Chapter 3
THREE
REGAN
“Foooooodddddd.” I tucked my wings into my sides and dropped down toward the ground.
Chanel was right behind me and landed just as easily. We managed to land between two buildings in a narrow street just off Main Street and away from the madness of the parade. Happy voices and music carried to us. But we were slightly cocooned from it all between the buildings.
I extended my hands out toward her. “Gimme.”
She handed over both pretzels and my lips pulled up in a wide smile as I took a bite from one, then the other.
Chanel chuckled and shook her head. “Double fisting . . . I like your style.”
“It’s more efficient this way.” I shoved another bite into my mouth and stared at her. Her face was contorted into some kind of weirdly serious I’m-thinking-too-much look. Her brows were furrowed and her lips pursed. I froze mid-bite. “What’s that face?”
“What face?”
I jabbed my pretzel in her direction. “The one you’re making.”
“I think . . .” she paused, then shook her head, “. . . No, can’t be.”
“You think what?” I took another bite.
“Okay, okay, okay, so what if . . .” She wrinkled her nose. “Nah, nope.”
“You want to try giving me a complete sentence? Because these half-thought things that you’re doing aren’t working for me.”
She held her hand up. “Sorry, my brain just stopped.”
“Yeah, I noticed. But I’m still not sure why.”
She let go of a heavy sigh. “I’m pretty sure a mobster vampire was just flirting with me.”
I froze with one of my pretzels halfway to my mouth. “Ew, why?”
“I have no idea.” She held her hands up and shrugged.
“I mean, did he see your face? Because it literally always says no. All the time.” I was getting sick of holding my pretzels and they were turning cold. I strolled down the end of the street back onto Main Street and tossed them into a garbage can.
Chanel fell into step beside me but continued eating her pretzels. “I know, right?”
“What did you say?” No one ever hit on Chanel. She could give a man a look that would shrink his balls right before my eyes.
“Hard to tell. I feel like I insulted him and he liked it.”
I cackled. “It’s always the ones who like it with you.”
“It really is.” We strolled by a float with a large image of a soulmate mark and a number underneath it.
I chuckled to myself, and Chanel’s eyes widened at the ad.
“That’s a bit desperate. I mean, they both have to be on the island.
I can’t imagine renting a whole float to just find a soulmate that would eventually pop up. ”
I pointed toward where I spotted Constantine only a few moments ago.
He high-fived a fae woman, then began strolling toward us.
He towered over the two of us and had the surliest personality of any vampire I’d ever met.
He was perpetually grouchy, and part of me loved seeing him to hear what he said next.
“Where’s Daisy?”
He pointed in between two buildings. I looked and found Daisy standing there.
She was even more of a cheerleader type than I thought.
Her platinum hair was pulled into two pigtail buns on the top of her head.
Orange and black ribbons were wound through the bright blonde strands.
She wore a pleated black skirt and orange sweater with a large black pumpkin on it.
Her socks were those thick scrunchy kind that bunched around her ankles.
A thick black sack was wrapped up in her arms, and she held it close to her chest while two older mage women and a werewolf surrounded her.
I recognized them instantly. I strolled into the alleyway and nodded at them. “Sylvie, Gertie, Susan. It’s good to see you.”
Sylvie shook her head at Daisy. Strands of silvery-blond hair fell around her face and made her bright-blue eyes almost glow in the darkness of the alley. “The girl hasn’t got a lick of sense.”
“Yes, I do.” Daisy stomped her foot like a little kid having a tantrum.
“Oh please. I’ve got dirty laundry with more sense than you.
” Gertie grumbled as she crossed her arms. The sisters were notoriously sassy and way too much fun.
They even shared looks, but Gertie was slightly taller with wavy hair that just brushed her shoulders and feathery bangs that fanned over her forehead.
Susan sighed and ran her hand through her salt and pepper hair.
The older wolf hovered the closest to Daisy.
She stood there with her hands on her hips, tapping one very long claw against her side.
“You know they say the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again the same way and expecting a different result. In your case, it’s not insanity. It's stupidity.”
“Ugh. Rude.” Daisy had the nerve to stick her tongue out at Susan.
“No. Rude is walking around with a head in a bag,” Sylvie snapped.
I held my hand up. “Hold up. I’m sorry. Did you say head in a bag?”
“Sick, let me see.” Chanel leaned in closer.
I nudged her with my elbow. “How is there a head in a bag?”
