by Trina M. Lee
“That tends to happen when surrounded by constant drama.” I shot him a pointed look, to which he merely smirked. “I’m serious, Falon. How bad could this get?”
“It’s hard to say until she shows up. She’s a nephilim, of sorts. Some of them are admirably powerful, but they don’t rank on the same scale as you and I. With a few exceptions.” His silver gaze slid over me, promising wicked pleasure. “I can assure you that she’s nowhere near as dangerous as you are.”
“That’s reassuring,” I spat with sarcasm. Pacing toward Willow’s cage I tugged my hair over my shoulder and worked the tangled tresses into a braid.
“It should be. You’re pretty damn close to the top of the food chain, so to speak. With a reputation that precedes you.” Falon held up a hand to quiet me when I opened my mouth to retort. “That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It’s all in how you let others see you.”
He had a point. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Well you do a fantastic job of ensuring I see what a supreme asshole you are.”
“Well, yeah.” Letting his head fall back against the top of the chair, Falon’s expression was downright devilish. “But you also get to see firsthand what a sex god I am.”
Maybe he was serious or maybe he was trying to make me laugh. Although I didn’t suspect Falon to be capable of genuine humor. Either way, I laughed my ass off. It was the kind of maniacal laughter that follows a traumatic event. One that often precedes a murderous rampage.
Falon’s frown and slow head shake encouraged me to fling a little barb. “I knew you had a reputation as being an untrustworthy asshole, but now we can add delusional to that.” I flopped down on the couch, finding it next to impossible to sit still.
When he didn’t respond but just stared at me, I knew he’d find a way to throw this in my face later. And I kind of looked forward to it. I could use the distraction.
“Goddammit, O’Brien, are you trying to starve me?” Briggs shouted from beyond the door.
“Yes, I am actually,” I shouted back. “I see that it’s not working since your stupid trap is open and crap keeps falling out.”
Falon snickered, enjoying my ire directed at someone other than him. He jerked a thumb at Willow. “You got lucky. At least Briggs was too busy playing mad scientist to go on a killing spree. If Willow’s anything like you were in the beginning, you’re going to have your hands full.”
The crappy part of his assessment was that I couldn’t argue it. Much. “A lot of that was twin-flame shit. Willow won’t be like me.” Because his soul, despite everything, was too pure.
Falon rolled his eyes in that way he often did when I said something he deemed senseless.
“I’ll be back.” I bit back a retort that would keep me there bantering. “Just gonna take a quick tour through the building for a lady willing to do an asshole.” Halting in the threshold I shook my head at how wrong that sounded. “You know what I mean.”
“Well, if you’re willing to do them, I don’t doubt that there are others.” Arms crossed, Briggs scowled from his doorway. “The service in this place sucks, O’Brien.”
“You like them young, right?” I quipped as I passed by. “About twenty to twenty-five years younger than you? I’ll see what I can scrounge up.”
He told me to go fuck myself, and I mustered a dry laugh in return. I flipped him off before disappearing down the hall.
As I stepped from the back hall into the party, it felt like entering a whole other world. Such a strange place was The Wicked Kiss. I paused to absorb it.
Watching people dance, drink and dry hump all over the building, a sick sense of revulsion crept up my throat. Kale is dead. I took a minute in the dark corridor near the restrooms to stuff down the manic wave that swept me.
The front entry drew my attention. I could clear the room in seconds and be outside. Once Falon noticed me missing, he’d find me in seconds. Knowing my energy signature as he did, he could pretty much find me with little more than a thought. I didn’t like to think about that.
My pain didn’t matter. My desire to run rampant, to kill with careless abandon, it was entirely self centered. Willow needed me. And Jez, more like a sister to me than my own flesh and blood. Arys, who I loved so desperately and loathed just the same.
Somehow I had to hold myself together for them.
It didn’t take long to find a table of ladies erupting in tipsy laughter. I watched them long enough to spy a faded bite on the inner forearm of one. Good. Someone experienced would be best.
