She took one sip and gagged. “Oh, fuck, it tastes like I imagine piss would taste.”
“Hold your nose.”
“Isn’t there anything else you could put it in that would make it taste better?”
“It reacts strangely with other liquids. You could put a few drops on your tongue but believe me, that would be infinitely worse. And I have a high pain tolerance.”
“So you did that once?”
“I thought a hole would burn through my tongue.” I nodded to the bottle. “Drink, and we’ll leave.”
She held her nose as I’d suggested and drank quickly. “Oh, gross, oh, gross.” She stuck her tongue out, waving her hands around. “Don’t ever make me do that again.”
“I make no promises. Now, if my relatives are somewhere in the city, they won’t be able to scent you.” I expected her to wipe nonexistent sweat from her forehead, relieved.
Instead, her face fell. “I hope I didn’t get them into deep shit with Lucian.”
I couldn’t hide my distaste. “Knowing what they did? You still care whether you caused trouble for them?”
“It’s hard to explain. It doesn’t even make sense to me, so I can’t imagine how it would to you.”
No. I understood. I didn’t have to like it, but I understood.
Magda had confirmed what Dominic told us when I’d gone to her after the utter failure at the cabin a decade earlier. He hadn’t lied, hadn’t made up a supposed connection to force us into going to the woods to retrieve the girl who would come to mean our very lives.
Nobody could ever accuse me of being good at sharing, though. The fact that she still thought of my brother and the others set my teeth on edge.
She walked through the door I held open for her and waited for me to lock the door behind me. “You use actual locks?”
“There isn’t much I can do if someone tries to break in when I’m not here. Vampires can’t cast no-entry spells and what have you.” I pocketed the keys, careful not to look at her so she might avoid noticing what had to be disgust and jealousy on my face.
Yes. Dominic and Kristoff were meant to be hers, just as I was. Did that mean they should be so easily forgiven? Here I was, banished from my family for speaking out against what I felt would hurt Sophie, and I still caught the sense of her not trusting me fully.
My family had slaughtered her parents and she was concerned for them.
“It’s not like I forgive them or anything.” She sounded sullen, like she resented having to defend herself. It would be out of character for her to behave in any other way. “I hate them for what they did. I can’t wait to make their lives miserable over it. I don’t know how, but I will. Still, Lucian’s no joke. And no matter how much I hate them for… what they did… no matter how many different angles I look at it from, I can’t believe they had anything but what they thought was best for me in mind when they took me to Lucian’s. There were lycans or whoever after me. They wanted to keep me safe.”
“I’m sure they did.” I stared at my reflection in the mirrored walls of the elevator car. I looked bored. It could’ve been worse.
“Hey.” She stepped between me and my reflection. “It’s the truth. Just like I know you don’t want to hurt me. I can feel it in you, too.”
She reached up, placing her hand on my chest.
“I wish you wouldn’t do that.” I covered her hand with mine.
Her green eyes were luminous. “What? Touch you?”
I nodded when the lump in my throat made it impossible to speak. Not in two centuries had anyone touched my body and somehow reached what was left of my soul.
The elevator was close to the ground floor. There was so little time.
I held her face in my hands. Her lips parted like she was ready for a kiss. “You deserve to know something before we meet with Magda.”
“Something else?” she groaned.
“It’s not what you think.” I pressed my lips to her forehead, whispered against her skin. “I love you. You own me, heart and soul. Whatever is left of the man I once was is yours, and everything I am now belongs to you forever.”
“Gabriel?” When I pulled back, her eyes darted over my face. Her brow furrowed, her breath came short and fast.
The doors opened.
I smelled him before I saw them. The odor of a wet, filthy dog.
The biggest lycan I’d ever seen stood outside the elevator. “Hello, hello. What have we here?”
Thirteen
DOMINIC
“Stand behind me.” I positioned myself in front of Poppy, facing the door. It burst inward a moment later, revealing three lycans in their human form.
Nobody could’ve mistaken them for normal humans. They were wide enough that walking through the door frame meant turning partway to the side, and noticeably hairy even as men.
“No wonder it stinks so badly in here.” Jessa snickered at the three of them. “When was the last time any of you took a shower?”
“Silence, bloodsucker bitch.” The one in the lead looked around. “Where is she?”
“Who?” I asked.
“Quit playing. You know why we’re here and who we’re here for.” He advanced on me, his friends behind him. The apartment was small enough that he could cross the room in two strides. “I know it isn’t the little morsel behind you. Where is she?”
Poppy spoke up behind me. “I’m the one who came here and turned on the light so you would see it.”
“No,” I spat, but it was no use. She slid out from behind me, leaving her foolish self exposed.
“Don’t do this,” Kristoff grunted. “Back away.”
She ignored him in favor of glaring at the lycans before us. “What are you going to do about it?”
The leader snarled, showing his unnaturally long teeth. He was the biggest of the three, the hair growing profusely over his body an inky shade of black. “You aren’t who we’re looking for. Consider yourself lucky and get out of here.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Poppy.” I out, shoving her slightly. “Go, damn it.”
