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  “No, I need to tell you this,” he said. “Just trying to figure out how to begin… I guess you could say he was like an uncle to me.”

  “Papa Raven?” I said, glancing up at him, confused.

  “Well, back then he was simply Tyler. Tyler Kapurton, to be precise. And he was a member of the Crows. Hell, he helped found the Crows with my father.”

  “He was that close to your father?” I asked, genuinely surprised.

  “He was, like I said, he was like an uncle to me,” Jace said. “Attended most of our family holidays, was over almost every weekend. My father and him were friends since childhood, apparently. My mom used to tease that he might as well have lived with us with how often he was over. I don’t think my mom liked Tyler as much as my father. Hell, as much as everyone seemed to live him, even I did. Anyway, when my father was thinking about starting the Crow Gang, Tyler was all for it and wanted to help. The two decided to get into business together and things were going smoothly. Until…”

  “Until?” I asked, biting my lip.

  “Until my mother got cancer,” Jace said, running his hand through his hair.

  “Fuck cancer,” I whispered.

  “You lost someone that way too?” he asked, glancing over.

  “My father died from cancer too,” I said.

  “Shit, sorry,” he offered and then looked down.

  “It’s okay,” I said, moving my hand to his leg. “Continue, please.”

  He nodded and took a deep breath. I could tell this story was hard for him to tell and I took his hand in mine, gently squeezing it. The sun was nearly gone and I glanced over, seeing that the beach was growing emptier as people left for the day.

  “Right, so… after mom got cancer, my dad was distracted, obviously. He let Tyler take over a lot of the Crows work and… well, that’s when things began to go to shit. I remembered my father and him arguing over something Tyler did. Think it had to do with dealing some heavy shit out and my dad was against all that shit. That’s why I don’t deal in weapons or heavy drugs.”

  “I see,” I smiled. “That’s really admirable.”

  “My dad founded the Crows to help the city, not make things worse. Anyway, after that, Tyler hadn’t come around as much. My dad continued to try to get in touch but Tyler wouldn’t answer any of his calls. Finally, news began to spread about a new motorcycle gang coming into town. The Carrion Crew.”

  “So, he created the Carrion Crew just to spite your father?” I asked.

  “Yeah, at least it started that way,” I said, shrugging. “I’m sure he then got a taste for the power of leading them and well, you know the rest.”

  “Right,” I said, glancing down and biting my lip. “I didn’t realize just how connected this was…”

  “It’s alright, I should’ve told you sooner,” he said, looking down. “I’m sorry, Mia.”

  “It’s okay,” I smiled, leaning up. “Thanks for telling me.”

  He smiled warmly in return and I leaned up, pressing my lips to his. He returned the kiss, holding me tight against his chest. I held him in return and could tell neither of us wanted to let go. Finally, we both somehow managed to pull away and I glanced up at him.

  “We should get going,” I said, looking down.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” he said, sighing as he stood up and then looked at me.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I’m… I’m alright,” he said, smiling warmly. “It felt kinda good to get the story out, I guess.”

  “I’m glad then,” I smiled. “And we’ll take him down together, won’t we?”

  “I suppose we will,” he said, taking my hand in mine. “I promise once this is all over, we’ll go on a trip. Somewhere far away and for as long as we want.”

  “That sounds amazing,” I smiled. “I’ll hold you to it.”

  With that, we packed up, turning from what was such a beautiful day and heading straight towards the real world. Back to the world where both of our lives were still in danger, where death had become such a regular things.

  A world where monsters were very real and closer than they appeared.

  I glanced over, seeing Jace’s intense stare as we headed back to the car and realized that, as long as I had Jace in my life, we could take on anything. Smiling, I took his hand in his, feeling stronger at just having his hand in mine and knew that we would win.

  Somehow, we would pull through and life would be that much better.

  Monsters be damned.

