Hunting season

Chapter Ten

Arri met them in the backyard and appeared seriously panicked, if her pacing and hand wringing were any indications.

She did have on the standard Crow fighting outfit—white racing-‐back tank top, black jeans, black steel-‐toe boots, wool sleeves for her arms—and possessed the minimum amount of weapons. Long, steel blades shoved in the holster wrapped around her right leg. But Arri being Arri had also dyed her hair dark blue for the occasion. It was a good color on her, but still couldn’t hide the shaking of her hands or the trembling of her small body.

Neecy put her arm around the girl. “It’s gonna be okay, Arri. Just remember to stay near me and if things get really bad…find a corner and stay in it.”

For two hours Didi had argued with Neecy about this. She didn’t want little Arri out with the team. She even tried to call on Skuld herself. Like that was ever a good idea. But it was too late. Neecy received her orders for a hunt while sitting at a traffic light on her bike. One second she was sitting there trying to forget Yager and trying to remember who came to her office door earlier in the day and the next…she knew it was time. That’s how it happened for all the team leaders.

Skuld simply uploaded them with the information they needed and expected them to take care of it.

In employer terms—she only hired “self-‐starters.”

Arri took a deep, shaky breath. “Okay.”

Neecy winced at her squeak. She hated doing this to Arri. She really did. If she had her way, she’d let Arri handle everyday admin stuff for the Gathering. There were all sorts of things that needed taking care of that Neecy never had time to handle and Didi never wanted to bother with.

Yet, for some unfathomable reason, Skuld was making Neecy do this instead. Put this poor, defenseless, terrified little girl out in the middle of a Hunt.

Janelle walked up, her tattooed arms crossed in front of her chest. She stared down at Arri and Neecy wondered if she was going to again voice her complaint that this was a bad idea.

Instead, she said, “Keep your eyes on me and Neecy. Okay? You’ll be fine.”

Arri nodded. “Yeah, I will.”

Neecy was relieved to hear Arri say something other than “okay.”

“Then let’s go, ladies.” Neecy looked at her team. “The quicker we get this over with, the quicker we can get something to eat.”

Katie and Connie took off, Janelle right behind them.

She turned to Arri. “You’re not going to pee on yourself, are you?”

Arri snorted a laugh. “What?”

“I just wanted to make sure…so I’m not flying behind you or under you.”

“Aw, that’s disgusting, Neecy!” But she got her to smile.

“Disgusting, perhaps…but possibly a little accurate?”

“No! Ewwww!” She slapped Neecy’s shoulder. “I’ll be fine. Yuck.”

Arri spread her wings and flew. Neecy blew out a sigh of relief. To be honest, she was kind of worried the girl couldn’t even fly.

Yager wiped blood from his cheek. The little asshole cut his face. Grabbing him around the throat, Yager lifted him off the floor. “I love it when you guys make it easy for me.”

This was what the Ravens did best. Interrupt some weird religious rite usually involving the sacrifice of some poor schlub. Save the “sacrificee” and “manage” everybody else. He liked saying “manage” because that sounded a hell of a lot better than “kill.”

It wasn’t Yager’s favorite part of the job, but at times it was the most fulfilling.

Yager didn’t know who these guys were. Maybe Satanists, but he doubted it.

They kept their stuff pretty quiet and often the Christians handled them. But anything involving the Norse gods belonged to the Ravens. Unless, of course, that invisible line was crossed and the Crows were called to clean house.

Gripping the man tighter around the throat, Yager slammed him against the wall three times until he stopped wiggling. He dropped him and turned to find the others had been “managed” by the rest of the team.

Tye moved up behind him. “We may have another problem.”

Yager turned, facing his friend and saw that he held one of the prey in his big hands. “What?”

Tye shook the man—once. “Tell him.”

“We were paid to hold this rite,” the man choked out desperately. “Paid to make sure the right people knew about it.”

“So that it would get back to me,” Tye growled.

It was a well-‐known fact among the Clans that Tye had some rather…unholy connections. He could find out stuff that no else—absolutely no one—could ever find out through normal mystical means.

“So what does that mean for us?”

“If this is a decoy,” he snapped the neck of the man in his hands and let his carcass drop to the ground. “Then they’ve opened up a doorway somewhere else.”

