“Excellent.”
Burning by sunlight was the most painful way to take out a full-blooded vampire, and the fact that we were making them wait for their demise, conscious but paralyzed, made it all the sweeter. As a general rule, I tried not to make a habit of murdering my clientele, but sometimes exceptions had to be made.
“Jax, huh?” Haley flashed the demon a genuine smile I wanted to steal for myself. “Okay. Much better than Sinner. Do you—”
“And what business brings you to New Orleans, Ms. Barnes?” I asked coolly, rummaging through some papers on my desk as if I had better shit to do—anythingto do but sit here and watch the former love of my life fawn over the fucking demon I wanted to murder on the best of days.
The look she shot me made my balls shrivel, but the faster we got down to it, the faster we could both move on.
Again.
“I was hoping we could talk privately,” she said.
“Whatever you need to say, you can say it in front of Jax.”
Mostly because I was too chicken shit to be alone with her again.
“Fine,” Haley said. “Let’s just rip off the Band-Aid then, shall we? I need to get to the realm of Midnight and then back to the Temple of the Dark Moon. Alive. And I need to do it soon, or everyone I love is going to die.” Then, with a bright, heart-stopping smile, “So, what are you guys doing later? Fancy a road trip? My snack game iskiller.”
5
ELIAN
Fuck.I’d really hoped Jax had been wrong about that portal spell.
“Why Midnight?” I asked.
Haley sighed, her megawatt smile dimming. “For reasons I havenointerest in sharing, I’m in debt to the Goddess Melantha. She needs a blood witch to sneak into the realm and retrieve the blood of some warlord… Kayden? Karaden?”
“Keradoc?” I asked, and she pointed at me with finger guns and winked.
Normally, I might’ve found the gesture adorable. But now?
My heart dropped into my stomach.
How the hell had Haley Barnes gotten mixed up with Melantha and fucking Keradoc of Midnight?
“Saint,” Jax warned, as if he knew exactly where my mind was heading. “Don’t even think about—”
I lifted a hand and cut him off. Ignoring his glare—along with every alarm blaring inside my head—I said, “Defineretrieve, Haley.”
“Retrieve,” she replied. “As in steal. And I need your help getting in and out. I wouldn’t mind a few pointers about this warlord douchebag either, but that’s just frosting on the cake as far as I’m concerned. Escort me, and I’ll handle the rest.”
“Steal. You want to steal the blood of the warlord of Midnight, and you’re asking formyhelp?” I laughed, forcing myself to shore up those walls around my heart. “Ask me again, sparrow. Put a little more oomph into it this time.”
“Seriously?”
“Veryseriously. In fact, for something like this… Yeah. You should probably beg.” I stood up and leaned back against the bar, my gaze raking down her body, then back up. “Feel free to get on your knees—probably won’t convince me, but who knows. Maybe I’ll be inspired by your performance. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
Hurt flickered in her eyes, but I couldn’t let it get to me. Couldn’t give in. Couldn’t deal withanyof this shit—not now.
In a soft voice that cut deeper than the dagger strapped to her thigh, she said, “Were you always such a prick?”
Only since I walked away from the best thing in my immortal life to chase after a ghost…
“Was a time when you liked pricks,” I said.
“Well now I like men, so you can sityourprick-ass down.”
