Dangerous Things

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Angelica climbed out of bed and turned on the lamp. “How big?”

“Not sure, but I’m going to guess a level seven.” He smiled into the phone knowing that would get her attention… and he just loved getting Boo’s attention.

Angelica walked out into the living room and turned on her laptop. She typed in a few things and frowned.

“Level seven? Are you sure?” she asked. Anything over a level five was very dangerous and extremely rare.

“It’s just a guess,” Zachary answered. “It was able to trap one of our two fallen that we’ve been following and apparently another fallen had been down there with it for a long time. Since they are considered level seven then I’m assuming anything powerful enough to trap one is an equal.”

Angelica was searching her database. More than three quarters of it had been illegally obtained from the vaults of the Vatican, but no one could argue with her results. The fact that a level seven demon might have been discovered in Los Angeles was more than enough of a reason to wake up not only her, but the rest of the P.I.T. crew as well.

Each demon was placed in a class of one through ten, with level ten being the equivalent of Satan himself. She’d hate to run into anyone who possessed enough magic to seal away a level seven demon… you’d need the thunder of God to pull it off.

“I’m not finding anything on a demon named Misery in the Los Angeles area,” she said after a few minutes. “Let me hook up my external hard drive and take a look at those files.”

She heard Zachary talking to someone in the background and figured it was Trevor until she heard another voice join in the conversation.

“Who are you talking to?” she asked curiously.

“The newest member of our team, Chad,” Zachary answered. “He’s a local cop that knows a little too much, so we brought him on to protect the masses, and by the masses I mean the other idiots he works with.”

Angelica smirked, “They’re probably worse out there.”

“Not by much,” Zachary said.

“Okay,” Angelica said. “I got it hooked up, let’s take a look around and see what all I’ve got on here.”

“You mean you don’t know?” Zachary asked in surprise.

Angelica sighed, “You know how I am. I’d forget my head if it wasn’t attached sometimes. I’ve only had a chance to explore a fraction of this thing.”

“Yeah, you did download it in a big hurry.” Zachary said and sighed himself. “Good times, good times.”

Angelica accessed the hard drive and typed a word into her search prompt and pressed enter.

“I take it you haven’t been behaving yourself.” Angelica asked leaning back on her sofa while the computer did its thing.

“Hell no,” Zachary laughed. “You can’t take me anywhere, remember?”

Angelica winced remembering only a couple months ago when they’d gone to a big gala while chasing a four year old werewolf who had gotten lost and wasn’t very happy about it. By the end of the night, Zachary had lost his pants because the werewolf had transformed during a child’s temper tantrum and ripped them to shreds.

The funniest part was that Zackary hadn’t said a thing, just took them off and walked around in his underwear and tuxedo jacket and shirt. Angelica couldn’t make up her mind whether to be embarrassed or laugh her ass off. Seeing his legs with the knee high socks and dress shoes had nearly killed her when several of the young ladies crowded around him wanting to dance.

Her laptop beeped and she sat forward to look at what the search had found.

“Find anything?” Zachary asked.

Angelica opened a few of the files that had the word Misery located in them and started reading. Her cigarette slipped from her fingers as she read and landed on her foot.

“Ouch, damn it!” she cursed and picked her cigarette back up, quickly putting it out.

“Everything okay?” Zackary frowned worriedly and held up a hand when Trevor wanted to know what was going on.

Angelica read over the information again just to be sure. “I’m catching the next flight out,” she informed him before pulling the phone away from her ear. She hung up on Zachary’s questions and looked back at the screen. It wasn’t what she had read that made her so sure this was dangerous… it was that the head man of PIT had somehow just locked her out of the file.

If Storm was keeping secrets… then she was wanted to know why.

Chapter 2

Anthony paced relentlessly across the marble floor of his study. He ran a hand through his dark hair in frustration and anger. He knew he’d lost his temper when he killed Arthur and now he’d also lost his leverage for binding Jewel to him as his mate… not that it would stop him.

He’d meant for the situation to remain calm… but when Arthur had brought up Anthony’s father, the werewolf part of him had lost it. Now he’d be forced to use coercion of a different kind on his runaway bride. The only problem was, he had to find her first.

Someone knocked on the door and Anthony stopped pacing long enough to straighten his hair and clothing. He was the alpha, and with that came a certain measure of decorum.

“Enter,” he called out in a cold voice.

The door opened and one of his wolves stepped in, closing the door behind him.

“What did you find?” Anthony asked.

The pack member looked very nervous and cleared his throat. “I stayed behind just like you ordered to see if the priest came back to the church. I wasn’t there long when all hell broke loose at the church and in the graveyard behind it. People were showing up right and left, most of them coming out of nowhere.” He paused and swallowed nervously before adding, “That’s when I noticed Jewel was with them.”

