As he began to circle the place where I stood, examining the air through hooded eyes, I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.
The way he was looking at me made delicious shivers race throughout my body, and for a moment, I wished he were looking at me that way because he could see me. Like he saw me as something new and exciting he wanted to try out.
But I couldn’t just stand here all day. There were only a few hours left before it was nightfall and the vampires in the club would be getting up. I needed to get Kay out of here before then to avoid questions or any issues.
Sidestepping around Andre carefully, I hurried across the room and drifted through the wall into the next room. It was plain and matched the rest of the club’s modern décor. A single bed and a red leather couch were the only furniture in the room. My guess? This was where the VIPs came to spend a little extra money for more time with one of the dancers.
Or this was where the vamps brought their victims for a late-night snack.
Either way, ew.
I popped through the next two rooms, which were exactly the same as the last. It wasn’t until I reached the very last room that I reached my destination. Kay was sitting on the couch, face in her hands. She hadn’t seen me come in, so I approached quietly.
“Kay?” I whispered so as not to spook her.
Her head shot up, her eyes sparkling with hope at my voice. “Oh, thank God it’s you!” She jumped to her feet, rushed over to me, and flung her arms around me, squeezing me tight.
When Kay pulled away, her brows were pinched in confusion. She stared at me like that for a long moment, saying nothing. It took me a moment to realize why.
She had hugged me. She had been able to touch me.
I’d gone solid again.
Reaching out, she poked me in the shoulder to double-check, getting me right in the boney area so it hurt.
“Hey now. Watch it.”
“That hurt?” she asked, but then her voice rose. “That hurt! And I can touch you!” She wrapped her hand around my wrist and shook it hard for good measure.
I jerked away and readjusted my leather gloves just in case.
“Careful. I still have a deadly touch,” I said. “Don’t want to make that mistake.”
Her eyes widened, as if she were still processing the hug. “How… What happened to you?” She waved her hand over my body, not touching this time. “Are you alive?”
“No,” I said, but then quickly added, “I don’t know actually. I do bleed, though, when I’m like this, but I keep switching back and forth randomly. I have no control over it.”
“I can’t believe this! It’s what you’ve always wanted, Jade.” Her grin radiated, and for the first time since this entire shit-show, happiness flickered inside me. Kay just had that effect on people. Even me.
Yes, she had completely ignored the other things I’d said—the more negative parts about the flashing from spirit to alive and it being uncontrollable—but her joy for me was genuine and comforting.
“Have your memories come back, too?” she asked.
I shook my head.
Her smile faltered a bit, but she kept it on. “Maybe that comes next. Then you’ll finally know who you are. Wouldn’t that be amazing?”
It’d be everything I’d ever dreamed of. To know everything about my life that had been stripped from me after death, who and what I was, and to live my life again, exactly how I wanted to? Forget amazing; it would be a miracle.
Kay grasped my arm, gave it three hard squeezes, and laughed. “It seems like we’ve both had a little too much excitement in the last couple of days.”
When I glanced down at her stomach, I remembered why I had come here in the first place, and guilt smacked into me like a tidal wave. I forced myself to meet her eyes again, my throat suddenly drier than the Middle Eastern desert in the summer months.
“Yeah, it’s been interesting,” I managed to get out.
“What have you found out? Do you know a way to fix me?”
I quickly told her about everything Cole and I had been through while she was here at Red, the demon Halfling attacks, finding the box and cure at Wyatt’s, the run-in at Marla’s shop, and the ingredients we still needed. I skipped the whole bit about sex with Cole and made sure to leave out my unexpected meeting with Monnie the demon.
“But as for what is going on with me, I have no idea. It’s been happening randomly since the attack at Wyatt’s, and there’s no one I can talk to about it until we get this demon thing sorted out.”
“No other”—she struggled to find the word—“r-reaper buddies you can ask?”
I shook my head. “The afterlife is just as messed up as this one. My boss is nowhere to be found, and my mentor is trying to sort everything out. Looks like I’m on my own here.”
“Well, maybe this is a good thing. Maybe this is your second chance to get your life back.”
“Not sure about that. It’s been happening on and off for a while. I can’t control it. It’s like a malfunctioning light switch,” I replied. “But that’s not the only thing. Do you remember the white light I zapped Laurence with back at your shop?”
She nodded.
“Not only do I have the ‘touch of death,’ but now I can blast demons back to Hell with the light. Which is new.”
“Is it a reaper thing?”
I shrugged. “No clue. But it’s come in handy more than once these past couple of days.”
“So why did you come here?” Kay asked.
“For you.” How to explain this to her without freaking her out? “You’re not safe here.”
“I thought that was the entire reason I was here. To keep safe.”
“Now that the veil is thinning between worlds, demons and spirits and God knows what else are running amok. There’s nothing holding them back anymore, and they don’t have to wait until the solstice. Xaver is looking for you and whoever else he managed to knock up and will drag you back to some Hell dimension until that baby comes.”
Kay turned pale.
“I need to get you out of here. I was able to kick Xaver’s ass before, and now that I’m more in control of this new power, I think Cole and I can protect you more than these vamps.”