Feeling very much like the madam of a whorehouse, which in many ways I was, I approached the table. The ladies glanced up at my arrival. I greeted them with a hello and some small talk, asking how their evening had been so far.
“Not bad. Never a dull night in this place.” The woman with the faded bite sipped wine and scanned the crowd. “Too bad my favorite isn’t here tonight. The vamp with one brown eye and one blue. Hands down the best night I’ve ever had here was with him.”
Her friends jumped in, loudly proclaiming their preferred vampire to play victim for. It gave me the moment I needed to keep from strangling her for talking about Kale like he was merely a satisfying bite buddy.
He had been so much more than that.
Forcing myself to push on, I raised my voice to demand their attention. “Anyone here interested in meeting my friend? Incubus. My bloodline.”
Any experienced patron knew all about my bloodline. The lucky ones had experienced it in one manner or another. Of course, the flipside of that was they also knew how dangerous we were.
Right away Kale’s fangirl volunteered with an exuberant, “Hell yes.”
The other ladies exchanged looks, declining politely, but with a trickle of fear that tested my strength. It took a special kind of person to willingly hand themselves over to one of our bloodline. The chances of ending up dead were undeniably higher.
Cheers erupted from the women who’d declined as their friend stood. With the woman in tow, I headed to the back. As far as I was concerned, this entire night was a write off. I wished I could erase it from my memory.
As we neared Briggs’s room I felt the woman out, sampling her energy. Nervous, but excited. I introduced them in his doorway.
His attitude magically changed. Dark eyes smoldering, lips drawn into a fang-baring smile that dazzled, Briggs gently shook her hand. Desire warmed the atmosphere. She reacted to his allure, fluttering her lashes as she entered his room.
It baffled me to see him in action. That incubus charm came easy to him, making me wonder about the real Thomas Briggs. All I saw was the loudmouthed hardass, but there had to be more.
“She’s the boss, Briggs. Do what she says. Respect her boundaries.” Grabbing him by the shirtfront, I hissed low for his ears only, “And if she doesn’t walk out of this room alive, neither will you.”
Without a word he closed the door in my face. For some reason I trusted him. He’d spent many years being disciplined and dedicated. His kill count was lower than mine. As a vampire anyway.
I stepped back into my office in time to catch Falon say, “It’s never been what you think it is, Willow. You of all people should know how—” When his silver eyes landed on me, he shut right up.
My gaze darted to Willow who sat on his haunches, still wolf, staring at the fallen angel with savage delight.
“You guys having a little chat?” Curious. I eyed each of them in turn.
“Something like that.” Secretive and smug, Falon revealed nothing.
“Alright, well if there’s anywhere else you need to be—or even if there isn’t—I’m good here. You can take off.” Not the nicest way to ask someone to leave, but nice wasn’t our thing.
Falon clasped both hands behind his head. He’d made himself at home in my chair. It was a damn nice chair though. “Not until sunrise. I told you that.” He tilted his head my way. “You can’t handle being around me when we’re not fucking. Why is that?”
“Because you’re an unbea
rable asshole?” I supplied, unsure of where he was going with this.
“No, it’s something else.”
“Pretty sure it’s not.”
We stared at one another for a long, tense moment.
Then he nodded, knowingly. Like he’d figured it out. “Ok, whatever you say.”
How. Absolutely. Infuriating.
Resisting his invitation to lose it and snap, I remained calm. Willow’s presence helped. I didn’t want him to see me get ugly. When it came to Falon, it didn’t take much for me to head down the low road, slinging nasty barbs and rude observations. Which was fine. It was what we did. Alone.
“I can’t be stuck here all day.” Pointing to the energy cage, I asked, “How long will that hold?”
“Until sunrise.” With great reluctance Falon stood up, stretching his arms above his head. “So where are we going?”
