Eight
OceanofPDF.com
Dianna. One Month Later.
M y thumb ran over the cold metal of the lock as it solidified in my
hand. I glanced up as another row of chains scraped across the
wood. The door bulged, loud thumps coming from the other side. I snapped the lock closed, wiped my hands on my pants, and turned away, heading down the hall. The murmurs behind the door grew quiet as I rounded the corner.
“You’re running out of time.” Gabby’s voice filtered through the living room.
I reached down and grabbed a brush from the rectangular bin on the floor. I dipped it into the paint before stepping up next to her.
“What?” I asked, sliding the brush against the wall, the thick white coat erasing the thin, torn wallpaper.
This house was older and definitely needed work, but it was ours. Our first real place since Eoria, and the first thing I spent money on after killing a syndicate Kaden needed gone.
“We don’t have long left to decorate.” She glanced at me with streaks of white paint on her face, hands, and clothes. She lowered her brush and smiled at me, her loose pigtails dancing around her shoulders, pieces of hair sticking out around the edge of her face. “You know those months when Onuna is farthest from the sun? It’s always been my favorite. I love the Celebration of the Fall.”
I snorted, rolling my eyes as I leaned down to add paint to my brush. We had already replaced the flooring and kitchen. Now, the last task was to paint the walls. The living room was the largest and the room we’d saved for last. “You would like the bitter cold.”
“Not just the cold, but I love the lights and the music.”
“Mm-hmm and it has nothing to do with the gifts?” I looked at her, raising a single brow.
Her grin reached her eyes as she shook her head, shrugging. “Okay, fine, I mean, I like that too, but it’s just the months of happiness for me.”
I bumped my shoulder against hers. “I know, I know. You know I just like giving you a hard time.”
She reached down and grabbed the paintbrush, preparing to paint the other end of the wall. “I can’t believe it. After this, we will be done. I feel like we have been working on this house forever, but at least it’s ours. Our first real home since… everything.” She shrugged, her eyes darting away.
“It’s ours.” I smiled back. “And I will make sure no one finds it or can take it away.”
She smiled, setting her brush down as I did mine. She placed her hands on her hips, staring at the part of the wall we had completed. I leaned closer to her and reached out to trace the letters into the wet paint.
“What are you doing?” Gabby asked.
“Making it ours.”
When I finished, I stepped back, the letters QRMA written on the wall.
Gabby smiled and stared at the first letters of hers, our parents, and my names.
“I think Mom and Dad would like it here too. Especially given the seasons.”
“And the celebration you like so much,” I teased.
She laughed, going back to the wall with her brush. “Yes, that too. We should decorate this year. If you are around.”
“I’ll be around. I want to spend time with you before you go to university.”
She was quiet for a moment. “But only If Kaden allows it.”
I huffed. “Well, if Kaden says no, I’ll just sneak away. You know I am good at escaping.” I winked, trying to make her smile once more. She was not a fan of my current terms, but we were here, alive and whole. That was
all that mattered to me.
“I guess.”
“Hey, you know I’d do anything for you.” I stepped closer, forcing her to look at me. This time, her smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“I know. Now get back to work because I am not finishing this by myself, slacker,” she said, trying to swat me with her brush.
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Pathetic attempt, Gabs. You gotta do better.”
She stuck her tongue out at me, and I grinned. “We need more paint.
Wait here.” In the kitchen, I grabbed several cans from the stack. She had overbought again. I laughed and headed back to the living room. “Did you really think we needed twenty of these, Gabs?” A small hum came from behind me, and I paused, my grip tightening on the can I held. I slowly turned. The front door rattled, the knob vibrated, and a red light shone from around the edges. It flooded underneath the door, the tendrils slithering toward me, illuminating the room.
I dropped the can of paint, the lid popping off and skidding across the floor. I backed up as the light grew and the door shook.
“Beware the blood-red moon.”