Even though horror stayed planted firmly on Kay’s face, she nodded, seeming to understand.
“We have the herb, Cole’s fire, and a place on Holy ground to perform the ritual. The only part we’re missing is the blood of the damned,” I said.
“I can give you some of my blood. As long as it’s not a lot.”
“See, I thought it meant your blood, too, but that’s not the case. It couldn’t be that easy, right?” I let out a nervous laugh. “Unfortunately, it means Xaver’s blood.”
“So, we need the demon.”
“That’s right.”
“But we’re running from said demon because he wants to capture me and force me to have his demon baby.”
“Exactly.”
She began to pace across the room with quick, frantic strides. “You know what that means?”
I glanced about the room, not quite sure what she was implying.
“We need to trap him,” she said bluntly. “Use me as bait.”
“No, no.” I held up my hands. “There’s no way I’m putting you in even more danger.”
“What other choice do we have?” she said, voice rising in a mix of panic and certainty. “He wants me; we need him. I can lure him out.”
I hadn’t even thought about that. It made sense, but I hated that it did. I didn’t want to use Kay as live bait for a full-blooded demon. She already had this demon baby growing inside her, and her life was on the line. It felt wrong.
So, so, so wrong.
Kay stopped pacing, her expression firm. She had made up her mind. “If we don’t get this demon’s blood, I’m dead.”
I winced at the word.
“I’m not an idiot. I know my fate. This is what we need to do to save me, so let’s do it.”
I admired her brave
ry. Especially with everything she was going through already.
She walked over to me and placed her hand on my shoulder. The heat of her touch warmed me. She had always been so kind to me, even when I didn’t think I deserved it.
“I trust you, Jade,” she said with a soft smile. “I know you’ll keep me safe.”
My own smile wavered. I was glad she was so confident in me. That made one of us at least.
There was a hard knock at the door loud enough to make us both jump. Then a booming voice.
“Madame? Who is in there?”
The thick French accent told me it was Andre. Dammit. He couldn’t know I was here.
I waved at Kay, telling her to answer him.
“Er—it’s just me. I was talking to myself,” she said, her voice shaking.
The door handle rattled against the lock.
My pulse skipped. I glanced around the room for a place to hide.
Could I even hide from a vampire? Something told me no.
I closed my eyes. Turn back. Turn back!
The door shot open so hard, it hit the wall, denting the plaster. Andre, now fully dressed in his normal tailored suit, looked directly at me. Four other vamps filed in behind him, three men and a woman.
Recognition flashed across Andre’s face as he stared at me, and he hesitated. But the other vampires rushed at me.
My first instinct was to shove Kay back. She fell onto the couch just as a blur slammed into me, throwing me onto the bed. Vamps moved fast, way faster than demons. They could barely be seen. I rolled out of reach just as another blur grabbed for me.
Another whoosh of air nearby, and I spun, lashing out with a foot. The blow connected with one of them, and the vampire grunted as it flew back and hit the wall. Plaster from the wall exploded behind his head, but instead of being knocked out like any normal human would, his thin features only contorted in rage.
“Stop!” Kay yelled. “She’s my friend! She’s come to help me.”
But her pleas fell on deaf ears. Again the air moved, giving me warning. But I wasn’t quick enough this time. Sharp nails raked across my cheek. I gasped as the scent of blood whiffed past my nose.
For a moment, the room was still. Completely still.
Blood. Vampires. My gut twisted. I was in deep trouble.
Snarls sounded all around me, and when I scanned the room, I saw the four vampires circling me. Their eyes had changed color, the irises and whites completely consumed by blackness.
Bloodlust.
I glanced at Andre, who was still standing in the doorway—the only exit—his icy gray eyes pinned on me. He hadn’t be lost to the bloodlust as easily as the others. If anyone could stop these other vampires, it was him.
At least I thought so.
As the four vampires stalked toward me, I readied myself to use the white light if I had to. Did it work on vampires? No idea. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to give it a try. No one was going to be sucking on my neck tonight, that was for sure.
Again, I looked toward Andre. Maybe there was a way I could grab Kay and blast our way through the door.
All hope vanished when Andre’s eyes turned pitch black, too. He was gone.
He ran at me, the others closing in at the same time. Kay screamed for me, but I didn’t have time to do anything else but dodge the hands grabbing for me. I swung a fist and hit Andre’s jaw. He paused, touching the side of his face in surprise.
I wrestled with one of the male vamps, pulling his long mop of hair and throwing him into his friend’s path. They hit each other with enough force to rattle their teeth.
Then, Andre came at me again.
As I tried to jump out of the way of the third hungry vampire, Andre’s shoulder slammed into my chest. The strength behind the blow knocked me off my feet and stole the breath from my lungs. I hit the carpet with a grunt. Colors danced before my eyes. Then the weight of a fully grown man hit, his body pinning me to the ground.
I stared into Andre’s beautiful and terrifying face, his eyes soulless and his canines slowly extending past his bottom lip.
Not my neck. Not today.
