Lost Soul (DarkWorld: SkinWalker Book 2) (31 page)

I raised an eyebrow and waited.
Logan looked like he wanted to avoid telling me but something told me I needed to know. "What is it?"

After a long pause he said, "It's Brand."

"What about the jerk?" My skin still rippled with disgust at the thought of the slick murdering bastard.

"He's escaped." Logan didn't pull any punches. The words dropped on me like fiery hot stones.

"What?" I leaned forward, food forgotten. "What about all your fancy security?" I couldn't help the accusation in my voice.

"We're not sure what happened. The supervisor is convinced there's a mole in the police department."

"What if there is a mole in Omega?" The words left my mouth before I realized the ramifications. But I was stretching my worry a little. Grams' mole wouldn't do this. Brand must have a contact who helped spring him. How else would he have gotten out?

Logan spoke, reminding me I'd asked him a question. "We're not sure where the leak is. Both Omega and the CPD are investigating."

I was silent for a moment. "This isn't good."

"Damn straight it isn't. You're not safe."

I glared at him. "You are so not going to throw police protection at me."

"How else do you expect me to keep you safe?"

"I can take care of myself. And besides, what makes you think he'll come looking for me? Doesn't he have a drug ring to head up? Won't he go straight underground?"

"We don't think so. The assumption is that he would come for you first. You are unfinished business."

I snorted and swung my legs to the floor. "Let him come. He'll get more than he bargained for."

"You aren't in any condition to defend yourself." He raised an eyebrow and scanned me head to toe.

"I'm fine. The Wraith poison is gone. It's no longer draining my strength. The tranquilizer is gone too—my metabolism has probably processed it fully by now. In fact, I feel totally fine. Better than ever actually." I got to my feet to prove my point, and for a moment, I feared I'd be proven wrong and keel over in a dead faint, but I didn't. I really was fine. Strong and healthy once again. I grinned. "Let's eat."

Logan looked at me strangely but didn't protest. He just followed Tara into the kitchen, his shoulders stiff, the cords in his neck taut.

He knew when he'd lost an argument.

***

Logan was on tenterhooks as the three of us left Tara's. He insisted on walking me straight home.

"I can walk myself home, you know." I tried to assure him. "Plus, I have Lily."

Lily nodded.

"I know you can, but I don't trust Brand." He scanned my face, his eyes shadowed with worry. "How are you feeling?"

"Fabulous actually. I'm a little surprised at how good I feel. I guess I realize now how much the poison had affected me these past few weeks." I frowned, thinking about my trip to the Greylands. "Even while I was in the Greylands, the poison managed to take a huge toll on me, but I didn't let it control me. It's the same with Brand. Yes, he's free, but I'm not going to allow him to control my every move. Then he wins."

"Still, I'm putting a car outside your apartment and I want you to call me when you need to go out. Just until we know where he is and what he's planning." Logan touched my arm. "Okay?"

"Fine. Do what you have to. But it doesn't mean I have to like it." I snapped, not caring if he was hurt by my attitude. All he wanted to do was to protect me. But I'd never liked being coddled.

And now as we walked the few blocks to my apartment, the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand on end. Lily and I both glanced at each other. She'd smelled it too. We settled into a comfortable silence while Logan checked his messages. I let my panther hearing loose, allowed my sense of smell to expand.

We were being followed. The footfall of the stalker was soft, controlled, as if they knew just how to prevent someone from hearing them. His breathing was even, calm. His heartbeat remained steady, unaffected. Whoever he was, he was certainly well in control of his senses. He knew what he was doing and confidence emanated from him in much the same way as the stink of him.

Leopard Walker stink.

Logan didn't know how right he was, but I wasn't planning on telling him. Brand was mine to deal with. Brand and I definitely had unfinished business. Unfinished business that did not have anything to do with Logan.

This time I meant to finish it.

We neared my apartment and I paused outside to tell Logan not to worry to come inside. Instead, he cut me off. "I'm coming up, Kai."

I snorted. "It's not as if you can smell if anyone is inside my apartment, you know."

"It doesn't matter. I'm still the one with the gun."

"I have a weapon too." I tapped my lower thigh, pointing at my boots where I always strapped my daggers. These days I never left home without them.

Logan just grunted and hurried up the stairwell to my floor. At the door he glanced over his shoulder. "Panther power please."

I rolled my eyes but let my senses loose. Safety first. "It's empty."

"Good," he said as he used his key and entered the apartment. I followed him inside and after a quick scan of the still empty apartment he turned to me. "I have to go but I'll be back later."

"You go do your thing. I told you I was fine." I folded my arms and glared at him but I couldn't really be angry. Lily shut the door behind him and we went to the window that opened onto the street outside the front of the building. Sure enough, a shadow lurked in the entrance of the opposite building. I peered through the netting but he didn't move. Clearly, he planned to stay and watch my movements. Was he waiting for me to leave the apartment or was he planning on breaking in after dark?

I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. I grabbed my satchel and threw in my scimitar and my bow. A part of me said I was wasting my time with the weapons, even while I tried to imagine finding a place from which to shoot him from a distance.

I glanced up at Lily. "You come as far as the street then you go home. Brand is too powerful for you." I spoke a little too harshly, but I was worried about Lily. With their history, Brand was the last person she needed to meet face-to-face right now.

I went to the window again. The shadow still lurked across the street. I moved away from the curtain and beckoned Lily to follow me out the apartment. Locking up, we headed down the stairs to the back entrance. Would he have had someone watch the alley?

I had to try.

