by Jen Pretty
Great.
I pretended to sleep for the rest of the ride. Luckily, we were nearly there and when I opened my eyes again, the city laid out before us. The tall buildings reflected the late afternoon sun.
The train sounds were drowned out by city sounds as we wove through New York to the train station. My stomach fluttered, but I couldn’t decide if I was nervous or excited. The big city was a spectacle. The sheer size of it was overwhelming. When I imagined all the people that lived in the city, it seemed incomprehensible — over eight million people. But only one of those eight million made me queasy.
My throat had healed and barely a scar remained from the demon’s nails. Four tiny half-moons ran down the left side of my neck and one on the right. I ran my fingers over the slightly raised bumps.
“There are no demons here,” Nick whispered.
I sighed. No, just half-demons which are nearly as bad.
When the train rolled to a stop, everyone stood and made their way to the front of the train. Nick took my hand and squeezed it. It should have been reassuring, but it wasn’t. I wanted to sit back down and let the train take me home, but Nick dragged me down the aisle towards where I had stored my bag. He stepped off while I struggled with my suitcase. The netting they used to keep the luggage from falling off while the train was moving snagged the buckle on my suitcase and a nice older gentleman jimmied it until it came loose.
“Thanks,” I said.
He smiled, gave me a nod, and we disembarked. The ground felt weird as I stepped onto the stationary platform. I was still rocking along with the train.
Nick waited on the platform, and I dragged my suitcase along the underground corridors and up a massive ramp into the busy Penn Station, which I now knew was in Manhattan.
In the station, travellers scurried about in the vast space. I followed Nick’s back as we made our way up to the street with the smell of food making my stomach growl. None of the sandwiches the train offered looked particularly appetizing, but now I was paying for my pickiness. I tripped on the escalator as the step I was standing on disappeared into the steel grate at the top and I thanked God I didn't have a loose shoelace or something. I had heard the stories of escalators eating people when they got caught. That didn't sound fun.
Out on the street, the pretentious black limousine with the same driver stood at the curb. He opened the door when he saw me, then raced over and grabbed my suitcase from me, stuffing it in the trunk. Nick and I climbed in the limo, and the driver shut the door before racing around and getting behind the wheel.
My heart was racing so fast I could hear it in my ears. I practiced the slow breathing exercises Linc had taught me and closed my eyes, but I shivered. It seemed any time I stressed now I would shake like a leaf. It didn't happen too often at home, but now it was almost violent. I didn’t want to go back to the building where I had nearly died.
“Calm down, Harlow.”
My breath rushed in and out so fast I thought I might pass out. Nick slung his arm around my shoulders, but he couldn't stop the tremors.
“Stop the car,” I said with a squeaky voice. The car didn't even slow down. “I said stop the car!”
“Harlow, just wait,” Nick said.
I pulled at the door, but it was locked, and I couldn't get it open. My heart was going to explode. I didn't want to be here. Maybe there was another train leaving soon and I could be home by morning. Finally, the car pulled over and I kicked the door until the driver came around and opened it. I tumbled out onto the pavement and lay there trying to remember how my lungs worked. I was sure I was dead, but when Nick looked down at me and the sun was setting behind his head, making him look like an angel I knew I was still alive. There was no way I was going to heaven. I looked past Nick to realize we were in front of the building they had wheeled me out of on a gurney last time I was in New York.
“I can’t go in there,” I said through chattering teeth.
“There are no demons, Harlow. You know that. You are safe here. I promise.” Nick reached down and pulled my amulets out from under my shirt. My hand came up automatically. I had put them on tougher chains, so they weren't as easy for some demon to rip off of me. My sculptor stone was with them, warm from pressing against my skin. I took another deep breath and pushed myself up to sitting.
A greasy looking old man with a grey beard and wearing several layers of mismatched clothes stared at me like I was crazy. I took a few more deep breaths.
