The Shadow Stealer (Silver Moon Saga Book 3) (24 page)

Chapter Forty-three

Nina pressed her knee into my stomach, digging into my ribs, and I gasped in pain. “Oh, Gabi,” she said, scolding me like I was a naughty child who’d snuck another cookie before dinner. “What
are
we going to do with you?” She put more weight on her knee, and it took everything I had not to cry out. “I can’t kill you. I promised I wouldn’t.” Plucking her knife up from the ground, she twirled it in the air. “Maybe I can stab you, and see what color your blood is?”

If she’d just looked at my palms, she would see the
red
blood dripping from them, but it was hard to talk with all of her weight pressing down on me, crushing me. Nina must have noticed this because she leaned back slightly, and suddenly I was able to fill my lungs with wonderful oxygen.

Did I keep my mouth shut? Had I finally learned my lesson?

Nope.

“My blood is red, you moron,” I said, glaring up at her. “I’m not a freaking demon, all right? And you’re one to talk. Has your precious
master
told you what those spells he’s taught you
really
are?”

Her dark eyes glittered dangerously. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about demon magic. You know, the creatures you hate oh-so-much? You’re using their magic!” I smiled cruelly, watching her face morph from smugness to uncertainty.
Hah, how’s that feel, having your world shattered like that?

Nina backhanded me hard across the face, and my head smacked against the pavement. I tasted blood in my mouth; I must have bit my lip. “Shut up,” Nina hissed. “Shut your stupid mouth, Gabi. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You have no idea!”

Now
I wisely remained silent, mainly because the world was spinning around me. That, combined with the copper taste in my mouth, made me want to puke.
Hey, would she let me go if I threw up on her?

Before I could find out, Nina slashed downward with the knife. I lifted up my forearm to block her when a dark shape came hurtling out of nowhere, colliding with Nina and sending her flying away from me.

I scrambled to my feet, ignoring my dizziness as I put some distance between us. The dark shape—another person—got up, and I gasped when I recognized the long, glossy dark ponytail.

Alexandra.

She flipped her wrists, and two daggers appeared in each of her hands. Nina stood with a groan, blinking when she saw the other girl standing in front of her. “Alex?”

“Hey,” Alexandra said before executing a perfect roundhouse kick. Her fashionable brown leather boot connected with the side of Nina’s face, and there was an audible crunch as the pink-haired girl went flying.

“Holy crap,” I said to no one in particular.

Alexandra walked over to where Nina was sprawled across the ground and kicked her, this time in the stomach. “That’s for stabbing Fitz.”

“Actually, I already punched her in the face for that,” I volunteered.

“Oh.” Alexandra paused. “Well, then that was for hurting Evan. And now this is for attacking Gabi!”

She raised one of her daggers, and I surprised everyone (including myself) by shouting, “Wait!”

Alexandra gave me an annoyed look over her shoulder. “Wait? Gabi, the girl was trying to
murder
you—”

“Yeah, I kind of got that, but she knows things, Alex. She’s got a
master
, someone who’s
very
interested in me.” I watched as understanding dawned on her face. “Don’t you think we should ask her some questions? To prepare ourselves?”

“Okay, we can talk to her.” Alexandra kicked Nina in the stomach again, and the pink-haired girl doubled over, retching. “But in a minute.”

My mouth hung open.
Alex is frightening!

But totally, completely badass. Damn, why couldn’t I be more like her?

Satisfied that Nina wasn’t going anywhere, Alexandra pocketed one of her blades and looked me over. “You all right?”

I shrugged. “Somewhat? What are you even doing here?” Crap. That came out really ungrateful. But I really hadn’t expected to see her here.
Guess she came with Evan to take care of Rafe?

Luckily, she didn’t seem to mind my blunt question. “Evan said you were working, and I wanted to talk, so I rode the bus over here and…” Alexandra trailed off, eyeing Nina’s prone form. “Good thing I did, huh?”

