Read Unearthed Online

Authors: Lauren Stewart

Tags: #Contemporary, #Fantasy, #Fiction, #Paranormal, #Romance, #Supernatural

Unearthed (2 page)

BOOK: Unearthed
2.76Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“Who was it?” If the air hadn’t been so still, her voice wouldn’t have carried.

“A hunter was injured, but she’ll be all right. Forgot her name. Nadine and I are fine.”

“Why are you saying it like that?” Parker asked. “Why not tell us who was
hurt
?”

He didn’t answer.

Because that list was longer.
The illogical thought only lingered for a second. Impossible. Ten members of the Rising extracting twelve seers from a toy box. Twenty-two people, and he’d mentioned only three. He’d…

Knock it off.
She shook her head, trying to get rid of an idea that should’ve never been there to begin with. “That’s not possible. Where—?”

The door slammed into the wall again as Nadine stomped in, stopping right next to Graham and being just as annoyingly silent. The Rising’s best hunter looked beaten. Her shirt was ripped and strands of her black hair fell into her eyes. She didn’t brush them back. Or lift her head when Parker yelled her name.

“Will one of you please tell us what the hell happened?”

“There was a demon.”

Shit. That explained their appearances. “A demon at a toy box?” That made no sense—it was illegal for demons to have sex with humans.

“He showed up out of nowhere.”

“Who did we lose?” Addison made a point of knowing everyone in the Rising by name, by face, and by the profession they had in the Heights. The least she could do for people willing to give up their lives for her brilliant idea of trying to make their world a little bit brighter. But two of the ten people who’d gone out tonight were new to the cause, so she’d never met them, and she didn’t know
any
of the seers they’d gone to help.

“A couple of us fought him while others pulled the seers out of the building. When the demon started the fire, Keira and I had to help people get out. So Graham…he…Graham kept the bastard away.”

They looked at the huge ex-vamp in awe. “You got rid of a demon?” Parker asked.

He shook his head. “I was unprepared. I had forgotten how weak humanity makes me and how slowly I heal. All I could do was keep him occupied. He disappeared once the fire took root. Demons enjoy watching the destruction they cause from a distance.”

“He’ll return, Addison,” Nadine said. “We can’t be sure what he was after or what he knows. People were panicked, not concentrating on shielding their minds.” If the demon had read anyone’s mind, he might already know Addison existed. A dat vitae. Not as a rumor. As a fact.

Another fact? Demons could find anyone.

“We need to get you out of here.” Graham’s paranoia was contagious, probably because it was less like paranoia and more like educated damage control.

She nodded, throwing her stuff together—everything they’d learned about the different races, lists of beings who should be watched, building plans, and safe meeting houses. “What about everyone else? Are they somewhere safe too?”

“It was demon fire,” Nadine said. “We couldn’t stop it. It took down the whole block. The angels got there just as we left.”

“That didn’t answer my question.” The longer they dragged the explanation out, the more time Addison’s brain had to make up stupid scenarios with more destruction and higher death tolls. “Where is everyone else?”

“Keira’s out front in the truck. She got knocked out, but she’ll be okay when she comes to.”

“What about everyone else?” Addison was getting really, really tired of asking the same simple question.

“Don’t worry about that until we get you somewhere demon-proof. Now.”

“No! You need to tell me what the hell happened out there. Now.” Her fear glued her feet to the floor, her eyes to those of her friends. She took a breath. “Just tell me and we’ll go. Who did we lose?”

“Everyone!” The moisture in Nadine’s eyes made their blue even brighter. “We lost everyone. Me, Graham, and Keira.” She shrugged. “You and Parker. We’re all that’s left of the Rising.”

“Now you know, so now we go,” Graham said. “I’ll get the car.” He looked at her for a moment before turning to Nadine and Parker. “Drag her if you have to.” He spun and ran out the door.

Addison didn’t move. She couldn’t, so they helped her. They took care of her because she couldn’t take care of herself. She was too weak, too useless. As they jogged down the hall, she heard the others talking, but it was muffled, her mind’s attempt to block everything out. Reality. Grief. Guilt. Didn’t work though, everything was already in there. Because somewhere down deep she’d known something like this would happen and whose fault it would be.

In the last week, she’d spent more time on her hair than she had making a plan. Thought more about the feel of Rhyse’s lips than those people’s lives. What was wrong with—?

