Blood for blood Read online

  “As you should. Now, I have a very busy day ahead of me, Miss Greenstone, it has been a pleasure to meet you. I may see you before I leave, but I won't be here much longer.”

  He gave her that big, teeth filled smile, and she smiled back. Perhaps he was a nice guy under it all, but she didn’t need to be friendly with him anymore. She needed to get the fuck out of this room. She stood and bowed, leaving in a hurry.

  Dameon was sitting in the waiting room, dressed in his formal attire as well, he stood as she approached and wrapped his arms around her. “I was so worried about you,” he whispered into her ear, “Are you ok?”

  “Yeah,” he let her go and looked at her, “A bit bruised and feeling sorry for myself, but I’m ok. Hey… after you’ve seen Mr Baxtor, want to meet me outside? I want to go down to where Karl died…”

  Dameon nodded and squeezed her shoulder, she smiled gratefully at him and left the office. Lupa walked down the hall, stopping at the elevator… she supposed Dameon would be a while… she’d have a little time to duck down…

  ⃝

  Lupa sat at the computer in the Library, and searched Sledge’s mother’s name. Valentine Hellion got no hits, just as Lupa had expected. And the Hellion’s were all reported to still be in the cities up north. She typed in his father’s name, Maxwell Jaxson. Bingo.

  The Jaxson’s had lived in Black City for three generations, even before it was called Black City, and were recorded for the magickal blood in their veins. None had successfully joined The Organization, but Lupa couldn’t find if it was by choice or because their magick was too weak. Further back Sledge had a relative who had come from the mountain country deeper inland, a part of one of the salbatici families so it would seem.

  Lupa sat back and tapped her pen on the desk. Interesting. Salbatici families were very secretive, they did let The Organization know they had magick, unlike Hammer’s people, but none of them ever got tested to join The Organization. They lived together out of the cities and kept to themselves. But as far as Lupa could find, there wasn’t many of his bloodline left… at least not on record.

  She sighed and exited the search page, getting up and heading back for the elevator. Dameon would be finished up soon, she’d go have a smoke and wait for him outside.

  ⃝

  Dameon sat down next to Lupa on the bench outside. He lit a smoke and sighed. “Guess Darwin told you about the whole thing?”

  Lupa nodded, rubbing her bare arms as the sun disappeared behind the clouds. “It’s pretty fucked up,” she said, “I can’t believe it really… Brianna’s dad must be one hell of a fuckhead.”

  Dameon rubbed his thumb along his chin, then looked over at Lupa. “You go down and see Grey?”

  “Hell no. I’m not going to see him ever again. Except at his execution. I want to be there for that.”

  “That happening, is it?”

  Lupa frowned. Why wouldn’t it happen? Grey had plotted against The Organization, he had kidnapped and attacked Lupa, he’d passed on information to outsiders, and he had conspired with wolfbloods… Any one of them on their own he could have been executed for, let alone altogether…

  “I don’t know, but I would think so…”

  Dameon nodded, taking off his formal jacket and placing it around Lupa’s shoulders. She studied him closely, he had scratch marks on his neck and a bruise on his cheek. His knuckles were scabbed and red.

  “We had one awesome fight though,” she said softly, smiling a little.

  “That we did, Little Red, want me to take you to the dead nest then? You can tell me about Brianna and Grey on the way?”

  Lupa nodded and stood up, following Dameon to his van. Once seated she told him quickly about her capture, and how she decided to take Gift and hope for the best. He smiled proudly at her when she told him about how she had hit Grey with her power, how she had killed Brianna and fought the men advancing on her.

  Dameon drove in silence for a few minutes. “I was really worried about you. I felt our connection break just after I heard you in my head… and I couldn’t find you,” he said finally, “I was terrified that something had got to you and killed you, I thought… I thought more must have come… but then we couldn’t find you anywhere… couldn’t see or sense anymore wolfbloods… I aint never been so crazed. Slasher actually slapped me for carrying on.” He glanced over at her, and laughed. Lupa smiling at him. “I’m glad Sledge found you, I might not like the guy, but he’s looked out for you a couple of times now. And anyone who looks after my Hunter has got to be alright.”

  Dameon pulled the car over to a demolished building. Lupa hadn’t seen it since… she didn’t realise how much she had fucked the place up. They got out and stood near the rubble. Lupa felt a tear slide down her face as Dameon put his arm around her.

  Oh Karl… I’m so sorry…

  Lupa closed her eyes and leaned into Dameon. Her heart aching, tears escaping out from her closed lids. She’d got them. Every last one of those fuckers involved in Karl dying that fucked up night. But he was still gone. And she knew whilst he might be proud that she had done this, she would never fucking see him again. And now that it was done… she felt like another piece of him was gone.

