There’s a cackling laugh as Marius approaches. The moonlight shrouding his suit illuminates his frame in a ghostly glow. He’s pointing a revolver at Emmy’s torso.
“Put the gun down, Javier. We know you’re not going to shoot.”
I raise my own pistol in response.
“No, wait.” Javy’s whiskey-smooth voice is measured and calm in the warm summer air as he lowers his gun. “If you kill him, he’ll just jump to her.”
“Or who knows,” Marius says with a wide shark-like grin. “Perhaps even to you, Soulwalker.”
“I doubt that.” But I lower my Glock all the same.
Marius, Emmy, and Rayna make their way around the fountain, until they’re just fifteen feet away.
And I finally get a closer look at the girl who hasn’t been seen in two years.
Emmy is pale and thin, hardly resembling the young woman I’ve come to know through the case files and her various social posts. And while no one ever really looks like they do on the internet, this is different. There’s a hollowness in her eyes that suggests the last two years have not been spent sipping margaritas on a distant island paradise, plotting her grand reemergence into the public arena.
Some latent survival instinct kicks in, though, because Emmy suddenly jerks her arm.
And she’s free—for a moment.
Then Marius reaches out with one of Hex’s long legs and trips her. She tumbles headfirst to the chalky grass, sending up a plume of dust.
“Still some fight left in her yet.” He cocks his head and smiles at us oddly. “Good value in a trade.”
“I’m not interested in your trade.” Javy sounds confident. “Rayna, I’ll come back.”
“It was always foolish to believe we had a future, mi amour.” When she leans slightly to the side, into the full glare of the moonlight, I can see why Javy fell for her.
Not just stunning.
But she has a presence and self-assuredness that radiates over the park. The aura is so thick that it feels like it raises the air’s temperature a few degrees.
To be honest, I’m a bit jealous. But then, if I had the ability to kill immortal creatures, I’d be pretty fucking charismatic, too.
“We’ll start over,” Javy says. “Go anywhere you want.”
“I know when you’re lying,” she says.
“It’s not a lie.”
“This lover’s quarrel is tiresome.” Marius yawns and stretches his relaxed shoulders. “I did not actually come here to make a trade.”
Then he points his revolver at Rayna and shoots her in the leg.
She screams and buckles to the dry grass. He hastily retrieves some knives adorning her belt to disarm her.
Javy raises his own gun again.
“That would be inadvisable, Javier.” Marius wags his finger and turns the revolver toward Emmy. “You destroy this vessel and I merely take this one’s body, or float through this dry sky and find another sleeping peacefully in their bed.”
Javy curls his lip and lowers the pistol halfway.
“What do you want, then, Marius?” I ask.
“To witness this man’s suffering, Miss Skye.” He snorts dismissively as Rayna curses at him from the ground. “It has been six years of planning, after all. Do I not deserve to enjoy the fruits of my labors?”
“Six years?” I ask. He may be getting impatient, but I know a megalomaniac when I hear one.
It would’ve been nice to have a plan coming in.
But absent one, I need to buy time.
Until he makes a mistake. And then we can trap him.
“Yes.” Marius pauses, like he’s torn between two paths: the gratification of seeing his plan through immediately, or that of telling us how smart he is before we meet our end. Then, not being able to help himself, he says, “I arrived in this town having learned from past errors.”
I have him on the hook. Now to reel him in. “You mean when Javy here hurled you into the Atlantic.”
His smile tightens, but doesn’t dissipate. “Being trapped in that coffin afforded me many long years to reconsider my approach. And I realized that my rash nature was at odds with my goal. A better method was required.”
“Or maybe you’d just lost a step following your lengthy swim,” I say. “Hence the six year wait.”
“I could have burned this town down in a moment,” Marius says. “But that would not cause the deep pain I sought.” He shakes his head. “No. I had to repay Javier in full for what he had done. And that would take time.”
