“Fuck,” Lauris said.
“Yeah.” Sloane hit her comm. “Head back to the car. We’re at the wrong fucking venue.”
Fifteen minutes later we were on the other side of Leyton, at the edge of town where a warehouse had been converted into a club. The area around it had once been a parking lot but was now lit by twinkling lights and dotted with gazebo seating for patrons wishing to take their drinks outside. Outdoor heaters were positioned here and there to combat the chill. Music spilled out of speakers positioned strategically across the parking lot, bringing the party outside, and it worked, because the place was jam-packed. People drank and danced, uncaring about the chill, while others queued to get into the main club.
Sloane stared at the monolith. “How did we not know about this?”
Jessie was on her phone scanning local news. “There’s no mention in the town news.”
“It makes no fucking sense,” Poppy said.
I got out of the car and looked up at the neon sign, my breath catching in my throat. “Guys. I think I may know why we didn’t know this place was coming.”
Car doors slammed as the others joined me to stare up at the sign.
THE ORDER.
Motherfucker.
Chapter Ten
Sloane’s hands shook as she reached for the wheel and then her knuckles turned white.
“This cannot be happening,” she bit out.
“They must have planned this. It had to be in the works for a while,” Jessie said.
“What do we do?” Poppy asked.
I stared out the window at the unsuspecting humans, the prey for the revenants who’d use this place as a feeding ground.
“We need to get in there and kill revenants,” Jessie said.
“No!” Sloane snapped. “That’s a fucked-up idea. We could be walking into a trap.”
“They think we’re an Elite down,” Jessie pointed out. “They won’t expect us to attack.”
“Then what?” Sloane said. “We attack, and then what? You think they’ll just let us walk out? That’s the fucking lions’ den, Jess.”
“I never pegged you as a coward, Sloane.”
“I never pegged you for a fool.”
“Enough!” Poppy glared at them both. “I miss Brie too. I want revenge for what those fuckers did as much as you guys, but we can’t do any good if we’re dead. Right now, we’re at a disadvantage.”
Jessie exhaled through her nose and nodded. “Go on.”
“I suggest we scout the perimeter and get a lay of the land, then we head back to Grimswood, report this, and come up with a plan of action.”
She was right. “There must be plans of this place being converted. The council will have records. We can do some digging and find out what the Order is up to.”
“While revenants feast?” Jessie looked at me in disgust.
“I never said that. We need to come up with a new way of hunting. A stealthier way. And we’ll need hardcore glamour.”
“She’s right,” Lauris added. “It’s the smartest call.”
Sloane started the engine, and a red blur caught my eye amidst the throng of humans.
Oh fuck. “Stop.”
“What?” Jessie snapped.
I pointed out the window. “Look, do you see it? Trailing that couple.”
Everyone surged toward the windows to peer out. The crowd parted and there it was, the revenant, a crimson blob in the air hovering behind a man and woman as they broke from the throng and headed into the shadows at the edge of the parking lot.
“Looks like we’re gonna get to kill a revenant after all,” Jessie said.
We followed the couple into the shadows where a chain-link fence cut off the parking lot from the brush beyond. The couple was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’d they go?” Jessie scanned the gloom.
I moved away from The Elites and walked a little way toward the club. Movement caught my eye.
“You see something?” Lauris asked.
A reedy wail hit the air and I broke into a run, boots clipping against cement. The fence ended and an alley lined with bins shot to the right. Figures tussled up ahead.
Lauris grabbed my arm. “Slow down.” He slipped ahead of me. “Let me do my job.”
The Elites rushed up behind me and then we were hot on Lauris’s heels as he rounded the bins. I took in the scene.
The woman dead on the ground, the revenant in full skinless humanoid form, and the human male with dark cropped hair and an oval face, standing with his back pressed to the wall, wide-eyed.
“It’s okay,” Lauris said. “We won’t let it hurt you.”
The revenant turned to face us, opened its mouth, and screamed, blasting us with its fetid breath.
Gag.
“Patrick, stand down!” the human snapped.
The revenant drew back, and the human stepped forward, standing taller, broader. His eyes bled to black as he tilted his head.
Gooseflesh speckled my skin. “What the fuck are you?”
“Human,” Jessie said, hands up, palms out as if testing the air. “Human and…something and revenant. Oh fuck.”
The human thing smiled too wide. “Do you like my pretty new suit? First time taking it for a test drive.” He looked down at the dead woman. “She seemed to buy it.”
He jerked his thumb in the revenant’s direction. “Patrick needed a snack.” He smirked. “Although it’s not like we’ll have a problem staying fed now.” He frowned at Patrick. “You didn’t need to kill the human. Sips, remember; lots of sips. They’ll keep coming back and you’ll stay fed, but if you kill them…” He wagged a finger in a tut-tut motion. “Now we need to dispose of the body. Or…” He fixed his gaze on us. “We could leave the mess to the filthy witches.”
“Fuck this,” Sloane said.
The negation chant filled the air and my mind. It spilled from my lips like honey and trickled through the air. The revenant behind the human thing melted into the wall and the human thing’s eyes went wide, mouth falling open in horror.
It was working. He had a revenant inside him, no idea how or why, but the negation spell was working. Maybe we could help him.
The human thing jerked once, twice, and
