The Darkest Kiss

We needed to get rid of her—fast.

I scrambled to my feet, then had to thrust my hand against the wall as dizziness hit. I shook my head to clear it, sending droplets of crimson scattering across the pristine whiteness, then spotted a laser on the floor and dove left to grab it. I wrapped my finger around the trigger, making the weapon hum, but I resisted the urge to fire. Kade was right behind the bakeneko, which meant I couldn’t take a shot. Not when the power of these things could shoot holes through concrete walls and still kill someone on the other side. Even if I moved around to the other side, it wouldn’t help. She’d sense the movement and shift to counter.

The bakeneko snarled and raised a paw for another swipe at Kade. I sighted on it and pressed the trigger. The blue beam shot out, but, as I’d feared, the bakeneko saw it and moved. The beam missed flesh, piercing the thick window beyond the two of them and disappearing into the gray day.

The creature roared—a sound thick with fury—then, surprisingly, she spun and leapt for the same window. I shot again, but the bitch was moving too fast and the shot did little more than singe hair from her back before shooting another hole through the glass, further weakening it.

Kade dove forward, trying to grab the creature’s tail, but there was so much blood on his hands that he couldn’t get a grip.

The creature hit the window headfirst. The glass shattered, the thick shards glittering as they followed the creature out into the chill afternoon.

“Shit,” Kade said, ru

I quickly joined him. My stomach rebelled instantly at the drop, but I shoved the old fear away and concentrated on our quarry. The big cat was tumbling tail over head toward the concrete, but at the last possible minute seemed to find her balance and landed on all fours. We were five floors up, but the damn bitch didn’t even seem to notice.

In fact, she didn’t even appear to be limping as she ran up the street, her presence causing squeals of panic as people scattered to get out of her way. I raised the laser but didn’t dare take a shot—the bakeneko was moving so fast there was no guarantee I’d get her. But I sure as hell would get someone down there.

“Well, at least we know how she got out of James’s office.” I slapped the laser against Kade’s chest, then scrambled up onto the sill. “I have the tracker on. Follow me in the car.”

“I didn’t think you could fly—”

“I can’t,” I snapped. “At least, not very well. But not very well might just make the difference here. Go.”

He went, though his expression very much suggested he expected to find me splattered on the pavement when he got down there.

I took a deep breath, then reached for the magic deep in my soul, holding the gull shape in my mind and feeling the power of it surge through my limbs, twisting and changing my shape.

In gull shape once more, I spread my wings, then closed my eyes and jumped. For a moment the sensation of falling was so overwhelming that panic surged, then I remembered the need to actually fly and began to pump my wings. Felt the surge of air rushing past my feathers and the sensation of falling ended abruptly.

I opened my eyes and saw the pavement sweep by inches from my belly. Relief slithered through me, though the reality was that smashing against the pavement had been a close thing, and only emphasized the need to go back to Henry and practice this flying thing a whole lot more.

I swept upward, gaining height so I could see past the buildings and traffic, and spotted the bakeneko in the distance. She was little more than a blur of black, her presence more notable through the wave of pedestrians that were scrambling to get out of her way. She raced around a corner, moving away from Lygon but toward Rathdown Street, then swung left and kept on ru

I followed, wondering where the hell she was going and hoping like hell she didn’t go too far. The muscles in my wings and chest were begi

I couldn’t see Kade’s car, but he might have been caught in traffic. Not all Directorate cars had sirens, which made dashing through red lights something of a hazard.

I just had to hope that he was near. That he was following the tracker okay. I didn’t want to face this thing alone.

It raced on, a black blur that seemingly felt no weariness. Shops and apartments gave way to a mix of cafés, small houses, and warehouses. Rathdown Street came to a junction and, for the first time, the bakeneko paused, nose in the air. Undoubtedly tasting the breeze for any sign of followers. I hoped I was already high enough up to avoid being scented, because I just didn’t have the energy to climb any farther.

Her form began to shimmer, shift, until a tall, blonde woman stood in place of the black cat. She hitched the torn shoulder of her bloodied dress back into place then more shimmering took place, and the dress itself changed, until it was no longer torn or bloodied. Which meant it was part of the magic rather than a reality. Interesting.

Her shoes had disappeared when she’d shifted the shape of her dress, and she was now barefoot as she padded across the road. She walked quickly through the park, skirting a wooden fence before moving into the parking lot of what looked to be an abandoned warehouse. I circled around to watch, though the effort of holding my wings still enough to glide made my limbs tremble.

The bakeneko raised a fist and casually broke down the door, then disappeared inside. I flew around the perimeter, looking for other possible exits. There were plenty of windows and doors in the place, but after five minutes of circling, there was no further sign of her. Maybe she intended to hole up here—she had no reason to run any farther, after all, because she thought she was safe. Although we weren’t dealing with anything that remotely thought the way a human did, so who knew what it was actually intending?

I continued to circle, watching the exit points for any sign of movement, but the building remained silent. A few minutes later, I saw a blue Ford pull up. Kade exited and looked up at the sky.

I swung around and headed toward him, shifting shape as I neared the ground. It took several stumbling steps to gain any sort of balance, and then it only happened because Kade grabbed my arm and held me upright.

“God, you’re trembling.”

“Yeah, flying really isn’t my style.” I shook my limbs in an effort to ease the ache. It didn’t actually help much. “The bakeneko has holed up inside the warehouse.”

Kade’s gaze went past me, and he frowned. “There’s lots of exit points. If we go in, she can escape very easily.”

“Yeah.” I touched my ear lightly. “Riley to Directorate.”

“We’ve been listening,” Jack said. “I’ve got two bird-shifters on the way. They’ll watch the outside while you two go in.”

“ETA?”

He paused, then said, “Two minutes. Iktar will be there in five.”

“Tell him to take the main front entrance. We’re going in through the parking lot.” I paused, then added, “And tell him to be careful. This thing is big and bad.”

“Then you be careful, too.”

“You know me. I’m always careful.”

His disbelieving snort rang in my ears.

I hesitated, then asked, “No word from the hospital?”

“None yet, I’m afraid.”

Damn. The knot in my stomach tightened a little bit more, but I did my best to push the worry aside. I had a killer to catch, and if I didn’t dedicate all my attention to it, I might just end up in hospital right alongside Liander.

That would really make Rhoan’s day complete.

“So we’re going in?” Kade asked.

“We have no choice.”

He handed me a laser, then pulled the other one free from the waist of his pants. A dangerous place to shove it, I would have thought. “And help is coming?”