“What?” I spun to face a dull, fractured version of my sister. She stared back at me, a faded shadow of her former self. Her pale, lifeless eyes looked through me. A thick band of bruises formed on her neck, and the sound of that horrible crack flooded my ears once more.
She looked at me again, her skin gray and sickly. My chest heaved as she stepped forward. The house shook, a crack forming on the ceiling, and debris raining around her. She lurched forward and grabbed my shoulders.
I opened my eyes and sat up. Gabby’s voice echoed in my ears, but she no longer haunted me. Sunlight drifted through the open curtains, revealing the high-end hotel suite.
A warm body nestled against my naked side, reminding me why I was here. I sat up and stretched. The arm around me fell to the floor with a soft thud, no longer attached to the guy who had taken me back to his lovely room. I turned to look at the mess on the bed.
Webster Malone was one of Kaden’s lackeys. Now he was an arms dealer with no arms. Webster wasn’t terrible to look at, handsome until I had gotten ahold of him. He had blonde hair, his green eyes staring off to some far-away place. Just like hers had.
I wanted to cry, to scream, to do something, but nothing came. I felt it in those rare moments when I would sleep. The pain would clench my chest, the force of it raging up my throat, but then it would just stop. I hadn’t cried or shed a single tear since the accident. I felt numb. Maybe I was broken.
A shimmering emerald green light manifested in the room.
“You are being careless.”
I half turned, seeing the hollow image of Camilla standing near the bed.
She glanced at the wreckage and body parts all over the room. All of them had aligned themselves with Malone. That had been a mistake.
“I don’t care.”
I threw the sheet to the side and stood. Camilla’s eyes darted away, and she sighed. “You should. Leaving a trail when you want us to stay off the grid will only make Samkiel find you faster.”
I wiped the side of my face with the back of my hand. “I know. That’s why I am leaving him a little present this time.”
I staggered, passing through the hollow image she projected.
“Is this retaliation for the worldwide curfew?”
I smiled wickedly. “Maybe.”
Camilla sighed. “I swear, this is just another prolonged version of flirting for you two.”
“I am not flirting.” I glared at her, a low growl emitting from my throat.
“This will be a clear sign to him that the girl he is looking for is long gone.”
“A clear sign to who?”
I ignored her but stopped when she snapped her fingers, and the large screen on the wall flicked on. It was muted, but the banner at the bottom flashed the highlights of the current news. Even as far away as Camilla was, she could still wield power here. I never understood why Kaden chose Santiago over her when she was clearly more powerful. His loss, my gain.
Camilla pointed at the screen. “You kill, and he hunts you. Dianna, he shut the world down looking for you. No one is allowed out past nightfall.
Every place he thinks you might be is being watched. He is looking for any sign of you, and this,” she waved to the room, “is a fucking beacon, Dianna.”
“Don’t tell me you’re scared.” I scoffed.
Camilla shook her head. “No, but I can’t cover this up, look for the others, and hide a temple in the middle of Eoria.”
I waved a hand at her and headed toward the shower. “I don’t want you
to clean this up.”
“Why?”
I paused, one hand on the doorframe as I turned toward her with a half- smile playing on my lips. “I told you. I want to send a message.”
“Well, this is one way to do it. I think they will get the message.” She swallowed, trying to avoid looking at the gore-filled room.
“While you’re here, can you magic me some new clothes without all the blood? Thanks.”
I didn’t wait for her to answer before stepping into the bathroom.
Camilla wasn’t wrong. Samkiel shutting the world down put a damper on how quickly everyone moved. Finding even one of Kaden’s informants had been a struggle, and this shutdown only made things more challenging.
Who knew kidnapping a witch, slaughtering a coven, and destroying a vampire line would put Samkiel on such high alert?
I turned on the shower, and waited until steam rose before getting in.
