Chapter 6

CHAPTER

SIX

Like all good underground, highly illegal magic tech operations, it was run out of the upper apartment of a twenty-four-hour convenience store.

The store itself was nothing special, it had the same layout and overpriced snacks found in literally every single little stop-and-rob across the city. The shelves were stuffed with processed garbage and cheap, cold beer waiting in glass freezers. The only thing under lock and key were the cigarettes being guarded by the clerk armed with a revolver and some basic spells. Beyond the “employee only” restroom and stacked milk crates near the exit was a set of stairs leading up to the real operation, which was run out of an oni family’s living room.

Dex sat with her legs curled under a low table, metal blasting in her headphones as she wired together a tapestry of magically infused gems with metal-teethed rectangles. Two small tusks escaped her bottom lip, curled at the edges like backward fishhooks, her blunt horns almost disappeared under the shaggy state of her mohawk.

Her father, who she got her tusks and cheery personality from, watched a movie at a high volume on the couch behind her, not bothered by his daughter’s blasting music or her criminal activity.

She had been so hyper-fixated on her work that her brother had to all but wave his hand in front of her face to get her attention, which she snarled at him for. I was given almost the same amount of snarl when I waved from the front door, but she slipped her headphones off and unfolded herself from her work.

“Came to drop off my intel money?” She stuck her tongue through the elastic, pink gum in her mouth before she breathed life into the thing, expanding it out in a balloon.

“Yeah, and ask for some goodies. I need some glamour tech to keep us from being noticed on security cameras. Got anything available?”

The gum bubble popped, and she gathered it back into her mouth with a quick jerk of her tongue. It was always impressive how she did that without ever getting it caught on her prominent tusks.

“Basic,” she yawned. “I always have that. I was hoping you’d give me another interesting, custom project to work on.” Dex strolled over to her workstation and snagged a few things from the table, her father leaning to the side so he didn’t miss anything on the television while she sorted through the bits and bobs.

“Another interesting project?” Zane asked me. “What custom thing did you request?”

“Just a little experimental thing.”

“Such as?” he prodded. “Is it of the exploding variety?”

“Don’t worry about it, Zane.”

“Fuck, that means yes.” He rubbed at his temples.

“Will you relax? You’re giving me just as big of a headache.”

“If we’re about to try and blow something up with whatever the hell Dex rigged together, you need to tell me. This isn’t a ‘relaxing’ scenario, hunter.”

“Not a bomb,” Dex clarified as she strolled back over. “But if you want one, I am working on a really badass pulse device that sends off the same lust waves as succubus enchantments have.”

“Yes,” I said the same time Zane barked a firm, “No.”

Dex grinned, her nose ring catching the light with the movement.

“You lovebirds can hash it out later. In the meantime, it’s two fifty for the boring glamour tech, and…” She dropped the glamour tech into my palm, the small thumb drive-shaped device a familiar sight. The second thing she dropped into my hand was new, a plastic circle with a rolling switch in the center and a nylon cord looped through it.

“Is this…?” I prompted, mirroring her grin as she nodded.

“Yep. It’s finished.”

“Is that the not-bomb?” Zane quizzed, sounding less than convinced that the little device wasn’t going to murder us all.

I slipped the small device around my neck, the plastic circle landing against my chest bone, and gave Dex a glance.

“You sure this works?” I asked.

“I’ll wait patiently for my praises.” She picked at her nails a bit, shifting her weight onto one leg.

Zane took a cautious step backwards as I gathered the device into my hand.

Sliding my thumb to the button, I held my breath as I rolled it the other direction with a solid click .

For a heartbeat nothing happened, and I watched Zane’s face to see if I had gotten my hopes up too high. Confusion creased his brow a moment, his eyes darting around like he was trying to listen for a sound I couldn’t hear. A scowl set into his features, jaw jumping.

It had worked.

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “You can’t feel my emotions anymore, can you?”

“What did you do?” Zane demanded of Dex.

“Trade secret,” she said coolly, cocky grin on her face. “What I can tell you is that the tech is set to nullify very specific frequencies. You can praise me now.”

“You are a genius, Dex. A mastermind. A gorgeous, badass, oni princess and I would kiss you if I knew you wouldn’t immediately punch me in the balls.” I grasped my new shroud of privacy in my hand and held it to my heart, ecstatic that Zane couldn’t feel how happy I was. He couldn’t feel how tired and stressed I was, or that I kinda had to pee and wanted a cigarette for some reason.

All those emotions, feelings and desires were just for me. Mine. A solo experience I had missed since he came barreling into my life.

“Oh, I rarely say this, but thank you sweet, loving Saint. I needed this today.”

“Hunter, I don’t like this,” Zane countered, frustration all over his dead face. “We don’t know what kind of magic was used. We don’t know what effect this might have on our bond.”

“Relax.” Dex brushed his concerns away with a wave of her hand. “It’s enchantment manipulation and a touch of blood magic. Plus, if it starts messing with your ‘bond’—cute by the way—he can just flip the switch again and it’ll shut the nullification down. Everything will snap back into place.”

Zane was shaking his head as she spoke, either not believing her or set on dismissing whatever was explained. Dex was forgotten, his attention back on me.

“You cutting yourself off from me is dangerous,” he insisted in a low, angry grumble. “I know you don’t like that I can feel your emotions?—”

“‘Don’t like?’ That’s a hilarious understatement,” I spat before he could continue. “Zane, you know every single thing I feel all the time. All the time . I have zero privacy. It’s bad enough I know you can feel when I’m fucking Sias, but knowing you can feel the deep, personal shit? Do you have any idea what that does to my mental health?” I tapped my temple. “It fucks with me, man. I’m constantly aware someone else is in my head, feeling how I’m processing things, how I’m dealing with stuff I’d rather no one knew about. I need this. I need to be alone with my thoughts. You have to understand that on some level. You’re not a fucking robot.”