Shit . “We need to find that doorway.”

“Bet you money it’s already been found.”

Slamming the door to the Hoboken butcher shop, Janelle pushed her back against it and desperately looked at Neecy.

“Portal to hell! We have a portal to hell!”

Neecy threw the biker up against the alley wall. “How bad?” she yelled over the fighting and the unholy screams coming from the other side of the door Janelle stood in front of.

“Uh…straight to the very pits of hell. So we do have a problem here, ladies.”

As Janelle finished her statement, heavy bodies threw themselves against the door from the other side. Pushing on it harder, Janelle gasped out, “If you’re going to do something…do it quick!”

Neecy knew how to close mystical doorways leading to alternate dimensions, but portals to hell…that was something different all together. Way beyond her skill-‐ set.

Yeah, this was getting seriously out of control.

“What are you gonna do, little girl?” the scumbag, Lewis, barked at her with a smile. In response, Neecy slashed him with her talons.

Lewis’ head snapped to one side, but by the time he turned back to her the wounds had healed.

Uh-‐oh.

Yeah. He’d activated that necklace all right. No wonder Skuld wanted it back so badly.

Of course, the necklace had been what they originally came for. This should have been an easy “kick ass and grab.” But stumbling into the middle of a human sacrifice in the back of aHoboken bar—so not on the menu. And what was this idiot doing opening portals to hell? Like that was ever a good idea.

Lewis’ biker buddies went after the Crows, eagerly hoping to get a piece of them.

Five guys against them. Easy. Even with Arri. But the portal to hell was a little distracting. Especially when her strongest warrior was having a hell of a time keeping the door closed.

Then you add in the nine or ten really sweet Harleys pulling in beside them and Neecy was now a little less confident about her team’s current situation.

Knowing Lewis could experience pain and serious discomfort, Neecy reached into the back of her jeans and pulled out her stun gun. She pushed it against Lewis’ neck and sent one-‐hundred-‐thousand volts through the man.

That’s when the rest of the bikers moved on them. “Crows! Get ready!” They couldn’t leave until they got what they came for and until they closed that doorway. They especially had to close that doorway.

Neecy heard a squeal and discovered Arri in a dark corner keeping a scumbag at bay with a well-‐placed slap to the face. Who knew a bitch slap could be so effective?

Then, like a thunderbolt, it suddenly hit her.

“Arri! The portal! Close it!”

“Me? Are you insane?”

Neecy started to tell her to get her butt into action or she’d kill her herself, but Lewis had dragged himself to his big feet and she became real busy, real quick.

Arri didn’t have much choice. But she also knew she could close that portal. The power tingled in her fingertips. This had been the Gift Skuld gave her.

The only problem at the moment…fear. Mind-‐numbing, limbs-‐unable-‐to-‐move, head-‐about-‐to-‐explode fear. But Neecy needed her to do something and, at the moment, her mentor had her hands full.

No. She couldn’t let Neecy down. Not Neecy.

Moving fast, Arri ran to the door Janelle had placed herself against and dropped to her knees.

“Do something, Arri-‐girl. Or we’re fucked,” Janelle ordered as she desperately worked to keep that door closed.

Arri raised her hands, a chant on her lips to seal the door, when Janelle bucked forward from the force of the blow to the door. Janelle quickly moved back into place, but she wouldn’t be able to hold whatever was on the other side much longer.

Then they were surrounding Arri, dropping out of the sky. Ravens. Yager’s men.

She looked up in time to see Liar-‐Mike, as she liked to call him, land beside her.

He walked over to Janelle.

“Move it, sweet cheeks.” With his usual arrogance, he grabbed Janelle’s arm and pulled her away from the door, quickly replacing her there. “Go kill somethin’.

I’ll hold the door.”

Janelle gave him a look of disgust and then she was ducking the biker chain aimed at her head.

Arri looked up at Mike, his legs on either side of her.

“You know, while you’re down there…” He raised an eyebrow and leered.

Biting back her desire to spit in the man’s face, Arri went to work calling on the powers of Skuld and the other Fates.

Neecy and Lewis squared off, moving around each other like two wrestlers.

Growling, she charged him, but before she got two feet a brick wall dropped in front of her.

“Hey, baby.”

She pulled her blades back just in time. Another few inches, she would have gutted Yager.