The water slid across my skin, but I didn’t feel a flicker of the heat. It wasn’t hot enough. It never was. I couldn’t feel anything. Not the water against my skin nor the lips, teeth, or hands that had touched me last night. I felt nothing but that now familiar painful emptiness. A void had ripped open the second she died, and I didn’t know how to heal it. I thought about it as I grabbed the soft sponge and scrubbed at my flesh, unsure if I wanted to go back to feeling. My skin gleamed clean, slick, and unmarred. The only wounds I carried were within me.
I stepped out of the shower, steam curling and playing around my body.
I slipped the robe off the back of the door and stepped in front of the mirror.
My hand swiped across the cool glass, the haze melting beneath my touch.
The reflection that stared back was me, but not quite me. My skin glowed, my eyes were brighter, and my features sharper and more enticing. An alluring, captivating creature stared back at me, a perk of being what I was
always meant to be.
A predator. A monster.
I spun away, heading back into the main room. Camilla’s astral self remained. She bit at her nail, watching whatever played on the screen. I walked around the room, moving past the plush couches and chairs, looking for the briefcase I had spotted last night. A small smile curved my lips when I spotted the case tucked into the corner. I grabbed it and dumped the files and two guns onto the table.
Camilla’s form appeared next to the table. “Is that what I think it is?”
I nodded and scanned a couple of pages. “Come on, Webster. Where is the shipment?” I’d tasted it last night, a flash of memory when I had fed. I’d seen some underground places, a few ships near a dock, and a meeting
room of some sort. The vision had been fuzzy, which was new for me, but I remembered him sitting around a table. Maybe Kaden suspected some of his men might be on my hit list, and he had found a way to block even my blooddreams. I wouldn’t be surprised.
A word stuck out to me on the receipts. “Iron?”
Camilla leaned closer. “Why iron?”
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out,” I said, lowering the pages to the table. My fingers slid over the numbers and the names beside them. I paused on Donvirr Edge. I knew that place. It was an old docking site in the Banisle Sea.
“You think he is shipping stuff to Novas?”
I shook my head. “No, the island is practically gone.” I leaned forward, thinking. If he were using the docks, he was shipping something, but to where? Novas was nothing but rubble and ash after I had finished with it, so not there.
“I’ll go to the meeting Malone was supposed to attend tonight and—”
“You keep killing with no leads, Dianna,” Camilla said.
“Fine, I’ll torture them until they talk, then kill them.” I pushed away from the table and reached for the clothes Camilla had created for me.
“We are well aware of the growing threat, but I promise it is not what it seems.”
I stopped mid-motion, my chest clenching at that voice. My hands curled into the fabric of the robe as I clutched at my chest, the steady beat of my heart stuttering as if trying to find a new rhythm.
Samkiel.
My head whipped toward the screen, Samkiel’s face taking up the screen.
Camilla folded her arms, and I knew she had been waiting for this before unmuting the television. “They made him look so… normal with those suits and ties they tossed on him, or tried to, at least. He’s too handsome for that. He still looks too godly to me.” She paused. “I wonder how often they make him do these interviews to make everyone feel safe.”
I said nothing.
“I know it’s been quiet for about a month with the new rules and regulations, but how can you confidently say that after everything that’s happened? We all saw the threat, and now, with you being back here, I think we are all a little nervous.” A feminine laugh filled the air after she spoke,
and the camera panned out. I watched as he leaned forward in his overly- priced suit and folded his hands. Camilla was right. He was far too godsdamn handsome. My heart fluttered at the sight of him. He smiled, making that stupid, perfect jawline stand out. The anchorwoman ate it up like cake.
“Well, with the new curfew and more celestials per city, I think—”
My head went silent as his voice flooded the hotel room. The screen showed every fucking perfect line of his features, but it wasn’t his beauty that made my heart ache so badly it felt like it would explode. Ice pricked my skin, a wave of cold threatening to consume me as my mind served up the memory of another room and another screen glaring me in the face. My chest heaved, my breathing becoming erratic. The hotel melted away, static invading my ears. The only thing I could hear were those damned words.
What were your intentions with this failed relationship?
You are nothing to him, and you never will be.