Shoving the door open a tiny bit, I glanced outside, letting my Walker senses out to check the alley. Sure enough, a Walker lurked at the alley entrance. He was looking out into the street, his hands in his pockets, the hood of his jacket hiding his face. I slipped out the door and motioned for Lily to follow. I closed it as quietly as possible behind us. A dumpster, an old car, and a bunch of trashcans were my only hurdles.

I watched the guy, then ducked behind the dumpster, calling for Lily to do the same with a quick flick of my head. I watched Brand's guy, knowing I couldn't tackle him where someone could possibly see us. I needed to get him to come to me. Peering around the dumpster, I looked around for something to throw.

Nothing.

Then I glanced at the metal door I'd just exited. I raised my booted foot and kicked it hard. Hard enough for the metal to vibrate and ring loudly. I drew my bow from my back and checked it for ammo. This time I'd loaded Walker ammo, a poison strong enough to kill a Walker—tamping down a twinge of guilt. And I was prepared to use it even though this was one of Brand's thugs and not the bastard himself.

I listened, waiting to hear the footfalls of Brand's guy. And it didn't take him too long to come investigate. His shoes hit the concrete of the alley as he drew closer—louder and louder until he was around the corner of the dumpster. I tucked myself against the wall with Lily scrunched behind me and waited, finger on the trigger, until he turned the corner and looked at the door.

His attention had first been drawn to the door and not me, sitting not five feet from it. I raised the bow and aimed it at him. The movement drew his attention to me and his eyes rounded in surprise, then horror.

I pulled the trigger, and an instant later, he lurched backward, stepping slowly toward the far wall. His back hit the wall and he looked down at the front of his chest. He gaped at his chest where hundreds of tiny poison-tipped darts were embedded. Little drops of blood began to leak into the fabric of his hoodie, converging together into a large stain.

Lily made a soft, squeaking sound behind me.

He held a hand to his chest, gasped, then slid slowly down the wall until he sat, legs akimbo, against the moldy brick. I blinked and watched as the life fled from his eyes and his head lolled forward, his arm slipping into his lap.

I swallowed. What had I just done? I'd just killed a Walker. One of my own. And even though I knew he'd have killed me on the spot given half a chance, it didn't make me feel one iota better. I gave him one last glance and tore my eyes off his corpse.

The alley was still empty and I got to my feet and tucked my bow back into my bag. I peered around the dumpster in case Brand ha
d decided to come looking for his goon. I crooked a finger at Lily and she followed. We crept to the corner of the wall and looked right, up the street. Clear. I didn't bother going any farther to check if Brand was still watching. I knew he'd still be there.

I pointed a finger across the street, meeting Lily's defiant stare. She let out an exasperated breath and walked off, her shoulders tight. She was mad at me, but I could take it. Brand was not the kind of Walker she needed to mess with.

Spinning on my heel, I headed down the block away from my apartment. I made a right and crossed the street, hurrying into the first alley on my right. I went straight through and met the street on the other side. A good place to keep an eye on Brand. Heading to the entrance of the alley, I peered around the edge, looking right again and made out Brand's shadow. He still stood where I'd seen him from my apartment window. He seemed happy to wait too. No pacing, no fidgeting. Just calm stillness, like a leopard waiting for his prey.

I snorted and settled against the wall to watch him. Shadows lengthened and darkness fell. A chill set in but I didn't pay too much attention. At around eight, he headed across the street and into my building. I gave him five minutes and it took almost exactly that before he came racing out the entrance and round the block, heading for the alley.

Moments later, he hurried back up the street, crossed the intersection, and headed down the block, away from my apartment and away from me. He seemed unaffected by the death of his thug.

Typical.

I left a fair distance between us. I wasn't afraid to lose him. All I needed to do was track him by smell.

As he led me deeper into the abandoned part of town, past the red-light district where the absence of the under-aged prostitute was clearly obvious, toward the abandoned warehouses, I knew where he was taking me. Back to where he'd last had me dangling from chains, where he would have had me for dinner, literally, had it not been for Logan and his excellent timing.

He walked ahead, neither fast nor slow, seemingly sure of himself, not looking at all like the vicious criminal he was. Brand had always been suave, so I wasn't surprised.

I stopped at the last corner and watched him enter the building. He turned to look up and down the street before entering the building and pulling the wooden door closed, leaving it slightly ajar as he disappeared inside the warehouse.

Shrouded in darkness I didn't need to worry about being seen. Even if he'd used his leopard night-vision, he wouldn't have seen me peering around the corner.

Night fell heavily around me and the lack of streetlights in this part of town didn't help any. I felt the weight of my cell-phone in my pocket, urging me to give Logan a call. I bit my lip. Should I call Logan or maybe Lily? I struck Lily off my mental list. She was mad at me but I preferred she stay mad and alive

I tapped Logan's number and waited for his answer.

"Logan, I need backup." I just cut to the chase.

"Kai, what's wrong?"

"I'm outside Brand's warehouse in the abandoned quarter."

"What the hell, Kai. I thought I told you to stay put." He growled, his annoyance clear in his voice. I could almost see him wipe his face in frustration.

"He was outside the apartment. When he left, I followed him. I didn't want to lose him. What was I supposed to do?"

"Fine. It doesn't matter now." Logan snapped. "Stay where you are. I'm on my way."

He cut the call without waiting for my answer. Not like I was going to agree with him. He'd better get his ass here fast or I was going in. A little niggle of doubt worried me. The last time I didn't wait for him, I almost got myself killed. It was all a bit too déjà vu for me.

This time, I intended to wait. I leaned against the wall and kept an eye on the warehouse.

***