Page 66 of Our Vicious Descent
A painful lump rose in Elise’s throat. “You didn’t mean to do…any of those horrible things, did you?”
Josi shook her head. A shadow crossed her eyes. “Is this hurt because of me? I don’t want you to hurt because of me.”
Elise tucked Josi’s head into her chest before she could see her cry. She kissed the top of her head and let her tears fall silently as she hugged her. This embrace was the closest she had been to feeling like she was truly home in forever. In a strange apartment, full of people who had never all worked together before now, the thing that mattered most was her younger sister being alive and well in her arms.
Moments later, they pulled apart, and Elise felt content in letting Josi go off to bathe herself and get ready for bed.
Sterling stood with Jamie and Layla in the kitchen when Elise returned to them. “I think she’ll be okay. For now at least. I will eventually have to talk to her about everything she’s been through.”
Layla’s jaw clenched. She shook her head and pressed her knuckles against the counter. “She’s lying.”
Elise blinked. “What? She’s not a liar.”
“I sensed it from here, Elise. She’s done all those terrible things and probably more,” Layla said in a low voice.
While part of Elise had already somewhat convinced herself that her sister might have been on the other side of these attacks, she couldn’t stop the venom seeping into her tone. “She’s attacking your enemies. Why do you care?”
Layla’s eyes widened. “Why don’t you care? There are probably a million lethal targets on your sister’s head right now. Our association with her puts us at risk. Her actions have already gotten my clan into trouble. She has to stop.”
“She’s here with us now. I can’t imagine that she would continue.”
“You heard her. When Valeriya is angry, so is she. We need to find Valeriya before she snaps.”
“That’s a you problem,” Elise grumbled.
Layla’s expression went cold. “Is it? Really? You killed her and are probably the reason why she’s evolved the way she has.”
“Youare the one who sold her body to Karine,” Elise shot back.
Layla went still. “I did no such thing.”
A searing glare darkened Elise’s face. She turned to leave, but Layla’s voice chased after her.
“And what about Josi? If she’s really linked to Valeriya, don’t you worry that killing her will kill your sister too? Don’t you wonder what their blood connection means for us and our shared blood?” Layla demanded.
Elise waited for her heated rage to simmer before she responded in a level voice. “We need to find her, and we need to find the personwho is responsible for doing this to them. Maybe they can reverse the effects. Karine is no scientist, so surely she has outside help. I’m sure whoever is on the island Nicoletta was taking you to has more answers.”
“Daddy’s old friend.” Josi’s voice sounded from the hallway.
Paling, Elise shared a look with her little sister. “Do you mean Dr. Gray?”
***
Elise helped Josi into Layla’s bed and stood in her doorway until she was sure she had fallen asleep. Even after that, when she came to the living room to sit with Layla by the window, all Elise could think about was how tiny Josi looked beneath the blankets.
Layla shifted as Elise settled beside her. “How is she? I figured she would want a bed. Who knows what Karine had her sleeping on—if she let her sleep at all?” Layla said.
A buzzing that had started at the beginning of the night in the apartment continued now, making Elise’s thoughts hard to keep track of and even conversation threads with Layla difficult to follow. “Fine, thank you.” She blinked as Layla furrowed her brows at her. “Sorry…reapers don’t have to sleep?”
“Technically no. But we would be so much more miserable if we didn’t. Sleep deprivation severely inhibits our impulse control. If Karine was keeping Josi from sleeping, that could explain her erratic behavior,” Layla said. Her eyes roamed Elise’s face, picking up onall the distress she wore. “Then again, she’s newly turned, so who knows? Maybe she just needs more training. I’ve never seen anything like her before; I would assume it has to do with Valeriya’s ancient blood and venom being what changed her.”
Elise looked at her then, an idea coming to her. “Could you train her?”
Layla nodded. “Once I know exactly what she needs. If she’s as in-between as Karine and other reapers say she is, then Josi probably doesn’t need blood. So I can just teach her how to control her emotions—especially anger. For now, I think it’s best if we starve her and go from there.”
A loud meow cut between them, and they both turned to see Hendricks pawing at the door to where Josi slept. While Elise had no energy to shoo the cat away, Layla bared her fangs at him. Much to their surprise, the door opened, and the cat trotted in before it closed again.
Elise tensed at the thought of her younger sister alone with that cat. By now she was convinced he was more demon than feline—perhaps an abomination created in the shadows of the earth. Elise could not remember a time where she had been more afraid than when she was home alone with Hendricks the first for the first time and he would not let her leave the kitchen area. The cat had crouched on the counter and watched her with sharp green eyes, hissing and swatting at her whenever she tried to pass. He might have been worse than the most dangerous of reapers. Even then, Elise had faced off against an ancient one and survived, but whenever she came face-to-face withHendricks on a bad day, she had to remind herself that there was no worse fate than being torn to ribbons by his tiny razor-sharp claws.
