Two
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Samkiel
“D ianna.” Her name left my lips on a whisper, and I damn near
crushed the tablet. She stood and walked around the desk. I took a
large step toward her and engulfed her in my arms. Her body pressed flush against mine, and I nearly wept. Her warmth seeped through my clothes, the part of me that belonged to her screaming awake. I had missed her so damned much. She was here, whole and well. I could touch her, feel her. I lowered my lips to brush against hers, needing that connection, but she turned her head away. Then I realized I did not feel her arms around me. Her hands gripped my arms, and she pushed me back,
forcing me to let her go.
“This is expensive. Do you mind?”
My heart lurched as she stepped back, adjusting the open suit jacket that clung to her. She ran her hands over her top as if brushing away the feel of me.
“I have been looking for you. Where have you been? It’s been weeks.
Two, to be exact.”
She half turned, brushing a stray hair from her face. “You counted?”
“I count every second you’re gone.”
A soft chuckle left her lips, her brows ticking up as she trailed her fingers over the desk, rearranging some of the pens. “Coming on a bit strong, aren’t you?”
My heart stilled as another part of me suddenly set up on high alert.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing, actually.” She paused as if thinking. “Oh, you mean since my whole freak out?” She waved the pen in the air before tapping it against her
palm. “I’ll admit that was a bit dramatic. Sorry about your building, but you fixed it, so that’s good.”
I shook my head. “I don’t care about the building. You left after—”
“Oh, that.” She shrugged. “Yeah, well, I have a lot to do and needed to clear my head, you know?”
“Dianna.” Her name left my lips in an anguished plea. I had felt her pain, remembered it, and now she sought to bury it.
“Oh, don’t make that face. I’m fine.” She winked at me, extending her small finger and waving it in the air. “Pinky promise.”
“Have I done something to wrong you?” I asked, my chest tightening.
She was acting so dismissively.
“Wrong me?” She stifled a laugh. “Gods, I forget how ancient you are sometimes. What does that even mean?”
“I’m just trying to understand where you are coming from.”
She twirled the pen between her fingers. “Which parts?”
“Us.”
She snorted. “Us? There is no us.” She waved her hand, her palm facing me. “The mark is gone. We don’t work together anymore. Remember?”
“Is that all I was to you? Work?”
“Listen, it was fun. We messed around, but it doesn’t have to be a thing.
You know, I thought, given your history, you would understand?”
“My history?”
“You’ve had flings before. Remember? I’ve seen them.” She tapped a finger against her temple, smiling slightly.
Blood thrummed in my ears, my heart pounding tenfold. This was wrong. She was… lying. This wasn’t her. I knew it. I knew what we had, what we had both felt. The ache in my heart turned to blistering resolve. I had trained warriors to lock their emotions down and shut them off to prepare for battles that could cost them their very lives. That was what Dianna was doing, trying desperately to shove me away to prepare for war.
Her war.
I folded my arms over my chest. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I know you. I know you’ll worry and get in the way, but I’m really fine. I just have to kill a few people.” She paused, a playful grin widening. “Or a few hundred.”
I took a step toward her, closing the space between us. “You know I will not let that happen.”
Dianna kept fiddling with the pen. “I know.” She took a step closer to me, her hands caressing my chest. I flinched as she nipped my chin, her lips curving in a smile. “That’s why I am here to warn you.”
The corner of my lips ticked up in a half grin. “Warn me? Dianna, are we back to threatening each other after everything?”
“It’s not a threat so much as a promise. So, you stay out of my way, I stay out of yours, and everyone goes home happy.”
“A promise? You can’t hurt me. You know this.”
That was a lie. Her words had done nothing but rip me to shreds, one after the other. I felt gutted by the way she looked at me, as if not an ounce of her cared. That was pain.
She spun away from me, dragging the pen across the edge of the long desk.
“I like the cleanup you all are doing, by the way.” She flashed another smile over her shoulder. This time, I noticed it didn’t reach her eyes. It was a faded shadow of her true smile, and I ached to see it again. “Do you ever tire of looking so pretty in front of all those cameras? I mean, I like the new
hair. So dashing.”
“Dianna.”
“Also, going back to Samkiel, huh? Giving up on the whole Liam thing? Makes sense, I guess. Eventually, we get tired of pretending to be something we aren’t. I mean, I did.” She flipped through a few pages on the
desk.
“Dianna.”
“Also, you won’t find them with research. They are probably gathered in their estates, hiding like cowards.”
I reached out and grabbed her arm, turning her toward me. “Listen, I know you are hurting, regardless of what you say. Let me help you.”
