Maybe it would have been better if he had been able to smuggle in a weapon. Or if the magic would just let me die. Hours of this was going to feel like torture. Not to mention the level of grossness at having to stare at his leaking eye through the whole thing.
But then the air changed again—another rustling of fabric. This time, with a distinctive shuffling of feet. Lopez was grabbed from behind and thrown across the room like a weightless doll. He crashed into the far wall before slumping heavily to the floor. Dust and stone rained down around him.
Lopez groaned but didn’t try to get up.
Kristoff climbed slowly to his feet. “This is a private party,” Kristoff said through clenched teeth. “You weren’t invited.” Even without my heightened senses, I could smell the blood on him that hadn’t been there before. The stranger had hurt him—for me.
“Seems like the lady isn’t looking to party with you,” said a voice I’d never heard before. His words were calm enough, but there was an edge to his voice that made me stay where I was. Even if he was here to help me for some reason, every inch of him seemed ready and able to kill, magic or not.
Kristoff snorted. “She’s not a lady. She’s an agent. No, not even that. A cadet.” He spit the last word.
Shock rippled through me hard enough to make me forget to be insulted. How did he know all of that?
“Even so, she’s not here willingly. And you’re hurting her. You know the rules,” the stranger said.
“Who the hell are you to tell me the rules?” Kristoff demanded. He took a step toward the stranger, his shoulders hunching over as he moved.
My muscles tensed because I knew what that stance meant. Kristoff was on the verge of shifting into his hound.
In answer, I tried again to call up my own beast. Still nothing.
Dammit.
“Let’s just say I’m her guardian angel.” This time, there was a sardonic lilt to the words that made me even more curious about the identity of my rescuer.
“She owed me a debt,” Kristoff said. “This is none of your business.”
“The debt has been paid,” the stranger said. “You’ve overstepped. Now, I’ll collect the overages—in blood.”
Kristoff roared, his body curling into itself until he was forced onto all fours. By the time his palms landed on the floor, hair had sprouted up and down the length of his body. Fingers changed into paws while a snout replaced his nose.
Eyes, beady and black with irises full of hellfire, stared back at me.
Then they swung to the stranger, and the hellhound growled low.
The stranger looked up at me then over to where Lopez was just climbing to his feet. An unspoken question passed between us, and I felt the first stirrings of my fae strength begin to return. Relief surged through me followed quickly by grim determination. Lopez was going down.
“One for you, one for me?” I suggested.
The stranger didn’t respond before Kristoff leaped at him, sending both of them tumbling into the hall.
That settled that.
Lopez moved toward me, and I met him with a fist of my own. Stone scraped against stone as my half-shifted knuckles collided with his jaw, driving him backward.
Lopez straightened and stared at me in confusion. “What the…?”
“The face you see is mine but the fists…” I shook my head. “Looks like your boss’s cocktail has worn off. In my hands at least. How does it feel to get punched by your own knuckles?”
Lopez roared and charged.
We traded blows with me mostly dancing away from him until my shifting ability finally worked its way up to full strength again. When it finally did, I let it happen faster than my bones could keep up. The beast inside me roared and stone fists were replaced almost instantly by talons and claws. I dropped to all fours and drove my beak upward, using it to nip and stab at my opponent.
At the sight of a monstrous griffin before him, Lopez’s jaw dropped, and he faltered, hesitating when it mattered. I planted my weight forward, using my talons to brace myself as I swung out with my back paw. My lion’s claw caught his torso just below his heart, and I ripped him open with a jagged slash. Blood pooled and poured from the wound and Lopez toppled to his knees.
His shoulders sagged as he stared down at the hole I’d left in him.
For once, I was glad for the darkness. I didn’t want to see all the things leaking out of him just now.
“You can’t…kill me,” he managed, blood leaking from his mouth as he spoke the words. “The magic prevents death at the ball.”
I shifted back to my human form—complete with the red dress and blonde hair. “No, but I just made you wish you were dead.”
As if to punctate my words, Lopez’s legs gave out, and he fell flat.
I stood over him, grim with the carnage I’d caused. “I wouldn’t make any sudden movements if I were you.”
“Where are you…?” he began, but I was already out the door.
Out in the hall, Kristoff had shifted into full hellhound. His claws left a trail of blood as he stalked toward his prey who currently stood way too calmly near the mouth of the passage.
Instinctively, I headed for Kristoff, but when I got close enough to make out the stranger’s face, I stopped in surprise. Same black and white suit I’d seen earlier in the ballroom. Same blood red bow tie. Same mask covering his face. I’d seen him only for a second in the main ballroom but it was him. I was sure of it.
“You,” I said.
The masked man’s gaze jerked toward mine.
Kristoff did the same, his fiery eyes narrowing when he spotted me. He doubled back and abandoned any patience he’d had before.
This time, there was no slow stalking.
He ran straight toward me, his mouth open and teeth bared.
I threw my arms into the air as he leaped at me, concentrating hard on the change. Feathers sprouted instantly down the length of my arms. My talons jutted through the tips of my fingers just in time.
