by Trina M. Lee
I wiped my finger on my leggings and then got to my feet. I crossed the warehouse yard to the men Willow had killed. With a grimace I wiped the dagger clean using one guy’s already bloody jacket.
The scent of death was strong, inviting, disgusting. As I surveyed the scene up close, I was again astonished, unable to believe Willow had done this. After finding a burner phone in the closest guy’s pocket, I called in an anonymous tip to 911 and hightailed it back to the Camaro.
The moment my ass hit the driver’s seat, a memory racked me. It didn’t float gracefully up from the recesses of my mind. It sucker punched me in the frontal lobe hard enough to bring tears to my eyes. Guess they hadn’t dried up after all.
Beware the angel with black wings. Hurst’s words pounded through my brain. Back in Vegas, when we’d had a private meeting, he had shared many words of wisdom, most of which I still didn’t fully understand. When he said that, I’d assumed he meant Shya. What if I was wrong?
There is danger in assumption. Hurst had said that too. I felt like an idiot.
After banging my forehead on the steering wheel in frustration, I started the car and tore away from the area before the cops arrived.
A cold knot formed in my gut. What if Hurst’s warning had been about Willow? What could I do? How would I know?
These questions ate at me as I drove. This night had not been kind to me. From Shaz to Arys to Willow, it had been one disaster after another. The common link between all of these situations was me.
I really had to get my shit together.
Chapter Eleven
Because I knew Arys would be staking out my house, waiting for me, I returned the Camaro to The Wicked Kiss and grabbed my Charger before heading home. I didn’t need to have another emotional throw down over a damn car.
I expected to feel anxious or resistant when I turned into my driveway. Instead, when the cold rush of Arys’s presence hit me, I just felt relieved. It had been too long. What happened tonight, we had needed that in a big way. We still had work to do, Arys and I. Willow’s actions were evidence of that. It was far from over for us.
As I approached the front door, a ripple of high-pitched giggles reached me. It grew louder when I swung the door open, and a glance down the long front hall revealed a drunken Jez and an annoyed Arys.
“Cut off means cut off. Here, drink this coffee. Now.” Arys glanced up when I entered the kitchen. He flung a hand out at the snickering leopard, surrendering her to me. “Oh good, you decided to come home. Maybe you can convince her to go to bed.”
That was fair. I deserved it. There had been a brief moment when I considered spending the day at The Wicked Kiss. However, that would mean staying in Kale’s old room, a bad idea at best, and avoiding Arys after our confrontation would just be weak and disrespectful.
My gaze lingered on his face. It was a mottled mess of cuts and bruises. Though it had healed substantially in the short time since I saw him last, there was plenty of damage left. I’d hurt him. Bad. Of course I hadn’t escaped unscathed either. We would hurt each other. Always.
“Go to bed?” Jez repeated. “It’s still early. The sun isn’t even up yet.”
She was draped over the island in the center of the kitchen, an unlit cigarette in one hand and a near empty bottle of wine in the other. Was I going to have to start taking this girl everywhere with me?
“I thought you were going out with Coby and Ky,” I said, using Jez as a way to avoid eye contact with Arys.
“I did. It was nice. Ky seems…strong. She’s handling it all pretty well. Restless though. She brought a deer down by herself in two minutes flat.” Jez tipped the bottle to her lips, draining the last few drops. With a frown, she deposited the empty on the counter, almost knocking it to the floor in the process. “I came home a couple hours ago and discovered the booze in your pantry. Since you can’t drink it, I thought, might as well.”
The scent of coffee both teased me and turned my stomach. Funny how that worked. I grabbed the mug Arys had set before Jez and thrust it in her face. “Here. Drink this. Sober up. I have some not so great news.”
She backed away so fast she lost her balance. Arys caught her before she could hit the floor, and she erupted into more giggles. What the hell was going on here? Since when had everyone around me lost their mind? Was crazy contagious? Because if it was, that would explain a lot. Not just the city, but the world in general.
