Oh, that sweet promise of freedom. Always just beyond her reach. Always.
Her eyes squeezed closed. “You were supposed to be the last one, but I couldn’t drain you. I couldn’t do that. So I gave you my blood, and I thought I was helping you.” Look at him. Her eyes opened. “I swear, I thought I was helping. I didn’t realize the truth—didn’t realize just what you’d become, until I saw you with a werewolf’s claws.”
He looked down at his hand. “They aren’t here now.”
“No, because Dorrin isn’t close. I think I made you into a channeler. Because I gave you my blood and witch power before the hellfire consumed you. If I’m right, now you can take the paranormal powers of others, probably without them even knowing it. There were whispers of this type of thing from the ancient Fey. I think—I think this is even what Vlad hoped I’d be.” But she hadn’t been. “You can steal any magic and use it immediately. That’s how you have a vampire’s fangs, a werewolf’s claws, and the hellfire—”
He climbed from the bed.
“You’re fallen.” Her voice dropped. “The wings you originally had—I think they burned away when you were saving me.” Her eyes stung, but she ignored the burn, blinking away tears that she wouldn’t, couldn’t allow to fall. “They burned, but you pulled in the magic around you. You soaked in the power that filled the bar. An enchanted bomb, one loaded with hellfire. You took it into yourself—you were channeling the power—and that’s how you still have fiery wings.” Because hellfire was eternal. It could never burn out.
They both should have died at the bar.
But he’d taken the fire into himself. Because she’d already given him part of her power by then. She’d made him…
“Into a monster?” Malik finished, voice rough.
No, no, dammit, that hadn’t been her thought. She’d thought—
Get out! Run!
The order blasted through her mind, and Josephine staggered back as if she’d been punched.
Leo and Luke are here. They’re coming for you. Run! That voice—it was Merius. And he was in her head. Yelling the order. She gasped and surged toward Malik.
“I heard him.” His fingers locked with hers. “I thought we were safe here.”
Not if Luke and Leo were torturing Merius and Dorrin in order to learn their whereabouts. She’d never seen anyone who could hold out against Luke’s particular brand of pain. But…I have a plan. It might not be ideal, but it was better than nothing.
“We can fly out.” His burning wings erupted from his back. The sprinklers didn’t burst on, and she knew that had to be due to the enchantment in the room.
But flying out wasn’t an option. “No.” Luke and Leo could fly, too. She rushed to the bathroom. Threw open the door and found a giant mirror staring back at her. “We’re going another way.” Josephine stared into the mirror.
Don’t look. Her father’s voice. A long-ago memory. They’ll take you away. Don’t look.
Her fist smashed into the glass. Shattered it. The glass cut her knuckles, sending blood flying through the cracks in the mirror.
Don’t look. You’ll be afraid of what you’ll see.
Her broken image stared back at her. Distorted. Twisted. Her eyes took on a faint glow, the darkness fading as the Fey power within her ramped up—the dormant power finally sensing that she was heading…home.
“Come with me,” she told Malik, offering him her bloody hand. She could feel the power surging through that mirror. She’d just opened a gateway through the Veil. Only those with Fey blood could pass inside.
She could pass.
And she’d just given more of her blood to Malik when they’d been making love.
He looked at the mirror. “You go.”
What?
“You don’t…need me.” His voice was ragged. His wings still burning. “I will destroy you.” His chin lifted. “You’re better off…without me.”
He was trying to be heroic? When she’d been the one to condemn him?
“I love you.” Such rough, raw words from Malik. Words that shook Josephine to her very core. “Always have, and I always will.”
He didn’t get to say that. He did not get to say those words and then tell her that she had to go away without him. He didn’t get to say he loved her, and then—
“I will destroy you.” His eyes burned with fire and sorrow and fury. “I’m changing. The power is too much. You are the one I cannot hurt.”
But she was hurting. The idea of being without him made her feel as if someone had just ripped out her heart.
The mirror’s glass shattered more—cracks snaking to the left and right. Light poured into the bathroom, flooding from the gateway that she’d opened. “Come with me, Malik.”