“Not sure what social media has to do with all this.” I catch Rayna’s eye, who’s sitting up behind him. I wiggle my eyebrows slightly to convey a message: get ready.
For what, I don’t know.
But she seems to understand, giving me a quick nod.
“Social media is the new megaphone,” Marius says. “Your recent president demonstrated the power of such a platform in 2016. So I decided to fashion myself a few mouthpieces. To unleash at the right time.”
I shoot him a quizzical look. “But then you killed Delia. Why?”
“A mistake.” Marius strokes his chin. “It is hard to fight one’s nature. Like a fat human trying to avoid a chocolate cake sitting in his fridge, the chaos beckoned to me. And I could not resist its call.”
Good to know even immortal beings have limited willpower, too.
“So the social media shit really ended up being one big smoke show.”
“In a way,” he says. “Although you are here because of this one, are you not?” He yanks Emmy Davis off the ground by her tousled hair. “Such is the nature of chaos: you cannot predict how the seeds will grow, you can only plant them.”
“And how did those seeds grow after that mistake?” I lean on the word to keep him talking.
“After the Delia incident, I redoubled my resolve.” His chest puffs up, like he’s proud of the fact that he didn’t keep shooting himself in the foot. “I halted the investigation into her death as Chief Summers. Miss Knight’s owed favor proved useful in causing you pain today in the court of human law. And I have managed to keep this one alive.”
Marius jerks Emmy like a rag doll. She whimpers.
“So that’s all this is about? Pain?” I furrow my brow and kick the dirt. You work enough cases, meet enough psychos, and nothing really surprises you in terms of motive. But that doesn’t mean the reasoning still doesn’t turn your insides.
“Loss is a powerful motivator,” Marius says. “You understand that more when you live forever. And I began to realize, watching from afar, that Javier cared about another equally to Rayna: you. That was why I grew impatient two years ago and gave in to my nature. The excitement of what I might accomplish upon witnessing your first interactions made me rash.”
“Not sure I’d really call all this an accomplishment,” I say gesturing in the air with my free hand.
Marius continues, undeterred. “It took time for the right moment to present itself after my mistake with Delia. But a whispered bar stool word to that bumbling fool Silas turned into everyone hearing about his brother’s special crow key. Including Rayna, who had been searching for it for many years. Since I stole it from her, in fact. But she did not know as such when she arrived a few days ago.”
“You son of a bitch,” Rayna says. Since the initial gunshot, she’s been pretty quiet, letting out only occasional grunts of stifled pain.
He turns to her and says, “You really are quite predictable.”
Rayna responds with an annoyed murmur, like this is news to her.
“Why plant her key on Toby, though?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
I growl through gritted teeth, “If it was, would I be asking?”
“The equation is simple.”
“Spell it out for me.”
“If you suffer, then Javier suffers.” Marius then turns to point the revolver at Rayna. “If she suffers, then he suffers. And I had hoped that she would kill Toby, thus placing you three at further o
dds.” He shrugs. “Alas, you cannot have everything.”
“A real tragedy,” I say.
“There are silver linings.” His face brightens, the smile widening. “After I saw your abilities in the courtyard two nights ago, I realized I had been thinking too small.”
“Is that so?” It takes all my self-restraint not to roll my eyes.
Or just shoot him.
“Your skills would be the best way to hurt Javier,” he says. “Ruining the world with them as he watched.”
“Seems I’d get a say in that little plan.”
“And yet here we stand, face to face.” Marius swings the gun back toward Emmy. “So what will it be? This girl’s wretched life, or your own?” The shark-like smile threatens to devour his entire jaw. “It is indeed your say that dictates what transpires next.”
“You’re changing your story, don’t you think?”
“How so?”
“You just said there was no trade.”
“Can one really consider it a trade when one party gets all the value in the deal and the other is left with nothing?”
I bite my lip and glance over at Javy, who’s been silent throughout this exchange.