“Doghead?” Arys asked, drawing my gaze to his.
I shook my head and guided Jez over to the table where she was less likely to take a spill. “Willow. He took me somewhere. He killed people and he enjoyed it.”
Now that I had Jez’s full, albeit impaired, attention, I told them what had happened in that industrial yard. They each listened attentively. The cigarette hung between Jez’s fingers like a deadly security blanket.
“It reminded me of something Hurst said,” I continued, perching on the arm of the couch. The open concept design allowed me to see them both from that position. “He warned me to beware the angel with black wings. I thought he’d meant Shya, but now I’m not so sure.”
“Oh, shit,” Jez blurted. Her humor had faded. “If Willow has gone full dark side, we are fucked.”
“He seemed pretty far gone to me. He’s still Willow, somewhere in there. But he’s a demon. That’s never changing.” My heart was heavy. I would never understand how something so horrible could happen to someone so genuine and compassionate.
Arys placed the mug of coffee on the table for Jez before coming to lay a hand on my shoulder. “You can’t blame yourself, Alexa. He made his choice. You didn’t do this to him.”
Staring at the floor was easier than looking up at Arys. The swirls in the laminate tiles were suddenly so interesting. “I know. But he did it for me. If I end up at the bottom of this rabbit hole of madness, I may never climb out. Then everything he did will have been for nothing. I can’t let that happen. He deserves better.”
Arys’s hand was warm on my shoulder. I wondered how he’d spent the rest of his evening. On second thought, no, I didn’t. I didn’t need to know.
“The city is being devoured.” With a pout, Jez sipped the coffee. “If darkness was a disease, it would be a full blown epidemic by now.”
“It is a disease,” I said, pondering Willow’s strange talk about the darkness drawing near to the light but never being able to touch it. “As long as we’re here, it has its limits. We won’t let it take us all. We can’t.”
I met and held Jez’s gaze, needing her to see my growing desperation. Ignoring the hard evidence was easy when it was me running amok. Watching those I loved crumble under the burden had been the wake up call I needed. Staring at Jez, one of the few people I trusted implicitly, I knew I could not let Willow’s fate become hers.
“The city is crawling with demons. Hurst could’ve meant anyone.” Even as Arys said it, his tone lacked conviction. He knew as well as I did that Willow was a force to be reckoned with now.
“So what do we do?” With a scowl at her mug, Jez rose to fetch some cream and sugar. She’d sobered quickly. “Wait for Willow to bring down hell on the city? And then what? It’s not like we can fight him.”
No, we couldn’t. A fight with Willow would end with only one victor, and it sure as hell wouldn’t be any of us.
“We need to be prepared. Just in case.” I risked a quick glance at Arys who stood painfully close. The heat from his hand crawled through me, igniting a spark between us. “Falon and I, there’s something we’ve been planning. If it works, it will get Shya off our backs. That’s why we’re going to his party. If it works on him, it should work on Willow, should it come to that. Though I hope to God it never does.”
“Falon?” Arys’s gentle touch became possessive. “How do you know you can trust him?”
“I don’t trust him. But he has his own reasons for wanting to be rid of Shya.” I recounted to them what Falon had told me when we were in FPA lockup. There was a spell, one
that could potentially trap Shya, binding him to an object. It wasn’t much, but it was all we had.
Arys trailed fingers down my arm until he grasped my hand. Kneeling on the floor beside me so we were almost face to face, he was pensive. “That sounds like a long shot. If you try something and it doesn’t work, Shya may forget that he promised you several lifetimes of suffering.”
The sight of his battered face was more than I could bear. However, along with the destruction of Arys’s gorgeous face had come the collapse of the walls I’d put between us. Even though I felt as if I were tripping over the pieces, there was a sense of freedom. Like the cage door had been opened, and all I had to do was step out.
I reached to touch a smear of purple outlining one of his eyes like a macabre half moon. From there I traced a line down his cheek and onto the black and blue bridge of his nose. His midnight blue gaze traveled over my face before searching my eyes.