Even as she said the words, in her head, Josephine heard Merius roar…
Get out! They’re at the door! Get—
His voice cut off.
Malik picked her up. Lifted her easily as his mouth crashed down on hers. He kissed her with a wild ferocity. With a desperate need. With a love that she could feel.
She hadn’t been loved before, not since Jason. Not since a human had stolen her heart and then took it to the bottom of the ocean. She’d been sure she would never love anyone again. Been so sure that she would never let anyone get close—
Malik was close. He was holding her tight. He was…throwing her through the gateway.
“Malik!” She screamed his name as she reached back for him. He stood inside that bathroom, gazing longingly at her, and then he lifted his hand. Fire blazed from his fingers—fire blazed and the fire burned the gateway, closing the door she’d opened. “No!” Josephine roared. But it was too late. She was in the tunnel that led to the Fey world. She was being pulled, yanked toward the realm she’d turned her back on so long ago. Darkness surrounded her. The dark…and the chilling cold.
Malik.
***
The hotel room door crashed open.
Malik didn’t move. He stood in front of the mirror. The glass had broken into what looked like a hundred different pieces, and then his fire had melded those pieces back together in a terrible, twisted patchwork design.
Josephine wasn’t there. He could feel her absence from the world so completely. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think.
It hurt to live.
My Josephine.
But he’d done the right thing. He’d made sure she’d be safe. That he couldn’t ever hurt her—whatever it was that he was becoming. The rage was there. The evil. The need for destruction.
“Malik.”
Leo’s voice. Sad…and careful.
Malik tore his gaze from the mirror and saw Leo standing just a few feet away. Leo had his hands up in the old, I’m-no-threat routine that was absolute and total BS. Luke was at his side. His hands weren’t up. He still sported a few blisters.
I’ll give him more.
Malik could hear the crackle of the fire from his wings. He smiled as he faced Luke. Perhaps he would enjoy this part. A target for his rage. A chance to destroy…
“Where is she?” Luke demanded, voice guttural.
Malik would never give up Josephine. Her protection was all that mattered.
“Uh…” Leo cleared his throat. “Why is that mirror so fucked-up looking?”
Luke’s gaze whipped to the mirror. Real horror—perhaps even real fear—flashed in his eyes. “No.” Then he bounded toward Malik. “Tell me you didn’t send—”
He sent a blast of fire right at Luke’s chest. Luke stumbled back, yelling in fury and pain as smoke billowed from him and the scent of burnt flesh filled the air.
Power flooded through Malik. A euphoric rush that told him how much he liked the flames. It would be so easy to keep using them. To destroy, to demolish, to burn.
“Uh, yeah, he’s looking like a crazy man,” Leo snapped. “What’s the plan here, Luke? I really don’t want to kill an ex-angel! Even if he is a pyro-maniac!”
Malik grabbed Leo, yanked the
bastard close. “I’d like to see you try.” Again, the rage stirred. Adrenaline pounded through him.
Leo’s face hardened. Dragon scales seemed to explode along his body. “Whatever you’ve become, you can’t possibly compare to what Luke and I—”
Malik opened his mouth and let the flames surge out even as scales—dragon scales exactly like Leo’s—covered his arms and chest.
Leo had lifted his hands to cover his face. The dragon scales burned beneath the blast. “Oh, shit,” he rasped as he stumbled back and slapped at the flames on his body. “This is going to be a fucking bloodbath.” His head turned. “Luke, you have to get the humans out of the city. You’re supposed to protect them now. Go get the humans!”
Luke didn’t go to get the humans. He stepped right in front of Malik, and he said, “Josephine.”
Her name seemed to penetrate the fog around him. The rage. The…pain.
I lost her. She has to stay away from me. I’m too dangerous. I will bring death to her. He’d always feared he’d bring her death. But he’d still wanted her. Wanted her so badly.
“You sent her to the Fey realm, didn’t you?” Luke demanded. “Probably thought you were saving her. Maybe you thought that you’d committed one last, decent act before the new powers you’ve got poisoned your mind.”
