Devon Monk - Hell Bent

“I know you’re awake, Shamus,” Jeremy said. “Don’t make me shoot you to prove it to my men.”

I opened my eyes, tipped my head back. He wasn’t holding a gun, but the four other guys around me were.

Bullets are faster than magic. Even my magic.

“Some reason why you don’t want to face me alone, Jeremy?” I asked. “That’s an awful lot of firepower for a junkie piece of crap like me, don’t you think?”

He was a good five feet away from me, and didn’t come any nearer. “You have two options here.” He started like I hadn’t even been talking. “You either leave town, leave Terric, and leave me the hell alone, or we will kill you.”

I rolled a shoulder and wondered if that blast of electricity and the drugs Eli had shot me up with were going to get in the way of me killing this prick.

“Really?” I said. “Is this how you Black Crane lads take care of your problems? Threats in department stores? Does anyone ever fall for that?”

Jeremy’s eyes narrowed. “I could kill you before you took another breath.”

“What’s stopping you?” I asked. Really, I was curious.

From the fear that slipped across his eyes, I suddenly knew what it was. He wasn’t sure I’d die. After all, I carried Death magic in my bones and that hadn’t killed me. He probably thought a bullet or two wouldn’t work either.

He’d be wrong.

I hoped.

“Let’s get this straight,” he said. “I am giving you one chance to get out of my sight, and out of our territory.”

“I don’t think Terric would like that,” I said.

“Terric isn’t your concern.”

“Well, you’re wrong about that, mate. Terric is my concern. As a matter of fact”—I pushed up onto my feet to the accompaniment of his boys racking the slides and lifting their weapons toward my head—“you have suddenly made yourself my concern. This is not a good move on your part.”

I didn’t wait for him to threaten me again. I didn’t wait for him to snap his fingers so his minions would blow my brains out.

I let the monster free. Death magic lashed out, dark whips hooking tightly into each gunman, cutting down to bone, piercing organs. The rush of drawing on their lives rocked through me in a wave of adrenaline and orgasmic need.

In that split second, four men collapsed to the floor, unconscious, while Jeremy was reaching for the inside of his jacket.

“You pull a gun, and I will kill you,” I said. No more nice. The monster in me was lapping down those men’s lives, even while Eleanor was standing in front of me yelling at me to stop. I wasn’t listening. I wanted more. I wanted Jeremy.

Jeremy smiled. Just half of his mouth cut upward to gave a quick flash of teeth. He wasn’t a stranger to death. Didn’t look afraid of me now. “What would Terric say if you killed me?”

“‘My boyfriend? Again?’”

Okay, that was worth it. He blinked. All that smugness drained away.

“Here’s how this goes,” I said, strolling over to him. “You are going to go back to your bosses, and tell them that if the Black Crane crosses my path, or the path of any one of my friends, I will take it as a personal insult, and I will kill every single person involved in the organization. Every last person. You will tell them that Terric is no longer their toy. They, and you, are no longer allowed anywhere near him. You will tell them that I am watching and that I would be delighted—” I licked my lips and one of the men on the floor screamed and writhed. “—to remove them all, permanently, from this world.”

“You think you have the power here?” His voice shook a little, but he managed some scorn. “Go home to your bottle, Shamus. You’re nothing.”

I nodded, thought about just how easy it would be to kill him, how easy it would be to kill whatever was left of those men on the floor.

Eleanor stood in front of me and pushed her hand on my chest.

No, in my chest. Until her icy fingers wrapped around my heart.

Ow.

She shook her head and then pointed at the unconscious gunmen. Alive. Maybe alive. I didn’t care.

But looking away from Jeremy gave him the time to pull his gun.

Well, that was stupid of me. Stupid of him too, come to think of it.

“You’re a dead man, Shamus.”

I laughed. He didn’t know how true that was.

The fear rolling off him was palpable. He was sweating so hard I didn’t know how he kept hold of the gun.

I reached out with magic.

His finger twitched. Bullets are fast. The silencer smothered the explosion.

Pain blew through my upper arm, as his shot went wide.

Jesus.

Eleanor was already on him, both hands around his gun hand. He stiffened from her icy touch, his eyes wide as his hand went numb.

I tore the gun from his useless hand, pulled the clip, and threw it across the warehouse. The pain in my left arm was excruciating, but I fed it to the Death magic inside me, pain from dying cells, torn nerves, ripped muscle, broken skin feeding my hunger.

A wash of pleasure rippled through me. It was wonderful. Also, nauseating.

“Wrong decision,” I said to Jeremy.

Eleanor let go of his hand and advanced on me, angry. She mouthed, No , then Terric and Now .

Crap. I had no idea how long I’d been gone. I didn’t want Terric to find me here, killing his boyfriend. He had said Victor wanted us right away. He must be looking for me by now.

Plus, I was bleeding.

“So,” I said, “this was fun. You trying to kill me. But if you ever get in my way again, you’ll be dead. I promise you that, mate.”

I turned, started walking, and threw his gun in a trash can. “Do tell your bosses what I said.”

“Fuck you.”

I lashed out with magic and slapped his heart. Hard.

Heard him groan, then retch. Served the bastard right. I hoped he was having a seizure.

I pushed through the doors, then stuck one hand over my arm to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t as bad as I expected. I think Death magic had cauterized it.

I took a little more care watching the people around me and finally headed outside again.

Just in case there were more gunmen watching me, I paused outside the front of the store and pulled the statue out of the bag I’d somehow kept ahold of, trying to look casual. There was a lot of blood drying on my hand.

No gunmen I could see. I scanned for signs of Dessa. If she was following me, she had gotten good at staying out of my line of sight.

Eleanor touched the back of my hand and pointed at the car. She hadn’t seen any other gunmen either.

I lit a cigarette and crossed the parking lot. Eleanor stayed at a distance from me. She was still angry about me almost killing those men. I didn’t know what to do about that.

I ducked into Terric’s car. Chucked the UGGs in the backseat, then twisted and carefully propped the statue in the seat for Eleanor. “I’m sorry,” I said to her.

She sat next to the statue and shook her head, her eyes sad. She didn’t like it when I lost control.

“Then don’t smoke in my car,” Terric said.

“You made me wear those things.” I turned back around and rolled down the window so I could exhale smoke. “You have to deal with the terrible, terrible trauma they caused me.”

“For God’s sake, Shame. UGG trauma?”

“Look at my hands. They’re shaking.” I held my hand out and rocked it slowly back and forth.

“You have blood on your hand.”

“And on your sweater. Sorry about that.”

“What happened? Are you bleeding?”

“Just a nick. My arm. Besides, aren’t we late?”

“What. Happened.”

“I ran into Jeremy.”

“And?”

“We had a discussion.”