“Then where is she?” Anthony demanded as he closed the distance between them with rapid strides. “Why didn’t you bring her back with you?”

The wolf backed away with panic in his eyes knowing bringing bad news to their alpha was never a good thing. “I couldn’t,” he shuddered.

Anthony’s hand abruptly shot out and grabbed the subordinate by the throat, lifting him into the air. “You’re a werewolf. Why didn’t you just take her?”

“She was surrounded by weres… too many of them,” the wolf explained, lifting his hands to try and alleviate some of the pressure around his throat.

Anthony’s hand tightened and his eyes changed to an eerie golden color. His brother had finally returned from Italy, he was sure of it. “Did I or did I not teach you how to fight another pack on your own? My brother should have been no match for you.” It was a lie. The wolf would have been lying in a ditch somewhere had he dared to fight Andreas Valachi.

“Wasssssn’t wooolvvesssss,” the wolf rasped out while trying to breathe.

Anthony snapped his attention back to the man he was strangling and jerked his hand away, seeing he’d almost killed him. “Who was it?” he demanded with barely suppressed fury lacing his voice.

The wolf lay prone on the floor trying to catch his breath. He scrambled up to his hands and knees before dropping his forehead to the cold marble floor. He bared the back of his neck showing submission to his leader and wishing he’d run when he’d had a chance.

“Cats… I smelled cats,” he said after a few seconds, “Cougars and jaguars... lots of them.” He lifted his head and saw Anthony’s eyes narrow threateningly. Quickly he added, “There was a cougar shadowing her every step. The place was crawling with vampires as well. Part of the church blew up, then a cop car showed up.”

Anthony stood there trying to reign in his growing anger. However, the longer he stood there, the more pissed off he became. His plan to retrieve his fugitive mate had been botched repeatedly by either his own actions or the actions of his ignorant subordinates.

He signaled his personal guards closer. “Take him down to the basement where he can simmer in his failure.”

The wolf sat up on his knees with a pleading expression on his face. He’d heard stories about the basement and what it contained. Some of the werewolves that survived the torture still had the scars on their bodies to show for it. He whined pitifully when his arms were taken up by the guards and he was pulled to his feet.

The guards didn’t look at his face nor did they say anything comforting or derogatory. If they had their way, they would have let him run. To them, Miss Jewel had every reason to run away from their Alpha. She was unhappy and, despite Anthony’s best attempts, would never love him. Living like this, thriving off the misfortune of others was not the true werewolf way… it was the Mob way.

At one time, they had protected mankind from the evil that threatened to overtake the world. Now, with the exception of a few tribes located in across the United States and overseas, they were the evil. It was no wonder humans made movies depicting them like rabid dogs bent on causing death and destruction.

Anthony followed his guards down to the basement and smirked when the young werewolf whimpered quietly. The mansion basement had been converted into a large, underground torture chamber that covered several thousand square feet. Chains hung from the opposite wall with manacles attached to hold a person upright against the cold stone.

Off to the right was a table covered with whips and riding crops of various sizes. A cauldron where a fire was burning had a few irons sticking out of it used for branding purposes, which Anthony had rarely used. Finally, on the wall directly across from that was a row of cells that housed a few occupants.

A few werewolves moved among the shadows readying more devices for a special guest who Anthony had been fortunate enough to obtain a couple weeks ago. They stopped and watched with curiosity when their alpha entered the chamber with his guards and a new wolf to discipline.

Anthony stood back as his guards shackled the wolf to the wall and waved them out of the way when they were done.

“What would you have us do, Lord Anthony?” the oldest werewolf asked.

“I want you to make sure to teach this one a lesson, Boris,” Anthony answered. “He failed to bring back my bride and he must learn that failure is not tolerated.”

Boris looked over at the boy and inwardly sighed. “He is only a boy.”

“Then he will learn early,” Anthony’s voice lacked emotion.

Boris lifted a scarred hand and waved two of the other werewolves over. They approached and ripped the back of the young wolf’s shirt open. Boris lifted one of the whips, a cat o’ nine tails, and cracked it in the air. The shackled wolf flinched making Anthony smirk.

Boris positioned himself about five feet behind the young one and snapped the whip forward. The young wolf screamed at the bite of the whip across his back. The screaming continued as Boris continued to strike the once unmarred skin. Finally, he stopped and another werewolf stepped forward with a large bowl of salt. More agonizing cries followed when the salt was thrown on the bleeding wounds.

The young wolf slumped against the wall believing the torture was over, only to scream again when the beating began anew… only this time two more whips joined it.