Poison. Hadn’t he been poisoned before? He and Josephine…she’d told him that he’d been poisoned in the bar. But the poison hadn’t done anything to her.
The Vampire’s Kiss.
His vampire. He loved her kiss.
She wasn’t poison to him. Leo had tried to say that…to say he’d become addicted.
He could see her in his mind. Beautiful Josephine.
Then…Then he saw…
Fire. Heading for her.
He looked at his arms. At the scales. At the fire. He was a freak. The worst of the monsters. He could never touch Josephine again. So he’d sent her away. He’d sent her—
“To the Fey realm,” Luke cut in…and Malik realized he’d been speaking out loud. Rambling. Been half-mad. He was nearly mad with the rush of power within him.
“I…protect her.” Malik’s throat was raw, probably from the flames he’d just spit out.
Luke shook his head. “No, you didn’t protect her.” He slammed his hand into the twisted mirror, but the glass didn’t break. “Dammit! You weren’t helping her!” A frustrated bellow escaped him. “You sent Josephine to her death!”
“No—safety!” Malik knew his rough speech sounded like a beast. Like a growling, desperate beast. “You can’t hurt her. Can’t touch her there.”
“You’re right. I can’t.” Luke raked a hand through his hair. “Because I can’t get past the Veil. And if I can’t get to her, I can’t help her.” He glared at Malik. “Who do you think was targeting you all along? Who do you think was targeting her? You knew the threat was there, I know you did. You had to sense that her end was close, and that’s why you fell.”
Yes. He’d fallen to keep her safe. Not realizing that he’d be the worst threat to her. “I’m dangerous.” His voice was gravel rough. “I…feel it.”
“Yeah, you’re a fucking time bomb. Tick, tick, tick,” Luke spat back. “And that’s why you need her! Why I need her.” He slammed his fist into the mirror. “But you sent her away! You sent Josephine to her death! Now we’re all going to be screwed.”
You sent Josephine to her death. Malik felt his heart stop beating.
“You were supposed to crave her.” Luke glared at him. “Once you took her blood, you should have constantly needed her. You should have wanted to be with her all the time!”
“I do,” Malik gritted. His whole being hungered for her. But not because of her blood. He’d hungered for her long before he’d tasted her blood. Longed for her and loved her.
Surprise came and went on Luke’s face.
But it was Leo who asked, “Yet you still sent her away?”
“To protect her.” The fire was building again. You sent Josephine to her death. “Protecting her matters most.”
Luke sucked in a quick breath. “Well, you screwed the pooch on that one. Because you sent her straight to her killer.”
He grabbed Luke’s shirt and jerked him closer. “Then go get her. Bring her back to me.”
“I can’t.” Luke’s eyes gleamed. “Only those with Fey blood in them can cross through the Veil. I don’t have Fey blood.”
Malik’s gaze snapped to Leo.
“Don’t look at me,” Leo muttered.
Footsteps rushed toward them. Beyond Leo’s shoulder, Malik saw a rather ragged looking Merius and Dorrin hurrying forward.
“They recovered faster than I anticipated,” Luke told his brother. “You’ll probably need to knock them out again.”
Dorrin started growling. Fur appeared on his face.
“Stop!” Malik thundered. His bellow sent cracks flying across the ceiling. Splintering down the walls.
But everyone stopped.
His breath heaved in and out of his lungs. Smoke appeared before his mouth with each exhale. His heart was now racing so fast he thought it would break out of his chest.
“That’s not a good sign,” Merius mumbled as he glanced at all the spreading cracks.
Malik focused on Luke. “Who is after her in the Fey realm?”
“I don’t know. I just know someone has been slipping back and forth. The same someone who I believe has been watching Josephine for years.”
“I’ve watched her.”
“Yeah, I already know about your obsession.”
“We all do,” Merius added.
Malik didn’t bother glancing his way. The vamp had an obsession of his own. Like he could judge.
“Someone else,” Luke groused. “Someone else who watched her kill and used her same tactics against her when you fell. Someone who knows her very, very well.”
