The Beautiful and the Damned
Page 16
Hunter nodded. “The Navarro coven.”
“So, when were you going to tell me about this little surprise?” Cyn asked. “And how does your not being dead play into it?”
“You weren’t supposed to be brought into it at all. Those were the rules. I did the job for them, they left you alone. But then Declan mentioned that he wanted to be turned, and somehow they thought I wanted to be turned too.” He glanced away. “In order to do that, you drink their blood and then . . . you have to die.”
“So that’s what happened. One of these little vamp buddies of yours ‘killed’ you to turn you. And I got stuck picking up the pieces.”
“You didn’t exactly pick up the pieces, Cyn.” Hunter’s face turned hard. “You just left me there. You stole a car and ran.”
“Because I thought you were dead!” Cyn exploded. “And I thought I was the one who went psycho and killed you! Do you have any idea what that was like, Hunter? The hell that you put me through letting me think I was a murderer?”
“I didn’t think it would turn out like this.”
“That’s the part that hurts the most.” Cyn’s voice was sad. “You didn’t think about this at all.”
She turned away from him. Looking up at Avian again, she searched his eyes. “You really didn’t believe I did this, even from the beginning, did you?”
“No. And for the record, you didn’t kill Father Montgomery, either. Declan did. The police investigating the murder told me they found his hotel room, and there was evidence in it that points to him going to the church to find you. He must have run into Father Montgomery there and thought he could make him tell him where you were.”
“But I had a knife. And I remember finding it there, in the church.”
“You found it after the fact. You never actually saw Father Montgomery, you just picked up the knife and left. Probably because of what happened in Sleepy Hollow.”
“So Father Montgomery died . . . protecting me?” Cyn’s voice broke.
Avian reached down to touch her cheek. The rosary beads were still tied around his wrist. “He died doing something honorable. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
Cyn briefly turned her face toward his hand. “Thank you,” she whispered. She glanced up one more time at him and then pulled away. “Don’t come looking for me, Hunter,” she paused long enough to say. “Ever. No matter how long you live.”
Then she turned back to Avian and gave him one last smile before heading toward the exit to the parking lot. “And you? Do me a favor and get a helmet, okay?”
Hampton Falls, NH
Two weeks later
Carefully slipping into Lenny’s room at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital, Cyn left the door cracked behind her. Visiting hours were long over, but she had a debt to repay.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a brand-new, unopened packet of cigarettes.
“Here you go, Lenny. Now we’re even. And you don’t have to keep track of it anymore in that goddamn steel trap of yours.”
The memory of him saying that made her smile, and Cyn gently placed her hand on the patch of unburned skin right above his elbow. “I’m sorry as hell this happened to you. But that bastard who did it is dead now. He took a short walk and a long drop off the edge of a cliff. You’ll never have to see his face again.”
The back of her head itched, and she reached up to scratch it. The wig she was wearing was cheap. But it made her feel better to have it on. Protected.
The tattoo outline of the number thirteen on the back of her neck itched too. It was still fresh.
Placing the cigarettes on the stand next to the bed, she gave Lenny a two-finger salute on her way out the door. “Thanks for always looking out for me, big guy. I hope I get the chance to see you and Marv again.”
~ ~ ~
She didn’t see the vintage 1948 Vincent Black Lightning following her as she stole another car and pulled out of the hospital parking lot. Which was just fine with Avian. He had a lot of thinking to do and a lot of open road to do it on.
She headed south. And Avian was willing to bet the Vincent Black Lightning he was on that she was going to the deep south. Back in Sleepy Hollow, he’d mentioned Mint in Louisiana to her, and just last week Mint let him know about a call he’d received from a girl asking if he was hiring.
At least she wasn’t running anymore. But just because she wasn’t running didn’t mean she wouldn’t need someone to look out for her.
Good thing Louisiana was nice this time of year.
ALSO BY JESSICA VERDAY
The Hollow
The Haunted
The Hidden
© LEE VERDAY
Jessica Verday is the New York Times bestselling author of the Hollow trilogy. Her short stories have been featured in the anthology The First Time, which she coedited, and Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions. She believes a shoe isn’t a shoe unless it has a three-inch heel, and nothing beats a great pair of boots. When not daydreaming about moving into a library of her own, she can be found working on her next story, redecorating her office, or buying vintage furniture. Find out more about The Beautiful and the Damned, the Hollow trilogy, and the forthcoming Of Monsters and Madness series at www.jessicaverday.com.
Simon Pulse
Simon & Schuster, New York
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON PULSE
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First Simon Pulse hardcover edition October 2013
Copyright © 2013 by Jessica Verday
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Jacket designed by Regina Flath
Interior designed by Paul Weil and Karina Granda
Jacket design and wings photograph by Angela Goddard
Jacket background texture photograph by Thinkstock
Jacket photographs of metal corner ornaments by Thinkstock
The text of this book was set in Caslon.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Verday, Jessica.
The beautiful and the damned / Jessica Verday.
p. cm.
Summary: Cyn, a witch, and Avian, executioner of the truly evil, discover that Cyn is an Echo, a conduit for souls of the dead, who will lose control unless she risks her life to vanquish the source of her power in Sleepy Hollow.
ISBN 978-1-4424-8835-9 (hc)
[1. Supernatural—Fiction. 2. Memory—Fiction. 3. Demonology—Fiction. 4. Angels—Fiction. 5. Vampires—Fiction. 6. Dead—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.V5828Be 2013
[Fic]—dc23
2013016758
ISBN 978-1-4424-8839-7 (eBook)
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Preface
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
&nb
sp; Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
About Jessica Verday