By sunrise Willow should shift back. He’d be trapped inside by the sun. Wouldn’t he? Only one way to find out if he could withstand the sun. Being a hybrid like me didn’t mean we’d have the same abilities. If anything he’d be his own concoction of Arys and me. Most likely a force to be reckoned with as well.
“We?” I repeated, reaching for my keys. Fuck. My car was trapped out at Shya’s house. The only car I had access to was Kale’s Camaro. I felt suddenly ill. “I am going home. I need to get there before sunrise. Follow me there if you must, but sunrise is coming, and I’m getting out of the city while I still can.”
Driving Kale’s car. The sleeping dragon. Filled with him. His smell. His energy. My heart hurt.
To Willow I said, “I’ll be back at sunset. We’ll ease you into all this. I promise.” Before Falon could launch his plan to annoy me further, I pointed to Briggs’s door. “Can you alter his ward so he can leave his room but not the building?”
Willow, I could never trap or treat as a prisoner. No ward for him. Briggs though, maybe he could be useful.
Without knocking, I called his name as I popped back into his room. My mistake. Already his lady companion was on her knees in front of him. The man wasted no time.
Resisting the urge to let my gaze drop below his waist, I focused on his face. I mean, anyone would’ve been tempted to look. “Briggs, I’m having your ward moved so you’ll have run of the building. With this privilege comes your promise to keep an eye on Willow throughout the day. It’s not like you sleep anyway. Got it?”
This night was going to be the death of me.
With a challenge on his rugged face Briggs grunted, making no attempt to stop the woman sucking his cock. “Yeah, sure, whatever. Get out.”
Gladly.
Kale’s room was my next stop. I knew I’d hesitate if I paused at the door, so I flung it open and burst in before I could let myself falter.
I stopped dead anyway. It wasn’t just the scent of leather and lovemaking that lingered faintly. A card sat on the table with my name written in big letters. And both sets of Camaro keys waited beside it.
My head shook vigorously. No, I couldn’t take anymore tonight. Wary that Falon might wander in, I snatched up the card and tucked it into the side of my boot. I couldn’t read it right now.
Scooping up the keys, I spun on a heel and left before I could throw myself down on the bed and sob into his blanket. Needing to keep moving, I hightailed it from the building.
Right into the clutches of the dragon.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The angry snarl of the classic car as it warmed up felt like an accusation. Like it knew what I’d done and it was pissed.
I sat on the hard leather seat, breathing in Kale’s cologne, feeling shell shocked. Every time I remembered what happened at Shya’s, reliving it again, it hit me with soul-crushing despair.
Kale is dead. Kale is dead. Kale is dead.
Closing my eyes, I flashed back to him begging me for death. Pleading for freedom. It should have brought me a shred of comfort. Instead it felt like living a nightmare.
Shya had wanted to bring down hell upon me, and he’d succeeded. Twisting the curse as he had, he’d gotten what he wanted most. He’d managed to wound me in the worst of ways. Shya had won.
Even locked away, he might come back to haunt me. He had all the time in the world to plot and ponder, growing madder each night as he stared into the illusion of his fireplace, drinking himself into a vengeful fit. If he ever got out, we would all suffer.
To his credit, Falon left me alone with my thoughts as I made the trip down the highway home. The twin beams of the headlights were the only source of light. No other vehicle shared the road with me.
My hands clutching the wheel, I steered the Camaro through the tail end of the night, that time where night bleeds into day. Slowly. Peeling back each layer until the dawn broke through, chasing away the creatures of the night, ushering in a new day to those who lived in the light.
A mere moment was more than enough time to drive myself into a sorrow-filled pit of misery. God, I needed to kill something. To feel the heart of a victim slow, the taste of blood in my mouth. I ached for it.
When I let myself in the house, the emptiness was immediate and palpable. Kale’s scent clung to me, both a comfort and a torment.
I dropped my keys and dagger, grabbed my phone, and headed upstairs to shower. What else could I do but attempt to go through the motions of normalcy? Whatever the hell that was.
