been pushed out of my mind. He'd been sent a location in Hemlock City and we had to be there at seven pm to be picked up and taken to the club.
Nerves warred in my stomach, but there was a quiet kind of determination which had settled over me too. I hadn't said much since he'd given me the news. I was stewing on my hate for these people and the monster who lurked amongst them who was responsible for dragging my father into the events that had led to his death. The one responsible for releasing the Hades Virus and killing thousands upon thousands of innocents. For dad, for them, for Blake's mom, I'd fight to bring them down.
I dressed in ripped jeans and a black crop top in Saint’s closet then took a moment to take out Dad’s ashes which I kept wrapped in one of my sweaters behind a rack of coats. Saint never moved it and Rebecca never touched it and that was all I needed to know about Saint’s respect for the matter. I tugged open the pink sweater my dad had bought me a few years ago and hugged the urn to my chest.
“I’m gonna find out who’s responsible,” I whispered, vowing it to him. “And I’m going to fucking destroy them.”
I could almost hear my dad’s laugh for a moment, the way he grinned at me when I swore like that. He’d had a filthier mouth than me and I was sure if I could speak to him now, he’d be cursing the assholes who caused his death far more colourfully than I could manage.
I placed him back away, wrapping him up in my sweater again before turning and pulling on my bike leathers. I headed out of the closest, walking downstairs and Kyan met me at the base, looking seriously appetising in his own set of leathers.
“Well aren’t you a treat,” he growled, grabbing me by the hips and yanking me off the bottom step before kissing me hungrily.
Saint cleared his throat in irritation and as Kyan stepped away I found him, Blake and Monroe all lined up by the door.
“What’s this, a receiving line?” I teased and Blake smirked, but the other two kept their deadly serious expressions intact.
We approached Saint first and he held out a medical facemask to Kyan. “Don’t take stupid risks.”
“Yeah…I’m not wearing that. I’ve got my bike helmet then we’ll be wearing masks into the club anyways,” Kyan said with a shrug.
Saint narrowed his gaze. “Have you got the earpieces in?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. He’d gotten us some high-tech, top of the range, military grade, stupidly expensive communication devices which would apparently go undetected by a bug or spyware detector so that we could all stay in touch while we were out there. It made me feel like a real life spy or an operative or like some really badass superhero with a team of agents at my back. Or maybe I was just trying to convince myself of that so that the nerves didn’t freak me the fuck out, but either way, knowing we would be in contact with the other Night Keepers throughout this whole thing was weirdly reassuring.
“Good,” Saint shoved the face mask at Kyan again. “Take it in case you need it. You could always wear it beneath your mask.”
“I could, but that would be overkill.” He grinned at Saint, slapping his cheek a few times patronisingly. “Are you worried about me, sweetums?”
Saint glowered at him, saying nothing but it was clear he was worried. As Kyan moved along, punching Blake and Monroe in turn for putting on this line-up for us, I took the mask from Saint’s hand and tucked it in my pocket with a wink.
His mouth tugged up at one corner and I reached forward, kissing his cheek before moving on to Blake and leaving his smile growing.
Blake kissed me like we were about to charge into battle and I wasn’t going to return. I was breathless and had sore lips by the time he released me and I moved towards Monroe.
“Take care of her,” he spoke to Kyan, his expression becoming dark.
“I won’t let her out of my sight,” he growled and the other three nodded, making me roll my eyes, though it was admittedly kind of cute.
“Nothing bad will happen,” I promised, wishing I could kiss Monroe goodbye too. The way he was looking at my mouth said the feeling was mutual.
“Naw, baby, a lot of