Blood of a Phoenix (The Nix Series Book 2) Read online

  I stared at the words.

  Can you finish this joke?

  Knock, knock.

  Who’s there?

  Banana peel.

  Banana peel who?

  Tears prickled in my eyes as I whispered the answer. “Banana peel Bear, that’s who.”

  The joke made zero sense. I’d come up with it when I was little, and thought it was hilarious, repeating it all the time. The only two people who knew this joke were my parents.

  Which meant they were still alive. And I could only guess why my grandfather had taken me from them. When I’d first opened my eyes after the accident, I’d been on a plane and he’d been sitting beside me. He’d explained what had happened and who he was. I thought he would love me, and as much as I hurt for losing my mom and dad, I thought things would be okay.

  I was wrong, and I learned quickly my grandfather was not anything like my mom or dad, which meant there was no way I would ask him about my parents still being alive. Because if they were alive, he’d lied to me for some reason.

  I tucked the note under my mattress. I just had to wait, and they would come for me. They would get me out of here. I knew it in my heart of hearts. They’d sent Abe to keep me safe until they could come. I closed my eyes and hugged Abe again, burying my nose deeply in his fur. I could pretend I was back at home, that I’d just had a bad dream and soon I would wake up.

  The door to my room boomed as something—a fist, I guessed—slammed into it several times, shattering my moment of peace. Abe let out a long low growl and stiffened under my hands. I slipped his collar off and stuffed it under the bed right before the door swung open.

  My grandfather stood there, glowering at me. “I told you not to leave the school grounds, Bear. That it was not safe for you to do.”

  I stared up at him. “I thought . . .” The lie built up quickly and flowed from my lips, because if he didn’t want me to know that my parents were alive, then what would he do to cover it up? “I thought this was my old dog. He looks like him. Please, please can I keep him? I’ll take care of him. There are other animals in the dorms. Billy has a dog, too.” Mind you, Billy’s dog was not even half the size of Abe, but I wasn’t about to point out that detail. I would do anything if I could keep Abe.

  Grandfather glared at me, his dark eyes so like my own, the depths of them unreadable. There was no doubt we were related, and more than one person had thought he was my father.

  He was nothing like my father.

  I swallowed hard, fighting the tears, still feeling his slap when I’d cried that first night he’d taken me to his home. “I’ll never ask for anything else again. I promise. Please. I’ll never step foot off the grounds again.”

  Grandfather stared hard. “He could have rabies. We need to take him to the vet if you’re going to keep him.”

  I smiled up at him, happiness blooming in me like I hadn’t felt in months, and hope that maybe he was softening toward me, that maybe he didn’t know my parents were alive. Maybe it was just a mistake. “Thank you.”

  He didn’t smile back, and my stomach tightened. But it would be okay, because we were taking Abe to the vet, and a vet would not hurt an animal.

  I stood and followed Grandfather out. Abe heeled beside me as he’d done for as long as I could remember. I dropped my hand to his thick coat and buried my fingers into it. For the first time since the nightmare that had started at Christmas, I had hope it might come to an end and I could feel my parents hold me once more. I just had to be patient. They would come for me.

  I would never doubt them again.

  Phoenix

  If my father could make a deal with the devil, why couldn’t I? At least the devil I dealt with was mortal and if I had to, I could kill him. Mancini smiled as he opened the door to the limo to let me out, as if he already knew what I was thinking. For all I knew, he could. Abnormals and magic were as unpredictable as the weather in hurricane alley, and could be as deadly.

  We were back at the airstrip where this had started, and all the abnormals that had been with Mancini were gone.

  All except Simon who paced back and forth until I stepped out of the limo. His eyes went past me to the interior of the limo. “Where’s Abe?”

  The fact that he asked about Abe right off the bat, and didn’t bother to ask if I was okay, may have won him some points back in his favor. May have.

  “Gone,” was all I said.

