by Lizzy Ford
“Nothing. I’m going to get killed by Cambions.”
“Whatever.” Vikki rolled her eyes. “Let’s do it!”
“Really?” Zoey asked, brightening.
“Yep.” Vikki’s gaze returned to the phone. A surprised look crossed her face. “Hey, did you know Declan is the son of an Incubatti Council member?”
“Yeah.”
“You shitting me?”
“No.” Zoey looked at her curiously. “Why?
“Wow. I asked Liam if he knew him. And told him we’re forming a vigilante group,” Vikki said, smiling. “He’s okay with the vigilante group, by the way.”
“Omigod. You ask him for permission for everything now?” Zoey snapped.
“Nope. Told him we’re doing it. He’s going to give me Declan’s phone number.”
“No! Are you crazy? Declan wants to kill you! Vikki, they know you’re with Liam. They have pictures. Declan will -”
“Well, he doesn’t need an excuse to talk to him,” Vikki said, hesitating. “Think about it. Declan. Liam. Two totally Irish names.”
“You think they’re related?”
“They are. Zoey, you idiot, they’re brothers.”
With her head buzzing with alcohol, Zoey assumed she misheard. She drank another beverage. Vikki stared at her.
“Did you hear me?” she asked finally.
“Yeah.”
“Are you that drunk?”
“No,” Zoey said. “I don’t think that makes sense. How can they be brothers?” She thought back to the pictures the Enforcers showed her. It made no sense that Declan would be collecting intelligence on his own brother’s soul-mate. “If they can ask each other for phone numbers, why are they frying me in an inquisition about you and Liam? Why not just talk to him directly.”
“I think they wanted to see what you knew. If I’m being exiled, maybe they were seeing if you should be, too.”
“Speaking of killing things, what’s next?” Zoey said, reaching the end of her drink. She stood. She felt woozy already, the world spinning in an array of pretty colors.
“Are you in meltdown mode?”
“Think so.”
Vikki stood. Two college-aged couples, the lurkers waiting for a table to free up, all but shoved past her. Zoey’s world swam more than usual from the alcohol, but she managed to catch Vikki before her best friend hit the ground.
Zoey helped her stabilize then shoved the shoulder of the football-player sized guy who had taken Vikki’s chair.
“Hey, jackass, is that how you treat a lady?” she snapped.
He didn’t even turn around but glanced over his shoulder. “I don’t see no lady.”
“Come on, Z, let’s go,” Vikki urged, gripping her arm. “That shit I gave you – it’s gonna knock you flat in about five minutes.”
“What? I don’t care!” Zoey wrenched away. She loosened her sex magic, focusing it on the idiot who bumped her friend. He turned, and the look on his face changed from angry to interested.
Zoey waved him over to her playfully and took two steps back to give herself room to hit him. He stood and approached, eyes on her breasts.
“Zoey, no!” Vikki hissed.
Zoey ignored her and punched him as hard as she could in the nose.
“You little bitch!” he snarled, the pain pulling him out of the mild trance she put him in.
Before he was able to object, she kicked him in the crotch and punched him again in the face. Suddenly, her already wobbly world was spinning. Someone smashed her into the floor, the body on top of her too light to be anyone other than the guy’s girlfriend. Random, unschooled punches tried to do damage. Zoey laughed and maneuvered out from under the girl, slapping her hard enough to stop her movement.
And then, the bar exploded. Zoey was too disoriented to understand who fought who or why, except that someone was trying to hit her. One blow landed before she was able to get to her feet, and her head snapped back in response to another blow. Her body followed, and she prepared herself for another hard landing.
“I gotcha,” Vikki grunted. “Come on, before they call the police.”
Zoey’s drunken mind took in the fight at the bar. She laughed at the chaos.
“Hey, V, I defended your honor!” she giggled.
“Can you walk?”
Zoey nodded, but wasn’t entirely certain. Vikki kept one arm around her and navigated them through the mess towards the door. The bar customers scrambled back from the bar area.
