Well, that was unhelpful. I held my hand out for Dash. He helped me sit and left me there as he went around the car to open my door for me.
I thought I had my feet, but I didn’t argue when his hand under my elbow steadied me as I stood.
The thing Eleanor had done helped, yes. But I was so far from steady, it was hilarious.
The clouds had given some ground, stars taking the stage to shine up the place. I tipped my head up and wasted a precious second or two staring into the eternal nothingness.
I should have stayed dead. It would have been kinder to . . . well, everyone.
“Shame?” Dash asked.
“I got it.” I leaned my hip against the car and closed my eyes. “Might want to step off a bit, though,” I said to him. “You too, Cody. And Sunny. My control is crap.” I waited until I heard footsteps in gravel moving away. Then I waited until their three heartbeats were at least twenty feet off. Not far enough—a mile wouldn’t be enough for them to be out of my blast zone. But at least they weren’t in arm’s reach. I’d be able to look for Davy’s heartbeat and pay no attention to theirs.
Who was I kidding?
The cold pressure of Eleanor’s hand landed on my left wrist. She was there, standing beside me. Not that she could get away. Not that she could stop feeding me, and the hunger devouring me, or break the tie between us.
But she was there to do what she could to help.
I sort of loved her for that.
So here’s how it went down. I took a couple of breaths that didn’t ruin my lungs, cleared my mind, thought the happy, and hooked up just enough Death magic in my mental fingertips, thumb still pressing on the windpipe. I could send it out like a gentle breeze to tell me if any familiar heartbeat was tapping away in the space around me.
Easy. I’d done it a thousand times before. Did it without thinking most days. Had to push it away and ignore it so every damn heart wasn’t thumping against my brain.
So of course I could do it now, right?
First, I felt my heart. Broken, cold, and wrong in just about every way. Ignore that. Move on, move out. Cody’s heart, calm, steady. Stronger than almost anyone I’d ever met. Man had a solid grip on living after all those years of being mentally broken. He was a survivor.
Ignore him.
Next, Sunny. Blood pushing too fast, heartbeat too high. Worried about Davy, her heart racing with love and fear. She would be so easy to pluck. So ripe.
Ignore her.
Past her heart, I could feel the beat of Dash’s life. A little elevated, but steady. A man who had dealt with all sorts of shit and just kept dealing. He knew what he was in for, maybe was the only one here willing to put me down if I went feral.
Yes, I knew that was an option, a rather high chance, actually. If it came to that, I figured Dash would pull the trigger. Over and over until I stopped moving.
He was a good man, but he worried too damn much.
Ignore him.
Push the magic past them. Fast, faster. Rabbits and birds and snakes and bugs. Kill them all. Crunch and crack and pop of life spilled over my tongue.
Now the warehouse. And in it, human hearts.
The warehouse thumped with the living. People working there, maybe three dozen, all in a ragged concert, pumping with life like good little governmental engines.
That would be enough. Or at least an appetizer for my needs.
No, I wasn’t going to kill people unless I had to. I wasn’t going to become the monster.
Focus, Flynn.
Guards around the place, at least another dozen. And inside the place. . . .
I could feel him: Davy. Not alive like anyone else in this world. Carved by magic, changed by magic. Not alive, but not rightly dead either. Davy. In a room on the ground floor. Unconscious, I thought. But breathing. Carved up with spells. New spells squirming amid the old.
I nearly lost my concentration from the surprise of finding him. I didn’t think it’d be that easy. Didn’t think Sunny had really tracked him down.
But he was there.
And so was someone else.
Faint, faint heartbeat, too long between each pump, so close to death there wasn’t enough life left in him to fill a thimble.
Terric. That was Terric’s heart. I’d know it anywhere.
Terric was in there. Alive.
Concentration slipped, control shattered. Death wanted its due.
I gasped, frantically pulling Death back to me in fear it would touch Terric. Kill Terric. Terric, who was already almost dead.
Magic roared back into me so fast and hard I lost my knees and fell to the ground.
Hands helped me up. Dash’s hands.
“Shame?”
“He’s there,” I said, pushing his hands away, pushing his help away, not trusting my control. “He’s there.”
“Davy?” Sunny asked. “Where?”
“Both,” I said. “Both of them. Bottom floor. Main room.” Dash let go, took all his heat and living and energy I refused to drain away from me.
Good. Smart.
“Guns. We need guns.”
“We have them,” Cody said, walking around to the back of the SUV.
“Are you sure?” Dash asked.
“He’s there, Dash,” I said. “Terric’s there.”
And I watched something change in him. Dash had thought Terric was dead from the moment he’d found me corpsed out in the kitchen. He hadn’t expected us to find Terric. Not alive. Not after all this time.
“Alive,” I added just to make sure he understood. Understood why we needed to be moving. Now. “Get moving, lover boy.”
I didn’t have a gun on me. Luckily, Sunny had thought of that. She pressed a Glock in my hand. Good God. Did a loaded weapon need a loaded weapon?
“Can you keep that pointed the right way?” she asked.
“You mean at Eli’s head? I got that.”
“Is he in there?” she asked, her heart kicking up a couple of notches. Oh, she wanted him dead.
Get in line, sister.
“I’m not sure,” I lied. “Let’s just assume he is.”
“How many guards?” Dash asked.
“As soon as I’m close enough?” I said, striding down the road toward the compound. “None.”
I chambered a round and tipped my head down. Sure, bullets are faster than magic. But Death never needs to reload.
Chapter 18
SHAME
No chain-link fence around the lot, just a vast spread of dirt and gravel set out between the low rise of hills.
The warehouse stood in the center of the gravel, a monstrous structure several stories high that might have once been part of a gravel pit operation. Metal on metal on concrete, it appeared mostly abandoned from the outside, but I knew differently. I could count how many lives were ticking down inside those walls.
Security? Yes. Six men spotted me, walking straight down the middle of the parking lot. I wasn’t hiding; I wasn’t hurrying. I was getting this job done.
Before they could squeeze triggers, I reached down into the center of the Death magic roiling in me and cut the chain.
Six hearts pumped out their last beats. Six lives filled me, fed me, fed the monster inside me. A monster that wanted more.
I knew where Dash and Sunny and Cody were—just behind me, guns drawn, taking care not to be seen. I didn’t let the monster touch them, hurt them.
So far the deaths had been silent. So far there had been no need for guns.
That was about to change. I walked up to the front door—a thick slab of metal and warning signs. Pressed my palm there and let Death magic have at it. Rust ate away at the hinges until they crumbled. I pushed and the door fell inward, tripping the alarms.
An explosion of bullets from above hissed around us.