Do you really think he will choose you after all of this is over?
Be realistic.
Even if I don’t win, you will still lose.
Remember that I love you…
My hand whipped out. A tunnel of flames ripped forward, burning through Camilla’s shadowy form, creating a hole through Samkiel’s damned face and that screen. Camilla disappeared, the room going up in a blistering inferno. Sparks sizzled, and flames climbed the wall, smoke filling the room. Alarms pierced the air, accompanied by screams and
running feet out in the halls.
I walked out, leaving the room burning.
“Y ou ’ re late , M alone ,” a brutish man said , spitting a stream of tobacco juice to the side. His bald head shone in the moonlight, tattoos decorating the side of his neck. Mortal, he smelled mortal, and I could hear eighty-four others nearby. That included those within the small dive bar. As
long as Tobias didn’t show up, I would be fine. These were low-level criminals of the mortal variety.
“The message I got said ten tonight,” I argued as he kicked the side door. A small metal window slid back, and someone peered out before closing it tight.
“Boss moved it up. He is getting nervous. Look, dude, I don’t make the rules. Just get your ass inside.”
Donte was his name, hired muscle and one of Webster’s bodyguards.
His size would intimidate most, but he stood no chance unless he was secretly Otherworld.
The door swung open, and music blared, the sound coming from beyond the adjacent wall. Donte and I strode past the scrawny door guy. I heard the voices of two men grow louder as we moved down the red-tinted hall.
“Fucking cheater.”
“I don’t have extra cards, you dipshit. You’re just a sore loser.”
Donte pushed the door open, revealing a small storage-type room.
Someone slammed a fist against the table, and chips rained to the floor. I counted only five men here. Well, six if you included me. Their heartbeats told me they weren’t Otherworldly, and my stomach growled.
“Hungry, boss?” Donte asked. That got the room’s attention. Several heads swiveled toward us as the door closed.
“About fucking time you showed up, Malone,” a man said around the cigar hanging from his mouth. I recognized him from Malone’s memories.
His hairline had receded until it curved around the sides of his head, the gray hair revealing his age. His voice crackled, and his lungs rattled with every breath, indicating years and years of smoking.
Edgar. Yes, that was his name.
The other men listened, one shuffling and dealing out a new hand.
“Care for a game while we wait?” Edgar asked, taking the cigar from his lips and knocking the ashes off to the side.
My fists clenched at my sides, my gaze narrowing. The scent wafted through the air, arousing painful memories of friends I thought were true but had betrayed me in the worst way. Traitors. They were all traitors. You would think I would have learned by now. No one truly cared about me or had my back. No one but her, and now she was gone because of them.
I hated cigars.
“You think we have time for fucking games?” My voice, deep and masculine, echoed through the room. They all stopped and looked at me.
The two men on either side of Edgar gawked at me, a shade of pink darkening their fair skin. My comment only got a grunt from the tanned man studying his cards.
Edgar shifted in his seat. “In a hurry, Malone?” he asked, giving me a hard stare over the top of his cards. “You know damn well we don’t move until he calls.”
I nodded slowly. They were all just fucking pawns.
“Fine.”
Donte stayed by the door, watching quietly. I grabbed an empty chair, its legs scraping against the floor. I adjusted the jacket I wore and sat down gingerly. Webster wasn’t the smallest guy, that was for sure.
The man reshuffled and dealt the cards. I leaned back, blowing out a breath as I glanced at the hand I had been dealt—two kings, an ace, a three, and a five. My memory was shit when it came to this game. I’d only played a few times, and even then, it was out of boredom more than anything. It was something Alistair made Tobias and me do when we were waiting for Kaden.
It seemed I was always waiting for Kaden.
“You suck at this.” Alistair laughed, taking my cards back from me while we sat at the table in Novas.
“I’m sorry. It is not my strong suit. It makes no sense to me.”
Tobias grumbled under his breath, earning himself a glance from Alistair. I shook my head as Alistair grabbed the cards and shifted closer to show me.