  FIVE

  ~JACE~

  Something had changed between Mia and me on our date. Something good. I felt stronger from it, felt the surge of excitement at going out on the chase. Getting possibly one step closer to finishing off Papa Raven and his Carrion Crew. I glanced in my rearview mirror as I sped down the highway, heading in the direction of where the second bodies had been found. Three Crows followed after on their own bikes and I grinned.

  No more playing stupid, we were in the big games now.

  If our hypothesis was right, we’d find our next “clue” in the location of where the second bodies had been found. I wondered if we were right, even with what I had found yesterday, how likely was it that I was going to find something again tonight? I couldn’t fight the thought that we were just being led on some chase, some game that Papa Raven had all the control in. I’d told Mia about Tyler and his connection with my father and it had felt better to get it out, but it’d also given me that much more purpose in finally stopping the bastard. He’d taken so much, had even killed more of my men, and I wasn’t going to let him continue to play games.

  As I came to the exit of the next location, I took the exit, coming to a more secluded area of the city. I wondered if Papa Raven had any connection to all the construction that had begun in the areas. Both locations so far had been heavily under construction. I shook my head, deciding that it could also just be coincidence, plus construction areas were less populated a lot of times, what better place, right?

  “What do you think, boss?” Luka, one of my Crow “escorts,” asked as he pulled up beside me, looking around the location to scope out anything.

  “Doesn’t seem like much,” I said, giving the place my own once-over despite how quiet it seemed. Then, sighing, I added, “But, then again, it was like this last night too. Quiet doesn’t always mean quiet.”

  Luka gave a humorless smirk. “Don’t you watch scary movies, boss? Quiet never means quiet; quiet means there’ll be blood and guts and screaming in a few minutes.”

  I gave him a long, cold look. Then, finally able to conjure words to fit my thoughts, I shook my head and said, “I see those motivational speaking classes are paying off.”

  Luka, bewildered, seemed to consider this with more seriousness than it deserved while Marcus, another of my “escorts,” called, “What’s that over there?” as he pointed towards the darkened depths of the nearest building.

  “Old office building,” I said, noting the crooked “SPACE FOR RENT” sign that hung in one of the first-floor windows.

  I considered this for a moment, remembering a time when this part of town had celebrated itself as the “upscale” locale for a lot of the bigger business that the city saw. Years later, thanks to the shifting of land ownership and its value, it was a just-barely surviving slab of real estate that was fortunate enough to share a boarder with the art district and the gay district. Between the two of them, this place was offered just enough love to keep it from crumbling solidly into some sort of lost realm. Now, small, independent shops reigned the land, but, unfortunately for this particular building, there weren’t many brave enough to partner up and throw in a bid for such a massive piece of property.

  What was once a towering testament to strong business was now nothing more than a gamble that even those left to give a damn weren’t willing to risk. I guessed there was a metaphor in that—something that might even strike me as personal if I lingered on it long enough—but I most certainly found it iron
ic.

  Sighing, I glanced back at the three, who’d been patiently waiting while I considered the building. Danny had hand-picked the three. Marcus, Luka, and Erik: a trio of no-nonsense ex-military guys—I thought I remembered Danny mentioning they’d been Marines—who’d carved out a comfortable lifestyle being badasses but, now that they were back on US soil, were expected to tuck away all their training and everything they’d seen and fit in nice and tidy-like with the nine-to-five crowd. Sure. ‘Cause I could really see one of these guys selling cars or baking bread.

  First irate customer to pull lip on one of these guys would likely wake up months later missing parts of themselves, I thought.

  Yeah, Marcus, Luka, and Erik were all business. Long as I was being honest with myself—and, who-the-fuck-else was I gonna tell this to?—they kinda scared the shit out of me. I reminded myself that they were on my side and took in a wealth spring of confidence for that fact. I was glad for the help and having these three was definitely the best plan in case we were ambushed. They knew how to fight and from what I had watched, fought well. They also had a good eye for things, knowing how to scope an area from their time in the military.

