I try not to squirm. “I have not. We’re just friends.”
“Really?” East is all sorts of amused as his gaze dances between Arrow and me. “He’s never tried to be friends with anyone before. Usually, he avoids everyone unless we force him to socialize.”
Arrow’s silver eyes glaze over with irritation. “That’s because the company you invite to our vehicle usually isn’t worth getting to know.”
“Yeah, probably,” East agrees. “But I find it amusing how quickly you’ve gotten close to our little thief.”
“I’m not yours,” I point out in exasperation.
“It’s okay,” he assures Arrow, ignoring me. “It’s good you like her since we’ll be keeping her for a while. Maybe forever, if she gets attached.”
I glare at him. “That won’t happen.”
East dramatically rolls his eyes. “We’ll see.”
“You’re beyond annoying,” Arrow tells him.
“But not beyond inaccurate.” Grinning, East pushes back and offers me his hand. “Are you ready to go, my little creature?”
“Only if you stop calling me yours and little creature.”
His smile is filled with trickery. “Then, what do you want me to call you?”
“Um, my name,” I tell him like duh.
He dismisses my request with a flick of his wrist. “That’s too easy.”
I sigh. “And that’s a bad thing?”
He nods in all seriousness. “Complications make life much more interesting.”
“So, you’re saying that me showing up in your vehicle and ruining your plan to get rid of Asher’s father was a good thing?” I question with skepticism.
“You didn’t ruin our plan. Just changed it a bit.” He snatches ahold my hand and effortlessly hauls me to my feet. “You showing up in our vehicle was one of the best complications ever.”
“Yeah, we’ll see if you’re singing the same tune after having to deal with me for a couple of weeks,” I say, tugging the hem of my skirt down.
“Months,” he reminds me with a grin. “We get you for at least a couple of months.” He pulls me forward. “Now, let’s get going.”
Sighing, I let him guide me toward the door with Arrow trailing at my heels. When we enter the hallway, I reach back and grab Arrow’s hand for no other reason than I don’t want East thinking I’ll just walk around, letting him hold my hand and pretending I belong to him.
Arrow doesn’t pull away, but his metal fingers are rigid. Figuring I’m making him uncomfortable, I start to let go of his hand, but he laces his fingers through mine and holds on tightly.
I smile to myself. I don’t even know why, other than maybe all of this chaos is making me lose some of my sanity. Then my smile fades as we walk into the living room and I see Asher and the demon aren’t there.
I glance at East with my brows furrowed. “Where’s Asher?”
“He took Darla to the prison,” he replies, scooping up a few gold coins from off the counter and stuffing them into his pocket. Then he tosses a couple to Arrow. “We’re supposed to meet him at The Bronzed Arch Center,” he tells Arrow.
Arrow’s lips sink. “Wait … We’re not …” He grimaces as East nods. “I thought we weren’t doing that anymore.”
I glance between the two of them. “Doing what?”
Arrow rubs his forehead with the heel of his hand while East grins, tugging on a strand of my hair.
“We’re doing a little PA,” he explains.
“What’s PA?”
“Personal appearance.” Arrow is the one to answer, his hand falling to his side. “Which means we’re going to stand around, taking photos and signing autographs.”
“But I thought we were going to do things that’ll help us get into The Vault,” I say in confusion. “And Asher said you weren’t doing anything for the tour until you were about to perform.”
“That was the plan.” East starts toward the front door, pulling me with him. “But then Maple, our band manager, called and told us we have to make an appearance.”
“Oh … Should I just stay here?” And maybe, while they’re out, I can snoop around a bit and see if they’re keeping anything from me. Because it seems like they are. Like with that whole blood contract thing.
Wisps of East’s hair fall into his eyes as he shakes his head. “It’s too dangerous, especially when the worlds patrol might be after you.”
“Hey, I have powers,” I point out. “I’m not completely defenseless.”
“I understand that.” East’s gaze sears into me. “But you need to learn to control your powers before you use them.”
I see his point, but still … “I think to learn how to control my powers, I’ll have to learn more about what I am, so shouldn’t we—or at least I—be focusing on that?”
“We’ll focus on that while we do some PA,” East assures me as he opens the front door.
Bronzed sunlight spills inside the vehicle, making me squint.
“By signing autographs and taking photos?” I blink until my eyes adjust to the light.
“Are you doubting us?” East asks, highly entertained.
“No … But it seems like you guys are super busy, and since I’m not and I’m an excellent thief”—I plaster on an arrogant grin—“maybe I should just do this job alone.”
East cocks a brow. “The next thing we need to get into The Vault is the essence of a succubus.”
“Oh.” Confusions winds through me, and I hate that it does. “What’s an essence?”
“The outer layer of a soul,” East explains with his brow still arched. “So, do you think you can do that? Do you think you can seduce a succubus into letting us borrow her essence for a bit?”
“Yeah,” I lie.
East gives me a really look, to which I sigh.
“Fine, maybe I can’t,” I admit. “But still … it seems like I should be doing something else, besides standing around and watching you guys dazzle your fans.”
“Oh, you will.” He tows me out the door as he steps outside. “Because we also need an incubus’s essence.”
