by Sarah Fine
Cacy shook her head. “No, Eli, you don’t know her like I do. What if they’re working together to kill Galena?”
Rylan rubbed the back of his neck and made a pained face. “It’s hard for me to believe Aislin would betray us like that, but maybe she thought it was what Father wanted. We weren’t really clear . . .”
“He didn’t want this, Ry. I know he didn’t. He told me to protect Galena. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
By the expression on Rylan’s face, she could tell he was hurt their father hadn’t confided in him, and Cacy half regretted her words. But he also looked worried, like he didn’t know what it meant that their father had said that to Cacy, and angry because of the position it had put him in. Another screwup to add to her long list. Why had she kept this to herself? Why hadn’t she confided in Rylan before now?
“I’ll deal with Aislin directly,” Rylan said flatly, pulling his buzzing phone from his pocket. “It’s Shauna. She’s bringing up my dinner. She always orders too much, so I’m sure there’ll be plenty if you two are hungry.” He turned back to the phone. “Yes. Bring it up.”
Cacy took a step toward her brother as he put his phone away. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Father’s wishes earlier.”
He held his hands up and took a step back. “It’s fine. Father had his reasons for everything. I only wish he were still around to explain them.” He gestured at Eli. “Call your sister now. Tell her you’re sending a car for her. She’ll feel safer if she hears it from you.”
Eli nodded and pulled his phone from his pocket. Galena picked up quickly, and his instructions were calm and matter-of-fact. He didn’t explain much, just let her know that some people he trusted were coming for her, told her he loved her and would see her soon, and signed off.
Eli met Rylan’s steady gaze. “She’ll be waiting for them.”
Rylan turned to go back into his office, pulling his Scope from his neck with tense, agitated movements. He might be furious with Cacy, but he was going to do his best to get her out of this mess. Her heart swelled with admiration and gratitude.
She put her arms around Eli’s chest and rested her head. Mark or no Mark, his heart beat firm and unrelenting in her ear. It was the best and most hopeful sound in the world.
His voice hummed deep in his chest as he said, “Thank you for helping me and Galena. You have no idea what it means to me.” He kissed her forehead, his lips lingering on her skin for a long, bittersweet moment. “In case I don’t get to say this to you later—”
She laid her fingers over his lips. “None of that. We’ll have plenty of time to say everything we want to say.”
He smiled against her fingertips.
The elevator dinged and opened, revealing Shauna balancing a wide cardboard flat that held several grease-spotted paper bags. The smell of garlic and ginger instantly filled the room. Ry had always loved Chinese food.
Shauna bobbled her burden as she stepped out of the elevator, and Eli rushed forward. “Let me help you with that.”
“S-sure,” she stammered, looking at him like she was surprised he was being nice.
Eli lifted the flat and put it on a nearby conference table, and Cacy’s eyes trailed him automatically, unwilling to let him out of her sight. When he turned back, his eyes went round. She spun to see what had upset him.
Shauna stood in front of them, pale and trembling, aiming a gun at Eli’s chest.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Eli had no time to do anything except shove Cacy to the side. There was a sharp crack, then searing agony in his chest and a wrenching scream from the woman who owned his heart. He stumbled backward as a second shot hit him hard and high, sending him crashing to the floor. Cacy’s cries hurt him more than the bullets. Over the roaring in his ears, he heard her shrieking for Shauna to put the gun down.
But Shauna didn’t. She kept advancing, lowering her gun only enough to aim at his head. Cacy’s chest pressed against his face as she hunched over him, protecting him with her body. A haze of red descended over his vision, painting Cacy’s creamy skin with a bloody tint. He tried to push her out of the way, terrified she would be hurt, but found he couldn’t move his arms. When he tried to draw a breath, the air was too heavy. His mind was oddly detached, running through his likely injuries. Collapsed lung. Internal bleed—
Cacy jerked away, and the overhead lights blinded him. “Stop her!” she shouted, and another gunshot rang out. Then Cacy was leaning over him again, phone to her ear, tears streaming down her face, her speech so fast and breathless he could barely understand. But he heard Dec’s name. He heard hurry. He heard please.