She shook her head. I had to wonder if she and Sophie were biologically related, both of them so blindingly stubborn. “No. Not until I know why these three invaded my friend’s apartment. Why do they keep coming back here and tripping the alarm I set?”
Amazing, really. All three of them, eyes widening in unison. Creatures such as them weren’t accustomed to being surprised, to being bested. Especially not by…
Someone who wasn’t human. It had all happened so fast, I’d already forgotten what Jessa was saying when the lycans pounded up the stairs.
She wasn’t human, this Poppy.
So what was she?
“You set an alarm?” The ashy-haired, tattooed lycan closest to the door snickered. “How would you do that?”
“We never noticed any alarms.” The leader folded his arms, both of which were roughly the size of my thighs.
“What good would it do if you had known you set it off? You wouldn’t have come back.” Poppy shook her head with a mournful look. “Come on. Give me some credit.”
Who was this girl?
“You know, I don’t have time for this.” No sooner had the words left the leader’s mouth than he was already mid-lunge, throwing himself at Poppy, prepared to shift and tear her limb from limb. We might as well have not been there.
She had insulted him, and in his eyes she was nothing more than a human girl. His pride demanded satisfaction.
Jessabelle moved quickly, as we all could. I barely made out the sight of her reaching into her pocket, withdrawing a small bottle and moving her arm in a slashing motion.
I smelled it before I saw the droplets hitting the lycan’s skin, sizzling.
Wolfsbane.
Where in hell had she found wolfsbane?
It wasn’t meant to be used that way. Not directly against the skin, not full-strength. Hair and skin burned, filling the air with an acrid stench.
; The lycan howled in his human voice, now unable to shift no matter how he struggled. The potion had absorbed as it was meant to, and it had rendered him powerless.
He dropped to one knee in front of Poppy, winded and still fighting what had been done to him. Wrestling with the inability to shift. To avenge his pride.
“You stupid, pathetic thing.” Poppy reached into her pocket.
Withdrew the gun.
Flipped off the safety.
And put a bullet between the lycan’s eyes.
Even Jessa squealed, jumping back a step. Kristoff gasped. I gaped in shock.
The other lycans moved to the door, prepared to flee. Poppy’s head snapped up in time with the gun. One, two, she dropped them without blinking an eye.
I spoke first. “Silver bullets.”
“Of course. Nothing else would work.” She pocketed the gun again. “Well, Sophie always did hate this place. It’s not like she ever would’ve come back here, anyway.”
It wasn’t until Poppy was in the middle of stepping over the leader’s dead body that I grabbed her by the arm, holding her in place. “Explain what just happened. Now. Who are you? Why did you know to do that?”
“I’m a witch, you idiot.” She shook me off with surprising strength. “Cloaked all this time to avoid being noticed. Sent to Sophie by Magda to protect her from you assholes—and herself.”
* * *
JESSABELLE
Damn. She was, in the parlance of the times, a badass.
The sight of Dominic’s jaw nearly hitting the floor was a thing of beauty. Kristoff was stunned, too, but he wasn’t half the bossy know-it-all our cousin was.
I snapped my fingers. “That’s it. A witch. No wonder I couldn’t get inside your head. You shielded yourself.”
She smirked at me over her shoulder. “You were tough to hold off, though. Don’t feel down about it.”
“You’re a witch?” Kristoff stepped forward. “Does Sophie know?”
“Of course she doesn’t.” Poppy looked at the floor, at the bodies. “I think we should get out of here. I didn’t want to have to do this in the apartment. Her uncle will find out, and there’s no way for him to get in touch with her if she’s missing.”
The men exchanged a look. “Leave it to us,” Kristoff muttered before heading downstairs.
“What will they do?” Poppy asked me when Dominic followed my brother.
“If anyone called the police, those two will turn them away. Meanwhile…” I studied the bodies. “I suppose someone will come for them and dispose of what’s left. No doubt they’ll take this as a message.”
She barked out a laugh. “Let them. Let them know what they’re dealing with.”
“I’m not even entirely sure what we’re dealing with,” I admitted. “You’re a witch. Naturally, Sophie has no idea. She would never have accepted the reality of it.”
“No. She wouldn’t.” Our eyes met. “And if you’re wondering whether I was pretending to be her friend for the sake of my mission, the answer is no. At first, yeah, but it’s been years since then.”
“You’ve been pretending to be nothing more than a human for years? All because of her?”
“All because it’s what I was told to do. It’s not like Magda didn’t take care of me.” She went to the window and looked out over the street. “The cops are pulling up. I hope your guys know their stuff.”
“They do.” I still couldn’t get a handle on her. “Do you ever use your powers?”
She didn’t answer so easily this time. “I can’t. When Magda assigned me, she cast a spell to cloak my abilities. So no other supernaturals would pick up on my presence. We couldn’t risk anyone noticing me, then noticing Sophie with me. I had to look completely normal. A trust fund baby with a loft who likes to paint.”
She snickered. “Good thing I like to paint.”
My heart hadn’t gone out to anyone in years.
Most recently, to Sophie. The night her parents died.
The night Dominic killed them while I stood outside, useless. I might as well have slit their throats for all the good I did them.
