“Is it?” Her voice barely carried, and I wondered if the words were even meant for me.
“Yes, it is. What? Do you want to know what a wonderful woman my mother was? About how my little sister had just gotten her acceptance into an arts college? She wanted to be a fucking artist, Ava. How did she deserve to die?”
I looked up, blinking back the tears I refused to let fall. I wouldn’t shed any more for them. I didn’t have any left. “Or maybe you want to hear about my dad? He could be a real hardass, but he always came through for us, pushed us to be better.”
Ava bit her lip and tears built behind her eyes again. “You can tell me whatever you want, Karson.”
“Or maybe you want to hear about me? About my dreams? About my years of being a dickhead frat boy in college. About how I thought the worst thing that could possibly happen would be to accidentally get a girl pregnant during a dorm party—not having my whole family slaughtered by a demon. Maybe how my whole fucking world blew up that day?” My voice rose with every word, and I stood to face her, but Ava didn’t cringe back. She didn’t crowd me, either. She just waited, soft understanding in her eyes.
“He died that day, too, Ava. The man I was. Hell, maybe all that was human about me.”
“That’s bullshit.”
I struggled to find words through the maelstrom of anger and loss that sliced me, filled me.
She stepped forward and cupped my cheek in the palm of her hand. “You’re just as human as the rest of us, Karson. Just as fallible and touchable. Just as terrible and wonderful.”
Terror gripped me and I turned away. Her eyes knew too much, understood too much. I couldn’t face her.
And she waited. Minutes passed until I was ready to talk again. Ready to face her again.
“It doesn’t matter if you can help the demons or not,” I said, trying to ground my tangled thoughts, return our conversation to safer ground. “They’ll take you anyway. Use you however they can. That you can see the future is a powerful tool. They’ll find a way to abuse that power.”
She nodded, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the carpet, away from my face. “I don’t intend to just hand myself over.”
“Oh?” I stepped closer to her until I stood only a foot away. I touched her chin and tilted her face up. If she was going to fight me on this, then she was going to look me in the eye.
She didn’t blink. “I’m going to destroy them. And you’re going to help me.”
“Ava—”
“I know you think that I’m just this delicate flower that’s going to be stomped on the second you look away, but I’m not. I’m stronger than you think, and I’m getting my friend back. You can either help me or get out of my way.”
I hesitated, searching for an alternative. But she was right. Ava was no delicate flower—she was a fighter. I had no doubt she’d find a way to try to rescue Miriam, no matter the cost. I couldn’t let her do it alone. Letting her face the demons without me wasn’t an option.
I nodded and she gave me a grim nod back.
She wasn’t the same woman I’d met at the hospital—or at least not the same woman I thought I’d met that day. A strength I’d only seen hints of had either grown or simply revealed itself in the adversity she’d faced in a few short days, and she’d become someone else. Someone stronger.
I just hoped she was strong enough.
…
I led the way into Pulse while Ava lagged behind me. Certain buildings only looked right during a certain time of day, and seemed somehow odd or surreal at other times. Bars and clubs took on a distinctive gloomy feel during the day, and to me, Pulse seemed especially depressing. Shadows cast by the sunlight peeking in through the mostly covered windows made the club appear less grand during the daylight hours, and it wasn’t all that grand at night.
The club’s main room had been cleaned after the busy Saturday night before and was now officially closed until Tuesday afternoon, as it was every week. The timing was perfect for our purposes. No witnesses.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
She fidgeted in the doorway leading into the club proper from the small area used to collect cover charges on the weekends. “I’m fine. It’s just—the last time I was here, I made the biggest mistake of my life.”
I took her hand in mine and squeezed. “We’ve all made some mistakes this week.”
“Had to bring your girlfriend?” a gruff voice asked. Caleb stood in the open doorway behind the bar. The doorway that led to the room where I had attempted to exorcise Thomas.
Ava grimaced, but she didn’t look down.
