Forget About Midnight (11 page)

A frustrated growl rumbled in my throat. I watched as Shya nudged a body with his toe. Unable to hold back, I took a shot. It hit him harder than I expected, throwing him across the room. Instead of angry retaliation, he merely laughed.

Shya got to his feet, smoothing out his suit as if I’d rumpled it. “Now the beast is really out of her cage, hmm? This should be interesting. I can’t wait to see how you destroy yourself.”

He flared his wings out wide behind him, but otherwise never reacted to my temper. I hated him more than words could ever convey.

“How did he know?” I blurted before I could rein in the question. “How did Willow know he could save me from total darkness?”

Shya regarded me with something that almost bordered on sympathy. Or pity. Neither of which I wanted from him.

“Of course he knew, Alexa. We’ve been around since the beginning of time. Willow walked in both worlds. He knew well what you faced, and he knew what it would take to save you. And condemn you.”

“Screw you, Shya.”

“The truth is a harsh thing, isn’t it? That’s why we seek to escape it in such acts of pain and desperation.” He inclined his head toward the scene we stood in, forcing me to face what I’d done with his eyes upon me.

I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of making me feel guilty. Turning the tables would be the only way to make him to get to the point of his visit here.

Pinning Shya with a cool stare, I smiled a little when I said, “Willow is more powerful now than you will ever be. You know it. I know it. I can’t wait until he makes you suffer for what you did to Christina.”

Shya choked on a bark of laughter. “The whore? Nonsense. Willow is where he belongs now, as are you.”

“No.” I shook my head sadly as I recalled the look on Willow’s face when he told me that Shya had killed the woman he loved. “He’s got nothing left to lose. You should be worried.”

Shya’s expression remained stony and cold. “Don’t be too quick to cast out vengeance upon others, Alexa. There is some coming your way as well.”

Crossing my arms in an attempt to appear in control, I scoffed. “Is this the part where you swear that you’ll get revenge on me for the whole Lilah’s empire thing? Ok, let’s hear it.”

A sudden and sharp pain in my middle doubled me over. My heart squeezed painfully, and I clutched my chest. Shya’s thick, murky demon power slithered over me, coiling like a snake around my heart. I was on my knees before I realized what hit me.

Shya stood there unmoving, eyes flashing with malice. “You will be sorry you crossed me. I am very patient. I can wait for the right time. It’s not my intent to destroy you. I want to make you suffer. All I have is time. And now, so do you.”

He released me from his hold, and I collapsed on the floor next to one of the dead frat guys. For a moment I thought I might vomit. Shya’s power was easier to bear than when I’d been mortal, but it was no less nauseating or intimidating.

I looked into the vacant, dead stare of the corpse at my side, and I saw who I was now. With that moment of raw awareness came an epiphany. Shya didn’t know me, nor had he ever. I was just beginning to really know myself. I was dark to the core, but I was light too. Willow had given himself to ensure the dark could not wholly consume me. I couldn’t let his sacrifice be in vain. Again it became very clear that to give in to my dark side would be the ultimate failure.

“Revenge, Shya? That’s really a priority for you right now?” I shoved to my feet and wiped my hands on my clothing. “Well then I might as well make it worthwhile. Things have changed. I’m not going to get you the dreamwalker I owe you.”

Taunting the demon was not in my best interest. I didn’t care. Shya would never be satisfied. He would always want something from someone. Somehow I would find a way to stop being one of them.

There was a noise at the top of the stairs. Kale stood there with a body at his feet. Other than a few disheveled hairs out of place and a smear of blood down the side of his face, he appeared just as well put together as he had when we’d arrived.

“Good of you to join us, Kale,” Shya greeted him with a nod. He watched with curiosity as Kale descended the steps. “We were just discussing the dreamwalker Alexa owes me. You know, the debt she accepted on your behalf.”

The debt that would never go away. I’d only worn Shya’s mark for a few months, but it felt like much longer. Still, he would’ve killed Kale, and if he resorted to that tactic now, I knew I would do anything he wanted.

“Are you still on about that damn dreamwalker?” Kale moved with undead grace that drew my appreciative gaze. He joined me as I stood facing off against the demon. “You should just cut your losses and move on.”

