The girl—Fallon—was the closest to us. When we found her, she was still asleep, but a couple of slaps from Luca later, her eyes snapped open. Her dark hair fell in waves all the way to her waist, her big dark eyes and ivory skin making her look like a doll. She wasn't thrilled to see me, especially after kissing Luca right on the mouth, only to spot me standing by the door, pretending to look at anything but them. I'd had my fair share of romance—a witch, two werewolves, and even a vampire once—but I'd decided I was better off alone. Any kind of distraction could cost me my life. If my control slipped, the mindless things could sense my magic, and it's hard to keep a lid on powers when diving into Pleasure Sea headfirst.
Working jobs wasn't for me either. I tried hosting once. It worked well enough for a few days, until I saw a mindless thing across the street from the bar. I ran faster than I ever had, and I never tried again. Socializing didn't mean the same thing to me as it did to everyone else. I grew up alone, and now I preferred it; I'd never known any other way of being. That was why my brain couldn't wrap around the fact that I was in a car with two strangers, which Luca insisted on picking up from across the street from last night's construction site. And we were about to go get more strangers.
Checking that the mindless ones hadn't somehow healed and reattached themselves to their heads was impossible—the place was packed with humans. The third stranger was a guy named Grover. According to Luca, he was the newest addition to their group. Broad-shouldered, built more like a werewolf than a witch, he never even had a chance to throw a punch at the mindless things. When we got to his hostel room, he was trying to rip the bed apart. I'd cuffed him to the frame because there was nothing else to use. He cursed non-stop as I unlocked his cuffs, making a good girl blush. I'd put two on him, just to be sure.
While Luca filled in Fallon and Grover on everything I'd told him, I stayed silent. The car, a Santa Fe, was comfortable enough for me to catch some rest in the backseat. I couldn't feel the others' energy, but I was pretty sure it was all over the place. Three of us right next to each other? It must have been blood in the water for the assholes, who probably did nothing but wander around the city sniffing for a scent all day long. By the time we arrived at the third hostel, I was growing anxious. My neck hurt from turning to check all sides every few seconds, expecting the creatures to appear out of thin air.
My weapons were in place. My dark red leather jacket hid them all perfectly, especially Butter and Fly under the sleeves. Though it was June, we were in Manhattan, and you could never be too warm with a jacket. I wished I at least had Pretters while we walked up the stairs to the third floor. Pretters are small, black stones with white stripes that can contain spells for a long time. You can activate them with a simple charge of magic, and whatever spell they hold will go off. It's like having a witch at your side. The high-quality ones, stirred by the best Pretter masters, were as good as conjuring a spell out of thin air. They cost a lot, but money wasn't an issue. My parents were filthy rich, compensating for their nonexistent love with dollar bills. Who was I to argue? I could make my own money, but since they cared about it so much, why not take any chance I could to hurt them?
Still, to use a Pretter, you had to charge it with magic. Even werewolves could manage it, but not me. If I used my magic, there was always the chance a mindless thing was waiting around the corner to drain me. So, no Pretters for Scarlet.
When we walked into the last room, the guy—Axel—was awake and sitting on the bed. He wasn't surprised to see his friends, but he sure as hell was shocked to see me. And I was shocked to see him too. Not that I knew him or anything, but damn, he was gorgeous. How had I missed that while I dragged him up the stairs and into the room? His chestnut hair had hints of gold, like he'd skipped a few barber appointments on purpose. His eyes were ice-blue, almost colorless, piercing through mine until I actually looked away as I approached him with the keys to uncuff him.
No one said a thing, and the tension in the air grew. Maybe it was just me. I didn't need to, but I touched his arm while I took off the cuffs, drawn by how smooth his tan skin looked. It was smooth. It really was. I put the cuffs in my jacket, catching how intently he was studying my face—especially my lips. My stomach turned in warning. This guy was trouble, and so were his cherry-red lips, perfectly outlined like he was wearing lip liner. Clearing my throat, I looked down at my feet, waiting for Luca to speak.
"Somebody wanna tell me what the hell happened last night?" Axel asked, his voice deep, sending shivers down my back.
"Ax, this is Scarlet," Luca said. From the corner of my eye, I saw him looking at me, but I didn't dare meet his gaze. "She's the one we were looking for, and she saved us."
"Okay," Axel said. "So why was I cuffed to the bed?"
Silence. I folded my arms, keeping my eyes on the dark green carpet under my feet, waiting for Luca to explain.
"Why was I cuffed to the bed, Scarlet?" The way he said my name was practically criminal.
"For your own safety," I mumbled, not sure if he even heard me.
"Those people we found with her in that building last night," Luca began, making me sigh in relief, "it looks like they're after her. She was fighting them when we found her, so they turned on us."
"Yes, I remember," Axel said. "What were they? Witches? I don't remember much after I looked one of them in the face." He rolled his neck, and I felt a pang of guilt for cuffing them all.
"They drained our powers, dude," Grover said, the piercings on his lower lip clinking with each word. "They're some kind of vampires, but not after blood."
Axel was silent a moment, then scoffed. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"It's the truth," Luca said reluctantly. "It's why Scarlet separated us, so they wouldn't sense our energy."
Axel shook his head. "You hear yourselves? Sense our energy? This sounds insane."
"I'm talking about some pretty freaky dudes who'll be here any second now if we don't leave," I said firmly.
Neither of them truly understood what we were up against yet, but time for explanations was running out.