“Caleb’s not going to bother you,” I said, but I directed the words at Caleb, not Ava.
The man crossed his arms and frowned, deep lines cutting into his face.
“Where’s Franklin?” I asked.
“He went out to get the supplies you asked for—cantankerous old ass shouldn’t be out of bed, but see if you can tell him that. Had to call in some favors to find some of it on such short notice. Not sure when he’ll be back. When you told me not to bother getting the girl, didn’t know you were bringing her here.”
Oh yeah, Caleb was still pissed. Not that I could really blame him. I’d be angry too if someone had tricked him so easily and a demon had gone free because of it. But the blame for that wasn’t on Ava.
“She’s here to help.”
“I don’t want her here.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that I didn’t give a flying fuck what he wanted, but Ava beat me to it.
“This demon has my best friend, and I’m not going to sit back while you boys get into a pissing contest over where I should or shouldn’t be before you try to get Miriam back.” Ava crossed her arms. “This whole thing is my fault. I get that. And I’m going to fix it if I can.”
A flicker of something passed over Caleb’s expression at the mention of Miriam, gone too quickly for me to identify. If her words fazed Caleb beyond that quick show of emotion, he didn’t show it. Instead he ignored her and told me, “I don’t like it.” Then he disappeared into the back room and the door slammed behind him.
Ava released a small sigh and tugged on her hair. “Guess he’s not warming up to me anytime soon.”
“He’s not really the forgiving type. Or the warm type.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
The front door slammed and Ava jumped and spun around. I pulled my machete from the sheath on my belt. The building was protected by wards, but armed was always better than unarmed—just in case. I moved next to Ava, and then relaxed when Franklin came into view.
The older man carried two brown paper bags and had another plastic one dangling from his wrist. The plastic read “Home Depot” across the surface.
“Paint’s a little heavy, son,” Franklin said, voice as dry as the Arizona desert.
I swallowed an apology and took one of the paper bags and the plastic one from him. Franklin didn’t tolerate apologies for idiotic mistakes. Say you’re sorry for shit you really need to, otherwise just don’t do it again. “Glad to see you’re okay.”
“I’m tough. Takes more to kill me than a little vocal magic,” Franklin said, as if the banishing spell had been minor. As if the magic he’d been pulling wouldn’t have killed most Venators.
“You’ll have to tell me how you manage that sometime,” I muttered. I wondered how much demon’s blood Franklin had taken in through his tattoos over the years.
“We’ll need to keep an eye out, especially here. Thomas has been here before, after all. Though that might work in our favor. Not likely they’d think we’d come back here.”
“I’ll tell you guys if I feel anything,” Ava said, and I stiffened next to her. Ava went still, too, as if remembering a few seconds too late that I had told her never to mention her power to feel demons around anyone but me.
“You’ll what now?” Franklin said.
Ava gave me a sidelong glance, and I shrugged. Too late to put the lid back on that bit of infor
mation. Franklin wasn’t an idiot. He knew she was psychic, and it wasn’t a leap to figure she had a few other tricks up her sleeve.
“Go ahead and tell him,” I said to her.
“I can feel them—they make me feel cold. I mean, that probably sounds weird, but—”
“Not weird at all. Psychic and can feel demons. Isn’t that interesting,” Franklin said.
Ava smiled at Franklin, and to my surprise, the old man smiled back. A real smile that touched his eyes and lit up his whole face. I suppressed a frown. Franklin never smiled at me like that. Jesus. Even old Franklin, with his tough nature and grizzled outlook on life, wasn’t proof against her charm.
“It is nice to see you again, Franklin.”
“You, too, my dear. The pleasure’s all mine.”
The old coot even had manners around her. Wonders never ceased.
Franklin turned his attention back to me and his smile disappeared, all business. “I got all that you told me on the phone. But we’d best get started. You show the girl a couple of the symbols. We’ll need her help if we’re going to get it done in time. I’ve got a place I think will work for the plan you’ve cooked up, but it’s going to take all day to get it prepped.”