They worked their way through the crowd to the door. Zoey’s gaze was caught by Eric’s. There was sadness in his eyes. Sadness she put there. She smiled and waved farewell.
Forever farewell, she knew as she walked out of the club and not only to him. They walked down the block, the sound and warmth of the club fading.
This was her world now. Cold and wet and filled with Cambions. Eric was gone tonight, taking with him any hope she had of finding balance in a place where she didn’t belong. Zoey spun in a drunken circle, barely catching herself against the building. She lifted her face to the rain.
“Okay, you’re fucking toasted,” Vikki’s voice broke through her thoughts. “You can’t kill Cambions like this.”
“I totally can,” Zoey said, pushing away from the wall. “I have to catch up. I have to.”
“Hand me a knife.”
Zoey’s hands fumbled for her thigh. After a couple of attempts, she got it free.
“Thank god. I thought I’d have to drop more pills in your drink.”
Zoey glanced up. “What?”
“You’re an emotional basket case tonight. You don’t need to be anywhere else but home. I dropped a couple of those alcohol enhancers in your drink,” Vikki said. “The ones that makes you feel drunker than you are. Now, I’m calling a ride.”
“No!” Zoey groaned. She tried to put her knife away and cut her leg. “I want to kill things!”
Vikki snatched the weapon and replaced it. Zoey sagged against her. Vikki grunted.
“Did I give you too many?” she asked.
Zoey was like spaghetti. “If we can’t kill things… Declan wins, Vikki.”
“Oh, god. Focus. Let’s not cry. Just focus. Your nose is bleeding and you’re going to have a black eye in the morning, if you don’t suck up your pride and just call Declan.”
“No. I’m focusing,” Zoey repeated, confused. “I’m the worst person on the planet.”
Vikki laughed. They stood in silence. Zoey almost felt a little better. A car pulled up to the curb, and she took a step towards it. Vikki caught her as she tripped.
“I’m good,” Zoey said, straightening. “I’m good.”
Vikki opened the back door, and Zoey dropped into the backseat. Vikki climbed in front.
“Vikki, where we going? We gotta go kill Cambions,” she said.
“No, we’re going home,” Vikki said.
“I swear, I’m okay.” Disoriented by the blurry lights they passed, Zoey’s drunken thoughts didn’t register that Vikki wasn’t driving for a few minutes. She looked at the man behind the wheel. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Liam,” he replied, amusement in the familiar whiskey-colored gaze in the rearview mirror.
Zoey’s mouth dropped open. “Vikki…”
“Chill,” Vikki replied.
“Chill? Do you have any idea what his brother put me through today?” Zoey demanded. “I got my ass kicked in front of the Enforcers and then he sits there and goes through my mind and totally dimes you out.”
“That’s not quite what happened,” Vikki said. She looked back, making shushing sounds with a frantic look at Liam.
“The hell it wasn’t. They had fucking pictures of you two and were asking me. I lied my ass off and then the picture of me leaving the apartment building came up and then it was like, game over. Declan said, rule number two: don’t ever lie to me. Rule number one was…” she drifted off, lost.
“No weapons,” Liam supplied.
“Yes! Vi
kki, do you know Liam’s Incubatti?”
Stopped at a red light, the two in the front seat were exchanging a long look. Vikki’s face was red, and Liam’s eyebrows were both raised.
“You didn’t tell her that, did you, Liam?” Zoey demanded. She wanted to hit him for lying to her friend, but the alcohol and Vikki’s drugs made her body feel much heavier than normal. She was also sleepy, the warm backseat becoming an appealing place for a nap. “Vikki’s my best friend. I lied to the fucking head of the Enforcers, not that it mattered, because he just pulled everything out of my –“
“Zoey, stop!” Vikki cried at last.
Zoey fell silent, surprised. Vikki’s gaze returned to Liam.
“You’re Declan’s?” Liam asked Zoey. “Seriously?” He appeared ready to laugh.
