“Yep.” Shade’s mouth tightened in a grim line as he connected a unit of blood to Eidolon’s IV line. “There’s only one reason E would have turned into a Soulshredder, Tayla.”
Cramps twisted her insides, threatened to double her over. “Because he sensed it in me,” she said hoarsely.
Eidolon inclined his head. “The demon who killed your mother—”
“Was my father.”
Eidolon rubbed his cheek where the markings had been. “That’s why you can see scars no one else can. Shredders can see old injuries, even if they’ve healed. They find weaknesses and exploit them.”
Wraith shot her a look of sympathy she could see through the veil of darkness that started to descend. “Dude, and I thought I was fucked up.”
“You are, dumbass.” Shade hung the bag of blood from a dresser knob as she backed toward the door. She had no idea where she was going, just that she needed to get out of this room that kept growing smaller with every passing second.
“I, uh, I need some air.” She darted out the door and down the hall, ignoring Eidolon’s shouts for her to come back. The sound of footsteps behind her only spurred her faster, and before she knew it, she was running barefoot along the maze of hallways that made up the top floor of the high-rise building.
“Tayla!” Shade’s voice echoed after her, distant, but not distant enough. Panic had reached up and taken her by the throat, and right now she just needed to be alone.
She darted down the fire escape stairs and kept going once she hit the lobby. People stared, but she didn’t care. The doorman opened the doors for her, and she flew out of the building and into the rain-soaked daylight.
The cool spring shower did nothing to ease her fevered thoughts even as it saturated her to the bone. People dressed in business attire and outfitted with umbrellas gave her a wide berth, no doubt seeing a crazy, homeless waif with tangled hair, hole-ridden jeans, and no shoes.
She didn’t give a crap.
The Soulshredder that killed my mother was my father. The words screamed through her head. She clamped her hands over her ears, as if that would block them out, but it only made them echo more violently off the inside of her skull.
A massive sob escaped her, and she did the only thing she could.
She ran.
Twenty
If nervous energy could be harnessed, Eidolon would have lit up Manhattan with his pacing. Shade and Wraith had gone in search of Tayla, and now, fifteen minutes later, there was no word. He’d stayed behind in case she returned, but he didn’t know how much longer he could stand doing nothing but wait.
The front door flew open, and Shade, dripping wet, burst inside. “She’s gone. Wraith is tracking her, but I have a feeling that if she doesn’t want to be found, she won’t be.”
Pain struck him like a blow, worse than anything Tayla could do to him if she tried. “I have to find her. If her demon half rears up, she could be incapacitated. And if The Aegis catches her . . . I have to go.” He grabbed a jacket from his closet. “Call Gem. She said she can sense Tayla—”
“E.” Shade grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “Give her some space. She just found out her sire is a species that makes Cruenti go to ground.”
“Why do you care?”
“Because you do.”
In a moment of tense silence, Eidolon let the words sink in. He did care for Tayla, and he might as well stop denying it. “Is it that obvious?”
“Ah, you’re kidding, right? She’s the enemy, she blew up the hospital, got Yuri killed . . . yet you moved her in with you. I’m thinking all that means you care. A lot more than you should.” He dropped his hands and leveled a hard look at Eidolon. “That said, she could have taken you out a couple of times, but instead, she called me to help. She might not be a total wench.”
“She’s not.” The night they’d shared came back to him in slow motion. He’d fucked a lot of females, but he’d never once made love to one.
He’d made love to Tayla over and over.
“Shit,” Shade muttered. “Don’t do it. Don’t bond with her. E? You hear me? She’s a slayer—”
“Not anymore.”
Curses fell out of Shade’s mouth, creative ones Eidolon had never used. “You know our blood is toxic to humans.”
“She’s half-demon. She could survive the ritual.”
“It’s dangerous enough to make a demon your mate, but someone trained to kill you? Twenty years from now, when she decides she wants a divorce—”
“That’ll be my concern. Not yours.”
Shade stared at him for a long moment. “If I wanted to take a mate, would you be worried?”
“Damn straight. But only because of your curse.” A curse that would doom Shade to a fate worse than death if he ever fell in love. “My situation is different. A lot different.”
Shade shook his head in exasperation. “Fine. Whatever. You bitch about Wraith being so stubborn, but you make him look like an amateur.”