Page 25 of Wicked Ties
Logan swallowed hard. “That was bad ass.”
Odin ran from his hiding spot to join us. He did one of those odd cat flips in the air and whooped. “That was amazing.”
Matteaus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I meant explain yourselves.”
Everyone started talking at once, all giving different excuses as to why we were here. Yet I couldn’t find the words to join them in their chatter. Matteaus growled, cutting them off. He met my eyes and pointed at me. “I know what all these jackasses are going to say. But I want to know what you’re going to say.”
Memories of being held under water by him filled my mind. The feeling of my lungs needing air and not getting it and the burning that followed. My whole body warmed just at the thought of it. I shifted from one foot to the other. I’d already done enough damage to be on their radar, and yet I had to speak, had to explain why we were all here.
“Well, sir, after you graciously dumped me in the fountain and removed the demon blood from my body, I have discovered a piece of my soul is missing, and now I’m on a mission to get it back.”
Matteaus waved me on. “Explain.”
I nodded and took my time explaining how a part of me was missing and I just wanted it back. How I felt incomplete without it and I didn’t want to keep on going like this. I told him how Apollo showed my spirit being taken from my soul and how I needed it back to be me again.
“The Keres have my spirit and we needed to lure them out. So, we were waiting for you to kill the demons so we could get the Keres to come out.”
“I’m not sloppy.” Matteaus pointed at the empty field. “Do you see any blood and guts?”
We needed to lure them out, and we needed to do it soon. I didn’t know if they still had my spirit, but the more time that ticked by, the less of a chance they would. “Then how can we get them?”
Matteaus rolled his eyes. “Fine. Taliam and Kade like to play with their food before they eat . . . if you were to go to Little Italy around two in the morning, I’m sure you would find what you’re looking for.”
He opened his wings about to take off when he narrowed his eyes at Grayson. “Don’t you have someplace to be?”
The vampire didn’t miss a beat. “All in good time.”
Without another word, Matteaus flapped his wings and took off, leaving us in an empty, soaking field. Maze turned for the car. “To Little Italy.”
CHAPTER 11
TILLY
The sound of trickling water filled my ears, and the lights were too bright. So bright they nearly blinded me. A tight grip pinched the back of my neck, holding me where I didn’t want to be. I was strong, so strong. Yet this hard grip at the base of my skull was excruciating. I had to get free to run away from this. Danger was all around me. My heart hammered in my chest, and I wanted to run. To survive. I hissed and scratched at his arm, trying to break free. I bared my teeth and fought. I was the hunter, not the prey. But I felt my death on the verge. Blood coated my fingers and splashed across the oversized trench coat I stole from Maze. But he wouldn’t let go, wouldn’t let me free to live . . . to hunt.
“Tilly.” A girl with red hair stepped toward me. I didn’t know her, didn’t want to. The memory of her tickled at my mind. But there was nothing. A guy with tousled blond hair yanked her back. Good—get her away from me.
The redhead turned to Maze and snapped. “You promised to watch her.”
“She escaped,” he growled back. There he was, the one clear pinpoint. So dark and so dangerous. Maze. I wanted him. But didn’t at the same time.
His neon green magic began to seep from his hands, and I took comfort in his violence. A vampire with tousled chocolate hair moved next to him. “You want to be rethinking that, mate. You won’t help her if you’re dead.”
NO, don’t rethink it. Help me. Stop them. I’m going to die.
Six more people stood in the foyer. Their wings were folded into their backs, and I didn’t know what or who they were, but rage rolled off them so much that I started to fight anew. Their hulking black wings pulsed and twitched, but they themselves didn’t move a muscle. Their bodies were strapped with weapons from head to toe. Black leather pants and combat boots seemed to be a uniform for each of them. One of them just shook his head as if I wasn’t meant to be, like my life was about to end. I felt it. Every instinct in me told me to fight or die. This was death. On the other side of the fountain stood a woman. Her long dark hair fell in a long side braid, and she rested her hand on the hilt of the knife she wore on her hip. The muscle in her jaw ticked, and she seemed like she was debating slitting my throat.
I fought the grip on my neck even more. Blood coated my hands, making it hard to grab onto anything. I had to escape, to fight, to live.
But I wasn’t going to live. Not with all these people here to kill me and witness my death. I didn’t know them, but they acted like they knew me. Yet no one helped . . . I was alone.
Matteaus trudged out from that long dark hallway and stopped beside me. Power seethed from him, and little sparks of fire flickered over his wings. I flinched away from it. It would hurt, it would burn. I knew this.
“How the hell can you turn a human girl into a fucking demon?”
Was I the girl? Was I the demon? I didn’t know. I was confused, and fear held me paralyzed.
“Of all the stupid, irresponsible, dumb-ass things that any of you could do. THIS. This is what you did.” Matteaus put his hands on his hips. “Do any of you know what we do to demons? Especially hell demons.”
