They left soon after, Raj dropping her off at her apartment before bringing Spencer back to his place. She waved as they drove away, cringing when her building’s front door whined as she yanked it open.
Half-way up the stairs, her phone rang. She answered, and Frank’s booming filled the hall, chewing her out for missing her shift. Dani let him scream, and when she reached her apartment and pulled out her keys.
“You know what, Frank? Shove your shitty, underpaid job up your ass. I quit.”
Relief flooded through her when she hung up. She’d have to find some other way to pay for her mother’s care, but first, there were more pressing concerns.
She and the Ink needed space to grieve.
15
Dani’s apartment was the cleanest it had ever been. After she’s scrubbed herself clean of the hellish night, showering as quickly as she could under the still-cold water, she’d washed every surface until the dingy metal appliances and chipped vinyl countertops gleamed. She pushed her body to exhaustion, but Silas deserved nothing less.
When there was nothing more to clean and she’d lit every candle she owned to provide light in her dark apartment, she called the Ink.
Kiva appeared first, and Dani sank into her warmth. She hugged Kiva tight, burying her face in the panther’s fur. Kiva didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need to: Dani could feel the sorrow radiating off her. And though she had braced for it, there wasn’t any of the blame or reproach she was expecting.
If she was honest with herself, Dani knew it wasn’t Kiva she had to worry about throwing the night’s horrors back in her face. She had Poe for that.
The raven answered her call swiftly, coming to rest on top of the fridge, his feathered head cocked to one side. Watching. Waiting.
“Go ahead, Poe. Let me have it.” Dani forced herself to let go of Kiva, and she stood tall beneath Poe’s watchful eye, awaiting his judgment.
But Poe chirped at her and swooped down from the fridge, landing on her shoulder. This wasn’t your fault, Danika. He nuzzled his beak against her chin. You don’t bear any blame for this, love. Poe’s voice was choked with emotion. I should have warned you. Trained you better. It was my job to protect all of you.
“It’s not your fault,” she said through fresh tears. “You told me to get rid of Pam. If I had only listened—”
Kiva nudged Dani’s hip with her head. You brought that family back together, young one. Do not diminish the good of what you’ve done.
Dani nodded, but she examined the now white scars on her forearm instead of looking at either of them. Part of her wished the wound had taken longer to heal. She deserved to feel the pain linger. She wanted proof of the freshness of her grief. “I don’t know if I can face Jasper,” she whispered. Already his pain was overwhelming her senses. She didn’t know if she could bear to hear that same hurt in his voice.
He needs your strength. He needs all of us. Kiva licked Dani’s scars, her tongue warm and rough against the raised, puckered skin. Let him out.
She whispered his name, tears claiming her as his grief pulled away from her body, leaving her personal pain behind.
Dani collapsed on her mattress and pulled her knees into her chest. “I’m so sorry, Jasper. So, so sorry.” It was getting hard to breathe, her heart racing so fast she was afraid she might pass out.
Jasper didn’t say anything. He slithered onto the bed and wrapped his tail around the arm that once bore Silas. The king cobra’s physiology didn’t permit him to cry, but his grief was no less heavy. Kiva climbed into bed with them, curling up behind Dani.
“Get over here, Poe,” Dani said, brushing her fingers along Jasper’s scales then burying her hand in Kiva’s soft fur. Poe ruffled his feathers, and for a second, she thought he might refuse, but then he flew over to them and claimed a space on Kiva’s shoulders.
They didn’t have to say how much they’d miss Silas. It flowed through each of them, wordless but true. Poe fell asleep first, his beak coming to rest against the feathers on his chest. Dani curled up against Kiva, lifting Poe to tuck him protectively against her chest.
And finally, they slept, a pile of grief and love, bonded for life.
16
Dani woke to the incessant buzzing of her phone. She reached for it, but by the time she flipped it open to answer, the call was lost.
She stretched, taking in her small apartment. Kiva and Poe were still asleep, but her waking had roused Jasper. His tongue flicked out, tasting the air, and Dani couldn’t remember the last time one of the snakes stayed outside her skin for an entire night. He watched her, a questioning tilt to his head, and Dani nodded.
It hurt when he burst into shadows and returned to her skin, but she had a new appreciation for the sensation. She’d never complain about that kind of pain ever again.
All her candles had burned themselves out, leaving pools of wax on the floor and counters, but the sun was bright in the sky, light filtering in through the small window. Her phone chimed with a voicemail. Begrudgingly, she flipped it open and punched in her passcode.
“This is Blackthorn Hospital, calling for Miss Danika Frost.”
Dani cursed under her breath. She was supposed to stop by the receptionist desk to make payment. They were probably hours away from kicking her mother out.
“We wanted to confirm receipt of your recent online payment,” the voicemail continued. “Your next bill is due in fifteen months. We’ll reach out again thirty days before payment to confirm the card we have on file.”
Dani replayed the message three more times before she let herself believe it was true. Someone had paid her mother’s hospital bills. But who—
It had to be Raj. He was the only one who knew about her mother’s condition, but she hadn’t told him which hospital she was staying in. How had he found her? Why had he paid for so much of her care?
