“The sisters are good teachers. We should all have our GEDs soon.” Aspen seems proud of herself, but I can tell thinking about the future brings up memories of her sister, Sahara, who she hasn’t seen in months. And Annabelle, she basically called home and said she had decided to get her GED and attend college in London, and that she’d come visit when she could. There wasn’t much they could do since she’s eighteen, but I know she misses her family more than she admits. Kraven says once we’re a bit more settled in our roles, there’s no reason we can’t go home for visits.
I study Charlie and the concentration on her face as she hides the eggs. She’s done such great work liberating souls already, and Annabelle and Aspen have collaborated on expanding Hands Helping Hands nationally, with a goal to make it global within five years. It’s an aggressive plan, but one I believe they’ll meet. Although we’ve been liberating locally in order to give ourselves a break, Kraven says soon we’ll need to branch out and hit other areas.
Charlie doesn’t know this yet, but I want to take her to college. It would be fun to act like a normal student for once, and Big Guy knows there’d be a ton of souls there we could help keep on the straight and narrow. Well, Charlie could do that. I could order pizza. With toppings.
Something tickles my ankle, and when I glance down, I see Shit Head rubbing against me. Charlie says when he does that it means he wants attention. I say it means the cat is marking me, and that an assassin is just around the corner awaiting Shit Head’s signal. I sigh and pick him up.
Oswald calls from the front door of the Hive that lunch is almost ready. Kraven, Blue, Aspen, and I turn in his direction. The wind catches his orange robe, and we get a full frontal shot.
“Ohhh!” we yell at once.
Oswald grins and shuffles back inside. He’s not even embarrassed. Hell, it may have been planned. I hand Shit Head to Blue, who curls the animal close to his chest. Unlike me, Blue enjoys him a demented ball of fur. The kitten purrs happily, and I furrow my brow.
“Don’t be getting any ideas.” I scratch under the cat’s chin. “You’re my waste of space, for better or worse.”
“Dante!” Charlie yells, overhearing me. She’s smiling though, because she knows I’ve fallen for the stupid cat. Can’t even sleep now without knowing where that bag of bones is.
I cross the distance between us, and Charlie waves for me to get lost. She’s trying to hide hard-boiled eggs, damn it. I don’t care. I wrap my arms around her waist and spin her in a circle. Her toes leave the ground, and she laughs the same laugh I heard almost a year ago as we strolled toward her school, pumpkins littering porches. As I hold her, I think of all the memories we share.
The first time I saw her, and how blind I was to her beauty. The first time Charlie’s face lit up outside the journalism room. The time I carried Charlie from the forest during a cruel game of hide and go seek, and the way Charlie looked at me in Las Vegas when she said she saw the good in me. I remember hauling her ass out of a barn after she kissed Blue, playing spin the bottle, and leaving her to go to Denver to liberate Aspen. My heart twinges with pain recalling the distance between us when Charlie believed I wanted her to be more like me, and less like herself, and how mind-blowing it felt the first time we were truly together.
I remember Charlie rushing down the stairs of hell to save me, and watching Rector drive a blade through Charlie’s chest.
I remember when I saw her again, heart beating once again.
I remember thinking she’d never looked so stunning, back in her old skin, glowing with confidence.
I can’t wait to make new memories with Charlie Cooper.
For starters, I can’t wait to give her the two ridiculous plastic eggs I have hidden under my bed. The first one is filled with Skittles, and I can already see her turning it upside down and spilling every last one of those candies into her mouth and laughing as her tongue turns red and green and blue.
The second egg holds a ring.
It’s not an engagement ring, but rather a thank you for the change she’s brought my life, and for the change she and I will bring to thousands of people across the world, many of them never realizing it. But it’s not only a thank you, it’s a promise. A promise that I will always love her.
A promise that one day I will stand before our friends and make that girl mine forever.
And a promise that one day we’ll try and have little Dante Walkers of our own.
Because wouldn’t that just be the shit?
Pow!
Acknowledgments
A big thank you to fellow young adult authors who keep me sane: Wendy Higgins, Jessica Brody, April Genevieve Tucholke, Page Morgan, Lindsay Cummings, Mari Mancusi, and Mary Lindsey. I heart you girls something fierce.
