The taxi driver deposited them on the corner of North Crescent Drive staring at Jamieson out of the corner of his eye. As Jamieson got out, the driver wound down his window and thrust a pen and piece of paper at him. ‘Would you mind signing this for my daughter?’ he asked.
Evie smirked as she stepped out of the car. Jamieson had thought it wise to don a disguise for the recce and had shifted into an up-and-coming young Hollywood actor, renowned for his quiffy hair and pout. Evie couldn’t remember his name. She could see Jamieson was enjoying the notoriety though, by the way he signed with a big flourish and tipped the cab driver extra large.
Flic rolled her eyes. ‘Sometimes I think it would be much easier to date a human,’ she sighed, looking sideways at Evie. ‘You know, you might want to consider it too.’
Evie’s head whipped around. What was she talking about?
Flic shrugged. ‘You can’t hold onto a memory for the rest of your life,’ she said softly. Then her mouth split into a wide smile as Jamieson came over and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
‘Ladies?’ he said, offering Evie his other arm.
Evie took it, sliding her hand into the crook of his elbow, while frowning at Flic. Was Flic serious? Did she really think that nine weeks was all the time it would take to forget Lucas and move on?
‘Where are we meeting the others?’ Jamieson asked as they strode down the street.
‘Just up ahead,’ Flic answered, looking up from her Houses of the Stars map.
‘What are you doing with that thing?’ Jamieson hissed. ‘You’re with me. Why would I be going on a tour of famous people’s houses when I am one?’
‘Which do you think is less conspicuous – you pretending to be the guy from that lame movie, or us all pretending to be tourists come to ogle the houses of the rich and famous? If we’re not careful you’re going to get mobbed. And I for one am not happy with my role of fan girl. I’d rather be lost tourist.’
Jamieson frowned. Evie suppressed a laugh. She’d been quite enjoying the fan girl identity but Flic had a point. With a sigh Jamieson exploded into a ball of golden shimmer and then reappeared half a second later as himself.
‘And that wasn’t the slightest bit conspicuous,’ Flic remarked drily.
‘Do you ever stop complaining?’ Jamieson asked.
Flic elbowed him in the ribs and strolled off, holding the map up high. They walked on in silence, their senses taking over, scanning the houses they walked by, trying to pick up the scent of unhuman. It was difficult with two unhumans beside her for Evie to sense anything beyond them. And the houses were all set far back from the road – huge mansions rearing up behind twenty-foot high walls and wrought iron gates.
‘Hunters approaching,’ Jamieson said suddenly, sniffing the air like a bloodhound.
‘It’s Ash and Vero,’ Evie murmured, as the two of them rounded the corner up ahead. Cyrus followed just a few paces behind them. Their eyes caught for a few seconds and held before the sight of Victor distracted her.
Evie heard Flic suck in a sharp breath beside her, and then let forth a stream of colourful swear words.
‘Flic, cool it,’ Jamieson murmured to her.
‘No,’ Flic spat. ‘I want to kill the bastard.’
Evie wrapped her hand around Flic’s arm, hauling her to a stop. ‘Flic,’ she said, turning to her, ‘I know how you feel, but we need to do this. I gave them my word – no revenge until after this is over. And if you take out your blade and start flashing it on these streets it’ll be just seconds before we have private security on our backs, not to mention the cops. We can’t afford to draw attention. Not right now. Afterwards, I don’t care if we have an audience.’
Flic glared at Evie, her body vibrating like a tuning fork. Then she took a deep breath. ‘I can’t do this,’ she finally said, her voice breaking. ‘If I go anywhere near him, I’m going to kill him.’
Evie nodded in understanding, thinking again how stupid it was to have brought Flic along. But Cyrus had insisted, thinking that having some unhumans with them would help mask their scent.
‘You both stay here until you’re needed,’ Evie said. ‘I’ll go.’
She headed down the street towards the others, keeping her eyes on Cyrus and fighting the temptation to look at Victor, knowing that if she did she’d only lose it like Flic had.
