Chapter Five
Ethan’s brown eyes were wide with concern when he met her on street level. His hand ghosted over the black coils of his hair before dropping back down to his side in worry. “What the hell happened? You look like you got the shit beat out of you.”
“I did,” she grumbled.
“I kept radioing you and never heard back.”
Kierse remembered the two-way radio crashing to the ground and skittering off into the shadows. She grimaced. “I lost it.”
“You lost it?”
His hand dropped onto his face, running down the brown skin that always looked like it had been dipped in sepia. He was roughly the same height as Kierse but with long, lanky limbs that made him seem taller than he was. And right now, with him drawing up in exasperation, he gained a few inches.
“You were right,” she said, trying to hide her limp. “It was a monster. A big monster.”
Ethan made a noise of distress, putting an arm under her shoulders, and she leaned into his strength as the sting slowly eased in her ankle. “I never saw anyone come in or out. What was it? A vamp? Werewolf?”
“Fuck if I know.”
He startled as they ambled down the street. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I mean... I don’t know, Ethan. It wasn’t a man, but he wasn’t any kind of monster I’d ever seen or heard of.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I’ll tell you and Gen about it when I get back.”
“Get back?”
She fingered the ring in her pocket and flashed it at him. “I’m going to just take this to Amberdash now.”
His eyes rounded at the sight of the ring. “You got the ring still? Even after breaking the Treaty? What the hell?”
Her eyes darted around the seemingly empty street. “Later, Ethan.”
He blanched as if realizing the severity of the situation. “You should come home now. See Amberdash in the morning.”
She shook her head as they veered east on 75th Street toward Central Park, where they had planned to catch the bus. “I’ll explain when I get home.”
They always recounted the night’s success with Gen. She was the center of their imperfect trio. She was the one who had saved them both from a fate worse than hell.
Ethan’s grip on Kierse tightened. “I’ll come with you.”
She smirked at him. “Come on. I know you’re still planning to see Corey tonight at the festival.”
Ethan flushed in the dim light. “Not fair.”
“He’ll worry if you’re not home. So will Gen. Tell them everything is fine. I’ll be right behind you.”
He scowled. “Is everything fine?”
Kierse didn’t have an answer to that, but she put on her winning smile, the one that got her out of anything. “Now you’re worrying.”
“Kierse,” he groaned.
But they’d reached the bus stop and the bus was already pulling to a stop in front of them.
“I’ll see you later,” Kierse said.
“Please be safe!” Ethan called back.
She waved goodbye, running past the M10 as it pulled into the uptown stop. She moved away from the wealthy brownstones that lined the well-lit street toward Central Park. She couldn’t help but glower at the luxury that still existed as if it had never been touched by the wars. This part of New York City looked much the same as it always had here.
There were two worlds in her city—the wealthy and everyone else. The wealthy had integrated with monsters from the beginning. Some even suspected that they had already known of their existence and, when the Monster War started, had bought their way to freedom. They lived in their mansions as if the economy hadn’t collapsed, monsters had never taken to the streets, and millions hadn’t died. Nothing had changed for them from one day to the next except that they now coexisted with monsters. Well, at least the monsters with equal wealth. They ran businesses with them, went to galas with them, and sent their children to the same fancy private schools. It turned out money really could buy anything.
Then there was Kierse’s part of the city. Once you left uptown behind, the world looked remarkably different. Ramshackle apartments that had tripled in price practically overnight. A police force that only cared for the ones lining their pockets. Gangs popped up on every corner. Women and men alike selling their bodies when all the other jobs had evaporated. The destruction hadn’t only made the monsters appear; it had made monsters of everyone.
Since the Monster Treaty, shops were reopening, people went out after dark again, and prices were rebounding. More and more people were leaving the shadows to find the light, but the city hadn’t completely changed. Gangs still ruled. Brothels lined the blocks of lower Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs. Monsters didn’t kill openly for sport anymore, but everyone stayed out of their way. Maybe this was the new normal.
Kierse cut south until the lights grew brighter, then cut east. Midtown had recently begun to thrive again despite monsters still occupying Times Square, and she merged into the steady flow of sidewalk traffic. She angled out of the way of the bulky half troll trundling down the sidewalk and nearly ran into a wayward vampire. She sidestepped the vamp hastily, colliding with a tourist holding up her phone and snapping a photo of the troll. Kierse ducked her head to hide her distaste. Cell phones had been a necessity for many before the Monster War. The plans were sadly out of most people’s budgets now... as was traveling. How and why wealthy tourists still wanted to come to New York City was beyond her. Let alone being clueless enough to take pictures of monsters on the street. Some people never found common sense.
