A Touch Menacing

by Leah Clifford

  Kristen softened. “I had to. Things have changed, though,” she said, coming to a decision. “You’d have been done for if I’d invited you to that ball. Let bygones be that. Fight the Bound with me.” Another kick to the door. “Impatient, aren’t they?” she said as the lock finally splintered. She darted out of the way just as Az burst through.

  “Get away from her,” he growled. “Now.”

  “I’m fine!” Eden insisted.

  Jarrod’s eyes were cold and trained on Kristen. “Block the door,” he said softly, and a new girl stepped into position. “Eden, take her out.”

  “You’re not serious,” Kristen said.

  “Why shouldn’t she?” Jarrod said. “You wanted her dead.”

  Az glanced up. “What?”

  Her first instinct was to back away from Jarrod, but that put her farther from the exit. Instead, Kristen skated along the wall. “Eden, call him off!”

  “You store Touch, don’t you?” Jarrod asked. He tracked her, his shoulders arched forward, movements calculated. A predator stalking prey. “With everything that’s been happening, you must be loaded up from your Screamers.”

  Now Az was edging toward her. She glanced at Eden. There was pity in her eyes. She really means to kill me.

  “Wait!” Kristen yelled, holding up a hand to fend them off. “Just wait!” Madeline had told her Eden grew sick when she’d stopped taking out the Siders, but she’d forgotten about it. “I can pass to her.”

  “Back off, Jarrod,” Az said quietly.

  Kristen gave him a grateful half nod and then turned her attention back to Eden. “God,” she whispered. “Look at you.”

  Now that she was actually paying attention, the difference in Eden was striking. Not only was her color off, but there were dark circles under her eyes. Her skin was odd, almost translucent.

  “How bad are you?” Kristen asked. To her credit, Eden didn’t look away.

  Jarrod rocked forward on the balls of his feet, nervous and twitchy. “Don’t answer that,” he said. “She’s with Luke again. Anything you tell her, count on it going straight back to him.”

  Between the halfhearted attempt on her life and Jarrod’s attitude, Kristen had run out of patience. “While your concern is no doubt appreciated by Eden, trust me, Luke isn’t interested in killing her off. Not when her Siders are going Upstairs.”

  Suddenly, Jarrod rushed her, slamming her against the wall. Kristen gasped as his forearm pressed against her throat. “You’re not here to hide,” he said. “You’re after Sullivan.”

  Kristen swallowed hard. “You’re Sullivan?” she asked the girl at the door.

  Instantly, Jarrod leaned, his arm pressing harder. Who was this girl? Why was Jarrod being so overly protective?

  “Did you call Luke already?” Jarrod snarled. “Is he on his way here?”

  “Hey!” Az yelled. “Ease up!”

  “Jarrod, there’s no way she could have known we were coming here,” Eden said. Something about her voice was strange. Kristen looked past Jarrod. Clutching onto the side of a short dresser, Eden had her arm laid out across the wood and her head resting on it. She used the other to push Az away while he tried to soothe her. Black smeared his skin where she’d touched him. Her eyes didn’t leave Kristen. “With all the Touch you’re carrying, taking you out would buy me a week,” she said, her voice gravelly. “You dose me, and I get a few hours. What would you do?”

  “You know what I’d do,” Kristen answered. “But you’re not me.”

  Eden’s head knocked gently against the wall as she lowered to the floor. “I just figure sooner or later you’ll make yourself useful again,” she said, amusement in her voice. She waved Jarrod off.

  “I heard you say you talked to Jackson,” Kristen said.

  “He called me.” Sweat broke out on Eden’s forehead. She coughed into her sleeve, her lungs rattling, wet and full. Ashy flecks speckled her lips. She wiped them off with the back of her arm. “He and Madeline were up to something. We can find him faster if we work together,” Eden wheezed.

  Jarrod stepped behind Kristen. “Dose her,” he demanded.

  She sidestepped, a look of warning crossing her face. “I don’t like you where I can’t see you.”

  “And I don’t give a shit,” Jarrod shot back. “Dose her, now.”

  Eden wasn’t being dramatic; that much was clear. Kristen slowly moved to sit next to her. “You try to take me out and all Hell will break loose,” she said. “Literally.”

