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“If you’re looking for any of Freddy’s pieces, they’re all up there.”
I point back to the building, wanting to do anything to distract this man from me. He doesn’t take the bait, and I’m not sure what I was planning to do.
Run?
In the amount of time it would take me to take off my heels and start running, he’d certainly turn around and catch me.
His steely gaze slowly tracks my movements. I hadn’t noticed his eyes before. His gray eyes—his gray and white and black eyes.
“Stiel?” I’d only ever seen Titan and Rook use their rings, but this man doesn’t feel like any of the brotherhood. “Dredd? Knox?”
My gaze darts to his hands, his right, then his left, and I see it, a ruby ring, large and square cut, not a twin to Titan’s or the brothers’, but close enough that I know what it is.
“Good to know the whole brotherhood is here. But I am not one of your friends.”
“Maximus?” I swallow hard, nearly tripping over my heels. I pull my purse a little closer, dipping my hand inside to feel the rough edges of the Keystone.
Maximus had destroyed the brotherhood’s home. As angry as I am at him, I took the Keystone to punish Titan, not the entire brotherhood. This gargoyle cannot be allowed to have it.
“They’ve told you about me?” When he smiles, I’m surprised I don’t see fangs.
This gargoyle destroyed his home for a rock. He was willing to kill for it. There is no reason I can imagine that he wouldn’t be willing to do the same to me.
“Give it to me, Julianna.”
My real name sounds wrong in anyone’s mouth but Titan’s, and before shock can take over, I almost correct him. I’m smart enough to ignore the impulse and instead stutter some vague denial as I stumble back.
I’m almost to the corner now, and I see a parking lot less than a block away. A couple cars enter and exit, and I pray there is a parking attendant inside. Titan made it clear that the Strange do not intentionally expose themselves to humans. Maybe, just maybe, if I get to the parking lot, there will be enough humans nearby to discourage Maximus.
I stumble, slipping off my heels, one, then the other. I make it look like an accident, like I’m just so terrified of the man that I’m stumbling in my heels, which is easy to do because my eyes feel huge, my breathing is short and shallow, and my muscles are tense.I’m too afraid of what will happen if I dare make the wrong move.
“Give it to me,” he repeats, his words more confident this time.
He doesn’t step towards me. He simply holds his ringed hand out. Even in the gloomy light, the deep red of the stone shines bright, like a drop of blood in a field of snow.
I have to get out of this now.
Adrenaline courses through me as I look at my bag, my hand inside it holding my phone. My eyes linger, give the glance purpose and weight. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch him switch his attention from my face to my purse.
Good.
I just need a moment, a second of Maximus’s distraction, and then I can run. I keep letting my gaze drop to my bag, then dart around the street and back to him. He’s completely transfixed by my hand in the bag. If I’ve played this right, he’s assumed I’m holding the Keystone. Where else would it be? I’m wearing a skimpy dress with no jacket and no pockets. It’s the only place the magical relic could be.
I’m still backing up when I see several cars at the red light a block back.
“Don’t get me wrong, Julianna. I find it more than amusing that Titan has found himself in the thrall of a human. Another day, another time, I might do something with that, but this isn’t your fight. There is no reason for you to get hurt in all this.”
Again, my name from anyone else’s mouth grates against my ear drums, but my mind snags on what he said about Titan.
“He’s not under my thrall. I was just a tool to him,” I spit out.
Maximus laughs. It’s low and controlled, his stone eyes only focusing on me more intensely.
“Did lying to yourself like that allow you to steal the Keystone?” He shakes his head. “I know when a monster has been pulled from their purpose. I know the look, and I see it in his face when he watches you. You are his.”
He takes a step towards me, and I take two steps back. My mind and body are split, one focused on planning my escape, the other stuck on Maximus’s words. I thought I saw Titan’s desire for me in his eyes, thought I felt the way he cared for me, trusted me. Contrary to everything I know, I wanted to believe it so badly. I ache to believe Maximus.
But I can’t let myself believe anything this monster is saying. Titan made it clear who and what his priorities were, and it wasn’t me.
