“That?” I asked. “Not who?”
He shook his head. “Definitely not a who. Where did you hear that word?”
“Whoever has Willow told her they are looking forward to Asier’s arrival. If Asier isn’t a who, then what is it?”
“You spoke to her? How?” His eyes narrowed in suspicion and I knew I was losing him.
“Tracing spell. Now, are you going to tell me what I need to know?”
He ran a hand through his thick dark hair, taking a moment to collect himself. Then he stared me in the eye and said, “Asier is a day that comes around every four years. Paranormals who practice the old ways have a celebration and…” He grimaced and glanced away.
“Razor,” I said, dread crawling up my spine. “And what?”
“Fuck.” He turned and faced me. “We need to get your friend the hell out of there.”
“Friends,” I corrected, standing up, ready to fly into action. Clenching my fists, I hovered over him. “What exactly is it you’re not telling me?”
“Your friends are in danger—”
“No shit, jackass. I got that part.”
He pressed his lips into a thin line of impatience. “As I was trying to say, your friends are in danger of being used as an offering.”
“To what? The gods?” I asked, horrified.
“Yes. Over the past couple of decades, a group of paranormals have taken to performing rituals from the ancient text. They believe that by sacrificing sacred blood to the earth they will become more powerful.”
“And this happens on Asier?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly qualifies as ancient blood?”
His face turned ashen white as he forced out, “Fae blood.”
10
I stood up so quickly the force of my movement flipped the chair over. Link let out a yelp and scrambled forward. “What paranormals? Who exactly are we talking about here?”
Razor shook his head. “It’s unclear.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I paced up and down one of the aisles. “Don’t you understand? My best friend is being held by whoever these sick bastards are, and if I don’t find her, that could be her fate.”
“I do understand,” he said, his expression full of a strange mix of sympathy and anger. “All too well.”
I paused and stared at him. His jaw was lifted, shoulders tense, and one fist was clutching a pen. But his dark eyes, they were haunted. Whatever this Asier business was, he’d seen it before. “Tell me everything you know.”
Instead of answering, he spun his chair around and his fingers flew over the keyboard. Within moments, a file flashed on the screen. The name at the top read Amber Frost. He froze for a moment as he stared at the picture of the beautiful young woman associated with the report. She had long blond hair, piercing gray eyes, full red lips, and that same ethereal quality that both Willow and Tal possessed.
“She’s a fae,” I said. It wasn’t a question.
“Was a fae.” He swallowed. “She went missing just over four years ago.”
“You knew her.” Again, it wasn’t a question. The anguish in his tone and body language said it all. Whoever this woman was to him, she’d been important and he still hadn’t recovered from her disappearance.
He tore his gaze from the computer screen and turned cold, hate-filled eyes on me. “She was their last sacrifice.”
His words weren’t a surprise to me. Why else would he be showing me her file? “Who are they, Razor?”
“I don’t fucking know.” He jabbed his finger on the mouse. The printer roared to life, spitting out the record he’d pulled up for me.
“Vampires? Shifters? Witches?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Probably not witches. As far as vampires or shifters go, look for yourself. The report is right there.”
I moved back to the printer, wondering why he didn’t just tell me what he knew. But the minute I laid eyes on the paper, I understood. He didn’t have the answer. Not a definitive one. No one did. The report indicated Amber had been drained of her blood. That was a clear indication vampires had been involved. But she’d also been ripped to shreds as if she’d been offered to a feral pack of wolves. My stomach turned, and I shook my head, forcing the image of Willow suffering the same fate from my mind.
In all my years as a vampire hunter, I’d never known one vamp that was the slightest bit interested in carnage. They were singularly focused on blood. It was their food, their life force, and also part of their sexual gratification. It was also their preferred way to harm someone. The only exception was when a vampire went up against a fae who regularly drank liquid sunshine, a drug that made their blood taste bad to vampires. The vamps wouldn’t drink from them. They were far more likely to break the fae’s neck, ending the altercation quickly. Shifters were the ones known for bodily destruction when engaging in a death match.
Unless destroying a fae was part of the ritual, I didn’t see vampires having any part of it. I looked up from the sheet, rage coiling in my gut. “There were never any leads?”
“Just one. A lone shifter by the name of Ezan.”
I raised my eyebrows. “No pack?”
“Nope. He was ostracized by the Blue Bayou pack. In fact, they helped me hunt him down.” Razor’s entire body stiffened with the memory, and I had the impression I was watching a man who was right back in that moment, ready to strike. The glazed look in his eyes was a dead giveaway. Then his body started to vibrate, and he let out a piercing howl.
I wasn’t afraid of him, but I took a step back, putting a bit more distance between us. I hadn’t been sure if he was a witch or shifter; there was no way to tell inside the Void building. The howl set the record straight. He was a definitely a shifter and would have better than average combat skills. I was confident in my own abilities, but if he snapped out of reality, I didn’t want to have to test them out on a man who should be an ally. Wanting to keep him talking, I lowered my voice and in a steady tone asked, “Did you get anything out of him? Any known associates?”
His dark eyes pierced me as his muscles flexed.
“Keep it together Razor. I’m not your enemy.”
His lips curled into a snarl, but then he seemed to come back to himself because he uncurled his fists and his expression turned blank. “We never identified his associates. I was under the impression they all perished in a warehouse fire. Their remains were unidentifiable.”
“Good goddess,” I whispered. “Brutal.”
“Not brutal enough,” he said as pain flashed over his features again. “After what they did to Amber, they deserved to burn.”
“And what happened to Ezan?”
“I ended him.” Razor turned back to his computer and shut it down. “Made him suffer just like Amber.”
In other words, he’d torn him apart and left him in pieces. “Any intel?”
The shifter shook his head slowly. “Amber was already dead, and I was too far gone to care in that moment.” His haunted eyes met mine. “After learning about Willow Rhoswen’s abduction, it’s my only regret.”
I sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it out. My only lead on Asier was one dead shifter. But he did have ties to the Blue Bayou pack. They might know something about their former member and his associates. It was only a tiny thread, but at least it was something.
“One last question,” I said.
He nodded, his shoulders hunched and his face haggard as if exhaustion had set in.
“Ezan was a shifter, but you said you didn’t know if the ones involved in Asier were shifters or vampires. Is there a reason to believe vampires could be involved?”