I managed to sink a talon into Kristoff’s throat, catching him and tossing him aside. We went down in a heap, rolling and biting at each other. My beast roared and squawked as I fought to shove the hellhound off me, but my shift was only half-complete. It was all I could do to keep the hound’s claws and teeth from ripping into my very human throat.
On top of me, Kristoff went stiff and let out a keening howl before jumping off me and whirling at something behind him. I sat up in time to see Kristoff running in circles, teeth nipping at the high heel protruding from his flank.
The masked man stood over me, offering a blood-coated hand.
My brows shot up in question.
He shrugged. “It worked for you.”
Without a word, I put my hand in his and let him pull me to my feet.
At the far end of the hall, Kristoff spun wildly in an attempt to pull the shoe out of his flesh. We had about two minutes before he managed it, and then I had a feeling round two was going to be hell.
“Are you all right?” the masked man asked.
“Who the hell are you?” I demanded.
He hesitated, and then said simply, “A friend.”
Not a good enough answer, but we’d circle back to that. “How did you find me down here?”
“The squawking,” he said simply.
My eyes narrowed at the laughter in his voice. Was he mocking me?
“Relax,” he said before I could unleash the torrent of curses already on the tip of my tongue. “The squawking saved your life. Here, I believe this is yours.”
He dropped something into my hand. It took me a moment to realize what it was. My comm unit.
I angled away and tucked it into the front of my dress again before turning back to him. Anxiety had wound its way through me, curling into a tight ball in the pit of my stomach. Every single one of them knew who and what I was. How in the hell was I going to fix this?
“He’s not going to stop, is he?” I asked.
“His bea
st has the scent of your blood. Once that happens…” He didn’t finish, but I already knew there was no stopping a hellhound with a vendetta.
“I can’t kill them,” I said quietly.
His ensuing silence spoke volumes.
My stomach knotted at the idea of Kristoff Rasmussen out for vengeance. I couldn’t afford to fail this mission, but I also couldn’t afford Kristoff to burn me, either. And considering how much he knew about me, I had no doubt he would come looking for me once the constraints of the ball’s magic no longer held him.
“How do I get around the magic preventing death?” I asked. Something told me if anyone knew the answer, it was this guy.
“You can’t. Not in the castle, anyway.”
I looked up at him sharply, studying the way his eyes seemed to fade right into the darkness of the space. Like he wasn’t even here at all. “And outside of the castle?”
His mouth tightened into a thin line, and I knew he was weighing whether or not to tell me.
“If I don’t kill him, he’ll kill me,” I said. “Tomorrow. Or next month. He’ll come for me, and you know it.”
“The magic applies to the castle grounds only,” he said finally.
“And off castle grounds?” I prompted impatiently.
He finally cut me a sideways look. “I have an idea,” he said. “You’ll have to trust me.”
Any sarcastic response I might have offered was cut short by the hellhound’s victory cry. Kristoff had finally torn the shoe free from his flesh and was now charging at us, fangs exposed and eyes full of flames.
I called my beast and planted my feet, prepared to fight.
At the last second, the masked man stepped in front of me. His hand shot out and smashed into Kristoff’s face. Bones snapped, and Kristoff yelped as he fell to the ground in front of me. The man reached down and wrapped his hand around Kristoff’s throat, squeezing hard enough that no sound came from the hound’s open mouth.
“No harm shall come to this girl,” the man said, his voice booming so loudly, I had to fight the urge to cover my ears. Every fae sense I had was tingling at the raw power rolling off him.
Kristoff shook and whimpered, and I suspected some weight had been added to whatever he was experiencing even beyond the power of the voice in my own ears. I waited for the hellhound to fight back—to at least try to break the man’s grip on his throat. But he only shuddered and shrank back as if hoping the floor would swallow him up.
I stared at the man crouched in front of me, suspicious and a little leery. Whatever he was, my fae senses couldn’t read him, and that meant he was something beyond my power. It should have made me pause or even change my mind about accepting his help, but I had no choice. Kristoff was deferring to this man for the moment, but nothing would stop him from hunting me later. Whoever this guy was, tonight he was going to help me kill Kristoff Rasmussen.
Chapter Six
Fog licked at my feet, wrapping everything in a blanket and leaving my skin slick with dew. Or maybe it was perspiration making me sticky and damp. I hadn’t counted on a workout tonight—but then I also hadn’t counted on having to commit murder either. Rodrigo would have to understand. I wasn’t going to let Kristoff go only to show up at my apartment later and catch me off guard.
This had to end now.
Beside me, the masked mystery man didn’t even sound winded. Despite the heavy load he carried in his arms, his steps remained light and silent. Then again, thanks to my new form, I wasn’t exactly straining under the weight of my load either.
My shifting ability was once again in full effect.
Good thing since we had to zigzag our way along, keeping to the outer edges to avoid being spotted by the guests that loitered out here. Not that any of them were doing much people watching. Most were too busy pawing at each other to notice us even without the fog obscuring the view.
I wondered what my new friend thought of all the public displays. Or what he was doing here at all. He didn’t seem like the type who enjoyed these things.
