Page 5 of Victorious

But when Eli’s heart stopped that second time, Victor felt the difference.

Felt the absence in the room.

In himself.

“People like us,” said June under her breath, “we don’t do well without a purpose.” She spun the bottle’s neck between her fingertips. “So maybe that’s what I’m here for.”

Victor cocked a brow. “You want a job?”

“I have jobs. I’m looking for”—her gaze escaped to the window— “a reason. Something to fight for. Someone.”

Victor wasn’t about to put Sydney back in June’s crosshairs. But the body-stealing EO was a sharp tool, and Victor could make use of her.

“I need eyes inside EON.”

“Oh, you mean the organization whose sole mission is the capture and containment of ExtraOrdinaries?” Her expression darkened. “Remind me, how did that work out for Dominic Rusher?”

Dominic.

Victor had taken away the shadow-walking EO’s pain, in exchange for his service. Sent him undercover into EON, and he’d never made it out. The ex-soldier had died there, protecting him.

Victor clenched his teeth.

“For someone with your skills,” he said, “avoiding detection shouldn’t be a problem.”

She snorted. “Flattery will get you nowhere.”

“If you want to help Sydney,” he pressed, “this is how. By making sure they don’t go after her.”

“Or you.”

Victor held her gaze. “I can take care of myself.”

“So it seems. You know,” said June, rolling her neck, “I can’t help but notice you seem less on the verge of imminent death. Would it have anything to do with this?” She flicked her wrist, producing a vial—his vial. Victor swore inwardly. He should have felt her lift it. And he hadn’t. Now, he wanted to lunge forward, grab her wrist, but that was exactly what she wanted. So he watched as June toyed with the only thing keeping him alive, held the compound to the low bar light.

“What does it do?”

“It kills EOs.”

Victor’s mouth twitched as she recoiled in horror. The reaction would have been more satisfying if she hadn’t dropped the vial when she did it. Victor caught the last of the compound before it hit the table.

“Well,” he amended, staring at her through the blue, “it kills what makes them ExtraOrdinary.”

For the first time, June looked nervous. And she should be.

One dose, and he could tear away her armor, her infinite supply of masks. Expose June’s soft, killable core. That had been his plan, if things had gone another way.

“In my case,” continued Victor, “it keeps the current from electrocuting me. But in yours…” He ejected the half-empty vial from his inhaler and replaced it with the full one. “I’m willing to bet it would show me who’s really hiding behind that pretty, stolen face.”

He set the device on the table between them and spun it, as if it were a gun at the center of another, equally lethal game.

“Want to play?” he asked as it came to a stop.

“Pass,” said June curtly. She shook her head. “So, you just—what? Cut off your own power to stay alive?”

“Like a trapped wolf gnawing off a leg,” said Victor dryly.

She scowled at the blue liquid. “Where did you get it?”