He looks unhinged, his teeth bared in the moonlight. Like Marius has actually gotten to him.
But then he winks. So quick that anyone else would mistake it merely as a blink.
And I realize we have our plan.
Even if neither of us knows what it is yet.
“Perhaps this will move things along.” Marius shakes his shoulders out, then stops, and rubs his designer leather loafer into the dust. “Allow me to sway your mind.”
He pulls Emmy closer. Grins, eyes focused on mine. Then he stomps on her sandaled foot. There’s the crack of bone and a spine-tingling scream.
I take a single step forward.
Marius raises the revolver to her temple, pressing its blunt snout into her skin. “Consider your decision carefully, Miss Skye.”
Javy’s seething next to me, fists clenched, breathing loud enough for Marius to hear.
I play along and say in a loud voice, “All right, me for the girl.”
“Walk over slowly, then.”
“Lower the gun a little,” I say. “In fact, point it at me instead.”
“I can do that.” Marius begins directing the revolver my way.
Under his breath, Javy says, “Take the shot when you have it.”
Then he lowers his shoulder and charges straight ahead, closing the gap between him and Marius in about a second. Marius sidesteps the attack, buffeting Javy with a punch that sends him sailing into the fountain with a splash.
I fire two shots—one into each leg.
Marius crashes to the scorched grass, groaning.
His hand swings the revolver toward me.
Rayna lunges toward him with a pained, feral yell and grabs one of the knives he took from her. Then she jams it through the back of his other hand, pinning him to the ground.
A gunshot blasts harmlessly into the sky before she rips the gun from his grasp. It clatters away, out of reach.
Marius hollers in agony as he manages to throw her off him. His good hand paws for one of the remaining knives.
I aim the pistol, ready to fire again.
But Javy leaps out of the fountain like a man possessed. Water streams from his dark hair as he kicks Marius in the head. Then Javy pushes his boot against Marius’s back to hold him in the cracked grass as he cuffs him.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Rayna reaching for one of the knives. I swivel the Glock in her direction. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“You can’t kill me,” she says, grimacing as she tries to sit up. Her hand is still dangerously close to the hilt.
“No,” I say. “But you know what I’ve learned about living forever?”
“What’s that?”
“Every time you die, it still hurts like a bitch.” I aim the gun at her wounded leg, then slowly bring it up to her chest. “And I’ll shoot you in the lung and then let you bleed out while I hump Javy’s perfect face two feet away.”
Javy looks over, raising his eyebrow as he drags a groaning, woozy Marius upright, as if to say where the fuck did you come up with that?
Definitely channeling some Catalina there. But it works. Her arms slump to her side, delusions of escape subsiding. Because Rayna still loves him. And she doesn’t know Javy and I are just partners.
Rayna shoots me a glare that could wilt a cactus, then looks over at Javy. “Were you lying about leaving here with me?”
He wipes water droplets away from his cheeks and stares up at the shimmering stars. “What we had is done.”
But when I catch his eye, I know he’s not quite sure.
So he might be right: we’ve potentially opened Pandora’s Box by bringing Rayna into the fold.
But tomorrow’s problems are for Future Tess.
Right now, we have a Shade to dispose of.
Permanently.
Thirty-Five
We head back to Javy’s house, despite the much closer proximity of my apartment, since going up three flights of stairs carrying three wounded people would be a nightmare. Besides, my front door is missing and the social media vigilante mob still has me in their crosshairs, so it’s by far the safest place to regroup.
On the way there, I call Catalina in to patch Emmy, Rayna, and Marius up. We might be getting rid of Marius for good, but killing a Shade is a tricky business that takes some time and special prep-work. Having him bleed out and possess someone else first would be an unmitigated disaster.
Catalina rolls her eyes when she arrives and sees the mess she’s about to wade into, but doesn’t ask questions.
One of these days she will.
But it won’t be tonight.