“Almost there,” mystery man said—all business, just like I’d pegged him.
I grunted a response, my voice low and deep thanks to the shift I’d made in order to handle the trek we were making. My doppelgänger, Lopez, who I’d slung over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes made a similar grunting noise—only his sounded a lot less coherent.
The back of my legs itched thanks to the blood running down them. I did my best not to think about the mess I’d made of Lopez’s innards or the trail of blood we’d probably left from that dark hallway to the moonlit lawn.
“Where are we going, anyway?” I asked. “Isn’t there more cover if we head for those trees?” I nodded toward the left, but he just shook his head.
“The property line ends just ahead. This is closer.”
“Where…? Oh.”
Just ahead, the grass turned to hard-packed clay and rock, and then the earth disappeared into thin air just past a sheer drop off.
Mystery man glanced toward the castle at our backs and then hurried to the cliff’s edge, Kristoff’s unconscious form hanging limp in his arms. When he was in position, he looked over at me. If he was put off by the fact that I looked like an exact copy of Limestone Lopez, he didn’t let on.
“You sure you want to do this?” he asked.
My eyes widened. “You’re getting cold feet now?”
“Of course not. I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing. There will be consequences for taking a life.” His expression clouded. “There always is.”
That might have been true, but the consequences for letting Kristoff live were just as bad. “I know what I’m doing.”
He nodded at Lopez dangling over my back. “Then you go first.”
I did a quick mental check. The data chip I’d come for was once again tucked safely inside the front of my dress. Right next to my comm unit. I didn’t even want to think about how crazy Rodrigo was going to be when I finally answered him on that thing. My purse was a lost cause but that was fine. There wasn’t anything identifying in it.
“Ready?” mystery man asked.
I adjusted my grip on Lopez. He’d lost enough blood and entrails at this point that he wasn’t even trying to fight me. Maybe it was because of that, but I hesitated.
“You don’t have to do this,” mystery man said quietly.
I bit my lip. “I know.”
Another moment of silence passed between us. We were running out of time. I knew it and still I couldn’t make myself finish it.
They weren’t fighting back anymore. Suddenly, it didn’t feel like self-defense. It felt like murder. Like—
“Set him on the ground.”
I looked up sharply and found mystery man’s eyes nearly black again, like they’d been earlier in the hall. Pure violence lived in that look, and I couldn’t help but shrinking back a little.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“What needs to be done.”
I didn’t ask what that meant.
Lowering Lopez to the ground, I tipped him forward until he landed in the grass in a heap. Blood coated his entire upper body, blotting out his face. I looked away, my stomach rolling.
The man dropped Kristoff unceremoniously next to Lopez. Then he turned to me. “I want you to turn around and walk back inside. When you get there, go straight to the bar. The one on the left. Find Imperia.”
I frowned. “Who’s Imperia?”
“The succubus. Tell her you want to order a nightcap. She’ll make sure you get home safely.”
“A nightcap? What does that mean?”
“Just do it.”
I exhaled slowly. “What will you do?”
His dark eyes held mine, and I felt his gaze all the way through my borrowed exterior and into my bones. The parts of me that were me—Gem—trembled at being so clearly seen even when I was wrapped inside someone or something else. Had anyone ever looked at me that way?
If they
had, I hadn’t looked like a ’roided out bodyguard at the time.
I wasn’t sure how that didn’t matter now, but it didn’t. This went beyond who I was on the outside. Somehow, he knew who I was on the inside. It was terrifying and amazing all at once.
My breath caught. “Listen, I—”
A hand closed over my ankle, yanking hard, and I barely swallowed the scream that rose up. My balance tilted, and the masked stranger’s hands closed over my arms, steadying me before I could fall.
Wrenching my leg out of reach, I looked down to find Lopez scrambling to his feet. The wound on his torso wasn’t gone, but it was definitely closing up. He was moving like a man who hadn’t been split open down the center.
“Shit,” I said, realizing way too late the prevention spell must have included a self-heal clause.
Beside Lopez, Kristoff’s hellhound was already awake and snapping his canines at mystery man.
I shifted back to my own form, using my newfound agility and speed to charge forward, hands outstretched. I hit Lopez just as he straightened to his full height, planting my palms on either side of the wound still stitching itself back together—and shoved as hard as I could.
Lopez grunted. His arms flailed as he tried to regain his balance. I kept shoving, taking one step, then another toward the cliff’s edge, driving him backward until there was nowhere left to go. Lopez’s eyes widened as he realized there was no ground to catch him if he fell.
At the last moment, his hand shot out and closed around Kristoff’s back paw. The hellhound was yanked backward—just out of reach of the mystery man’s fingers. Kristoff let out a howl that drowned out Lopez’s groan. I watched as both of them disappeared over the cliff’s edge.
Even after their voices had gone silent, I stared into the mist. Numbness snaked through me, rendering me still. I couldn’t seem to break free of the horrific replay going on in my mind. I’d never killed before, but my own lack of sensation or guilt over it scared me.
I should feel bad. Or at least—
The Monster Ball: A Paranormal Romance Anthology Page 18