“It was Ava’s plan,” I said. I wanted to argue, keep Ava as far out of this as I could. Teaching her the symbols, even just a couple, brought her even further into his world. But Franklin was right. We’d get a lot more done with an extra set of hands, even amateur ones.
“You mind giving us just a minute?” Franklin asked her.
“Of course. I’ll just find some soda or something.” Ava gave me a tight smile and walked behind the bar.
“You’ve been keeping some secrets, haven’t you?” Franklin growled, his kind sage attitude disappearing with Ava. “You know how useful that power of hers would be to us? Both of her powers? Hell, we learn to harness that and—”
“And nothing,” I said, voice deceptively low. Anger shook me, and something else. I trusted Franklin—the man was like a father to me—but he was vicious in his pursuit of demons. He might mean well in the grand scheme of things, but I wasn’t about to let him drag Ava into the Venator world. “She’s not going to be part of this world, Franklin.”
“Well, now—”
“No!” I said, loud enough that a startled Ava turned around from where she was rummaging through the bar, no doubt looking for a Cherry Coke.
“No,” I repeated, more quietly, but putting no less steel in my voice. “No fucking way, Franklin. Over my dead body.”
“Is that so?” Franklin’s face went blank.
My hand twitched toward my machete.
Then the corners of his mouth curled just slightly, into a small grin. “Well, I never thought I’d see you fall for a woman. Good for you, I guess.”
I relaxed, but only slightly.
Franklin slapped me on the back, drawing a quizzical look from Ava, who walked toward us slowly, as if worried she would interrupt. She carried a can of Sprite.
“No Cherry Coke?” I asked.
“Whoever does the ordering here doesn’t have the best taste,” she said.
Franklin excused himself to make preparations, all encouraging smiles for Ava on his way out. Caleb, finally reappearing from his sulk in the back room, provided a couple sheets of paper and a marker.
We sat at one of the bar’s tables and I drew the first symbol for her. She watched me closely, eyes never straying from my hands. The smell of what I’d decided must be her lotion drifted around me, seductive and distracting. I had to force my face away from her, when what I really wanted to do was lean in and smell her. Faintly citrusy, it had an edge that made me think of dessert.
“What does this one do?” she asked.
“It’s a general weakening symbol. It’ll reduce their speed, strength, and mental powers a slight amount. We have more powerful ones that we’ll spread around, too, but this one is good to use because it’s more versatile. The others focus on specific abilities.”
A clear view of the cleavage running down the tank top she wore was clearly visible when she leaned forward to look at the symbol more closely, offering a glimpse of her black bra along with it. And my mind was suddenly empty of every thought other than how soft that bit of skin looked, and how it had tasted on my tongue.
She glanced up at me, probably wondering why I’d stopped talking. As she took in my expression, pink touched her cheeks, and she licked her lips. I couldn’t look away. That tongue, slick against mine. Her body, moving beneath me. Her soft voice, crying out my name.
Breath caught in my throat. I tore my eyes back to the symbol we were discussing. Grasping desperately for my train of thought, I cleared my throat.
“We’ve been around Thomas enough to understand his powers, so the focused symbols are likely to be the most effective. But Hugh’s a bit of a mystery. Could be he has some abilities we don’t know about, maybe some we don’t even have specific symbols to counteract. This symbol will help take the edge of power off those.”
“Got it,” she said, and if her voice was a little huskier than normal, I ignored it. “Sorry about mentioning the cold feeling that the demons give me. Kind of just slipped out.”
“It’s fine. I made sure Franklin was clear on the fact it doesn’t change a thing.”
“I’m not sure I really understand why it would. I mean, I can feel them a couple of seconds earlier than you would see them. Why is that a big deal?”
