As if to punctate my words, Feldspar’s legs gave out, and he fell with a thud.
I stood over him, grim with the carnage I’d caused. “I wouldn’t make any sudden movements if I were you.”
“You won’t get away,” he began, but I was already out the door.
The light from the main hall slanted dimly, washing everything in a barely there glow. I glanced down and saw Kristoff’s hellhound claws had left a trail of blood. At the far end of the hall, he stalked toward his prey who currently stood way too calmly near the mouth of the passage.
I hurried forward, but when I got close enough to make out the stranger’s features, I stopped in surprise. Same black and white suit I’d seen earlier in the ballroom. Same blood-red bow tie. Same mask covering his face. I’d seen him only for a second in the main ballroom, but it was him. I was sure of it.
“You,” I said.
The masked man’s gaze jerked toward mine.
Kristoff did the same, his fiery eyes narrowing when he spotted me. He doubled back and abandoned any patience he’d had before.
This time, there was no slow stalking.
He ran straight toward me, his mouth open and teeth bared.
I threw my arms into the air as he leaped at me, concentrating hard on the change. Feathers sprouted instantly down the length of my arms. My talons jutted through the tips of my fingers just in time.
I managed to sink a talon into Kristoff’s throat, catching him and tossing him aside. We went down in a heap, rolling and biting at each other. My beast roared and squawked as I fought to shove the hellhound off me, but my shift was only half-complete. It was all I could do to keep the hound’s claws and teeth from ripping into my very human throat.
On top of me, Kristoff went stiff and let out a keening howl before jumping off me and whirling at something behind him. I sat up in time to see Kristoff running in circles, teeth nipping at the high heel protruding from his flank.
The masked man stood over me, offering a bloody hand.
My brows shot up.
He shrugged. “It worked for you.”
Without a word, I put my hand in his and let him pull me to my feet.
At the far end of the hall, Kristoff spun wildly in an attempt to use his sharpened teeth to pull the shoe out of his flesh. We had about two minutes before he managed it, and then I had a feeling round two was going to be hell.
“Are you all right?” the masked man asked.
“Who are you?” I demanded.
He hesitated, and then said simply, “A friend.”
Not a good enough answer, but we’d circle back to that. “How did you find me down here?”
“The squawking,” he said simply.
My eyes narrowed at the laughter in his voice. Was he mocking me?
“Relax,” he said before I could unleash the torrent of curses already on the tip of my tongue. “The squawking saved your life. Here, I believe this is yours.”
He dropped something into my hand. It took me a moment to realize what it was. My broken comm unit.
I angled away and tucked it into the front of my dress before turning back to him. Anxiety had wound its way through me, curling into a tight ball in the pit of my stomach. Every single one of them knew who and what I was. How in the hell was I going to fix this?
“He’s not going to stop, is he?” I asked.
“His beast has the scent of your blood. Once that happens…” He didn’t finish, but I already knew there was no stopping a hellhound with a vendetta.
My stomach knotted at the idea of Kristoff Rasmussen out for vengeance. I couldn’t afford to fail this mission, but I also couldn’t afford for Kristoff to burn me, either. And considering how much he knew about me, I had no doubt he would come looking for me once the constraints of the ball’s magic no longer held him.
“I can’t kill them,” I said quietly.
The masked stranger’s ensuing silence spoke volumes.
“How do I get around the magic preventing death?” I asked. Something told me if anyone knew the answer, it was this guy.
“You can’t. Not in the castle, anyway.”
I looked up at him sharply, studying the way his eyes seemed to fade right into the darkness of the space. Like he wasn’t even here at all. “And outside of the castle?”
His mouth tightened into a thin line, and I knew he was weighing whether or not to tell me.
“If I don’t kill him, he’ll kill me,” I said. “Tomorrow. Or next month. He’ll come for me, and you know it.”
“The magic applies to the castle grounds only,” he said finally.
“And off castle grounds?” I prompted impatiently.
