Step two, track down the other scum who were after Loren—before they found her first.
—
The rain had ceased by the time they made it back up to the graveyard.
Loren wrapped her arms around herself as she walked beside Darien, to where the other Devils were waiting for them.
Loren’s teeth chattered as she said to Darien, “I suppose it’s a good thing we have allies in them instead of enemies.” Her sentence held the tone of a question she knew he heard.
“I consider any outcome that doesn’t end in bloodshed a good thing, Calla. And since Benjamin and his men are the best graverobbers to walk this city, I’d say you’re right: itisbetter to have them as allies and not enemies.”
“Judging from what I saw of you in the alley yesterday, I thought you were going to kill him before he could talk.”
Darien flashed her a smile that showed off his shallow dimples. Although she didn’t care to admit it, that smile made her weaker in the knees than she already was. “I certainly debated it.”
Darien quickly filled the others in on what had taken place inside the tomb. When he was finished, their Familiars disappeared into their shadows, and everyone made their way to the vehicles. As soon as Loren and Darien were back inside the car, Darien started the engine and turned the heat on.
“Thanks,” Loren said in earnest, holding her hands in front of the vents. Even though most of her shaking was the aftermath of shock and fear, the heat would help calm her down.
“I’m going to need to be able to contact you after today,” Darien said. He took his phone out of his jacket pocket and tried passing it to her. “The passcode is 9974421.” Bewildered, she kept her hands over the vents and glanced between him and his phone in confusion—long enough to cause him to shake the phone with impatience. “Why are you staring at me like I’m speaking Ancient Reunerian?”
“I don’t understand—”
“I can’t contact you if I don’t have your phone number, can I?”
Feeling very stupid for not having figured out what he’d meant, she finally took the phone from him and entered the passcode he’d given her—the one he repeated a second time because she’d already forgotten it. He spun the car around, gravel crunching and popping under the tires, as Loren pulled up a ridiculously long list of contacts.
“You must be used to having girls practically claw each other’s faces off to get their numbers into your phone,” she said, at last catching onto how he’d simplyassumedshe would want to give him her number—in that arrogant-asshole-who-knows-he’s-hot-as-hell kind of way. She resisted the urge to scowl as she added herself into his contacts—and resisted the urge to scroll through the endless list of names, many of which were female—and then handed his phone back to him.
He took it from her only long enough to throw it onto the dash, where it slid against the base of the windshield. “And you must be used to spineless boys fumbling through the process of asking you for your number.” He paused, and then said, “Why didn’t you scream?”
Loren returned to staring at him in bewilderment. “What do you mean?”
“When I found you in that alley,” he clarified. “Most people would’ve been screaming for help. You basically ran right into a dead end, yet you stood there in silence.”
She blinked, taken aback by the intensity in his gaze. “I didn’t want to involve anyone. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if innocent bystanders had died trying to help me.”
The car crawled down the road, the shadows of trees flitting over the sunroof. Loren waited for Darien to say something more, but it seemed that he was done with this topic. Though there was something in his eyes that suggested it was still on his mind.
“So,” she began. “When do we go and see Cain?”
Darien gave a derogatory snort.“Iwill be paying Cain a visit as soon as I have the time, which I’m hoping will be next weekend. Andyouwill not be coming.”
Loren’s mouth popped open. “And why the heck not?”
“Trust me when I say you don’t want to be anywhere near Cain and his turf wars.” Loren made to argue, but Darien cut her off, holding a hand up between them to silence her. “It’s not up for debate. It’ll be enough of a challenge to keepmyselfalive there. I don’t need you complicating things by tagging along.”
Loren was too stunned by his blatant honesty to argue the situation further. “What are we doing now?”
“We’re going back to Hell’s Gate. You’ll be staying at my place again and I’ll drop you off at the academy in the morning.”
Loren had half a second to feel grateful for this before she realized how she would feel when Monday morning came, and she would have to part ways with Darien. After everything that had taken place in less than forty-eight hours, she was beginning to understand that the safest place for her was wherever Darien was.
Only one thing was certain: when Monday arrived, it would be a long, long day.
15
Loren was sitting across from Darien in the dining room at Hell’s Gate. It was almost Witching Hour, which meant she should be sleeping. Monday was coming faster than she thought possible, but she wouldn’t miss this for anything.