There was a message from Shaz. He was at Arys’s house and asked if I wanted him to come by. I thought for a moment before replying, telling him I needed some time alone. I really did.
It had been a long night. A night from hell. One that I would never forget, no matter how bad I wanted to.
A hot shower did wonders for my body but nothing for my soul. My heart was a mess of pieces I tried repeatedly to pick up off the slippery porcelain before abandoning it completely. Only when the hot water ran cold did I get out.
Wrapped in a warm bathrobe I padded to my bed and stared at it. It seemed so big and lonely, empty as it was. I missed Arys. I missed what we were supposed to be.
I peeked through the blinds, catching that brief moment when the sun broke over the horizon. It burned my eyes, and I turned away, blinking furiously.
Falon was off duty now. Gone without a word.
Because I didn’t know what to do with myself, I got into bed.
Sleep laughed in my face. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Not today.
Staring at the ceiling in the dark, I worried. About Jez. Arys. And especially Kale. Had he found the peace he so longed for? Was he free of me in death?
My thoughts strayed to the note he’d left for me. I wished I could burn it without reading it. If only so his final words wouldn’t haunt me forever. But Kale deserved better than that.
So when staring turned into remembering and reliving, I got out of bed and went downstairs to fetch the card from where it still sat in my boot. I turned it over in my hands a few times.
Sucking in a deep breath and holding it, I opened the card.
Crazy is easy. Sanity is hard. Stay sane.
I paused then, choking on a sob. He’d sent the very same thing to me once before in a text message. That night Shya had me trapped in his so-called guest room on the night Gabriel rose as a vampire.
Forcing myself to blink away the tears that blurred my vision, I continued to read.
Let my death be a new beginning for both of us. You have so much to give to this broken world. You’re meant to do good. With Arys. Never give that up without a fight. Stay sane, and remember me fondly, as I will remember you. Until the next life, Alexa. I love you.
By the last word I read through a haze of red. On my knees in the hallway of my house, alone, I wept a river of blood.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The following night I had to drag myself through getting ready to leave the house. Dressed all in black in leggings and a long-sleeved sweater that fell to mid-thigh, hair loose and flowing, I readied myself for the first night of a new world.
A world without Kale Sinclair.
Who was I kidding? I’d never be ready.
I eyed the Dragon Claw where it lay on a kitchen chair. For the first night in a long time, I was leaving it at home. Handy as it was, I didn’t need the additional weaponry. Not usually. Forged by demons, the dagger was an impressive blade. Beautiful really.
The same word I’d used to describe Falon. And he was no doubt as deadly as any demon-made weapon. More so I was certain.
The Dragon Claw had tasted Kale’s blood. Taken his life. I couldn’t stand to look at it, let alone hold it or have it hang from my hip.
Idiot, my inner self laughed. The dagger didn’t take his life. You did. Your soul is stained with it.
Driving his car back to the city proved a true test of my composure. But I’d cried myself out. On my knees in the hallway, clutching the note he’d left for me, until it was stained with blood.
As much as I’d have loved to hide out at home, screaming, crying, and sobbing my pain out, other people needed me. And their pain mattered too. Perhaps more than my own.
There had been no further contact from Jez. Needless to say, worry gnawed at me. Headed for The Wicked Kiss, I planned to assist Willow in yet another difficult transition. For his sake, I hoped this was easier to bear than the burden of demonhood or mortality. And then I planned to look for Jez. Whatever was going on with her, it was bad. I could feel it.
The club wasn’t all that busy yet when I arrived. In a couple hours, the crowd would be in full swing. I slipped inside, nodding to the staff prepping for the night before moving on to the back. Right away I felt that Willow was missing.
I threw open the office door to find it empty. Next I banged on Briggs’s door, waiting for him to open it since I didn’t want another eyeful of him in action. Impatient, I shouted his name.
“Goddammit, woman, what the hell do you want?” He ripped the door open with a snarl. Though he held the door open only a few inches, I could see the woman sprawled in his bed. The same one I’d left him with.
