Page 31 of Beneath My Skin

CHAPTER 9

This was not a good day. Worse than the last time I’d said it, too, because this time I knew I was walking to my death.

We were going in blind. Jacqueline had given me until tomorrow—today by all accounts, although I didn’t have a clock—to do what she asked. To find a way to separate my demon to save both our lives. What had I done with the time? Spent it having monkey sex with Dax.

I regretted nothing.

Still, it was rough knowing you were walking to your grave without a final thought. It was the first time in my life I wished, actively wished, Cer had some sort of sage demonic wisdom to offer. A way to separate us. But I knew deep down if there was a way she would have told me already. We would have found it already.

Unless Cer never intended to leave me. That didn’t bear contemplation.

Jacqueline was just going to have to live with the bitter disappointment of my death on her shoulders. Sans demon.

The instant I could breathe again, I dropped down in a crouch. Dax and I had decided, in the seconds before exiting the bottle, that the best course of action was to surprise Jacqueline. She’d be expecting us to come when she called, not sooner. And she probably wouldn’t be expecting us to pop out of the bottle.

I still had no clue what to do after that, though.

Dax had told me to run. To get far away. I’d thought the same myself, I admit. But in the time between then and now, I’d changed my mind.

“Mariella, go!” His command sounded distant. Like he was trying to yell through walls. Or across a stadium.

When I glanced up, Jacqueline stood there with a smile on her face, the glinting sun behind her. We’d skipped sunrise and gone straight to midmorning. She’d changed into a fresh power suit the sky-blue color of a robin’s egg. It gave her the impression of sweetness. The image would have confused me if not for the threat in her eyes.

We stood in front of a two-story house in the country. I could only assume it was where she kept her “menagerie.”

“Do you have what I want?” she asked casually. “And you can get up. I have no intention of fighting you.”

“You may not, but I do. I’m ready to fight.”

Jacqueline glanced down to inspect her nails like she hadn’t a care in the world. She didn’t take me seriously. “There’s nothing you can do. Your time is up, little girl.”

I slowly stood and tried to take in my surroundings. It was information overload. “What are you going to do? You won’t kill me because I have something you need. If you won’t fight, then maybe I should ask what you want to do now. I’m done reacting.”

“Very nice.” She chuckled. “You’re taking a stand. Maybe I should show you what I want.” Jacqueline turned, then crooked a finger over her shoulder. “Follow me.”

I didn’t even know where we were. And where had Dax gone? I knew he came through with me. “Where is Dax?”

“Don’t concern yourself with him right now. I told you to come,” she said.

“Why should I?”

“Have I not made myself clear?” Her tone was acidic. “Come, Mariella.”

My feet began to move forward.

“My menagerie began in part from a desire. A desire I’ve had since I became trapped on this plane of existence. Collecting supernatural creatures was a way for me to express myself when I was left with no other outlet.”

“You only feel free when you’re squashing other people under your thumb,” I commented, ignoring the skittering of nerves on my skin. “Nice. A lot of people travel. Or skydive.”

She shot me a glance over her shoulder like she found me amusing. The way an adult finds a child who won’t stop asking them questions amusing.

I followed her into the house and was surprised by the interior. It must be a space-altering spell, I thought, because the inside of the house definitely shouldn’t look like a cavernous display gallery at a fancy museum.

“You see that spear?” She pointed to a space on the wall dominated by a large spear made of what looked like pure obsidian. “It belonged to a valkyrie,” she continued. “A piece of her soul still resides inside it.”

A few more steps down the hall and I was greeted with a pulsating orb of light floating several inches above a pedestal. It looked dangerous, yes, but the feeling coming off of it was great sadness.

She pointed, the gesture careless, joyless. “This is a sylph I captured in Greece last year. Are you aware of those creatures? They have control over the air.”

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