Anthony lifted his right hand so he could get a better look at it and frowned when he saw he would have to trim his nails again. Shrugging, he turned away from the beating and approached the cell furthest away from everything at the far end of the basement. A smile appeared on his face when the heavy chains rattled.

The man inside was suddenly on his feet and straining against the bonds trying to reach Anthony.

Anthony’s bad mood suddenly evaporated seeing the proud male inside. His smile widened as he thought of a way to get Jewel back into his arms and away from the cougars she had sought shelter with.

“I’m glad I only shot you once Micah… I may have a use for you yet.”

*****

Tabatha looked around the apartment she shared with Kriss and shivered. Usually she didn’t mind being alone but for many reasons, tonight it was very hard to handle. She looked out the window whenever she heard a noise thinking Kriss had come back. She’d thought she was fine when Envy and Devon dropped her off at home on their way to Chad’s, but now she realized just how much she needed the company.

Envy had asked her if she’d wanted to go with them just in case Envy needed a tag team effort to handle her brother. But, Tabby had thought maybe Kriss would have come home soon and she wanted to ask him what happened, so she’d turned her down… now she wished she hadn’t.

Thinking about Kriss led her to thoughts of Dean and how he’d acted at the church. She could still see the look on his face when he’d seen Kane.

Tabatha shook her head when the picture of Kane popped into her mind in a vain attempt to not think about him. Seeing him laying there dying had pulled at something deep in her heart and soul. She didn’t understand why but, the thought of him dying made her want to curl up in a ball.

“Get a hold of yourself,” she whispered to break the silence. “What you need is a distraction.”

Picking up the phone she decided to call Jason at work to catch up and see if anything unusual had happened since Kriss flew her all the way to Florida.

The phone rang three times before it was picked up.

“Forest Preserve, Officer Fox speaking,” a sexy voice recited.

“Hey Jason, it’s Tabby.” she smiled for the first time since walking in the front door.

“Tabby?” Jason cried and she heard something topple over, probably the chair because he was usually leaning it back in it at a dangerous angle on two legs. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Kriss kinda kidnapped me and Envy and took us to Florida for a few days.” Tabby answered. “I just got home and thought I’d call and see what I missed.”

Jason sighed, “Other than the normal weird stuff, you didn’t miss a lot. The only exciting thing that happened is the other night we got a call from a real whack job.”

Tabby smirked and sat down on her sofa. “Do tell!”

“Jacob and me were just sitting around, it was a slow night, and the phone rang. I picked it up and this guy was talking about seeing a jaguar chasing a cougar through downtown with a cell phone strapped to one of its legs.”

Tabatha couldn’t help it and started laughing. If she’d been in Jason’s shoes a couple weeks ago, she would have thought the same thing. “Oh damn,” she exclaimed.

“Tell me about it,” Jason said with a chuckle. “Jacob and I are taking bets on whether or not there will be any text messages on it when they find the critter.”

“Are you sure you’re not drinking any of Kat’s specialties?” she asked around her laughter.

“I do not drink on the job!” Jason exclaimed and Tabatha heard Jacob’s laughter in the background. “So when are you coming back to work?”

Tabatha shrugged, “I don’t know yet. I need a few more days and I got the vacation days to burn.”

“That’s cool, we miss you though. It’s just not the same without having a pretty face to brighten up the place. All I have now is Jacob, and he isn’t much to look at.”

“I’ve missed you guys too,” Tabatha said, and she meant it. “We’ll get together in the next couple of days.”

Jason was quiet for a moment and Tabatha instinctively knew what was coming. “How’s Envy?”

“She’s doing good too. Like me, she just needed a few days away.” She bit her lower lip when there were several seconds of silence.

“Is it true?” Jason asked.

“Is what true?” Tabatha inquired trying to sound clueless.

“Is Envy really dating Devon Santos?” Jason’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the phone a little tighter.

Tabatha sighed, she knew this was going to hurt Jason in a big way, but to a certain extent it was partially his fault. Someone that cute should never be so hung up on the one girl who thought of him as a best friend and brother.

“Yeah, it’s true.” Tabatha said softly. “I know she didn’t mean to hurt you. She does love you… ya know.”

Jason exhaled softly and Tabatha felt sorry for him. He’d chased after Envy for so long that she was the only girl he’d ever looked at. Now she was beyond his reach but Tabatha wasn’t about to tell him. That was Envy’s job.

“I know she didn’t,” Jason said after a minute. “I guess I should have gotten a clue when she didn’t even notice that I was flirting with her.”

“She noticed, Jason,” Tabatha said. “She just thought it would put a strain on your friendship.”

Jason hummed, “Yeah, I guess it probably would have but you can’t blame a guy for dreaming, right?”

“I can blame you for a lot of things,” Tabatha heard Jacob say in the background.