I gritted my teeth, having a lifetime of rage to unleash on his kind. Despite my fury, I swallowed past the guilt that threatened to halt me.
Only two other Kinetics knew the truth of my origins outside of the king and my parents, and one of them was inside the club searching for the second Elemental. There would be severe consequences if word began to spread amongst the Kinetic population that I was half-Elemental. I buried the panic that thrummed on the surface, determined to keep my secret safe.
I presumed my dead-beat dad had run his mouth. The thought of my biological father trying to publicly claim me for clout only pissed me off more. The piece of shit had no right.
“Come…home,” the man gurgled on the black blood that dripped down his chin.
I swallowed the knot in my throat, shaking my head to fight off the allure of potentially finding a place that could feel like home. It’s what all the Elementals I killed lately seemed to say before they died, and knowing that I had the option of fleeing theoppressive Kinetics to live with Elementals always toyed with my hopes of freedom.
But Elementals would never accept me after all the deaths of their people at my hands.
I yanked the blade out of the man’s sternum, eliciting a garbled shout. Without giving myself the chance to second-guess myself, I slit a deep gash across his throat.
Any tiny spark of hope I had of fleeing the Kinetics died with him—as it should’ve. I was the property of King Forest.
Backing away from the corpse, I worked to shut down my conscience. I had no other choice. I wiped the blackened blood on the sides of my pants.
The excruciating pain from the brand I’d receive for the Elemental’s death would become another reminder of my darkening soul.
My heart reverberated from the beat of the bass drum inside The Phantom. Unlike outside, the muggy air inside the concert venue suffocated me. Sweat beaded down my temples from the tight quarters packed wall-to-wall with bodies, who moved to the soaring melody of the rhythm guitar just before the lead came in with the solo. The music helped push the decaying Elemental from my mind.
There was a second one hiding amongst the humans somewhere, and Slate and I couldn’t leave until he was dead, too.
Decapitated Bliss was an up-and-coming emo band in the Atlanta area. Their rising popularity landed them a gig at one of the most popular venues in the southeastern region. It was a benchmark for bands to play here, an accomplishment that meant they were close to making it big. It didn’t make sense to me. The Phantom was an old, abandoned factory that had beenconverted into a concert venue despite its compact size, rickety wood, and aluminum structure. With three levels, the highest ticketed bands performed on the top floor, and I wondered if the volume of people would cause the floor to eventually collapse.
I met Slate’s gaze from across the unstable venue, conveying that I had the second Elemental in my sight. My cousin’s neat, side-parted cut resembled the deep hues of the smoothest river stone, even as the strobe lights from the venue flashed over him.
We worked well in tandem, only a year apart and growing up together as cousins. I considered him more of a brother, one of the rare few who knew my truth.
A shoulder shoved into me, and I met the lazy grin and droopy eyes of a drunk man who stumbled to catch his footing. Frustration flared, reluctant to deal with the mass of humans who made this mission more difficult. I pushed him away, recoiling from the feeling of being touched. It made my insides squirm and nausea to churn in my stomach. The only touch I tolerated was my sister’s.
“Sorry, asshole!” he shouted, but it was swallowed by the deafening music.
Reports of humans dropping dead within massive audiences in the greater Atlanta area in recent weeks had spiked. Seeing that none of the reports included witnessing a zombie-like Endarkened near the incident, we believed Elementals were the culprits.
According to King Forest, the long-lost Elemental prince, Griffin Silas, had apparently returned to his people, ready for vengeance, ordering depletions on humans and Kinetics.
King Forest had the Warriors out nearly every night based on information obtained by our scouts. Rumors that a group of Elementals would be at The Phantom tonight spurred Slate’s and my presence despite it being a Thursday night and having school in the morning. The convincing fake IDs crafted by theking’s contacts ensured we had no issue getting into the club even though we were underaged.
Slate dipped his chin in a short nod of acknowledgment before pushing off the wall and walking down the narrow hallway leading to the questionable flight of stairs. The Elemental I’d spotted in the throbbing mass of bodies had disappeared through the hallway, which meant he could’ve gone to the bathroom or down the stairs.
Pushing through the crowd, I followed Slate, except I turned into the bathroom when he descended a level. The stench of piss and stale alcohol gagged me. I covered my nose and mouth just as a toilet flushed and a stall door opened.
A tall man in his late twenties stepped out, looking at the floor as he ruffled his short, messy hair, the fluorescent lights casting gold undertones in the brown strands. With a specific and foreign glow about him, there was no denying that he was a considered a beautiful man. Despite my magnetic bracelet meant to mask my ability to detect his energetic signature, I could sense he was neither Kinetic nor Elemental, and especially not human. As if my senses weren’t at peak level already, all the fibrous hairs on my body now stood on end.
What the hell was he?
The man paused, his fingers still pushed in his hair, and angled his head to meet my gaze from beneath dark lashes. A devious grin inched up his face, which sent my senses higher on alert.
“Well,” he chuckled, his voice a deep timber. “Guess you found me,” he teased, as if we were playing a game of cat and mouse that only he was clued in on.
I snatched a Kinetic dagger from my weapon belt, the sharp angular sigils on the blade igniting blue.
The man laughed. “Put it away. Those toys don’t affect me.”
I clenched my jaw. “Who are you?”
“It depends on who you ask.” He shrugged. “Let’s have a chat.”
