Chapter 5

I took steps toward the gate and eased it open on silent hinges. The fire sconce on the wall nearest my head didn't reach that far, and none of the others were lit since I'd sealed this area of the house off. I had no purpose for anything down there since it had ended life as I knew it two years ago. Even my bedroom, full of girlish things like silly witch hats and nail polish and who I used to be, had been left untouched.

After inhaling a shallow breath, I puffed the fire sconce, and green flames lit the four other sconces along the hallway walls. I followed, trying to separate the clicking from the crackling fire and the thundering blood between my ears, past my bedroom door to another.

My littlest brother's room. Jake. He would've been seven this year.

If I wanted to know what was tapping, I would have to open this door, and I really, really didn't want to do that. The barbed wire nailed in strips along the walls covered most of the button that would open the door, but if I slid my elbow through it just right, I could do it. And I had to, because otherwise, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that something lurked in my brother's room. It still didn't change the fact that I didn't want to.

I gathered the sleeve of my sweater out of the way, elbow pointed out. Leaning in, I promised to pinpoint the sound and assure myself it wasn't another psycho fae killer before Jake's maple tree smell and the sight of all his toys gutted me from the inside out. One second, two tops, then I would seal the room again like it needed to be.

The skin at my elbow pinched the seam between the black-painted wall and the button because of my weird angle through the barbed wire. Then the doorbell rang.

My yelp morphed into a pained cry as I jerked back, yanking my wrist along the barbed wire. I fell back against the opposite wall, hugging both arms to myself to quell the stinging and the bleeding. The photos hanging next to me jumped and clattered. The smiling family who once lived inside those wooden picture frames had been wiped away with black, the type of magic and the literal color, just like everything in the rest of this goddamned house.

It was too late for deliveries, and Ty knew better than to just drop by. Now my hackles were seriously fucking raised.

Inside Jake's room, the tapping grew louder.

I backed away from his closed door and down the hallway toward the living room. Something didn't feel right about this. Not at all. I eyed Nasty on the couch, then ticked my gaze to the kitchen and the back door. One fae had broken in despite my parents' careful charms, spells, and herbs of protection, and that fae happened to be a malevolent psycho killer. Who was to say it wouldn't happen again?

It was time to go. To Ty's or Hell Here. I would dig my own snow fort if I had to, though it might turn into my own grave. Anywhere was better than this house. I scrambled for Nasty and then my coat, still on the floor by the front door. As soon as I drew closer to it, a sonic boom shook my entire house and rattled everything from my feet to my teeth. The force knocked me down and sparked an explosion of stars when my head hit the blackened tiles.

I lay there, gasping, while everything inside me screamed to get up and run. Because I'd heard that sound once before. Magic that powerful cost serious credits, more than I had ever seen on an atern, and was meant for serious destruction of a home's protective magic. Someone really wanted inside. Probably not to talk about my interior decorating skills.

Shrugging on my coat, I pushed to my feet, my head spinning with a mess of wine and terror, and raced back to the living room. A shadow passed behind the sheer, blackened curtains toward the front door. Tall, thin, walking with a razor sharp stick up her ass. Of course it was one of the Diamond Dogs. Of course it was.

But why were they here? What did they want with me? Sure, I hacked the Isa fae computer network, but why were they so interested now after four years of steady clients looking for an information borrower? Did they really have no one better to give their swift and bloody brand of justice to?

I grabbed Nasty then dashed past the hallway, trying and failing to snap the buttons on my coat with a sliced open forearm and shit hands, while straining my ears for the tapping sound in Jake's room. Still there. Even louder.

One Diamond at the front door. The second maybe down the hallway breaking into his room. And the third?

Glass smashed as soon as I turned toward the kitchen. The window above the table, gone. Between the spiked points of remaining glass stood Claudia, with snow twinkling on her blonde hair as brightly as the diamond collar around her throat. Her smoky wings darkened the night with their rippling beats and pushed in her weird fish smell.

She crouched on the windowsill and blew the fennel seeds that were meant to repel intruders away as if they were nothing but dust. Her dark red lips puckered, and a shrill whistle sounded. A door hissed open from the direction of the hallway followed by a sharp, dog-like yelp as it hit the barbed wire.

I summoned a smile, one I hoped radiated the confidence I didn't feel. "I got this place wired for bitches like you."

She looked distastefully down at the empty bottles scattered everywhere in the kitchen. "You only wish you were half as clever as you think you are, Hadley. Now, why don't you tell me why you suddenly met with Ty Brunoch after two years of self-imposed solitary confinement in"-she looked around, her whole face screwing up with disgust-"this shithole. Seriously, what is wrong with you?"

The front door creaked open. I had a feeling I would soon be joined by another Diamond Dog, and I needed some kind of plan. Maybe I could outrun them. Maybe I could go to Ty's to warn him that he was likely in danger, too. Shit. Why hadn't I just stayed indoors like I always did, safe, secure, and with no pants?

When I glanced up again, Claudia had one leg swung over the windowsill. I didn't think about speed or how much this would hurt or if it would even work. I just moved.

With Nasty still clutched to one side, I forearmed an empty bottle off the table and bolted toward the back door.

Onen, I commanded, and it flew open.