Kiss at Your Own Risk

by Stephanie Rowe

  She was going to find out exactly how wrong she was.

  Chapter 14

  As Blaine cruised down the road, Trinity realized she was not really feeling the love for life right now.

  It wasn’t so much the fact she’d nearly been killed by a sword to the heart. (Hello? Anyone want to try that twice?)

  It wasn’t so much the fact she’d almost gotten a guy murdered. (Been there, done that, still sucked.)

  It wasn’t even the fact that Augustus was stalking her. (So not happy that anything pink was going to make her run away screaming from now on.)

  Okay, yeah, so those things were all wigging her out. But the big ugly was the fact that she was minutes away from intentionally using her powers to get someone killed.

  Yeah, it was to save her dad.

  Yeah, she’d killed before.

  But this was different.

  This was going to be on purpose.

  Blaine eased the bike to a stop at the edge of the road and killed the engine. They were outside a small, black building with a blood red sign declaring it to be the Primrose. Blaine looked over his shoulder at her, and she could see the darkness of his expression.

  Oh, fantastic. Like all she needed right now was a cranky assailant. “I already apologized for almost getting you killed. I really am sorry.”

  He said nothing. He just took her hand and hauled her off the bike.

  “Hey—”

  He didn’t turn around, he just strode into the bar, dragging her after him. Jarvis and Nigel were behind him, and all three warriors were looking badass and mean.

  If she wasn’t being manhandled like some rag doll, she’d almost be digging the idea of walking into a bar with three hot guys. It wasn’t like she’d had a lot of chances to do that, after all.

  They stepped into the dim light, and she was surprised to see it was packed, even though it was still early in the evening. “See what you can find,” Blaine instructed Jarvis and Nigel. “It has no common form, but it must have a black aura. See if you can pick it up.”

  “I’ll check outside.” Jarvis headed for the back door.

  “I’ll take the upstairs.” Nigel loped toward a staircase with a sign that pointed toward pool tables, and vaulted up the steps.

  “We’ll check down here.” Blaine didn’t look at her. He just took her hand and hauled her across the room to the bar. He sat her down on a stool and took the one facing her.

  Trinity yanked her hand out of his. “What’s your deal?”

  “You.” Blaine sandwiched her knees between his. “You aren’t planning on killing Angelica, are you? You’re going to save your dad and then bail.”

  Trinity felt her cheeks heat up. Nice day, when a guy can read your face. “It’s not like that. I have issues with taking lives and I don’t even know her. How can I justify killing her if—”

  “I don’t know why you have this loyalty to her after what she did to you. I don’t get women, sometimes, I really don’t.”

  “What?” Trinity shot a sharp look at him. “What are you talking about? What she did to me? What is up with all you guys thinking I’m like her? And while we’re at it, why did my blood make you think she was attacking you? That was never made clear to me.”

  Something flickered across Blaine’s face. “That’s why you don’t want to kill her. Because she created you and gave you your powers.”

  Trinity stared at him, something deep welling open inside her, like a fissure in her recently repaired heart. “You know who did this to me?”

  He frowned. “Yeah, Angelica. She kidnapped you when you were a baby.”

  She stared at him, shocked at the casual way he’d just dumped the information she’d been searching for her whole life. “Are you certain? How do you know this?”

  “You’re in her computer. That’s how I found you.”

  “Oh, God.” Trinity clutched her chest against the sudden tightness. A lifetime of unknowing, and suddenly she had answers.

  Blaine caught her arm, and she realized she’d been tilting off the chair. “You didn’t know?”

  “No, no. I didn’t have any idea. None of us did. I just disappeared and then reappeared.” She pressed her hands to her head against the frantic whirl spinning around in her mind. She felt like something had just been unlocked, a past, secrets, information, but it was moving so quickly she couldn’t decipher what it was. “I—”

  Blaine looked uncertain. “So, that’s not why you don’t want to fulfill your end of the deal?”

  “No!” Trinity pulled her hands away from her face. “I just have a problem with killing!”

  He blinked. “That’s it?”