A crash followed by Parker’s scream knocked her back into the present. Then someone yelling for…for salt. Only one reason someone wants salt in the Heights.

“Demon!”

“Get down!”

Something slammed into her, and she fell. Her back hit the tile first, then her head. Everything went black then fuzzy then painful as she struggled to get up.

“Unless you know how to get rid of a demon,” a woman yelled, “then stay the fuck down!” She called out to Parker. Something about a circle.

“No.” Addison snapped out of her inertia and reconnected with the usable parts of her brain. She wasn’t helpless. She didn’t actually know how to kill a demon, but she couldn’t be another burden on her team. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see what was happening, either.

She shoved against the rubble and the weight still pressing down on her chest, trying to see what was going on, pushing hair out of her eyes. Black hair. Addison didn’t have black hair. Nadine did. Addison understood that they wanted to protect her, but come on—holding her down so she couldn’t even
try
to help?

“Nadine, get off me! Let me help them!” The hunter was so damn stubborn. Whoever had decided Addison’s life was more important than anyone else’s needed some serious therapy. “Then let me up so I can run away.” Not that she was going to.

“Now!” the other woman yelled. “Close the circle.” There was more crashing, breaking, scrambling, Parker screaming some magical incantation crap, an inhuman, guttural scream, more debris raining down on top of her. Addison didn’t see any of it. Then it was quiet.

“Add, are you okay?” Parker’s voice echoed in the silence. “Add, I sent him back to hell. He’s gone. It’s safe now. Nadine? Keira?” Someone moaned across the room. “Will someone please answer me?”

“I’m okay. Might need a couple Band-Aids though.” The voice didn’t have Nadine’s subtle accent, so it had to be Keira, the hunter Addison hadn’t met yet. “I’m gonna walk it off and go see if anyone else made it out of the fire.”

Addison looked up as Parker pulled two-by-fours and part of a metal table off them, blinking the dust from her eyes. “Ouch.”

“Are you okay?”

“I will be just as soon as Nadine lets me move. Anytime now, Nadine. Really. Bad guy’s gone, all’s safe in the world. I’m ready when you…Nadine?”

The hunter didn’t move…or speak…or breathe.

“Nadine?” she asked quietly. There was no answer. Parker dragged off the other rubble that had fallen on them and carefully rolled Nadine off Addison. The hunter’s damp hair stuck to her damaged face. Only then did Addison realize she was covered in it.

Blood—the thing that made her different, special, someone seers wanted to save because according to some stupid prophecy she was their salvation. It stained her hands, neck, and chest.

Except it wasn’t hers. The blood belonged to everyone she’d been pretending to lead.

Everyone she’d failed.

One

~ Three months later ~

It had to be a hospital, didn’t it?

Keira sprinted down the frigid hallway, weaving in and out of the hospital employees and visitors as she moved. Even in her boots, she barely made a sound on the tile floor. Dainty she wasn’t. Nor was she stupid—a loud arrival meant a short stay before someone killed you.

She moved faster—probably a deep, flowery, metaphorical attempt to outrun her memories as much as to catch up with the vampire.
Or
… maybe she moved faster because in about five minutes the sun would go down and Lamere could phase wherever the hell he wanted. Yeah, probably closer to that one.

Sometimes being mostly human sucks. Like when you’re trying to keep up with a super. Or being shattered by one.

Humans were frail, weak in comparison. Which was why Keira had spent the last three years training to be the best she could possibly be. To be as strong, as fast, and as strategic as a seer could be. To pay back every super she could for everything that vamp had given her. The piece of shit. That her skills and dedication also helped the Rising, the closest thing she had to a family anymore, was a huge perk. Shit, it wasn’t every day you helped someone change the world.

Couldn’t happen fast enough for Keira, but after they’d lost practically all their members a few weeks after she joined up, they’d taken their efforts even further underground to reevaluate their methods and lick their wounds. She didn’t work that way—she didn’t know how to pull back.

For the last few months, all she’d done was focus on finding her enemy, spending a stupid amount of time staking out homes he never went to and following leads that led nowhere. The last time Lamere had been seen was at the demon massacre/Treaty celebration almost six months ago. And then…nothing. Until two weeks ago, when he just showed up in the city—at an art exhibit of all things. Ancient artifacts. Maybe they were his from his human days.