  ⃝

  Slasher was waiting next to Lupa’s car as Dameon pulled over. He looked at Lupa but didn’t turn the engine off. “Guess you guys have some shit to talk about?”

  Lupa sighed, “Yeah… I guess so. I’ll call you tomorrow?”

  Dameon nodded and gave Lupa’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. She smiled anxiously at him, taking his jacket off and laying in on the seat as she got out. Lupa walked over to Slasher, the woman who had raised her most of her life...

  “Hey…”

  Slasher wrapped her arms around her, drawing her close, holding her the way she had held her when Karl… was gone. Lupa wrapped her arms around her almost mother’s waist, burying her face in her neck.

  “Oh my darling, I was so worried about you…” Slasher pulled away and searched Lupa’s face. “Are you ok?”

  “I will be.”

  Slasher kissed Lupa’s forehead and held her hand. “You did so well, Little Red. I’m so proud of you. When Dameon told me your connection broke… my heart started breaking. I was so… but you are ok. And you managed to find out… everything. How are you dealing with it all? I know you and Grey were friends…”

  “Pissed off. But… ok. He lied very well. I thought… it doesn’t matter. He’s locked up now. And he’ll be executed… won't he?”

  Slasher leaned back against Lupa’s car. “I don’t know. His family are very influential. There’s a chance he might get away with a jail sentence. I fucking hope not, not after what he’s done… but there is a chance. I hear they are already… trying to sway things their way.”

  Fuck. The family he hadn’t wanted to talk about. Lupa wondered what they were like… no. She wasn’t going to go down that fucking road. “Have the wolfbloods said anything?”

  “A little, we promised them leniency if they co-operated. All we have found out is that Brianna’s father hired them to get rid of me and whomever else they could. They weren’t expecting Hammer to be the one who informed us, they thought they had a few more days to set up, but once they found out we were coming they split the nest up, a half of them inside, the rest spread out to await the word. As far as I can tell, Grey was supposed to have gotten rid of Fair Light so he could be a part of the Protectors on watch, when he couldn’t, Brianna tried to convince two Protectors to let her and Shane take their place, claiming she needed the cash. They initially agreed, but then came anyway, and that’s where things… fucked up for them.”

  Lupa lit a smoke. So it had been since then that Brianna had started losing her shit. Shane had been… “What about Shane?”

  “He claims to have no idea about what was going on. Grey doesn’t know whether he was involved or not as he only dealt with Brianna… he’s being detained for now. I think Mr Baxtor will be questioning him later today.” />
  Lupa nodded. What a fucking mess. But they seemed to have it all under control. Lupa felt relieved. It was done. It was over. Or… “No other wolfbloods then?”

  “There’s always other wolfbloods, Little Red, but the other’s that were coming to attack us that night, some of them were from across the river. Thankfully Hammer’s men followed the right group, fuck knows where the others went. Who knows what would have happened to… all of us, had they followed a different pack…”

  Slasher stroked Lupa’s face gently, inspecting her lip and the covered up bruise. “Things could have been a lot worse, my child,” Slasher said, tears filling her eyes, “I don’t know what I would have done if anything happened to you…”

  Lupa smiled. She barely ever called her child anymore. She kissed her adoptive mothers cheek, and lay her head against her chest. The only mother she ever needed.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “All things considered…”

  Lupa stepped out of the shower and headed into her bedroom, drying herself off gently. She put on her black crochet dress and a thick wool cardigan. Gingerly she pulled her soft sneakers on her sore feet. She grabbed a beer from the fridge and checked her phone, shit. She had missed a call from Sledge. Pressing the call button she waited for him to answer.

  “Hey there, witchy girl, I dun waitin’ for you outside.”

  “Sorry, was in the shower, heading down now.” She took a long drink of her practically full beer and grabbed her bag, heading down to meet Sledge. He was leaning against his car smoking. “Hey, Lio, got some news for you.”

  Sledge grunted and opened the door for her, then hopped in the car and started it.

  “Ok, I couldn’t find anything more on your mother, like I suspected, and as far as the records show, all Hellion’s are still up north. But your father’s family was easy enough to find. The Jaxson’s come from a salbatici line, there isn’t much on record for them still being around, but that doesn’t really mean much, after all, you’re not in there. Your grandparents passed away about fifteen years ago, and your dad had a brother but he disappeared after the wolfbloods attacked, presumed dead also. Your Grandfather had four siblings, but I couldn’t find anything that had happened to them, no record of them having children, getting married or any death certificates.”

  “What’s a salbatici line?”

  “Travelers, wanderers, wild… people who don’t stay anywhere for long.”

  Sledge nodded and rubbed his chin. “So I dun got family somewhere?”

