Quin was infuriatingly awake and bubbly when I stumbled out into the living room. I glared at him, but soon smiled when he handed me a freshly made plate of pastries; he was too good to me.
"Who was on the phone?"
I groaned and filled him in on the conversation with Elise.
He bit into a warm croissant. "Any idea what these abominations are?"
I shrugged before finishing my
pain au chocolat
.
"The one that died in Elise's church kept talking about a group of women, so that suggests witches are involved."
"Mhm."
My boots were causing me some trouble in my half-asleep state. I leaned against the wall while I pulled them on.
Quin continued, "So... the timing would suggest it's that new coven Serena was terrified of."
I won the battle with my second boot and slipped my blades into their sheathes.
Quin eyed them and said, "Are you sure that's necessary? We're going to a human home."
I gave him a dark look and said, "Always be prepared."
He rolled his eyes and pulled on his jacket. The buzzer rang; Elise was just on time.
She greeted Quin with a tight hug. I was glad to see her in normal human attire; I didn't know how they'd have reacted to her with her usual electric-blue lipstick and flowing white dress. The pale blue jeans looked great on her, as Quin clearly noticed, too. I shoved him and gave him a warning look; Elise was absolutely out of bounds. If nothing else, she wasn't allowed to have a relationship with anyone; her goddess would send someone to her when she was ready and not before.
The air was crisp and damp as we walked down the road, past the ivy-covered walls and old metal gates. A touch of pink clung to the edge of the horizon, a reminder of the fact that I should have been in bed.
"So... why are we needed at this little meeting?"
I tried not to push Elise; her word was absolute when her goddess was involved. Priests and priestesses were respected by the entire supernal community, human and otherwise. They had a direct line to their respective deity. Even the fae, who didn’t deal with the gods, respected that. That didn't mean that I had to agree with it, as much as I tried to trust her. A small frown caused creases to form around her eyes and mouth.
“I'm unsure. My lady wasn't very forthcoming on the subject."
Frustration welled up inside of me but I pushed it aside; I'd learnt long ago not to bother pushing the point.
“Did Evie tell you that Kadrix will be teaching me alchemy?"
Quin was practically bouncing.
Elise smiled and gave a small nod. “She mentioned it very briefly. I'm pleased for you."
An uncomfortable silence grew between us as we approached the edge of Florenc. Elise tensed every time I went to ask her something relating to the visit; I had no idea what I was supposed to do. While we were human, I'd grown up feeling and thinking there was a distinction there. They were innocents, hidden from the truths of the world. We were hunters and a priestess; we'd grown up in full knowledge of what was around us. That weighed on us and put us in a very different position; it separated us from them. Our parents had home-schooled us and we'd never had any normal friends. It was something of a bitter reminder of what I'd lost, of the potential life I could have had.
Elise broke the cycle of dark thoughts that had begun to swirl around my mind.
“This is the address."
The dark brown door was unassuming; the more communist-style building blended in with those around it. Elise pressed the buzzer; an older woman answered. Mrs. Perlová. The door buzzed and we walked into the slightly run-down building; Mrs. Perlová was waiting for us at the far end of the hall. Her eyes were red and puffy, her dark hair a little frazzled. Sympathy filled me, she must have suffered greatly. I offered her what I hoped was a friendly smile; fresh tears started tumbling down her cheeks.
She ushered us into her flat. Pale cream tiles covered the floor. The place was spotless, but well lived in. She offered us tea, which we gratefully accepted as we squeezed onto the very soft grey sofa. Everything about the flat was well loved and carefully taken care of. A painting of the Charles Bridge sat on the off-white wall near the door that I had to assume led to a bedroom. The poor woman came in looking even more flustered; she handed us black tea with a slightly shaking hand. Elise tried to soothe her, but she shook her head and sat in the tan armchair opposite us.
“Do you know what happened to my husband?"
I looked to Elise; what were we supposed to say?