“What are you doing?” she asked calmly. If Yager tried to take Lewis from her, she’d rip out pieces of him he didn’t even know existed.

“Came to help.”

“What?” Helping was one thing. But Yager was standing in front of her. He was protecting her.

She moved around Yager as he tossed a biker against the wall. His usual crew was with him as well. Mike, Tye, and Danny Terleski as well as a few other Ravens.

“Yager, I don’t need you protecting me.” Well, at least that much was true. She didn’t need Yager protecting her. Helping her, however, that was different.

“I know, but these assholes sent us off on some bullshit hunt. I hate that. Behind you, baby.”

Neecy spun on her heel, going low and gutted the biker behind her. Just as quickly, she turned back to Yager.

“Thanks.” She motioned to the dying man at her feet.

“No problem. And your scumbag is getting away.”

Neecy turned to find Lewis trying to get past Tye. “Dammit!” She flew at him, literally, her talons out. For a big guy he moved fast, backhanding her as soon as she was within reach. He was strong too, knocking Neecy right into the wall.

Okay. Now she was pissed.

Okay. Now Neecy was pissed. He could see it on her face. Man, but watching her slam into that wall hurt. He felt it as surely as if it had been him. Who was this guy anyway? Well, he’d have to die. He touched her. No one touched his Neecy.

No one but him.

Yager, growling low, moved on the biker. But Neecy moved fast when pissed.

She was in front of him, her hands around the scumbag’s throat and slamming him into the opposite wall. Her legs up and around his waist, her feet planted firmly on the wall behind her prey. Her wings fluttered dangerously, ready to take her airborne in seconds.

He almost smiled. She would rip this idiot apart and Yager couldn’t wait.

“Neecy!” Katie yelled. “It’s Arri!”

Neecy, her talons digging into Lewis’ throat to hold him in place, glanced over to see Arri surrounded by purple light. As rich and vibrant as anything Neecy had ever seen before. But she also saw two bikers moving on her fast. Mike couldn’t help her because he was the only thing keeping that door closed. And whatever was on the other side of it in. Still she knew Mike well enough to know he’d leave his post at the door before he let a woman get hurt. If she was going to move, she better do it now.

“Yager! Get Arri!”

Yager didn’t waste time with answering her, he just moved. Tye by his side. But four bikers got in their way and Neecy realized she’d have to release Lewis to protect Arri. She couldn’t let her get hurt.

Shit. Can this get any worse?

A wet-‐sounding growl caused Neecy’s head to snap around and she realized something was happening to Lewis. He was changing. Shifting. His eyes were a bright yellow. Like a dog’s.

He was a motherfuckin’ Shifter. Oh, just great!

Claws came up and grabbed her around the throat.

Then she heard Arri’s squeal and Mike’s growl of anger. She tried to pull away from the Shifter, but he had her by the throat and wasn’t letting go.

Then Neecy was flying. Actually, they all were. And she had only a moment to wonder “what the hell” when she hit a wall and everything went black.

One second Tye was busy wrapping a chain around some idiot biker’s neck and the next he was airborne. He slammed into a pole, which killed his back, but luckily didn’t touch his head. He watched as one of the Crows flew past him and right into ongoing traffic.

“Shit!” He took off after her, diving on her and rolling them both out of the way of a speeding tractor trailer.

He landed on top of her and looked down into her very pretty face. Sharp cheekbones, adorable pug nose, and full lips. Eyelids fluttered open and amazing hazel eyes locked onto Tye’s. Whoa.

Yeah. He’d been right. Janelle was seriously, blindingly hot.

She stared up at him, a slight frown creasing her brows. “Um…what are you doing?

He smiled. “Day dreaming.”

“Huh?”

When did it start raining ? Snowing, maybe. It was January. But rain? They didn’t forecast rain.

“Oh, God, Neecy! Please don’t be dead! God, please!”

Neecy forced her eyes open as she heard Yager’s soothing voice. “It’s okay. She’s okay. Just a little stunned.”

She saw Yager with his arm around Arri, and Arri hysterically crying into his neck. For the first time ever, Neecy wanted to rip the throat out of a fellow Crow who wasn’t Didi.

Oh, my God. I’m jealous. Kill me now.