The vampire had a few more minutes of sunlight left before he’d be able to phase. If she missed this chance, he might disappear for another six months.

Probably hiding somewhere outside the North American zone. Why not? He’d already broken one of the Heights’ laws. There weren’t many, but if you broke one, you might as well break all of them. You can only be executed once.

Keira kicked off the far wall of a corner as she sped around it, avoiding a full-out crash. She’d only seen glimpses of him, but knew he was headed deeper into the hospital towards the administrative areas. Fewer humans around was a good thing. She wanted to focus on the hunt, not on pretending she was hurrying to the bathroom or whatever nonsense she was spouting to the people she and the vamp ran past. Even though she had no loyalty to the Heights and couldn’t give a shit about their rules, it was too dangerous to ignore the one about keeping their world hidden. Humans would die by the truckload if they ever found out the Heights existed.

“Damn it!” She stopped at a T, glancing down two empty hallways. No, she couldn’t lose him. He was—and would always be—a hundred times stronger and faster than her, but Keira was smarter and she wanted it more. And she had nothing left to lose. Everything had already been taken from her. Even her life. First by the accident that had brought her into the Heights, and then by the speedy bastard in front of her.

“Right.” She turned right. Fast. She didn’t stumble because she never stumbled. She’d prepared for this, her body an extension of her mind, focused on one goal and one goal only—to see that bloodfucker’s face when she shoved a stake into his chest.

Would that be enough to kill him? With no heart to pierce, just a black empty spot where it should be?
Shit
. Maybe she should rethink her plan. A bit late, but better late than the moment he dug his fangs into her neck. Again.

On that cheery note, she pushed herself to speed up. The only way she could move faster was by growing a set of wings. Unfortunately, she was no angel, and flying was something she’d never be able to do. And then suddenly she could, without the wings or any control whatsoever. Her feet left the ground, her arms hurling through space to reach for balance where there was none to be caught.

What the hell?
was her last thought before she met the wall and saw the stars.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Oops, sorry,” Davyn said insincerely as he watched the hunter slide down the wall, her eyes covered by thick strands of dark hair courtesy of a cheap haircut. If someone had asked him how to describe her, he’d have told them to fuck off. But the truth was, she looked a bit like a Fosfer demon—beautiful, dark lips and hair, big, intense dark eyes, a seriously strong yet curvy body. Of course, all that was currently ruined by her angelic-looking unconsciousness.

The hunter moaned as he walked past her. She wasn’t broken, but she’d wake up bruised. Not that he cared. Or had anything against her, for that matter. She was in his way, so the easiest way to fix that was to get into hers. Turned out, he was a lot better at it.

She’d been running after the vamp for quite a while—moderately impressively, not that Davyn would’ve ever admitted that out loud. Long stretches of activity created heat in humans, enough heat to cover the sting of a demon’s touch. So even though she hadn’t felt Davyn hurl her into the wall, she’d be feeling what those hands had done to her for a few days. She’d have to buy new cargo pants, too—the area on her thigh where he’d grabbed her had completely burned away. Actually, she should probably consider that a gift. Cargo pants. Seriously?

Being hyper-focused created blinders big enough to blind her to everything but the mark the Rising had sent her after.

Lamere.

Great guy, Lamere. Fun at parties. Oh no, wait. That was Davyn. Nah, that wasn’t true either. But Lamere had been a very bad boy and needed to be taken down. Davyn would’ve bet ten tours topside it wasn’t going to be done by a seer. Especially since Davyn had gotten an extra six months above the crust to do the honors.

After Davyn passed the hunter’s unconscious body, he forgot all about her. He refocused on the one he’d come here for, the one he’d spent all those months looking for. Six fucking months. That was embarrassing.

Lamere was smart and, as a rogue, had no problem outing himself to masses of humans. That created a serious problem for everyone.

These stark hallways were identical and never-ending, intersecting with others frequently without any actual reason other than to confuse people. Disorient visitors to let them know they didn’t belong here and weren’t wanted.

BOOK: Unearthed
2.76Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

A Time of Exile by Katharine Kerr
Triple Shot by Sandra Balzo
Puppet On A String by Lizbeth Dusseau
Highland Dragon by Kimberly Killion