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“He’ll kill you,” I managed.
“Why do you care?”
I wanted to laugh, but it got caught in my throat. Nikki was watching me so intently. Did she feel anything for my dying? I had never given her a reason to care about me. Unlike our father, I wasn’t able to switch between the darkness that was needed for the business into the role of a loving family member. I never really cared to try.
“You’re my sister.” I chuckled. “You’re mine to kill.”
“Where is he?” Nikki demanded with another shake of my shoulders.
Should I tell her? I’d never get another chance. She was only alive until today because of me. Cole could have killed her years ago, but I asked him not to because she was mine,mine to kill.She’d survived beyond her meddling only because I willed it. Now I was the one dying, and I never got to kill her. Maybe if she went after Cole, he’d finish the job. He’d killed our father when he lost the protection of his business when Emrick had taken it over, and Cole killed Dad simply because he could. But he didn’t go after Emrick, or his territory, because Emrick was too strong, and this city wasn’t worth it. So Cole moved on to somewhere he had more control. Regardless of who and what our father was, Nikki was, for some reason, strangely loyal to him and finding his murderer.
“Vegas,” I muttered. I don’t care why she thought I was answering. If it was some hope at redemption, or if I was offering her some fucked-up olive branch by giving her the current location of our father’s murderer. I hoped Cole killed her, or maybe they’d even kill each other. That would be best.
I felt every heartbeat now as if my body was clinging to the feeling, trying to make it last a bit longer. Was my heart slowing down, or was it time? I couldn’t be sure. Where was Mike? I wanted to take him with me into the abyss. Would I meet him in Hell one day?
Would I meet my father?
Nikki was shaking me again. Was she saying something or just shaking me? I couldn’t make out the words. I couldn’t tell. I hoped I was smiling at her. I hoped she had to watch the smile on my face as the light in my eyes dimmed.
I hoped the image haunted her forever.
I hoped she…
MIKE
Jacob’s blood saved me from my transformation. As long as I stood within this cage, I could hold onto my humanity. But Jacob needed to get to a hospital, so I would need every ounce of my strength to get him there.
My first thought was to transfer my ability to heal to him. I’d never done it before, but I knew how. However, Jacob was human, and the transfer only worked from one celestial to another. I cast a lightning-fast glance at Tate’s body. He had demon blood in him,myblood, and I could have possibly healed him. With the extent of his injuries, the effort it would take to heal him, considering he is a bonded human and not a demon, would likely have killed me. Jacob’s face was pale, and the muscles in my neck strained as I held myself together. He needed help and not the sort of help I could give.
I knew then I would have easily given my life to save Jacob, but I wouldn’t do it for Tate.
Did that make me the monster he claimed I was?
Shaking the thoughts from my head, I needed to take action. I’d have to do something I hated doing and ask for help. With a few well-practiced flicks of my thumb over my phone, I texted Frank our location and a single word.
Urgent.
He would be here soon, and I could trust him to keep me controlled until Jacob was safe.
Tate was dead, and his body lay there, open-eyed and grinning, mocking me even in death. This isn’t how I wanted things to go. Emrick seemed unconcerned with having taken Tate’s life, and from the arch of his brow, I could tell he was wondering why I cared.
I cared because I wasn’t on Earth to take lives or make them worse for anybody.
Yet, look at all the damage I had done.
Emrick shifted out of the way as I kneeled next to Jacob again. Emrick had torn off and tied his tank top around Jacob’s torso, and Jacob’s breathing had steadied, but he had not regained consciousness.
I loved him, and I hated myself for it.
Look at what had happened with Tate. Whoever he was before we met, he was a thousand times worse because of me. I brought out the darkness in him and gave him the power to inflict damage on others.
I looked over at Cade clinging to his partner, Nikki, as if his life depended on it, and I suppose, in a way, it did.
Demons loved deeply, completely.
“Cade,” Nikki whispered, and he shushed her and brushed at her hair. They’d been let out of their cage by Ray and Ilsa, although from the state of the metal, it looked as though Cade would’ve busted it open eventually through sheer willpower.
Nikki shook her head. “Cade, I want to bond with you.”
