“Thanks,” I said, “I guess living here has a couple of perks.”
He eyed me up and down. “Sometimes,” he said, the word lingering in the air.
I couldn’t say I didn’t like the way he was watching me from where he sat, but I also didn’t know what exactly it meant. Here we were, two people who clearly had a lot more in common with each other than either wanted to admit, but were also way different in some pretty vital ways. Two people who couldn’t have met under more extraneous circumstances. Two people who were meant to be enemies, because that’s how this kind of thing worked; unless you were in the family, you were an enemy.
But right now, we were sharing a drink in a quiet room, talking about how much our parents screwed us up.
I laughed into my glass. “I thought I was going to hate you,” I said.
A pause hung in the air, and I sensed something inside of it, like it had its own charge. He took a deep drink. “There’s still time for that,” he said. Then he paused again and looked across at me. “So… Kandi?”
I rolled my eyes and drank a finger of my drink. “It was only a matter of time before you asked, I guess.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but I’m curious, having seen what I’ve seen.”
“There’s not much to say. I used to dance. I was good at it. I used to make a lot of money doing it. I didn’t live like this, but I know what luxury tastes like.”
“Is that why you did it? Because you were good at it?”
“I did it because I wanted to. The fact that I was good at it was just a bonus.”
“Sounds like you’re being modest.”
“I’m really not.”
“You sure about that? Because, and I’m no expert here, but some of the things you were able to do on that pole defy gravity itself.”
I stared at him from the rim of my glass, blood flushing to my cheeks. “Okay, maybe I’m being modest. I guess I never really thought about it. I just danced, and trained, and danced some more, and I got better at it. Eventually it becomes… instinct.”
“Like everything else, I suppose… why did you stop?”
“I stopped because I wanted to. Don’t get me wrong, I miss hauling five figures a month, but it was just… time.”
He paused. Drank. “You know, I still feel like I’m owed a dance.”
Both of my eyebrows went up. “Do you? Why’s that?”
“Because I paid you for it at the club.”
I leaned back and smiled at him. “Really? As I recall, that money didn’t belong to you—it belonged to me. Consider it hazard pay. Anyway, I’m off the clock right now so you’ll just have to wait.”
“Wait, huh… alright, I can wait.”
My heart started thumping against my chest—not racing, but thumping so hard I could feel it. Soon after, my body filled with warmth, my skin started to tingle, and I felt a pull in the pit of my stomach I was having a hard time ignoring. I took a deep breath, finished what was left of my drink, and stood up.
“I think it’s time you left, Mister Barlow,” I said. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and an even longer night. Maybe if we pull this off, you can pay me for the privilege of a dance.”
Axel stood and slowly stepped closer to me. My heart was thumping so hard now I was afraid he was going to hear it. I could smell him, too; the powerful scent of his cologne tickling my nostrils. “Alright then,” he said, his voice soft, low, and almost inviting. “But I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Go right ahead.”
Grinning, Axel made his way out of my room and left me alone with my thoughts and the whiskey bottle. I only had another drink, just enough to calm me down and help me sleep. The Gods knew I needed it, especially after… whatever the hell all this had been.
Whatever it was, though, would have to move to the back-bench because tomorrow night I was going to commit a serious crime against the New York city Magistrate.
If I was going to come out of this alive, I needed to focus.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Axel stepped out of Izzy’s room feeling warm for two reasons; number one, the alcohol, and number two, her. He couldn’t remember the last woman he’d spent so much time with, probably because he had never been able to keep a stable, long-term relationship considering who he was.
He walked back to his room trying to summon up images of the other women he’d had in his life, but he was having a difficult time doing so. Names didn’t match faces, and the faces always seemed to shift and warp until they were unrecognizable.
He realized, then, this was because every single relationship he’d ever been in—if he could even call them relationships—had been transient. He’d see a pretty girl at a mixer, or a Magistrate event, and they’d get talking. Talk would turn to drinks, and drinks would turn into a night of passion in some random, but upscale, hotel in Manhattan.
Maybe they’d see each other again, but often they wouldn’t, and often it was Axel’s own fault. He’d learned a long time ago how to distance himself from other people emotionally, how to quickly cut the cords of sympathy that build between any two adults capable of holding a conversation.
It would’ve been easy for him to blame his father, and by extension, his upbringing for that, but he chose instead to blame himself. They were his choices to make, and he made them himself. He’d chosen a long time ago not to get himself involved with other people because, well, other people are liabilities; and even if they aren’t at first, they can become liabilities.
And liabilities were the thing that got people like him killed.
But by the time he made it to his room, his mind had circled back to Izzy. Her hair, blue with slight hints of green. Her eyes, the color of a Caribbean ocean. Her snark… that, he hadn’t cared for at first. But he’d soon realized, she was funny. She made him laugh—on the inside, of course. Izzy was the kind of person who was easy to talk to, and even though she was probably a little quick to judge, even if she didn’t know it, she was also capable of changing her mind about a person.
That last quality had been a surprise.