To the team at Entangled Teen who helped mold this story, Publisher Liz Pelletier, Editor Stacy Abrams, Copyeditor Melanie Smith, and the publicists who work so hard to get Dante Walker the exposure he expects—my deepest gratitude.
Thank you to literary agent Laurie McLean, who sold the Dante Walker trilogy and kick-started my career. Dante would still be chilling in the slush pile if it weren’t for you. And he is not a slush pile kinda’ guy.
Big hugs to the V Mafia! You continue to wow me with your dedication to my stories and characters. And to my super fan and assistant extraordinaire, Jessica Baker—my books would never make it to the shelves without your support and time. Thank you!
To my family, who is there for the good and the bad. With you guys by my side, I can (pretend) to do anything. Special shout out to my mom, Vicky, and my sister, Tyse, for reading an early version of The Warrior and providing valuable feedback. I love you, I love you.
Finally, always, to my husband, Ryan. You carry me when I’m weak, dry my tears when I am sad, and love me when I am at my lowest. But mostly, you are you, and I thank God for putting you in my path that one, random Tuesday evening. I told you I’d give you my number if you danced with me in the rain. And you know what?
You did.
About the Author
Victoria Scott is the author of the DANTE WALKER trilogy (Entangled Teen), and the FIRE & FLOOD series (Scholastic). Victoria has a master’s degree in marketing, and lives in Dallas with her husband. She hearts cotton candy and loves chatting with readers on her site: victoriascottya.com.
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Other Books by Victoria Scott
The Collector
a Dante Walker novel
He makes good girls…bad.
Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of Hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.
Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn’t want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:
Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.
Dante doesn’t know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of Hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.
The Liberator
a Dante Walker novel
Bad boy, meet bad girl.
Dante has a shiny new cuff wrapped around his ankle, and he doesn’t like that mess one bit. His new accessory comes straight from Big Guy himself and marks the former demon as a liberator. Despite his gritty past and bad boy ways, Dante Walker has been granted a second chance.
With Charlie becoming the girl she was never able to be pre-makeover and Aspen showing him how delicious it feels to embrace his inner beast, Dante will have to go somewhere he never thought he’d return to in order to accomplish the impossible: save the girl he’s been assigned to, and keep the girl he loves.
If you love teen paranormal romance, check out these Entangled releases…
Lux: Beginnings
By Jennifer L. Armentrout
Now available together for the first time, don’t miss the first two books in Jennifer L. Armentrout’s bestselling Lux series. “A thrilling ride from start to finish,” says RT Book Reviews. Includes both Obsidian and Onyx.
Donna of the Dead
By Alison Kemper
Donna Pierce might hear voices, but that doesn’t mean she’s crazy. Probably.
The voices do serve their purpose, though—whenever Donna hears them, she knows she’s in danger. So when they start yelling at the top of their proverbial lungs, it’s no surprise she and her best friend, Deke, end up narrowly escaping a zombie horde.
Salt
By Danielle Ellison
Penelope is a witch, part of a secret society protecting humans from demon attacks. But when she was a child, a demon killed her parents—and stole her magic. Then she meets Carter. He’s cute, smart, and she can borrow his magic, too. He knows her secret—but he also has one of his own.
Scintillate
By Tracy Clark
Cora Sandoval’s mother disappeared when she was five and they were living in Ireland. Since then, her dad has been more than overprotective, and Cora is beginning to chafe under his confines. But even more troubling is the colorful light she suddenly sees around people. Everyone, that is, except herself—instead, she glows a brilliant, sparkling silver.
As she realizes the danger associated with these strange auras, Cora is inexplicably drawn to Finn, a gorgeous Irish exchange student who makes her feel safe.
Til Death
By Kate Evangelista
Sixteen-year-old Selena Fallon is a dreamer. Not a daydreamer, but an I-see-the-future kind of dreamer. Normally, this is not a problem, as she has gotten pretty good at keeping her weird card hidden from everyone in her small town. But when Selena dreams of her own rather bloody death, things get a little too freaky—even for her.
Enter Dillan Sloan. Selena has seen the new guy in a different dream, and he is even more drool-worthy in person. Beyond the piercing blue eyes and tousled dark hair, there is something else that draws her to him. Something…electric. Too bad he acts like he hates her.
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