Admitting the guilt even to myself was unpleasant. Something I’d tried to avoid for years, refusing to return to that terrible mistake.
Now, here was a witch without her powers. Who’d sacrificed for years to protect someone not even of her species. “You’ve lived so far below what you’re capable of,” I murmured in sympathy.
Rather than agreeing and being glad someone understood, she scoffed. “I don’t see it that way. I did my part to protect our kind. All of us. You, them.” She nudged one of the dead lycans with her foot. “Fae, witches, mages. All of us. She is the key. Magda says so, and she’s never wrong.”
There was a catch in her throat. “And Sophie is amazing, and I love her, and I’d kill anybody who threatened her.”
“I hope you have time on your hands, since there’s quite a line growing.”
She nodded slowly. “There are three fewer now.”
What was this feeling growing in my chest? Admiration? I hadn’t admired anyone in… what felt like forever. She was tough and committed. She’d made a difference by taking bold action.
When was the last time I’d done anything on my own? Without being told where to be, what to do? When had I taken charge of a situation?
“By the way, great move with the wolfsbane.” She grinned. “Very quick thinking. If it wasn’t for that, he would’ve torn me apart before I had time to reach for the gun. I figured they’d want to know about the alarm I set before they decided to attack.”
“What about that? If you don’t have use of your powers, how did you manage that?”
“Pretty easy.” She stepped out in the hallway and bent to take something from the outer door frame, in the hall. It was a piece of thread tied around a tack. “I’ve been pretending I was coming over to check on the apartment, but really I was checking on the thread I strung in front of the door at ankle level, where they wouldn’t see it. When I found the string broken yesterday, I knew somebody had come in. I strung up a fresh piece after that, and here we are again.”
Was it wrong to laugh?
Since when did I care abut an appropriate reaction?
Surrounded by dead lycans, all I could do was laugh. “Can you imagine the looks on their faces if you had explained that?”
Poppy’s face went slack—then, she burst out laughing. “Even more surprised than they were when they saw the gun!”
“I’m glad you two are enjoying yourselves.” Dominic was scowling when he walked in. “What’s so funny?”
Nothing, really.
I had finally found someone worthy of my admiration and wanted to be more like her—assertive, dangerous, no-nonsense. There was nothing funny about that.
“So, what’s next?” Poppy looked at the three of us in turn. “We leave these losers here, let their buddies find them, and… what? What happens?”
“If we hadn’t seen you on your way in here, I would’ve taken them to see Magda. That was where I planned to go next.” Dominic lifted a shoulder. “Unless you, in all your gun-toting wisdom, have a better idea.”
“Why would you need Magda?” Poppy took a step back, shaking her head. “Damn it. I never thought. There was no time. Why are you here at all? Where’s Sophie? Why would you dare go to Magda unless there was something wrong with Sophie?”
I shot the men a look, signaling them to keep their mouths shut. They had ruined enough, the two of them. “Come on. I’ll tell you about it on the way.”
Enough of letting them dictate everything. It was time for me to do more than look good and make sarcastic comments.
Not that I would stop doing either of those things.
Fourteen
SOPHIE
I spun around when I heard the gravelly voice. The man literally sounded like he had rocks in his throat.
And when I took a look at him, I saw what looked like boulders under his clothes. Only they weren
’t boulders. They were muscles. Lots and lots of them.
And hair. Tons of it.
Lycan. My instincts screamed to get away, to run, to fight for my life.
There was another problem brewing, though. A more pressing one that had started bubbling before the elevator doors opened.
It started in my stomach.
And I couldn’t hold it back.
I doubled over just before a rush of water came pouring out of my mouth, up from my stomach. The entire bottle’s worth, all over the werewolf’s pants and shoes.
“What the fuck?” He jumped back, making noises of disgust, and slipped in what had already puddled around him. The sound of his head cracking against the marble floor rang out through the big, mostly empty lobby.
Gabriel grabbed my hand and pulled me from the elevator car. We bolted for the revolving door in front and pushed our way through, then ran for the park across the street. It was early enough that there weren’t many cars or pedestrians on the street. Nobody to get in our way.
“Can you magic us someplace?” I looked over my shoulder, still running down the wide path cutting diagonally through Rittenhouse Square. There wasn’t a lumbering, snarling lycan stumbling around out there, so that was a good sign.
“Watch what you’re saying.” Gabriel grabbed my wrist, yanking me off the path and into a cluster of trees. “Shh. Stay still.” He watched the apartment building while I watched him. His tight jaw, his narrowed eyes. He was a dangerous guy.
And he loved me. He’d told me so.
What the hell was I supposed to do with that?
“Are we clear?” I whispered after a few minutes.
“We might be.” He looked at me for the first time since we’d hidden. “Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“For throwing up when I told you how I feel.”
I touched my forehead to his shoulder. “Gabriel. The scent blocker made me sick. It didn’t react well in my stomach, is all. It wasn’t you.”
I winced. “And now I feel like the world’s biggest ass.”
“You aren’t.” I ran a hand over his head. “You really aren’t. And I’m sure if we weren’t in the lobby of your building and in front of the people working there, you would’ve killed that bastard.”
Bad Blood Page 9