Elise smiled sweetly and said, “Unfortunately, we don't have the details. Did he say anything while he was here?"
She shook her head and dabbed her eyes with a tissue. “No. He said he was sorry over and over. He said he wasn't coming home."
Elise glanced to us. Quin gave a small shrug. We worked very hard to make sure that normal humans didn’t know about the supernals, yet that poor woman’s heart was breaking; we had to do something.
Elise smiled at the woman and said softly, “I’m a priestess, we follow the old ways.”
The woman swallowed hard, her eyes widened a little.
“We suspect that a witch was involved with your husband’s problem,” Elise continued.
The woman’s hand trembled as she began dabbing at her eyes once more, her breathing becoming quicker and shallower.
“Why would a witch harm my husband?” she choked out.
I chewed on my bottom lip. I wanted to know the same thing. They didn’t usually cause harm unless there was due cause. She clearly didn’t know much of anything about witches; there was unlikely to be a grudge there.
“We’re not sure. Did you husband deal with such things?” Elise asked.
The woman shook her head furiously. “No, no, he was a good man.”
Elise smiled and sipped her tea allowing the woman a moment to calm again.
“I’m sure he was a good husband, Mrs. Perlová. Evelyn and Quin are experienced with witches,” she said.
“We work to keep the city safe from witches, to help people like your husband,” Quin said.
The woman took a long deep breath and nodded.
“I do not have more information. I am sorry,” she said.
I stood and knelt next to her and took her hand. “We'll do our best to help him."
She sobbed and nodded her head enthusiastically. “Thank you, thank you. I was so worried, he never came home from work two weeks ago. I do not know if this is better. To know he is... a monster."
She gulped down a fresh set of tears.
Quin said, "Do not fear, Mrs. Perlová, we will make sure that your husband finds peace."
“Thank you. All of you. Thank you."
Elise said softly, “Is there anything else you can tell us?"
She shook her head. “All he said was that he was so sorry. We were married for thirty years. We met as children, there was never anyone else."
I squeezed her hand; my heart was breaking for the woman. I couldn't imagine the pain she must have been feeling.
Once she'd run out of tears to cry, she smiled and said with a quiet laugh, “He always promised that he would leave this world in an interesting way. He got his wish."
I smiled and admired the strength she was displaying. We left with heavy hearts and yet more questions. The abominations were becoming more frequent, and we still had no idea what they were or where they had come from. As Quin had said, they started showing up while he was kidnapped, which matched the timeline for the new witch coming into the city. She was strong enough to terrify Serena, but could she really be strong enough to turn a human into an abomination that seemed much like a broken lycan?
Quin had taken Elise to talk to Kadrix about the abominations; I was in no mood to deal with the elf, so I returned home with hopes of achieving a state of focus that would allow me to find the hellhound. I needed to do something, to get an answer. Everything was swirling around in my mind. I needed to create some order from the chaos.
Pacing around the living room wasn’t conducive to focus, and the hot shower didn’t do me any good either. The lotus position wasn’t as magical as I’d hoped, and that put me back at square one of pacing. Some sense of calm finally washed over me, but it was burst by a stabbing sensation of fear. It was him. I knew it. I latched onto the fear in the back of my mind and tried to mentally drag it forward, to get something from it. It felt absurd, but I ran with it. I had to take whatever little thing I could.
I ran out the door and allowed my feet to carry me to what I hoped was the location of the hound. The colourful apartment buildings blurred as I focused entirely on the sensation in my mind. I turned down a narrow road and emerged near what I struggle to call a park, a large-ish patch of grass with a flowerbed thrown in the middle. I jogged up the steep steps and started looking for the hound. Something pulled me up the alleyway with the weeping willow on the corner.
