Dangerous Creatures(32)

“Why would I want one of those?” Ridley didn’t smile.

Floyd leaned in. “I guess anyone desperate enough to Charm their own boyfriend really wouldn’t understand, would they?”

“You know. Linky Charms.” Necro shrugged. “I hear he’s magically delicious. Oblivious, but delicious.”

Ridley couldn’t believe she’d thought this lame little faux-hawked dead detector was her friend.

I’m a Siren. What do they expect? Nobody gets in between a Siren and her sailor. They should know that by now.

Maybe it was time for Ridley to remind them.

“Patty,” said Ridley, grabbing Floyd by the arm with her own long, red nails. “And Duane,” she said, grabbing Necro, with the same fierceness. “Let’s us girls get a little something straight. You ever try to turn my boyfriend against me again, and it will be a whole lot more than a girl talk. It’ll be a catfight.” Ridley leaned in. “Claws out.”

“Meowch,” Necro said, her gaze unwavering. Floyd said nothing. “No one messes with our bandmates, Rid. You don’t get it, because you’re not in the band. It’s the line you don’t cross.”

Alone. On the curb. She got it.

Only, at this particular moment, Ridley Duchannes didn’t care what anyone else had to say about it.

She didn’t miss a beat. “I admit I can’t control Sampson,” she said. “But I can make the two of you fall in love with every stray pit bull from here to New Jersey, and don’t think I won’t do it. It’s a Siren thing.”

“And don’t be surprised when every single one of them suddenly looks just like your cutie-pie boyfriend.” Floyd pulled her arm away. “Illusionist thing.” She smirked and took off after Sampson.

Cutie-pie boyfriend?

I will take you down.

Necro shook her head. “Now you’ve done it. Never screw with an Illusionist. They say you won’t know what hit you. Literally.”

“Bite me,” whispered Ridley. “I’m not scared of you.”

“Believe me,” Necro whispered back, “you don’t get it.” The Necromancer stepped closer until she was almost breathing in Ridley’s ear. “If my dreams mean anything, I’m not the one you should be afraid of.”

Her last word raked the air between them.

“Vindicabo.”





CHAPTER 14


Appetite for Destruction


Lennox Gates kicked and shouted. A stream of unintelligible gibberish came from his mouth, but it was loud and urgent.

So loud that he woke himself up.

He sat up on his couch, groggy, and then flopped back down.

Lennox was still wearing the clothes he’d had on when he came home from the club, early this morning. He’d been having nightmares again, courtesy of his friend on the other side, no doubt.

Vexes.

Vengeful manifestations from the Otherworld—black stretches of cold shadow had been everywhere. Swallowing up his friends, his family. Turning everything to fog and fear and doubt.

They had swarmed his club, his apartment, even his house on the island. He couldn’t escape, and he couldn’t hide. He would never be free of them, not until they dragged him back down to the world they came from.

Lennox Gates got the message. It didn’t require any actual words to articulate the threat of this ticking clock.

He looked at his watch, cursing under his breath. He was late, and not just for his first appointment of the day, but for the other things he’d been asked to do. The sort of things he couldn’t exactly put on his calendar.

Dark things. My specialty. How did that happen?

He was on a short timer, and his associates were impatient. At least it was only a nightmare.

For now.

Then Lennox felt the hair on his arms stand up. His room turned cold, so cold that he could feel a new sharpness to the air in his throat with every breath.

“What do you want?” His voice echoed through the empty room.

Silence.

“I know you’re there. You can come out now.”

The shadows in his room seemed to convulse, as if the walls themselves were trying to catch their breath.

The air churned around him.

Now. It’s coming.

Slowly, a black figure rose from the floor, materializing up from the rug as if it were being pulled into the Mortal world against its will. In reality, Lennox knew it was the reverse. The spirit was willing itself into this world—a difficult feat, almost Herculean.

Vexes—real ones. Here. In my own apartment, for the very first time.

Then Lennox had another thought, colder than the air around him.

He’s getting closer.

The apartment was the most Bound place Lennox knew of, with the exception of his club. The security in his building rivaled that of the UN building downtown. Stray Supernaturals were not welcome here, and neither were visitors from the Otherworld. Lennox would have thought it was impossible, if he hadn’t been dealing with the angriest dead headcase in five hundred years.

He can get to me, anywhere I go.

I’ll never be free of him.

Lennox raised his voice. “Which is your point, right? I understand, old man. You’ll have your way, or I’m to join you down there?” He stood up, pacing across the room. “Your hybrid friend is going to show up at the club today, and your Siren is bound to follow. I’ve taken measures to incentivize them both. Have a little faith.”