“Which will it be?” The Phoenix came toward me twirling the golden knife. “If you choose wisely, the other one lives.”
Because if I chose the one who fulfilled the requirements in the key, she’d be the Antichrist and there’d be no need to kill anyone else—at least right now. Talk about pressure.
“Let me think.” I moved past her, headed for Sawyer.
“Search her,” she ordered. A revenant came forward and pawed me like a seventeen-year-old with his first prom date.
He stepped back. “Clean.”
“No one kills around here but me,” the Phoenix said. Guess she was worried I’d steal Samyaza. No thanks.
“Five minutes,” the Phoenix continued. “I’ve waited long enough.”
I didn’t even glance at her as she walked away. I had no idea what to do. I could only hope that the boys did.
I approached Sawyer first. He was closest.
He’d said I couldn’t trust him, and he was probably right, but I had to hope that having her treat him like any other sacrifice in town might have shifted his loyalties a bit.
His gaze met mine. “Shhh,” he breathed.
That was promising.
I laid my body against his, put my lips to his neck, then slid them up to his ear. “Does she know how to kill you?”
“Yes.”
I cursed.
“Hold on,” he murmured. “Remember when I said there are certain things that only happen if I let them?”
I leaned back, stared into his eyes, but as usual I saw nothing I could hold on to in their smoky depths. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“If you’re thinking that I must choose to die in order to die, then yes, that’s what I’m saying.”
“Seriously?”
His mouth twisted—half smile, half grimace. “It’s what the old ones sang when I was a boy.”
“Back when Noah was a pup,” I muttered.
The Navajo passed down their legends in songs and stories. Year after year, century after century, the elders sang around the fires and the next generation learned the traditions.
“Nothing that’s ever been tried has actually killed me,” he continued, “so I’m inclined to believe the legends are true.”
“You’ve never wanted to die?”
Those eyes that had only a second ago been unreadable became anything but. “I didn’t say that.”
How could I ask such a question after meeting his mother? Or after seeing his pain at the loss of his wolf mate, or his agony upon killing Maria?
“Yet you’re still here,” I murmured.
“I’ve always had things to do, people who needed me.”
I laid my head on his chest. “So I can choose you,” I said. “She’ll try to kill you, but you won’t die.”
“Even if I did, my blood wouldn’t bring her what she wants. I’m too damned to be innocent, Elizabeth.”
I lifted my head, gazed into his eyes. “Aren’t we all?”
His lips curved. “You need to think this through. When I don’t die, she’ll turn right around and kill Sanducci. You can’t let that happen.”
“Damn skippy,” I muttered.
“You have to kill him first.”
“What?” I straightened with a jerk, then tried to back up so fast I stumbled. “No.”
“Listen to me,” Sawyer began.
A mumble started among the revenants—unease combined with excitement. Sawyer looked into the sky and cursed.
I figured the Phoenix had lost patience and was flying toward us, ready to take the decision out of my hands. Though what would be the fun in that? Didn’t she look forward to the agony and pain that would inevitably follow whatever choice I made like any evil thing should?
Maybe that was what she was after. Could she be staging this stupid “choose who dies” tableau so that once I did, and I lost my will to live, she could kill me too? Wouldn’t put it past her.
My hands clenched into fists as I turned. Until that moment I hadn’t known I planned to fight. I was supposed to be changing sides, doing whatever it took to steal the damned key, even if it meant sacrificing one or both of these men. If I didn’t, more people would die than just them.
However, the Phoenix wasn’t the one sailing out of the sky to land softly on the ground.
“Summer?” My fingers uncurled from my palms. “What in hell are you doing here?”
CHAPTER 33
I’d forgotten about the fairy. I’d had a few things on my mind. Seeing her turn up right in the middle of the chaos . . . I wasn’t sure what to think.
“Where’ve you been?” Jimmy asked.
“I—uh—” Summer put her hands behind her back, thrusting out her perky breasts as her tiny white teeth bit her perfect pink lip. “Well, you see—”
“She’s been hanging around here.” The Phoenix spoke from the porch steps, where she sat paging through a book.
Hello.
The tome appeared very old, very familiar. I could see the star and the lions on the cover. I had to resist the urge to run across the yard, snatch it and— What? Stand there while she murdered me, or at least tried?
I was going to have to kill her to get it. I’d known that all along.