Page 6 of Revenge of the Blood Pack

Okay, so he didn’tsaybitchy, but his, “You’re not experienced with interrogating,” was code for, “Stop shoving people against walls and screaming at them until they cry and tell us useless information, because they don’t actually know anything about your pack members.” Which, alright, he has a point about. But part of me also wonders if him wanting space away from me has anything to do with my freak out in his arms this morning.

But who knows with that guy…?

The thing is it feels like Max wants me walking on a tightrope. Like we’re playing some kind of game. He wants me to follow the fucking Enforcer’s protocol when finding my pack, whereas I want to burn the world down if it helps me reach my people sooner.

So, basically, we have a difference of opinions on how this mission should be handled. But, hell, it’s better than how things were. When I was first captured by the Enforcers, I was little more than a prisoner. Slowly, they’d let me off my fucking “leash” and allowed Max and I to work together to explore leads about my pack while reminding me that if I slip up, I’ll be thrown in a deep, dark cell for the rest of my life, and they’ll just kill my pack members rather than try to gather them peacefully.

Assholes.But then the Enforcers, basically the top cops for supernatural, aren't exactly known for being likable.

So, when Max asked me to give him some space so he could gently ask the townsfolk questions, I’d done as he asked. No matter how much it upset me. Because I might be good at a lot of things, but interacting with people, especially humans, is not my strength.

And I want to save my people enough to put my pride aside.

I take another deep breath, inhaling the scents of greenery all around me. I wish I could close my eyes and see trees and rivers and sunshine instead of blood and death, that every time I relax, even for a minute, my ears aren’t filled with the sounds of screaming. But this is my cross to bear. One I deserve.

And then, out of the corner of my eye, I spot something dark. My spine stiffens, and I refuse to look at it. Refuse to acknowledge it. Even when it whispers. Even when it calls for me, promising me things that would only ever destroy me. No matter how much I want to look at it and just do as it asks.

“You’re investigating the strange shit, aren’t you?”

I whirl around, breathing hard. My hands curled into fists. How the hell the weird old woman snuck up on me without me smelling her is beyond me. But as I inhale slowly, breathing in the scents of herbs and fire, I know.

“You’re a witch.”

She cocks her head. Her eyes, almost entirely white, somehow seem to stare into my soul. “And you’re some mixed breed freak, aren’t you?”

My teeth grit together so hard the sound is audible. “Guilty as charged.”

“And yet you don’t seem to be crazy, foaming at the mouth, or filled with a desire for blood…”

“Well, I amoneof those things,” I tell her, narrowing my eyes.

To my surprise, she laughs, throwing back her long grey hair as she does so. “You must have a value if you’re working with the Enforcers… one that’s more useful than a clever mouth.”

“Yeah, I do have a use. And if you know I’m here with the Enforcer, and here about the strange shit, I’m betting you know something that might help us.” I try not to sound too sarcastic, but I can’t help it, it’s my nature.

“Perhaps.” She purrs the word like she’s a cat, but given all the short, pale hairs on her flowery dress and the scent of feline on her, I’m guessing she’s got at least a dozen of them. “But if I tell the Enforcer what I know, he’ll also learn things… things that Enforcers might not like knowing. Things that might cause problems for me. And yet, I don’t like the trouble that’s come to my town.”

I take a step closer to her, and those strange eyes of hers focus on me. At least I think they do. “Let me be frank. I’m not an Enforcer. I want information that might lead to people I care about. That’s it. I don’t care if you’re crafting love spells on the whole fire department and fucking them like rabbits every day, Ijust want my information. The guy in there doesn’t need to know anything else.” I gesture toward Max.

She studies me, then gives a nod. “Follow me.”

This is probably a bad idea, but worst-case scenario I end up dead. So, no real loss there.

She leads me across the street from the little diner and off the main road that runs through the shitty little town. We enter the dark woods, and the hairs on the back of my neck instantly stand on end. I freeze and look around carefully, feeling wary. Early morning light streams between branches and the typical flowers and plants are all around us. Everything looks normal, but I don’t think this feeling is because of the woman either. Something just feelswrongin these woods. It’s off in a way I can’t explain, but plan to figure out.

We keep going deeper into the woods and away from town, her walking with more energy than I would have imagined possible given her age. But then, witches have always been strange to me. Even my own mother.

My mother who I killed.

Fuck, focus.

Speaking over her shoulder, she says, “It started a few weeks ago. I felt it one night like a storm brewing, but the skies were clear. Eventually, I went to bed, and then a storm really did pick up. It woke me up. The wind was blowing. Clouds covered the moon, and my cats were going crazy. And then, everything grew quiet once more. But I knew it wasn’t over. I knew something bad had come to my little town.”

Damn it. Part of me wants all of this to mean I’ve closed in on one of my old pack members. But the other part of me just wants her to be crazy. Flashes, memories roll through my mind of those of us who were imprisoned by the Blood Mages alongside me. We were tortured. Experimented on.

We became… something else. Something wrong. Capable of magic as cruel and awful as the Blood Mages themselves. Magic born from dark magic.

The night we escaped, I was one of the last to be released. I’d been recently experimented on. My head was messed up with the drugs they’d forced through my body. My vision was spinning. It was like jumping off an OR table into absolute chaos. By the time I figured out what the hell had happened, my pack was gone. I’d tried to find them, but all I’d heard were stories. Stories of the awful things my remaining pack members were doing, blinded by the call of the dark magic woven within them.

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