  “Seems like a good place to hide the next clue,” Luka said, shrugging a shoulder as he did.

  “Might as well give it a go, right? Erik said, pointing to the building. “‘Sides, whoever was last there left the door wide open for someone, right?”

  While “wide open” wasn’t exactly right, the chunk of cracked brick that had been purposefully set into place to leave the door propped open certainly seemed just as much an invitation.

  If nothing else, it seemed an even greater hint. Sometimes doors just got left open, after all; someone forgets to close it behind them—maybe doesn’t check to see if the latch secured—and the wind does the rest. Hell, maybe a faulty hinge or a busted spring keeps it from closing without a helping hand. No, a “wide open” door could be just that—a wide open door—but that was a door that somebody had put some effort into keeping open, going so far as to retrieve a blockade to keep it from not being open.

  “Wide open,” I thought, would actually be less threatening. I didn’t say this aloud to the ex-Marines, though. That they were decent enough to take my orders and not just waterboard me, put two rounds in the back of my skull, and take the Crow Gang as their own was enough reason for me not to go waving every crazy thought or moment of doubt at them like a big “I’M ILL-EQUIPPED TO LEAD”-flag. Instead, drawing in a breath that I hoped came off as contemplative and soaking in authority, I said, “Think we found our place,” and moved to lead the three forward.

  I watched as each kept their arms at their sides and I knew all three were armed. I was armed too, having made sure to pack two handguns and a pocket knife, just in case. While I hadn’t been much of a gun person before, I couldn’t deny that the feel of the weapon against my chest did make me feel a ton better. Guess it came with the trade, I supposed. Get shot at regularly enough, you learn to come prepared. I sighed, running a hand through my hair, wishing I could be back with Mia in our bed. I had left her at the condo, curled up and still shivering from a quick love making. I wanted to make it longer, but I had already been cutting it close and since I wasn’t going alone, I wasn’t about the make my men wait on me. I was the leader after all. I went to step through the door and Luka stopped me, pulling me back by my shoulder and shook his head at me.

  “What?” I asked, keeping my voice low. “Do you see something?”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head before pointing ahead of us with his sharply angled chin before adding, “But you don’t just walk into enemy territory without surveying the area.”

  “Fair enough,” I said, nodding and glanced around. “So, what do we do then?”

  “Wait,” Luka said.

  The word seemed to imply that we all wait, and I was about to argue that it didn’t seem the proper course of action. Then, without a single word or prompting of any kind, the three slipped into the shadowy depths. I watched, stunned, as three tall, bulky men faded into the darkness like the inhuman creatures from one of Mia’s books. And then I was left with nothing but silence and my spooky, unnerving thoughts.

  God damn you, Mercury! You’ve sent me into Carrion Crew territory with motherfucking ninja vampires! I cursed inwardly.

  A moment later, though I still couldn’t see any of them, I heard Erik’s voice—unsettlingly close despite still being, as they might say, “one with the shadows”—as he called out, “All clear.”

  “That’s eerie as shit,” I informed him as I stepped inside.

  I thought I heard a chuckle, but, like the three, it was more something that I sensed around me than actually experienced with my senses. I knew they were there, but if I had to provide my brain with any concrete evidence of that fact I’d likely come up dry. I decided in that instant that I’d be giving them bells and the strongest smelling cologne I could find for Christmas. Anything to keep a bead on them in moments like this.

  Once more I found comfort in reminding myself that they were on my side.

  They were smart and I was beginning to realize I had definitely been stupid in going alone last night. If there had been anything more than a dead body waiting, I could’ve very easily wound up dead. I chastised myself for my arrogance as I watched the three begin to step through the threshold, heading into the dark building.

  “Got the night vision gear, Luka?” Marcus asked as he slipped into place beside me, using his forearm to guide me forward through the blackness.