  Eden nodded, grimacing as she leaned forward. Kristen passed her the dose. Only when Kristen had pulled back to a safe distance did either of them let loose the breath they’d been holding. Eden’s choked out in a half sob of exhaustion. “Thank you,” she said, her voice shaky. She opened her eyes. They were bloodshot, but she seemed less . . . gray. “Jarrod, can you get me a glass of water?”

  Kristen stared at her, silent. It was an obvious ploy to get him out of the room, and clearly the boy knew it. He set his jaw, ready to argue.

  “Take Sullivan,” Eden added.

  “We’ll go,” Jarrod said. “If you promise Az stays here with you.”

  “Done,” Eden said.

  Amused, Kristen watched him waver before he snatched the girl’s hand and crossed the room with her.

  Once they were gone, Eden faced Kristen. “Are you after Sullivan?”

  Confused, Kristen leaned forward. So the girl was important. “Why would I be?”

  Eden held her gaze. There was strategy in the look. She actually thinks she can toy with me. The thought gave her an edge, a moment to clear her mind before Eden went on.

  “The demons saw Sullivan, so Luke knows about her,” Eden said. “I would think if he accidentally made another Sider, he’d be pretty keen on taking her out before any more got sent Downstairs. You’re sure you aren’t here to find her?”

  Another death breather. Kristen struggled to keep the emotions from her face, but Eden’s twitch of a smile told Kristen she’d blown it. Why wouldn’t he have told me? Not knowing about Sullivan was a detail that could’ve gotten her killed.

  “Kristen, talk to me,” Eden said earnestly. “What’s really going on? You can’t trust Luke.”

  “Yes,” Kristen said, before Eden could go on, “I can.” One hand itched absently at her boot before she caught herself. She betrayed nothing more than she already had. “When did Luke kill the girl?”

  “The night Sebastian and I came to Aerie looking for you, but way later.”

  Had that been why Luke didn’t tell her about Sullivan’s existence? He never would have made a Sider on purpose. Was it possible he’d lost his temper and made a mistake? “Luke was so angry when I left,” she said, grim.

  Two minutes later, both sides of the story were out on the table. Jarrod and Sullivan came back just as Kristen got to the part about Luke having Madeline suggest masks so he could be there and get Kristen out.

  “So Luke used Madeline and then left her to die,” Jarrod said, his voice emotionless. “Nice.”

  Instead of being angry, Kristen turned to him calm and controlled. “Gabriel’s Bound. He obviously knew what was going to happen and did nothing. I don’t see you vilifying him.”

  “How could you think he’d just let that happen?” Az said. Disgusted, Kristen rolled her eyes, but Az went on. “I told Gabe about your party. I sent him to help as soon as I left Upstairs. He didn’t know. The Bound kept him in the dark.”

  Her face fell. Suddenly Gabriel’s relief at hearing her voice took on a whole new meaning. “He called Luke to be sure I’d gotten out. But who told Luke?” she asked. “He said it was a Sider.”

  “Maybe it was Madeline?” Eden asked with a raised brow.

  “She was acting strange,” Kristen acknowledged.

  Kristen went quiet, lost in thought, remembering Madeline, the emeralds around her neck and her reaction to Kristen’s nearing hand. Bits of the conversation with Gabe floated back. Her body, he’d said. On the back s
tairs. Her ribs were . . . I couldn’t save her.

  Kristen rolled the rings on her fingers one at a time, shaking her head for a moment before she spoke. “I saw the Bound destroy a Sider.” She swallowed to give herself a chance to collect her words. “They tore out his heart and stole away his soul, and he disintegrated into ashes.”

  “So why didn’t Madeline?” Sullivan asked. Kristen’s unease grew.

  Az, too, seemed unsettled. “When Gabe told me about Madeline, he said she was . . . ripped open. The same way that Sider must have been. She was definitely dead,” he said.

  Kristen tilted her head back, concentrating. “You’re right. She and Jackson were up to something. She was excited, nervous. She said she had to tell me something huge. That it was going to change everything.” Kristen lowered her voice to a whisper, hesitant to put her thoughts into words. “Jackson told you on the phone that there was another Sider. And when you asked who made her, the Bound or the Fallen, he said neither, correct?”

  Pity made its way onto Eden’s face. “Kristen . . .”