When she’d first shown up in his life, he thought she was obnoxious and arrogant, bordering on the narcissistic. Why did he think that? Because she reminded him of himself. Despite the obviously tough situation she found herself in, she was always trying to get one over on him, always trying to have the last word—always trying to test his resolve.
Like a young wolf finding her place in the pack, he thought, opening his bedroom door.
As time went on, he got to see her for who she really was. A wolf, yes, but wolves weren’t only known for their competitiveness, or their ferocity. They weren’t only known as vicious predators capable of surviving in incredibly harsh environments and taking down prey much larger than them.
Wolves were also known for their loyalty. For their commitment to their packs. For their ability to empathize with others of their kind. She was rough around the edges, but he supposed he liked that about her. Maybe that was the reason why, more than any other woman he’d ever met in his life, he’d started to enjoy spending time with her.
He shut his bedroom door and pressed his back against it, letting his head rest. Shutting his eyes, and with a deep breath held in his lungs, he reached for his Guardian and summoned it forth. His ears started to ring, and all around his body he felt a phantom pressure build and press against his chest.
When he opened his eyes, his dark room was filled with even more darkness. Phades was present, its form a mass of writhing, black tendrils surrounding a humanoid form with eyes that shone with violet light. Axel opened his eyes and looked across the room at the creature that had joined him. In the back of his mind, a chorus of whispers belonging to no one made themselves known to him.
“You require counsel,” Phades said, his voice little more than a whisper itself.
“I do,” Axel said.
“The girl presents a predicament you cannot solve on your own. My insight is yours
.”
Axel pulled himself away from the door and, deciding he hadn’t quite drank enough tonight, poured himself a measure of whiskey. He stared into the glass, swirled it around in his hand, and knocked it back, setting the glass down when he was done.
“I know what I have to do,” Axel said. “I know it’s for the good of the family… but why does it have to be her?”
“Your father’s instructions were clear.”
“But it isn’t right. He didn’t only ask me to kill her, he wants to eat her heart… I’ve never heard of anything like that.” Axel turned his head to face his shadowy, black Guardian. “What can you tell me about the practice?”
Phades remained silent, but the whispering didn’t stop.
“Nothing?” Axel asked. “You mean to tell me in all your lifetimes, no one’s ever brought this up?”
“You know I am unable to speak to you of my past lives.”
“Then what can you tell me?”
“Your father’s instruction was clear, but it was given to you at a time when you had no attachment to the girl. Now the bonds of friendship have been forged, and you are worried you cannot sever them in order to complete your mission.”
“I managed to figure that out on my own. What I need to know is, what should I do?”
“Do you desire to inflict harm on the girl?”
“No.”
“Are your bonds with her stronger than the bonds that tie you to your family, to your father?”
Axel stared at the shadowy figure standing by his bed. He watched as Phades’ violet eyes seemed to flash and swirl, a thin purple mist rising from them. “That’s a difficult question to answer,” Axel said.
“But it is the question you must answer. The time may come that you must make a choice. Commit the ultimate sin of murder in order to satisfy your father’s desires or spare the girl and satisfy your own.”
“I can’t spare her. If I don’t do what my father says… I know murder is the wrong thing to do, but what if he’s right? What if she turns on us and comes after our family when this is all over?”
“Do you believe she will?”
Axel ran his fingers through his hair, then unbuttoned his shirt. It had suddenly started getting a little too tight around the neck. “I don’t know what I believe, anymore.”
“Morality is a tricky concept, one I myself do not comprehend. But I know you, Axel Barlow. I hold your immortal soul in my hands. I live and breathe through your body. I understand your mind better than you understand it yourself, and I am able to deliver that insight back to you, should you ask me to.”
“Am I capable of… killing someone?”
A pause longer than Axel would’ve liked hung in the air. Inside of that pause, the chorus of whispers waxed and waned, distant and close at the same time. “Yes,” Phades simply said.
“And her?” he asked, “Could I kill her, when the time comes.”
“I have already answered that question. The better question is not, could you kill her, but do you have the strength to follow your convictions?”
Axel stared at his Guardian, scowling almost. “I hate that you’re so impartial and unbiased.”
“We Guardians are here to serve you. We have no agendas, no goals, no wishes except to see you succeed in all your endeavors. Follow your convictions, Axel, and you will succeed.”
Another deep breath, this one he held in his lungs for a long moment. Shutting his eyes and leaning against the bar where he’d just served himself a drink, he dismissed his Guardian. All he had to do was think it, and the shadowy creature with the burning, violet eyes was gone from his room. Of course, it was never there to begin with. Phades lived inside of Axel’s soul, and presented itself only to him through telepathy.
The bedroom felt a lot lighter with the Guardian now gone. There seemed to be a little more light in the room, a little more space. Axel turned to the bar and fixed himself another drink. He knew what he had to do. He knew a lot was riding on him. He’d taken cut his emotional ties to many people before Izzy came along. She’d be no different.
All he had to do was concentrate, put his game face on, and remember to keep her at arm’s length. That was it.
Easy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I don’t think I’d ever looked better in my life.
