Page 43 of The Devil of London

“And?” I asked through trembling lips.

“You need to come with me.”

“No, I don’t.” Merikh held my arm while glancing at the wounds visible as my coat slid open. “Release me.”

“Not until we handle the bolts.” I glared at him as I grabbed one, forcing it through my chest. His eyes widened as his dark head shook. “Stop that,” he demanded. Not caring what he wanted, I dropped the bloody bolt to the ground at his feet and then jerked the other one out without making a sound. “Damn it, little bird.”

“Goodbye, Shadow,” I whispered thickly as I forced my body to move again before it locked up from poison.

I’d almost made it to the open elevator doors when Nasir shouted. “Stop her! Don’t let her leave.”

I’d love to see him try to stop me. I pulled both guns from their holsters. One, I aimed at the guard who’d accompanied me down, the other, I aimed at the men rushing toward the elevator.

“Main floor. Now,” I hissed, pushing the barrel against his temple.

“You fucking leave here, and I swear you’ll regret ever being reborn, Aderyn,” Nasir snarled.

“Too late, Khaos. I regretted that the moment I met you,” I whispered before coughing violently, which sent blood splatter everywhere. The bullet tore through my belly, moving toward my heart. “Move this thing now or I swear I will bring you with me when I go mad,” I warned through clenched teeth. The guard moved, pushing the button to start the car moving. “Smart boy.” I found Khaos in the crowd and told him, “Go back to your fiancée. You won’t need to bother yourself with me anymore, bastard.” The doors closed as the guard pressed himself against the back wall.

“You know he’s worse than the devil, right?”

“I’m very aware of who he is,” I replied with blood trickling from my lips. “The thing is that I’m not even going to bother fighting the madness. If I’m mad, I won’t be the girl he enjoys torturing anymore, and maybe he’ll leave me the fuck alone. I’m okay with that.”

When the doors opened, I kept the gun trained on him as the other moved toward the men waiting for us. He slowly inched from the elevator before rushing toward the other men. I followed his retreat, never allowing my aim to waver. I ignored the commotion to my right, already knowing who was causing it, and headed onto the dancefloor to disappear into the crowd. Once people surrounded me, I turned, then discovered Khaos marching straight for me.

I holstered one of my guns as I slid behind a group of girls, dancing as if they didn’t have a care in the world. One was moving away from the others, so she was the one I shifted closer to. Then I slid my fingers against her bare arm, switching our images. The moment I’d done the spell, I aimed my remaining gun at the ceiling and fired several shots at the lights above us. Glass rained down on the dancefloor as panic ensued. It took everything I had in me to keep pace with the girls, who were grasping on to one another to ensure everyone in their group was together.

People were screaming about shots being fired, as if the sound of broken glass hadn’t been enough of a clue, and there was already a bottleneck at the bottom of the steps and another at the doors. I fought to keep on my feet because, if I fell, I’d get trampled. Finally, after what felt like forever, cold air rushed over me as we moved through the doors, bursting into the evening air.

I remained with the group as they moved toward a car in the parking lot. After brushing my fingertips along the driver’s arm to spell him with directions to my place, I slipped into the backseat, whimpering as the others piled in over the top of me. As everyone else screamed for the driver to start the vehicle, I was pulling myself up so I could see out the window.

My eyes drifted to where my car was being surrounded. Khaos was there, forcing the door open as he scanned inside for any sign of me. When he came up empty, he yanked the keys from the ignition and turned to Merikh, who was busy scanning those flooding out of the club.

“Take me home,” I ordered the driver, igniting the spell I’d placed on him. With that done, I sank against the seat and shivered as the toxins spread through me. It wouldn’t be long before the madness took control. I didn’t want to be anywhere near mortals when it consumed my mind.

Chapter Nineteen

Fromthesafetyofthe woods in front of my house, I scanned the headless bodies that still littered the yard. After I’d waited in the shadows to verify the hunters weren’t camping outside of my house, I stumbled and tripped my way to the front door, which hung off the hinges. Blood splatter covered the porch, along with a few bullet holes. Had they seriously shot the shit out of my house because I wasn’t home? Assholes.

Inside, the few pictures I’d hung on the walls were shattered on the floor of the living room. Ignoring the crunch of glass beneath my boots, I picked up the photo of me standing outside of my shop and placed it on the coffee table before making my way to the kitchen. I grabbed the brandy from the cupboard, a glass, and then headed toward the bedroom. Shivering from the heat shooting through my chest, I walked through my bedroom and entered my cramped bathroom. After setting the brandy on the edge of the tub, I bent to grab the healing salts, but the entire room tilted.

Grabbing the counter for balance, I slowly lowered myself to the floor and tossed the entire container of salt into the tub, then leaned over just enough to turn the water on. All the while, it felt as if acid were rushing through my system. Fucking hunters, they continually came up with ways to bring us down to their level. It was so ironic that Aiden Herne, Maxwell’s father, was not only immortal but also the head of the hunters.

It took an effort to remove the boots I’d slipped into this morning, but once I had, I forced my pain-riddled body up from the floor and removed my skirt and shirt before giving up. After placing a sidearm on the lip of the tub, I climbed in the tub, moaning as the heated water eased the pain in the wounds peppering my body.

“Alexa, Play Breaking Benjamin’s ‘Ashes of Eden,’” I muttered in a shaky voice.

The music began playing loudly as I sank deeper into the water. It wouldn’t be long before the madness consumed my mind. Khaos would probably come here looking for me—or not? Maybe he’d gone back to Vanessa, who appeared rather possessive of the sociopath she’d agreed to wed.

I attempted to sit upright, but the pain slicing through me made it impossible. Giving up, I sank back into the water. With my eyes closed tightly against the excruciating sensation of acid pushing through my system, I tried to focus on my breathing, on the erratic pulse thumping in my ears, on the softplunkof drops falling from the faucet to the water. It wasn’t until a loud noise echoed through my house, jarring me from slumber, that they opened again. The water within the tub was cold, and the blood oozing from the wounds had tinted it pink.

I yanked the shower curtain closed before forcing my back to the wall and aiming the barrel at where I assumed the door to the bathroom was. Confusion whirled through my mind as I fought to gather my thoughts. Why had I fallen asleep in the tub? Glancing down, I frowned at the wounds on my torso and the black, inky lines that threaded from each one. They looked like spider webs beneath my tanned skin.

The sound of footsteps over the carpeted floor made my focus shift back to the issue at hand. Voices spoke in soft tones outside the bathroom. The doorhandle moved, which had my finger squeezing the trigger, firing until the slider cracked open on the handgun, indicating it was empty. A bevy of curses erupted from the other side of the door before it sounded as if someone kicked the door open.

Then the shower curtain was jerked back so hard it ripped from the bar. Furious blue eyes met mine before they lowered to the mess of my mostly nude frame. His chest heaved as he stood eerily still, murderous rage wafting from him in violent waves.

“Fancy meeting you assholes here,” I whispered through the dryness of my mouth. It felt as if I’d been drugged by strong sedatives instead of poisoned. An eerie giggle left my lips before I coughed violently, wincing as pain shot through me.

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