“What did you want to talk about?” I winced, convinced she was going to kick
me
for being so rude to her. It was great that she was here—she’d just saved my butt and all—but what did she possibly want to say to me?

Some of the harshness left her face as she turned her attention back to me. “I wanted to see how you were doing. I know… I know we haven’t really gotten a chance to talk, and that’s my fault, for not seeking you out earlier, but I was so afraid of seeing Evan and…” She laughed and hugged herself tightly. “Basically, I was an idiot. And you seem really cool and I want to get to know you better. Fitz is madly in love with you, in case you didn’t know—”

“I know, thanks,” I said, my cheeks burning.

“And if you’re okay in Fitz’s book, you’re okay in mine.” Alexandra punched me in the shoulder and I couldn’t stop the groan that slipped out from between my lips. “Oops, sorry! I’ve hung around guys almost all my life; sometimes I forget how to act with girls.” She smiled hesitantly. “But I’d like to remember. With you, I mean.”

Rubbing the sore spot on my shoulder (to go along with my multiple other injuries), I returned her smile and said, “I’d like that too.”

In unison, we turned to face Nina, who glared up at us. “So, what do we do with her?” I asked.

Alexandra cracked her knuckles. “Make her talk. Who’s this master of yours?”

Nina kept her mouth shut and I sighed impatiently. “This is stupid. We already know it’s Collins.”

Even though she didn’t confirm it, her face drained of color, giving her away.

Alexandra reached for one of her knives and began twirling it absently, something I’d seen Evan do once or twice. I wondered who had taught whom that particular trick. “Does she know about the demon magic?”

“I just told her, but I don’t know if she believes me.”

“You’re lying!” Nina finally shouted. “Collins would never use filthy demon magic! He hates demons!”

Alexandra squatted down in front of her. “Listen, Pinkie. That little spell you stabbed Rafe with? Up until a day ago, it was still inside of him, killing him.” She jabbed Nina in the shoulder with her pointer finger. “Even someone as stupid as you should realize that’s not normal magic
or
dark magic.”

Tears began trickling down Nina’s face as she gasped for breath. “No! No, no, no, it’s not demon magic, it’s not, it’s not!”

Alexandra made a face at me over her shoulder. “Why are we even bothering with her? She’s a lost cause.”

“Because I need to know if Collins is coming for me,” I said, watching as Nina freaked out. She’d fooled me before, but something told me she wasn’t pretending now. Her whole world had been shattered by our words; that wasn’t something you could easily fake. “Is he, Nina? Did he leave the city?” Oh god, what if he was on the same train as Philip and Kain?

“No, no, no, no,” she said, shaking her head rapidly. “No, no, no, no…”

“We’re not getting anything else out of her.” Alexandra pulled out her phone. “Maybe Evan can work some magic on her—”

Before she could dial, we heard the sound of squealing tires and turned to see Rafe and Evan spill out of Rafe’s car, their weapons drawn and their faces tight with worry.

Rafe pulled me into a fierce hug and I clung to him, surprised to find my eyes welling up with tears. It was like now that he was here, I was allowed to be scared. Sure, I’d been frightened out of my mind, but I hadn’t really felt it until now.

“Are you okay?” he asked, breaking away so he could assess the damage. When he started swearing, I knew I looked bad. I glanced down and noticed that my knees had been torn up, and my jeans were wet with blood. As if on cue, my knees started throbbing, matching the aches in my palms.

“What are you doing here?” I asked dumbly, because I didn’t know what else to say.

“Your brother called,” Evan said, staring up at the sky. “Did you put a veil up?” He directed his question to Alexandra.

“Yeah, just a quick one, before I approached Nina. She had one up already, but I figured if I killed her, the veil would break and then everyone would see…” She said that so flippantly, like it was normal to go around killing friends. Or ex-friends. “It’s pretty crappy, so maybe you should cast another one?”

“Got it.” Evan closed his eyes.