She pushed past the tourists gawking at Rockefeller Center and angled toward the Amberdash building on Madison Avenue. Gregory Amberdash had used his skills as a wraith—advanced hearing, quick feet, and shrewd business sense—to get rich during the Monster War. And despite that, he was one of the few wealthy people she could stand. And though she didn’t particularly care for working for monsters—after all, look at what they’d done during the war—she honestly preferred monsters to the rich, who had just sat by and let the world go to shit.
A doorman nodded at her as she entered. The interior had a sky-high ceiling, marble columns, and plush seating. Her high-end clients liked a high-end place to run their business. The Amberdash building was a perfect place to appease them. She strode straight past the concierge to the bank of elevators and entered the first that opened.
She tapped a keycard to take her straight to the top floor. Amberdash himself had given her the key to bypass his security and take her up to the penthouse. She had started working with Amberdash in Jason’s thieving guild before things went sour. Their relationship had survived the fallout, and now he provided jobs for her when he had clients who needed a little under-the-table business. Amberdash as the middleman usually resulted in fewer people trying to kill her for their secrets.
The elevator dinged open, revealing the entrance that divided his office from his living quarters. She shivered as she headed for the office. No way did she ever want to be alone with a wraith in his own space. That was just asking for trouble. Like the loss of her soul.
She knocked twice, and a petite blonde opened the door. Her eyes were hollow and cheeks sallow, but there was a fever in her expression that Kierse had seen on Amberdash’s other willing victims. Wraiths could feed off a soul for years if they were careful. Some even found it more enjoyable to watch the life slowly drain out of their victim one increment at a time. Like any other office job.
“Miss McKenna,” she said, recognizing her at once. “I’ll let Mr. Amberdash know you’ve arrived. Please come in and make yourself comfortable.”
Kierse stepped over the threshold as the blonde moved languidly across the room to another closed door that led to the living quarters. Kierse crossed her arms and remained standing, waiting to get this thing over with.
Five minutes turned to ten, and she eyed the leather sofa with interest. She wasn’t going to let her guard down, but she hated the mind games. Wraiths didn’t sleep at night. In fact, she wasn’t sure they slept at all when they were feeding regularly. The only reason he was making her wait was because he could.
Just when she was beginning to think that Ethan was right and she should have gotten rid of the ring tomorrow, a voice spoke into her left ear.
“So,” Amberdash said.
She shivered and turned to face him. “Amberdash.”
The wraith smiled, and she tried not to shudder. Wraiths could almost pass as human except for the general sense of death that emanated from them as they approached. They typically had distinctive sallow skin, grim expressions, and shadows clinging to them. Basically, no one wanted to be caught alone with one in a darkened room.
“Hello, Kierse.” He slid past her, not quite walking, not quite gliding, behind his desk. “I assume you’re here for a reason.”
She fished the ring out of her pocket and dropped it onto the desk with a thunk.
Amberdash’s face was recessed, and his clothes draped delicately on his tall, thin frame. “Your talents are, as ever, not exaggerated.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“As you should,” he said, reaching across the desk for the ring.
She dropped her hand over it and arched an eyebrow. “What exactly are you playing at, Amberdash?”
His eyes flashed at her audacity. His fingers were inches from her wrist. “Whatever do you mean?”
“You sent me to a monster’s house without adequate information. I could have been killed.”
“I am merely the middleman,” he said, his hand brushing through shadows as if that were an answer. “You agreed to the job regardless. It is why I pay you so well. You get the job done. As you did tonight, I see.”
She switched tactics, removing her hand from the ring and leaving it unattended. His eyes flickered down to it and then back up at her.
“You know I love the jobs that you give me. I want us to keep working together. I also want to live to see another day. I thought you valued the work that I did for you.” She sighed and ran a nervous hand back through her hair, revealing the bruising from her tussle with Graves.
Amberdash tilted his head. “Don’t often see you banged up.”
“I’d really like to keep it that way.” Her dark hair fell back over the cut. “I’m more valuable to you with all my limbs intact.”
“Fine. I’ll pay you for the expense, if that’s what you’re after.” Amberdash pocketed the ring swiftly and then punched in a code on his desk that opened a drawer underneath. Kierse had broken the code lock once while she waited just to see if she could. She wasn’t stupid enough to steal anything. Amberdash would hunt her down and kill her himself if she betrayed him.
“No more monsters without forewarning,” she added as he doled out a stack of hundreds. When he was done, he pushed them across the desk, and she hid them in her right jacket pocket before turning to go. She debated telling him about taking another job, but she liked to keep her options open.
“I’d watch your back.”
Kierse stilled at those words. When she faced him, he steepled his fingers in front of him.
“Is that a threat?”
“Certainly not from me.”
Kierse forced herself not to react. “What do you know?”
“Only that talents like yours are in high demand,” he said as he drifted back into the darkness of his office. “So... watch your back.”
She shivered at the cautionary advice. Gregory Amberdash didn’t issue them lightly. She waited until he was out of sight and then hastened from the Amberdash building, glad to be beyond his reach and that ominous warning.