  Dinah and Eleanor were remarkably silent. I thought for sure Dinah would have something to say; she normally did. Especially after that outburst about Mancini and my sister. That would be a conversation we would have later.

  “You have my help, as much as I am able,” Mancini said. “Your father convinced the Collective to put an open bounty on your head. I can pull back some of the deadlier abnormals, but the rest will be looking for you, and I cannot stop them all, despite what you have likely been led to believe.”

  I kept my eyes on him and his dancing irises. “Where are the Yakuza setting up their home base, and what is the Ikimono drug?” I had ideas, and if I were to guess, I would have said somewhere on the West Coast seeing as port cities were good for moving things around. Port cities were popular for criminal activity, having easy access to get away from the law and into international waters.

  “I don’t know where they are,” Mancini said. “I believe your husband knew, though.”

  His words snapped through me. “You know about the coded papers?”

  He gave a half shrug. “I suspected. Justin was on my radar, as was Noah. They were going after Romano, so where I could, I helped them.”

  “Let me guess,” I took a step toward him, “you don’t have a code breaker.”

  “No, the name Barron gave you is the only code breaker worth her myst on this side of the world. She’ll be able to help you decode the paper, and send you on the right path for the Yakuza. End Genzo, his Yakuza and the drug, and you will send a blow straight to your father.”

  “What does it do?” I repeated the question, noting that he’d avoiding answering the first time.

  He arched an eyebrow. “It makes monsters, Phoenix.”

  Simon sucked in a sharp breath but said nothing.

  I kept my eyes on Mancini. “Monsters.”

  His eyes jigged. “And as I mentioned, I will get your boy back to you at the point where you have destroyed everything.”

  I stared hard at him, thinking about how this little derailment had cost me both in time and emotional strength. And yet I understood it from his side, as much as I hated to do so. Mancini had clinched my support by showing me Bear, by allowing me to see a glimmer of my son. And I understood that without Mancini and the Collective backing me, I would likely never see my boy again.

  Steel formed around my spine as I smiled, slowly. “If anything happens to my son while I am on this hunt, I will personally peel your skin from your body with my teeth.”

  Behind me Simon gave a low groan, but it was Eleanor who spoke.

  “She could do it, Mancini. You know she could, you know.”

  Mancini’s eyes dipped to the holster on my side. “Your guns . . . we will discuss them and their abilities. Once this is done.”

  “Over tea and crumpets?” I arched an eyebrow. There was one last thing that would allow me to walk away when I was this close to Bear, when I wanted nothing more than to hijack the limo, drive to the school, and scoop my son into my arms. The only thing that would allow me to keep moving forward. “I’m going to send Zee to you. And you will find a way to get him in that school as a custodian or teacher. Do you understand me?”

  Mancini laughed. “If that is your price, I can make it happen. Mr. Preston won’t like it, and if you recall, he said he would not help you. We did not end our business on good terms.”

  “You don’t hurt him, and you don’t hurt Bear. He won’t do this for me, but he will do it for Bear.” The words were hard, like ice falling from my lips.

  Mancini held out his hand and I
took it. His fingers closed around mine and those dancing eyes of his flickered and bobbed faster and faster. I stared him down. Weird-ass eyes were not the worst of what I’d seen in my years dealing in abnormals and myst.

  “I do not scare you at all, do I?” Mancini seemed amused.

  I kept my eyes on his. “Do I scare you? I should.”

  We stood there, his hand wrapped around mine, and the world faded away. If I didn’t know better, I would have said he was testing me, seeing if I would break from his touch. I let the emptiness that allowed me to kill with ease slide over my heart and soul. That emptiness had saved me more than once. It rose in me and spread outward like a black flame that reached for Mancini. I would destroy him if I had to.

  He laughed and let my hand go. “I am no mind reader, Phoenix. But I believe you will survive this. The plane will take you back to Seattle.” He dipped his hand into his coat pocket and then flipped a phone out to me. I caught it in midair.

  “Fancy.”

  “It is preset with numbers that may be of use to you, including my own.”

