A hand closed around my wrist, pulling me back from the edge of the drop. I whirled, yanking my arm free before realizing it was only him. My new friend.
“It’s over,” he murmured. “You’re okay.”
I blew out a breath, shoving the mental images aside for now. It was something I’d have to deal with later. “Thanks,” I told him.
He nodded.
“That was…” I didn’t know how to finish or where to begin for that matter.
Without offering a response, the man turned and began walking away.
“Wait!” I hurried after him. “Where are you going?”
He paused and cast a glance toward the sky. “It’s almost time for the fireworks.”
I cocked my head. “What happens after the fireworks?”
“All of this vanishes.”
I blinked. “Just like that?”
His gaze settled on me again, his mouth set in a hard frown. The intensity from earlier was gone replaced with obvious impatience. He wanted to be done with me—so why couldn’t I just let him go? It was the smart play here, putting some distance between us. Give me a chance to get my bearings before I called Rodrigo.
“You never told me what you wanted,” I said instead.
“For what?”
“For this,” I said, waving my hand at the cliff. “For saving me. Nothing’s free, so what do you want? Money? Sex? My firstborn?”
He let out a choking sound before catching himself and inhaling sharply. “I don’t want anything,” he assured me.
“Good, because I’m not really planning on having kids at this point in my life. And money… Well, I think I could get you cab fare home. Long as you’re not going too far. And the sex… I mean, I think it’s safe to say I’m not in the mood considering I was almost literally pillaged tonight.”
His mouth twitched slightly.
I narrowed my eyes, squinting to decipher whether he’d actually just smiled. But it was gone before I could be sure.
“You should get out of here before someone connects you to this,” he said.
“What will you do now?” I asked.
“Go home,” he said simply, but something told me that answer was anything but simple.
I wondered if Imperia was going to go with him. Maybe he’d get a nightcap from her like he’d suggested for me. At the thought, jealousy tightened my hands into fists.
Ridiculous, I realized. I had no clue who he was. To me, he was no one. And I was jealous of a date that may or may not be happening for him later.
“I don’t even know your name,” I blurted.
He stared at me, suspicion clouding the intensity of his gaze, dulling the sharp connection between us.
“I’m not going to tell anyone,” I added. “I just want to know.”
He continued to study me, and I stared back, fascinated at the range of emotion going on behind his stare. His expression never changed, but just like he had seen me earlier, I felt like I was seeing him—the real him. It terrified me in a way murder hadn’t even been able to do.
My palms turned sweaty, and I resisted the urge to wipe them on my dress. I was positive that if I moved now, it would ruin this. So, I waited, barely breathing, while he seemed to work through whatever held him back.
Finally, he sighed. “It’s—”
“Lita?” Footsteps behind me made me jump.
I whirled and then froze at the sight of Rodrigo striding toward me across the castle lawn.
“Rigo?” I called back.
His eyes went wide when he saw me, and I sucked in a sharp breath at what I must look like. I wasn’t Lopez’s doppelgänger anymore, but I did still have his blood coating my legs—and probably other parts of me as well.
Not to mention the masked man beside me.
I snapped my head around to look at him, panicked at the idea of outing him to Rodrigo, but he was gone.
I stared at the curling fog where he’d stood a moment ago, my jaw half-open. I’d seen a lot in my short life. Heard about even more. Creatures who could turn into bats and fly away. Warlocks with the power to vanish in a puff of smoke. Shapeshifters even more skilled than me who could turn into a tiny ant and crawl away without their enemy’s notice. I’d never seen someone just evaporate into thin air before. But a quick scan around the foggy cliffside revealed nothing but empty air.
I had absolutely zero idea where he could have gone, supernatural creature or not, but I was out of time to figure it out.
Rodrigo reached me and grabbed my arm just above the elbow, yanking me back toward the castle. “I have been looking everywhere for you,” he hissed. “What the hell are you doing back here? And why aren’t you answering comms?”