Staring back at me from the mirror was a beautiful young woman wearing a gorgeous, black, two-piece outfit. The outfit itself was made of a lacy fabric that exposed her toned midsection and gave the impression of being almost see-through. Her hair fell around her shoulders in wavy cascades of teal and deep blue. Her lips were full, her clear eyes dark and smoky.
It was all him. The clothes, the underwear, the makeup. Axel was clearly the kind of man who knew what looked good on a woman, so I figured I’d wear it. Why not? Besides, it wasn’t like I could go home and get any of my own stuff. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t gone home since the night I broke into that Demonologist’s house.
Good thing I didn’t keep any pets.
After taking a shot of whiskey, I headed downstairs where I expected I’d meet Axel. RJ, Karim, and Danvers were already on the scene, all three of them sitting inside Nerve. I tapped my earpiece as I walked through the mansion, escorted of course by two armed guards.
“How are the three of you holding up in there?” I asked.
“Good,” Danvers said, “We’ve got pizza.”
“And champagne,” Karim put in. “There’s no reason why you should be the only one living the high life right now.”
“High life?” RJ asked, “Man, that’s eight-dollar champagne. It’s basically water, and it ain’t even cold.”
“Yes, well, we can pretend, at least. Anyway, how long until you and your highness make an appearance?”
“We’ll be exactly twenty-three minutes from now. RJ, are you ready to make a move on our escape route?”
“The basket’s in place, but boss, I gotta tell you. Magister’s beefed up his security. There’s gonna be more Legionnaires there than we thought.”
“Dammit. That lightshow I pulled yesterday must’ve spooked him. How bad is it?”
“It’s gonna be tight, but I think we can work it out.”
“Okay, in that case, new plan. You need to stay at Nerve until Axel and I are through. I wanna know who those Legionnaires are and what they can do.”
“You got it.”
Turning a corner, I reached the grand staircase to the foyer, and there was Axel looking dapper in a fitted suit. Butterflies invaded my stomach. Butterflies. Though, to be fair, I wasn’t sure if that had more to do with the way Axel looked, or with the nerves that had been kicking around inside of me all day. It was probably a little of both, because he was kind of delicious, and I was totally buzzing about what I was about to do.
They weren’t nerves, exactly; but excitement.
I smiled at him as I took the stairs, deciding that tonight I should embody a little of Kandi. Kandi was a confident predator, a queen among mortals, the librarian of lustful desires. She was a lot of things I wasn’t. Tonight, I felt, would go a lot more smoothly if we took turns at the wheel.
Axel extended one hand, tucked the other behind his back, and bowed slightly—not once taking his eyes off me. “You look stunning,” he said.
I took his hand and smiled at him. “You clean up pretty well yourself.”
He turned around and led me to the front door. He also opened for me to step through ahead of him, still holding hands. “That’s good to know,” he said, “Is everything ready?”
“Yes. Do you have your earpiece?”
Axel nodded and tapped his ear, turning it on. They were practically invisible, unless you were specifically looking for them, and we’d made a calculated guess that the Legionnaires wouldn’t be looking for them. Definitely not from Axel Barlow, son of Asmodius.
A fluttering of wings caught my attention as we were about to reach the shiny, black sedan waiting for us in the drive. The cr
ows immediately took their human shapes as they landed and marched over to us. Even tonight, they were wearing matching suits. Only now they were wearing matching black bow-ties, too.
“Awww,” I said, “Look at you with your little bowties. They’re so cute.”
“Did I speak to you, witch?” Delia snapped. She then glared at Axel. “Why did you cancel your security detail tonight?”
He stared at her. “Don’t forget who you’re talking to, crow. Or do I have to remind you of your place?”
“My place?” she snarled. “I work for your father, boy, not for you. Now, answer the question. Where is your security detail?”
Axel frowned. He hadn’t liked that response. “I don’t need one. I’ve decided a security detail would make tonight’s mission more difficult.”
“You are about to walk into a viper’s den,” Delia hissed, “If you’re seen as being a part of the group about to steal from the Magistrate, do you really think they won’t use you to collapse your father’s empire?”
“Oh, sure,” I said, rolling my eyes, “Worry about the boss’ money more than about Axel’s wellbeing.”
“You were not spoken to, little girl,” Karkov said, his voice like a damn trombone.
“Someone should tell you; you aren’t nearly as intimidating as you think you are.”
“That’s enough,” Axel said, “My security detail won’t be necessary, and neither will you. Return to your duties… and get out of my way.”
Deila and Karkov stood their ground. They were blocking our path to the sedan. I hadn’t entirely noticed until Axel had mentioned it. Were they about to really keep us here just because Axel had chosen not to have a bunch of armed men following him around tonight? Did they know they were basically cancelling our mission by doing that?
“Your father’s orders were clear,” Delia said, “You are to be escorted tonight.”
Axel walked toward her, raising two fingers of his left hand up. “My father isn’t here,” he said, “And that means, I’m the one who gives the orders.”
Heart of the Thief Page 16