Of course she wouldn’t understand. She’d come into this fight at the tail end. I wanted to kick myself. Maybe if I’d explained it properly before, she wouldn’t have slipped.
“I should have told you. We hunt demons, but half of our time is usually spent finding them, making sure those we suspect are actually demons before we move in and plan out how to take them down. That can take a lot of time and manpower. Not to mention the fact that Venators get caught sometimes attempting surveillance. Other times the demons discover we’re on their trail while we’re still determining what they are and they disappear, or go to places that they have so well defended that trying to enter is suicide.”
“So someone like me…”
“Would increase our takedown success rate phenomenally and cut a lot of time out of the equation, too. You’d help, Ava, but you’d also make yourself a target.”
The wheels were spinning in her head at that—I could see it on her face. Luckily, I had a distraction handy. I slid the paper over the slightly sticky surface of the table to her and set the marker on top of it. “Care to try it?”
She chewed the inside of her lip while she drew, her face scrunched in concentration. Pretty, that was the word I’d used to describe her after we first met in the hospital. The word was too small for her now, too simple.
“I wish you knew Miriam a little better. She’s kind of the best person in the world,” Ava said softly.
“I’ll get the chance to know her after we get her back,” I said, forcing myself to sound more confident than I felt.
Ava drew slowly but without hesitation on the paper. “The first time I met her, she sat down next to me in the library. She was new at school and…” Ava laughed, then the sound abruptly stopped and guilt coated her features. But she continued as if the noise had never escaped her. “She’d already decided that we were going to be friends.”
“Why was that?”
“Because I was reading Pride and Prejudice. I didn’t tell her at the time because I was scared to chase away a potential friend, but I never really liked the book. Well, not in high school, anyway. I’ve learned to appreciate it.” She glanced at me before turning back to the symbol in front of her. “But at the time, I thought Elizabeth should dump Mr. Darcy and go do something interesting with her life. Or maybe keep him and drag him along with her on some sort of fun adventure.”
I snorted.
She smiled wistfully. “But from then on out, Miriam wouldn’t be discouraged. We’ve been best friends ever since.” S
he held up the paper for me to see. “How’s this?”
I looked at the paper quickly, hoping she hadn’t noticed my eyes on her. The symbol was perfect, and somehow more fluid than my own.
A low whistle escaped my lips. “Nice job.”
“Thanks. Four years of art in high school have finally paid off.” The half smile that broke out on her lips made the room brighter, and my heart twisted.
Her face softened, and her smile faltered. Intensity replaced it. Hunger. She pushed a chunk of blond hair behind her shoulder. “Karson,” she whispered.
My mouth only inches from hers, I realized what I was doing. But the reasons I shouldn’t kiss her eluded me. She was all there was. All that mattered. Despite her brave front, I ached to comfort her. Chase away the fear I saw behind her optimistic guise.
“Bring the paint. We’ll take my truck out there.” Caleb’s voice echoed in the room, bouncing off the walls to reverberate against my skull.
Ava jumped as if the man had struck her, and stared fiercely at the drawing on the paper, red crawling up her neck.
“We’ll be there in a few minutes. Easier to teach her this with a table to draw on.” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to smash my fist into Caleb’s face or thank him for interrupting in time.
“Uh-huh. Why don’t you just meet us there? I’ll text you directions. Bring some lunch.” Caleb’s footsteps carried him to the other side of the club, and the back door slammed behind him.
“Gosh, he’s pleasant.”
“Oh yeah, he’s a real fucking ray of sunshine.”
Ava laughed, her tone a little hysterical around the edges before it cut off. “So, what’s the other symbol?”
I plucked the marker from her fingers and started to draw.
Business. Concentrate on business.
Chapter Fourteen
The hours flew by as Karson and I planned, set up the space, and painted. Karson disappeared on a supply run, but returned quickly. After we finished working in the place Franklin had found to set up our trap, Karson and I headed to my apartment so I could get ready to meet the demons.
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