up. Despite the fact that there was something frightening in his voice, I was abruptly furious with every word he’d just spoken. “I belong to no one,” I told him, my voice hard. “And Axton’s human servant is a human servant, not a vampire. My purpose is to get some fucking sleep before my brain explodes. So fuck off, Handler.”

He was silent for a few seconds. “The council made a bad decision, but it was their decision to make. If you are not careful, Ms. Silver, they will show you how wrong you are, and believe me when I tell you that is not a lesson you want to learn.”

I tried to breathe, but my lungs didn’t want to function. As I attempted to absorb his words and their rather dire meaning, he continued.

“And Avis Vine was once human. Now she is simply a twisted aberration who will make you suffer before she kills you. If it were only you she focused on, we would allow you to handle it your way—but as I have said, she is killing innocents. We protect innocents. People are dying, and you will handle the situation.”

My phone chimed as a message came in from him, and then he was gone. I fell asleep with the phone clutched in my hand, worry gathering inside me like the heavy darkness from a looming storm.

I didn’t dream or even move until Ash’s incessant barking jerked me abruptly from my sleep. He didn’t bark a lot, and there was a tone to his voice that let me know he believed something urgent needed my immediate attention.

I grumbled, but I got up. “Ash. What is it, buddy?”

He sat before the front door, and only stopped barking when I walked up beside him and put my hand on his head. Then he gave me a dour look, wondering, probably, what had taken me so long. He put his serious stare back on the closed door and waited.

I peered through the fisheye, half expecting to see a demon on the other side. There was nothing and no one, so finally, I twisted the knob and opened the door. When I saw the plain box on the porch, I remembered that Saul had promised to deliver it in four hours. Ash growled and got up to watch me haul it inside.

“Come on, Ash. Let’s get this to the kitchen and see what’s got you so upset. Is there a severed arm in there? A tongue, maybe?” I was still feeling the effects of my first full moon shift, so I wasn’t overly concerned. Not with the box, Saul, or Frederick Axton’s human servant.

I yawned as I set the box on the countertop, then grabbed a knife to cut through the thick tape. I pulled the flaps back. “Are you ready, Ash?”

He barked eagerly, dancing a little as he waited for whatever was about to leap from the box. Unfortunately for Ash, it wasn’t anything exciting—most likely his growls and barks had been more about the delivery person than the actual box.

I lifted a piece of somewhat heavy fabric from the box. Black, tightly woven, and just a little shiny. It was a protective vest, resistant to blades, bullets, fangs, and claws. I could feel the magic twisted into the threads, especially potent where the fabric would rest over my heart.

Cool.

There was a slip of paper, as well. Do not leave your house without putting this on. This is not a suggestion. It’s an order. The other item is self-explanatory.

~Saul

Saul was turning out to be a bossy son of a bitch. I was surprised he hadn’t signed it, “Saul, your handler.”

The other item was a folded piece of cloth. When I unfolded it, I found, directly in its center, a spot of blood. I stared at it for five minutes before I was able to force myself to bring it to my nose.

I inhaled deeply, pulling in Avis Vine’s awful scent, and even when I had to fight not to gag, throw up, or pass out, I didn’t take the cloth from my nose. I had to get that scent so deep it wouldn’t leave for a very long time, and I had to give it to my wolf.

Avis smelled of old blood and the putrid scent of a dead animal left to rot in the sun, but she also smelled of the cold brisk wind of power. The ugliness wafted in on that wind, chilling me to the bone. Finally, I flung the cloth back into the box, then shoved it away.

I downed a couple of glasses of ice water to wash away the scent, but deep inside, where it mattered, the memory of that scent would linger.

Five minutes later, Ash gave an almost human squeal and raced from the kitchen, and in the next second Lucy yelled, “Who’s hungry?”

Not a question she really needed an answer to, as she knew I was always hungry—as was Ash. I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table as she walked into the kitchen.

“What’s up with your bad self?” she asked me, dumping three white paper bags on the table.

“You spend too much time around my mother.” I tore into the bags. Meat first, then sugar. “Where’s Zach?” I took a giant bite of a cheeseburger, then unwrapped a burger for Ash. I put the bun aside and cut the meat into small chunks as he watched impatiently, a look of fierce concentration in his eyes. “I woke up and everybody was gone.”

“He left with Max—they didn’t say where they were going.”

I frowned. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Zach, but just because Axton was dead didn’t mean Zach wouldn’t withdraw from his magic. And if he started having trouble, I didn’t know what he might do. Or who he might hurt.

Lucy sat down across from me. “Kait, listen.”

I cocked an eyebrow when she didn’t continue. “What am I listening for?”

She didn’t smile. “I have a bad feeling. My dreams…”

“About you?” I asked calmly, though my heart began to thud. I knew it was her. I had known for a while that Jakeston’s killer was going to go after Lucy—because I’d had a bad feeling too—though I hadn’t wanted to consider it.

“Yes,” she murmured. “It’s me. He’s going to take me, Kait. So we need to prepare.”

I shoved my breakfast away. “You shouldn’t have gone out for food. You can’t take chances, Luce. You’ll stay in, I’ll hire a guard—”

“My dreams don’t lie,” she said. “I’m going to be taken. It doesn’t matter if I hide or hire a bodyguard or lock myself in a tower…he’s going to take me.” She squared her shoulders. “So here’s what we’re going to do.”

“We’re not using you as bait,” I said.

“Detective Moreno—”

“Is unwell. He can’t help.”

“He has to help. He’s involved in what happens, as are you. I’ve seen it. We’re all in this killer’s sights, and he’s coming for us.” She leaned forward and narrowed her eyes, looking so unlike herself that it took my breath. She was…grim. And Lucy was never grim. “I’m not afraid. We’re going to catch this killer, Kait. Because if we don’t, he’s going to catch us.”

I knew she was right. I didn’t like it, but she was right.

We had to get him before he got us.

I nodded, then stood. “I’ll go talk to the detective.” Then I glared at her. “You don’t leave this house. Don’t open the door for anyone but me. If you end up with that bastard, it’s going to be because we hand you to him—not because he takes you.”