His eyes traced her face as his brain buzzed from a lack of oxygen. Cacy tossed the phone to the side and ripped his shirt open from the neck. She yelled something to someone standing over him. Rylan. A gun was hanging loosely in his grip. He walked out of Eli’s narrowing field of vision.
Splinters of fire stabbed through Eli as Cacy put her hands on his chest. She sank her fingers into his wounds, trying to stop the bleeding. Even if he’d had the breath to tell her it was hopeless, he wouldn’t have. As much as she was hurting him, he didn’t want to stop her. Here she was, black hair hanging around her delicate face, her full lips parted, a light dusting of freckles over the bridge of her nose. All he wanted to do was stare.
She reached out and took something from Rylan’s outstretched hand. A med kit.
“Hang on, baby,” she said. “Hang on for me.”
Anything for you.
Still keeping one hand pressed hard against his chest, she ripped the kit open with her other hand and clipped an oxygen minipump to his nose. A needle pierced his arm the next second, a tiny pinprick in an ocean of knives. “Don’t you dare leave me. Don’t even think about it.”
Never.
She bent low over him, her shirt soaked with his blood, her fingers still jammed inside his chest. Her forehead touched his, her turquoise eyes now the only thing he could see. “Dec will be here soon. I’m so sorry, Eli, I thought we were safe.”
I am safe. You’re with me.
“I’ll protect Galena, I swear.”
I know.
“This is my fault. All my fault. I’m sorry,” she sobbed.
I don’t regret any of it.
Her tears hit his cheeks, burning him. He was on fire. Drowning in flame. Sinking deeper into it. He tried to open his mouth and say everything it was too late to say, but Cacy rose up above him, a new panic in her eyes, her mouth moving with words he could no longer hear. He strained to keep his eyes open, unwilling to relinquish the sight of her, but it was impossible. Night closed in around him, wrapping him up tight, leaving him with a single echoing thought.
I love you.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Cacy was still working frantically long after Eli’s eyes fluttered shut. His lips were tinged with blue even though the oxygen minipump was at its highest level, but the bleeding seemed to have slowed. And he was strong. So strong. She could get him through this. No way would she let him go now.
The clatter of wheels drew her head up. Dec and his partner, Carol, rolled a stretcher through the open elevator doors.
“Oh God,” Dec said, taking in the scene.
Shauna was splayed next to the wall, lying loose-limbed. Rylan stood over her, phone to his ear, engaged in a tense conversation with the police. The gun he’d used to shoot Shauna lay on the side table next to the Chinese food. He’d come out of his office, eyes blazing, and shot their young cousin without any hesitation.
Dec pointed his gloved finger at Shauna. “Carol, take care of Shauna—the female victim.”
He knelt next to Cacy and put his arm around her, gripping her shoulders gently.
She jerked away, keeping the heel of her palm jammed against Eli’s chest to keep pressure on the severed ends of his subclavian artery.
“Penetrating thoracic trauma to the upper left quadrant,” she choked out. “Severed subclavian, penetrating trauma to the upper right quadrant of the abdomen, likely transection of the hepatic artery. There’s”—she shifted, and her knees slipped in the pool of Eli’s blood that surrounded them—“hypovolemic shock. He’s—”
“Cacy,” Dec said softly. “Stop.”
“Shut up and help me!” she shrieked as she shoved Dec and tried to grab his med kit. “I need two more vials of plasma, the atropine, and the cardiac wand!”
Dec’s arms surrounded her like a steel vise. He was trying to pull her away from Eli.
She slapped at him with her free hand. “Stop it! Goddammit, Dec! Why the fuck aren’t you helping me?”
Dec yanked her back to the floor and sat with her between his legs, holding her tight. “You can stop now,” he said quietly in her ear as he held her. “It’s time for you to stop.”