The sound of feathers ruffling was both soothing and threatening in the quiet. Shya stretched his wings before resettling them against his back. I eyed him warily. The Japanese man he appeared to be was a total lie. I’d seen him become a massive, terrifying dragon.

“The dreamwalker is not the point. It is the fact that Alexa owes me a debt. A debt that will be paid.”

“So why not just strike a new deal?” Kale suggested. “How much can the dreamwalker really mean to you now anyway? I doubt it’s your biggest concern at the moment.”

I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that. I liked it even less when Shya appeared to consider it. Giving him a person had never been something I was ok with doing. Part of me had hoped I’d find a way out. But anything Shya would take instead couldn’t possibly be any better.

Shya pondered me for far too long. I couldn’t help feeling like Kale had just sealed my fate. Finally, the demon shrugged and said, “What do you think, Alexa? Are you willing to change the terms of our deal?”

I laughed, a bitter sound that left a sour taste in my mouth. “That depends on what kind of change you have in mind.”

“Oh, there are many things I’d love to have you give me. However, what I’d like most is for you to ally with me. As the vampire queen of the city, you have many powerful creatures at your disposal. I still need the vampires and the wolves. Which if I can recall correctly, you already promised to me.” Shya stood there, openly gloating and loving my growing rage.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I snarled. My fingers crackled with power demanding to be used. “I said I would make connections with them. And I have been. But not for you. Never for you. I will never be your ally, and I will never rally the vampires and werewolves for you.”

Shya nodded and beamed happily. He’d expected this reaction. “Then a dreamwalker it is. Your month has become less than three weeks I’m afraid. Better get on that.”

“Or what?” My entire body hummed with the force surging inside me, seeking to be released. We’d had a similar conversation recently. “You threaten my sister? Please tell me you have a new threat at least.”

A shadow enveloped Shya. His face went blank as he stared at me. He moved unseen, one moment several feet away and the next, slamming me into a blood-spattered wall.

His hand on my throat didn’t affect me as it once would have. I didn’t need to breathe. It still hurt like hell when he smacked my head off the wall with enough force to crack the stud behind the drywall.

Kale moved to intervene, but Shya flung out his free hand, nailing Kale with a hot blast of demon power. He never took his red gaze from me as he glowered into my face.

“Don’t provoke me, Alexa. I have very little left to lose at this point. I don’t doubt that your demon will surface soon enough and still attempt to protect you. But demons can’t interfere in another’s deal.” Shya pressed close, pinning me with his body, making me feel the overwhelming pressure and heat of the power he could so easily scorch my insides with. “And Willow can’t protect everything you love.”

I understood his meaning, loud and clear. He didn’t have to hurt me. He could make me suffer by hurting others. My mind went immediately to Kylarai and the baby she was carrying.

“I get it, Shya. You’re the bigger bad. Fine. You’ll get your dreamwalker. Now get the fuck out of my face.” My voice was hoarse due to his hand crushing my windpipe.

My power ran at a much higher frequency than it had as a mortal. Holding it back began to hurt. Using it felt so much better. It burst out like a caged beast finding a weakness in the bars that held it. It hit Shya dead center, and I braced for the moment it would throw him off me. That never happened.

Anticipating the hit this time, he took it into him, absorbing the blow. His eyes flashed an angry, deep red. “Well I’ll be damned. That actually hurt. A lot. Good for you, Hound. You might actually be a force to be reckoned with.”

“Thanks for noticing, demon,” I spat, giving him a shove. “But I already was. I stopped you, didn’t I?”

“With the help of Falon’s sword. Don’t make the mistake of getting too cocky for your own good.” Baring his perfect teeth in an ugly grimace, Shya grabbed me by both arms and threw me. I let out a yelp as I sailed through the air, arms flailing. My back cracked against the side of the island counter in the kitchen. I hit the floor, landing in a puddle of blood.

It took several tries before I could suck enough air into my lungs to force words out. Being a vampire didn’t eliminate pain, though I was appreciative of the speedy healing. “Motherfucker.”