“I just told you how.”
“That’s not…” My words trailed off, the rational part of my brain taking over. The shock of seeing her had eased, and I finally registered the heavy scent emanating from her. My stomach turned. “Why do you smell of
mortal blood?”
Her smile was downright venomous.
One second, I was in front of her. The next, she had flipped me onto the desk, my back hitting hard enough that the wood groaned and cracked from the force of the impact.
Dianna gripped my throat and leaned over me. I tried to sit up, but she held me with surprising ease. Shock was an understatement. Even when Dianna and I had trained, she had never been stronger than me or able to pin and hold me down. She had been feeding on mortals and a lot of them.
“Let’s get one thing straight. I know you. You’re nice and good and all those things we are not. You will want to help me, but there is no help. The only thing you can do for me is to stay out of my way. I came here to ask nicely. I will not ask again. You get in my way, and you will pay in blood just like them, just like him. So how about you turn a blind eye like you did a thousand years ago, huh?”
“You know I do not respond well to threats.” My hand clasped her slender wrist, but I didn’t try to pull her grip from my throat. I could feign submission if I must. I would let her think she had the upper hand as long as it kept her talking.
“Fine. Just remember you may be immortal, but your friends, family, and those who look up to you,” she clicked her tongue, “aren’t. So how many do you want to lose because you won’t let me do what I need to?”
The pieces clicked together in my head, and a dark picture formed.
“You mean to slaughter all those responsible for her death?”
That was her plan? I remembered the cry, the scream when her sister died. It had been the center of my nightmares for weeks. I could still feel the pain of my body flying through walls, windows, and metal from the force of it. This wasn’t her. This emotionless empty shell was not my Dianna.
“This isn’t you, Dianna. No matter what, you’d never speak to me this way. Threaten me.”
She laughed and let go. “You really take this whole hero thing to heart, huh? Is this the part where you tell me you know the real me? Please, I’ll barf my entire lunch up.”
I rubbed at my throat, easing the slight ache, and pushed to my feet in one smooth motion. The desk beneath me groaned, the crack between us growing.
“I looked for her, for Gabby, and searched for you the second you left.”
Dianna paused, her false smile dropping, something festering behind her eyes. Whatever pseudo persona she wore fractured at my words. I saw the flicker of life behind those crimson eyes.
“I couldn’t find her, but I tried. I assumed you had, but your face tells me otherwise.”
She said nothing and only stared at me. So I reached out, clasping her hands in mine. Her gaze fell, looking at them, but she didn’t move, didn’t flinch from me as she had before.
“I know you’re in pain, Dianna. No matter what you say or throw at me, I know where this comes from. I’ve been there. You also know that. You are hurting and alone, and I… just let me help you. Please. This isn’t you.”
Her eyes snapped up, our gazes clashing as she ripped her hands from mine. I knew what I’d said had hit a nerve that rattled her in some form.
“It is now.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t believe you and never will. You showed me who you were months ago. I remember every second of every day. You helped me and cared for me when you didn’t have to. You risked your life for everyone. I may wear armor to war, but this is your version. You’re locking everything away to protect yourself, suppressing it, but I know without a doubt that my Dianna is still in there.”
The door opened. “I managed to address your recent concern…”
Gregory’s words died as he glanced at me and then at Dianna.
One second, that was all it took. Dianna reached behind me, swiped a small object off the desk, and tossed it through the air. It flew at lightning speed, and I heard the sound as it hit its mark. My heart clenched as a thud followed, and Gregory hit the floor face-first with the pen sticking through the back of his skull. The blue light emerged from his body and hovered around him for a second before shooting through the ceiling.
“Believe me now?”
I said nothing. How could I? I’d barely processed the last few minutes, and now Dianna had slaughtered a celestial in front of me as if it meant nothing.
“There’s one dead body. You get in my way, and I have no problem adding another. I will have my vengeance. They knew the price of touching her, and if you get in my way, you will too. Turn a blind eye, Samkiel. This isn’t about you.”
An alarm blared, the power flicked off, and a swirl of silver beams lit up the area by the door. Smoke filtered into the room, laced with a chemical to make Otherworld creatures quake. It was a new defense mechanism Vincent
had installed after her last rampage through the guild, but it was already too late.
Dianna glanced toward the flickering lights, then back to me. “When I burn this world to embers, and you paint me as the villain, remember, I really did try to be good… once.”
Her form shifted, the dark mist engulfing her until I was alone in the room.
And the simple truth was I was terrified on so many levels I didn’t know where to start.
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