When she got close she saw the two new Hunters hovering behind Victor. The boy looked like he was high on something, which Evie hoped was sugar, and nothing that might dampen his senses, and the girl Selena was still eyeballing her like she was something she’d stepped in.
Evie’s stomach clenched in response. How easy it would be to put her in her place but what a total waste of energy.
‘You brought them?’ Evie asked Victor, nodding her head in Selena and RJ’s direction.
‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘They need to see what they’re up against.’
Evie failed to see how that was going to do anything other than scare the crap out of them. Her own training had consisted of being blindfolded and sent into a cornfield unarmed against three weapon-toting Hunters, so she knew Victor’s training techniques were a little extreme, but even so ...
‘I wanna see these mothers,’ Selena said, spitting a glob of saliva onto the sidewalk.
‘Let’s hope they don’t see you first,’ Cyrus answered her.
‘Are they like – unhumans?’ RJ asked, pointing down the street at Flic and Jamieson.
‘Yes, they’re unhumans,’ Victor grimaced.
Anger raced like lava through her veins. Without thinking, Evie brought her blade up to chest height and took a step towards Victor, silently urging him to make a move for his gun so that she’d have the excuse she needed to go for him.
But Cyrus was suddenly in the way, pushing his chest into Victor’s.
‘Back off,’ he ordered. ‘These guys are helping us. Every single person here, other than these two who are clueless,’ he jerked his head in the direction of RJ and the girl, ‘wants to see you dead. The only reason you’re still alive is because we might need you.’ He forced Victor back a step. ‘And when I say might that’s because it’s still up for debate. If you want to pick a fight with any of us, there won’t be a debate. Neither should you debate who will win. Because it will be me.’
Victor waited for him to finish, then he rolled his shoulders back casually, revealing the gun holstered under his arm and the hilt of a knife protruding from a sheath slung around his waist. ‘I have fifteen years on you,’ he snarled.
‘Which makes you old,’ Cyrus answered, smiling pleasantly. He paused, leaning into Victor and lowering his voice. ‘And even if you were young and able, you’d still never beat me.’
‘Some day soon, your arrogance is going to get you killed,’ Victor said, smiling back.
‘It already did,’ Cyrus laughed. ‘Didn’t you hear? I’m still alive!’
‘Like, hello?’
Evie dragged her attention from Victor to RJ.
‘I thought you said unhumans were the bad guys. I thought we were supposed to kill them all. Why are these guys on our side?’ RJ asked, jerking his head in Flic and Jamieson’s direction.
‘Don’t worry yourself about the details, just be glad they are,’ Cyrus told him.
‘What are they?’ Selena asked, squinting.
‘He’s a Shifter and she’s half Shadow Warrior,’ Victor answered. His eyes darted to Evie, a sly smile spreading across his face. ‘But they’re easy enough to kill.’
Cyrus’s fingers closed instantly around Evie’s wrist, the one holding the knife, just in time to stop her throwing it. With his arm locked diagonally across her chest, Cyrus pressed all his body weight against her, pushing her back. Evie fought him, glaring over her shoulder at Victor who was smiling at her, taunting her.
She bared her teeth, a growl building in her throat. But all of a sudden Cyrus’s hand was under her chin, distracting her, forcing her to look at him. She scowled up at him, angr
y, still fighting his hold of her. But he only smiled softly in response, his fingers gently stroking up her jaw, his expression warm and so tender she felt her pulse quicken and leap beneath his fingertips.
Evie frowned as she felt the anger dissipating just as fast as it had come, confusion taking its place. Cyrus nodded at her, his fingers still cupping her face. With one hand he stroked a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear, then finally, he let her go.
He spun around to face Victor, all business again, the smile nowhere in sight. ‘So tell us where you think the coven is,’ he demanded.
‘Down the street,’ Victor answered. ‘Three hundred metres. Left-hand side.’
‘Do you know how many there are?’ Cyrus asked.
‘Best estimate ten. I haven’t been able to get close enough to confirm.’
Cyrus nodded, pulling out a map from his back pocket. ‘OK, so Vero and Ash, go with Victor. Come at the house from the south.’ He pointed to a spot on the map where he wanted them to go. ‘Ash, can you create another diversion?’