“I am not Declan’s,” she snapped. “He took Vikki away from me. He knows I had a date tonight with the ex. Said something like, rule number three: he knows where I play and where I sleep, and Eric couldn’t handle that but he could.”
Liam laughed.
“Zoey,” Vikki sighed.
“You tell me. Home or home?” Liam asked her.
“What’s wrong?” Zoey asked, aware for the first time she was missing something. “Why are there two homes?”
“Your call, V. Either way, Declan will never live this down,” Liam said.
“Home with us,” Vikki replied. “Someone’s gotta take care of this train wreck.”
“What does Declan have to do with this?” Zoey demanded.
Liam turned right at the intersection and Vikki rolled her eyes.
“You started the rite with Declan?” Liam asked Zoey.
“I am not finishing it. I don’t give a shit what anyone says.”
“Sounds familiar,” Liam said with a glance at Vikki.
“Liam, we’re going to start a vigilante group,” Zoey said.
“Why don’t you tell him about Eric?” Vikki snapped.
Zoey slumped. “Farewell, cruel world. Thanks for fucking me up.”
“Dammit, Zoey,” Vikki said. “You couldn’t keep your mouth shut, could you?”
“What the hell did you give me?”
“The wrong thing. You’re gonna have one helluva hangover.”
“Nooooo,” Zoey protested.
“Declan will fix it,” Liam said. “Vikki, text him.”
“No,” Zoey said. “Just take me home. I don’t want anything to do with him. I just broke up with one guy. Even if Eric wanted to give it a second try, I couldn’t, because I really did cheat on him this time. The other five hundred guys, nope. Declan said, do you wanna bleed out or fuck me? Not sure I made the right choice.” Her ears were buzzing so loudly, she had to shout to hear herself.
Liam laughed long and hard. Vikki was holding her forehead in her hands in a sign of defeat. They parked in what she took to be the garage beside the dorms. Zoey made it out of the car and two steps before almost dropping. Vikki caught her.
Zoey struggled to focus on her through the drunken haze that seemed to be closing in on her. She was so drowsy, and it took effort to keep her eyes open and her focus on the world around her. Liam reached them. He lifted her.
“I take it we’re not going out tonight?” Zoey asked Vikki.
“No.” Vikki sighed.
“But it’s our last night.”
“We have a plan, remember?”
Suddenly tired, Zoey leaned her head against Liam. They got in an elevator her drugged mind didn’t remember being in the Professor’s house or the dorms or Eric’s house. Where did they take her?
“At least I got closure,” Zoey murmured. “Didn’t I?”
“You did. I’m proud of you.” Vikki smiled. The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. “Call me if you need a ride in the morning.”
“Okay,” Zoey said. Melancholy settled over her. She was starting to hurt again as the alcoholic high wore off to be replaced by drowsiness.
Liam set her on her feet and knocked. Zoey looked around, uncertain where exactly she was.
“Nice to meet you, Zoey.”
“You, too, Liam,” she said, gazing up at him in confusion.
“I think this is yours.” He was addressing someone else. Her gaze went to the open door.
Declan looked his soul-mate over critically. Dressed for clubbing, she smelled of smoke and alcohol. Her nose was bloodied and one eye swelling. She was weaving on her feet with Liam trying to steady her. What the fuck was it with his girl always showing up in his arms torn up?
“Looks like it,” he replied.
“Oh, hell no,” she gasped, as if recognizing his voice even if her glazed eyes didn’t focus.
“Vikki gave her too much of something,” Liam explained. “She’s been… interesting.”
He pushed her through the doorway. Declan caught her. She didn’t try to resist, but sighed and sank into his arms. The cheek she rested against his chest was cold. Their connection hummed, comforting him and melting her. Whatever Vikki gave her, it must’ve been a horse tranquilizer. There was no fight or fire in the woman in his arms.
Liam grinned and closed the door. Declan reached forward to lock it.
“How was the hot date?” he asked, managing to hide his irritation. He pretended he wasn’t upset by her interest in seeing the ex again. It wasn’t the only reason he spent the evening boxing his father, who kicked his ass several times. The other was the idea the woman in his arms, nuzzling his neck, not only killed an Incubus, but might be a secret weapon that could be activated against him.
