With effort, Adam let the insult to her go. It’d be unwise to let the argument escalate. There was a good chance Jacob would lose his grip on whatever vestiges of civility lurked in his monster mind and turn wraith. Much better to keep him on track.
“Will the demon be joining us here?”
Jacob stood and pulled down his vest as he walked around Dad’s desk.
A flicker of movement and Adam reeled backward, his body slamming against the built-in bookshelf to the right of the door. Pain knifed through his jaw. He blinked hard against the spots swimming in his vision and focused again on his brother.
Jacob seemingly remained stationary, adjusting a cuff link on his sleeve with too-nimble fingers. The cuff was dotted with red. “You’ve stained my shirt. Now I’ll have to change.”
So fast. Too fast. Must have just fed.
The pill was still hard in Adam’s mouth. He shoved it aside with his tongue and spat blood. Straightening, he said, “The demon—”
Another flicker of movement and pain exploded behind his eyes. The room swam. Adam’s back connected with the edge of a piece of furniture, which broke with a resounding crack. Thick, wet heat trailed out of his nose and smeared across his cheek as he landed facedown on the rug.
“Disgusting, Adam. Bleeding like an animal.” Jacob planted a foot on the center of Adam’s back, along his spine, bearing down so that Adam’s nerves radiated SOS signals in hot electrical currents outward from the point of contact.
“How I’d love to break you in half,” Jacob said, voice on edge.
“You’re the animal. You’ve just fed and you’re still out of control,” Adam gasped.
The pressure intensified.
“Sitting behind my father’s desk as if you were still a human being,” Adam continued, the rug rough on his jaw. Muscles contracted over his scalp as his spine bowed.
“My father, too.” Jacob dug in and pain roared through the long muscles of Adam’s back.
“No, the demon’s your father. Your keeper. You answer to him.”
“And why not? He gave me immortality. What is Thorne money to the power of time?”
“My father gave you immortality, too. It’s called a soul.”
“Dad was weak. The demon is not.” The pressure abruptly disappeared.
Adam fought the gorge in his throat as he pushed himself up to his knees. “Is there a meeting or not?”
Jacob shrugged. “Yes. Yes. He wants to see you. But he permits no death near him, so you’ll have to lose the little pill you’ve got in your mouth.”
Adam flushed, then chilled. He touched the pill with his tongue again.
“Did I mention that the demon can see the future?” Jacob laughed.
The Sight.
“He saw this coming.” Jacob nudged Adam’s shoulder with the toe of his shoe. “Even had me come here to wait for you. You’re that predictable.”
Adam was certain that Zoe knew full well what he intended to do. If he were destined to fail, why didn’t they stop him? He might have made a different decision.
“I’m going to need that little pill, and then we can go meet with the Death Collector,” Jacob said.
Crush it now and end Jacob? A week ago, Adam wouldn’t have thought twice. Even now, the temptation was sticky sweet, muting the pain that throbbed in his face and back. Oh, how he’d love to see Jacob’s expression when Death struck him down.
Jacob’s mouth tricked up. “I know you won’t use it on me, Brother. Not even for Mom and Dad.”
Abigail had to have seen a chance. Crazy old bat had to have seen this eventuality.
Adam spat the pill onto the rug and raised his face to Jacob. Voice thick with sarcasm, he said, “Okay, then. Take me to your master.”
Jacob rolled his eyes, then lashed out an arm. Connected.
The world shuddered dark.
“If I could just take a deep breath, maybe I wouldn’t feel so light-headed.” Talia made a show of reaching over her shoulder for the ties lacing her snugly into the corset. The rasp in her voice made her lie that much more convincing.
“Sure,” Zoe said. “I guess I should’ve thought about that, what with your injury and all. I’m sorry.”
Talia walked into the dressing room and waited until Zoe closed the door behind her. The club’s pumping music rounded into muted thumps and whines.
The click of the lock made Talia’s pulse jump with satisfaction.
Now for a little information.
Zoe stepped deeper into the room and Talia pulled shadows down. Layered darkness surged into the room and all sense of mortality was blotted out entirely.
“Talia?” Zoe’s voice was thin in the dark.
Talia took Zoe’s hand, shared her senses with her, just as Zoe’s fear coursed across their connection. No wonder people needed to be ushered across the divide of death. Humanity would be utterly lost without the fae.
Zoe’s gaze found her and focused. Her eyes were wide with alarm. “What’s going on?”
“I wanted to have a private chat with you,” Talia said softly, careful of her voice. “Just you and me, with absolutely no interruptions.”
Zoe swallowed audibly. “What about?”
“Adam.”
“Uh…What about him?”
“Where is he?”
Zoe’s eyes flicked to the right, preparing to lie. “I don’t know. Didn’t he tell you?”
“No, he didn’t.” Damn him. “But I know you know.”
Zoe fidgeted with her feet, but met Talia’s gaze. “I have no idea. Honestly.”
Honestly? Even now Zoe’s emotions communicated her duplicity.
“You’re lying. You know where he went.”
“I don’t. Now let me go—you’re scaring me.” Zoe pulled her hand out of Talia’s grasp.
Talia knew the dark would swallow her, deafen her, choke her with its absolute vacuum of stimuli. She let the horror of that isolation settle in for a moment.
When Zoe began to shake, Talia touched her shoulder lightly and leaned into her ear. “I’m a banshee. I’m supposed to be fucking terrifying.”
“Let me out of here right now.” Zoe’s heart had to be beating furiously. The surrounding shadows trembled with her. Her terror swept across the fluid veils.
Talia was unaffected. The little brat was going to spill if Talia had to make her pee her pants in fright to do so. “Tell me where Adam went.”
“I don’t know.” Zoe shrugged definitively. Her eyes shined with tears, reflective like mirrors in the magic of darkness.
Talia kept her voice whisper low. “Then we’re at an impasse. We’ll just have to stay right here until we can come to some kind of agreement.” How to speed this up? Her turn to lie. “However, you should probably know that it may not be good for you to remain in my shadows for any length of time. These are the shadows of death and will by nature have an adverse effect on your longevity.”
Zoe rolled her eyes, batting away the wetness. “Abigail says I live to old age.”
Talia’s laugh burned in her throat. “Abigail can’t see the fae. There’s no way she could see this coming.”
“You wouldn’t hurt me.” Zoe crossed her arms over her chest.
“But I am hurting you. Right now. How bad it gets is up to you.”
She released Zoe’s shoulder and stepped back, allowing the screaming nothingness to inundate her again. Talia whipped the veils to quicken her thinking process, to goad her fear into real panic.
Zoe’s chest hitched as her breathing became irregular. Her heart beat frantically as black eyeliner ran down her cheeks and her trembles turned into full-bodied shakes.
Stupid kid. All dressed up to welcome Death. Truth was, she didn’t welcome death any more than anyone else.
As if in agreement, Zoe spoke, “He went to the Styx. To destroy the demon Death Collector.”
Shock washed Talia’s skin with ice. She dropped her shadows abruptly and the veils hissed back out of existence.