  “That’s it.” She tried to catch her breath, to focus. To pull herself together. “You thought it was because I had a fondness for her?” She started to laugh, a high-pitched hysterical sound. “Do you really think I’d want to save her? That’s too funny.”

  Blaine frowned. “Trin—”

  “Why did she curse me? Did she realize what she was doing? Or was it a mistake?” She hugged herself, trying to understand, trying to get a grasp on what he’d just told her.

  “Because she’s a psychotic she-bitch from hell.”

  Trinity blinked. “No one is just evil. There’s always a reason.” It made her sick to think of being victimized on a whim. She’d always held out hope that maybe it had been for the greater good, that there was a reason she’d endured so much. “I mean—”

  Blaine shoved his sleeve and held out his arm. A large ragged scar ran down his arm. “This is what she did to me when I was four years old, when she took me from my family for experiments. I resisted. She didn’t like it.”

  Trinity stared at the injury, shocked at the sight of it. On a four-year-old? “But—”

  “That’s what she does.” He leaned forward. “She steals children. She tortures them. The tough ones survive. The not-so-tough die. Only a few, like you, get to go home.”

  Trinity felt her throat tighten. “I—”

  “And now she has the man I consider to be my brother, and she’s torturing the hell out of him unless I turn myself and the team back in. Every day I delay, he suffers. I promised him I’d get him out, and I won’t let him stay behind.” His eyes flashed, and she felt his intensity. Saw his loyalty.

  She reached out and took his arm, and touched his scar. Her finger tingled and she pulled back.

  “Black magic,” Blaine said. “That’s what she uses on us.” He leaned forward and caught her arm. “Some people need to die, Trinity. Or they keep on hurting others. The witch is one of those, and you’re the only one who can stop her. You going to let people keep dying, or you going to step up and use your powers for good, for once in your life?”

  Use her powers for good? The idea floored her. She’d never even considered that her powers could be anything but evil. She’d spent a lifetime trying to save others, hoping it would clear her soul. But what if she actually used her powers to save lives?

  She looked down at the scar on Blaine’s arm, the damage done to a child…

  And she could stop it from ever happening again. No other girls would be kidnapped and cursed like she had. No other boys would be tortured. And she was the only one who could save them.

  Something began to beat in her chest, something that felt right. Something that settled her. It made sense. To end the hell by using her own powers. It was what she was meant to do. “Okay.”

  He squeezed her knee and nodded. “That’s my girl. I’ll help you. You won’t be alone.”

  She took a breath. “Promise?”

  He touched her face. “Promise. I—” He swore and spun around, searching the place.

  “What?” Smoke was rising from his chest, and she could see fire simmering on the backs of his hands. “What’s wrong?”

  “The witch. She’s here.”

  ***

  Blaine leapt up, Nigel came charging down the stairs, and Jarvis bolted in through the back door. All of them were a
rmed. Blaine shook his head, and the other two stopped where they were. They began searching the crowd.

  “Where is she?” Trinity was beside him. “What does she look like?”

  “Blond hair, tall, stacked.” His veins were burning. His skin was prickling. The black magic he was sensing had that feminine slant he associated with Angelica, and he could smell the lemongrass that always filled the room when she was present.

  The air was dark, heavy with the sweat of patrons. Men. Women. Sex. Stale beer. Lights dim. Floor was sticky. The lemon was cloying to his skin, and he knew he was going to smell like a girl when he left.

  But as long as he had Angelica’s heart in his hands, he was down with that.

  A blond head moved into the shadows, but Nigel was already there. Grabbed the girl, then shook his head at Blaine.

  False alarm.

  Where the hell was she? Angelica didn’t hide. She put herself out there. If she was in stealth mode, it meant she was there to make sure it was done right. What was she after? Not him. She thought he had him by the balls.

  “I smell lemon,” Trinity said.

  Trinity. She was there for Trinity.

  Blaine caught her arm and hauled her against him. “Stay close.” Of course Angelica would want Trinity. She was the Chosen, and she was ripe for harvesting. “She might be after you.”

  “Me?” Trinity stiffened. “Why?”

