Shadow Kissed 03 - Shadowman

shouted.
    Movement from a downstairs window. Mickey stepped into view and then was pulled back. Oh, her sweet man.
    The potato sack woman dropped suddenly, the whites of her eyes twin sneaks under slightly parted lids. The silly woman had fainted. Rose couldn’t very well drag the sack’s weight, so she flung her to the side and charged the stairs with her run-run-push, nearly vaulting her to the top in one great thrust. Gunfire bit her, but she couldn’t see the source. Invisible marksmen had to be everywhere. Fire scored her cheek and darted into the muscles of her back and thighs to lodge, but she didn’t stop. Mickey was behind that door. She could heal later. He would gently tend her with loving caresses.
    She punched the front doors with her bad hand and the wood splintered, ripping her skin. An inner metal framework reinforced the entrance, but another strike buckled that, too. This was really too easy. With a victorious step, she was inside. Her knuckles dripped blood in Segue’s fancy hallway. She took the left passage, in the direction Mickey had been only minutes before. They couldn’t have moved him far. I’m coming, honey.
    An earsplitting scrape and resounding bang had her whipping around. The entrance was suddenly blocked with a wall of close-set bars. The ceiling abruptly lowered—Rose ducked—but the gorgeous chandelier overhead smacked her in the face, crystals tangling and tinkling in her hair. The floor moved, folded up around her. She swung out with her bad hand, but it didn’t even dent the metal. Before she could get her bearings, she was caged.
    Metal screeched until booming into final prison position.
    That whore Layla immediately stepped out from a room beyond the bars, flicked her gaze at Rose’s bad hand, musing, It’s gotten worse.
    She bent her mind to master Layla’s. “Release me!”
    â€œIt’s safe,” Layla said over her shoulder, but thought, Unless she can shoot venom.
    Rose lunged at the bars, reaching her bad hand through to claw Layla’s face off. She pushed harder on her brain. “Release me!”
    â€œI don’t have the power to release you,” Layla said, a little too flippantly for Rose’s state. No single person has that.
    â€œWell, then bring them all to me,” Rose said. She twisted each word with power.
    Rose watched Layla close her eyes, her lips tighten as she breathed deep. But she didn’t make any move to do what she was told.
    When Layla opened her eyes again, she shrugged. “I’ve had a little practice with this kind of mental thing: The gate made me open it. You almost made me kill myself. Lost my mind in Twilight.”
    â€œWhy don’t you do as I say then!” Rose shoved as hard as she could, tried to splinter the whore’s brain. It had been so easy before.
    Layla had the nerve to smile. “Because I’ve faced far worse than you today. Believe me.” The whore leaned in. “You won’t influence me ever again. Got it?”
    Rose was going to have to kill her. Nobody spoke to her that way. Least of all some trash that wrapped her legs around—
    â€œCan I see her?” spoke a familiar voice. Soft. Loving. Mickey.
    â€œMickey?” Rose called. She pulled at her bloody sweater. Swiped her hair back from her eyes. Wished she had some mascara to make them pop.
    Layla looked beyond the doorway. “You’ve earned it.” Did the world a favor in my opinion. “Just keep back from the bars, and remember what I told you.”
    Rose straightened herself up. Strained for a first glimpse.
    Mickey shuffled into view. He wore the faded uniform of a custodian. He must have had to work so hard without her help. His belly had bulged over his pants while she was away.
    That’s her, all right, Mickey thought.
    â€œYou okay?” Layla asked him.
    â€œMickey, honey”—Rose batted her eyes—“we’ll find a way out of all this. We’ll be together again. I promise I’ll find a way.”
    Mickey’s bushy brows drew together. They warned me about her arm.
    â€œOh, this?” Rose answered, lifting her bad hand. “Well, yes, it looks a little . . . unusual. But, honey, it’s strong. It’s kept me alive. Soon you’ll think it’s as beautiful as I do.”
    And they warned me she could read my mind.
    â€œYes,” Rose said. “I can. It will bring us closer