Ads blared that this was the fourth-anniversary bake sale, and people who took selfies with the promotional banner and the cookies they bought would get a ten percent discount.
Kovit was at a table with a pink tablecloth with red hearts patterned on it, and Nita tried not to laugh at the incongruous sight of him sitting there, casually picking blood from underneath his fingernails.
He raised his head when he saw her and vacated the table, gesturing for her to follow him to the back. Nita squeezed through the crowd, trying to avoid touching people, and headed upstairs, where it was much more sparsely populated. No news crews, no crowds. Nita’s shoulders relaxed.
He sat down at a table, and she sat down across from him.
“So, how’d it go?” she asked.
He smiled at her, free and happy and gentle, and for a moment he did look like he belonged in the happy, cozy teashop full of cute things. He looked, not younger, but more naive. The cruelty and hunger were washed from his face as the memory of the happy child he must have been pushed through his older features.
“It went well.” He swallowed and looked down at the tablecloth. “It was really good to see her.”
Nita felt a weird pang of jealousy. She’d occasionally imagined having a sibling, someone else in her life so that she wasn’t always isolated in her dissection room or alone with her terrifying mother. Someone to talk to.
But as soon as the emotion came, it passed. Because the reality of having a sibling felt far too complex. Nita didn’t want any of Kovit’s anxieties about his sister not loving him or accepting him, his fear of judgment, or his pining for what could have been.
No, Nita was just fine on her own.
“I’m glad,” she whispered, and she was. Because Kovit seemed animated again, alive in a way that she’d been scared he wouldn’t be after what happened with Henry.
He ran a hand through his hair and gave her a self-deprecating smile. “I mean, it was awkward too. Ten years apart has changed us both. And it’s not like I could talk about . . . you know.”
“Yeah.” She didn’t imagine his sister would take Kovit’s previous profession well.
“So I dodged a lot of questions. It was a bit stilted. But I could see her, the girl I grew up with.” His voice was earnest. “Thank you.”
Nita blinked. “For what?”
“For talking me into this.”
Nita looked away. “This was all your choice. No need to thank me.”
“No, I do.” He sighed, and a bitter grimace painted his face. “I haven’t really been in the best frame of mind since I killed Henry yesterday.”
Nita nodded sagely. “You’ve been brooding a little.”
He mock gasped and put his hand to his heart. “Brooding? Me? Like a stereotypical bad boy?”
Nita tried to keep the grin off her face as she said solemnly, “Indeed. It’s been very dramatic. Posed shots of you in dim lighting declaring your tragic death in one week. Mournful closeups of you trying to hide your grief in a veneer of brooding pain. Very cinematic.”
His lips twitched into a smile, and his voice was soft. “I have been a little broody, haven’t I?”
Nita shrugged. “I think you have a right to be. Things are fucked up. You just killed the man who was like a father to you, and even in death, he still managed to betray you one last time. You’re allowed to feel shitty.” Nita’s voice went hard. “It’s been over a week since I found out about my father’s death, and I broke down and cried on you how many times? You’re allowed to grieve, Kovit.”
For a moment, she thought he was going to cry then, that her words would be the key that set loose everything he’d been trapping inside him since last night, and that his emotions would spill like blood on the table between them.
But then he took a deep breath and gave her a shaky grin. “I know. I did what I had to do to stay alive, to keep my friends alive, and even though it hurts, I don’t regret killing him.” He lowered his eyes as he whispered, “But that doesn’t make it any easier.”
He swallowed heavily, and just under the surface, that broken, shattered look lurked, trying to press through his thin veneer of composure. But now she could see it wasn’t a fatal break, it was the kind of break that was in her own soul too. The kind of break that stemmed from too much loss and betrayal, and you could either let the world break you or you could storm through the world and fill the cracks with the blood of those who’d hurt you until you were a semblance of whole again. Maybe not the same person, but still you, still alive, still moving forward on your own.
She’d been scared Kovit would crumble, and while his cracks were large, she trusted he would pick himself up and sharpen the broken edges into weapons.
Nita reached her hand across the table and covered his, a silent sign of support.
He meshed his fingers with hers and cleared his throat, his voice a little hoarse as he changed the topic. “What’s the plan?”
She took a deep breath. “Okay. I have an idea for getting you off the list.”
“And?”
She kept her gaze steady on his. “I want to use the information at Tácunan Law to take down INHUP.”
He stared at her, mouth slightly open. “What?”
“You heard me.”
He looked at her in concern. “But, Nita . . . it’s the police. I have my issues with INHUP, but I don’t want to destroy the police.”
“Countries have their own individual police forces and laws. They don’t need INHUP. They were fine before INHUP, and they’ll be fine after it.”
“I suppose.” He shook his head, disbelief marking his features. “You really want to take on the black market and the police?”
“I do.”
He burst into laughter. He tipped his head back, and when he smiled at her, it was vicious and cruel and delighted.
“What the hell? Why not. Go big or go home.” He considered. “Well, for me it’s probably go big or get dead.”