“Okay … Wait. What?” I skid to a stop, nearly falling on my ass as my heels slip against the slick ground. “How the hell am I supposed to help with that?”
He winks at me. “By doing what you do best.”
“Steal it.” I grin. “Sounds like fun. Well, unless I have to remove it like a soul.” My smile dissolves.
“That’s not what I meant.” East taps his finger against his lips. “Okay, you’ll be doing what you do second best.”
I shrug, totally confused. “Be a smartass?”
He snorts a laugh. “You’re the most adorable creature I’ve ever met.” He traces his fingertip down the brim of my nose. “I meant you’re going to distract him, sweetheart.”
“Oh.” I glower at him. “Hey, that is not my second-best talent.”
His brows rise toward his hairline. “It’s taken us fifteen minutes to walk out of this vehicle. And when the worlds patrol showed up, we were more distracted with your lips than the fact that there were hellhounds outside.”
I pull a guilty face because he’s so right. “I don’t do it on purpose.”
“I know.” The most warming, adoring smile sparkles across his face as he tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. “But you’re still good at it.”
My heart leaps in my chest from his compliment and from the way he’s looking at me, and my breath quickens ever so slightly. And he more than notices, too, as my chest heaves and my breasts almost pop out of my top. Surprisingly, though, he doesn’t comment on it.
“We should get going,” he utters, his brows knitting, as if he’s deeply puzzled.
That makes two of us. But I’m not about to ask him what’s bothering him since he’ll more than likely embarrass me.
Instead, I focus on getting my breathing under control as we start across the field toward the city that, from the way these guys act, is extremely dangerous.
; Chapter 19
The city is a few miles away from where we parked, and we have to take a winding path through the forest to get there. While nothing but metallic trees and bushes appear to be around, I have the strangest feeling of being watched. That feeling only amplifies the deeper we get into the trees.
“You doing okay, sweetheart?” East glances at me as we trek around the largest trees I’ve ever seen.
The coppery leaves glint in the golden-brown sunlight filtering through the polished branches above, making the entire forest appear shimmery and making my eyeballs wig out against the constant reflecting rays of light.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I blink a few times. “All this uneven, flickering light is just messing with my eyes a bit.”
“I wasn’t talking about your eyes …” East scans me over. “You seem a bit uneasy.”
“Oh.” I clutch his hand as my boots slip against the ground. “I just have this weird feeling I’m being watched.”
East’s muscles ravel tightly as his gaze skims the trees.
“You think there’s something out there?” Arrow asks, holding my other hand as he looks behind us then to the side.
East shakes his head, a crease gradually forming between his brows. “I can’t see anything, but …” He glances at me then at Arrow. “We know nothing about her powers, so for all we know, she could have a sensor built into her.”
“A sensor that warns me when I’m being watched?” I ask. “Is that a thing?”
East shrugs. “It’s not not a thing.”
“There you go again, talking in riddles.” I give a quick glimpse at the nearby trees as the watching sensation rolls over me again.
A familiar chill crawls up my spine, but I can’t figure out what it is or why I’m feeling it.
“Relax. We won’t let anything hurt you.” East slips his arm through mine and yanks me closer to him.
Arrow does the same thing with my other arm, and then we start down the path again, all of us on guard, constantly looking around and tensing at every noise. The farther we walk, the more I begin to notice the lack of animals around, like bats, ravens, or wild horses. Back on my planet, the forest was filled with those types of creatures. Here, though …
“It’s so empty here,” I remark quietly as I fold my fingers around East’s bicep and wrap my other hand around Arrow’s arm. “I mean, where are all the animals and stuff?”
“There aren’t any animals here,” Arrow says, the gadgets in his elbows spinning as he digs a pocket watch out of his pocket to check the time. “Well, there’re mechanical ones in the city, but they aren’t like the animals on your planet.” He puts the pocket watch away.
“We should really stop referring to it as her planet.” East steers us down the left side of a fork in the path. “For all we know, she could be from someplace else.”
“It’s still where she can remember growing up,” Arrow says. “Therefore, it’s her planet.”
“Where I can remember growing up …?” I glance up at him, my brows pulling together. “Wait. Do you guys think …?” I grind to a halt, forcing them to stop with me. “Do you guys think I’ve, like, lived longer than I can remember and have just forgotten a part of my life?”
The zero-shock factor on their faces lets me know it’s exactly what they’re thinking.
“Most paranormals don’t age like humans,” East explains reluctantly. “So yes, one of our theories about you is that you might be older than you think and you’ve somehow forgotten your life before you ended up on the human planet.”
“I can remember most of my life,” I stress. “All the way back until I was five years old.”
“Then maybe we’re wrong.” East moves to walk forward again, but I refuse to budge.
“You are wrong,” I tell him firmly. “I know my life. I have all sorts of memories of when I was younger and being with my parents, and no one’s going to try to take those away from me.”
“I’m not trying to take them away from you. We just …” He shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath, shaking his head before opening his eyes again. “We know for a fact that certain paranormals, especially very powerful ones, can tamper with other paranormals’ memories. They can make you believe you experienced things that you never really did.” He casts an apprehensively glance at Arrow, whose face is masked with startling agony. “And they can also take memories away.”