Cacy kicked at him, arching and struggling, painting the legs of Dec’s uniform with the blood from her hands. Eli’s blood. “Let me go! He needs me!”
Dec didn’t react as she clawed at his arms. He calmly held her, firmly enough so she couldn’t get loose, so she couldn’t get to Eli. Did he want Eli to die?
“Why aren’t you helping? Why?” she sobbed.
Dec sighed, his arms trembling with the effort of keeping her still. His voice was as unreadable as his expression as he said, “He’s been dead for several minutes, Cacy. You just didn’t notice.”
The breath escaped Cacy’s lungs in a long, slow whimper, taking the last of her strength with it. A void opened in front of her, a future full of nothing, a sorrow too deep to survive. Black and hungry, it yawned wide, threatening to swallow her.
And this time, Eli wasn’t there to keep her from falling in.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Eli opened his eyes to gray dustland lit with moonlight, stretching endlessly to a black horizon. He shivered as his feet sank into the spongy dirt. His chest ached, but when he looked down at himself, his skin was smooth and unbroken. He put his hand over his heart. It was silent but throbbing with a pressure that was nearly unbearable, like something was trying to break free.
“You come from a desolate place, my friend.” Jason Moros appeared next to him, impeccably dressed in a suit and tie, his dark hair slicked back from his face, his eyes glowing red.
A bolt of pain sliced through Eli, but it wasn’t physical. He’d wanted to see Cacy. Expected to see her. And instead, here was Moros. The man who’d ordered his death. “Get away from me,” Eli shouted, surprised at how animalistic he sounded.
“You were just as fierce the last time we were here. Most souls I meet are completely passive.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, though he wasn’t sure that was true.
Moros shrugged. “You wouldn’t remember. But the last time you died, I was there, too. You got right in my face, wanting to know where your sister was. My appearance did not scare you in the slightest.” His smile revealed dagger-sharp fangs. “Your future was so uncertain, even then. My sisters and I were on the fence. That was why I came to meet you in person.”
Eli moaned at a sudden tearing sensation in his chest. “Lucky me.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” Moros’s smile became tainted with sadness. “I decided not to Mark you that night. And as soon as I made that decision, I saw your future. It was . . . a good one.”
“You saw this?” growled Eli, barely able to fight the urge to leap on Moros and tear his throat out.
Moros frowned. “No. This was not supposed to happen.”
Another shock of agony sent Eli to his knees. It was as bad as being hit with an electroshock baton.
“Ah, the transformation has already started.” Moros bent so Eli could see his glowing eyes. “You’ll be a Shade soon. Cacy is on her way, I’m sure. She feels so deeply for you that she will find you easily. Do you really want her to see you like this?”
Eli moaned, thinking he didn’t care how Cacy saw him, if only she would appear and hold him one last time.
“It was a Shade who tore her throat open the night you found her in the Veil, and that’s what you’re becoming. I’ve never seen it happen quite so fast, though. Soon, you will be rabid.”
“No.”
“There’s another way, Eli. You don’t have to go out like this.” He paused for a moment. “You weren’t supposed to go out like this,” he said quietly.
“Why did you do it?” Eli pushed himself back, sitting on his heels and fisting his hands against his thighs. “I wasn’t your enemy. I’m not important.”
Moros chuckled. “Ah, there’s the irony. You weren’t important in the grand scheme of things, my friend. But now . . . now you have a chance to be.”
Eli’s heart was still aching for Cacy. He rubbed slow circles over his chest. “What are you talking about?”
“Become a Ker. Become one of mine. Think of it, Eli. You will be wealthy beyond your pitiful imaginings. You will be one of the most powerful creatures to walk the Earth. And you will live forever. As long as you obey me.”
Eli winced as jagged shards of pain cut loose and rolled through his arms and legs. “I must have something you want, if you’re offering me such power. I thought you wanted me out of the way.”
Moros clenched his fists, and his eyes glowed bright crimson. “I didn’t Mark you. It was unauthorized. One of so many un-authorized Markings lately. And when I find out who did it, they will pay,” he rasped through jagged fangs. His fingernails elongated into claws, curling slightly at the tips. He looked like the monster Cacy had described him to be.