The waitress had been approaching, sort of shyly eyeing Kovit while he was being adorable about his sister, but when she saw that laugh and grin, full of darkness, her eyes widened, and she quickly returned the way she’d come.
“You’re not going to die.” Nita’s voice was fierce.
“No,” he whispered, and she could almost see him shoving the fatalism aside and smashing the determination on top of it to keep it down. “I’m not.”
For a moment, they were silent, letting their energy hang in the air between them, a promise of survival. They’d made it this far. They would make it to the end.
“When are we leaving for Buenos Aires?” he asked.
“As soon as possible.” She checked her phone. “There’s a direct overnight flight leaving at midnight tonight.”
He nodded. “Can we be ready for that?”
“Yes. It’s just . . .” Nita took a deep breath. “We need to discuss what we’re going to do about Gold when we leave. We can’t take her with us.”
Kovit’s eyes narrowed. “You want to kill her.”
“No,” Nita lied. “But she is a complication. We need a solution.”
Kovit watched her carefully. “It would make things worse if she died.”
“How?”
“Her father is the head of the Family. He knows that Henry and Gold are hunting me. If Gold dies, he will move heaven and earth to find me and kill me.”
Nita snorted. “You’ve already got INHUP after you, how much worse can it get?”
He gave her a bitter smile. “Trust me, you don’t want to find out.”
“And if Gold lives and tells him Henry is dead?”
Kovit shrugged. “I suppose it depends on the way Gold tells the story. He might still move heaven and earth to kill me. Or he might not.”
Nita was silent for a long moment. “You want to let her go.”
He met her eyes. “I do.”
She hesitated. “She could ruin us.”
“She could.” He didn’t sound bothered
by this. “But if we don’t tell her where we’re going, and we let her go right before we leave for the airport, by the time she calls people and gets assistance, we’ll be long gone.”
Nita didn’t like this plan. She didn’t like it one bit. It was broken and flawed and messy, and there were far too many points to possibly account for. It was unpredictable beyond belief.
It relied on assuming Gold would pay back Kovit’s kindness with kindness. And in Nita’s experience, the exact opposite was more likely to happen.
It was a monumentally stupid decision.
But it wasn’t her decision to make.
She let out a breath. “And this is what you want?”
“Yes.” Kovit’s gaze was steady. “This is what I want.”
“All right.” Nita sighed. “We’ll release her right before the flight, then.”
Nita didn’t like it, but it was Kovit’s life, and she’d already pressured him enough about killing people he cared about. Even if Nita was right and it was a mistake, it was Kovit’s mistake to make.
No matter how the outcome might hurt Nita in the long run.
“I’ll book three tickets for tonight, then.” Nita pulled out her phone and looked up. “Does Fabricio have his passport with him?”
“It was in his pocket when I searched him last night.”
“Good.” Nita looked down at the phone and let out a breath. “Then there’s only one thing I need to do before we leave.”
Kovit raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”
Nita met his eyes. “I need to go see my mother.”
Thirteen
THE AFTERNOON SUN was high in the sky, and it was a cloudless day. Sweat trickled down Nita’s back, and not just from the heat.
She’d arranged to meet her mother at the park near the police station where they’d last met. The gravel pathway crunched beneath her feet, the shade from the trees providing a brief respite from the sun. The air smelled of freshly cut grass and some flower, little bits of pollen floating along on the breeze and catching in her curly hair.
A few people wandered about, families with small children, couples holding hands. Nita couldn’t imagine wandering a park with her mother as a child. She could barely believe she was meeting her of her own volition, without the threat of her mother’s punishment motivating her.
Her last meeting with her mother had gone well. Better than Nita had ever imagined. Nita wasn’t even that scared of seeing her again.
No. That was a lie. She was still scared. She would probably always be scared. One good meeting didn’t change years of ingrained terror.
Nita turned a corner, coming to a small clearing with a picnic table. Her mother sat on one side, legs crossed, red-and-black-striped hair falling in straight, sharp lines along her jaw. Her lips were too red, and her eyes were too dark, making her ghostly skin look even whiter.
She rose when she saw Nita and smiled. Her smiles always unnerved Nita, because there was something sharkish about them, sharp and hungry and predatory.
“Nita, I’m so glad to see you again.”
Nita stood awkwardly a few steps away. “Yeah.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she just dove right into the main point. “Did you bring my passport?”
Her mother pulled it out of her pocket and waved it, but stepped back when Nita reached for it.
“Now, now. Don’t be so hasty.” Her mother gestured at the picnic table. “Why don’t you sit down? We can have a chat. I’d love to know where you’re planning to go.”
So this was how it was going to be. “I have things to do.”
Her mother sat and placed the passport in front of her. “I’m sure you do. But you can spare a moment to ease a mother’s worries, can’t you?”
Nita gave in and sat. “I’m just leaving the country.”
“Because of the bounty hunters?”
It would have been easy for Nita to say yes. Toronto was still swarming with black market hunters trying to find her and kill her and sell her. She’d already killed half a dozen people, including a man just this morning, had an altercation at the police station, and murdered an INHUP agent to hide evidence.
But she didn’t want her mom to think she was running. She didn’t want to seem weak.
