But hehadbeen here, even though Marcus had completely obliterated him. What he’d done to Kallie would continue to affect her for years to come. But at least now Valen couldn’t hurt anyone else… here, or in any other lives going forward.
Marcus was absolutely raging, taking long and heavy gasps. I got to my feet and reached out to touch him. His shoulder was shaking underneath my hand. The psychotic part of him was gone. It had died down after he’d finished Valen, but he was still fuming.
“I didn’t want to kill him yet,” he said through clenched teeth. “I lost my temper and took it too far. I wasn’t finished.”
“He’s gone now,” I said firmly, squeezing his shoulder. “We took care of him, like we said we would. Now it’s time to get back.”
“You aren’t still thinking about pulling off the heist, not after all this happened,” Marcus insisted.
“We have to, Marcus. We still have daylight, and this is our only window,” I said evenly. “I’m glad you made him pay. But Kallie wouldn’t want us to miss out on the vampire key because of this.”
Marcus sighed. “Guess you’re right. I can’t let Kallie down.”
“No, you can’t. Let’s get back,” I said.
We left Valen’s body like the garbage it was behind us and portaled back to the hotel. Once we got there, Marcus immediately rushed back into the room where they were treating Kallie, and I followed.
“Did you get it done?” Ava whispered as I came to her side.
I nodded once, and Ava said nothing more.
“Marcus,” Kallie wheezed. It sounded like she was awake again. “Where did you go?”
“I got him, pretty girl.” Marcus sounded so sweet and gentle now. It was the complete opposite of the crazed killer he’d been moments before. “Valen’s gone. I killed him, and destroyed his soul. He’s never going to hurt you or any other woman ever again.”
“He was mine,” Kallie protested weakly. “I was supposed to kill him.”
“He wasours,” Marcus insisted. I heard him conjure her blade again, and lie it on the bedside next to her. “His blood is on your sword. I made sure to cut him open with it. He deserved to die just like all his victims did.”
Kallie sounded astonished. “Marcus… there’s no bigger honor for a fae, for you to kill their enemy with their sword.”
“Of course there isn’t. I was happy to do it for you.”
Both of them got quiet, and I supposed they were off in their own little world. Ava tugged on my sleeve, and we left the room with Oberi to give them some privacy.
When the door closed behind us, I asked, “Is Kallie getting better?”
“She is, but there’s no fucking way she can come on the heist. Kallie’s down for the count,” Ava said. “She can perform illusion magic, but she can’t shift or stop time. I’ve healed her the best I can, but she can’t come with us anymore. Even if she had access to her time powers, I don’t think she can mentally pull this off. Not after what happened.”
I wasn’t expecting her to be well, but fuck, this sent our entire plan up in flames. “So what do we do now?”
“Mom and Ez are going to stay here and keep healing her. Once she’s strong enough to make it through a long-distance portal, which should be by tonight, they’ll take her back to Ilamanthe.”
“And who’s going to take her place?” I demanded.
“Come with me.”
Ava led the way to the penthouse’s kitchen, and I trailed her, but it was in silence. I was fuming. We should’ve had the vampire key by now, and we were running out of time to get it. We had to strike before nightfall, or this whole thing was a bust. I’d tried to account for everything, but I never thought the fucking Dollmaker would show up. The psycho was taken care of now, though, which meant we had to keep moving forward with our plan.
Max and Gavyn were waiting for us, surrounded by all kinds of tech noises, and the door to the penthouse opened. Two other voices halted me in my tracks as they entered, because I hadn’t expected them to be here. It was Danny and Alistair. I just knew this was bad news. We were hours behind schedule, and now we had to account for these loose cannons.
“What the fuck areyoudoing here?” I sneered at Danny.
“Ava let me know about Kallie, and I came as soon as I could,” he replied.
“Well, go home,” I ordered. “We don’t need you here.”
“We just might,” Ava countered. “Charlie, can I talk to you privately?”