Constantine groaned and rolled his eyes. “She stole it.”
“She stole it or she cut it off herself?” Chanel countered.
“Who cuts off a head?” Gertie’s brows furrowed.
I lowered my voice and murmured to Chanel. “Wouldn’t be the first time we saw that.”
“For real,” she muttered back. “Remember that time in London? Man that guy loved to cut up his victims. It was gnarly.”
“Don’t remind me.” I made a fake-gagging sound.
“Can we focus?” Constantine snapped.
“Right, yes, the head in a bag.” I turned back to Daisy. “Where’d you get the head?”
“Okay, but nowwww can I see it?” Chanel nodded toward the bag. “Just a peek.”
Constantine marched up to Daisy and yanked the bag from her arms. He held it out toward Chanel, and it swung back and forth in his grip. “Here.”
She snagged the back and opened the top. A light chuckle passed her lips. “No way.”
“Fine, let me see.” I didn’t want to look. I hated that shit. Sure, I was one of the Virtues, but I wasn’t into looking at the gruesome leftovers of murder.
Chanel held the open bag out toward me. I looked in and found the head staring up at me. It blinked its dark eyes. “Can you put me back now?”
“I will.” Constantine grabbed the bag back from Chanel and held it at his side.
“You stole the Headless Horsman’s head?” I stifled a laugh.
Daisy shrugged. “I was gonna give it back.”
“She wasn’t,” his deep muffled voice said from the sack.
“Was too.”
Constantine motioned toward Daisy. “I trust you have this well in hand.”
“Of course.” Chanel and I stepped forward at the same time, moving to stand on either side of her.
“Ladies, shall we?” Constantine motioned toward Main Street and the three older women followed in his wake after giving Daisy dirty looks.
Once we were alone, Daisy sagged with relief. “Glad they’re gone.”
“You think you’re better off with us?” Chanel glanced at me and pressed her lips into a hard line.
I didn’t like the idea of anyone thinking they were better off with us. “You really aren’t.”
“Are we losing our touch?”
“We might be.” I wrinkled my nose and looked over at Daisy. Sometimes people didn’t pay attention or were just not smart. Looking over at Daisy, I very much thought that was the case.
I wrapped my hand around her upper arm while Chanel took the other one. Daisy glanced down at our hands. “What are we doing? Where are we going?”
“There are consequences for your actions, Daisy.” Chanel opened her wings.
“And you’re about to learn what they are.” I followed suit and opened my own wings. Like a thousand times before, we took off in unison, shooting up into the night sky. The wind whipped by us as we flew from Megelle Island right toward the city.
“It’s too cold,” Daisy whined and tugged at the hold we had on her.
But she was a mere mage, and we were the Virtues.
If she got away from us midair, we’d have to rethink our job choices.
But Daisy wasn’t wrong. The air was crisp this high up.
Down below, the water was choppy from the cool wind whipping around us, and above, the moon hung high in the air, bathing us in cool blue light.
It was the kind of night I could put on a huge sweater and sit in front of a fire.
Instead, I was escorting a dimwit to a world she was not prepared for in the least but completely deserved.
“You’ll be fine.” We turned to the side as the city came into view.
The lights cut through the night, blocking out any stars.
The sound of honking horns, yelling, and traffic drifted up toward us.
The smell of street food overwhelmed my senses and my stomach twisted with hunger.
Apparently, the pretzels weren’t cutting it.
We flew between the tall buildings and over Central Park.
In all my years in this world, I never tired of this view.
It was an oasis surrounded by a concrete jungle.
Chanel smirked in my direction. “You know what we need?”
“Pizza.”
She nodded. “Pizza.”
“I want pizza.” Daisy stuck her lip out, pouting at us.
“No,” we said in unison.
Just beyond the trees, The Emerald came into view and we dipped down lower.
The building blended in perfectly with the surrounding area.
It was tall and imposing with dark glass windows surrounded by dark architecture.
Though it was the middle of the night, the city was still very much alive.
Below us yellow cabs zoomed around Columbus Circle, mixing in with the flow of traffic.
Little carts with bikes attached to them were lined up along the wall surrounding the park.
Their drivers lingered close by, asking any passersby if they wanted a ride.
Steam drifted up from hot dog stands that stood just across from them.
I pulled my wings in, and we touched down on the roof of The Emerald. It was smooth and effortless as though we were walking from one room to the next. Daisy tried to struggle against our hold once more. “You guys are making a big mistake.”