I let myself be pulled along, processing through all the reasons why Rodrigo would be here or what I could possibly tell him about what had happened tonight.
“Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned,” I said.
“You’re damn skippy they didn’t,” he snapped. “What the hell happened to you?”
I opened my mouth, but he shut me down. “No, you know what? Don’t even try to answer me here. We’re going back to base. You can give me a full debrief there. I don’t want to take a chance on your mark seeing us together.”
Not likely. But I decided against telling him that for now.
We hurried through the fog toward the castle, and I was surprised to see that a crowd had gathered on the back lawn. Most of the couples tucked away in the dark corners had come forward to join the others. A large portion of them had even removed their masks, and everyone stood around as if waiting for something to happen.
Rodrigo ignored them all and hurried me toward a side door standing open just ahead. I wondered if he’d noticed the blood on me yet or if it was too dark and foggy to tell.
Above us, a pop sounded in the sky. I looked up in time to see fireworks exploding in an array of glittery colors. The crowd gasped and then oohed and ahhed as the bursts of color continued to light up the sky. It really was beautiful.
I glanced down at Rodrigo still tugging me along. A deep frown had settled on his mouth, and I knew from the way he walked, head down, shoulders hunched, that he didn’t give two shits about fireworks.
God, this debrief was going to suck.
Chapter Seven
The staging room was exactly as I’d left it right down to the tablet still lying on the edge of the counter. I glanced around at the space and then down at myself—no hiding the blood now. It was beginning to dry on my skin, and I had to resist the urge to scratch at it.
Rodrigo stood before me, also taking in the mess I’d made of myself.
I cleared my throat, hoping to divert his attention. “How did we get here from there?” I asked.
A few seconds ago, we’d passed through the side door that led into the castle—and we’d ended up here. I wasn’t sure how Rodrigo had managed a portal without the proper permits. Then again, stranger things had happened. Tonight, especially.
Rodrigo stood with his hands on his hips. “We’re safe and that’s all that matters. Now, did you get the package?”
No mention of the blood on my legs.
“I did.”
“Well?” he prompted.
I sighed and dug the computer chip out of my dress, ignoring the awkwardness of having Rodrigo watch me do it. I handed it over and glared at his raised brows and quirked lips.
“Don’t even think about making a comment right now,” I muttered.
He took the chip and wisely kept his mouth shut. I watched as he peered at the tiny black square I’d given him, holding it up to the light as if that would yield its secrets.
“Good work, cadet,” he said finally before pocketing the thing.
A small sliver of triumph surged inside me, but I tucked it away and braced myself for the rest of his questions. That had been the easy part.
Rodrigo reached for the tablet on the counter and swiped the screen. It lit up and displayed a menu. I waited
while he tapped a few buttons that pulled up a voice recorder app. He hit the record button and then set it aside, looking up at me. “Now, walk me through what happened,” he said. “Don’t leave anything out.”
I left plenty out—mostly anything involving Jax or the masked stranger—but I did tell him about Kristoff and Lopez dragging me into the soundproofed hallway to rough me up. And about the mystery liquid Kristoff had drugged me with. I was still pissed about that.
“How in the hell did he know you were an agent?” Rodrigo demanded when I told him about Kristoff grabbing my comm unit from inside my ear.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” I countered.
Rodrigo shook his head, muttering a string of curses and threats against whoever had sold me out. “So he knew what you were after, and he knew the SSF were the ones who wanted it? Dammit.”
“Well,” I licked my lips, and then forced myself to say, “I don’t think it’ll be a problem for us. He’s not going to leak it or anything.”
“Of course he’s going to leak it. He’ll use it as leverage to sell the chip to the highest bidder, probably someone who has it out for SSF. Not to mention the fact that we used an untested agent for the op—”
“Trust me, Rigo. The op is safe.”
His eyes narrowed as my words struck home. “What do you mean? How are you so sure he isn’t going to leak this?”