“Look at this.” Alistair flipped the cards over, placing them in front of me. “Which one do you think is the strongest?”
I rolled my eyes and pointed. “Obviously, the king and queen.”
Tobias made a strangled noise that sounded like a laugh as Alistair rubbed his chin. “In chess, yes, but in this game, no. The ace is the deciding card on who wins the main battle, so to say.”
“The ace?”
“It is the one that looks completely unassuming next to these pricks.”
He pointed to the king and queen. “But when you have it in your hand, you could rule the world. Well, I guess the table, so to speak.”
“Can we play now?” Tobias snapped, holding his cards under his chin.
Alistair grabbed the cards and shuffled them as he looked at me. “There are a shit ton of other rules and tricks, but let’s just get the basics down so Tobias doesn’t cry all night.”
He shuffled once more and handed out cards. “Just remember, Dianna.
The ace is what matters, and if you can put an ace with a king?” He whistled under his breath. “Unstoppable.”
“If he makes us wait any longer, I’m going to be pissed,” another man
grumbled, pulling me from my thoughts.
“You’re already pissed.”
“Everything is being watched. We’re lucky we can move as much as we can.”
A few grumbled their agreement, cursing about the curfew.
“I’ve sat and supplied these damn materials for weeks now, and he still hasn’t paid yet,” Edgar snapped. Each man threw a card down. Weeks? My brows furrowed as I tried to sort through what Malone knew, but I’d eaten too much. All the memories were either blurry or weren’t there at all, but it still didn’t make sense. Kaden always paid. Usually, he paid in blood if you messed up, but he didn’t lie about business. That, amongst other reasons, was why he had such a heavy following. Kaden supplied them with whatever they needed, and they followed like whipped dogs.
I inhaled deeply, and that’s when I smelled it. The scent emanating from the man on the other side of the table was brief but unmistakable. I glanced at him. He was maybe just out of his twenties, but the fucking overpriced leather and thick gold chain around his neck with the crisscrossed godsdamn symbol screamed Santiago and his fucking coven. My jaw clenched. That’s the boss they were speaking of, not Kaden.
I tossed out a card, losing on purpose. I needed more information.
“So, we’re waiting on Santiago? Typical.” I didn’t hide my snark. I didn’t care to.
Edgar snorted, and someone else laughed. “Yeah, well, he has the ship we need, and I am not having my men or anyone else carry that much
fucking iron.”
Iron. Perfect.
“Malone. Did you bring the transcripts with you? You seem a little empty-handed.” Edgar pointed his cigar at me. Every movement of that damn cigar sent the beast inside me whipping and lashing against my skin, begging to get out. I wanted to rip it out of his hand and shove it in his eye.
“I’m not bringing anything in here right now. Don’t trust you all.” I shrugged and folded my cards once more.
Silence fell before the room erupted in laughter.
“That’s fair. Kaden’s fire-wielding bitch has been fucking up a lot of our routes and efforts.”
The guy across from me hissed, “Don’t speak her name.”
The man next to him laughed. “Why? Are you afraid of summoning her? Don’t be such a superstitious coward.”
“Coward? Or smart? Look what’s left of the Vanderkais and Camilla’s coven. They are nothing more than ashes and ruin. They say you hear a clap of thunder before she arrives, but it’s not thunder. It is its wings. Winged death. Then all that’s left is fire, fire hotter than the sun—”
“Blow me, Emmett,” the man across from him snapped. “Stop listening to everything someone whispers to you.”
The man next to me scoffed. “Please, she got what she deserved.” He leaned back, folding his arms. “I don’t know what she expected after betraying Kaden, killing Alistair, teaming up with the World Ender, and then fucking him. It’s her own damn fault. She is the reason the world is fucking shut down, and we have to meet in rat-infested dive bars.”
Silence fell once more, and I stared at the cards in my hands.
