Chapter 28
AZRAEL
From the moment she entered my life, Victoria was the bane of my existence. Like all my sins were finally ready to send me to hell.
Did I tell her I would fuck her two days ago? No, but she must have seen it in the way I looked at her the entire night. I’d also had to push myself to stop in the car, because one more second with my fingers inside her and I would have lost it.
Why does everything need to be moving on fast-forward with her?
She just didn’t understand that the date was not a test for her, it was for me.
The torture, the manipulation, those are as easy as breathing for me.
All I’d wanted to do was to take my girl on a date.
One nice fucking thing. One. And she just blew me off.
Not to mention that half of my brain was preoccupied by the little fuckers that are still roaming around the world somewhere, trying to make me waste my time on them.
As much as I hate to agree with Zachary, he is right. They could get to my little ember, and I cannot let that happen. It’s not like I have any doubt in her abilities; she has proven to me one too many times she can kill. But protecting her is something I will do from now on.
I had to give myself a few hours—just a few damn hours—to think properly. By the time morning came, I was already craving her again. Not sexually. Well, not just sexually. Fuck, she’s the type of woman who’d kill you, kiss you, then sleep like a baby beside the body. How could I not crave her?
I called, trying to set up something and maybe find a way to apologize for yesterday—because yes: I, Azrael, would beg on my knees for her forgiveness. But what does she say? She’s busy with a job. Fine.
Saturday dragged, and I was barely restraining myself.
I kept walking to the door every two minutes, talking myself out of running to her place.
The entire day, I fully expected her to somehow appear in front of me.
However, it didn’t happen. She answered my calls, texted back, but was very uncharacteristically detached compared to the borderline obsessed texts she used to send.
Was she that mad I didn’t fuck her? I wanted to, but it’s not like my Victoria would ever win a prize for understanding someone else’s side. She was definitely mad at me.
I told myself I was giving her space, that she needed the time and I needed it as well, so we could process what is happening with us.
Lie.
By Monday morning, pride isn’t even in the room anymore. Just me, my keys, and one last stupid idea.
Her apartment building isn’t hard to get into, and the doorman has seen me enough times to not need explanations for why I’m there. I go straight to her apartment, armed with one thought: this is the last time she is pushing me away. Or I’m pushing her away. Yes, both versions.
Her apartment is empty. The entire place is right now populated by Cat, who doesn’t seem too excited to see me. Still a work in progress.
I pick up my phone and, right at this moment, I’m so fucking grateful I hacked her phone. Alex. He picks up on the second ring.
“I mi—”
“Where is she?”
“Morning to you too, sunshine.”
Wrong move. Now I understand why she calls him a little bitch.
“You have three seconds to tell me where she is before I lose my patience.”
“Uh, so grumpy.” But the stupid words don’t match the shift in the tone.
Alex’s voice has lost its edge now.
I keep my voice calm, but he’s testing me. “She’s disappeared, and if you don’t tell me where she is, I’ll assume you’ve got something to do with it.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Speak now.”
“I mean it. She’ll gut me.”
His voice isn’t cocky now, just nervous. However, I cannot shake the feeling that it’s also familiar. It could be that I’d heard while I was with her, but it doesn’t click.
“I asked you a question. You have ten seconds to stop bullshitting me and start answering me if your life still matters to you.”
“She’s in Toronto.”
How convenient, on the other side of the motherfucking continent. “Doing what?”
“A simple job. She didn’t want you to know because—”
“Because she’s pissed at me. I’m aware.”
“Doctor, she just acts crazy sometimes.”
That does sound like her, but how dare this piece of shit call my ember crazy? Seems like Victoria will need a new middleman.
“How long has she been gone?”
“She left this morning. Should be back tomorrow.”
“I’m expecting all the details in the next two minutes. And don’t fucking tell her if you still cherish your life.”
The café where she was supposed to wait is almost empty, but there is no sign of my Victoria. Did the stupid one tell her?
I dial Alex, and something tells me he already knows he is in trouble.
“She was there,” he says quickly. “I had my eyes on her until 9:48. Then I lost her.”
“How can you lose a person?”
Alex swallows loudly enough that I can hear it through the phone. “She said she was going to the last seen point. She was pissed. She doesn’t like it when things don’t follow the plan.”
