The Darkest Kiss

He went, though his expression very much suggested he expected to find me splattered on the pavement when he got down there.

I took a deep breath, then reached for the magic deep in my soul, holding the gull shape in my mind and feeling the power of it surge through my limbs, twisting and changing my shape.

In gull shape once more, I spread my wings, then closed my eyes and jumped. For a moment the sensation of falling was so overwhelming that panic surged, then I remembered the need to actually fly and began to pump my wings. Felt the surge of air rushing past my feathers and the sensation of falling ended abruptly.

I opened my eyes and saw the pavement sweep by inches from my belly. Relief slithered through me, though the reality was that smashing against the pavement had been a close thing, and only emphasized the need to go back to Henry and practice this flying thing a whole lot more.

I swept upward, gaining height so I could see past the buildings and traffic, and spotted the bakeneko in the distance. She was little more than a blur of black, her presence more notable through the wave of pedestrians that were scrambling to get out of her way. She raced around a corner, moving away from Lygon but toward Rathdown Street, then swung left and kept on running.

I followed, wondering where the hell she was going and hoping like hell she didn’t go too far. The muscles in my wings and chest were beginning to ache already. I might be fit, but I wasn’t flying fit.

I couldn’t see Kade’s car, but he might have been caught in traffic. Not all Directorate cars had sirens, which made dashing through red lights something of a hazard.

I just had to hope that he was near. That he was following the tracker okay. I didn’t want to face this thing alone.

It raced on, a black blur that seemingly felt no weariness. Shops and apartments gave way to a mix of cafés, small houses, and warehouses. Rathdown Street came to a junction and, for the first time, the bakeneko paused, nose in the air. Undoubtedly tasting the breeze for any sign of followers. I hoped I was already high enough up to avoid being scented, because I just didn’t have the energy to climb any farther.

Her form began to shimmer, shift, until a tall, blonde woman stood in place of the black cat. She hitched the torn shoulder of her bloodied dress back into place then more shimmering took place, and the dress itself changed, until it was no longer torn or bloodied. Which meant it was part of the magic rather than a reality. Interesting.

Her shoes had disappeared when she’d shifted the shape of her dress, and she was now barefoot as she padded across the road. She walked quickly through the park, skirting a wooden fence before moving into the parking lot of what looked to be an abandoned warehouse. I circled around to watch, though the effort of holding my wings still enough to glide made my limbs tremble.

The bakeneko raised a fist and casually broke down the door, then disappeared inside. I flew around the perimeter, looking for other possible exits. There were plenty of windows and doors in the place, but after five minutes of circling, there was no further sign of her. Maybe she intended to hole up here—she had no reason to run any farther, after all, because she thought she was safe. Although we weren’t dealing with anything that remotely thought the way a human did, so who knew what it was actually intending?

I continued to circle, watching the exit points for any sign of movement, but the building remained silent. A few minutes later, I saw a blue Ford pull up. Kade exited and looked up at the sky.

I swung around and headed toward him, shifting shape as I neared the ground. It took several stumbling steps to gain any sort of balance, and then it only happened because Kade grabbed my arm and held me upright.

“God, you’re trembling.”

“Yeah, flying really isn’t my style.” I shook my limbs in an effort to ease the ache. It didn’t actually help much. “The bakeneko has holed up inside the warehouse.”

Kade’s gaze went past me, and he frowned. “There’s lots of exit points. If we go in, she can escape very easily.”

“Yeah.” I touched my ear lightly. “Riley to Directorate.”

“We’ve been listening,” Jack said. “I’ve got two bird-shifters on the way. They’ll watch the outside while you two go in.”

“ETA?”

He paused, then said, “Two minutes. Iktar will be there in five.”

“Tell him to take the main front entrance. We’re going in through the parking lot.” I paused, then added, “And tell him to be careful. This thing is big and bad.”

“Then you be careful, too.”

“You know me. I’m always careful.”

His disbelieving snort rang in my ears.

I hesitated, then asked, “No word from the hospital?”

“None yet, I’m afraid.”

Damn. The knot in my stomach tightened a little bit more, but I did my best to push the worry aside. I had a killer to catch, and if I didn’t dedicate all my attention to it, I might just end up in hospital right alongside Liander.

That would really make Rhoan’s day complete.

“So we’re going in?” Kade asked.

“We have no choice.”

He handed me a laser, then pulled the other one free from the waist of his pants. A dangerous place to shove it, I would have thought. “And help is coming?”

I glanced skyward. Two brown dots were soaring high up. I couldn’t help the sliver of envy at the ease of which they did that. “Our eyes are in the sky. Iktar will be coming in around the front.”

He pressed the laser’s trigger lightly and the weapon whined as it charged up. “Let’s go, then.”

I switched my laser on, then followed him across to the building, keeping as low and as close to cover as possible. Hopefully, the roar of traffic going up and down nearby Brunswick Road would mute the sound of our steps.

With the doorway reached, I pressed my back against the grimy brick wall, feeling the chill of it seep into my spine. Beyond the smashed door, the warehouse was dark and silent. No creaks, no wind moaning through broken glass, nothing that seemed spooky or out of place.

Yet I was spooked regardless. Probably because I knew what lay in wait.

I met Kade’s gaze. He held up three fingers, then pointed to the left. I nodded and silently counted. At three, I slipped in the doorway, laser raised and held at the ready as my gaze swept the room.

Silence met me. The air was thick with the scent of oil and age, the walls grimy and slick looking. The room itself was filled with shadows, despite the light filtering in through dirty windows. Perfect conditions for a black cat who wanted to remain unseen.

There was a concrete ramp to my left and a walkway that went up and around the room. Several doorways led off into deeper darkness from this. To the right was a set of high double doors. They were solid looking and padlocked, so the bakeneko hadn’t gone that way.

I glanced back at Kade and motioned him in. He moved to the right, nostrils flaring as he made a sweeping motion with the gun.

“She knows we’re here.”

Though he kept his voice to a whisper, his words seemed to slide off the walls as sharply as a bell being rung. Or maybe it just seemed that way because I was so damn tense.

“I can sense amusement coming from the general direction of door number two.”

“I would have thought she’d be angry more than amused.”

“Well, a human probably would be, but this thing isn’t human.”

Very true. I blew out a breath, then quickly moved up the ramp and across to the first doorway. The deeper darkness looked unwelcoming. Despite the fact that Kade had sensed amusement coming from the direction of the other doorway, the smell of cat was coming thick and sharp from this one. Maybe the two corridors were linked farther in.

Maybe it was all part of the bakeneko’s plan. After all, cats delighted in toying with their prey.