‘How are we going to get near? Ash asked, looking around nervously. ‘They’ll sense us. They’ve probably already sensed us.’
‘Use that to your advantage. Be ready to run. The bikes are parked here.’ He pointed to a point on the map a good four hundred metres from the house. ‘We’ll meet back at Victor’s.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Evie asked.
‘I’ll head with Jamieson and Flic around the side of the house, wait until they’re distracted, then see if I can get a visual. Hopefully Jamieson and Flic will mask my scent.’ He stopped talking and started folding up the map.
Evie stared at him with her hands on her hips. ‘What about me?’
He kept folding the map, avoiding eye contact. ‘I want you to stay here and keep an eye on these two,’ he said, nodding his head at RJ and Selena. ‘Make sure they don’t get into trouble.’
‘You’re kidding?’ Evie spluttered. That wasn’t why she was here – to be a glorified babysitter to two idiot kids.
Cyrus pushed the map into his pocket and strode forward, edging her back towards the kerb, away from the others. ‘Evie,’ he said, looking down on her, his hand hovering by her waist, ‘please, do as I ask.’
She looked up into his sea-coloured eyes and saw the expression in them – the same expression he’d worn a few seconds ago when he’d stroked his thumb along her jaw – and it made her fall instantly silent.
There was an echo in the way he was staring at her. It reminded her of the way Lucas had once looked at her, his gaze white-hot, possessive, but also full of tenderness and…No. She pulled herself up short and took a sharp step backwards. He couldn’t be in love with her. Could he?
As though he had heard the silent question she was asking, Cyrus nodded at her, almost imperceptibly, and then he turned and started jogging down the street with Flic and Jamieson.
Chapter 32
‘You’re armed?’ Cyrus asked in a whisper as they ran.
‘No, I always choose to bare-knuckle fight with Originals,’ Flic hissed back. ‘Of course I’m armed.’ She drew her jacket aside and he caught sight of a bluish streak of metal at her hip.
‘Nice,’ he said. ‘I think I had one of those when they found me.’
‘When they found you naked and wandering the streets, you mean?’
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. ‘You read the newspapers?’
‘I like to do my research,’ Flic answered, scanning the street ahead.
Cyrus grinned at her as she moved past him. She was fast, lithe, sleek as a panther – wearing tight black jeans and a black tank top that caressed every contour. If he could shake Evie from out of his head he might have even given Flic a second glance but unfortunately Evie was in his head, had taken up permanent residence there, so he just admired Flic’s animal grace and tried to keep up.
He glanced over his shoulder at Evie, waiting at the far end of the street. She’d better stay exactly where he’d left her. She was standing with one hip jutted forward, hands on her hips, staring after them, radiating fury, and maybe something else. He’d thought he’d seen a flicker of confusion cross her face before, and when he’d stroked her jaw he’d definitely felt her pulse speed up.
He hoped he hadn’t been too obvious when he told her to do as he asked. He didn’t want to come over all controlling and possessive but at the same time he didn’t want to put the mother of his child in any danger. He mentally punched himself. Man, this whole thing was such a headscrew. He focused back on Flic’s lithe form to distract himself.
‘Let’s come at it through this house,’ Cyrus said, indicating the white-porticoed mansion they were just passing.
‘That’s going to be subtle,’ Flic hissed, tipping her head at the security gate and the warning sign with a frothing Rottweiler drawn on it.
‘I doubt very much the owners are home,’ Cyrus answered, sliding his hand up the wall, looking for purchase.
Flic blinked at him. ‘You think they got eaten?’ she asked, her eyes growing round.
Cyrus shrugged. ‘We’ll soon find out.’ He braced himself to climb.
‘What if someone sees? It’s broad daylight.’
‘Well, you’d better hurry up and get your ass over this wall then,’ Cyrus answered.
‘Hang on,’ said Jamieson, vanishing in a dazzling golden spray. A monkey appeared on the sidewalk in front of them.
‘No, that’s subtle,’ Cyrus remarked. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Wait,’ Flic shushed him.