Moros turned his face toward the starry sky and took a deep breath. “I am merely trying to undo the damage that was done,” he said, more gently and in control this time. “I am trying to do what is right.”
“Cacy said the Kere kill people.”
“Death is an inevitable part of life, boy.”
“She said they like to kill.”
Moros met his eyes. “Some of us do. Some are more . . . tempered in their passions. You might enjoy it more than you think.” He gave Eli a knowing look. “Some people deserve a certain kind of death. But you know that better than anyone, don’t you?”
The look in his eye told Eli that Moros knew way too much about him.
Eli summoned all his remaining strength and pushed himself to his feet. He looked out on the barren wasteland of a childhood home he thought he’d never see again. “What if I don’t become a Ker?”
“A Ferry will arrive soon to open a door for you.” Moros chuckled. “Which do you think awaits you, Heaven . . . or Hell?”
Eli closed his eyes, memories assaulting him. “I don’t know.”
“Really? I think you have a good idea. How do you think Cacy will feel if she has to shove you through a portal to eternal damnation?”
A hard, heavy throb pressed against his chest, like his silent heart was about to burst forth. It was so sudden and painful that Eli couldn’t stop his cry of agony. These were the shittiest choices he’d ever been dealt. Turn into a Shade and possibly harm the woman he loved. Stand still and force her to send him to Hell. Or become a Ker . . . “She’ll hate me if I join you.”
Moros shrugged. “Cacy’s opinions of my kind are no secret. Most Ferrys feel the same. Their blind prejudice is not my concern.”
“Galena,” said Eli quietly. “What will she—?”
“She doesn’t have to know. You will look human enough. Your differences won’t be apparent for years, when people will notice that you do not age. However, there are so many genetic and chemical enhancements these days that it will take decades for anyone to even wonder about it. And who knows, perhaps your sister will invent eternal youth by that time!” He laughed before growing solemn again. “As a Ker, you will be better able to pro
tect her until I can root out the rogue elements in my ranks. Right now, it appears she is in significant peril. As is Cacy, particularly because she will defend your sister to the death.”
And that sealed it. Eli could never leave Galena or Cacy without knowing they were safe. No matter what he had to sacrifice, including his relationship with Cacy. “I’m in. How do I sign up?”
Moros grinned, his fangs glistening in the moonlight. He pulled the glove off his right hand. “Simple. You give me your soul.”
He punched his hand right through Eli’s chest.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Cacy stood shivering in the Veil with Rylan, her clothes still soaked and sticky with Eli’s blood. A void of sorrow surrounded her, a blanket of numbness, waiting to smother her. But she couldn’t let it suck her in completely just yet, because Eli still needed her. Her eyes met Rylan’s. “I have to find him. I need to be the one to guide his soul.”
Rylan nodded, lines of stress etched deeply into his face. “I’ll find Shauna and guide her.”
“Are you going to call Aislin?”
Rylan arched a brow. “If Aislin is involved, I don’t think that’s a good idea. She’s off tonight, anyway. I’ll tell her tomorrow. And”—he gave Cacy a searching look—“I want you to call me later. Don’t make me worry about you.”
Cacy gave Rylan’s hand a squeeze. “Thanks for trying to save him,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes.
He hugged her and kissed her cheek. “I will never forgive myself for being too late. When I find Shauna, I’ll try to find out how she could have done something like this. I’ll find you answers, Cacy. I know it won’t fix anything, but—”
“Thanks, Ry,” she tried to say, but it came out as a breathless sob. She stepped away from him and watched him open his Scope and step through.
Cacy flipped her Scope, focused all the pieces of her broken heart on finding Eli, and opened an intra-Veil portal. She wasn’t surprised when it revealed a completely unfamiliar place, and she stepped into the dusty wasteland without hesitation, desperate to spend a few final moments with Eli before having to send him on.