Page 50 of Malice

“Fine,” Xavier says with a bit of a huff. “We will put him in the back.”

Devon takes the man, and we start back towards the cars.

“There’s a lot of bodies back there,” Antonio says. “A lot of bodies with missing and gouged out eyes. How is that going to be handled?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Xavier tells him.

“That makes me worry even more,” Antonio mutters.” Even with how well connected the Order was, a dozen dead people in that state of decay would cause alarm.”

“You’re assuming they will be found,” Xavier says casually. “They won’t be.”

“That shouldn’t be as reassuring as it is,” Leo says under his breath, playfully elbowing me. I chuckle and try to get rid of the feeling that I am being watched. I concentrate on counting my steps in an attempt to keep the demon’s voice from echoing inside my head. Seventy-three steps later, I realize Antonio has fallen behind.

“Hey,” I say. “You okay?”

He looks at the bodies behind us. “If this is how it’s going to be, you should have just let me stay dead.”

Chapter

Twenty

“Don’t say that!” I shoot back, coming to a stop.

“Look at this, Wren. All this death and destruction. You can’t tell me you don’t regret making the deal.”

“I don’t,” I press. “I don’t regret what I did.”

Xavier’s words echo in my mind, telling me and selfish for bringing Toni back because I was the one who benefited more than anyone by not having to be forced to grieve the death of my brother. I can’t deny that what he said has truth to it, but I still refuse to believe it fully. Toni didn’t deserve to die.

“I’m not more important than the world, Wren. Neither are you. Neither is anyone. Not a single one of us here is worth burning the world for. We’re no better or worse than any other humans on this planet. And I for one don’t wanna live with the knowledge that death and destruction has been brought up upon innocent people because of me.”

“It’s not because of you,” I counter. “It’s because of me and I stand by my decision. I’m not the one bringing death and destruction to the world. That’s on the demon and the Order and the demon would be doing the same thing even if you were dead. I understand what you’re saying and I respect your allegiance to the cause, but we are better than them, Toni. We are better than the Order. We are better than the men and women who will stomp on anyone to get their way. We are better than the people who will use their own children to bring a demon into this world for the sake of power.”

“We have made better choices than them, Wren, but we aren’t better.” His words hang in the air, and I stare at him, eyes filling with tears.

“I will never apologize for saving your life.”

“But you didn’t save my life, Wren,” he says quietly. “I was already dead. You should’ve just let it stay that way.”

“Toni,” I say, voice breaking.

“Come on,” he replies, putting his hand on my shoulder. “We’ve got work to do.”

“Curious,” Mabel says, tipping her head as she leans over to look at the man lying on the living room couch. He has no ID or car keys on him. Xavier has already put in a call to the Charlotte police, requesting to be notified before anyone else if reports come in about a missing person matching this man’s description.

Theo, Devon, and Zeke left to take care of the bodies almost as soon as we walked through the door. How they’re being taken care of has yet to be shared with me. Right now, I don’t want to know.

“Ready?” I ask. We’re prepared for this guy to freak the fuck out once he wakes up in a strange place with remnants of his memory from the last hour flashing before him like some sort of fever dream. The plan is to have Xavier hold him spellbound so he can cooperate and we can send him packing.

“Go ahead,” Xavier tells me and I put my hands on the guy's forehead, removing the sleep spell. His eyes fly open and he sits up, stunned and confused. In an instant, Xavier has him spellbound.

“Good evening,” Xavier starts voice, calm and reassuring. “Thank you for agreeing to help us tonight.” The man nods eyes locked with Xavier’s. “What is your name?”

“Ryan.”

“Hi, Ryan. I need you to tell me everything you can about the last several hours. Start from the last thing you remember clearly.”

”I was on my way out of the office,” he starts, a dazed look in his eye. “Miranda and I were going to have dinner. It’s our anniversary. She told me not to be late.”