“I think it’s a risk worth taking,” I said. “We could all do without Shya for a while.”
“Amen to that,” Jez piped up. “I’m not interested in being part of any demon’s collection. Veryl did a good job of keeping Shya’s identity hidden from us. I wish I knew why.”
I too had wondered the same thing. Veryl always had his reasons though, and they were usually valid. Though he’d forgiven me for killing him, I would always wish I could turn back time and undo that one horrible mistake.
“Veryl knew what he was doing, even if we didn’t. Now he’s gone, and there’s no middleman to keep Shya at bay. So we’ve got to do whatever it takes to protect ourselves from him and any other demon who brings trouble our way.” I melted like ice cream on a hot summer day when Arys brought my hand to his mouth. Heat crawled up my arm, coiling tight like a snake. I bit my lip, holding back a sigh.
Arys brushed his swollen bottom lip over my knuckles and murmured, “I go where you go, and I’ll always have your back no matter what you do. Just promise me you’ll think every step through before you make it. There’s no room for reckless decisions with Shya.”
I couldn’t be insulted though part of me prickled at his words. True, I had made my share of reckless decisions, and I doubted that I’d made my last. However, many of the choices I’d made under pressure had been for the best.
Before I could reply Jez broke in with a loud, tipsy drawl. “You guys finally screwed. I can smell the sex from here. I suppose that’s why you both look like you got your asses kicked. Must’ve finally worked out your shit. ’Bout fucking time.”
“Jez,” I admonished with a frown. Drunken leopards talked too damn much. Well, in Jez’s case drunkenness only increased the volume.
Arys laughed, low and smooth. “I’m not sure we’ve worked all of our shit out, but I think we’re getting there.”
“Well, I should hope so.” Jez stuck the cigarette between her lips and sidled over to the sliding patio door off the kitchen. “You both look like shit.” She disappeared outside to feed one of her addictions, leaving us alone.
Feeling awkward and overheated at our close proximity, I got up, and Arys rose with me.
“We are getting there, aren’t we?” Resting a hand on each of my hips, Arys searched me, seeking some assurance he needed to find. His gaze was intense, a silent declaration.
I waited for the war of emotions to battle inside me, but it didn’t happen. Perhaps I really had laid my demons to rest, so to speak. The need to touch him was undeniable. Now that his hands were on me, it was all I wanted. How could I possibly have wasted so much time avoiding this? Once was never enough.
“Arys, when I saw Willow tonight, it did something to me. It forced me to see what he gave up for me, for us, so that we could keep the balance of light and dark. It cost him everything.” Emotion thickened my voice, and I paused to gather myself. I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him close. “I can’t let that all be for nothing. And I can’t let it happen to us too.” Tears welled up, burning my eyes.
Arys’s arms went around me. Slowly but surely, I was starting to feel like everything was almost as it should be. Arys didn’t make empty promises or offer me false comfort of any kind. Yet inside me the twisted monster that was a swirl of vampire and werewolf coiled up like a happy cat, content.
Sliding a hand up into my hair, Arys claimed my lips in a kiss that set off sparks between us. The connection was so raw, so demanding. I’d hungered for this every night since we’d last united our power in full. Since the night I died.
“Like I said before,” he murmured against my lips. “I go where you go. We’re in this together. That will never change.”
No, it wouldn’t. Not until one of us died a true death, and then the other would likely follow. It wasn’t a trail of thought I wanted to go down, so I squashed it before it could take root in my mind.
“I’m afraid,” I heard myself confess. “There’s so much pressure, and the odds are stacked against us.”
“One battle at a time, my wolf.”
We were still standing there holding tight to one another when Jez came in. “Aww,” she gushed, heavy on the melodrama. “Aren’t you two so fucking cute? I could just barf.” She paused, held a hand to her mouth, and swallowed hard. “Actually, I might really barf. Don’t take it personally.”
She fled the room, taking the stairs two at a time. The slamming of the upstairs bathroom door followed.
