What the fuck did she see in that demon, anyway?
And why the hell did she keep looking at me like she no longer wished me dead? Like she was actually glad I was here? It was my fucking fault we were in this mess in the first place. My fault for trusting Gem. My fault for not protecting Haley.
I should’ve been there to stop that fucking monster before he’d ever demanded a single dance.
Now, we were all caught in the same web, and I couldn’t even kill him. Couldn’t even try. One whiff of betrayal, and we’d all be on the torture racks.
Fuck.
When I’d had my fill—as much as I’d been willing to take, at least—I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and said, “If you insist on sharing his bed, sparrow, at least stuff a sock in your mouth so the rest of us can get some sleep.”
Yep. Championship asshole, going for the gold.
But every night that passed with Haley in my presence but not in my arms was another night some part of me shriveled up and blew away. Wasn’t her fault, but still. It was better for both of us if she stopped trying to help me. Stopped acting like my personal blood bag and looking at me like she still cared—like I still deserved it.
When I looked into her eyes, there was still too much fucking hope there.
And hope, as she’d so eloquently told me that night in the apartment, was its own kind of poison.
Every night since, her words had echoed through my skull like a warning.
Hope? It’s a drug worse than your Devil’s Dream. A drug that causes delusions so powerful, you re-route your whole life around them until all you have left are the bullshit stories you tell yourself just to get through another day…
Now, trapped in Midnight, I didn’t want any hope. Didn’t need it. What Ineededwas another fix, but Jax’s supply was limited, and until we could either make or steal more pills, I had to slow down—a task that would’ve been a hell of a lot easier if the bastard would actually tell me how much he was carrying, but he was keeping that card close to the vest.
It was all I could do not to trail him like a lost puppy sniffing after a bone, which sucked, because what Ireallywanted to do was beat the shit out of him for making Haley sing. Again and again. Fucking opera house, that suite last night. I wasn’t surprised to learn Hudson had left early for the fields. Considering Haley was his fated mate, the poor bastard probably wanted to strangle Jax too.
So, after the meager meal and a well-deserved scolding from Haley, Jax and I left the castle, marching through the cramped streets of Amaranth City in hostile silence as we searched for our new job site.
We’d just turned down another dank, festering alley when out of nowhere Jax pounced on me, shoving me to the ground.
Two circular blades whizzed over our heads. We got to our feet and bolted toward the direction where they’d come from, but our would-be attackers were already lost in the crowd.
“Fuck,” Jax hissed.
“What did you see?”
“Nothing. It was more what I felt—a spike of adrenaline.”
“You think it was Keradoc’s men?”
“I think there are plenty of people in this city who want us dead, and plenty more who wantanyonedead, and maybe we just happen to look like easy targets.” Then, giving me a quick once over, “You good?”
I nodded and scratched my head, grateful it was still attached to my neck. “Thanks for—”
“Old habits, Saint. Don’t thank me.” He shoved past me and stalked back down the alley, and I followed just behind him, trying to pay better attention to my surroundings. I was part vampire, for fuck’s sake.Ishould’ve been the one to sense that attack. And if I wasn’t going out of my mind about Haley, about those fucking pills, about all of it…
Excuses didn’t matter.
Right now, I just had to get through this night. Check out our new work situation, figure out what we’d need to do to get Keradoc whatever drugs he needed, then make it happen.
“This the place?” I asked when Jax stopped in front of a low, squat building built into the side of a rocky outcropping. A few dusty windows lined the front, and I tried to get a look inside, but they were tinted.
“It’s the address Keradoc gave me, so I’m guessing it’s either our new office or a setup.”
“Let’s find out then, shall we?” With a grin, I pushed open the front door and stepped inside.
A bright magickal floodlight kicked on, temporarily blinding us as the door closed behind us with a heavy thunk. I’d just lifted my arm to block the light when four projectiles slammed into the door around our heads.
