Juliet Immortal

car seems like a better idea with every passing second. If Dylan is this disturbing at eighteen, he’ll be a serial killer by the time he’s twenty.
    “We’ll be fine. We just need to get out.” I lift blood-slicked fingers to pry at the latch, ignoring Dylan when he leans even closer.
    The sunroof is manually operated. I see that the glass panel can pop out, but the mechanism gives me a bit of trouble. Still, I’ll get it open and there will be plenty of room for us to fit through the hole. Me first, of course.
    “I’m sorry, could I—” He exhales, his breath hot on my neck. I fight the urge to shudder. “Could I ask you something?”
    He wants to talk. Lovely.
    I sigh. “Sure.” I pull on the hinges, then realize I should have been pushing and sigh again.
    “Has anyone ever told you your hair looks silver in the moonlight?”
    I glance in the rearview mirror. My new hair does look silver, like something from a fairy tale. And the rest of what I can see of myself is equally haunting—shocking, really.
    Why does Ariel think herself so repulsive? Huge blue eyes dominate my new face, dwarfing my small nose and thin lips. The scars on my cheek and jaw are visible, but they aren’t as terrible as Ariel thinks. The face looking back at me is attractive, compelling. There’s something about it that makes you want to look twice.
    So I do, staring a little too long, giving myself away.
    Dylan laughs, his lips suddenly far too close to mine. “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?”
    No. It can’t be. We’ve never—
He’s
never—
    “Did you miss me, love?” He kisses me on the cheek, a rough, playful kiss that leaves a bit of wet behind.
    Dylan
has
died after all. And Romeo has found a corpse. It’s my last thought before his hands are around my throat.

THREE
    I gasp for air as he shoves me back against the door.
    My head hits the window—hard—sending pain jabbing into the backs of my eyes. He’s on top of me in seconds, straddling my waist, pinning me to the seat. My hands fly to my throat, prying at his fingers, but it isn’t easy, not as easy as it should be, as it
would
be, if I’d had time to heal all the life-threatening damage and connect with my new form.
    In the first few hours after a shift, before my supernatural strength returns, I’m often weak. But that’s never worried me. Even with his uncanny ability to hunt me down, I’ve never run into Romeo until at least a day after taking up residence in a new body. It takes that long to discover which souls I’ve beensent to protect, to contact Nurse in a mirror’s smooth reflection and receive my instructions from the Ambassadors.
    Then it’s simply a matter of waiting and staying alert. Romeo always makes an appearance. Invariably, he’s summoned to the same place and time as I, to try to win the same souls over to his dark cause. He’ll do his best to persuade one soul mate to sacrifice his or her true love to the powers of hate, destruction, and chaos and become an immortal Mercenary—just as
he
did the night after we consummated our wedding vows.
    I still wonder what they offered him. What treat they dangled, and how long it took for him to realize their promises were lies, that he’d shoved a knife through my heart for nothing. I know he hasn’t received what he was promised. I’ve seen the flicker of regret in his eyes.
    Our new eyes meet, and for a moment, I think I see it again, just before he brings his nose to my lips and inhales. “Your breath always smells the same. So sweet.”
    “Get off me,” I warn, willing down a wave of nausea. It’s impossible to believe I once dreamt of spending my life
worshipping
this monster.
    Now I dream about killing him so I never have to feel anything ever again.
    “I don’t think so. I’d rather stay as I am. This new body is … delicious.” He laughs as he fights to keep his fingers around my throat, to keep choking the life out of Ariel. If he kills her, he’ll kill us both, and he knows it. But he doesn’t care about collateral damage. To him a two-for-one murder will be a special treat. “Seems a shame to finish you so quickly.”
    “You’re not going to finish me.”
    He won’t. It can’t end here. I want to see him fail anothertime, another hundred times. Adrenaline dumps into my bloodstream, making my heart race, giving me the strength I need to pry his fingers apart and smash the heel of my hand into his face.
    “Mmph.” He groans as I