Danika? Kiva’s concerned voice penetrated Dani’s runaway thoughts. Is everything okay?
“I think it is.” A weight Dani hadn’t realized she was carrying suddenly lifted from her chest. If she had any tears left in her body, she’d be crying again. “Someone paid Mom’s bill. She’s not going to get kicked out.”
Poe ruffled his feathers and used his beak to lay them straight. Excellent. Now you’ll have more time for hunting.
She couldn’t help it. She rolled her eyes. “I do still have to pay rent and buy food, Poe. Money isn’t optional in this world.”
He harrumphed, but it was Kiva who asked what she was going to do next.
Dani didn’t know. She could probably get a better waitressing job now that she had experience, but the thought of delivering trays of food to mocking high schoolers and shitty tippers threatened to burst the bubble of joy the voicemail had created.
But then she thought of Cassie. She thought of saving Lana. Of reuniting their family. Hope bloomed inside her as an idea started to take hold. “What if I could make money helping people?”
How? Poe asked, ever practical.
All of the pieces snapped together in quick succession. It was perfect.
“I’ll be a private investigator,” Dani said, and it sounded so right she wanted to shout it from the rooftop. “I can hunt demons and help people like Lana. The bills will get paid, I won’t have to neglect my duties, and the research skills will help me find the reaper who hurt Mom.”
Dani could see it now. An office of her own, her name stamped on the frosted glass. She smiled a little, imagining a python twisting along the bottom of business cards. Silas would still be part of it all, the heart of everything she did.
Before she could expand on her blossoming idea, someone knocked on the door.
Kiva growled, and Poe flew up to Dani’s shoulder. Did you forget to pay rent again?
“I didn’t forget anything,” she whispered. “Rent isn’t due until next week. Both of you, return.”
Dani winced, and by the time she reached the door, she was alone in the apartment. She flipped open the many l
ocks and cracked the door to glance out into the hall.
“Raj? What are you doing here?”
He held up a white paper bag in one hand and a tray with two steaming cups in the other. “Mind if I come in? I brought breakfast.”
She opened the door and let him step through. Shame tried to color her face as he took in her tiny apartment, but Dani forced the emotion down. Not because she wanted to avoid it, but because she denied its accuracy. She had survived more than most. She’d lost her mother at seventeen and still had a place to call home, no matter how small and sparse it was.
When Raj turned to face her, he smiled. “Glad to see you in one piece. Coffee?”
Dani accepted the cup and drank down the burning liquid. “Thank you,” she said, glancing at the white bag as her stomach growled audibly. “What’s in there?”
Raj grinned. “The best bagels in Blackthorn.” He set the bag on the kitchen counter and pulled out several wrapped bagels. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got some with butter, cream cheese, and a couple with eggs, bacon, and cheese.”
Her stomach growled again, and Dani didn’t even try to hide it. “Bacon. Always the bacon one.”
They ate in comfortable silence, leaning against the counter, and when Dani’s stomach was finally full for the first time in months, she studied Raj. His lip was still swollen from whatever the other necromancers had done to him, but his eyes were bright and his smile quick.
“What?” he asked, catching Dani staring.
“Why did you help me?” She thought of the voicemail from the hospital. “Why do you keep helping me?”
Raj raised an eyebrow at her.
“The hospital called.”
His brown cheeks went ruddy. “I didn’t think they’d call you so fast.”
“That doesn’t answer why, Raj.” Dani knew she shouldn’t antagonize the man who had done so much to help her, but she couldn’t help it.
Raj stared at his coffee cup, his fingers playing in the steam that rose through the small opening. “I’ve been groomed my whole life to take over my father’s business, but all that wealth and power comes at a cost. I try to run the clubs as ethically as I can, but I’ve never truly helped someone. There’s always a catch, and I always get something out of it.” He tucked a few loose strands of hair behind his ears. “I don’t think I’ve ever done something truly selfless before in my life. And then I met you.”
Raj finally looked at her then, something soft and wanting in his expression. “I watched you sacrifice again and again to help those girls, and you asked for nothing in return.”
“It was the right thing to do.” Dani’s breath caught in her chest, and Raj seemed suddenly closer yet not nearly close enough.
“No one I know does anything because it’s the right thing, Dani.” He reached for her then, his soft hands circling her waist and pulling her close. “You make me want to try.”
He leaned close, so close Dani could feel the heat of him on her skin. “Paying for my mother’s care so I’d want to kiss you isn’t exactly selfless,” she said, near breathless.
“That’s not why I did it.”
Dani’s hands slid up his chest, coming to rest behind his neck. “But you do. Want to kiss me, that is.”
Raj smiled, and it was the first time the expression had ever seemed shy on his lips. “Only if you want me to.”
And even though they stood on opposite sides of the war against demons. Even though she’d barely known him a day. Even though she didn’t think her mother would ever approve, Danika Frost decided she didn’t care about any of that. She was just a girl who liked a boy who liked her back.
She pulled him close and kissed him.
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