Crimson Covenant (Onyx Assassins 1)

“I drove today,” I said, jerking my head behind me. “And look at that, I parked in a well-lit area.”

“Good job,” she teased, releasing me. “You want me to walk you to your car?”

I laughed. “No,” I said. “I think I can manage the whole two sets of stairs on my own. Thanks, though.”

Valor looked like she might argue, but I planted her with a don’t-patronize-me stare. “Text me later,” she said, and I nodded, waving to her as she headed toward the main city street to hail a cab.

I turned into the parking garage, climbing the stairs, and totally avoiding the iron railing that jutted from the wall. It was covered in decades’ worth of ick I’d rather not touch. I cleared the second level in record time, the hair on the back of my neck standing straight up despite my reassurance to Valor that I was fine.

Ice crystallized in my stomach as I stepped into the near-vacant section. My car was all the way across the expanse, tucked between two black sedans. I swallowed hard and fished my keys from my bag, interlacing them between each finger. God, last night really had shaken me up, whether I’d been the target or not.

I quickened my steps. The icy sensation spread to the base of my skull.

No, no, no.

You’re fine.

Ignore it.

It’s nothing.

I’d felt the sensation before. Many times.

More times than I’d like to remember. Definitely more times than I should ever let a licensed professional know. I’d made the mistake of telling one of my assigned social workers when I was thirteen about my…feelings. The ones I could never quite explain—the instincts, the visions, the nightmares that played out on the news days later.

I shook out my shoulders as I rounded the first sedan, hating the cold cobwebs clinging to my skin. My heart hammered in my chest, my adrenaline spiking, prickling…

Turn around, a familiar voice called in the shadows of my mind.

My eyes widened, my body freezing at the warning.

This wasn’t about last night.

This was about right now.

I could feel it in my gut, in my blood.

My fingers shook as I gripped the keys. I held my breath, straining my ears for any movement.

A whisper of feet hissed behind me.

I whirled, jagged keys sticking out of my fist—

And smacked into a face I recognized. One with blue horns and malicious, yellowish-blue eyes.

Terror clanged through me—this close, in the stark white lights of the parking garage, I could tell the creep wasn’t wearing a mask. Then what the hell—

He sneered, batting away my second attempt at a swing as if I were nothing more than a fly. His grip was searing, grinding my bones together as he hauled me to him. I struggled, the breath freezing in my lungs as I thrashed and clawed. His grip only intensified, and he dragged me toward that sedan—

“No!” I screamed, managing to work some air into my lungs. “No!” Someone had to hear me. Someone had to be up here. Weren’t there cameras in garages like these? Some kind of security guard? I dug in my feet, bending my knees and flinging my arms toward my car’s doors, grabbing for a handle, anything that would stop the creep’s pace.

My fingernails scratched against the metal, cracking two of my nails with a sharp bite of pain.

The creep hissed again, releasing me so fast I smacked into my car. Relief pulsed through my blood as I got my feet under me, as I prepared to run—

A white-hot burst of pain radiated from the base of my skull to the crown of my head. Black spots dotted along my vision, my limbs instantly ten times heavier than they’d been seconds ago. I slumped against my car, the cold pavement jarring my skin as I fell in a heap near my tires.

Black bled into my vision, a thick layer of fog as I fought to get my hands to work.

The creep stood over me, his blue horns glistening in the flickering lights above.

I blinked, my lids heavy, my heart racing and stuttering as if it didn’t know whether to go incredibly fast or incredibly slow.

He reached for me, his fingernails black and filed to razor-sharp points.

I fumbled in my mind, searching through the sticky syrup for the use of my arms.

He screeched, his head flying upward, those black eyes looking above and behind me. I couldn’t move to follow his gaze, couldn’t think, couldn’t blink.

One second he was there, the next, he wasn’t.

Scuffling sounded behind me.

Grunts and wails and growls.

My lids were lead weights.

My heart slowed.

A squelching sound.

Silence.

The deep-sea of my mind pulled me under like a heavy curtain, sinking until there was nothing but suffocating black.

Normally, when I passed out face first in whatever ancient book I was studying for my doctorate, I awoke with my mouth as dry and dusty as the pages of the book. Not to mention a major kink in my neck.