  Kristen stabbed a finger into the air. “No, listen!” she shouted, her careful mask of indifference finally cracking apart. “She didn’t want to be touched, and she still had a body after she died. And a death breather not made by angels.” She kneeled down beside Eden and helped her to her feet. “What if Madeline wasn’t a Sider anymore? My God, Eden . . . what if this girl, this Sider, can make us mortal again?”

  CHAPTER 25

  Jarrod closed the door to the room and turned into Sullivan’s arms. They’d stolen away for just a few moments across the hall. He could still hear Kristen on the phone. She’d used his phone to call Jackson, knowing he probably wouldn’t answer a call from Eden. Now she was trying to get him to explain what was going on. He cracked the door back open, but he couldn’t hear any words, just the sound of her voice.

  Even with Kristen’s dose, if either Eden or Sullivan were hurt, they were all in trouble. And he’d never trust that Kristen wouldn’t turn them over to Luke in a second if it was to her benefit. The sooner he convinced Eden and Az to split from her, the better.

  “How do you feel?” he asked Sullivan.

  She shrugged a shoulder. “Not bad.”

  “Want to try the truth?” he said, and then softened his tone. “Look, Eden and Az lied to each other so many times. They think they’re helping each other or protecting each other, but it’s stupid. It screws them over.” He lifted her head with a finger. “We’re not doing that.”

  She tucked herself under his chin and let out a heavy sigh. “I can feel it in my bones,” she said. “Like it’s breaking them apart from the inside.”

  “Can you hold up?” he forced himself to ask. Already he heard Kristen promising Jackson they’d come to wherever he was. As long as Sullivan could make it there, someone could dose her and things would be okay. If she couldn’t, he’d have to come up with a plan.

  “I can make it,” she said, determination in her voice.

  “Hold your breath,” he said as he leaned in slowly. Their lips met. He felt the minuscule amount of Touch that had built in him pass to her. Sullivan ripped away.

  “Take it back!” she demanded. “What if the Bound get you?”

  Every part of him wanted to lie, but instead he looked her right in the eye. “If the Bound get me, there won’t be anything left to heal.”

  Someone called his name from the hall, and he opened the door. Eden looked relieved when she saw him. And more than that, there was a glow of intense excitement about her. “Apparently, Madeline and Jackson were doing some sort of experimenting. All the Siders staying here passed to the same few mortals. One girl bore the brunt of it.”

  “Oh God,” Sullivan whispered.

  “She lost her path.” She paused to let it sink in. “But with one key difference. Madeline killed her, Jarrod.”

  His jaw dropped. “What?”

  She glanced at Sullivan. “Sullivan and I, we’re both tied to angels, Fallen and Bound. But this girl, she’s tied to a Sider. Madeline . . .” Eden trailed off, shaking her head in disbelief. “I don’t know how she figured it out, but she did. Jackson said they tried it on a volunteer first. They had the death breather Rachel do her thing, expecting ashes. The Sider didn’t crumble like normal. There was a body. And a few hours later, he woke up.”

  “Eden!” Kristen called sharply from downstairs. “Come on!”

  She glanced back. “When Gabe found Madeline at Kristen’s ball, she was dead. She didn’t turn to ash because she was already mortal, Jarrod. Mortal!” Eden backed toward the stairs, gesturing for them to follow.

  It took a second before Jarrod found his voice. “You mean . . . we can all be mortal again?”

  “Where are they?” Sullivan burst into motion, running down the stairs after Eden. “Did they tell you?”

  Az and Kristen were already waiting by the front door. “Yeah, we got an address,” Eden said. “It’s not far, but we’ve got to hurry. The Siders Jackson had with him made Rachel turn them all. That’s what was going on when he called before. She’s carrying way too much Touch. Jackson took some from her, but it wasn’t enough. Sullivan and I can help.”

  Sullivan grabbed Jarrod’s hand, practically skipping down the stairs. “I knew it would be okay,” she said.

  Jarrod didn’t answer. At the door, Kristen looked nervous. Az wasn’t smiling, either, something haunted and lost in his eyes as he watched Eden come down the stairs.

  Before Jackson even answered the door to the apartment, a scream rang out through the hall.

  “Jesus,” Eden whispered.

