by Fiona Zedde
“Pascale!” I call out to my second in command. “Redstone is trying to port out. I can’t hold him!”
Pascale rushes over to where Mai and I are trying to deal with Ethan, and the three of us struggle with him, all grunting with the effort.
Damn. Has he always been this strong?
No, I’m just too weak to properly fight him, dammit.
“Don’t hurt him!” Even under the stati-cloth someone slapped over Caressa’s mouth, I can hear her. She’s seriously getting on my nerves.
Then she yelps as Caleb drags her back across the room with the other Redstones and pulls enhanced zip-ties tight around her wrists. We must be out of cuffs.
“Caressa, fight them!” Ethan growls, and I slam an elbow into his face for his trouble.
This kind of shit is beneath us. Brawling with some child killer like we’re equals in the streets? This needs to be over, and soon. But the elbow jab took the last of my strength. I’m too weak to do more than gasp commands, and with Pascale there to prevent Ethan from porting out, I slowly back away from the fight, a hand pressed to the sharp pain in my stomach.
“Xóchitl. Is that you?” Abi is nearby and asking questions I can’t answer. How the hell can she figure that out through my mask? I don’t even look her way.
But at the sound of her voice, Ethan, who is rabidly fighting Pascale and Mai like he’d sooner die on the floor of his family home than go back to prison, looks up. His animal eyes latch onto me, and I feel the moment that he must see the resemblance that Abi just noticed.
Shit.
A look of wild joy flashes across his face, like his Christmas came early. “That is your little fuck toy, isn’t it, Mai?”
I feel the ripple of shock from the other Redstones.
That’s right, bitches. I’m not that easy to kill.
Quick as a cat, he rams a fist into Pascale’s throat, and the sound of it is like a tile shattering. Pascale screams, an agonized sound, and Ethan twists away from Mai and arrows straight for me.
He slams into me like a battering ram, and my whole body blooms with pain. I gasp, biting back a shout. He can’t win this. We can’t let him.
Kept at bay by Caleb’s scowl-threatening presence, his big gun, and the power-draining cuffs on their wrists, the rest of the family is forced to stay out of the way as the fight destroys the room. Lamps. The couch. All their pretty things.
Ethan is good. I remember it from before. Hard to forget the way he fights. His father, with his telekinesis, was a lazy fighter, relying on his mind to do all the work for him while letting his body grow weak and unable to defend himself in a fight. But Ethan never allowed himself that luxury of the truly powerful.
With his ability to phase gone under the tight grip of my arm, he’s a beast, ferocious and skilled. I feel the blood bubble up through the rips in my skin. Bruises bloom. The bones rattle under my skin.
“I’m going to take your bitch from you the same way you stole my father from me.” Ethan savagely tears into me.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who he’s talking about. And barely a breath later, he’s on me, an arm tight under my throat and his fist slamming into my stomach over and over again.
The pain is blinding. I can’t breathe. Everything from my neck down to my belly feels like a raw, pulsing mess.
“Get off her!” Mai throws him off me, and I gasp, sprawled on my back and desperately sucking in the suddenly available oxygen.
Oh God. Air. It feels incredible.
With her gun gripped in both hands, Farr drops to her knees at my side. “Commander, can you function?”
What the hell is she doing? Redstones first, me later.
“Yes!” I manage to gasp out. “Don’t worry about me. Secure Caressa and make sure Redstone doesn’t get away.” The air rushing through my throat hurts. God damn, it hurts. “Then go to Pascale.”
After a quick mental check to make sure I’m not hiding any lasting injuries, she’s gone. But damn, the pain juddering through me isn’t allowing me to move quite yet.
“Ethan Redstone, don’t move!” Farr points the gun at Ethan, but even she isn’t good enough to hit him and not hurt Mai in the process. “Shit!”
She dances around them, looking for a decent shot as they whirl in a blur of fists and flying legs and bared teeth. Ethan is trying to get the best of Mai, punching and kicking one moment, then twisting away to avoid the slashing sharpness of her claws the next.
