Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 142050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 474(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 474(@300wpm)
“Ah. Yes. Guess they’d been called in for backup by the one who knocked on Dev’s door.”
With a sudden shiver, she wondered about the slayers they’d seen all around that property. Had Dev been recruiting them, working with the—
“I’m sorry,” she said roughly.
“What for?”
“Everything.”
She thought about him calling her a Barbie, and that had been an insult. But she also recognized that she was a long, long way from making any decision about going out in the field. Yes, she would do the training, yes, she would work hard, but transformations in life were about so much more than getting spoon-fed some insta-wisdom from a woman strutting around on a purple stage and telling you what you wanted to hear. Or at least, what you thought you wanted to hear.
Real change required work, not just inspiration, and true growth was more than some fantasy about being a hero. And yet… as she thought about what she’d done for Allhan, and then remembered helping Rhamp at their granmahmen’s bedside—and as she recalled especially the moment she’d jumped in front of a bullet to save L.W., she decided the fallen angel and her dearly departed namesake were right.
She was capable of things that mattered, and others knew, too.
L.W. had certainly thanked her for saving his life, and so had the great Blind King himself.
“So we’re going to keep going,” she said, mostly to herself. “Because that’s what the living do and the dead cannot. We… move forward.”
No matter how much it could hurt sometimes.
“Anyway”—she sniffled some composure back into her face—“where are you off to? They’re making me stay here for monitoring, but honestly, I feel fine.”
“I’m just going to train—but you should absolutely hang here.” Rhamp got to his feet. “Call me if you need me.”
“Always. And you do the same, okay?”
He bent down and kissed her cheek. “You got it, sister mine.”
As her brother headed to the door, she closed her eyes, thinking she might sleep a little. There was nothing else to do.
“Lyric?” When she popped her lids and looked over, Rhamp was hesitating by the exit. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re wrong. I think it does matter that guy was there.”
Drawing her brows together, she tried not to be angry with her twin. “Why are you defending him?”
“ ’Cuz I believe he saved my sister’s life.” Rhamp opened the exit and stepped out. “I owe him.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Back in the heart of downtown, on the fourth floor of the apartment building that had been the epicenter of so much, Dev was waiting on his bed, hands in his lap, eyes on the floor where the bloodstain was.
The red one, where Lyric had lain.
Passing a hand down his face, he knew that this was the last time he would be in this space, and he didn’t feel any type of way about it. The studio hadn’t meant anything to him when he’d first taken it, and in spite of everything, it didn’t mean much to him now. If there was any hint of nostalgia, it was just because the square footage had been a marker of time passing, an era over.
Marked in blood, as it were—
One by one, they appeared, the three vampires from the night before entering through the crack in the window across the way: Lyric’s brother, fierce and dark-haired on the left. The tall one in the middle with the nasty expression and the braid. The diamond-studded one on the other end.
“She’s okay, isn’t she?” Dev asked.
Twinkle Lobes muttered, “None of your goddamn business—”
The brother elbowed the guy to shut up and then replied smoothly, “She’s totally okay. She’s resting and fine.”
As the pair of vampires glared at the male, he didn’t seem to care. He just kept staring straight ahead at Dev.
Ah, so the guy had seen the little sleight of hand and knew what had happened.
“I really want to kill you,” the one with the braid muttered.
“I wish you would.” Dev smiled coldly at him. “With the way I’m feeling now, death would be so much more preferable. But unfortunately, given who my parents are, that’s not an option.” He sat up straighter and cracked his knuckles. “We could go a couple of rounds with that dagger in your hand, though. Good exercise for you, and I think I’d like to have a little physical pain to go along with everything else that’s banging around in my head. Except that would really just be a waste of time when there’s so many other things you want to do, right?”
“Where are you taking us,” the braided one demanded.
“To his presence.” Dev shrugged. “I’m not Google Maps, asshole. I can’t give you directions. All I can do is transport us into my sire’s vicinity.”
“Hold on,” Twinkles cut in. “How do we know this isn’t a trap.”
“Call the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Call all the vampires on the planet.” Not that he wanted that. Better to keep this limited in scope so there was less chance of people dying. “I don’t give a shit, but I thought you wanted to try to kill him yourselves. Or was I wrong about that.”