He finally cut me a sideways look. “I have an idea,” he said. “You’ll have to trust me.”
Any sarcastic response I might have offered was cut short by the hellhound’s victory cry. Kristoff had finally torn the shoe free from his flesh and was now charging at us, fangs exposed and eyes full of flames.
I called my beast and planted my feet, prepared to fight.
Before I could get close, the masked man stepped in front of me. His hand shot out and smashed into Kristoff’s face. Bones snapped, and Kristoff yelped as he fell to the ground in front of me. The man reached down and wrapped his hand around Kristoff’s throat, squeezing hard enough that no sound came from the hound’s open mouth.
“No harm shall come to this girl,” the man said, his voice booming so loudly, I had to fight the urge to cover my ears. Every fae sense I had was tingling at the raw power rolling off him.
I waited for the hellhound to fight back—to at least try to break the man’s grip on his throat. But he only shuddered and shrank back as if hoping the floor would swallow him up.
I stared at the man crouched in front of me, suspicious and a little leery. Whatever he was, my fae senses couldn’t read him, and that meant he was something beyond my power. It should have made me pause or even change my mind about accepting his help, but I had no choice. Kristoff was deferring to this man for the moment, but nothing would stop him from hunting me later. Whoever this guy was, tonight he was going to help me kill Kristoff Rasmussen.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Fog licked at my feet, wrapping everything in a blanket and leaving my skin slick with dew. Or maybe it was perspiration. I hadn’t counted on a workout tonight—but then I also hadn’t counted on having to commit murder either. Rigo would have to understand. I wasn’t going to let Kristoff go only to have him show up later and catch me off guard.
This had to end now.
Beside me, the masked mystery man didn’t even sound winded. Despite the heavy load he carried in his arms, his steps remained light and silent. Then again, thanks to my new form, I wasn’t exactly straining under the weight of my load either.
My shifting ability was once again in full effect.
Good thing since we had to zigzag our way along, keeping to the outer edges to avoid being spotted by the guests that loitered out here. Not that any of them were doing much people watching. Most were too busy pawing at each other to notice us even without the fog obscuring the view.
I wondered what my new friend thought of all the public displays. Or what he was doing here at all. He didn’t seem like the type who enjoyed these things. He also hadn’t asked me how it was possible that I could shift into more than one beast. I could only assume that meant he had plenty of secrets of his own.
“Almost there,” mystery man said.
I grunted a response, my voice low and deep thanks to the shift I’d made in order to handle the trek we were making. My doppelgänger, Feldspar, who I’d slung over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, made a similar grunting noise—only his sounded a lot less coherent.
The back of my legs itched thanks to the blood running down them. I did my best not to think about the mess I’d made of Feldspar’s innards or the trail of blood we’d probably left from that dark hallway to the moonlit lawn.
“Where are we go
ing, anyway?” I asked. “Isn’t there more cover if we head for those trees?” I nodded toward the left, but the masked man just shook his head.
“The property line ends just ahead.”
Underneath my feet, the grass turned to hard-packed clay and rock, and then the earth disappeared into thin air just past a sheer drop-off.
Mystery man glanced toward the castle at our backs and then hurried to the cliff’s edge, Kristoff’s unconscious form hanging limp in his arms. When he was in position, he looked over at me. If he was put off by the fact that I looked like an exact copy of Feldspar the Furious, he didn’t let on.
“You sure you want to do this?” he asked.
“You’re getting cold feet now?”
“Of course not. I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing. There will be consequences for taking a life.” His eyes clouded. “There always is.”
That might have been true, but the consequences for letting Kristoff live were just as bad. “I know what I’m doing.”
He nodded at Feldspar dangling over my back. “Then you go first.”
I did a quick mental check. The data chip I’d come for was once again tucked safely inside the front of my dress. Right next to my broken comm unit. I didn’t even want to think about how crazy Rigo was going to be when I finally got back to the Tiff. My purse was a lost cause, but that was fine. There wasn’t anything identifying in it.
