Page 41 of Expose Me

“We have no choice.” I gave him a tight smile.

“Three cases of VitaBrew and a sachet of viloss dust.” The witch made her demands and turned to leave. “Wake me up when you have my payment.”

Viloss dust was made from drying and grinding up a flower that grew in the fae realm. It was a weed-like plant there, completely innocuous—but to all other species, it was a powerful hallucinogenic. It was outlawed in most House territories, but this was No Man’s Land, and you could buy the stuff at the nearest market. Naturally, I had several sachets in my secret storage spot.

I summoned the three cases of VitaBrew one by one and set them on the dining table, followed by the palm-sized sachet of viloss dust. It was enough to get at least a dozen bear shifters off their faces—three times over.

“I have it right here,” I said, stopping the witch halfway to the door. She turned with a slight frown, then zeroed in on the viloss dust and came back over with a bit more enthusiasm in her step.

Immediately, she held her hands out and started muttering the spell under her breath. She was breathing hard a few minutes later, but a glowing bowl of magic had appeared in her arms, swirling in rhythm with her words.

“The sacrifice,” she said with a quick glance at me before refocusing on her spell.

I grabbed my fighting knife from its sheath and quickly sliced a deep cut in my forearm. Zey made a sound of alarm and went to reach for me, but I fixed him with a glare and held my bleeding arm over the magical bowl. I waited for the witch to nod that it was enough before removing it.

Mark surprised me by gripping my wrist and licking the gash in my arm, his saliva healing the cut. Before I could thank him, the old witch clapped her hands together and a sound much louder than a regular clap reverberated through the apartment. All witches performed spells differently, but this was the first time I’d seen this particular technique. It was like she had collapsed the bowl of magic and my blood sacrifice in on itself. Her eyes glowed as she separated her hands, throwing her arms out wide.

A portal appeared before us, magic spinning intensely around a hole in the air that showed a quiet, cobbled street and what looked like a park at the end of it.

The old witch stepped around us, grabbing her payment and completely disinterested in what happened from here on out.

With a chorus of thank-yous and a promise to never show my face at their door again—unless Iwasn’tbeing hunted by every House on the planet—we stepped through the portal.

Being in any House’s territory for any amount of time was not a good idea. Most members of Sea and Serpentine had some kind of affinity for water or were water-based supes (like mermaids), so their territory was pretty much all of the large bodies of water on the planet. But they also kept a small section of land where they had their House headquarters and could deal with business on dry ground. Unfortunately, the Onuei was somewhere within this territory.

It was early afternoon in Macapá, and the strong sun was punishing. The portal disappeared quickly, and we ducked into the shade of a nearby building. The old witch seemed to have dumped us on the outskirts of town, thankfully. It was quiet, and our arrival had gone unnoticed.

Zey pulled out the Onuei and handed it over before I could even ask for it. He wouldn’t meet my gaze.

Had I insulted him somehow? Or did he feel weird? I wasn’t sure if he felt awkward—if it was even something they had where he was from—but I was probably feeling awkward enough for the both of us.

I was no stranger to hookups, one-night stands, even the occasional relationship, but this morning after felt different somehow. Maybe it was because he was a totally different species, maybe because we still had to work closely together for the unforeseeable future. Maybe it was because I wanted to do it again, somewhere we weren’t likely to get interrupted.

Whatever! I didn’t have time for this.

I closed my eyes and let my power do what it did best. We were closer to the second Onuei now, and I had the first one to guide me in what I was looking for. The ribbons in my mind unfurled immediately, snapping in my mind’s eye as they rushed towards their target. They were pulling me towards the busiest part of town—right on the edge of the water.

Zey took my free hand, his warm fingers wrapping around mine. I gasped and gripped onto him as a rush of power surged through me. A thinner, more fragile ribbon appeared, tugging me gently in the direction of the third Onuei. But I focused on the thick, strong one leading me to ...

“Fuck,” I breathed, opening my eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Zey finally looked at me, concern clear in his gaze. His hand tightened around mine.

“I know exactly where the second Onuei is,” I said. He started caressing the back of my hand gently with his thumb. I was done seeking; I didn’t need to touch him to lock onto what I was trying to find anymore, but left my hand in his. It felt nice to have the connection after that weirdness.

Zey didn’t badger me to tell him more or demand we get moving immediately like he usually did. He just stood there, looking at me, touching me, waiting patiently.

I didn’t want to tell him what I was about to tell him. I didn’t want to disappoint him. I had no idea why I gave a shit when barely twenty-four hours ago I’d been ready to fry his ass and leave him at the dump with all the other Vuulectians.

“I can clearly see where it is, down to the specific corner of a specific room, and I know exactly how to get there but ...” I cringed. “I don’t see how we’re going to be able to get past the fence, let alone into the building.”

“Where is it, Sky?” he asked, serious but missing the derisive scowl I’d come to expect from him whenever he was told something he didn’t like.

“The Onuei is in the headquarters of the House of Sea and Serpentine.”

Chapter13

The Houses had a long-standing truce established after the Great Sacrifice. In theory—and to be fair, most of the time in practice too—they worked together to govern the world and the melting pot of supernatural species that the Earth now was. But anyone who thought the Houses didn’t have friction was a fool.

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