Abaddon looked beyond stunned. He had no skull on top of his head, but his brain matter appeared untouched. His skull started to grow back, but slowly.
Goddess! T’s attempt wasn’t enough.
Abaddon’s face grew red and he squeezed his fist. The T-Devil dropped to his knees and reached for unseen hands at his throat.
“You were the traitor.” Abaddon’s face grew redder and redder. “You were the one helping the Trackers when I thought you were working for me.”
“You bet your fucking ass,” T rasped as he shifted to his human form, becoming smaller than he had been as a devil-Demon, so that he caught Abaddon off guard again. “No way in all the hells was I going to let you stay out of the abyss where you should be now.”
I was just about to light Abaddon with more of my elemental powers when Adam lunged past me.
He was holding the dragon-claw dagger I’d dropped. He raised the dagger high and brought it down in a powerful stroke.
And cleaved the Demon’s head.
One half of Abaddon’s head slid off and onto the concrete landing. Its remaining eye glazed.
It was dead. Adam had finished it off.
T, in his human form, used his sword to completely separate Abaddon’s head from its shoulders.
Abaddon’s body started to shift as if it was a one-dimensional figure folding itself into a neat little box. The severed part of the head joined the rest.
Then it was gone. All of it. Abaddon was gone.
I couldn’t quite make sense of that, but turned my head and stared at T as the rush of adrenaline continued to pour through me. Everyone was staring at him. unsure of whether to kill him or believe he’d been fighting on our side.
He’d dispatched underling Demons with us, and he’d just murdered the Chance-Demon and finished off Abaddon—after trying to kill Abaddon a first time. And that first time had given Adam the opportunity to cleave Abaddon’s head.
T tossed aside his sword. Its blade was now just coo! metal. The sword slid across the concrete as T met each of our gazes.
Rodán walked toward T and appraised him. Then Rodán extended his hand, and with no hesitation T clasped hands with him. “Thank you,” Rodán said in his strong, clear voice.
T met my gaze, but I had no words to say anything at all.
CHAPTER 33
“Are you okay, Nyx?”
It was like coming out of a nightmare as I looked from Abaddon’s remains to Adam when he spoke to me. Instead of saying I was fine, my whole body started shaking and I held my arms tight around myself.
I was crashing after the adrenaline rush, and from draining myself of most of my elemental powers.
Every injury on my body throbbed or stung or sent searing pain throughout me.
I looked into Adam’s eyes and it came back to me, what else I’d lost—him, I’d never felt so drained and so incomplete in my life.
Adam took me into his arms and held me. I had no strength left to feel surprise. I just sank into his embrace, my head against the body armor covering his chest. I continued to tremble, but his comforting scent filled me and the warmth of his arms made me feel like everything might be okay.
Around us the PTE rushed to rid the scene of any paranormal elements and evidence before the Soothsayers did their thing. Together the five Soothsayers had enough power to do a wide-range memory adjustment of non-paranorms.
Smoke drifted from the Chance-Demon’s headless body. The stink of burnt sugar and the stench of rotting meat was everywhere.
Adam kissed the top of my head, and I looked up at his scratched and bruised face. Was everything going to be okay now between us?
“I’m sorry.” I winced as each word echoed in my throbbing skull.
He put his fingers against my lips. “Not now.”
I nodded and regretted the movement, discovering my neck hurt, too. He studied me for a long moment. The look in his eyes—I wasn’t sure what it meant, but it was obvious he still cared for me.
Whether or not I had a chance with him again, I didn’t know.
“T.” I cut my gaze to the place where he’d been standing. “Where is he?”
“Torin vanished,” Adam said as I strained to look around us. I met his gaze again. “Sort of melted away.”
“Vanished?” I repeated, trying to concentrate and make sense of tonight.
“Let’s get you home.” Adam held his arm around my shoulders and guided me down the stairs.
“Olivia.” I jerked us both to a halt on the sidewalk by the destroyed monument. “Where’s Olivia?”
“Right behind you.” At the sound of Olivia’s voice, relief flooded me.
Adam still kept his arm around my shoulders as I turned to look at her. “Goddess, you’re hurt.”
“Of course I’m a Goddess.” Olivia looked at me with what would have been a haughty stare if she wasn’t a disheveled bloody mess like the rest of us. “And I’m fine.” A Healer finished binding Olivia’s arm and started sending magic into what had looked like a deep flesh wound. “You, on the other hand,” Olivia continued, “look like blue-haired roadkill.”
I would have smiled if I hadn’t felt like exactly what she’d compared me to.
“Have you heard if Nadia’s okay?” I glanced around, looking for Rodán, but didn’t see him. “And the others at the points?”
“No news,” Olivia said. “Rodán went alone to check the other sites.”
Adam stiffened at the mention of Rodán’s name, and I closed my eyes for a moment. I’d so screwed up.
