Broken: Hidden Book Two (5 page)

I watched as another Normal stood up to make a speech about how great the city was, and how it was going to come back, stronger than ever, thanks to the community.

I had my doubts, actually.

“Molly Brooks?” A deep voice said behind my left shoulder.

I was getting out of practice. No one snuck up on me anymore. I turned, glanced at the stranger.

He stuck his hand out. “I’m Chief Jones, Detroit Police,” he said.

I repressed a groan. This shit, I did not need right now.

“Chief,” I said, shaking his hand very briefly.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” he said, crossing his arms as he stood next to me and watched the revelers.

“Are you?”

“Not where I’d expect to find the Nain Rouge’s widow,” he said quietly.

I looked at him. Felt for him.

“Ah,” I said, nodding. “Shifter.”

I felt surprise from him. “What?”

I raised my eyebrow at him. “Please don’t try to lie about it.”

“I won’t, but….how? This thing was supposed to be able to mask what I am,” he said, showing me an amulet with a silvery gem. Irritation, worry washed over me like a wave.

“It was doing a good job. I didn’t pick it up at first,” I reassured him. “So, what do you want?”

He watched me for a minute, sizing me up. Shook his head. “You are scary.”

“So I’ve heard. Good thing I’m one of the good guys. Relatively speaking,” I said after a small pause.

The chief chuckled, and we stood there a while. I looked him over behind my glasses. He was supposed to be in his mid-40s, but, as with all shifters, he looked much younger than that. Tall, broad. Dark brown eyes, hair buzzed close to his scalp.

He glanced over at me again, tearing his gaze from the revelers. “You know the official word. I’m supposed to be investigating you for all of those deaths last October.”

“And the unofficial word?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“I’m here to offer my condolences and thank you for cleaning a lot of the scum out of my city.”

I looked at him.

“Do you realize that crime in the last six months is down an insane 67% from what it was over the same period of time last year?”

I shook my head.

“Well, it is. Whoever all those beings were, and I have my suspicions, they were causing a lot of trouble. And you’re still out there, doing your thing.”

I didn’t respond. We stood in silence for a while, sizing each other up. “My official word is going to be that the Angel is nothing more than a normal human woman, a vigilante who we are going to keep an eye on, but a woman who is clearly incapable of anything more than roughing up street thugs. My official word is that there are no supernatural beings here.”

I smirked. “Lying, chief? I’m shocked. Shocked, I tell you.”

He snorted. “I’m the last word, but not everyone is going to believe me. I have a couple of guys who are hell-bent on looking into this supernatural thing, and I don’t doubt they’re going to keep poking around. I don’t think they’ll be any real trouble for you, but you should know they’re out there.”

I nodded.

“So, unofficially, thank you. Could you maybe not leave so many bodies around next time you go on a killing spree?”

I stared at him. “Are you serious?”

“Dead serious. I appreciate what you’re doing. But bodies lead to questions, and you know that those are the last things we need. When Nain was in charge, he always made sure things disappeared before questions were asked.”

“I will try to clean up my messes when I’m done playing, Chief,” I said, stuffing my hands into my coat pockets.

“Thank you.” He paused. “I am sorry about your husband. I never met Nain, but I heard about him through my family, my pack. He was respected. If you ever need the assistance of the Northside shifters, you have it.”

“Thank you.”

He sighed. “My report won’t make the general populace stop wondering about you. You’re a legend. Please watch yourself. A Normal gets a photo or god help us, video, of you in action, and nothing I can say will make that disappear.”

I nodded. “I am careful. I’ll remain so.”

“Excellent. I have to go. Take care, Angel. Don’t let these fools get you down.”

I shook his hand. “Chief, I don’t think I can feel much lower anyway.”

“I hear you. Nice meeting you.”

I nodded, and watched him walk off. Well. At least I had one less thing to worry about now.

I left, wandered the city aimlessly for the rest of the day and into the evening. Thinking. Wondering how to do everything I’m supposed to do. How to keep Shanti, Brennan, Stone, and Ada safe and happy. How to stay on top of the never-ending influx of troublemakers into the city. The chief hadn’t been wrong; I’d taken out most of the worst big bads in the city that night. The only trouble was that their deaths had left a gap, and there were plenty of beings out there who now vied for the power people like Astaroth and the Puppeteer used to have. The only difference now is that I didn’t know these new enemies. They were more likely to take me by surprise.

