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"Liebchen. " Standing behind an electric-field guarded doorway was Uber-vamp. He smiled, one corner of his mouth turned up, his eyes languorously half closed. He didn't stand as straight as before, and even his glamour had a sick, unhealthy pallor to it now. "You look unhappy. Come in to me, let me take you from this world, my little monster. "
I stared blankly at him. So this was where Raquel put him to make sure he wouldn't get out again. Jack rolled his eyes and flipped the vampire off, taking my hand in his and pulling me down the hall. I watched the vampire as long as I could, chilled by the look in his eyes, the memory of how it had felt to drain some of him.
His words rang in my ears. Little monster. It was true.
Jack found the nearest hallway that wasn't lined with iron and made a door. I didn't look back as we walked through. I was never going to the Center again. I suppressed a shudder at the Paths' darkness and closed my eyes.
"You really hate it here, don't you?" he asked.
"This is how I imagine hell. No fire and brimstone, just black and empty and alone forever. "
He laughed. "Hell, huh? Well, hopefully we'll be able to disprove that theory soon. Besides, if it were hell, would I be here with you?"
"I don't know,
if hell called for an eternity of annoyance instead of torment, maybe. "
"I like you more every day. But neither of us qualifies for hell. We're victims. " He smiled, the last word laced with venom. "And if we're occasionally wicked, well, certainly we'd be justified. "
I wondered if he was trying to comfort me about Vivian, but he stared into the distance as though anticipating future wickedness. What did he want me to light on fire this time? I didn't think I was up for more destruction.
He opened a door into his Faerie Realms room. I collapsed onto a deep green velvet couch. "Can I please go to sleep and never wake up?"
"I believe your sister has that covered. " I glared at him, and he held up his hands. "Sorry. Touchy subject. How about I go get you something to eat?"
I wasn't hungry, but I needed a while to be by myself and disconnect. Jack was so kinetic, always talking, always in motion. He exhausted me even when I didn't feel like this. Still, he felt like my only friend left in the world, and I was grateful to him. We understood each other. "Real food, please. This is the last place I want to be tied to for the rest of my pathetic life. "
"Your wish is my command. " He disappeared through the wall and I lay back, closing my eyes and willing myself not to think of anything, ever again. If I could only sleep, sleep and not have to think about the future without Lend, the emptiness inside me, that would be enough.
I was nearly out when a pair of hands with razor nails grabbed my shoulders and threw me across the room.
My arm hit the corner of a side table with a sickening crack, and I stayed on the floor, dazed. I could feel blood seeping from the fingernail cuts in my shoulders. What was happening?
"Get up," Fehl's horrible voice rasped at me. "I want to see how badly I can hurt you without killing you. " I looked into her feverish eyes as she smiled at me. "How many of your limbs can you live without?"
She wrapped her hand in my hair, pulling me off the ground. I cried out, my arm burning with agony from the movement. I clutched at it, and Fehl's face lit up with cruel delight. She grabbed right where it was broken, and I screamed, lights swimming in my vision. I couldn't handle this much pain; I was going to pass out. I wanted to pass out.
"Evie!" Jack shouted. "Don't let her do this! Fight back!"
Fehl's face was right in front of mine, her breath hot and feral. Rage flared past the pain, rage at this faerie and all she had done to me, to Vivian. What her kind had done to the world. I shoved my good hand against her chest. It was time to finish what Viv started.
I opened the floodgates, and Fehl's eyes widened in shock and fear. A thrill went through me, seeing her face. She deserved to look like that.
Her soul connected with mine in a rush of energy and familiarity, my sparks and currents flooding up to meet it, welcoming it, wanting me to draw it in. Her soul was a dark thing, a wild and rushing thing, the wind howling eternally through a black canyon. I could taste its darkness, what it would feel like to own it.
And in that moment I knew I didn't want any part of Fehl inside me.
I shoved her away and she shuddered, crouching on the ground and wrapping her arms around herself.
"What are you doing?" Jack cried.
I trembled, drained from the effort it had taken to close the connection before I took any of Fehl's soul. Exhausted beyond belief, my arm in so much pain I could barely see straight, I shook my head. "I don't want anything to do with her. Denfehlath," I said, and her head snapped to attention. "Go away and never come near me or Jack again. "
She jerked up, her movements stiff and forced like a living marionette, and disappeared through a door in the wall.
I sank to the floor, shivering.
"Why didn't you kill her?" Jack looked at me, incredulous and angry. "After everything she's done?"