“Mai!” Abi screams suddenly, and Mai jerks her head to look at her sister.
That’s when Ethan strikes, a cobra showing his fangs. Still on my back and panting for breath, I see the blade a split second before I realize what it is. An enhanced metal that can cut through literally anything pitted against it. It gleams faintly pink in Ethan’s underhanded grip.
“He’s got a knife!” But my warning comes from a bruised throat, barely loud enough to be heard. I try again, this time with my thoughts. Don’t let him cut you.
But I’m not sure if she hears me.
From the way Mai surges forward, I know she thinks this knife is just like any other. The blade slashes down.
“Farr!” But, suddenly, the enforcer is frozen in place, her gun pointed at Ethan but hanging uselessly from her hands.
Caressa? Is she the one doing this?
Mai’s body jerks from the ram of the knife into her side.
“Mai!” A booming shout rattles everything in the room. Mandaia.
From a distance, I hear the groan and crack of terracotta pots, the wild shiver of leaves, vines hissing against each other as Mandaia tries to break free of her cuffs.
“Oh!” Ethan grins and stabs her again.
No. No. No. No.
Although it hurts like hell, I roll to my hands and knees. Redstone’s not taking another thing from me. With a quick, jerking move that feels like I’m being split open, I’m there in front of Ethan, grabbing his knife hand that’s ready to slash down into Mai once again. A surge of power blasts through me and I grip him tight, stopping him from porting away. He growls under me, trying to buck me off.
At the same time, I feel a power, Caressa’s, trying to hold and direct me. I shrug her off.
Then the smell of cut grass explodes in the room. Something makes me look up in time to see a potted orchid hurling itself from the ceiling. Before I can move, it rushes past my face with the sensation of a swift breeze and smashes into Ethan’s head. Ethan shouts out in shock, in pain. The pot explodes. Dirt. Purple blossoms. Shattered terracotta everywhere. His eyes roll back in his head. He sags underneath me like an abandoned marionette and passes out.
Silence.
Across the room, Mandaia stares at Ethan with burning eyes. Her chest is heaving, her teeth bared.
Heart racing with relief, I feel for the pulse in Ethan’s neck. It’s there. He’s alive. That’s all the thought I can spare for him now.
“Pascale!” It takes him longer than usual to appear at my side. Probably had something to do with his nearly shattered throat. “Get Mai to a healer. Now!”
A river of red surrounds Mai. Her lashes flutter against her cheeks as she fights to keep her eyes open. Blood pumps between the fingers she has pressed to her stomach. My hand tightens on Ethan’s neck. He doesn’t move.
“No… Don’t!—” Even though that horse is long out of the barn, I can see Mai clench her teeth to stop herself from saying my name.
Pascale’s hand appears on her shoulder, ready to take her away. Mai’s flickering gaze meets mine. This is what Ethan’s done. I can’t let this go. Not this time.
What the hell is Pascale waiting for? He scoops her into his arms, and the blood pulses from Mai’s belly. My name leaks from her lips, and she shakes her head.
She’s telling me not to do it. Not to lay my murderous soul bare in front of my team
and her family. But what I can’t do is let Redstone escape only to come back to hurt her again.
“I’m a killer, baby.” My words are a confession, a claiming of myself. “Not a superhero.” Then I slash his throat.
Mai’s face is agony, but I can feel the rush of relief from her as Ethan Redstone’s life pours out over my hands in dark shades of red. A moment later, Pascale disappears with her in his arms.
Gradually, I become aware of my pained gasps, loud in the otherwise silent room. Except for Mandaia, the Redstones gawk at me. Corralled together in their shock, they blink at Ethan’s cooling body and its blood pouring out around me. Mandaia, though, stares at the spot where Pascale disappeared with Mai.
My heart is the roar trapped inside a seashell.
Agony twitches through my muscles.
Then it recedes.
Slowly, I close my eyes. The world tilts, and I’m falling sideways into the already-drying blood.
