Page 24 of This Ravenous Fate
“Your freedom and the opportunity for you to prove your innocence with my support—if you give me the information I need,” Elise said through clenched teeth. The agreement she made with her father echoed in her head, but she shut down those thoughts.
“I have no reason to trust you,” Layla said.
Elise pursed her lips. “I’m willing to look into your claim thatTheo was not human.”
A smile spread across Layla’s mouth. And even though it reached her eyes, joy was not present, but rather a sick, twisting malice that made Elise’s stomach turn. “Good start,” Layla nearly purred. A sizzling sound filled the air as her flesh burned when she placed her hands on the bars and bared her fangs for Elise. “Tell your father and the dumb investigators that I have all of my teeth. Whoever’s tooth is in the throat of your precious Saint isn’t mine. It’s probably Theo’s. Care to explain why Theo has a bullet wound? An innocent human shot by a steel bullet meant to kill a reaper. How odd.”
Elise’s expression fell into confusion. “Why would a human—”
“He wasn’t human. The sooner everyone understands that, the sooner we will solve this mystery,” Layla said. She pulled back and watched Elise with expectant eyes.
Elise closed her eyes for a moment, inhaling as she counted backward in her head. When she opened her eyes, she stepped closer to the bars and whispered, “I need proof and corroboration from other reapers if I’m to believe any of your claims.”
Calculated malice flickered through Layla’s eyes. She drew her finger over a steel bar, her damned flesh burning against the blessed metal. “I could get it for you. Just not from in here,” Layla grumbled. Blood dripped between them and landed on Elise’s boot.
Elise scoffed. “As if I could trust you on the other side of these bars.”
Layla leaned back, her fingers slipping off the metal. “Fine. Good luck getting any of my clanmates to cooperate with you. You’ve beengone for so long, Harlem doesn’t even recognize you as its own. The city will eat you alive, and my clan will finish whatever is left of you.”
All the air in Elise’s lungs went cold. Giving Layla one last stern look, she swallowed hard and looked at the officer standing guard. “Release her.”
Act Two
The Descent
12
“Is this really necessary? I’m positive a document won’t prevent me from ripping your throat out if I should get so hungry.” Layla ran her tongue over her enlarged canines while Elise set a contract in front of her. She glared at Layla, who only rolled her eyes. “I’m kidding. God, learn a joke, or two. You’ve always been so uptight.”
Elise’s jaw ticked as she pointed to a paragraph on the contract. “If you do such a thing, my father will remove the Hotel Clarice from Valeriya’s possession and we will make sure there is no room for any reapers in Harlem. Kill me and you will have no home, no family, nothing left. And you will be locked up for the rest of your long, miserable life, claimed as free property for scientists to test on you as they please. Until the torment of your reaperhood should destroy you,” Elise snapped.
Darkness passed over Layla’s face, but her cold smile remained. “So personal. I admire the effort, Saint, I truly do. But I have no family. Your father made sure of that years ago,” Layla mumbled. Shepushed her handcuffs back on her wrists and leaned over to take a pen to the paper in front of her.
“You blame me and my father, but we are not the reapers who took your parents’ lives and turned you,” Elise hissed.
Layla’s jaw clenched. Her hands went flat on the table while her body tensed and for a moment, Elise thought she might pounce on her. “No. But you told your father about my parents’ plans to desegregate the east side of Harlem andyouencouraged him to stop them. By whatever means necessary. You might as well have sent the reapers on us yourself. Some saint you are. A bystander to carnage does not a saint make,” Layla seethed. “You killed me. You’re a killer.”
Elise’s breath shook as she watched Layla draw out her neat signature on the dotted lines. She leaned in close enough to whisper directly into the reaper’s ear. “I’d be careful how you behave around me.” Elise swore she saw Layla’s entire demeanor shift at her words. She felt heat roll off Layla’s neck, her own body tensing as the reaper turned toward her so they were face-to-face.
Layla watched Elise, eyes glowing. “I don’t know how to behave around you,” she hissed. Her fangs were still out, their points digging into her lips. Blood beaded on the soft pink of her mouth. They were so close, Elise could smell the blood, feel Layla’s breath.
It was as if a wicked spell had been cast, preventing her from looking away. Heat twisted in Elise’s stomach and she exhaled sharply. “Layla…”
“You sound afraid, Saint. Is it because of what happened five years ago?” Leaning closer, Layla’s mouth twisted into a smug curveand Elise felt something twinge in her chest. The reaper’s eyes dropped first to her lips, then her throat, where Elise’s pulse beat rapidly against her delicate flesh. “I will have you know, that was not personal. It was pure reaper instinct that is impossible to control when you are first turned. But…” The light in Layla’s eyes flickered, and Elise’s breath stilled at the cruel longing in her gaze. “Your blood has always been my favorite. Even after all these years—”
“I don’t care.” Elise snatched the contract up and backed away.
“Damn. Shouldn’t you listen to what your partner has to say? We’re in this together, are we not?” Layla leaned against the interrogation room table and held out her cuffed wrists, frowning. “These are annoying.”
Elise’s glare deepened. “I will listen to everything regarding the case and information surrounding this investigation. You do not need to bring up our past. We are not friends.” She gave Layla the coldest look she could muster up, but Layla didn’t even flinch. Elise turned and nodded to the window, where officers awaited her cue. Soon after, two men walked into the room and uncuffed Layla.
The young reaper snatched her hands back as soon as they were off. Bright red rings circled her wrists, burnt from the specialized metal meant to withstand reaper strength. The whole interrogation, Layla must have been in immense pain, yet she said nothing. Layla turned to Elise. “Well, seeing as I am a free woman and the workday is over, I will be going.” She threw Elise a mocking smile on her way out of the station.
Elise swallowed a scream. Only an hour into their arrangement,and already, Layla was getting under her skin, digging up scars of their past. Already, regret plagued the decision to work together.The Saint and the damned. Elise feared the contract she held was no more than a litany of lies.
***
After nearly twenty-four hours in the interrogation chair, at the worst, Layla expected intrusive questions from her clan members. But instead, she got cold stares and snubbed attempts at conversation. The only beings who did not side-eye her were the four police officers and Saint guards standing watch outside the lair. Even Mei had a new distrust in her eyes when Layla ran into her in the hotel lobby.