  I tucked it into my back pocket. “And set to self-destruct if anyone but me touches it?”

  Mancini turned away. “Your sense of humor . . . I like it. But not all abnormals will, Phoenix. Send Zee to me. He will look after your boy. You will deal with the Yakuza, and then we will see your father pay for his crimes, and put that young man of yours back into your life. Yes?”

  I noted that he left Killian Fannin off the list of things to do before my father. “Why did you kill Barron?”

  Mancini paused. “You don’t know?”

  “He said you killed him because you caught wind he worked for Killian.” I watched Mancini’s back. He didn’t turn, but spoke over his shoulder.

  “Perhaps you should talk to Killian about who took the hit out on Barron. Just because it looked like my men, does not make it so. I can share those who work for me, contrary to what people will say. Killian, though . . . he does not share well with others.” He gave me one last look before he slid into his limo and the long dark car pulled away.

  I watched him go, thinking while doing my best not to let my heart take over and send me running back into the city. Bear was alive. My son was alive and I was going to walk away from him.

  He was so close . . . but I knew he was, for the moment, safer there than with me. I would never take him along on a job like this where it would mean certain death for him. Romano wanted Bear alive, and would watch over him because he was a prize. I just had to keep reminding myself of that fact.

  “What the ever-living fuck was all that about? How did you stand there and just stare him down? No one makes eye contact with Mancini.” Simon paced around me and I spun toward him. He was just out of reach. Apparently, he was smarter than he looked.

  “You drugged me and took me to him. And I’m not sure if I want to kill you or thank you.”

  He stopped moving and stared at me. “You don’t want to kill me?”

  I took a couple steps until we were close enough that if I reached out I could have driven a fist into his solar plexus, and by the tensing of his muscles, he knew it.

  “Mancini and I are going to work together to bring down Romano.”

  Simon frowned. “You gave up Abe, and you don’t seem torn up about it. Why not? Even I know where that dog ranked in your life. Far above any of the people. Above me, for sure.”

  I turned from him and walked toward the plane. “Are the pilots ready to fly?”

  “I don’t think they want to, but they will.” Simon hurried to catch up to me. “Are you going to tell me what Mancini offered you? What does he have on you?”

  The plane had been cleaned in the time I had been with Mancini. Any indication of the blinding stuff, or the gag jam, was gone; the man I’d knocked out was also missing. I sat in one of the seats and leaned back.

  “We went for a drive. It turns out that Romano did not have my son killed. But he made sure I thought that was the case.” I looked up in time to see Simon’s jaw drop open.

  He sucked in a sharp breath before he spoke. “Your boy is alive?”

  “Bear is alive,” I said softly. “And to keep him that way, we are going to take on Genzo, his Yakuza, and something called Ikimono. It’s a new myst they created.”

  “You think it’s like Diva?” Simon sat across from me.

  Diva had increased the user’s speed and strength, making a normal become superhuman for a short time with no side effects. Perhaps some people would get off on it, but I had drunk three of the vials and gotten nothing but the speed and strength, and even that had drained off ridiculously fast.

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t think it’s like Diva. If Mancini wants this Ikimono destroyed, then it is truly bad shit.”

  “Any idea what it does?”

  I closed my eyes, and the plane’s engines began to turn over. “Nope.”

  “So, what’s the plan?”

  “You still coming with me, I suppose?” I opened one eye to look at him. He nodded. He could have passed me in the street and not be noticed, but I realized now that was part of his abilities. Like he had some talent with subtle Hiding which would make sense, being a chameleon. The ability to blend in would keep an abnormal alive and free of men like Mancini and Romano a long time if they chose.

  “Yes.” He grimaced. “Part of the deal for me with Mancini. I help you in whatever way I can.”

  Which meant he didn’t really want to be there. Good to know.

  I closed my eyes. “Tell me when we get close to landing.” My body was exhausted even though my mind was in overdrive. Bear was alive, my boy was not out of reach, and I had only a little longer before I could hold him again.