“Let’s go grab a coffee instead. Julian can wait a few more minutes,” Nick said, taking my hand and pulling me to my feet. He exchanged a meaningful look with the driver who pulled out his phone and made a call. I assumed to Julian.
Nick and I walked up the street to a small cafe tucked in between a clothing store and a sandwich shop. I kept practicing the deep breathing but continued to shiver until long after I was hugging a paper cup of strong black coffee.
“Okay, times up,” Nick said. I squinted at him over my cup. It wasn’t empty. “You can bring it with you, but we need to get moving, Har. I need your help on this.” He reached across the small table and took my hand — the one not holding my coffee out of his reach.
“Fine, but if I die, Lincoln will kick your ass.”
Nick sighed. “You won’t die, Harlow. We’re just going up to talk to Julian. Believe me, if he talked to me, I would be more than glad to leave you at a hotel and go chat with him, but he won’t, and I'm sure it's because he’s in love with you.”
I gasped. “That’s not true. I have done nothing worth loving in my whole life.” I meant it as a joke, but it struck close to home and Nick looked a bit sad. Fuck. Well fuck, I’m just a ball of sunshine today.
I stood up and Nick led the way. I kind of wanted him to hold my hand; he was warm and sweet and smelled good. But I also saw his point. I needed to do this and stop Collin from doing whatever he was doing.
I gripped my cardboard coffee cup a little too hard, and the top popped off, but luckily it was almost empty and didn't spill. I kept sipping it until we passed a garbage can, then tossed it in and pulled up my big huntress panties.
I could do this.
The doors to the glass fortress of death, I mean office building, stood before me. It was now or never. Nick grabbed my hand and dragged me through before I was ready, but then I was inside, and there weren't any obvious demons. People walked in and out, their shoes echoing on the hard tile floors. The soft ‘bing’ of elevators punctuated the low chatter of the busy office building. Nick put a hand on my back and pressed me forward when I slowed.
We stepped inside an elevator, and the doors slid closed. My breathing got away from me again, and I was gasping like a fish out of water.
“Slow breaths, Harlow,” Nick whispered. I tried to do as he said and watched the numbers climb above the elevator doors.
The doors slid open to the same scene as last time I stepped off on this floor. People were hustling around shuffling papers and looking busy. In the far corner where Collin once sat with his black bat wings out behind him now sat a familiar head of dark hair. He lifted his chin and his eyes caught mine.
I froze like a gargoyle at dawn.
CHAPTER FIVE
The elevator doors started to close again, but Nick's arm pressed it open, then he grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. The doors slid shut behind me and I was surrounded by half-demons again. My palms were sweaty but I reached up and twisted my amulets, making sure they were all there.
Everyone accounted for, I took a step forward towards the half-demon leader of New York. Julian. I walked closer and my fear transformed into anger. It was slow at first, I hardly noticed the shift, but then rage took over, and I was stomping towards that bastard who let me get my ass kicked by a fucking demon. I wished I had my net. My new one was tougher than my old one and could inflict some severe damage on the jerk face.
Elaine, the secretary who had been working for Collin when I was last here, stepped in front of me. A smile lit he
r face but I could tell she was nervous. “Can I get you anything? Coffee?” she asked.
I slid past her, ignoring her question because my manners were crap when I was mad and stomped to the small glass office. I slammed open the door and strode inside like I owned the place.
“You fucker!” I said. “How dare you summon me! Do you think I am at your beck and call after what you did? You are no better than that asshole Collin! Now you tell me where he is before I find something hard and start breaking your glass walls!” I eyeballed the glass. It looked pretty thick; I would need something heavy duty. I’d seen people throw chairs through glass. I wondered if I was strong enough to do that.
Julian slowly rose from his chair to his full height. I had forgotten how tall he was. Shit. I took half a step back.
“I am nothing like him,” he said in a low voice.
I scoffed. “Really? So you knew nothing about a demon in the basement? Cause you didn't look surprised at all about finding one there after he nearly killed me.” I put my hands on my hips, but my stomach chose that moment to protest the lack of food again. The loud gurgle stole all my thunder.