  “Because you carry the curse.”

  “Oh…” Trinity looked around. “Well, I’d really like to have a little chat with her about my curse. I have a few bones to pick with her.”

  “Don’t we all.” Blaine began to move through the crowd, trying to get a sense of where the perfume was strongest. But it was all over. Like it was moving around, faster than he could see—

  A thick patch assaulted him, and he instinctively grabbed the tall blonde on his right—

  She turned, and he realized his eyes had been playing tricks on him. It wasn’t a woman at all. It was a tall man, dark hair, wearing a suit with a diamond in his ear. The man was all class and dignity, didn’t fit the joint. Blaine’s hand burned from touching him. “Who are you?”

  “We need to talk,” the man said. “Outside. Now.”

  “Yeah, we do.” Blaine jerked his head toward his friends, and they all fell in behind as he followed the man toward the back door. He could see the black aura emanating from him. Tainted like the devil himself. But he smelled like lemon. Like Angelica. This man had some connection to her, and Blaine was going to find out what it was.

  He set his hand on Trinity’s shoulder, moving her behind him, as he shoved open the back door and stepped out into the alley.

  The man turned and faced them. His stance was arrogant, and his gaze flicked over all three of the warriors, as if they were nothing more than peons.

  But then his attention settled on Trinity, and he smiled. “Nice to meet you, my dear. Angelica is very proud of you.”

  Trinity tensed. “Who are you?”

  “I am her greatest accomplishment. Let me introduce myself.” The man bowed with perfect grace, but Blaine set his hand in his pocket to retrieve a blue ball.

  Something was off, and he knew it.

  Just couldn’t figure it out.

  The man raised his head and his eyes had gone coal black. “I’m the hell you wish you’d never met.” He opened his mouth, and it was nothing but a bottomless pit of blackness. And then he launched himself at Trinity.

  ***

  Well, wasn’t that the coolest thing ever? Trinity had a brief moment to admire the fire shield Blaine had just tossed in front of her, when the devil-man crashed into it and emitted a horrific scream of agony.

  Oh, wow. That sounded like it hurt—

  He burst through the wall of flames and launched a set-o-claws at her face—

  Blaine knocked her out of its demonic path just before her pearly whites would have become charcoal ugly dinner. Okay, so a little close—

  “Why didn’t you move?” Blaine yanked her to her feet.

  “I got distracted by its pain. I felt bad—”

  Her assailant leapt to its feet and spun around… but it was no longer a man. It was a petite brunette with kick-ass breasts, big brown eyes, and a scared little face. “Please don’t hurt me,” she cried. “Please.”

  Blaine swore under his breath, and Jarvis halted, his sword inches from the woman’s heart. “What the hell—”

  The girly-man plunged a spiked fist right through Jarvis’s stomach.

  “Hey, he worked hard for those abs.” Nigel unleashed a set of blades at the well-stacked-assailant, and the creature didn’t even flinch when they slammed right into its head. Just picked them out and whipped them right back at Nigel.

  Nigel caught them easily and hurled them back, faster this time, while Blaine grabbed Jarvis and hauled him out of the way. “You okay, buddy?”

  “Flesh wound.” Jarvis pressed a hand to the gaping donut hole in his stomach. “Give me a sec to shake it off.”

  Trinity watched Nigel spar with the Queen of Kings. A shapeshifting assassin couldn’t be a coincidence. “You think that’s the monster I’m supposed to kill?”

  “Odds are high.” Blaine sounded a little tense. “But I’m guessing that we just found Angelica’s smut dumpster as well. Always wondered how she kept her aura so peachy clean.”

  “The gods must be smiling on us tonight. Can’t think of anything I’d rather destroy more than her trash can.” Nigel and the demon-thing were playing catch with Nigel’s blades, but Trinity saw that the bad guy was getting stronger, and its skin was getting darker.

  She backed up against the wall and tried to focus on the humpback death trap and get some prism action going. Not totally feeling bad about killing it right now.

  Jarvis rolled to his knees. “May I request the opportunity to change my stance on taking time to kill Trinity’s monster? I’m really liking the idea of Angelica getting hit with all the smut before we kill her. Nice way to go out, don’t you think?”