In the next instant Jamieson – or rather the monkey - had swung himself up onto the top of the wall. It then shimmered and Jamieson reappeared, straddling the top of the wall, grinning at them lopsidedly.
‘That was fun,’ he said, reaching a hand down to Flic. She took it and he hauled her up.
Cyrus scaled the wall without help, his hands finding grips as though he was born to climb sheer rock faces. He grinned smugly as he joined them. Flic rolled her eyes at him, though Jamieson looked ready to shoot him a high-five.
The three of them dropped in silence to the flowerbed on the other side of the wall and started edging along the perimeter of a garden.
‘Will they scent you, do you think?’ Jamieson asked Cyrus.
‘Better start praying not,’ Cyrus whispered back, all his senses prickling as though ice cubes were sliding over his skin. ‘What you going to shift into,’ he asked Jamieson, ‘if they see us?’
‘Something that can run very fast,’ Jamieson answered. ‘A cheetah probably.’
‘Go with a falcon. Originals can run but they sure as hell can’t fly.’
If only they all had the flying option, Cyrus thought to himself. These things were fast. If they sensed him beneath Flic and Jamieson’s unhuman scent, he was in trouble. They were all in trouble. Even monkey boy. Flic looked like she could handle herself and he’d heard she was a good fighter, plus she had the whole invisibility thing working for her, but against however many unhumans there were on the other side of the wall?
His plan, however, wasn’t to count them, wasn’t even to go near them. That was all a ruse. Really he was here to verify what his mum had said was true – that a new gateway had sprung up in the garden of a mansion in Beverly Hills. Because if that was the case, then the shit storm they thought they were facing was more like a shit hurricane.
And if that psycho Victor found out about the gateway still being open for business he would undoubtedly leap to the conclusion it was because Evie hadn’t been the one to walk through it, and that would just create even more hassle for him to deal with. Which was why he’d sent Victor to the front of the house with Vero and Ash.
He, Flic and Jamieson reached the far perimeter wall and ducked behind some bushes.
‘We’re just doing a headcount, right?’ Jamieson asked, looking as nervous as a suicide bomber.
‘Yeah, just a headcount,’ Cyrus reassured him
. ‘Then we run.’
‘If they want a fight, they got one,’ Flic muttered.
Cyrus twisted to look at her. ‘If they want a fight, you run, do you hear me?’
She gave him a look.
‘I mean it.’
Flic stared at him stonily, her eyes softly calculating.
‘No heroics, Flic,’ Jamieson said. ‘Listen to the man.’
Flic turned abruptly away. Cyrus stared at her back, at the well-worked muscles running down her lean arms. Damn it, he thought, another girl who never listened.
‘What are we waiting for?’ Jamieson asked, eyeing the wall.
‘That,’ Cyrus answered as a gunshot rang out, blasting through the silence.
Another shot swiftly followed.
‘What’s happening?’ Flic asked. ‘Who’s firing?’
‘Ash. He’s drawing them out.’
‘He’s going to have the police here in thirty seconds,’ Flic hissed.
‘That’s all the time we need,’ Cyrus said, his hands already finding grip on the wall and scooting up it. ‘Give me a boost,’ he whispered.
A strong shove sent him flying over the wall. He tumbled to the soft grass on the other side, his blade in his hand. Jamieson – in wolf form – landed softly beside him in the next second and Flic followed behind, landing in a crouch, her blade outstretched.
The three of them froze where they were, their attention drawn instantly to the blinding white light emanating from the far side of the beautifully manicured lawn.
‘What the hell is that?’ Flic asked in a shaking voice, her blade falling limply to her side.
Cyrus grimaced. His mum had been right after all.
Chapter 33
Lucas was sweating by the time they made it across the city. On foot it had taken them nearly three hours, Issa stopping every fifty metres or so to look ahead, her eyes filming over while Lucas stood guard. It was daylight, the Thirsters gone to ground, sleeping in the sewage tunnels beneath the city according to Issa, but groups of Mixen and Scorpio were out roaming the streets as if they owned the place – which he guessed they did now.