Using his free hand, Yager ran his hand over Neecy’s cheek and smiled when he saw her eyes open.

“Hey, baby.”

“Stop calling me that.” Neecy slowly pushed herself up on her elbows. “What happened?”

Yager nodded at the sobbing girl in his arms. “You better ask her.”

And then Neecy understood. Arri did this. It seemed like somehow she’d blown everything within a two mile radius away from her.

Neecy struggled to a sitting position. “Is everybody okay?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“I’m so sorry,” Arri wailed as she threw herself into Neecy’s arms, knocking her back on her ass.

Poor Arri, she’d hate herself in the morning over this. Not about what she’d done, but about the crying. Expending that much Magick abruptly, led to extreme emotions. Some became mean, violent, loving, horny…and some became emotional messes. Like Arri.

“Check on everybody for me, would ya, Yager?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

Neecy squeezed Arri as Yager stood up. “It’s okay, kid. Really,” she soothed.

“I thought I killed you guys.”

“Between you and me…you saved our ass. The one I was fighting was a Shifter.

Which meant all his friends were, too. That would have turned real ugly, real quick.” Speaking of which…where the hell were those bastards? “Honey, what happened to the bikers?”

Arri cried harder and held on to Neecy tighter. Glancing past the sobbing girl, she saw Janelle. The woman shook her head and made a slashing motion across her throat.

Holy shit. Arri had taken them out. All of them it seemed since none of the Crows or Ravens showed any sense of urgency or panic.

“Um…let’s get you back to the house.”

Neecy struggled to her feet, her arms still around Arri. All the girl needed was sleep. To get her energy back. She’d feel better and probably a little awkward come morning.

“Neece, we need to get out of here.” Katie stood next to Janelle. One side of her face swollen from a fist.

“Yeah.” They were lucky the cops hadn’t shown up yet, but that wouldn’t last.

And Skuld and Odin only cloaked them but so much.

Motioning to Janelle, “Check the door.”

“Are you insane?” Janelle checked her eyebrows. They’d almost been singed off the first time she opened that door. “I’d rather not start drawing these in.”

With the tiniest of head moves, Janelle motioned to Mike. Neecy shrugged. Why not?

“Mike. Could you check that door for us?”

“Sure!”

A sudden look of panic streaked across Yager’s face. “Mike! Wait!”

But it was too late. Mike opened the door and glanced inside. “It’s a butcher shop…although I wouldn’t actually eat anything from here. I don’t think this place is up to code.”

Yager let out an enormous breath. “Don’t ever do that again,” he muttered to her.

Neecy worked hard not to laugh out loud as she hugged the still-‐crying Arri.

“I’ll take her.” Janelle looped her arms around Arri’s waist, then she was gone.

Neecy nodded to Katie and Connie and the women followed after Janelle.

A quick glance around the alley showed Neecy there were no bodies. Only the Ravens and Crows remained after Arri finished. Weird. There should be bodies.

It looked like her birds would have to find dinner somewhere else tonight.

“Here. This is what you wanted in the first place, right?”

Neecy looked at Yager’s outstretched hand. Christ, his hands were big. Reaching out, Neecy took the enchanted Rhine Gold necklace from his palm.

“Thanks.”

“No problem, Neecy.”

She looked up into that oh-‐so-‐gorgeous face and steeled herself against the heat in that gaze. The way Yager looked at her—the way he always looked at her—

drove her absolutely nuts. It made her entire body desperate to feel him against her one more time.

She noticed the blood on his cheek. “Yager…your face.”

He frowned and touched the wound on his cheek. “Oh. That. It’s nothing.”

“Bullshit.” She pulled his hand away so that he didn’t keep playing with it like a ten year old. “You need to get that taken care of before it gets infected.”

Smiling, he gripped her hand in his, unwilling to let her go.

Neecy could hear the wail of sirens, but she couldn’t move. Couldn’t unlock herself from that blistering gaze. And the way he smiled at her. It was such a sweet smile, she couldn’t help herself—she ended up smiling back.

“Yager, man. We gotta go.”

After another moment, Yager finally looked away and released her hand. “Yeah.

Okay.” He looked back at her. “See ya, Neecy.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Afraid of what she might say or do, Neecy closed her eyes, unfurled her wings, and took to the air.