Bruja Born (Brooklyn Brujas #2)(57)

—Tales of the Deos, Felipe Thomás San Justinio




Nova runs a red light. He hands a metal rectangle to Alex in the front passenger seat.

“Is that my license plate?” Maks asks.

Nova looks up at the rearview mirror with humor in his blue-green eyes. “Yeah, I didn’t want the hunters to get a read on that. Though I’m pretty sure they already know who we are.”

“Hunters?” Maks asks.

“Welcome to our world, little zombie,” Nova says.

“Don’t call me that,” Maks says, voice dripping with disgust.

I could explode right out of my skin right now, but Rose places her hand on mine. She always has a calming way about her that’s hard to understand. But the calm doesn’t last. Nova drives as recklessly as a yellow cab, and I grip the handle above the window as he makes a sharp turn on the highway. Traffic is light, so we coast most of the way south. I keep looking back to see any cars following us, but so far nothing. There is only the river and bridges connecting us with downtown Manhattan, lights sparkling like stars.

Alex rests her head back and clenches her jaw as the recoil of her magic hits her system. She arches her back, and her arms tremble with seizures. When it passes, she breathes long and slow, then wipes away the black soot on her palms.

“I’ve never seen the hunters before,” Rose says, a little too enthusiastically considering they’re now hunting us.

“Who are they?” Maks asks.

“Ma never really talked about them,” Alex says.

“They’re called the Knights of Lavant.” When he says their name, Nova grips the wheel harder. “They’ve been hunting magical beings for centuries. Mostly were-beasts and vamps. Witches were harder to find out, but they have no love for us.”

“Why doesn’t anyone know about this?” Maks asks, frustrated. “I mean, regular people deserve to know what’s out there.”

Those words coming from him bother me more than I’d ever thought. Regular people.

“Because the regular world can’t process anything outside of their comfort,” Nova says. “The Knights of Lavant existed to rid the world of evil and keep the supernatural hidden. But not all things that look monstrous are evil.”

He and Alex share a quiet stare, and I wonder if they’re remembering their time in Los Lagos.

“So this happens all the time?” Maks asks, and his incredulity is so naive. “How do you live?”

Alex cackles humorlessly. “You being a casimuerto has something to do with their interest in us.”

“What, they don’t hunt witches?”

“It’s complicated,” Nova says, glancing over his shoulder at the empty road behind us. “The abridged version? When the underworld leaders banded together to form the Thorne Hill Alliance, the Knights had no choice but to stop hunting without probable cause. The Knights didn’t even sign the Alliance treaty until three years after its inception. They didn’t want to give up their authority, but that was the good thing about the Thorne Hill Alliance—the vamps, the weres, the witches—we have our differences but we outnumber the Knights.”

“Wait, Thorne Hill? Like our school?” Maks asks.

“Yeah, the founder of the school was a hunter,” Nova says. His eyes catch mine in the rearview mirror.

“I didn’t know that,” Alex says, frowning. “How do you?”

“I told you once, Ladybird,” Nova says, leaning forward on the wheel to reach for his seat belt. “I make it my business to know things.”

“The hunter who saved me from Kassandra said he gave me twenty-four hours,” I say, and in this moment, I wish everything would slow down. That I could get lost in the dark of the city and have all of this fade into a dream. “They gave me the heart. They know where we live.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we were lucky the Knights showed up,” Nova says. “They must’ve been hunting the casimuertos. When I went to investigate the crime scene behind the school, the EMT said the whole family had their hearts ripped out. That could’ve been you.”

Alex looks at me and the secret between us is a chord around my neck.

“Lucky,” I say bitterly.

“That girl was going to rip out your heart,” Alex shouts, turning around in her seat. “You weren’t even going to fight back. I know you feel guilty, but you have to fight back. You were stupid and reckless. You can’t free Lady de la Muerte if you’re dead.”

“Whoa, easy,” Nova says.

“No, she’s right,” I say softly.

“Isn’t this one less problem?” Rose asks. “We can concentrate on the spear, and the Knights of Lavant can hunt the casimuertos.”

“Not if they want to kill Maks too,” Nova says.

“So where do we go?” I ask.

“I know a shifter,” Nova says. “He’s THA so if we explain what’s happening, they can give us sanctuary. The Knights can’t touch us if he lets us in. We can let the heat die down tonight and go from there.”

“And you’re sure we can trust him?” I ask.

Nova nods as the car flies down the highway. “As much as I can trust anyone.”

“T-H-A?” Maks spells it out.