Chapter 26
The sound of a Julio Iglesias song, something about a moonlight lady, ripples from the kitchen and down the hall along with Tia Ana’s terrible singing voice.
“I don’t think that’s how the song goes, sister!” Tia Carmen’s laughter spills out with the clang of something metallic falling into the sink.
A riot of scents from the tamales they’re making spices the air in Mai’s condo and makes my mouth water. The best Sunday morning I’ve had in a long time. Breakfast was barely an hour ago, but the smell of the tamales jumpstarts my appetite all over again.
Or as much as anything of mine can be jumpstarted while I’m flat on my back on the couch, marinating in the sunlight pouring like the sweetest honey from the open windows. The click of high heels on the hardwood drags open my eyes.
Damn.
“Are you going to have brunch with your friends or seduce them?”
Cheeky grin in place, Mai twirls for me. The see-through layers of her dress drift around her hips and thighs before settling like the gossamer wings of a particularly sexy butterfly. She doesn’t look like she was nearly stabbed to death less than a week ago.
“Like it?” Mai poses for me, hands on her hips.
“You know I love it.”
My woman looks absolutely edible. Her hair is pulled back from her face in tiny braids and twisted into a regal bun at the top of her head. The dress itself barely exists, layered flesh-colored silk that clings to her torso then flares out in an A-line to flutter around her pretty knees. The heels of her emerald-green shoes are high enough to suggest she won’t be on her feet much this afternoon.
“Keep everything on when you come to bed tonight. Or maybe just the high heels.”
She laughs and drifts over to kiss me very lightly on the mouth. Her expensive matte lipstick is only so smudge-proof, after all. Like a good girl, I keep my hands to myself, although there’s nothing more I want to do than drag her down into the sofa with me and kiss her until her clothes fall off.
“I’ll see you when I get back,” she whispers, gusting her sweet breath over my mouth.
“I’ll be right here.” My lips capture hers for another brief kiss.
I watch her turn and walk out of the bright living room. “See you later this evening, Ana and Carmen,” she calls out toward the kitchen.
My aunts send out a chorus of well-wishes for her afternoon to the soundtrack of Celia Cruz singing out “Azúcar, azúcar!”
A coy gaze over her shoulder and Mai is gone. Moments later, I hear the front door open then close.
Even though the tias and I encouraged her to go out and enjoy herself with her friends, she won’t be gone long. Since reaffirming our commitment to each other—and being nearly killed by her cousin again—she’s stuck close to home. Every night, we make love as if it’s our last moment on earth together. Every morning, I wake to her plastered to my side.
Not complaining about that at all.
Everything feels new between us. Our tenderness. Mutual acceptance. Even the condo itself, repaired and refurnished after the Redstones nearly destroyed it.
The thick cushions of the new sofa sigh under my weight as I settle back down to thoughts of what this evening will be like. Mai walking into our bedroom still wearing those heels and her see-through dress. Her smile softened from several drinks and hours of socializing with her friends. I imagine the way she would smile at my nakedness and then—
The doorbell rings.
It’s probably Mai. She probably forgot to put her keys into that silly little handbag of hers.
I get up to answer the door. “Did you forget your—” But it’s not who I think it is. My jaw clenches. “Mai just left.”
“We know.”
It’s not entirely a surprise to see Mandaia Redstone and Abi on our proverbial doorstep. Whatever their reason for coming here, I’m surprised Cayman’s not with them to co-sign his mother’s every word. Before my team and I left their house last week, the Redstones been full of worry for Mai. She hadn’t wanted to see them, though, not even her sister.
“Please don’t shut the door,” Abi says quickly when I start to do just that.
My hand clenches around the doorknob. “Like I said before, Mai isn’t here. You two can just come back another time since I can’t imagine anything you’d have to talk to me about.”
“Then you must have a limited imagination.”
“Mother!”
But Mandaia Redstone only looks at me with the same implacable expression I’ve seen on Mai’s face a time or two.
