Chapter 2: Chapter 2

"So, Hadley," Claudia said. "It's been two years since you last left your house. Of all the places to go quite suddenly, why Hell Here?"

My muscles tensed. "You followed me?"

Her red lips pushed into a firm line. "Why didn't you leave your house before now?"

No point in lying. Might as well tell the truth. "I could never decide if it was really worth it to put on pants every day to go out. I just knew when I woke up this morning that today was the day, but don't worry. There probably won't be any more special days like this."

She narrowed her silvery blue eyes. "Why Hell Here?"

I nodded to the wine. "They've got good Piss."

"And yet you haven't taken a drink."

"Is that a crime now, too?"

"No, I suppose not," she said, then lowered her voice. "We know more about you than you think we do, Hadley. We know you dropped out your junior year of school two years ago. We know you've been living all alone." A pause, then, "We know what happened to your family."

My heart stuttered, and it felt like a kick to the rib cage. I forced a swallow, dragging all those memories back that threatened to surface and bubble up around me until I drowned. Back home, a place once happy and alive, those memories had died. I'd made sure of it. But here, out in the open, where they could sneak in raw and unprovoked at just the mention of my family made me vulnerable. Weak. Something I vowed to never be again.

Claudia leaned forward. "Why have you been hacking into the Isa faes' computer system?"

I sucked in a breath, one that coated my tongue with a hopefully believable lie. "I don't know what to tell you, ladies. You must have me confused with someone else, because when it comes to technology, I can count to monkey. Clearly, you don't know everything about me."

The three of them sat deadly still, either attempting to gouge out my brain with their icicle stares or to decide if they believed me. Probably the former. Claudia gripped the edge of the table and white-knuckled it. Definitely the former.

If they tried anything magical against me, I was shit out of luck. No witch ever had enough allocated power to duel with the fae and win. They made sure of that by controlling our magic supply with our aterns. My atern read one on the dial in the center of the silver band. One. If I was stupid and performed magic anyway, it would click to zero, triggering the poison spikes inside, and I would immediately drop dead.

Still, I wouldn't let them intimidate me. A strangling spell drifted toward the front of my mind, one that would bunch up the diamond collars around each of their necks until their porcelain faces turned blue. A good time had by all, except the Diamond Dogs of course. And me. It might just be worth it, though.

The air wavered around them, and Claudia's face shifted once again to the fae on the right. She stood and her two puppies followed. "Enjoy your Piss."

The gravel in her voice twitched my lips. Sometimes a bitch slap didn't need hands at all. "I'll do my best. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

They turned simultaneously, but not before I heard a quiet growl, "We'll be watching."

I had no doubt. I would just encrypt everything better and run it all through anonymous proxies like I always did anyway, be untraceable, cloak my tracks with even more complicated algorithms. And never leave the house for a field trip to Hell Here, or anywhere, again.

Once the Diamond Dogs left, the bar picked up where it left off. Conversations buzzed, quiet at first and with a lot more staring in my direction, but glasses soon clinked and laughter carried over the crackling flames in the center.

It was long past ten. Where was my partner in revenge?

I sighed at the bottle of Necromancer's Piss. It would be nice to satisfy my hunger for the bottom of that bottle and numb my chronic aches. The bottle had been uncorked, but the thought of pouring the fennel seeds inside and pulling the spout to my mouth filled my hands with a phantom pain that was almost worse than the regular kind. I kicked the table in frustration, then watched in horrific slow motion as the bottle tipped.

A hand flashed out and snatched it before it spilled a drop. Ty Brunoch, my new hero and forever best friend.

"About time, shithead," I growled.

"Hello to you too." He sat across from me, unbuttoning his snow-speckled coat to reveal a purple tutu-looking scarf around his neck. His black hair was slicked back, just like I remembered from high school the few years I'd gone, and behind his right ear, he wore a little white bow with the words FUCK YOU stamped all over.

"Nice bow."

He flicked his wrist in a showy gesture toward it. "It describes my general attitude quite well, I think. So..." He posted his elbows on the table and pierced me with a knowing look from deep, hazel eyes framed by long eyelashes that had always made me jealous. "The Diamond Dogs, huh?"

"Sitting where you're sitting. You might want to get a rabies shot."

"And a flea bath." He moved the tiny green flame in the middle of the table toward the wall. "I held back until they were long gone. What did they want with you?"

"They noticed I left my house. Said they'll continue to watch me."

He eyed the untouched bottle of wine and sat back, a trace of uncertainty pinching his features. "Hadley..."

"Don't you fucking say it," I hissed. When he started to shake his head, I half rose out of my seat with the force of the words hurtling to get out of my mouth. "Whatever you're about to tell me, it's my job. I deserve revenge against the fae, and you know it better than anyone. So don't you dare be an ass clown about it and change your mind about why you brought me here."

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