Julian's eyes dropped to my stomach, then slid back up to my eyes. “Harlow, I swear to you, I had no idea. Which is something you would know if you had opened any of the packages I sent you, one of which contained a video of Collin summoning that demon. I had no idea the basement had anything more than file cabinets.”
“So, what? That doesn’t prove a thing.”
Julian just shook his head.
Nick's hand slid up my back to rest on my shoulder, and Julian's eyes narrowed in on it like it was a snake about to bite him before he spoke again.
“Maybe not, but someone needs to take care of Collin.”
“Yeah, thanks for volunteering me for that, too.”
Julian's face still hadn’t broken from the mask of indifference he wore when he was around Collin. It was the most annoying thing ever.
“We are the only ones who can take him down. Even I am not as fast as you and Nick, but I am strong enough to capture him if we work together.”
I glared at him.
“Come on Harlow,” Nick said. “You know we have to do this.”
I gave him a dirty look. His head should have exploded with the power of that look, but it didn’t and it's just as well. He was too handsome to have his head blown up.
“Fine,” I said, looking back at Julian. “But if you do any shady business this time, I will kick you till you’re dead.”
Julian's lip ticked up and a flood of warm feelings circulated through me. I shoved them away, reminding my body we were still mad at the half-demon jerk-face.
“Good. We fly out tonight at seven. The car will take you to a hotel.” Julian sat back down in his chair and focused his eyes back on his paperwork, dismissing us.
I turned and stormed back to the elevator, pressing the button about a hundred times. It was hard to storm off when you had to wait for the elevator. It finally arrived, and Nick and I stomped onto it. Well, I did; Nick just kind of sauntered like always. I turned back before the doors closed and found Julian's dark eyes watching me. His face wasn’t blank now. He had a look I didn't want to examine too carefully, but almost like regret.
The limo dropped us at the hotel just outside the city where Julian and I had stayed. It was a strange hierarchy among the half-demons. I assumed that this was now Julian's hotel since he was now the leader of the city. The woman at the check-in desk just handed us each a key card. How thoughtful of him to get us two rooms.
Nick and I laughed on the way up the mirrored elevator, but I wanted some time to myself, so we split up, each entering our assigned rooms, me dragging my suitcase behind me.
I wasn't sure what was in Nick's room, but mine was full of flowers. Every surface had a vase with fresh-cut tulips.
The one closest to the door had a box and a card. I didn't touch those. I went straight to the bathroom and turned on the taps in the deep whirlpool tub, adding foam bath so I could make a bubble mountain. I remembered the last time I had done that. Then I raided the well-stocked mini bar. I didn't have to fight any demons or gargoyles or whatever today, so I took what I could carry and lined them up along the edge of the tub.
Thankfully, I didn't drown.
When I staggered out of the bathroom, wrapped up in the fluffy robe the hotel provided, a knock at the door met me.
I opened it, expecting it to be Nick, but it was Julian, carrying a tray that smelled suspiciously like pizza.
“Peace offering?”
I snorted, but let him in. He had pizza. No one in their right mind turned down pizza.
His eyes caught the still untouched box and card beside the flowers, but he didn't comment. He set the tray down on the small table and removed the lid.
Yup, it was cheesy, delicious pizza, all right. It smelled like pepperoni.
“I will eat your pizza, but don't think you are off the hook. I nearly died.”
“I know. I’m sorry. That was my fault, I should have been with you. Instead of letting Collin lead, I should have kicked him out long ago, but I didn't want the job and I let him go on too long without keeping an eye on him.”
“Well, you know what you can do with your sorries,” I said.
He nodded, his face solemn.
I slid a slice of the pizza off the plate and took that first good bite. The cheese was stringy and perfect. I hummed with joy and my body thanked me for offering something to soak up all the alcohol I drank in the tub.