My heart was pounding in my ears as I searched the alley, looking for those indigo eyes. Hundreds of scenarios flashed through my mind. The fear was building in my mind. My mind conjured up darker images, his body bloodied and broken. I emerged at the end of the alley and caught sight of what I thought was him. Dark jeans and a black shirt, broad shoulders with thick black hair. It was worth a try. Whoever he was, he was walking at a quick pace and kept looking around him almost frantically. He ducked down another alley with more steps. I jogged up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. The fear in the back of my mind spiked, then vanished when he turned to face me.
Some of the colour had left him, his mouth was locked in a tight line, but it all slipped away when his gaze settled on me. I stepped up to him and put my shoulders back, I stepped forward again trying to push him back against the wall.
He stood firm, a small smile playing over his lips. “Evelyn, darling.”
I hated the way butterflies formed in the pit of my stomach when he said my name. He was a damn hellhound. The fear formed in the back of my mind once more when he looked over his shoulder. Matyas and the others were jogging down the alley towards us. The hound leaned against me trying to push past me. I placed a hand in the middle of his chest and gave him a dark look, I wasn’t letting him go anywhere. His heart was racing under my palm, sweat was starting to form across his forehead.
The fear finally evaporated from my mind when Dimitri said, “Evelyn. What a surprise.”
The sarcasm and aggression dripped from the words. I stepped sideways to glare at him; the hound turned to stand far too close to my side.
“What do you want, Dimitri?”
He walked up to me, his shoulders back. His hands ran over his barely concealed blades. The other two were close behind him. He stopped barely a step in front of me. He was only a few inches taller than me, but he tried to make the most of it as he pushed his chest out and looked down at me.
“You keep showing up around this beast.”
He glanced at the hound.
I shoved him backwards and said, “This beast is mine. The bounty is mine. Now run along and deal with the shades; I saw a group of them on the bridge last night. Surely you can manage to remove a few shades...”
I ground my teeth together. We were playing a dangerous game, and I was not going to lose.
Viktor had narrowed his eyes at me. “It is very convenient how you show up with this creature.”
“What exactly are you trying to say, Viktor?”
He bared his teeth in a mirthless grin. “You were always too good, Evelyn. You and your brother always had an edge.”
I went toe to toe with him. “That’s because we train hard and have more than half a brain between us. Now stop wasting my time and leave me to my bounty, else I will cut your balls off and shove them down your throat. Understood?”
Matyas grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him backwards. “Leave her, Viktor. We have more important things to be dealing with.”
Viktor spat something in Russian before he turned and left with the other two. I ground my teeth together and watched them leave.
When I turned around, the hound had his arms crossed and a large grin on his face.
“Well now, you’re quite a little firecracker, aren’t you?”
I restrained the urge to punch him in the mouth. “You’re coming with me. Hound.”
He pursed his lips and said mockingly, “Is that all I am to you?”
I smiled sweetly and said, “If you’re a very good boy, you’ll be a nice pair of shoes and a pile of cash.”
He laughed at me and made a sweeping motion with his arm. “Lead the way.”
I desperately wanted to ask the hound the hundreds of questions that raced around my mind. Instead, I sat next to him on the tram on my way back to Kadrix’s. He leaned that little bit too close to me, the small smile refusing to leave his lips. I was torn between wanting to wipe it off his face and put him in his place as a supernal beast, and trailing my finger along it. I’d texted Quin with the news while we’d waited for the tram to arrive. The tram was packed with people, many of whom kept glancing at me and the hound. Not that I could blame them; he was rather striking. I caught more than one woman looking him up and down, drinking in every detail as though forming a mental composite ready to pull up for a more private moment later. He loved every second of it.
The architecture couldn’t hold my focus; not even the view across the river towards the great iron bridge could pull me away from the moment. An older woman kept huffing and sighing melodramatically; we both ignored her. My phone vibrated with a text from Quin asking where we were. I could almost feel him bouncing at the prospect of meeting the hound. We were only one stop away. The scent of hot metal and petrichor invaded my space, and I could feel his amusement tickling the back of my mind. That only served to infuriate me further.