  “Agreed.” Blaine looked over at Trinity. “You get a read on this?”

  “Trying—”

  The giant freak whirled suddenly and threw Nigel’s blades right at her. She yelped and dove toward the Dumpster (yeah, like she had a chance of moving faster than demon-sped daggers. Say bye-bye, Trinity—). Blaine leapt in front of her and the blades hit his chest with a rapid thumpety-thump-thump that would have sounded a lot better as a snare drum.

  Again with her protector getting himself killed? “Blaine!”

  The blades jerked out of his skin and flew back into Nigel’s hands, and Blaine set himself on fire and the holes in his chest sealed up instantly.

  “This isn’t really working here, folks,” Nigel said. “Any suggestions?”

  The big baddie charged her again, and Blaine dragged her out of its reach just before it made contact. Being assaulted by some deranged-killer-chick who could move faster than Trinity could see, let alone react to, was so not her vision of a happy day.

  “Trinity,” Blaine warned. “Tell me how to kill it.”

  Jarvis leapt to his feet, stomach looking much less see-through, and he flung his sword right into its heart. But before the blade hit, the pompom girl shifted into a thousand cockroaches, and his sword split harmlessly though the crowd. “Yeah, that’s a witch thing,” Jarvis said. “Forgot how brilliant she is.”

  Trinity scrambled on top of the Dumpster as the gaggle of bugs spread out over the alley. They scrabbled toward the men, and Blaine set them on fire. Then it became flaming cockroach fiesta, and the little suckers didn’t even flinch as they zipped along the ground.

  “Now that’s just nasty.” Jarvis stomped on a pile of them, and then shook his foot when they started crawling up his leg. “I like the puppies better—” He swore and slapped his calf. “Since when do cockroaches bite?”

  Trinity leapt onto a fire escape ladder from the Dumpster and scrambled partway up it. She focused on one o
f the bugs, tried to tap into her black widow side, but all she could see was a bug. No prism. Nothing. Crap!

  She’d never tried to go widow on purpose. She just knew that it had happened on occasion, when she got really worked up. Like the time when she’d sat on Santa’s lap when she was eighteen and he’d told her that the odds of her being a good enough girl to get a present was about the same as the odds of her waking up the next morning and being queen of fairy.

  Granted, he was a fake Santa, but the words tapped into her core insecurities big-time. And then he’d laughed and tried to make out with her. Yeah, she’d seen that prism. Santa and his reindeer had been inches from packing it in a little early that year.

  “Trinity!” Blaine was standing at the base of the ladder, and he was shooting little fireballs at the bugs. The flames were white now, and the cockroaches he hit were going ash… but then each piece of ash was turning into a new bug. Cockroach fertility treatment, apparently. “Tell me how to kill it!”

  “I can’t.”

  “What?” He shouted something at his team, and then vaulted up the ladder. “What’s the deal?”

  She watched the cockroaches circle Jarvis, closing in on him. “My power needs strong, hot emotion to be triggered. Love. Anger. Passion. That kind of thing. I’m grossed out and terrified, so yeah, nothing’s really coming to light.”

  Blaine swore, and she saw that the creepy crawlies had reached the bottom of the wall and were climbing fast.

  She grabbed the ladder more tightly. “I think we need to bail—”

  “No chance.” He hooked his elbow around the rung and swung toward her. “You want to turn your emotions on? I can do that.” He grabbed the back of her neck. “Nothing hotter than sex.”

  “What? Hello? Did you not notice attack of the carob beetle aka The Mummy?” She snorted. “You’ve got to be kidding! There’s no way I can get turned on right now.”

  He gave her a grim smile. “You’d be surprised at what a century and a half of seduction training can accomplish.”

  “That is such a guy thing! We’ve got a bad guy who turns into well-stacked chicks, and flesh-eating cockroaches, which, by the way, are starting to crawl up the wall toward us, and you’re thinking about sex as the answer to our problems? This is why the world is in decay, because we have all these male leaders who—”