Suddenly, this conversation is making a bit more sense.
Arrow told me that he can’t remember much of his past. But that doesn’t mean I believe my past and memories aren’t real, or that I’ve forgotten a part of my life.
“I’m sorry for whatever happened to you”—I give Arrow’s arm what I hope is a comforting squeeze then glance at East—“but unless there’s some sort of proof that my memories were tampered with, I’m not going to think they were … I want … I need to hold on to the life I had with my parents.” I subtly suck back the tears wanting to pour out.
East’s expression softens as he molds his palm to my cheek. “Even if it ends up your memories were tampered with, the moments with your parents can still belong to you, okay?”
I nod, feeling too shaky to speak.
He offers me a consoling smile before lowering his hand and starting down the path again. This time, I follow.
Still, as we hike deeper into the trees, my mind lingers on what East said. What if my mind was tampered with? Why would a creature do that to me? And who did it? Did my parents know? Or was that life never even real? Was I just one day put into the human world with fake memories?
No. There’s no way. Asher’s dad taking my parents away and cursing me did happen. Asher confirmed that. But, what about before that? Was I born someplace else and just can’t remember?
Gah! This is driving me crazy! I need to focus on something else before I have a panic attack.
A second later, my wish is granted when we emerge from the trees and into the outskirts of the city.
“Holy freakin’ crazy trolls,” I mutter as I take in the coppery, towering buildings lining the brass streets, the abundance of cyborgs and creatures strolling around, and the stands filled with sparkly jewelry, delicious-smelling food, and lavish clothing.
A few vehicles are parked here and there, but most creatures are on foot. And everyone is dressed in steampunk attire, with gadgets, chains, buckles, leather, and lace decorating their clothing.
East smiles at my reaction. “So adorable.”
I don’t even care what he says at the moment.
I inch closer to him as we reach the streets, the air electrifying and smelling of baked goods. I instinctively take a deep inhale and, even though I had a pretty big breakfast, my stomach grumbles.
“I think someone’s hungry,” East muses as we weave through a crowd of what I’m guessing are vampires, since they have fangs and extremely crimson lips.
Then again, Darla had really crimson lips and she was a demon, so …
I press even closer to East and grasp Arrow’s arm tighter.
“Don’t be nervous,” Arrow whispers in my ear. “We’ve got you.”
I may talk a lot of smack about them never “having me,” but this time I keep my lips zipped because, yeah, I’m kind of glad they have me right now. This place is crazy busy and super unfamiliar. It makes me uneasy, which leaves me feeling completely out of my element.
“Keep your head down,” East suddenly mutters as we near a group of creatures, mostly female, who are decked out in matching leather corsets, striped skirts, and Ash East Arrow tattoos.
I choke on a shocked laugh as the guys duck their heads.
“Creatures actually tattoo you guys’ band name on their skin?”
With his head low and his hair veiling his face, East reaches back and gently pinches my hip. “I find your shock insulting.”
“I don’t,” Arrow says with his eyes fixed on the ground. “I hate that tattoo trend.”
“I don’t understand it.” My heels
click against the coppery sidewalk as we veer right and away from the tattooed groupies. “I mean, if you’re going to get a tattoo, then shouldn’t it be, like, personal and mean something?”
East tilts his head to look at me. “What’s the star on your back mean?”
My brows crinkle as I glance at Arrow. “You didn’t tell him?”
Arrow shakes his head. “I was planning on it, but everyone got too distracted with that Darla thing.”
East slips his hand down my arm and laces his fingers through mine as he quickens his pace. “Tell me what?”
“I’ll explain later.” Arrow’s gaze sweeps across another group of leather, trendily-dressed, tattooed creatures. “When we’re not surrounded by creatures that could—and probably would—sell the story to a tabloid.”
East takes longer strides as a creature wearing a long, black dress excitedly tries to push her way through the crowd toward us.
“It’s Ash East Arrow!”
“Fuck … I really wish this planet had a back entrance,” East mumbles, shoving creatures out of our way. “Maple should’ve set up a teleport session for us.”
Arrow moves his arm away from my hand, but only to place his palm against the small of my back. “She probably didn’t have time.”
“No, she’s just getting lazier with every tour stop,” East disagrees. “I think, when we have time, we should sit down and discuss hiring someone new.”
Arrow frowns. “We just hired her two months ago.”
East throws a stressing look at him. “You know as well as I do that the only reason we agreed to hire her is because of who her father is.”
“Who’s her father?” I wonder, eyeing the bags of glittery, silvery cotton candy hanging from the roof of a candy stand.
They have glittery, silvery cotton candy here?
East glances at Arrow, who shrugs.
“We might as well tell her now,” Arrow tells him. “Before Maple does, because you know she will.”
East blows out a sigh. “I know, but I’m worried I’ll scare our little mouse.”
“I don’t get scared easily,” I gripe. “I didn’t even freak out when I thought Asher’s death poison was going to kill me. I was just mildly worried.”
Chasing Steel: Capturing Magic Books 1-3 Page 18