“Can we come in?” she asks.
I only debate for a few seconds before waving them inside. After a week of sex, food, and forgiveness, I’m back my full strength. If they pull any shit, I’m more than ready to crush them.
“Would you like something to drink?” Why not be polite?
“Sure,” Abi says the same moment that her mother says, “No, thanks. It’s not worth the risk of poison.”
“Death at my hands wouldn’t be as painless as poison,” I assure her.
“In that case, I’ll have some sparkling water,” Mandaia says.
They settle around the small bistro table in the living room while I head to the kitchen and try to be a graceful host. The kitchen is a beautiful wreck of corn husks, dirty dishes, and half-empty margarita glasses.
“Who’s out there?” Tia Ana asks, hands on her hips.
When I tell her, she and Tia Carmen give me looks of concern. Tia Ana makes the sign to ward off evil.
“It’s fine.” Grabbing three bottles of mineral water, I wave off their worry. “They aren’t stupid enough to try something after what just happened.” At least I hope not. They know I’m an enforcer now, and that means they fear me more than they want to betray me.
Back in the living room, I hand over their water and sit down. “So what can I do for you?” The edge of the sofa sinks beneath my weight.
Mandaia opens her bottle of water and takes a sip. “You’re the Absolution Killer.” She doesn’t say it like a question.
I wait.
Abi is the first to answer my questions. Or at least start to. “We’re trying to be better for Mai. She deserves better.”
“She doesn’t have any problem with you.” My gaze moves pointedly to her mother, and I think of the absent Redstones, the father and brother. “The ones who should be making that offer either aren’t speaking or aren’t here, so I’m not exactly sure about the purpose of being here now with Mai gone.”
“Absolution killed people who hurt others.” Mandaia’s mouth is tight as she speaks.
“Okay. And…?” I’m not giving them a single thing they aren’t willing to work for.
“That’s why Mom and I thought Absolution wasn’t Ethan. He didn’t care enough about other people to be any sort of vigilante. His conviction on the basis of him being the Absolution
Killer just seemed wrong from the beginning.”
“Very astute of you.”
“Don’t be nasty,” Mandaia says, her voice dripping frost.
“Then don’t insult my intelligence,” I say, equally cold. “Why are you really here?”
In the week since Ethan’s death, the case has been laid to rest. Caressa, accused of conspiring with Redstone, was forced to give up her senate seat and now faces the possibility of exile from the family and from the region. Mandaia has reached out to Mai, but my love has been hesitant about extending her hand in return.
“As far as I’m aware, you’ve never lied to me. That’s why I’m here for the truth now,” Mandaia toys with the bottle of water, shifting it between each hand. Then she looks directly at me. “Why are you the Absolution Killer? Do the other enforcers know what you’ve done? Why does Mai accept all this and still love you?”
I have to laugh, thinking about how Mai and I met and where we find ourselves now. “Have you heard of a thing called unconditional love?”
Mandaia Redstone’s face is nearly flawless, no hint of the barb that I let fly. But I still see the minute flinch at the edge of her mouth, the tightening of her jaw. And it’s only because of these tells that I give her what she asked for.
I tell her and Abi about Ethan killing my sister. About killing Mandaia’s brother, Stephen, with my bare hands and enjoying every moment. About how Mai tried to stop me at first, then fell for my irresistible charm.
Abi rolls her eyes but keeps listening. Her mother remains a statue.
Cold and calm, I pour it all out for them, every single thing I know, except for Mai’s secrets, until Abi is crying silently in the chair, tears spilling down her cheeks.
“He did something to Mai, didn’t he?” Abi clenches her trembling fingers into fists. “That’s why Mai didn’t want you to go away or be killed for murdering my uncle?”
“That’s Mai’s story to tell.”
With a screech of the chair against the floor, Abi jumps up from the table and runs out of the room. A few seconds later, the door of the powder room slams shut.
“You didn’t have to tell her everything.” Accusation lays flat and dark in Mandaia’s eyes.
