September Moon (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8)

“Don’t fucking lie to me, Gabriel. I can smell the stink of it all over you. Tell me where Jez is, or I’ll send you back to Shya with pieces missing.” The horror that spread across his face seemed to be from my touch more than my threat. Good. Whatever he was seeing about me, I hoped it scared the shit out of him.

He grunted and struggled to speak. His garbled noise was impossible to decipher. I eased off but tapped my power in case I needed to blast him. “Upstairs. Staff door near the fire exit,” he choked out.

Kale appeared wearing an amused grin. “Careful now, Alexa. Shya won’t be too happy if you kill his witch.” Knowing Shya, he had probably marked his prodigy. He would know if I hurt Gabriel.

“If I kill him?” I questioned. “Or if we kill him?” I’d like to think I was joking, but a vicious smile tugged at my lips. Gabriel had been someone I wanted to help. Then he joined the dark side and became my enemy. Bad choice.

“Seriously?” Kale asked, perking up in interest. “I do love tag teaming with you.”

“You can’t do shit to me,” Gabriel sneered. “It would break Arys’s deal with Shya. Do you really want to bring hell on your dark half?”

The kid had balls. Unfortunately, he was also right. Arys had made a deal with Shya to save my life. In exchange, Arys had promised to turn Gabriel. Shya wanted his black magic prodigy to be a vampire from our bloodline. I would do everything I could to keep that from happening. But killing Gabriel wasn’t the way.

“I don’t know, Gabriel,” I said, tapping clawed fingertips on the wall beside his head. “You tell me. You’re the one who can see shit that hasn’t happened yet. How bad can it be?”

“That’s right. I see many things. For a woman who has such little time left with a heartbeat, you seem to be wasting a lot of it on me.” Gabriel’s fear had faded. Now he was ready to fight.

I released him and stepped back, watching as he shoved past Kale and disappeared into the throng. There was no sense letting him get to me. Easier said than done.

Kale spied my crestfallen face. “Hey, don’t listen to the kid. He’s on puppet strings held by a demon. You can’t trust anything he says.”

Having Kale feel bad for me didn’t help. If anything, it made it worse. I shrugged. “Forget it. Let’s go get Jez.”

Finding the fire exit at the back of the building was easy enough. Right beside it was a staff door that opened into a staircase. We followed the stairs up to a small second floor that was pretty much just an attic. It appeared to be a backstage area for the musicians. Guitars and amps lined the wall. A drum set sat in the corner. A large sectional couch took up another corner. It was occupied by two guys rolling a joint on the coffee table.

They both looked up at our approach. One of them went right back to busting up his weed, ignoring us completely. The second, a young guy with a bleached blond Mohawk watched us with curiosity in his bloodshot eyes.

“We’re looking for a friend,” I said. “Her name is Jez. She’s tall, feisty, long golden hair. Have you seen her?”

I barely finished speaking when I sensed her. Kale was already striding across the room to a closed door on the opposite side. Muffled voices could be heard from inside along with the sound of an acoustic guitar.

Kale burst through the door with me hot on his heels. The people inside barely looked up. They were too immersed in the party going on. This second room was smaller with a large mirror on one side and vanity space for rockers to get ready before a show. About a dozen people were crammed onto the one small couch and two easy chairs in the center. Others sat on the floor, passing a joint.

Jez was squeezed in on the couch. With a rolled up twenty in hand, she leaned over a tray of powder cut into thin white lines.

My jaw dropped. I blinked a few times, unable to believe what I was seeing. Kale didn’t share my hesitation. He surged forward, shoving through anyone in the way. He grabbed her arm, almost upsetting the tray, which was saved by the person next to her. Kale literally dragged her off the couch.

She was a mess. Her hair was unkempt, and makeup smears lined her red-rimmed eyes. She looked at me as if she couldn’t decide if I was real or not. Then her gaze traveled over Kale, and she swore.

“What the hell are you guys doing here?” She stumbled along beside Kale, trying to pull away but too fucked up to succeed.

“What does it look like? Dragging your drugged-up ass out of here.” I was fuming, but I was also scared. Never had I seen Jez in such rough shape.

“I’m not ready to leave.” She slapped at Kale, but it was a futile attempt. “Just go home and leave me alone. Please.”

“We’re not leaving without you.” Kale’s tone was hard, but his eyes gleamed with a softness I only saw when he looked at Jez. He was worried too.

Jez struggled with Kale as he dragged her from the room. Just the one person who was not entirely human bothered to get involved.