Hunted

lights. They messed with my mental focus. As a Psi Guardian, having a calm mind was everything.

Bran’s psi energy gently brushed mine, and I sighed. He always knew what to do to relax me. Smiling, I drifted away from the noise and the lights.

It’s time, Bran telepathed later, pulling me out of a pleasant dream of a world with no demons.

We got up, left the balcony and headed for the stairs, which led to the back of the club and Mancuso’s office. The security guards saw us coming and stepped aside. Mancuso offered us seats this time, but no one wanted to sit down. The sooner we were done, the faster we’d head to our next target.

The door burst open and we all reached for our weapons. The security guard froze. I was sure facing six teens dressed like Val Helsing and carrying deadly, medieval-looking weapons wasn’t something he did every day. We had removed our glamour when we entered the room because we weren’t supposed to hide our identities from the humans we dealt with.

“What is it, Joey?” Mancuso asked.

The security guard dragged his gaze away from us. “David Lee is gone.”

“What do you mean ‘gone’?” Mancuso bellowed, heaving to his feet.

“He slipped out for a smoke and took off.”

Mancuso’s face grew red. “Didn’t someone go with him? What am I paying you for? Find him and bring him to me or you are all fired.” He dropped back on his seat, his chest heaving. He shot us an apologetic look. “I explained everything to David Lee after you talked to him earlier, and he seemed okay with canceling his contract even though he believes he’ll lose everything. You know, the money…his voice… I just never thought he’d run.”

Cowards! I hated Runners. One would think we were handing them death sentences instead of their souls.

“We’ll find him,” Bran vowed then shoved his knives in the sheaths around his thigh and glanced at me. “Finish it.”

As the Cardinal Psi in our group, it was my job to erase memories after each cancellation. Mancuso watched me curiously as I walked toward him. Human Psi energy was easy to breach, but changing human perception of past events was a bit tricky. We didn’t want them dreaming about demons and Guardians, or having deja vu sneak up on them to remind them of the past. Some tended to see a shrink to learn the root cause of their unexplained feelings and dreams, so I had to give them something to find.

“What’s going on?” Mancuso demanded as I stopped beside him.

“I’m going to make you forget you ever gave up your soul or dealt with a demon, Mr. Mancuso. Would you like that?”

He nodded, his jowls shaking. “Oh yes.”

“Good. Look at me.”

I had gotten better at mind-blending. The first time I tried it, I’d gone a little crazy. I got inside Mancuso’s head and went to the beginning—his first meeting with Bran. They’d met at a concert of one of his other clients. We always discussed the fake memories before leaving HQ. Instead of a collector, Bran could be a young, talented singer Mancuso had tried to represent and whose career tanked. Thoughts of Bran and the feeling of doom accompanying them would become regret. Last, our presence in his office and the purpose of our meeting wasn’t to cancel a contract. We were Hellboys’ number-one fans and had backstage passes to meet with David Lee. I went over the new memories and his perception of each image, then broke the mind-blend.

Mancuso blinked as though prodded into awareness. His eyes narrowed as he heaved to his feet. “Damn groupies. Out of my office.”

“Chill, old man,” Sykes said. Bran was already out the door. “We just wanted David Lee’s autograph.”

“Do you see him in here? Out…out.” He waved his pudgy arms. “Security!”

We were laughing by the time the door closed behind us. We exited the building through a side door and entered the alley.

“Let’s get some lattes and frappes before we head to our next stop,” Kim suggested.

“I’m in, but let’s not forget we’ve added another Runner to our list,” Izzy said. “That makes…what?”

“Fifteen,” Bran said.

“How can you be so calm about it? We want to help and they run, damned cowards,” Kim grumbled. “Why aren’t there consequences to selling a soul anyway?”

“Because Master Haziel said there weren’t, and he’s the wisest and oldest Guardian,” I said. He was also our master trainer. “I’m more worried about what Mancuso is going to say when David Lee returns and brings up the subject of damned souls and us. I did what I could, but we’ve never canceled one soul when two humans signed together.”

“I’m sure they’ll consider it a miscommunication. You know how humans get. ‘I’m sorry I bailed out on you, old man,’” Izzy imitated Lee’s raspy voice. “‘Oh, that’s okay, Lee my boy. It’s all forgotten. Just head back to the stage and sing your heart out. You’ll have them eating out of the palm of your hand again,’” she added in Mancuso’s deep baritone. “‘Are you sure, Mancuso? I thought they’d be mad and come after you.’ ‘They love you, David Lee. Just don’t ever run away again in the middle of a concert.’”

Perfect improv. We were laughing by the time she finished.

“I don’t care whether Lee brings it up or not as long as another name disappears off our list,” Sykes said. “It’s been a long, boring summer.”

Bran chuckled. “I agree.”

“No way.” Sykes moved closer to Bran and dropped an arm around his shoulders. “Finally, we agreed on something.”

“Let’s also agree to keep personal space.” Bran pushed Sykes’ arm from his shoulder.

“Why?” Sykes pretended to sniff his armpit. “I showered before we left.”

Bran just shook his head. Sykes’ antics used to bother him, but not anymore.

“You have issues, Llyr.” Sykes jabbed a finger in his direction and smirked as we exited the alley.

The alley opened onto the Union Square, an oasis in the middle of the concrete jungle that was New York. Lovers strolled hand-in-hand near the green center of the Square, and late-night bingers nibbled on snacks from a nearby coffee shop.

A chilling scream came from the back of the building. The people on the Square didn’t appear to have heard it. I scanned psi energies.

“It’s a human,” I said, already turning.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Kim grabbed my arm.

“He’s terrified and in pain, Kim.” I tried to free my arm, but her grip tightened.

“I’m sure he is a hobo. It’s not our job to heal and help every suffering human that crosses our path. Where are you going?” Kim asked when Izzy took off.

“Going to see if we need to call an ambulance, Ms. Anti-hero,” Izzy retorted.

Like me, Izzy could never walk away from a suffering human being. She was the healer of our group, a rare ability which was handy when our wounds were too serious to self-heal. Healing humans was easy for her, but she needed me to make them forget the incident.

I wrestled my arm free from Kim and followed. Curses came from behind us, but I knew the others would come. The guys might complain, but they always came through. Kim was the typical anti-hero, a Guardian who couldn’t stand people depending on her.

“It’s David Lee,” Izzy called out from beside a blue dumpster. “He’s strung out on something.”

I ran to join them. David Lee was on the ground, arms punching an invisible enemy, legs kicking and spittle shooting from his mouth to his beard.

“Go away…leave me alone…leave…me…alone…” he screamed.

Calm down, I tried to use my power of persuasion, but he only kicked harder. He was going to hurt himself. I lifted my hand above him. Freeze.

He froze with his arms and legs curled up like a child throwing a tantrum. The others joined us and we studied the frozen rock star in silence. Up close he looked smaller and older. His sleeveless jacket, as well as the jewelry on his wrist, neck, and pants, were all studded. What I’d believed was a long-sleeved shirt was actually