“You know,” the man closest to Edgar scratched his uneven beard, “I wonder if they were screwing while Kaden murdered her sister.”
A chorus of laughter and crude jokes followed, but I heard nothing, my blood boiling. The pounding crescendo filled my ears like drums on a battlefield. Darkness whipped in every corner of the room as an ache, deep and primal, grew in my belly. He had voiced the one thought that plagued me, the one thing that haunted me more than anything.
The truth.
It’s her own damn fault.
A lock on a door in a house rattled.
“For the record,” my voice cut through their laughter as I gazed at the cards in my hand, “I never fucked the World Ender, and I’ve fingered myself more times than he ever did.”
The room fell silent, and every eye turned to me. By the way the color drained from their faces and their heartbeats stuttered, I knew the piercing red glow of my eyes shone beneath Malone’s disguise. I felt the
Ig’Morruthen in me stir, all fangs, teeth, and impenetrable scaled armor.
Unbreakable, primal, and pissed.
I didn’t see anything, my vision blurring with bloodlust. They laughed over her death as if she deserved it when she was the kindest, most loving person in the world, and now she was gone because of me.
I gripped the edge of the table and pushed so hard it severed the man sitting across from me when it collided with the wall. The remaining men jumped to their feet, reaching into their waistbands for weapons. I turned to the low-life next to me and ripped his head off his shoulders, his body slumping forward, painting everyone nearby in red.
Donte grabbed the gun from the far corner, and I heard several shots echo in the room. I didn’t feel any pain, only that roaring, vengeful wrath pumping through my blood. First, I needed to secure the leader. I would worry about the others in a second. Edgar’s eyes fixed on me, and I could see the moment he figured it out. He knew why I was here. I stalked forward, and he took a few steps back.
I kicked out, slamming the side of my foot against his knee. It shattered, and he fell into a heap, his mouth opened on a silent scream. “Stay here. We need to talk.”
Santiago’s man with the gold chain tried to run, but I ripped the leg off the overturned table and threw it so hard it went through his chest. His knees hit the floor hard as he dropped.
The pop, pop, pop sound behind me told me Donte was still emptying his gun into me. When I spun, I saw the flash of his next round.
“Where’s Webster, you bitch?”
I looked down at my suit and stuck a finger into a hole in my shirt, feeling my skin knitting back together. I raised my hand, licking the blood from my fingers as Donte watched, his eyes widening.
“Webster is in pieces. Do you want to know what he tasted like?” My form melted, the black smoke drifting away as the cloak of Webster disappeared, leaving only me.
“Devil,” he whispered, and to him, maybe I did look like the demons from his legends. I wore a red pantsuit with a matching jacket and heels, my hands covered in my own blood.
“Actually, it’s Dianna.” I pushed him against the wall, his gun clattering to the floor. I reared my head back before I sank my fangs deep. His body shook as he tried and failed to fight me off. His screams turned to
whimpers, then to silence as I drank deep. The ever-present hunger roared, demanding more, never sated, never full, never… complete.
Memories flashed quickly through my brain, moving at a blurring speed. I pulled away when I heard movement behind me. I turned, allowing Donte’s body to slide to the floor with a thud.
Edgar’s head whipped toward me, his face scrunching in pain as he tried and failed to stand. He held onto his leg, scooting back and away from me.
“You know, I have been feeding more than I ever have, thanks to my dead sister. You know, the one you all love to taunt,” I said, walking toward him, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “It’s unlocked this whole new world of power in me. It is pretty fun. Want to see a trick I learned?”
I raised my hand, and the growing darkness in the room crawled toward me. It whipped and curled as if it understood every thought and feeling I had.
“I don’t think it’s mine. I think it’s Kaden’s, but he made me and created this, so here we are.” The darkness whipped up, grabbing the hanging lightbulb in the center of the room. It burst, leaving the room in pitch blackness.