I bit my lip and then made a face when I tasted blood. Angel above, I must look like a hot mess. “Look,” I began. “Before I tell you, I want to remind you that my mission was to retrieve the data chip and deliver it to you. I did that. So, I’ve officially passed my test.”
“Keep talking,” he ordered.
I sighed. “The mark has been eliminated.”
Rodrigo’s eyes widened, and his mouth opened a full three seconds before any sound came out. “Are you fucking kidding me? You were instructed, no, ordered, to keep him alive!”
“It was him or me, Rigo. He knew who I was, and he wasn’t—”
“He couldn’t have actually harmed you. Not with the magic in that castle spelled against it.”
“That magic doesn’t have anything against wounds, even fatal wounds,” I shot back. “Or did you not notice that I’m covered in blood?”
“We were getting to that,” he said.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at that. “Kristoff’s hound wasn’t letting this go, Rigo. You know how a hellhound works once he’s scented his own bloodlust. If he hadn’t finished me tonight, he would have just been waiting in my apartment when I got home. He knew me, Rigo. My real name. What the hell was I supposed to do? Just wait for him to come back and finish the job?”
Rodrigo didn’t answer, but his glare spoke volumes about his opinion. “How in the hell did you manage to actually kill him?” he asked finally.
Fuck. This was the delicate part. “The magic only extends to the edge of the grounds,” I said lightly.
Rigo’s eyes bored into mine.
I forced my hands to my sides, standing at attention when all I wanted to do was stomp my foot. Finally, I said, “He went over the cliffside, okay?”
“You mean, you pushed him over.” His words were deadly quiet.
But I nodded, my eyes locked on a spot on the floor rather than on him.
“And his second? Lopez?” he prompted.
My head snapped up. “You knew he’d brought his guard, and you didn’t warn me?”
“I can’t hold your hand in the field,” he snapped. “Much as you might like me to.”
I shook my head, trying to ignore the revulsion. Even now, he wasn’t above innuendos. Asshole. “Yes. Both of them went over the cliff. It was me or them, and I made a choice.” My chin came up, and I added, “I don’t regret it either.”
Rodrigo ran his tongue over his front teeth—something he only did when he was too pissed to actually say words.
Dammit.
Temper leaked out of me because the bottom line was that I’d screwed up. I’d been ordered not to harm the mark, and I’d done a lot more than harm him. Now, all I could do was stand here in silence and hope I hadn’t totally fucked myself out of graduating.
The silence between us stretched.
Finally, Rodrigo reached out and hit the button on the tablet to end the recording. I had a feeling that wasn’t a good sign considering we weren’t officially done with our debrief.
I waited, but Rodrigo didn’t say a word to me. Instead, he slid his cell out of his pocket and made a quick call. I listened, impatient and a little sick, trying to decipher what was happening based on his end of things.
“Carter?” Rigo barked into his phone. “Yeah, I need a cleanup crew in the ravine behind the party site.” He paused, flicking an angry glare at me before saying, “Actually, this one’s a double.”
Then he turned his back and began pacing as he said, “One more thing. You have any openings over there?”
My stomach tightened.
Rodrigo listened to the response on the other end and then said, “Uh-huh, I see. Fine. I don’t give a shit about that. Make it happen.” A pause and then, “We’ll talk Monday.”
He ended the call and spun to face me. A slow smile spread over his face. I had no idea how, but it managed to exist there even through the cold fury that remained underneath. “Congrats, cadet. You’ve officially graduated.”
I blinked, trying to decipher what the hell had just happened. “Then why does it feel like I’m getting expelled?”
“Why would you be expelled? You said it yourself, you passed the mission.”
His words were way too casual. My heart rate sped. My palms went clammy. This was way too easy—which meant this was bad.
“Rigo, what’s going on? Who was that on the phone, and why did you ask if they had an opening?”