“Sun’s coming up,” Arys observed with a glance toward the window. “I want to stay.”
I nodded, knowing this was it. No more running. The fear that kept me from Arys had been battled. And I had won.
“I want you to stay.” Because there was nothing I could add to that, I took his hand and led the way upstairs.
* * * *
After checking on Jez and putting her to bed, I joined Arys in my bedroom. Now that the high-strung emotions and adrenaline of our earlier encounter had long since faded, I was nervous about being alone with him. Though I was ready to move forward in our journey together, my calmer state brought me back to that place of trepidation.
I hadn’t realized how dysfunctional my relationship with Arys was until it had led to my death. Tonight had been healing for us both, therapeutic even, but pounding each other certainly didn’t make us healthy. Our relationship was a constant back and forth of predator and prey, victim and victimizer. Normal wasn’t a term that would ever be used to describe us. It shouldn’t have worried me, but since meeting Rachel and Ozzie, it did.
The en suite bathroom door was open, and the shower running. It was an invitation, one that I wanted to accept. Though I didn’t need the deep breaths I took, they made me feel better just the same.
I went to the window, cracking it open to let the early morning air in. The sky was a pale orange. The sun peeked over the horizon, illuminating the graveyard next door, making my eyes sting. I could just make out a few headstones from where I stood. After securing the blinds tight against the coming sun, I stared at the open bathroom door.
Before I could decide whether or not to join Arys, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number on the screen at first. Upon closer scrutiny I suspected it might be the number Agent Winston had given me.
“Hello?” My greeting was low and wary. Suspicious. Nobody from the FPA called me without an agenda.
“Ms. O’Brien? It’s Agent Winston. I hope this isn’t a bad time.” Her tone was pleasant and professional. The fact that she addressed me in a respectful manner got my attention. She was far nicer to me than Briggs, who always barked my last name at me like I was one of his underlings.
I closed the bedroom door and sat on the edge of the bed. “No, it’s fine. What can I do for you?”
“Right to the point.” She chuckled. “I like that. Well then, I won’t waste your time. I’d like to hire you. To find Agent Briggs of course. I believe you have abilities and resources that may be beneficial in the search for him. I’m prepared to be very flexible in negotiations. Name your price.”
My
jaw dropped, and I made a face of silent disbelief. The FPA had been trying to get me to work for them for months now. This wasn’t a huge surprise. Her willingness to bargain was. Briggs wasn’t big on bargaining or compromise.
There was only one thing I wanted from the FPA. One thing that, if they gave me, might just convince me to free Briggs once Shya was safely bound and out of the game for a while.
“My blood. The blood Briggs took from me without my permission when I was unconscious. I want it.” I gripped the phone tight in my hand, awaiting her response.
There was a pause that made me suspect she hadn’t anticipated such a request. “I wasn’t aware he’d taken any such thing from you. Though I certainly don’t want to make any false promises, I can assure you that I’ll look into it.”
Well, that was better than an outright refusal. I didn’t doubt that Briggs had taken my blood for his own personal use. The man was up to no good. Releasing him back into the FPA fold might not be such a good idea.
“Thank you,” I said, my gaze straying to the bathroom door. Steam rolled out, beckoning me. “I can’t imagine Briggs had good intentions when he swiped it from me.”
“Again I apologize for Briggs. He hasn’t been himself lately, or so I hear. However, we need him back.” Her tone was tight but still pleasant, a tad forced now.
Curious. I smirked to myself. “Why? Because he’s one of your men or because he’s a dreamwalker?”
Maggie Winston didn’t miss a beat. “You really are as audacious as they say, aren’t you? It’s a shame Briggs had to give you such a terrible impression of us. We’d have loved to have you among us.”
“So I’ve heard. But you got my sister, and that’ll have to be good enough. You seem like a nice enough person, Agent Winston, but I have no interest in being part of your organization.” I was starting to lose track of how many times I’d said as much. She wasn’t going to answer my question, though I hadn’t really expected her to.