  The fuck do they need gear for? Seem to see just fine! I cringed inwardly, realizing I was literally being steered through pitch blackness.

  “Yeah, here,” Luka, who had somehow fallen into place behind me, said. I heard the hushed whisper of a zipper, and I had a momentary flash of memory of the many, many pockets that his cargo pants held.

  A moment later, after a faint rustling that could have just as easily been a pair of rats fighting over a scrap of food in the walls, I heard him begin to distribute several somethings. One of these somethings found its way against my chest, and my hands came up to claim it. I’d heard “night vision” and almost immediately after disregarded it, figuring it was a code of some kind. It was the same sort of response I’d have if one had suddenly told the other they’d need a light saber to cut a lock—nothing more than military-man jargon, right? Nope. “Night vision,” as it turned out, was not one’s way of expressing, say, a need to increase their carrot intake or a reminder to set up an appointment for an optometrist. It was fucking night vision. Fumbling blindly with the bundle that had been passed to me, I realized that what I was holding was a pair of goggles with an expensive-feeling network of straps that fit over the top of my head.

  I clumsily worked the thing on, began to fidget with the thick, elongated apparatus that now hovered over my forehead, and muttered, “Are these really necessary?”

  “Can you see?” Erik asked.

  I didn’t feel like answering, not wanting to advertise the point that had just been made against me.

  A pair of hands swatted my own away, expertly swung the lenses into place before my eyes, and, following a mechanical click as a switch was flipped near my temple, the blackness that had enveloped me exploded into a blinding wall of green.

  “GAH!” I gasped, feeling like my retinas were being melted out of my skull.

  “Yeah, I probably should’ve warned you about that,” Marcus said as an apology. “Anyway, these babies aren’t just your average dime-store green-light night vision specs, either. They’ve got thermal detection built in, as well, so they can pick up on any heat signatures. If someone’s hiding in here, or if anything warm-blooded has even touched something recently, we’ll know it,” he explained, sliding his own pair on.

  I took in this information as a distant second concern as I blinked against the still-too-bright onslaught against my eyes. I blinked, thankful that the device was big enough to hide my tearing eyes f
rom the vision of the three ex-marines, and tried not to look as flustered as I felt. Even as I did—even resenting the goggles as much as I did in that moment—I couldn’t help but admit to myself how handy these things would have been to me yesterday in the dim lighting of the subway, and again chastised myself at how stupid I’d been.

  The greenish veil of blinding light shifted as my eyes adjusted, and vision came to me then. Admittedly, it wasn’t the sort of vision I’d be getting used to anytime soon, but it was undeniably better than being blind. Though everything still registered in some distant understanding of the word as “dark,” the goggles managed to remove the mystery associated with that word and leave only its rawest definition. Yes, we were in a pitch-black building, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t make out the dusty, cobweb-caked office chair overturned in the corner or the desk that looked like somebody had taken a sledgehammer to since the building had been abandoned. Everything was bathed in an artificial, light-green iridescence that made me feel like I was living out a scene from The Matrix—as if, at any moment, the goggles might say “fuck it” and turn the entire world to nothing but green, flowing code.

  Then the three ex-Marines stepped around me and I caught myself in mid-gasp. True to Marcus’ explanation, the otherwise green setting was suddenly interrupted by three orange-and-red, human-shaped masses that now occupied my field of vision where my “escorts” now stood.

  Matrix-meets-Predator, I thought.

  “You guys see anything worth worrying about?” I asked, making sure to keep my voice low.

  “Negative,” Luka said, his burning doppelganger glancing back at me as he spoke. “Where should we start, boss?”

  I frowned, realizing that it was my call, in the end, as leader of the Crows. I glanced around the room we were in, noting that there was luckily only one other way to go other than back through the door we entered in. I moved forward, making sure to keep an eye out, walking carefully through the next door. Looking around, I saw that the next room was completely empty and I frowned, coming to now two different directions to go to.