Zane’s molars continued to grind as I spoke, his temper a razor’s edge from exploding out in all directions.

“Not to break the tension or anything,” Dex said, not so much breaking the tension as just adding cracks to the thinning resolve of a pissed-off vampire. “But do you guys wanna take this outside? Dad said he can’t hear his show.”

I turned to stare at her, not masking my annoyance. “Seriously?”

“Y’all’s little spat is loud.” She presented the room behind her. “And you’re standing in my living room.”

Zane remained deathly silent as he broke away from the group, storming outside like a mute hurricane. The door slamming shut behind him made her dad glare at me, like I had somehow given the order for Zane to be a prick.

“Sorry,” I called over to him with a wave, and he growled as some of his oni magic made his teeth seem sharper. “I’ll take that as my time to go.”

“Yeah, think so.” Dex counted the money I gave her. “You want to take a sleepy enchantment for your gloomy Gus? I think he needs a nap.”

“He’ll get over it,” I said, though I didn’t believe it for a second. “Thanks for this, Dex.”

“Anytime. Your money’s always good here.” Dex popped another gum bubble and strolled back over to her workstation as I followed after my pissed-off Thrall.

Zane was waiting at the convenience store back exit, fuming in the cold. The wind tossed his shaggy hair, his eyes sharp against the paleness of his skin.

“You just going to be pissed off at me forever now? Is that the deal?” I asked him as I made my way over.

“You do a lot of stupid things, Dallas, but this one is record breaking.”

“Saints and devils, you are a real diva sometimes, you know that?”

Zane turned his fierce gaze to me, anger lifting his shoulders like the cold was getting to him.

“Don’t dismiss my concerns. What if you need me and I can’t feel it? What if something happens to you and I don’t find out until we’re both dead?”

He was nervous. Not of me dying and subsequently him dying along with me—maybe it’s better to say it wasn’t just that, because I’m sure he didn’t want to go slinking back to the void. I had been there before and it sucked.

Zane was nervous, possibly even afraid of something just as monstrous.

He didn’t want to fail. Again.

A lot of things were clicking into place with Zane. He was a Thrall with pride, an undead creature with scars. Having this piece of tech blocking me from sharing my emotions with him was making those scars burn, but it was something he’d have to learn to ignore.

“Look, I know I’m going to take you by surprise here, I think that’s a valid point. But Zane, you gotta trust me to not get us killed.”

“Hunter,” he said through his teeth. “You got blown through a wall a few days ago. You’re wild, unpredictable, and constantly rushing into death. You told me it was ‘your whole vibe, man.’ How in the Goddess’s name am I supposed to trust that?”

“Believe me when I say I’ve been through worse,” I lamented, relieved he couldn’t feel the icy fingers tugging at my ribcage, the tattooed, cloaked bite marks on my neck itchy. “Getting shot through a wall isn’t shit.”

“You’ve lost your fear of death,” the vampire spoke softly, like death itself might be listening. “I haven’t.”

The weight of those words was heavy enough for two, but really only meant for one. In my very center, in the tiny, protective part that I kept all to myself, I let myself hope he was talking about me.

It was selfish and sad, exactly the embodiment of who I was, clinging to a hope someone would be stupid enough to care about me despite it all.

“I’ll make you a promise,” I told him, chest achy from private feelings and my body shivering from the biting wind. “If I feel like a situation is getting out of hand, or if I get the smallest hint that one of my plans isn’t working out exactly right, I’ll flip the switch and turn this off.”

He said nothing, his jaw tight and eyes locked on anything but me.

“And,” I added with dread. “I’ll be more upfront about plans. I know I’m not great at communication. It’s my one flaw.”

The pressure in Zane’s jaw eased as he snorted a bitter laugh.

“I’m trying here,” I told him, relieved when he pulled his attention away from being mad and looked at me.

Zane studied me like I was a weird little worm that had crawled out of his apple. With the blocker in place, he had no idea if I was being sincere, no idea what I was thinking or planning. It didn’t seem to trouble him so much as it worried him.

“I’m your partner, hunter,” he told me, the anger starting to fade. “Not a burden. Not a curse. A partner. Treat me like one.”

“Business associate,” I corrected. “Tolerated co-worker.”

“Partner,” he insisted firmly. “I’m involved in plans. I’m not in the dark. I’m trusted, as I am trusting you.”

Zane presented his hand to me, and I only hesitated a moment before shaking it. He was cold, a walking corpse, but his grip was somehow comforting.

I believed that he trusted me, and I had no reason not to trust him. Zane was a lot of things: annoying, grumpy, and a pain in the ass—but he was honest. He’d never once lied to me, played me for any reason, or tried to manipulate me into anything. For an undead guy, he wasn’t horrible. Hell, he bordered on being a tolerated presence in my life.

Maybe even liked.

“Alright. Deal. But I’m not calling you ‘partner.’”

Zane let my hand go, his unease still resting near the frown lines in his face, but no longer on fire with anger.

“What’s the plan?” he asked as we continued along, leaving the convenience store behind. “To the club?”

“We’re going to go change because we’ve been hanging around dead bodies today. Then yeah, we’ll head to Rubber Gloves, break into wherever it is that Marthas is hiding the artifacts, and take his shit. In and out, no complications.”

Zane sliced his eyes over to me, blood red with skepticism.

“That’s it? That’s your whole plan?”

I grinned at him. “Always leave room for some fuckery, Zane. Who knows how the night is going to go.”