“I need to ask you a question, Harlow,” Julian said, sitting down in the chair across from me.
I chewed the pizza in my mouth and swallowed before answering, finally remembering my manners. “What's that?”
“Are you dating Nick?” I choked on the fresh bite of pizza in my mouth. Coughing and trying not to die consumed my brain for a few minutes but once I could breathe again, I looked up through watering eyes to see Julian still staring at me.
“Not really,” I said.
His jaw ticked and brows lowered. “I’d be happier if you said not at all.”
“Well, I’d be happier if I didn't have scars on my neck and nightmares about scaled monsters strangling me every night, but we don't always get what we want.” I took another big bite of my pizza.
“Are you drunk?” he asked.
“Not drunk enough,” I replied.
A smile creased the corners of his mouth and he got a twinkle in his eye. My body decided we should forgive him for any past transgressions immediately. My body was definitely drunk. I told it to calm the hell down.
“Who are you talking to, Harlow?”
Oh shit, I guess I said that out loud. “No one. Look, it's been nice catching up, but I think I’ll pass out for a few hours if you don’t mind.”
“Sure. I’ll just sit here for a while if it's all right with you.”
“Whatever, it's your hotel.”
I curled up in the blankets and I was out before my head had time to spin with all the alcohol I drank.
“Harlow,” Julian whispered.
“Ugh nm,” I replied intelligently.
A dark chuckle floated around me like a warm gust of summer wind. I snuggled deeper in the pillows. A hand brushed the hair back from my face.
“I’ll make it up to you,” he whispered. I think he thought I was still asleep. He sounded so earnest and sincere. He was making it hard for me to have any intense negative emotion about him. Particularly as I slept without a nightmare for the first time since I was last here. There was something about Julian that made me feel calm. Even before a demon strung me up, or the previous leader of the half-demons nearly killed me, Julian had affected me.
I lay there as his hand played with my hair. I could feel his warmth and assumed he was sitting on the bed beside me based on my position and his hand. I imagined him sitting there with a book or something in one hand and absently playing with my hair. It was something couples did, just sa
t around together, some useless action that connected them without it being a big deal. But it was too comfortable for how my brain was feeling about the half-demon. I wanted to move, but I couldn't make myself. My body had taken control and it liked the mindless hair business.
Julian sighed. “You don't have to pretend you are asleep.”
“I’m not pretending,” I whispered.
He chuckled, and I opened my eyes in time to see him with a smile on his face. God, he was gorgeous when he smiled. Time to change the subject. “Where is Collin?” I watched his face change from relaxed and happy to blank and distant and regretted changing the subject.
“He is down in Mississippi. He killed the leader and has been gathering the local half-demons. I don’t know what for because he has insulated himself with extremists.”
I let that sink in for a minute. A whole group of super-powered half-demons? Great.
“What time is it? Do we leave soon?” I asked, sliding out of bed.
“It’s five. We have to leave in an hour. Nick sent me a text saying he wants to stop at the mall, of all places.”
I knew exactly why he wanted to stop there. In the back of a tiny store called Belt ‘n Tie was a stock room packed with merchandise not meant for the regular public. It was an outlet for gargoyle hunter clothes and paraphernalia.
I strode into the bathroom and pulled on the clothes I had worn here since my suitcase was not holding anything I wanted to wear on the trip south, then walked back out ready to go.
“We should go early, I need things at the mall, too,” I said, whipping out my phone to text Nick. My battery was dead though. Damn it. Hopefully, there was somewhere to plug it in on the plane. I walked out of the hotel room and knocked on the door to Nick’s room.
The door creaked open while I was still trying to convince my phone it wasn't dead, so I didn't look up as I said, “We need to go early.” My phone lit up for a second and then died again.
“Nick, I guess it's for you.” My eyes shot up into the glinting eyes of Chelsea. She was one of the local hunters in New York, but I had never seen her look like she did more than file her nails. Now she was wearing a hotel bathrobe and looked way too proud of herself.