“And now?”
“She stopped answering about two minutes ago.”
“Where. Is. She?” I don’t even bother pretending I am calm, and I don’t give two flying fucks if the people walking around me get scared.
“I’m sending the—”
“Don’t.”
Something is wrong. If it wasn’t, she would have handled this already. Victoria isn’t the type to go MIA unless something or someone is bothering her, and I doubt she will do that just because the person she is supposed to kill hurt her feelings. Nor is she the type to hide in a corner.
My fists curl. If anyone dared to lay a hand on her—anyone—there wouldn’t be enough bleach in this goddamn province to clean up the mess I’d make.
I get to her location in less than three minutes, and I finally see her. She is here, right in front of me. Kind of.
Crouched low, she’s holding her head like she’s experiencing the worst headache of her life, but she’s still fighting. I don’t even need to see her face to know—she’s in kill-mode. Beautifully fucking lethal.
But she isn’t alone.
The other woman is a heartbeat away from pulling the trigger. Sure, over my dead fucking body.
I fire the first bullet, hitting her in the arm.
Color me surprised when the bitch turns around and I see the face of none other than subject 128.
Zachary and his big, spoiled mouth. Is this why Victoria is in danger?
Because of me? But now is not the moment to find out because this subject doesn’t deserve to breathe air on the same planet as Victoria a second longer.
The second bullet snaps through the alley, and the woman crumples to the pavement in front of where Victoria should have been. But it seems like she’s already bolted.
Fuck.
I rush forward, past the dead body—still twitching—and out into the light-splashed street. My eyes scan the crowd, looking for her. No wonder she is good at her job, nobody can actually see her with that damn five-foot-nothing figure she bears.
The rental car I parked near the café earlier is still there, and I dial—hopefully for the last time—the number of the little fucker.
“She’s gone,” I growl.
“I think she— ,”
“Faster,” I interrupt, “Where the fuck did she go?”
The sound of keyboard tapping and Alex’s breathing are my new least favorite sounds. Faster, idiot.
“She’s heading toward a point she’s marked ‘Thirty-six’ on her map. It’s a remote meadow. Visibility drops to ten feet. She’s trying to lose you.”
Like she can get away from me.
“I need her location.”
I start following the little dot on the map, swerving through the lanes. She drives like a madwoman. Why would she even believe that the person who saved her would suddenly change their mind?
I finally catch up to her after following her car on a dark path that took us straight to the middle of the forest. Not wasting any time, I get out of the car as soon as hers stops rolling, very aware that she would probably waste no time in killing me.
I see the gun, and I wait for the shot, but nothing happens. She sees me.
“I thought I told you never to run from me again.”
She finally comes out from behind her car door, and I see her.
“I’m telling you, if your plan was to kill me, my bedroom would have been a much better location.” Her voice is almost…damaged. She escaped death, and this is the end of her power.
I tilt my head, unable to understand how she can look so beautiful even when she thinks she’s about to die. All I can do is stare at her: her beautiful blond hair, which I want to wrap my hand around to pull her closer, her eyes, looking at me with so much passion that it almost knocks me back.
“What?” I ask when I notice she is not moving.
“What? Are you serious? I almost killed you.”
“That would have been okay.”
“Azrael, what are you doing here?”
“You came to watch me teach so many times, I thought it was about the time to see my girl in her classroom,”
What am I supposed to say? That I can’t go two days without seeing her? She’ll find that out soon enough anyway.
I move fast, covering the distance between us in two steps.
Lowering my body, I grab her head in my hands, tilting it back until her lips meet mine.
I take all of her, forcefully, stealing her breath, tasting her mouth, sucking her tongue.
Each second of the kiss makes me even more desperate for her.
When we slow down, she pulls away an inch, apparently to continue interrogating me. “Why did you have a gun?”
Valid question, but has she met herself? With a woman like her, having a gun 24/7 is imperative.
“I always have a gun when I’m with you.” I answer flatly. Now would be an inappropriate moment to mention twelve—eleven now—fuckers want her dead because of me. Partly because I am not sure how to tell her, and partly because I’d rather fuck her than talk about my issues.
I can’t tell if she is intrigued or just suspicious of this answer, but she drops it.
“How did you get here?”
“Plane, like a normal person.”
“How did you get here?”