Siren's Mark

Chapter 69

She's trying to help by riling me up to enhance the effects of the Fury smoke.

"Come on, Zane," she says. "You trusted us, doesn't that make you mad?"

"No, Kami, it just makes me realize what a fucking arsehole I am for pulling you guys into this in the first place."

"Okay, now," Kieran says. "Kami, you suck at this. I'm a certified professional at pissing Zane off, trust me."

Kieran flips around in his seat so that he's facing me.

"Hey Z-Dawg," he says.

"Don't fucking call me that," I hiss.

"What? Z-Dawg? Meh, I like it..." he says. "So, Z-Dawg, what the hell happened to your car anyway?"

"My car ran out of antifreeze and the engine shut down. I just bloody topped it up."

As the words leave my lips I realize it's probably no coincidence.

Someone sabotaged my bloody car so I wouldn't make it home on time.

"You really need to take better care of your car, Z-Dawg. Haven't you ever heard of maintenance?"

"Piss off," I snap, a growl rumbling in my chest. "Someone must've set me up—fuck!"

My mind runs through the details. The whole thing could've been a setup. Who's to say the informant I was there to meet even existed. Just an excuse to get me out of the way.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out. It's a message from an unknown number, but in the thumbnail I can clearly see Ava.

I let out a hoarse scream and nearly launch my phone through the windshield, but Kieran grabs it away from me.

He looks at the screen for a moment before looking back at me.

"Okay man, I'm gonna play you this 'cause if anything's gonna piss you off, I'm pretty sure it's this, but don't shoot the messenger."

He turns the screen to me. A video is playing of Ava kissing me—but it's not me. Asmodeus's vindictive eyes are staring back at me through the lens, enjoying the torture he's putting me through. This is all a sick game to him. A small smirk appears on his face as he nips at Ava's bottom lip.

I'm going to bloody kill the bastard.

A guttural scream resonates from my chest and I begin to shake.

"Whoa shit," Kieran says, his eyes widening. "Dude, your eyes are black."

"Keep going," Kami says.

"Oh yeah, let's fucking torture Zane some more," I snap.

"Hey guys," Kieran says. "Did I take some really heavy-duty drugs because I have no idea why we're here and Zane has black eyes and I think his face is like... smoking?"

"Yeah, you took something," Kami says, rocketing the car around a tight corner. "All you really need to know is that we're killing Asmodeus and you just need to sit there and do nothing."

"Sweet," he says, leaning back in his seat with his legs crossed. "Wait, so why are we killing Asmodeus?"

"Because he's a psychopath obsessed with getting back at Zane over an old stupid grudge. And now he kidnapped Ava," she says. "We've got to stop him before he kills her."

"Ahh gotcha," he says. "And who's Ava?"

A low growl vibrates from my throat.

"Oh and why am I getting text messages from this random number?" he asks, holding up my phone.

Asmodeus seems to have sent another video.

"Play it," I say.

He hits the button and Ava appears on the screen. She's smiling and batting her eyes shyly at the camera. Her cheeks are flushed and she seems slightly inebriated.

"You are good," her voice says in the video. "You are a good person and I have faith in you."

Her words feel like a knife to the chest.

She believes in me—like she always does. She has no idea.

"Faith in what? The whole thing," a man's voice says.

His English accent is shite.

"I know that you will never hurt me," she says. "I trust you."

Suddenly she's struck with a fist from behind the camera.

My whole world stops in a single second.

When I was 18, I was kicked in the ribs by a horse. As a soldier, I lost a leg from a landmine in the Hürtgen Forest outside Belgium. In 1942, a demon slashed my abdomen open in a bar fight. But I've never experienced pain like this until I saw the look of betrayal in her eyes at this moment. She had faith in me. And I watched that faith shatter.

"Shit, I didn't know that was... is that... Ava?" Kieran asks.

My whole body shakes as I seethe, my jaw clenched so tight it could break. A fire burns in my veins and I feel an extreme clarity spread to the once-clouded corners my mind. My singular focus is ending Asmodeus—for good.

As if on cue, Kami pulls up to our building.

"We should take the fire escape," Kami says, jumping out of the car. "It's our only shot at catching him off guard."

She grabs a knife and a roll of duct tape from the trunk and slips the binding cuffs onto Kieran's wrists. Placing the dagger in his hands, she runs the duct tape around them until the knife is firmly secured.

"Oh yeah," Kieran says. "This is definitely a great plan. It's probably too late for a bathroom break, eh?"

I see deep black smoke covering my hands and creeping up my arms.

"Okay, Z, this is it," Kami says. "Right now, it's time to be the monster. Ava needs the monster."