His smile widened, revealing way too much teeth to be genuine. “Now that you’re an agent, you’ve been assigned an official post.”
“And what post is that?” I asked even though I was fairly certain I didn’t want to know.
“Cleaner. You report first thing Monday.”
“What the hell is a cleaner?” I made myself ask.
But the words were bitter on my tongue. Whatever it was—it wasn’t a detective. And that was all that mattered.
“Exactly what it sounds like.” Rodrigo’s eyes narrowed. “The mess you made out on that cliff tonight? It’ll have to be cleaned up before any humans can stumble upon it. And that doesn’t just happen by magic.” He snickered at his own bad joke. “You know what it does take?”
In the short pause that followed, I didn’t answer, but he didn’t want me to. He was enjoying this way too much to let me get a word in now. “It takes hard work, and that work falls to someone in the SSF. Starting Monday, that someone will be you.”
My heart sank straight into my knees. Everything I’d worked for had been for this. Becoming an agent. No, not just an agent. Detective.
I had to get to headquarters. And this cleaner position sounded a long way off from that. Too long. In fact, considering the fact that I’d never even heard of the job, I had a feeling cleaners weren’t exactly moving up the corporate ladder.
“You can’t do this,” I said.
“I can and I did,” Rodrigo snapped, his smile vanishing.
In its place was grim satisfaction, and I had to swallow the surprise in seeing it so blatantly displayed. He’d obviously despised me all this time, and now he wasn’t doing anything to hide it. At least before, there’d been a semblance of professionalism—well, when he wasn’t hitting on me anyway—but now there was only disgust and dismissal.
“I completed the mission,” I argued. “I deserve to be promoted to detective—”
“You deserve to be expelled. Or maybe even cancelled.” I twitched at that, my jaw going slack, but he went on before I could respond. “You were ordered to keep your hands off Rasmussen, and you disregarded that order. No detective would get away with that, which me
ans you’re clearly not top agent material. You are, however, great at making messes.” The smile ghosted its way back to his lips. “It only makes sense you learn to clean them up.”
I fought the urge to vomit—or scream. This was not happening.
I’d gotten the damned chip. I’d completed the mission. This wasn’t fair. Rodrigo clearly just wanted to be a dick.
“This is bullshit,” I said quietly. “You know it’s revenge, plain and simple. You don’t give two shits about Rasmussen.”
Rodrigo’s answering glare said it all.
His response was slow and calculated. “You know, there is a way you could reinstate your status. Maybe even promote yourself here and now, and we can forget this whole cleaner business was even discussed.”
If he suggested a date or anything remotely similar, I was going to deck him. “What?” I snapped.
“Tell me who helped you.”
I blinked, caught off guard.
“You couldn’t have known about the magic’s loophole without help,” Rodrigo added. “Tell me who told you, and I’ll consider promoting you to at least licensing.”
“Licensing?”
That job was paperwork, pure and simple. Maybe he considered it a step up from cleaner, but glorified secretary wasn’t good enough.
Rodrigo took a step closer. “Who told you about the loophole, Gem?”
I thought about the masked stranger. About those eyes that had seen right through my artificial exterior. Unlike Rodrigo and so many others, he hadn’t cared at all about my physical appearance. He’d looked right past it and saw the real me.
“No one helped me,” I said firmly. “It was all me.”
Rodrigo frowned. “Look, if you’re protecting someone, I get it, but I just want to know—”
“I’m not protecting anyone,” I insisted. “Is it so hard to believe I couldn’t figure out something like that for myself? You did train me to think outside the box.”
He leaned back, and I knew I had him. It was sadly predictable; appealing to his vanity won every time.
He cleared his throat and picked up the tablet, heading for the stairs. “So be it. You’ll pack your things and report to your new post first thing Monday. Oh and leave the dress and your comm unit with Starla. Nothing here is yours to keep.”
The Monster Ball: A Paranormal Romance Anthology Page 19