“Naughty!” Melanie laughed. She held up the beer can but frowned before turning it upside down and shaking it. “Oh no!”

“You are so drunk!” Ree cackled.

“Not drunk enough.” Melanie threw the empty can and pretended to be shocked when it hit the porch in front of the darklings. “Oh my gosh. My bad!” She covered her mouth and giggled.

One of the darklings leaned down and picked up the can before leering at Melanie and Ree. “Looks like you two had a fun night.”

“The bestest!” Ree shook her head so her hair fell over her shoulders and she smiled up at the men. She had never tried to be coy, but she had a feeling it wasn’t going to take much to entice the goons.

“Why let it end? I think we’ve got some drinks.” The larger one sat down on the edge of the porch and patted a spot next to him.

“Mom says we aren’t supposed to talk to strangers.” Melanie giggled.

“What kind of drinks?” Ree hollered.

“Oh, a bunch of different kinds. Why don’t you come up here and pick something out.” The big darkling leaned forward and gave a nasty grin. Ree could see the red welts on his neck and wrist where he had recently been bitten.

“I don’t know. Your friend doesn’t look like he’s much fun.” Melanie pointed at the other darkling, who was leaning against the house as if bored. He looked at Melanie and smiled. Ree traced the collar of her shirt with her fingers and winked at the thin darkling. She felt his eyes run over her body and his lustful response. It disgusted her, but she needed them distracted. Walking forward, she swayed her hips as much as possible and licked her lips.

“I think he looks like fun.” Ree stepped onto the bottom step.

“Looks like you found a friend.” The other darkling laughed loudly and turned toward his accomplice.

The thin darkling stepped into the light and smiled down at Ree. He was missing a bottom tooth and smelled like a sewer. He grabbed Ree’s hand and pulled her close to him. She giggled and squirmed when he leaned his head closer and sniffed.

“You smell like sex.” He didn’t let go of her hand but looked down at her with a new intensity.

Ree gasped, partly in an honest response and partly because she needed to keep up the charade. She pretended to try to pull out of his grasp but he held tight. He leaned down close to her face, and she tried to not gag at his terrible breath.

“That would be okay with me. If you didn’t also smell like a godling.” He tried to throw her against the wall, but she held on to his arm.

“That’s because I am one.” Ree deftly freed the dagger strapped under her shirt and held it to his neck.

“This didn’t go quite like we hoped.” Melanie was standing over the other darkling, who was unconscious and drooling on the dirty floor boards.

The darkling hissed at Ree and tried to break her hold. She pushed him against the house so no one would be able to see her knife from the street. Weylin ran toward them, his pack strap clutched in his hand so it wouldn’t make any noise. He jumped onto the porch and looked at the two darklings.

“Better get them out of here.” He ducked through the front door without another word.

“Let’s go.” Ree pushed the darkling toward the street. He turned to fight her, his eyes crazed.

“What is he doing?” He fought Ree with all of his might and she had a hard time not stabbing him with her knife.

“Quit it. Or you’ll die too.”

“What do you think he’s doing?” Melanie hefted the unconscious darkling onto her shoulders and glared at the one Ree was holding on to.

“My wife. My wife is in there.” His voice was frantic and his eyes had turned to the angry black a darkling wore when ready to attack.

Chapter Nineteen

“There are no humans in there.” Ree said. For a moment she felt sorry for the disgusting creature in her arms as she fought him down the steps.

“She’s a Dark One! You’re trying to kill my wife!”

Ree’s heart stopped and she looked at Melanie. Her friends’ face was a frozen mask of horror, matching the cold sensation in Ree’s stomach. Weylin barreled out of the door, grabbed the guy Ree was fighting, and helped drag him away. They pulled the incensed man down the road and into the shadow of the alley. Paden was only a few seconds behind them. Blood was splattered on his shirt and his face was grim. As soon as he cleared the entrance to the alley, the house exploded. Dust, debris, and smoke filled the street. Weylin let go of the darkling and ducked back out to make sure all of the Dark Ones were destroyed.

The darkling howled in fury and fought free of Ree’s grip. He tried to run out into the alley, but Paden caught hold of his shirt and threw him to the ground. “What is his problem?”

“His wife was a Dark One.” Melanie looked down at the darkling starting to stir by her feet.

