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Her head tilted. “Oh, Cole, darling, I’m so sorry. I’ve been babbling on when obviously you must’ve heard about Vaughn.”
“No, I haven’t heard anything. What happened?”
Jane pursed her lips. “He…passed away. Last week. I’m so sorry.”
I sat back, my heart dropping. “H-how?”
“Drug overdose. It’s unclear whether it was intentional or accidental, but they’re leaning toward the former. Again, I’m so sorry.”
She reached across the table to touch my hand, but I barely felt it. Her voice faded out, and my head felt stuffed with cotton. I mumbled something about not feeling well and walked back to the flat. The sun that had been bright that day hid behind a cloud, and the world was dark again.
And the flat was overrun with demons.
Pico, Daeva, and Zerin were standing in the middle of the living room, despite the fact I never gave them a key. Now that I was fucking awake and sober, it seemed obvious who they were. Shocking that I hadn’t seen it before.
“Cole, my boy,” Zerin said. “I hope you don’t mind that we let ourselves in, but it’s just been too long. We’re worried about you.”
“So very worried,” Daeva said, slipping her hand into mine. My skin crawled, and it was everything I could do to not pull away from her touch and wipe my hands on my jeans.
Pico sidled up to me and put his arm around my shoulders, sending chills down my spine.
“Listen,” he said confidentially, like we were old pals. “I know it’s been hard for you since Ambri dumped you in Rome. Between you and me, he always seemed like an asshole. Full of himself, you know?”
I nodded stiffly, teeth clenched.
“But the show must go on, right?” He opened his hand to show me a bottle of white pills. “My gift to you. A little something to get you through the last push for your collection.”
He held the bottle to me, and I remembered something else Ambri had told me—they couldn’t hurt me unless I let them. Pico couldn’t press the bottle into my hand; I had to willingly take it from him.
He was waiting, a tight smile on his face. The others, too. Watching. Their friendly expressions hiding a malevolence that seemed so obvious now.
Slowly, I took the bottle and feigned a look of gratitude. “Thanks, Pico. I appreciate it.”
He beamed and the others relaxed.
“Plenty more where those came from. I’m here for you. We all are. Whatever you need.” He clutched my shoulders. “We’re not going to abandon you, Cole. We’re going to stick close to you no matter what. Thick as thieves.”
Think as thieves…
I swallowed down a sob and made a fist around the bottle. “Thanks for these, Pico,” I said carefully. “I’m going to get to work. Maybe you guys could come back later?”
“Of course,” Zerin said. His eyes were cold blue ice pouring into me.“When?”
“Soon. I’m almost done with this collection and then we can celebrate.”
“A party!” Daeva clapped her hands. “One nice, long, crazy party.”
“Exactly,” I said. “The party to end all parties.”
The three exchanged glances. They seemed to like the sound of that.
“Of course, my friend!” Pico said. “We’ll leave you to it. But give a shout if you need more little pick-me-ups.”
“I will.”
They went out and closed the door behind them. I waited a few moments, then hurried to throw the locks. But what fucking good would that do? They could fly in windows or materialize out of thin air.
I let out a strangled cry and hurled the bottle of pills into the fireplace where it clattered against the wrought iron and brick. Then I slid down the door and cried. I cried until I felt hollow. For Vaughn. The Twins got him. Or maybe some other demon. They got him and they had Ambri. And there was not one fucking thing I could do about any of it except try to do what Lucy had said and keep to the light.