  “Hang on, baby,” I whispered. “I’m coming for you.”

  Chapter Seven

  I slept on the plane nearly all the way to Seattle, dogged by only one dream. Bear running toward me but stumbling right before we touched. Over and over, it played in my head and each time we got a little closer, our fingers just out of reach of one another.

  A groan slid from me when I opened my eyes. We were in our descent and my body lifted partially out of my seat as we dropped fast. I glanced at Simon as I fought to buckle myself in. “Any particular reason we are dive bombing out of the fucking sky?”

  He laughed. “Feels like it because it’s smaller than one of those big behemoths that can hold, what is it, a thousand people?”

  “Or maybe something is chasing us again?” I offered.

  “Yeah, could be that, too.” Simon grunted.

  I gritted my teeth and gripped the arm rests. The plane shuddered as the wheels dropped and I relaxed into my seat. I wasn’t afraid of flying, but even I didn’t like this shake and rattle we had going on. The plane tipped to the left, righted itself and dropped again. I looked at Simon who happened to be about as white a fresh snowfall on the trees back home. A mean streak opened wide in me. He was afraid of flying, was he?

  “We’re going to die,” I whispered. “We’re going to be blown out of the sky.”

  His head whipped sideways. “Shut the fuck up.”

  My lips twitched. “A horrible, burning death as we plummet faster and—” the nose of the plane dipped down, “toward the tarmac until we slam into it, bursting into flames and teeny tiny pieces.”

  I gripped the arm rests as the plane jerked to one side. Shit, I really didn’t want to be right about what was happening. Simon hissed through his teeth. “This has to be abnormal-induced.”

  “You said something followed us into New York. Could it have caught up already?”

  As if my words were a trigger, a dark green myst began to slide along the floor, out from under the still-on-but-barely door to the cockpit. I ripped off my seatbelt and ran toward the myst. Dark green death myst was nothing to mess with, but I wasn’t going to let it snag me today.

  I pushed the door to the cockpit open to find the two pilots slumped over their controls and the groun
d coming up fast. “Simon, get in here!”

  I grabbed the backs of the two men and yanked them off the controls and then grabbed hold of the yoke. I pulled it back and steadied the plane’s descent. Simon slid to a stop beside me.

  “Tell me you know how to fly a plane,” I said.

  “Shit, you’re the one flying,” he spluttered.

  “I’m keeping us from crashing nose first into the ground. That’s a fucking lot different than flying.” I looked over the dash. “See if you can get a hold of someone to walk us through this.”

  “Why don’t we try to wake the pilots up.” Simon bent down.

  “Because they’re dead, idiot.” I’d known it the second I’d put my hands on them. The question filtering through my head was simple. Who the hell wanted me dead? According to Mancini, Romano didn’t want me dead but wanted to use me. Mancini just gave me his word, and this was his plane.

  Who else was there that even knew I was back in the game?

  Simon looked over the controls, grabbed the radio and flicked it on. “Mayday, mayday. We are in a—” He looked at me and let the button depress. “What the hell is the plane we’re in?”

  I looked over the dash. “This, here, it’s a Gulfstream G650.”

  He pressed the button. “We’re in a Gulfstream G650, coming into Seattle and request immediate help. Both pilots are unconscious.”

  There was a creak behind us and I spun, twisting to the side right before a meaty fist slammed into the wall where my head had been.

  I stepped sideways but didn’t pull my guns. Blowing holes in the side of the plane would do us no favors.

  The abnormal we faced was disproportionate to say the least. His body was all thin and wiry, but his feet and hands were the size of dinner platters. Dinner platters that had teeth embedded in them. He opened his mouth and hissed at us, saliva spraying like a fire hose, splattering my face and sliding down my neck.

  I squinted at him. “Do I know you?”

  Green myst swirled around his hands. “I’ve been waiting a long time to do this, bitch. You killed my brother.” His voice was high-pitched, feminine even.