“Oh, shit.” Paden looked at Ree, his eyes a little wide.

“Let me go to her!” The darkling pulled himself up.

“It’s done.” Weylin walked into the alley and covered his ears when the darkling howled in pain. “Dude, you were hitting on teenage girls. It can’t be that serious.”

“I was getting her dinner.” The darkling snarled and tried to run at Weylin. “You killed her. You killed my wife.”

“No, I didn’t. Someone else did that a while ago.” Weylin grabbed the guys’ arms and penned him to the wall. In the distance, another explosion sounded, and their group looked at one another. They needed to get back to the boat before the place was crawling with cops.

“You have a choice.” Paden looked at the darkling over Weylin’s shoulder. You can let Ree take your taint away, or we end this all now. We don’t have time to fight.”

“Don’t touch me. We chose this! This was our way out.” The madman fought harder and managed to pull one of the knives out of the sheath of Weylin’s waist. He stabbed Weylin in the gut and tried to slash at his neck, but Weylin reacted quickly. Using both hands, he grabbed the darklings’ head and snapped his neck.

“Weylin!” Melanie rushed over and pulled his shirt up. The wound was puckered and angry, but starting to heal. Paden walked over and placed his hand over the red slash for just a moment.

“We’ve got to go. I can hear the sirens.” Paden nodded his head at Weylin and turned to look at Ree. She let her gaze fall on the dead darkling and felt hollow inside. She looked at the larger darkling that had finally woken up.

“It’s your turn to decide.” Ree looked down into his eyes and knew the moment he made his decision. As he launched himself from the pavement, Ree raised her hand and sent him careening into the wall. The crunching sound of his skull meeting brick made Ree angry. Angry she had been put in a position to hear it. Angry she had been put in a position to cause it. Turning on her heel, she sprinted out of the alley and toward the boat. She didn’t want to think about it anymore. She just wanted to get out of that alley and make sure her friends were all safe. The soft sounds of her friends’ feet following closely behind her was reassuring.

Paden slid next to her and laced his fingers with hers as they ran. He was offering the only assurance he could, and Ree was willing to take it. She felt the other group of her friends nearing them as they ran. Eventually, she caught sight of Roland as he slipped into their group. When they neared the edge of the city Ree slowed down to a walk.

“I think we should hit one more.” She squeezed Paden’s hand, because she knew it was going to bother him.

“The city is crawling with cops. And very likely gods now too.” Paden looked down at Ree, his eyes serious.

“The cops will be paying attention to the two houses we already destroyed and the gods will be waiting for us to run back to the island.” Ree stopped and looked at all of them. “We hit one more house. I’m tired of running. I’m ready for a little payback.”

“Ree, this is dangerous.” Roland stood behind Paden, his eyes intense. “There are a lot of things that could go wrong.”

“It’s all dangerous. There are always things that could go wrong.” Ree narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s time to start working toward ending all of this. I’m not going to run away or hide behind you guys. Let’s take them out while we can.”

“She’s right.” Melanie moved so she was standing behind Ree. “Even if we win and kill Tristan, we’re going to have to clean up all of the leftover Dark Ones anyways. Might as well take them out now so we don’t have to worry about them later.”

Ree kept her face expressionless and debated the merits of having Melanie side with her. On one hand it was nice to have someone backing her up, and on the other, it was kind of worrisome that it was the girl out for blood. Paden seemed to know what she was thinking because he just raised an eyebrow and looked at her.

“Look. It’s the right thing to do. The Dark Ones are sitting ducks right now.” Ree put her hands on her hips.

“I’m sure they know, Ree.” Paden glared at her. “They’re safe because they know we don’t want to draw attention to them or ourselves. Especially with the cops looking for us everywhere.”

“And we just created a giant distraction. They won’t be expecting us.” Ree wasn’t about to back down. If there was one thing she was certain of, it was that less enemies was better for their side. This was war, and she was going to treat it that way. No more trying to figure things out. It was time for action.

Paden’s eyes bored into hers, but he didn’t say anything. Ree felt a small amount of relief. It was easier to deal with silence than an outright fight.

“Where is the closest house?” Ree asked Roland.

“About five blocks north of here.” Roland jerked his chin away from the river, and Ree looked down the street. That would put the Dark Ones in the nicer neighborhood. She hoped it wouldn’t make it harder for her friends to go unnoticed.

