Ink & Dagger (Sins of Eden #1)

12. Chapter XII

Chapter XII

Jaxon

T wo weeks. Two excruciating fucking weeks and I was going out of my mind.

Not only was I no closer to finding Killian, but in the two weeks since I’d left her shop I hadn’t seen or heard from my Sweet Witch other than a random text letting me know that whoever had her phone would pass along my messages.

There had been unexplainable periods of time in the first days away from her that felt like I couldn’t breathe, as if my heart was going to explode from my chest, and I had the terrible feeling that something bad had happened.

I’d stopped by Ink & Dagger a few times to check and see if she was there and just avoiding me, but there was no sign of her. The lights to the studio remained off and her hearse hadn’t moved since the night I was there.

I was done fucking waiting.

Standing outside her studio, I checked the front door again. Still locked. I banged on the door a few times and tried calling her shop number, but it went to voicemail again. As I pushed my phone back into my pocket and walked around to the side alley, a noise around back had me quickly picking up my pace. Fucking, Lycan. I’d recognize the smell of wet dog anywhere.

“You lost?” I asked as a large male peered in through the kitchen window of Emily’s shop.

“Piss off, twat,” he grunted as he turned to glare at me.

Clenching my jaw, I exhaled deeply and shut my eyes. As I reopened them, the pup scrambled backward in surprise.

“You really shouldn’t have said that,” I growled as I lunged for him.

I gripped his throat tightly and hoisted him up the brick wall as I inhaled the stench of his fear. Fucking disgusting, but it was nice to know that Demons could still make a fully grown pup wet themself. He tried to shift in my grasp, but I threw my fist out and shattered his nose, the crunch of bone shattering beneath my knuckles was music to my fucking ears.

“What is your business with the Witch?” I demanded, my claws extending as his feet kicked wildly in the air.

“I was ordered to survey the bitch - I mean Witch,” he sputtered as my claws dug into his flesh. Blood poured freely from his nose and down his chin as he squirmed.

“Ordered by whom?” I asked, my nostrils flaring as I spoke. My full glamor slipped for a second and I fought to regain control as he attempted to push my hand away from his throat.

“Fuck you, Demon,” he said hoarsely.

My fingers tightened around his throat and I smiled as he struggled harder. With one swift jerk, I snapped his fucking neck and dropped his lifeless body to the ground before summoning a ball of Hell’s Fire to set him ablaze. He could rot in the pits for his arrogance. I didn’t wait for the fire to die before I blinked into Emily’s shop and looked around.

The faint scent of rot that lingered in the small kitchen had me crossing the room in three short strides and I grimaced as I noticed the take out containers stacked on the counter. They were in the kitchen, but not put away. Lead dropped heavily in my stomach at the realization. Something happened here and whatever it was had her in a hurry to leave this room. I quickly headed toward the front in a sprint.

A mess of sketch papers and tarot cards were strewn on the floor beside her desk. I walked over to pick them up and place them back on the table, but paused as I noticed two cards lying beside each other on the floor that stood out from the rest.

Whereas everything else was scattered, The Tower and The Hanged Man laid side by side. I wasn’t proficient at reading cards, but from my limited knowledge of them, that looked like a bad fucking omen to me. I quickly pulled out my phone to snap a few pictures of the scene and stared at them for a moment before pocketing my phone. I picked the cards up to place them neatly back on her desk.

Dried blood covered the floor next to both her tattoo bed and the wall. Just the sight of that and the large holes in the wall was enough to put me on edge. Clumps of long black hair littered the floor. I walked to the lobby to investigate and clenched my fists into tight balls, sniffing the air as I entered. It was faint, but I could smell her sweet honeysuckle scent mixed with the copper tang of her blood along with the familiar scent of the mutt I’d just put down. Someone else had been here with her.

Images of what could have happened here were enough to make me see red, I felt my glamor slip again and my horns protrude from my head. My tail thrashed angrily behind me and I pictured my clawed hands wrapped tightly around the throat of a faceless man as I tore his spine out. Pulling Emily’s name back up in my contacts, I tried her cell again and got a recording letting me know that her mailbox was full. Probably from all the fucking voicemails I’d already left.

Gripping my phone tightly in my hand, I took deep steadying breaths to center myself as I attempted not to crush the metal and glass. I quickly shot off a text to Adrian, my older brother, letting him know that I wouldn’t be meeting up with him tonight. Then, I pulled up Emily’s information again.

Emily, where the fuck are you?

I’m standing in your studio right now and it looks like there was a fight.

Call me back ASAP!

…

…

Speech bubbles appeared and disappeared on her phone and before I could call her again, I saw them pop back up.

I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA.

I’ll call you soon and we can talk about your brother.

Not fucking good enough.

Where are you?

I’ll come to you.

I’m out of town, but I should be back in a few days.

I’ll call you when I get back.