“Ready?” mystery man asked.
I adjusted my grip on Feldspar. He’d lost enough blood and eye guts at this point that he wasn’t even trying to fight me. Maybe it was because of that, but I hesitated.
“You don’t have to do this,” mystery man said quietly.
I bit my lip. “I know.”
Another moment of silence passed between us. We were running out of time. I knew it and still I couldn’t make myself finish it.
They weren’t fighting back anymore. Suddenly, it didn’t feel like self-defense. It felt like murder.
“Set him on the ground.”
I looked up sharply and found mystery man’s eyes nearly black again, like they’d been earlier in the hall. Pure violence lived in that look, and I couldn’t help but shrink back a little.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“What needs to be done.”
I didn’t ask what that meant.
Lowering Feldspar to the ground, I tipped him forward until he landed in the grass in a heap. Blood coated his entire upper body, blotting out his face. I looked away, my stomach rolling.
The man dropped Kristoff unceremoniously next to Feldspar. Then he turned to me. “I want you to turn around and walk back inside. When you get there, go straight to the bar. The one on the left. Find Imperia.”
I frowned. “Who’s Imperia?”
“The succubus. Tell her you want to order a nightcap. She’ll make sure you get home safely.”
“A nightcap? What does that mean?”
“Just do it.”
I exhaled slowly. “What will you do?”
His dark eyes held mine, and I felt his gaze all the way through my borrowed exterior and into my bones. The parts of me that were me—Gem—trembled at being so clearly seen even when I was wrapped inside someone or something else. Had anyone ever looked at me that way?
If they had, I hadn’t looked like a ’roided out bodyguard at the time.
I wasn’t sure how that didn’t matter now, but it didn’t. This went beyond who I was on the outside. Somehow, he knew who I was on the inside. It was terrifying and amazing all at once.
My breath caught. “Listen, I—”
A hand closed over my ankle, yanking hard, and I barely swallowed the scream that rose up. My balance tilted, and the masked stranger’s hands closed over my arms, steadying me before I could fall.
Wrenching my leg out of reach, I looked down to find Feldspar scrambling to his feet. The wound on his torso wasn’t gone, but it was definitely closing up. He was moving like a man who hadn’t been split open down the center.
“Shit,” I said, realizing way too late the prevention spell must have included a self-heal clause.
Beside Feldspar, Kristoff’s hellhound was already awake and snapping his canines at my masked friend.
I shifted back to my own form, using my newfound agility and speed to charge forward, hands outstretched. I hit Feldspar just as he straightened to his full height, planting my palms on either side of the wound still stitching itself back together—and shoved as hard as I could.
Feldspar grunted. His arms flailed as he tried to regain his balance. I kept shoving, taking one step, then another toward the cliff’s edge, driving him backward until there was nowhere left to go.
Feldspar’s eyes widened.
At the last moment, his hand shot out and closed around Kristoff’s back paw. The hellhound was yanked backward—just out of reach of the mystery man’s fist. Kristoff let out a howl that drowned out Feldspar’s groan.
I watched as both of them disappeared over the cliff’s edge.
Even after their voices had gone silent, I stared into the mist. Numbness snaked through me, rendering me immobile. Even as my body returned to its former state, I couldn’t seem to break free of the horrific replay going on in my mind. I’d never killed before, but my own lack of sensation or guilt over it scared me.
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 faced Rigo again.
“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. 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?”
“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 h
is 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 emotions 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 Rigo striding toward me across the castle lawn.
“Rigo?”
His eyes went wide when he saw me, and I sucked in a sharp breath at what I must look like. I wasn’t Feldspar’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 Rigo, 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. Shifters 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.
Rigo grabbed my arm just above the elbow, yanking me back toward the castle. “Dammit, I’ve 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 explanations I could possibly give him about what had happened tonight.
Kiss of Death (Supernatural Security Force Book 1) Page 18