“Okay. Then we hit them fast and get out quickly.” Ree headed down the sidewalk and felt the anger bubbling under her skin. She was tired of waiting. Tired of having things happen to them. Tired of seeing people dead or hurt because of the evil roaming the streets. The faster she walked, the more power swirled in her chest.

Knowing they couldn’t afford to be seen, she eventually took her group down a dark alley and came at the house from a small back street that people used to get to their garage or carports. She held up her hand so they wouldn’t get too close. She could feel a large group of Dark Ones and darklings in the tall Victorian house. Paden cussed under his breath behind Ree, and she agreed with him wholeheartedly. Looking at the large green and brown house in front of them, her eyes strayed to the sign on the sidewalk. It was one of the most prestigious bed and breakfasts in the city.

Ree turned to look at Roland. “So, you didn’t think to mention it was a hotel?”

“It’s not a hotel. It’s a bed and breakfast.” Roland replied evenly. “Would it have mattered?”

Ree looked back at the building and frowned. “Probably not.” Paden sighed behind her, but she ignored him. “Weylin, how many explosives do you have left?”

“More than enough.” The sound of things being moved around in his canvas bag floated up to Ree’s ears. She looked back in time to see him pull out two handfuls of little black devices. Weylin held them out for everyone to see. “There were a ton at the house, so I brought as many as I could grab.”

“What do you think? Do we need to get them in the house again?” Ree bit her lip, trying to make her decision.

“If we put these outside of the house, the explosion would destroy everything around it. They need to go inside to minimize the collateral damage and to make sure they destroy the Dark Ones. If you put the explosives on the outside, you run the risk of the Dark Ones not being destroyed. They might just be covered up with debris. No. For this to work, we need to know they have been exposed to the sunlight or ripped apart.” Weylin held one of the devices between his fingers and narrowed his eyes. “These babies need to be as close to where they’re sleeping as possible.”

The thud of someone jumping down from the roof sent everyone into action. Two darklings threw themselves at Ree and Paden while the others jumped back to give them room.

“Go!” Ree shouted at Weylin. He took off almost instantly with Melanie and Roland on his heels.

Darklings seemed to pour from the house, filling the little back alley with bodies and angry energy. Bryce and Juliette fought their share, giving Ree glimpses of their spinning and ducking, moving together like one person instead of two. Paden lifted one of the darklings from the ground and threw him down the alley with a growl. The sound of the darkling skidding across the road to slam into a dumpster made Ree look down the alley.

A sharp stinging sensation made Ree suck in her breath. She looked down at her stomach and saw the point of a sword jutting out from her shirt. Ree felt her eyes widen in shock and would have tumbled forward if the darkling who had snuck up behind her had not grabbed her shoulder so she could twist the blade in Ree’s back.

A ferocious roar filled the alley, so loud Ree thought the walls shook. Something flashed past Ree and she stumbled to keep from falling over. The sound of flesh meeting flesh filled the air, confusing Ree. Cool hands touched her shoulders and she looked up into Juliette’s calm eyes. Her mouth moved, but Ree wasn’t sure what she was saying. The only sound she could make out was the blood rushing in her ears.

A sharp sensation made Ree wince, but was quickly replaced with a feeling of emptiness that made her want to vomit. Juliette pressed a hand to Ree’s stomach, her long fingers trying to staunch the flow of blood that poured from the wound. Bryce was moving behind Ree, obviously keeping the darklings at bay. As her hearing came back, Ree could make out someone hollering her name over and over again. The anguish in Paden’s voice brought tears to her eyes. She looked up at Juliette in fear.

“You’re going to be fine. You’re already healing.” Juliette moved her hand a little so Ree could see the wound was starting to knit itself back together, slowly growing smaller.

“Help them.” Ree nodded her head and tried to move toward the wall out of the way. She tripped on the curb, but was able to walk herself. She leaned against the brick and covered her stomach with her own hand before weakly pushing Juliette away.

The amount of broken bodies littering the ground was astounding, but Ree only had eyes for Paden. He was cutting through the darklings as if they were butter. All darklings that came at him were brutally removed from existence. By the time he reached Ree, she was starting to feel better, but his hands immediately went to her wound. The healing glow of his magic worked and sped the process along.