Demon Marked
you.”
God. Fuck. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Every Guardian and vampire in the warehouse would have felt her terror, her rage, would have known something was wrong. Now they wouldn’t.
“That done? Good. Now, at no time are you to attempt to kill or injure me, or encourage anyone else to do the same. Understand? Answer me.”
Ash dragged in a ragged breath between her teeth. “Yes.”
“All right. Now dump all of the weapons out of your cache. You will not collect any others, or vanish them back into your cache.”
Oh. A mistake. With relief, Ash set her shotgun on the floor. Everyone knew that she wouldn’t go anywhere without her boomstick. The moment they checked her room, they’d know something was wrong.
But how long before they checked?
“Now, do exactly as I say. When I give you the order, leave the warehouse and walk directly to the café that you were at with the hellhound today. Do not tell anyone that you’ve spoken to me. You will not give any indication that something is wrong. If they ask, you will only tell them that you talked to Nicky, and now you are going for a walk, that you need to be alone, because you need to think. You will not ask anyone to accompany you, and you will discourage anyone who offers. You will not stop for any reason, you will not write any kind of message, you will simply leave. Do you understand? Answer me truthfully.”
“Yes.”
“You will be at the café in one minute. Hang up and go now.”
Ash cut off the call, stood up. Think. She’d leave the door open, but it was possible that no one would look into her room to see the boomstick until much later. Lilith expected her to leave SI after Nicholas’s call, so she wouldn’t believe that Ash was truly just going for a walk, but she’d also have no reason to think that Madelyn had been the reason Ash had left.
All right. Okay. Ash couldn’t leave a message . . . but she could let everyone know that this was a very special occasion.
She vanished her clothes, walked out of her room. The low murmur of conversation died when she passed through the novices’ common area. They stared at her in surprise, jaws dropped, eyes wide.
No one said anything until she’d almost reached the stairs. “Ash? You okay?”
“Fine,” she said. “I’m just taking a walk. I just finished talking to Nicky , and I need to think.”
“You want company?”
“No, thank you. I want to be alone.”
Down the stairs, her breasts bouncing at every step. Come on, someone. She needed to run into an older Guardian. Any older Guardian. Even now, the novices were buzzing between themselves about her strange behavior, a thread of unease in their voices, but they wouldn’t act quickly enough.
She didn’t meet anyone through security, just answered the same questions when the novice at the desk saw her. Are you okay? Do you want me to call someone to go with you?
God, she wished.
Ash formed her clothes again just before stepping outside—no need to tip Madelyn off that someone might be quickly coming after her. And just before the door closed behind her, she heard a novice’s voice—
“We need to let Lilith know.”
Yes. Yes.
A minute had almost passed, but it only took her a second to run the three blocks to the café, already closed for the night. Her heart jumped into her throat. Nicholas sat at one of the darkened tables, but it was a poor version of Nicholas—handsome and slick, but not pared and hardened by his obsession; amused, but not burning with cold intensity. He’d crossed his legs at the ankles rather than his knee, tucked his legs beneath his chair. How strange. How strange and awful to see Madelyn in his shape.
“There you are, love, finally. We don’t have all night, you know. We have places to fly.” Madelyn’s eyes narrowed. “Can you fly? Answer me truthfully.”
“No.”
“After three years? But I suppose halflings cannot help being incompetent and weak. I’m only surprised you came out of your stupor at all.” She stood, uncoiling from the chair. “I will carry you, then, but there is to be no movement from you, no word spoken, no attempt to escape. You understand that you must obey me, no matter the order I give? Answer me truthfully.”
“Yes.”
“Let us see how well you understand.” A dagger appeared in Madelyn’s hand. “Cut off your forefinger, and then give the blade back to me, handle first.”
Which forefinger? Make the cut at which knuckle? Evade, delay.
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