So instead of just agreeing to the assumption like she knew she should have, she said, “No. I have a plan to get them off my back for good. I need to leave the country, though.”
“Oh?” Her mother leaned forward. “I do love a good plan.”
For a brief moment, Nita considered telling her mother everything, explaining her entire plot to raid Tácunan Law and then use the information contained therein to systematically destroy the black market dealers targeting her, to bring fear into the heart of the market when they heard her name, to become untouchable as her enemies burned.
But Nita’s mother might be one of the people who hid secrets in Tácunan Law. And Nita was very sure she wouldn’t want those secrets to be exposed.
Nita just smiled and shook her head. She reached over and snagged the passport from in front of her mother before she could react.
Her mother’s eyes narrowed as Nita pocketed it. “Not planning to tell me?”
“I’ll tell you when we’re done.”
Nita realized her mistake the moment the words were out of her mouth.
Her mother’s eyebrows shot up. “We?”
Nita remained silent.
“Who is this ‘we’?” Her mother slowly leaned forward, like a shark scenting blood in the water. “Nita, darling, did you make a friend?”
Nita swallowed. She didn’t like the way her mother said that. Didn’t like the fear that fluttered in her stomach when she thought about her mother meeting Kovit. Because all her mother would see was an opportunity for money. Kovit would be dead and dissected before Nita could blink.
Nita rose. “I need to go.”
“Sit down.”
Nita froze at her mother’s tone, flint and iron. That was not a voice you disobeyed. That was a dangerous voice.
Nita looked around, but they were alone in this part of the park. No one to help. No one that her mother had to perform for. Nothing to stop her mother from being her mother.
Nita sat down.
Her mother smiled, hard and flat. “Good girl.”
Nita flinched at the endearment. Like a pet dog.
“Now, tell me about this friend.”
Nita shrugged and remained silent, avoiding her mother’s gaze.
Her mother hmmed softly. “Well, that’s interesting. I know you didn’t have a friend before you were kidnapped, so you’ve met her—”
Nita tried to keep her face blank, but something must have been telling because her mother course-corrected.
“Him. So you’ve met him since then. So that leaves meeting him here or before, at the market.”
Her mother tilted her head and considered. “Given that you’ve been so hunted here, and you’ve had such success at repelling attackers, I’m inclined to believe you’ve had help. Which means you met him at the market.”
Nita’s heart thundered in her chest, and she didn’t move, trying not to give anything away.
“But you came back claiming no one had survived the market. If your friend had been another captive, then you would have led him to INHUP with you. You came to INHUP alone, I checked in on that. Which means whoever this was couldn’t go to INHUP. So not another harmless unnatural victim.”
Her mother’s smile was long and thin. “And there was no one else at the market except dealers and monsters.”
Nita clenched her fists in her lap, under the table and hidden from view.
“Given the black market kerfuffle over you now, I can’t imagine you’d have befriended a dealer. Or that you’d trust one. And I don’t see how you’d have had the opportunity to meet one during your captivity, except your own. And I doubt you befriended them. So that means it’s a monster who’s not a dealer. Someone who’s willing to help you hi
de from hunters, someone you must have had frequent contact with at the market.”
Her mother was squinting at Nita, trying to read her face. Nita tried to force her legs to move, to get up from the table and run, run as far and as fast as she could. But she couldn’t seem to make her body move.
“There was a zannie in the video of you healing, wasn’t there?”
Nita’s poker face broke.
Her mother shook her head. “Oh, Nita. A zannie?”
Nita squeezed her eyes shut. “Leave him alone.”
“It’s a zannie, Nita. It tortures people. It’s evil.”
You’re evil too, and you don’t even have being a zannie to use as an excuse, Nita wanted to say.
Instead she said, “I don’t care.”
Her mother rolled her eyes dramatically. “Is this one of those dreadful misguided Romeo and Juliet teen romances I hear about? Have you been watching too many mafia-sponsored vampire dramas? Do you think your purity and goodness will cure him of his evil appetites?”
“No.” Nita snorted at the absurdity of it. Nita was many things, but good and pure weren’t any of them. And no one could change Kovit except Kovit. “Nothing like that.”
Nita didn’t say anything more, because her relationship with Kovit was complicated, and anything she said would only feed into her mother’s theory.
“Nita, darling.” Her mother sighed, long and slow. “My poor child. You’re so naive about the world sometimes.”
Nita bristled. “Stop patronizing me.”
“Fine.” Her mother’s mouth tightened. “But let me tell you a story. And then you tell me who’s the fool.”
Nita’s gaze was flat. “Fine. Tell your story.”
Her mother cleared her throat. “A long time ago, well before I had you, before I’d even met your father, I had a good friend who was a monster hunter.”
Nita snorted.
Her mother glared. “What was that for?”
“You. Having a friend. I don’t believe it.”
Her mother laughed then, throwing back her head, and then she leaned forward and smiled gently at Nita. “Yes, I know, it’s hard to believe I was that young and foolish. Never fear, I grew out of it, and you will too.”
When Villains Rise Page 8