Malik’s gaze whipped to the mirror. He’d thought he was keeping her safe. He’d given her up in order to keep her safe.
Leo cleared his throat. “So, um, here’s the thing about the Fey world.” A quick cough. “There’s a slight problem with the place—”
“It’s not slight,” Luke cut in. “It’s fucking major. It’s the reason Josephine’s father never let her mother return.”
Malik dragged his gaze back to Luke.
“They forget,” Luke said simply.
Malik shook his head.
“The magic in the Fey realm is very strong. And Josephine—let’s just say she’s pretty important on that side of the Veil.”
She’s important here. She’s important to me.
“A halfling like Josephine…the Fey will want to keep her in their realm. Halflings are incredibly rare, very valuable, so part of the magic there…it makes the Fey forget the outside world.” Luke winced. “Sorry, fallen, but the longer she stays, the more of this realm she will forget. Until she doesn’t remember you at all.”
His chest burned. “Maybe that is for the best.” Then she wouldn’t remember what a monster he’d become. Then she wouldn’t have to know—
“Uh, no, it’s not,” Leo fired. “Because remember the part about her having an enemy there? She’ll forget the shit that happened here, she won’t know that she’s in danger, and the most feared paranormal assassin in the world will get slaughtered like an innocent lamb.”
Luke glanced over at his brother. “Now you’re sounding like you care about Josephine.”
Leo’s chin jutted up. “She is a Bad Thing, isn’t she?” He glared at Luke. “And aren’t you supposed to be out saving the humans?”
Slaughtered like an innocent lamb. Not Josephine. “No.” Malik drove his fists into the mirror, pounding again and again as he obliterated that twisted glass.
“That’s not gonna help,” Leo muttered. “We need to go find a Fey—”
The glass cut Malik’s knuckles. His blood touched the chunks of mirror—
White light shot out of the portal he’d just opened.
/>
“Fucking hell,” Merius whispered.
Hell, heaven—Malik didn’t know what the realm would be like. He only knew that he’d sent Josephine there. Sent her there to protect her, but he’d left her lost. Undefended. She would need him. He had to get to her. Had to save her.
Nothing else mattered.
No one else mattered.
He climbed onto the sink and leapt through the portal.
And a trail of fire exploded in the bathroom behind him.
***
The fire alarm was beeping and sprinklers poured down water on Merius. “Now they start working,” he muttered. Plenty of fire had been shooting during that whole weird-ass stand-off in the bathroom, but now the sprinklers decided to rain on him. His magical wards must have reached their limits. This fire was too strong for them. Otherwise, they’d all still be dry. They might also be burning so…
He’d take the water.
“How the hell did he get through the portal?” Leo asked, appearing stunned. And wet.
But Luke—he just looked smug as he swiped water out of his eyes. “I guess he had some Fey blood in him. Josephine’s blood.”
Leo blinked. “You sonofabitch. You planned this, didn’t you?”
Luke glanced down at his fingers. “Me? What?”
Yeah, even Merius didn’t buy his act.
Then he just—vanished.
Went poof.
“That’s some weird shit,” Dorrin announced.
It was.
Chunks of smoking glass dropped onto the tiled, bathroom floor. Obviously, it was time for someone to take control of the situation. Merius slapped his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “Hey, old friend…”
Looking guilty as could be, Leo turned toward him.
“You knew, all along, that Josephine wasn’t the vamp who’d bitten me.” Merius wanted to get back to the part that mattered to him.
Leo didn’t deny the accusation. “Not all along. At first, I did believe it was Josephine. Luke told me and I-I got Malik to watch her.” He lifted his chin. “But, yes, I learned the truth. And the truth is that Celeste forgot you.”
Merius stiffened.
Leo motioned toward the remains of the mirror. “Josephine’s sister is a halfling. Just like her. The longer Celeste was in the Fey realm, the more she forgot.” His lips thinned. “She forgot you, Merius. I’m…sorry. There was no point in telling you about her when Celeste had no memory of you at all.”