  “Maybe. There’s few scattered though out the cities who have the name, but I don’t know who they are related to exactly, there wasn’t any parents listed and such, but I would say if there’s any that are still aware of their bloodlines, they’d be in the mountains.”

  Sledge seemed to think about the information, his brow furrowed. Lupa let him digest it, knowing it was probably strange for him to find out more about his family. Fuck, she didn’t really know, she didn’t know anything about hers and didn’t want to, but she could guess it would be strange…

  “Thank you, Lupa, you dun somethin’… you done somethin’ for me I never thought I’d be knowin’.”

  Lupa smiled and blushed a little. It wasn’t a big deal to her, but it must have been to him. “I’m glad I could help.”

  They spent the rest of the trip in silence, Lupa felt comfortable with it too. Sledge pulled the car around the back and opened the car door for her. She felt nervous, scared of what Hammer might tell her she owed him. Sledge opened the back door and let her go in, but not following, she turned to look at him, wanting to say something…

  “I seein’ you later. Be waitin’ here.”

  He smiled reassuringly at her and closed the door, she took a deep breath and turned back around, Chui standing in front of her with a look of disgust on her face.

  “My father wants you to come this way,” Chui said with a vicious smile.

  Ah shit. Chui was Hammer’s daughter? No wonder she didn’t like the way he’d been stroking her shoulder that night… Lupa shook her head, whatever. It didn’t make any difference to her. She followed the girl down the hall and to one of the… dammit, changing rooms. A different one from last time, but practically the same layout except pale blue.

  “Strip. Give me your bag.”

  Lupa sighed and handed her bag over, stepping behind the changing screen and taking her clothes off. She stepped back out and took the silk robe that Chui was holding out. Chui looked her up and down, no doubt enjoying the bruises on her body.

  “Go through there. Here’s your bag.” Lupa took it and pulled the robe over her, and walked over to the door.

  “Ah, my wolf witch has arrived,” Hammer was smiling, sitting on one of those long couches he seemed to like in his rooms, “Please, come and join me, you look like you are marked by the fights you have endured this past day, I wish not to make you any more uncomfortable than you must already be.” Lupa sat next to him, accepting the smoke he held out for her. “You fought marvellously, beautiful witch, and Sledge tells me you tried Gift again whilst being held by some… unsavoury characters.”

  Lupa raised an eyebrow at him; he was one to talk. “Yeah, I did. And it really fucking helped. I’ve never felt so… fast.”

  “That is just wonderful to hear, does that mean you would be willing to try it with me so that we may discover if you can see me with all that power?”

  Lupa took a long draw from her smoke, why the fuck not? She was already in this deep. And she didn’t hate the idea of trying it again… “Ok, but maybe not for a while. My body probably can't take it just yet,” she laughed nervously, hoping he wouldn’t demand she try it now.

  “Of course, Little Red wolf witch, I would not dream of asking that of you right now. You have fought hard, and I would surely enjoy your company again, despite the fact we are no longer engaged in a common goal any longer…”

  Right. This must be it. Time to drop it on her. “Yeah… so… I guess you want to let me know what I owe you now?”

  “On the contrary, I have much more… pleasurable affairs for us to ponder this evening.”

  Hammer gently touched her face, pulling it to him as he kissed her gently. Lupa tried to not want to kiss him back, but she did. She wanted to more than anything right now. What the fuck was wrong with her? She didn’t care, she let her hands slide underneath his robe, feeling his warm skin, wanting him, needing him to drown out the dark thoughts in her head.

  ⃝

  Sledge stood staring at his feet as Lupa hopped out of his car. “Thinkin’ I might seein’ you again?” he asked, still not looking at her.

  “Of course, I would really like that.”

  She closed the car door and stood in front of him, wondering if… wondering how she should tell him she wanted to stay friends. Wanted to discover… Lupa didn’t really know what. But he was the only other wolfblood and witch hybrid she had heard of, let alone met. There had to be something. Sure, she’d still have to see Hammer again, which meant she would probably see him, but she…

  “A’right… I be callin’ you up and we can catch up?”

  Lupa looked up at him, trying to read him. But his face was blank and his eyes hidden by the shadows of the night. She sighed, she guessed that would have to do. It’s what she was trying to think of, and that was good enough right now. She smiled at him nodding and went to cross the road, but Sledge grabbed her and pulled her to him, kissing her quickly and then letting her go again.

  She stood there stunned for a moment. Sledge just walked around the car and jumped in, not looking in her direction as he started it and drove off. Lupa was left standing on the road watching him drive away, butterflies in her stomach. Well, fuck… she shook her head and smiled, she sure couldn’t say her life wasn’t interesting.

 

 

  Archive.