And then there was the gateway. Demons, Furies, things you read about in mythology books and never even once think you’ll ever come face to face with. A threat so much worse than the ones I already knew about.

Before I made my way home, I’d saved two women in the process of getting carjacked (by Normals, so it barely took any effort at all, really), taken out a warlock who’d been using local shifters in his sacrifices, and subdued a sprite who was wreaking havoc in one of the group homes on Grand Boulevard. Not a bad night’s work.

It was near dawn when I finally arrived back at the loft. Tired enough that, for once, I actually went into Nain’s room, fell into bed, and slept.

♦ ♦ ♦

The days all kind of melded into one long, endless cycle of meetings, destroying, and long  mostly sleepless nights. The only distraction from the haze of pain, violence, and anger that was my existence was Shanti.

We were working at helping her control her bloodlust, at recognizing it and taking care of it before she lost control. Brennan was training her to fight, and she seemed to really enjoy it. She’d taken a few courses after I’d found her, so she was happy to learn more. Her training and guard duty was mainly falling to Brennan and I. He handled training and was ever-watchful to make sure she was fed regularly. She was getting much better at control. I'd started working on mental shielding with her, but, for the time being, I was mainly there for her to talk and vent to. Which was funny because when we “talked,” she did all of the talking, and I mostly nodded. But, it seemed to work for her.

I watched as Brennan and Shanti finished with another late evening training in the loft. They sparred while I sat on the stairs and watched. She was getting stronger, more confident. Bren was a good teacher.

He knocked Shanti down, then helped her back up again as she grimaced. “I’m never going to beat you,” she groaned.

Brennan laughed. “Why not? You’re a vampire. You’ll give me a run for my money some day.”

She shook her head. “You’re like, a foot taller than I am and about a hundred and fifty pounds heavier. No way.”

Brennan glanced at me. “You’ve seen Molly fight.”

“That wasn’t even a fight. She had those guys down before they even knew what was  happening. And they were street thugs. Not like, uh, you.” She said, and I felt her embarrassment.

Brennan met my eyes again, raised an eyebrow. I gave a tiny nod. Knew what he was going to do.

“Well. Should we see how Molly does against me, then?” Shanti looked between Brennan and I, nodded. I got up and strolled over to the training floor. Faced Brennan, remembering the first time we’d done this.

“Rules?” I asked, smiling a little.

He smiled back. “No punching in the face.” I met his slate blue eyes, couldn’t look away. He continued, slowly, and I knew he was remembering, too.

“None of that mind control bull shit. Other than that, use what ya got,” he said, repeating words he’d said what felt like a lifetime ago. We looked at each other for a minute. We hadn’t sparred since the incident with the Puppeteer, in which she’d used Brennan and nearly killed me. He hadn’t let himself even come close to hurting me again. And I had my own issues with doing this.

I finally nodded, and we started. I got the first hit in, a punch to his gut. He grunted and swung, connecting with my side.

“You’re holding back, Molly,” he murmured.

“So are you.” I pushed him away, swung at him again.

We kept fighting, eventually loosening up. Soon, our fight became a dizzying clash of punches, kicks, shoves, and feints. Before long, we were both sweaty, and breathless, and lost in the ebb and flow of battle. I could feel how much he was enjoying it, and, to be honest, I was, too.

“Come on, Molly. Don’t make me a liar. Show her what a little woman can do to someone like me,” he said, grinning. Then he feinted and stuck his leg out, tripping me. I fell, then jumped back up. He went for me again, overbalanced, and I took advantage of it. I kicked his legs out from under him, shoved him to the ground, pulled his arm roughly behind him. I held him down, straddling his back.

He groaned in annoyance, tried to flip me off of his back. I’m little, but I’m solid. I just pulled his arm back harder.

“Hey. All right. You win,” he said, laughing. I let him go and stood up. Then I reached out and held out a hand, helped him up.

“That was good,” he said, winking at me.

