“Yeah, and then you show up tonight looking like you ran through a cobweb”—I narrowed my eyes at Oliver—“and you decide to go take on the Politia with nothing more than a vendetta—so very badass and so very unlike you.”
“I wasn’t fighting them. I was after Caleb.”
“Caleb?” Oliver said, glancing at Leanne.
“Don’t look at me,” she said. “I know nothing about this.”
“Why?” Oliver asked.
I traced the veins of the worn wooden table. “Last night? He was the one who shot me.”
Oliver lifted his brows. “Wait, seriously? That fucker. I’m so going to hex him.”
“I went to the Politia to pay him back,” I said. I glanced out the window at the stormy night beyond. “I didn’t kill him. Just threw him into a jail cell and left.”
Oliver gave me a disapproving look. “You’re the queen of the Underworld and you didn’t even try to kill him?”
My lips thinned. “It didn’t seem right.”
“Hmph. I would’ve thought hell would have corrupted you more. Have you at least sullied that?” Oliver asked.
“Sullied what?” I asked, cupping my drink.
“The guy you’re now shacking up with.”
“Oh. Ugh, Oliver,” I winced. “Stop.” No one wanted that visual.
“What? Soulless people need love too.” He looked at me expectantly. “So … ?”
Persistent fairy.
“No, Oliver, I didn’t ‘sully’ that,” I said, bringing the cup of hot chocolate to my lips. I really didn’t want to upchuck the drink in the middle of this nice establishment like I had all other liquid for the past few days, but it smelled good and my stomach seemed settled. After hesitating for a second, I tried it.
“You mean to tell me that you spent an entire day in hell, and you and Satan didn’t do the nasty?”
I closed my eyes for a second as that first sip went down.
So good.
“—or were you too busy getting off on foodgasms?”
I gave him the bird as I took another gulp.
“Guys,” Leanne said, scanning the room, “Andre should be here any minute. Unless you want him to hear about Gabrielle’s time with the devil, I suggest you both shut up.”
“Don’t tell me to shut up,” Oliver said testily, his voice rising. “I’m the queen bee-otch here, not you. You’re just one of my bitchy ladies-in-waiting. And I’ll talk about sex and foodgasms as often as I want to.”
Leanne threw her hands up. “This is hopeless.”
My back straightened when I felt it. Divinity.
Before I could think twice, I was out of my chair, my eyes locked on the man who entered the café.
It wasn’t Andre.
He dressed like any other person. Jeans paired with a button down and a tweed coat on top of it all. But he didn’t look like anyone else.
This man was beautiful in a way that wasn’t of this world. But even if he’d masked his true appearance with spells, he wouldn’t be able to hide his essence.
The holiness that poured off him in waves sparked two different, warring instincts. Half of me wanted to fall to his feet and bask in his presence. The other half of me, the half that spent the day in hell, wanted to attack him. My hands curled into fists, my nails biting into my palms.
“Fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck.” Leanne yanked on my wrist. “Sit down before he sees you.”
Too late for that.
One moment our eyes locked, and in the next he was streaking across the room. Catching me around the waist, he plowed us through the window. Glass shattered and screams rang out from the coffee shop as we tumbled outside.
Night air blasted against me. My body reacted first, my fists pounding against any flesh I could reach. The angle proved too awkward, and we hit the ground before I got a good shot in. My attacker grunted as his shoulder took the brunt of the impact. We rolled over and over.
My blood sang for this. The confrontation, the promised violence. My skin glowed, the siren surging up, and my fangs dropped.
“Revenant,” he hissed, “you should be back in the ground, where you belong.”
My hands found his neck, but by then he had me pinned to the ground. He pressed his forearm to my windpipe as I squeezed.
I fought an inner battle. I wanted this being’s help, but I also wanted to scratch his eyes out. Really wanted to scratch his eyes out.
So not normal.
Chill, Gabrielle, and let the scary man go.
Slowly, I released my hands from his neck and raised them where he could see them.
He jerked his head back, his lip curling, and I realized too late, he took it as a threat. In the supernatural world, showing your palms to someone could be considered a threat if you wielded magic. It hadn’t been an issue for me before, but now it was.
One of his hands threaded into my hair. He yanked up, then brought my head down, slamming it into the street. I moaned as my vision dulled. “St-stop. Please.”
But he didn’t. Again and again he smashed my head into the ground until the skin ripped. My blood pooled around me, giving me a macabre halo. It boiled away and thick, oily smoke rose.
Demons were coming to my rescue.
This was so messed up.
His grip loosened on me as he watched the creatures take form. Abruptly, he released my hair to reach for a sword I hadn’t seen a minute ago.
“Help me,” I wheezed. “Please.”