Before Rayna gets her leg stitched up—and under more threat of humping Javy’s brains out with her as a witness—I demand The Widowmaker antidote for Toby. She tells me it’s in her motel room across town, but steadfastly refuses to explain what her weird crow key unlocks, even when I up the sexual ante to some truly ludicrous role play scenarios.
Unfortunately for Rayna, I’m immune to the key’s curses as a Soulwalker, so I’ll just keep it in my possession until she’s ready to talk.
I take Javy’s car, retrieve the antidote from the motel, and rush it over to the hospital and barge past the desk to the elevators, security be damned, to administer it myself.
The ride up to the third floor seems to take forever. I burst out of the elevator like a demon and race up and down the hall, peeking into the rooms.
When I finally find Toby’s, I hurry inside, jam a chair beneath the door handle so no one can interrupt the healing process, and bring the antidote’s glass vial to his cracked lips. His skin bears more sunspots and wrinkles than when I saw him last, jowls sagging like he’s aged years over the past week.
When the vial is almost empty, I tip the amber glass upright to drain the last few drops as I mentally commit myself to waiting—and fending off the guards.
I jump back, startled, when Toby’s eyes flutter open a second later, before I can even remove the vial from his lips. He blinks twice and says, “Tess?”
I hear the crackle of a security guard’s walkie in the hallway. I take Toby’s cold hand in mine. “Hey. Thought we’d lost you.”
He coughs and offers me a tired smile. “I’ve never felt this good in my life.”
“Funny.”
I hold his hand until security manages to physically break down the barricaded door. They stop for just a moment when they see Toby is awake and lucid. Clearly word around the hospital was that he was a total goner. So this rates as something of a miracle.
Not enough of one to let me hang around, though. The trio of guards hauls me out of the antiseptic room, my boots squeaking loudly as I futilely try to dig my feet into the slick linoleum.
But I don’t care.
Toby is safe.
Marius has been co
ntained.
Emmy’s back.
And the case is solved.
Which means—for one night, at least—everything is going to be okay.
Thirty-Six
I wake up on Javy’s couch at about eight in the morning and immediately call a locksmith and a carpenter to repair my apartment door. Then I stretch out my stiff back and groan, the last couple days finally starting to catch up with my body.
Ella opens one sleepy emerald eye as I tiptoe past her in the living room.
“I saved Toby, girl.” She rolls over to get up, a big smile on her face. “We can’t go see him yet. But he’s going to be excited to see you again. So just rest a little more.”
The husky lies back down on her side, but I can hear her bushy tail thumping like a metronome as I head to the guest bedroom. That’s where Javy’s been keeping eagle-eyed watch over Marius and Rayna.
I knock on the closed door, and his whiskey-smooth voice says, “Come in.”
I enter. Marius and Rayna are both asleep in separate full beds, doped up on heavy tranquilizers courtesy of Catalina.
I smile and say, “They almost look harmless.”
Javy doesn’t return the smile. “Those three girls made a deal with the devil, Tess. Look at what happened.”
“Are you talking about their deal, or the one we’re gonna make with Rayna?”
“Maybe,” he says. “I just don’t know.”
“We need her,” I say. “She’s the only one who can kill Marius. We don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“Yeah, but there’s not always a good one,” I say.
There’s a knock on the door, interrupting our moral dilemma. It opens a crack, and Catalina pushes her head in. “Emmy’s awake in the master bedroom. By the way, totally normal to be called into the woods in the middle of the night to splint a broken foot for someone super-famous who’s been MIA for two years.”
“Thanks,” I say.
“Oh, and by the way, Mr. Diaz.”
Javy cocks his head and says, “Yes?”
“I don’t think this whole me and you thing is going to work out. Your life is too fucking intense. So as much as I will forever regret never riding that sexy granite chin like the Pony Express, I think we should just be friends.”
Smoke Show (Tess Skye Book 2) Page 16