Eddie averted his eyes. He couldn’t help himself. It felt like a matter of survival, not looking at them.
“What a puppy,” said the black woman. “Such a handsome boy.”
“Adorable,” added the other woman. “I want to eat him up.”
Their soft laughter chilled him. Because he thought, yes, they really would eat him up. And then bury his bones in a ditch.
He shivered. “Who are you?”
“It speaks! How unusual,” said the black woman, swaying close. “I am Nikola. This is Betty. And you have something we want.”
“Besides your virtue,” said the other woman, showing her white teeth. “And here we thought we’d actually have to work to snare a dragon. It turns out we just have to follow her until she does something stupid.”
The meaning of their words was almost lost to him. What mattered was the sound of their voices, which crushed him smaller and harder, like he was nothing but a walnut or little stone.
Each word, a fist. Each word, an iron collar tightening around his soul.
Nikola moved even closer. It was all he could do not to fall on his knees and whimper. Sweat trickled down his chest. His fear was so nauseating, he could barely think.
“Mmm,” she murmured, her breath hot against his cheek. “You smell. . different.”
“Like fire,” Betty added, with a note of surprise. “Like. . a dragon.”
I’m human, he wanted to tell them.
“It must be her scent,” said Nikola, suddenly sounding bored. “Open the car door, puppy. Pick up the little lizard and come with us.”
She spoke as though she expected him to obey, without question. Part of him wanted to. He was that scared of them.
But not scared enough to forget who he was or what he had come to do.
I’m going to protect you, he thought, toward Lyssa. I’m going to take care of you.
And just thinking that. . changed everything.
Another chill raced through him, but this felt like a splash of cold water: clean and bracing. Suddenly, he could breathe again, and his spine straightened, and the nausea faded away.
Eddie raised his head, and looked the two women dead in the eyes.
“No,” he said.
Betty’s right eye twitched. “Excuse me?”
Nikola frowned. “Get the bitch out of the car and come with us, you little fuck.”
“Ma’am,” he replied, and slipped into the driver’s seat, slamming the door and locking it. He locked Lyssa’s door, too, then pried off the panel beneath the steering wheel. In ten seconds he had the engine roaring. Just like old times.
The women stood outside the car, staring at him with stunned expressions.
Eddie accelerated into the road, catching the light just as it turned yellow. He crossed Lexington, rolling down his window so that people wouldn’t notice the broken glass. By the time he turned left on Third, the trembling had begun, deep quakes that made him clench his jaw so his teeth wouldn’t chatter. He felt so cold.
I just met the Cruor Venator, he thought, shakily.
And if it wasn’t them, and just some random witches. . then God, yes, he finally understood what Lannes was warning him about.
Their presence alone had filled him with crippling, nauseating fear. . though now, with some distance, he couldn’t understand why.
Is that what a spell feels like? Or was it just them? And why did they let me leave?
Because he had surprised them, he realized.
Those women were not used to being defied. If they could instill that much fear in anyone they chose, then he understood why.
No way in hell could they be allowed to get close to Lyssa.
Eddie glanced into the backseat and found her eyelids twitching. Even unconscious, she grimaced as though in pain. He wondered if that was what he looked like after losing control of his fire.
Lyssa had caused the explosion. It had to be her. He had felt none of his own triggers, and the heat that had rolled off her skin in the seconds prior to the blast had been immense. Just standing next to her would have been enough to put a normal person in the hospital for burns.
He recalled Lyssa’s hand on his throat, her glowing eyes, the scent of smoke. .
Someone got injured today. No way there weren’t injuries.
Maybe she won’t care.
He chanced another look, this time at her exposed arm. Her hand, covered in red scales, rested on her stomach. Claws glinted, razor-sharp.
Seeing her caught in a partial shift was disconcerting. As though it should have been a makeup job, something out of a Hollywood creature shop. It also limited his options of where to take her.
You only have one choice.
But it would be bringing more trouble on their doorstep.
He reached into his pocket for his cell phone. The screen was cracked, but he held his breath, and it powered on.
Lannes answered on the second ring.
“Trouble,” Eddie said.
Eddie parked the car on Fifty-eighth, in front of a steakhouse behind a white delivery truck. He wiped everything down with his sleeve. The hunt would have already begun for the cause of the explosion. Terrorists might be blamed. Homeland Security would get involved.
He called Lannes again and gave him the address.
“It’s on the news,” said the gargoyle. “Just now.”
Eddie stopped breathing. “Fatalities?”
“Nothing yet, but the media is going nuts. Were there security cameras in that area?”
“I don’t know. There was no way to stop it, Lannes.”
“I thought. .” He paused, his silence heavy and thoughtful. “I know you’ve been ill. It couldn’t be helped.”
Eddie stilled. Lannes thought he was the one who had caused the explosion?
Of course he does. I’m the one who’s been out of control.
It hurt his pride and embarrassed him. He almost corrected his friend, but thought of Lyssa. . and kept his mouth shut.
“We’ll see you soon,” Eddie said, and hung up before Lannes could say anything else.
Behind him, he heard a soft whimper.
Lyssa was still unconscious, but her face contorted with pain, her breathing shallow and fast. She clawed fitfully at her scaled throat. Nightmare, perhaps. Eddie hesitated, unsure whether to wake her.
Until a wave of heat blasted his face. Smoke rose from the charred edges of her sweater, followed by sparks. Another fire, brewing.
He twisted fully around, reaching for her hand. “Lyssa.”
She did not wake. But the pain in her face softened. Her breathing slowed. Eddie stroked the back of her hand and watched the sparks fade, along with the smoke and heat. He did not breathe any easier, though.
Her skin was so soft. Eddie rested his chin on the car seat, content to take a moment and just. . stare. Soot didn’t hide her beauty, which managed to be delicate and fierce — vulnerable — and totally, utterly, striking.
She can’t be all those things, his sister would have said. She’s a girl, not a laundry list.
Eddie smiled to himself. Fine. If he had to choose one word. .
“Fierce,” he whispered. Fierce, stubborn. . but not hard. Not yet.
Their conversation before the blast had told him more about her than perhaps she realized. Her words were sharp, cynical. . but her eyes had been soft with uncertainty and buried hunger.