After I’d checked to make sure everyone was okay, Adam took me firmly by the shoulders and moved me away from the near-Armageddon. “Let’s go.”
The museum wasn’t far from my apartment, but he took me to a black Jeep Wrangler that was parked just north of all of the destruction. He helped me into the Jeep, then drove the short distance and supported me as we took the stairs to my apartment. My body ached with every step, and I felt dizzy and out of focus. I hadn’t stopped trembling. We didn’t speak, not even when I managed to use a tiny bit of magic to unlock my door.
Adam scooped me into his arms with power and ease, and carried me the rest of the way to my bedroom where he set me on my feet beside my bed. He didn’t let go of me, though. He kept one arm around me as he pulled back the comforter and my sheet with one hand. Then he tucked me into bed, the comforter snug and warm around me.
My blue hair was such a contrast to his tanned skin as he ran a lock through his fingers. “Good night, Nyx.”
I tried to push myself up but he pressed my shoulder down with his palm. “Please, don’t go. I don’t want to be alone.” The thought of being by myself right now sent shudders through me.
Indecision played across his features only briefly before he took off his shoulder harness, utility belt, and body armor, and set them on my nightstand and vanity. He kicked off his shoes, then settled on the bed behind me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and held me close. And I slept.
CHAPTER 34
“Are you planning on coming out of that box in your head to play today?” Olivia shut the office door behind her with a jangle of the bells.
“Maybe.” I couldn’t stop thinking of Adam. He’d been gone when I woke up the morning after the battle with the Demons, a week ago. I knew he’d stayed with me all night because I’d woken up periodically, and fallen back asleep, secure in his strong embrace.
I had gone through the change while I slept, something I’d never remembered doing before. So I must have eventually dropped into a pretty deep sleep to not have sensed Adam leaving or felt the change coming on, much less going through it unaware.
I’d left a message on his cell phone once this past week and he never called me back.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Olivia said as she dropped into her seat.
I threw an eraser at her.
It hit her between her melon-boobs. “Ow.” She grabbed the eraser and flung it back.
I
caught it in my hand. “Heh.” Then I pointed to her black T-shirt with its red lettering.
Warning: Does not play well with others.
“Isn’t that the truth,” I said with a laugh.
“Exactly, so watch it.” She took her XPhone out of its clip on her belt and set it on her desk. “So what’s the latest from the Great Guardian Goddess Almighty?”
I smirked. “Last night Rodán let us know that more Trackers have been in training, and we’ll be getting a few of them in Manhattan. There’s supposed to be a male Shadow Shifter—hope we get him.”
“Most of the Shadow Shifters I’ve seen at the Pit are hot.” Olivia pushed up the sleeves of her sweat jacket. “But aloof and arrogant. Most of them need to be knocked on their asses a time or two.”
Had to agree with that.
“No sign of Torin?” Olivia asked.
I shook my head. “None.” I didn’t know yet what to think of T and everything that had happened.
We’d have to figure it all out if he ever showed up again.
My XPhone burst out with my latest ring tone. “Black” by Metallica.
“Nyx,” Rodán said in his warm, smooth voice when I answered, and I smiled just to hear him.
“You’ve been keeping to yourself lately.”
I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see me. “I’ve just been a little preoccupied.”
“You know I’m here for you.”
“Yes,” I said, “and I’m here if you ever need me, too.”
“How about now?” His words were soft, and the way he spoke so intimately made me want to be in his arms.
I looked down at my desk and ran my finger over a knot in the polished wood. “I can’t. Not in that way.” It wouldn’t be right. I’d be seeking comfort because of Adam and that wasn’t fair to anyone.
My voice caught. “I hope Adam will give me another chance.”
“If he’s an intelligent male, he will,” Rodán said.
“Thank you.”
“I have a case, and it could be a big one.” He sounded completely businesslike now. “The Alpha of one of the New York werewolf packs contacted me because he knows we have the best Pis—you and Olivia,” Rodán went on. “Werewolves from several packs are disappearing, and the packs don’t know what’s happening to them.”
“What have you got on this case?” I asked.
“The Alpha will be in Manhattan this evening,” Rodán said. “He’ll meet you and Olivia at nine a.m. Saturday in your office.”
“I’ll be here.” I glanced at Olivia, who raised her eyebrow and gave me the look as she loaded a rubber band with an eraser. Latent psychic talent—uh-huh. “We’ll be here,” I said.
Olivia set her ammo down. “Damn straight.” She returned her attention to her XPhone. “Whatever it is.”
When I ended the call with Rodán, I set my own XPhone on my desk. Perfect. A case that didn’t involve Demons—just what I needed to get my focus back.
I stared out a window at Central Park and watched branches bending from a strong October wind, and a flicker of leaves already turning burnished gold.
Another change in seasons on its way. I smiled. It was good to be a New Yorker. It was good to be me.
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