“It was. Thank you for not pulling my hair this time,” I said.

“Thanks for not kicking me in the nuts. Much appreciated.”

I laughed, really laughed, surprising myself. He grinned at me, still held my hand. I turned to see Shanti watching us.

“Uh, that was crazy. I am never going to be able to do that.”

“Sure you will. You’re in good shape. You’re young. And vampires are fast and strong. You are going to be a force to be reckoned with, kiddo,” I said. Brennan nodded.

She shook her head. “Remind me not to piss either of you off. That’s all I’m gonna say.”

Brennan laughed. Shanti strolled over to the fridge, grabbed some blood, and then went up to her room. I grabbed a bottle of water and leaned against the kitchen counter, drinking it. Brennan hunted through the fridge, muttering about grocery shopping. He ended up snagging a slice of cold pizza and devoured it, standing next to me.

I heard the door lock click, and glanced that way. Ada and Stone came in, laughing. They looked up, saw Brennan and I watching, then quieted down and went their separate ways to their rooms.

Once they were gone, I glanced at Brennan. “They were embarrassed. Something is up with those two.”

His jaw dropped. “Holy crap. Do you think they’re….”

I shook my head, “NO. No way. That’s like catching your parents–”

Brennan laughed. “I bet they are. He’s been flirting with her a lot lately.”

“Seriously?”

He nodded. I glanced up toward their rooms. The rooms with a connecting bathroom. “Well, that arrangement is convenient, then,” I said. He followed my gaze and nodded.

“It’s nice that they have a chance to be happy,” he murmured. I turned to him, found his eyes on me.

“Happiness is over rated,” I said. “And temporary.”

His gaze bored into mine. “Temporary happiness is better than endless misery.”

“I disagree.”

He shook his head. “You are still in mourning. Everything looks bleak to you, and that’s normal.”

“Who says it didn’t look bleak before he died?” I asked.

He shook his head. “You know that’s crap. You had hope, believed you could make things better. You did your zombie thing after he died, and then you threw yourself into being the badass, uncontested power in this city. You haven’t let yourself just mourn. You haven’t even had time to think about–”

“Do not,” I began, aware that the building shook a little as I felt my power escalate in my irritation. “Do not suggest that I haven’t thought about what happened. It is all I think about.” I stared at him, hard.

“Did you think about this: Nain used you. He couldn’t beat Astaroth himself, and that never sat well with him. The perfect weapon came into his hands, and he used it. Have you thought of that? Because I think about it a lot, and every time I do, I wish he was here so I could kick his demonic ass.” Anger came off of him in waves, and I knew, the way I know anything, that it was not anger at me. It was for me, and it took me by surprise. Brennan is rarely angry. It freaked me out, more than anything.

“Do you think I’m a moron? Of course I’ve thought of that,” I said, and I heard the snarl in my voice. He just watched me. “Do you think I don’t know what he did? Do you seriously think that I am not spending every moment cursing myself for being so damned gullible?”

He watched me, muscle twitching in his jaw.

“Do you honestly think that I’m that clueless?” I said, more quietly. “He played me. He used me. I believe he thought it was the only way to keep me safe. Emotions do not lie. He loved me. But he lied to me and he used me to do the one thing I can’t live with. He made me kill someone I love. I will never come back from that. Not entirely.”

“I hate him nearly as much as I love him. I have never been hurt so badly in my life. This is not something you ‘get over.’ This is not something that you learn to deal with, put on a happy face so the people around you can move on. I can’t do that.”

Brennan bowed his head. “You deserve to be happy, Molly. You deserve someone worthy of someone as amazing as you.”

I laughed. It was a bitter sound, and I hated myself a little more for it. “And is that someone you, Brennan?”

He just looked at me. “I wish it was. You know that. But I’m not enough and you deserve better.”

I wanted to argue with him, tell him that the real issue was that he was far too good for someone like me, even if I could love again. “Well. Whether he’s here or not, Nain was it for me. He was a bastard. He taught me very well why falling in love is a huge mistake. It is not one I’ll make again. It clouded my judgment, and look what happened. The one person I could trust,
me
, became untrustworthy because I was distracted and stupid. That is not acceptable.”