“I know, I know,” she mumbled. She sighed.
“You know what?”
“You’re going to say everyone else is right. I was wrong. I have to let go and be not-normal.”
“I was going to say I told you where you’d be spending the night,” he teased. “And yeah, you need to let go.”
“Hurts.” She pulled away enough to meet his gaze. Tears shimmered in her eyes. He felt her ache, and sympathized with her. She lost her stability and the place that had been her home in twenty-four hours. He entered her mind, looking again for indication that she had killed Julius.
Nothing. Declan didn’t understand it. He had no idea if he could trust her, but he wanted her with inhuman need.
“I know. I felt it,” he said and kissed her forehead.
“Because we’re bonded.”
“Yep. No going back, no matter what.”
A shiver of emotion went through her. Declan felt her sliding into the effects of the drug. He gripped her more tightly and bent to lift her. He carried her into the living area and set her on the couch, seating himself on the coffee table facing her.
“How much for my hangover?” she asked. “It’s gonna be bad.”
“Why don’t we wait to see what you’re willing to pay in the morning to make it go away?” he asked, smiling.
“Noooo,” she whined.
“You know the price.”
“No strike two,” she said stubbornly.
“You’ll change your story in the morning.”
She groaned, and he chuckled.
“Every night can’t be like this, where you end up unconscious or beat up or half-dead in my arms,” he told her. “You’ve got responsibilities, Zoey, and what happens if I’m not here to help you? You should think more about the consequences of your actions.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Technically, I can,” he pointed out. “Very easily. It’s not a good start to a relationship, though. I’m hoping you’ll figure this shit out soon.”
“If I don’t, are you sending me back to the Professor?”
Declan hadn’t considered she might never settle down. Knowing she was wild and understanding that wasn’t going to change were two separate issues. He knew how to tame that spirit at night. During the day …
“No,” he said firmly. “We belong together. I’m not certain how you’re going to fit in here.”
“I don’t fit
in anywhere.” There was a mournful note in her voice.
“You do with me, in every way,” he replied. “I’m an Enforcer. Soul-mates normally are able to represent us. That would require you to put your weapons away.”
“I kill things. I don’t want to change.”
That might be an issue. He didn’t say the words out loud. Her eyes were closed, her voice taking on a dreamy quality.
“Will you make love to me, Declan?” she murmured. She took his arm and tugged at him.
“You’re no fun to me this way,” he replied, unable to help the small smile. She both frustrated him and made him sane, all in the same breath. He was too easily affected by her, but at least she was likewise affected by him.
“But, I … want … you…now…” Her breathing deepened, and she slid into sleep.
“I’m going to ask Vikki what the hell she gave you. I might need it in the future,” he said quietly. He reached out to her and touched her face.
While he adored her sweet spunk, her inability to conform was definitely going to be an issue. His father and mother had been partners. What if Zoey wasn’t able to adapt to the Incubus society any more than she’d been able to the Sucubatti’s rules? What if he couldn’t figure out the trigger that turned her into some sort of Incubus-killing machine?
Declan rubbed his mouth. It wasn’t like he could walk away. Likewise, he wasn’t at all certain how he was going to handle the duties of leading and a soul-mate who killed Incubuses. If that news got out, he’d have to make a very brutal decision.
First things first, he needed to survive this mess.
His gaze lingered on her. She was deep asleep. Rather than stay, he changed and returned to the gym, only to be intercepted by his father in the elevator.
“Still?” Ethan asked.
“Yeah,” Declan replied.
“You can do something more useful. We’re planning to pick up the Bennies and girls this weekend, as you requested.”
Declan nodded in satisfaction.
“You feel strongly enough about this to move our plans forward?”
“I do,” Declan said. “Not only do we owe it to the Benefactors, but to the girls.”
“Olivia is on board. I don’t trust her, but I’ll have to this weekend.”