“Phil called you?” I asked Rafe, feeling like I was desperately falling behind on the conversation.

My boyfriend nodded. “He was talking to you, wasn’t he? Then the call cut off, but he heard you say ‘Nina’ in a panicked voice. He was freaking out, Gabi.”

“Give me your phone,” I said. “I need to tell him I’m okay.”

“First let me take care of your knees and hands.” Rafe touched my bottom lip gently. “And this is bleeding too.”

“Yeah, you look like you just bit someone,” Evan added unhelpfully. “Like a vampire.”

“Shut up, Evan!” Rafe said, leading me toward the store.

“Wait, no, I can’t go in there. Bernard will freak! And besides, I never came back from my break… I’m going to lose my job!” I couldn’t believe
that
was what I was focusing on, instead of the fact that I had been, you know,
attacked
. Maybe I was in shock? This whole evening seemed like one giant nightmare.

“Gabi, stop,” Rafe said, helping me limp into the Corral. “I got this.” His jaw was set firmly and I knew it would be better for everyone if I just trusted him.

“OH MY GOD,” Denise hollered the moment she saw us. “What the hell happened to you!”

“A freaking car almost ran her over,” Rafe growled.

I did a double take. Suddenly my boyfriend, who had just been speaking to me sweetly, had morphed into a pissed-off giant (I swear he looked even taller than usual), and if I didn’t know any better (and didn’t love him immensely), I would have been peeing my pants right about then. “She’s bleeding—I need some bandages.”

“Oh my god,” Denise said again. “Did you call the cops? Holy shit, holy shit, we have to find that bastard and
kill
him. Or her. Was it a woman? I will beat that bitch until she forgets her own name—”

“Denise,” Rafe said loudly over her ranting. “Bandages?”

“Oh, right.” She scurried off in the direction of the first-aid aisle as Rafe helped me lean against the front counter. The office door banged open and I winced.

“Harkins! What’s going on!” Bernard demanded.

Rafe fed him the same story about a car nearly hitting me.

“Shit!” My eyes widened; I’d never heard my boss curse before. “Did you get a license plate number?”

“No, I was too busy avoiding being run over,” I said dryly. Rafe poked me gently in the side. “And now my knees really hurt and can I just go home?” I widened my eyes and blinked rapidly.

“Home?” His bushy eyebrows rose up in confusion. For a second I thought Bernard was going to demand I finish my shift. “Yes, of course, but don’t you want to go to the hospital?”

“No!” Rafe and I shouted in unison. Bernard stared at us, probably convinced we’d both lost our minds. “It’s not that bad,” I quickly added. “I think knees just bleed more, making it look like the injury is a lot worse than it actually is.”

Bernard pursed his lips together. “Oh, I guess so.”

“That’s for head wounds,” Rafe whispered in my ear.

This time,
I
poked
him
in the side.

“Here we are!” Denise came rushing back with a billion boxes of bandages and bottles of peroxide balanced precariously in her arms.

Rafe reached for his wallet. “How much?”

“Don’t you dare!” Bernard boomed, and the three of us jumped. “You’re not paying for any of this! Just take what you need and get her home! Harkins, I don’t want to see you back in this store until you’re fully recovered!”

I really, really had to fight to keep a smile from stretching across my face. The mood
was
serious. I’d almost been hit by car, right? Lowering my head, I sniffled and said in a low voice, “Okay.”

“Thanks, Bernard, Denise.” After accepting a plastic bag stuffed with medical supplies, Rafe wrapped his arm around me and led me to his car. He opened the passenger door and I sat down, angling my body so I was facing him.

Crouching in front of me, he rolled up my pant legs, and his fingers, calloused from both swordplay and baseball, gently skimmed my skin as he assessed the damage. Both knees had been torn up pretty bad, but at least they seemed to have stopped bleeding. For some reason I was reminded of our first encounter with Boneless, and how I’d cut my knees that night as well. Rafe had been too embarrassed to touch me back then, but tonight he was having no problem.