I drew closer, and he whimpered in the darkness, hearing my heels against the cement floor. He scanned the room for me, but his mortal eyes failed him. As I passed, I leaned down and broke another leg off the table, fear twisting his face as he tried to scoot further away. I stepped over two dead men, victims of Donte’s terrible aim with the gun, and stopped in front of Edgar.
“Kind of cool, right?” I whispered, leaning down and grabbing him by the back of his shirt.
He yelled, startled, as I lifted him with one hand. I tossed him toward the wall and drove the table leg through his center, a scream and then blood exploding from his mouth. He scrabbled at the wood.
“Don’t worry. I missed the vital organs. Gabby taught me all about mortal anatomy. I would help her study for tests over ice cream and notecards when I was home. Those moments were few and far between, but I cherished every one.” I twisted my wrist on the last word, causing him to cry out in pain. “I know if I take this out, you’ll bleed to death in minutes.”
He gritted his teeth harder. “You know, they often wondered what would happen to you if you finally snapped that leash. I guess now we know.”
I twisted the broken table leg a little harder. “Where’s Kaden?”
“I don’t know,” he grunted, trying to get a hold on the wood holding
him to the wall.
Pity. I actually believed him.
“Fine.” I lifted a single shoulder. “Santiago. Tell me where to find that fucking weasel.”
He panted for air, his face ashen. “Santiago doesn’t tell us anything other than when to make the drop and what dock he will be at, that’s all.
He’s too busy hiding from you.”
“Good, he’s being smart for once.” I didn’t twist this time. “What time is his next drop?”
“I don’t know. He texts us the day of. That’s it, I swear.”
I paused to search through his pockets. I threw a wallet onto the floor. It hit with a thud, my hands roaming over him. I dug deeper, fishing out his cell phone. The screen lit up as I looked at it, revealing a picture of Edgar and a woman. Laugh lines crinkled around her eyes, matching his, and against my better judgment, I paused.
“Who is this?” I turned the phone to him, the screen illuminating his features. Fear, plain and simple, flared in his eyes.
“My wife.”
“Ah. So, you do have someone you love? Great. Tell me where Santiago is, or I’ll find her. She can join Ethan’s wife.”
He snickered at my threat. “You’re too late. Death took her from me years ago. She died in a hospital bed while I was trying to get the money for her cancer treatments.”
Edgar bared his teeth in a blood-red smile at whatever he saw on my face. He nodded, a snort escaping his lips. “Surprised? You shouldn’t be.
You, above all, should know that even monsters love something.”
I looked into his eyes, and we shared a moment of brief understanding before I changed the subject. “What’s the code?”
He choked out the numbers, and I stepped back. I let him hang there as I unlocked the phone. The screen lit up, several boxes glaring back at me, containing a few unknown numbers and a new message about the docks.
“Looks like he did give a drop date.”
I turned, taking the phone with me as I headed for the door. I heard Edgar groan behind me, still pinned to the wall.
He laughed, blood gurgling in his throat. “You know, your reactions make sense now.”
I don’t know why I indulged him, but I stopped, my foot resting at the door’s entrance. “What?”
“I lost someone. We all have. Grief is mourning, but you’re not grieving. You skipped straight to anger and revenge, and it’s because you
feel guilty.”
Guilty.
The word rang in my head as it charged toward a door wrapped in chains.
I felt my fangs extend, the tips pressing against my lips.
“You hesitated, girl. I saw it during the card game, even through your disguise, and I saw it when you looked at my phone. I know that look. All monsters love something.” He let out a wet laugh. “You and the World Ender. That’s what hurts the most, isn’t it? You fell in love with him while Kaden took your sister. I’ve been there. You guys might not have been fucking when he took her, but you weren’t there when she needed you. You weren’t there because you—”
A sound left my lips, more animal than mortal. I moved so quickly that he only registered it once he was on the floor, clutching his midsection with blood pooling around him.
“You saw nothing,” I hissed, tossing the wooden leg across the room.
“Now, say hi to your dead wife.”
His weak laugh turned to a wet groan. I turned and left that damned place.
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