I met Kale’s gaze across the distance where he stood with a ball of silver fire blazing in his palm. With a slight shake of my head, I pushed to my feet. We couldn’t take on Shya and win. Our only choice was to let it go. Vengeance against Shya would come, but it would have to be some other way.

“You should leave now.” Shya tugged at the cuffs of his suit, as if throwing me around had rumpled it again.

“Me?” I gaped at him. “You’re the uninvited party. You can’t kick me out of my own murder scene.”

Shya surveyed the room with a strange little half smile that reflected some inner thought he wasn’t about to share. “Had you planned on staying until the FPA shows up? I assume Briggs will resume tracking you once your vampire is done with him.”

I clutched the edge of the island counter behind me. A piece of the faux stone broke off beneath the pressure of my grip. “Wait, what?”

“Arys is playing with Agent Briggs tonight. At this very moment he’s luring a team of Briggs’s men into a massacre in the River Valley. I’m sure it will be spectacular.”

I tried to feel something like shock or surprise. But it was Arys, and I felt no surprise at all that he would do something so dire. He was taking on Briggs as a ploy to throw the Feds off my trail. He was doing it to protect me.

Turning away from the sight of Shya’s eagerly expectant stare, Kale’s neutral calm, and the mess of blood and bodies, I leaned on the island and drummed my fingers atop the bottle-littered surface. I just needed a moment to gather my thoughts and to blink back the blood tears that filled my eyes.

The yearning that seized me was sudden and unbearable, bordering on painful. It was an emotional pain though, rooted in the very essence of who I was. I choked back the ragged groan that stuck in my throat. My energy would betray me if I didn’t numb out the agony of longing for Arys.

“So why do you want me to leave?” I spun back to face Shya, careful to avoid eye contact with Kale. “What are you up to?”

“You don’t really want to know.” Shya’s expression was purposefully vacant. He was toying with me.

The way he was looking at the carnage gave me an uneasy feeling. I sighed and checked to make sure I had everything that I’d come in with. “You’re right. I don’t. But tell me anyway.”

Shya appeared to consider. Then with a short nod and a raised brow, he said, “Lucky for you, I have many uses for the death energy lingering in this house. I’m going to reap all that I can as soon as you go on your merry way. I may even clean up your mess. Or I may just leave it for Briggs. I haven’t decided yet.”

It was strangely fascinating to me that both Shya and Briggs worked to conceal supernatural activity from human eyes. A demon and a man shouldn’t have the same agenda. Although I suspected that their motivations were different.

Briefly I considered arguing. It wasn’t worth it. Shya was exhausting merely because he always had a retort or a countermove. And he never ran out of things to say.

Stifling an exasperated sigh, I made my way toward the door. This night had gone from a little mad to downright batshit crazy. I was so done with it.

Kale went ahead of me to scope out the exterior. If Briggs was dealing with Arys then he was not going to be a problem for us tonight. I trusted Shya would not allow the police to discover such a scene. It was important to him to keep the creatures of the night a myth, a Hollywood trope dredged up from old folklore. Either way, I was beyond caring. Human authorities were the least of my current worries.

“Hey, Shya,” I paused, wrestling with the question that rose up from the place where I stored my personal fears. “The Dragon Claw… is it useless to me now? Do you want it back?”

Asking the demon any question that I wanted a truthful answer to was more than a little stupid. Still, I needed to know. The Dragon Claw had been created to kill vampires. It didn’t even need to pierce the heart. It lay inside its velvet-lined box in the trunk of my car, untouched. I had been too wary to touch it since I turned.

“Of course not,” he snapped, looking to the ceiling as if unable to comprehend my idiocy. “It was created for you, with your DNA. If a slight slip of the blade is what’s got you worried, then let me assure you that it would take much more than that to kill you. That dagger knows you. I designed it that way.”

He could have been lying, but my gut told me he spoke the truth. Shya didn’t really want me dead. It would rob him of the chance to torment me.

“It’s all clear,” Kale announced from the front step.

I followed him out, leaving Shya to reap some kind of mystical benefit from my slaughter. That right there gave me pause, made me reconsider my reckless actions.

For just a moment I experienced a fierce, deeply driven urge to head for the River Valley. I stopped on the sidewalk halfway to the Camaro and stared in the direction I knew Arys to be.