I bucked my body, but it did nothing to move him. He even chuckled, and that only made my blood boil. When he grabbed both my wrists and pressed them into the floor on either side of my face, making my neck completely accessible, I kicked out as hard as I could. My boots did nothing but slip against the carpet.
Kay’s frantic cries rang above the chaos. “She’s my friend! Stop! Please!”
Andre seemed lost to his hunger now, like he hadn’t heard a word.
The other vampires stayed back to allow their boss first taste, I guessed.
No way.
I summoned the power to my hands again, took a deep breath, then released it. The white light shot out, hit Andre square in the chest, and catapulted him across the room. He smashed through the glass wall and disappeared as he fell to the floor below.
As if snapped from a dream, the four vampires ran to the window.
I didn’t wait another second. Snatching Kay by the hand, I half dragged her out of the room, down the staircase, and toward a back door labeled Emergency Exit.
I kicked it open. A siren blared.
Briefly glancing over my shoulder, I shoved Kay outside and noticed Andre rising to his feet slowly. Half his face was burned from the blast, the flesh pink and glossy, with bits of glass sticking out. Just in those few seconds, his skin began to knit back together before my eyes.
Yikes. Looked like I made a fast enemy.
No need to stick around any longer. I pushed the heavy door open and rushed into the early night.
Kay and I ran down the street in silence. Only until the tall city buildings began to change into the cobblestone roads and brick-faced homes did we slow down. No one was following us, at least that I could see, so I let Kay rest for a few minutes. Sweat dripped from her forehead, and her chest heaved.
With her hands on her hips, she said, “Can you believe I used to be a competitive runner in high school?” She gasped between words. “I used to be able to run for miles without a wheeze.”
I scanned the area and realized we were close to Kay’s shop, but still some ways away from the motel. We needed to tell Cole about what had happened at Red. But more importantly, I needed to tell him about Xaver and the final part of the cure. If Kay was willing to offer herself up as bait to lure Xaver in, that meant we needed a plan.
And weapons. Lots and lots of weapons.
“Can you keep moving? Or do you need to catch your breath some more?” I didn’t feel safe staying in one place, but I wasn’t going to show that fear to her. “Cole is waiting for us in a motel under the freeway.”
Kay’s lip turned up in disgust, probably knowing the area wasn’t a good one, but she nodded.
We hurried the rest of the way. When we reached the familiar ugly orange door with the crooked number two on it, I paused. Two male voices came from the other side. One was Cole’s. I’d know that overconfident, sarcastic tone anywhere. It was the second one that confused me.
I stepped closer and pressed my ear to the door, gesturing for Kay to stay quiet.
“Your job was simple, Masters. Keep her occupied. Whatever it took, remember? Yet I find out you have her chasing demons all over the city. And her powers have triggered.”
“It would have been nice if you told me about that,” Cole shot back to his guest, sounding annoyed. “You could have made my job a lot easier. How was I supposed to know she was going to stumble across some ancient text and find the demon cure?”
A warning prickled up and down my spine. They were talking about me. They had to be. But that meant Cole was working with someone else to keep me running around, distracted?
Fury surged. I was an assignment for him? All of this—everything, even the sex—had it been part of the job?
My next question was why? Why me, of all people? It didn’t make sense.
My fingertips glowed white. En
ergy crackled across my skin like tiny lightning bolts, unable to be contained by the leather gloves I wore. I gasped.
The Greed demon, Monnie, had said I had been touched by an angel; that was what my tattoo had been about—I was branded by them. Had he been telling the truth? Could that be what this was all about? Me?
But I was a no one.
Wasn’t I?
I stared at my hands, still prickling with power.
Just then, Monnie’s final words to me resurfaced in my head, replaying in an ominous echo that left me icy cold all over.
A war’s coming.
Whatever was going on, it was way bigger than just me. It had to be.
“Things are in motion now. They must sense the change,” the other man said. His voice was a booming presence with his anger, much more overpowering than Cole’s.
Wait a minute. Recognition twitched through me. That voice… I knew that voice.
Cole let out an exasperated sigh. “What is she, anyway? I think I have the right to know.”
There was a crash inside, as if something had been thrown. Maybe a side table or television.
“She’s the one that can ruin everything I’ve worked centuries to build,” the man barked. “Keep her away from this. Do you understand? Stick to the script. Or I’ll end whatever’s left of your pathetic life for real and send you straight to Hell. No stops. Got it?”
Every muscle in my body tensed as the realization hit.
I knew that voice because I’d heard it every day during my year as a reaper.
It was my boss, Azrael.
I needed to get out of here. If I was really Cole’s job, I needed to get as far away from him as possible.
But God did I want to kick down that door and punch those two square in their faces.
It took everything in me to spin around and head back down the street. Kay stayed close at my side. Her silence told me she had heard the same thing I had but was too nice a person to bring it up right away, seeing how angry I was.
Even though I’d heard it with my own ears, I was having a hard time believing what had just been revealed. All this time—my job, my afterlife—had been a lie somehow? How long had Azrael been planning this? Had I been a part of some larger plot all along?
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