  Jarrod started to wonder why no one had called the cops when the cry was smothered into a barely audible moan. He glanced around, his hand on Sullivan’s back. Eden pounded on the door again. The place was a shithole. Riding up the elevator, he’d been sure the cables were going to snap and plunge them to the basement. It didn’t even have real doors, just retracting gates that made it feel like a cage. Down the heavily stained hallway, he spotted a staircase. Thank God, he thought. There was no way in hell he was getting back in that elevator.

  A hollow clink sounded against the door as a chain was released. The dead bolt clunked. Finally, Jackson opened the door.

  “Where is she?” Eden demanded.

  Frantic, he pointed behind him. “Kitchen.”

  “Jackson,” Kristen said. She took him by the elbow and moved him out of the way enough to let Eden storm by. “You tried to help her, didn’t you?”

  He nodded, running a hand back and forth over his shaved head. The skin was raw and red. He was wired, carrying far too much Touch. “I couldn’t pass. I couldn’t leave her alone.” He shuddered and lowered his pinkie to gnaw on the nail. “She just keeps screaming.”

  Az closed the door and redid the chain and dead bolt. “There’s no one here but you and her, right?” he asked.

  Jackson nodded. A sliver of blood showed on his fingernail where he’d bitten the cuticle too deep. He grabbed suddenly for Kristen. “Mad’s dead!” he cried. “She’s dead!”

  “I’m so sorry, Jackson. Sebastian, too.” As Jarrod watched, she seemed to shake it off. “You did so well,” she said as Jarrod led Sullivan past. “Madeline would be proud.”

  They entered the kitchen just as Eden tipped up and away from the girl. “Okay, you can breathe, Rachel,” she said.

  Though Jarrod didn’t see a bedroom, a mattress had been dragged from somewhere and was wedged between the wall and the front of the stove. The girl on it trembled, her arms twitching and jerking. With a shaking hand, she wiped her mouth.

  Eden squeezed her shoulder. “Any better?” she asked.

  The girl nodded absently, but it was the change in Eden that stopped him dead. She looked healthy, the gray color gone from her skin. Her cheeks glowed rosy. With her free hand she waved over Sullivan.

  “This will be just like you did with Jarrod, only you’re going to be getting a lot more Touch,” she coached
. “Be sure to hold your breath.” She kept her hand on Sullivan’s back as Sullivan leaned forward and took the dose.

  Az pressed in behind Jarrod. “How are you?” he asked Eden.

  She winked at him, and he seemed to relax a bit. “Ready, Jarrod?”

  Jarrod moved forward. “Should she be losing Touch that fast?”

  “Can you imagine what would happen to me if I took out twenty Siders? Especially twenty paranoid Siders, who’ve been storing instead of passing? She’s way overloaded. And I don’t think anyone even told her anything.” Eden rubbed the girl’s back. “Jarrod, take a dose,” she said. He hesitated. The girl, Rachel, already looked glazed, like she was well on her way to being out of her mind. “She needs to get rid of it,” Eden insisted when Jarrod didn’t move. “What happens if later Sullivan and I need to be dosed and you didn’t take it?”

  “That’s not playing fair,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why don’t you just have her turn us mortal now?”

  “No!” Az blurted. “Eden and Sullivan can help her regulate if she’s turning Siders mortal. We can save them from the Bound. If she does it to Eden now, though, she’ll just take back all the Touch she got rid of.”

  Eden stared down at the girl. “You’re right,” she said. “Jarrod, take the dose from her. We need to keep her levels as low as possible so she can help Siders as we find them.” Eden motioned for Sullivan to switch with him.

  Rachel didn’t move when Jarrod kneeled next to her, just kept staring off into space. He turned her face toward him without thinking about his ungloved fingers. Instantly, her glamour dropped away. Jarrod jumped back in surprise. One of her eye sockets was hollow. The other oozed, part of the rotting eyeball dripping down her cheekbone.

  Sullivan’s scream pierced the silence. On the mattress beside him, Rachel’s jaw dropped open, tendons stretching, and she wailed and then went quiet. Her bones creaked, the fabric of her shirtsleeves swaying as she wrapped her arms around herself and started to rock. Jarrod couldn’t believe she’d dosed both Eden and Sullivan and still carried so much Touch.