Chapter 26 #5
Shouts rang out across the room, and several audience members shot their hands up to offer themselves.
But Layla was already walking onto the stage, her face a mask of cool confidence.
A few disappointed cries erupted from the crowd, and even the announcer gave her a stunned look.
“Very well then. One more volunteer and we’ll be all set. ”
An eager but somewhat shy man with hunched shoulders and a wide smile was brought onstage next. Then a blood so familiar filled her senses, Layla almost whirled, expecting Elise to have followed her behind the curtains. But instead, she came face-to-face with the littlest Saint.
Josephine Saint, wearing the red horns of a devil, stared up at Layla. Her brown eyes flashed with recognition, and she stayed put, not moving a muscle or even flinching as Layla leaned in closer to make sure her eyes did not deceive her.
“Josephine Saint…” Layla whispered. This interaction contrasted greatly from the first time they had seen each other in years.
Before breaking into the Saint estate on the night of the party two months ago, the only image Layla had of Josi had been one of a girl barely out of her infancy.
With eyes so full of childlike innocence and skin softer than a rose petal, the youngest Saint daughter had only ever filled Layla with the urge to protect.
Until the night of the Saint party, when she crept into her room and hid in the shadows with the intention of striking fear deep into her heart.
Truthfully, Layla had been aiming for Elise.
When she realized it was Josi she’d happened upon, it was too late to turn away.
The little girl had already seen her. Fear lit her eyes immediately, and a bloodcurdling scream that still echoed in Layla’s bones had rattled the room.
Layla did not think she would ever be able to shake the realization that she was the monster under the bed, the thing lurking in shadows that made everyone warn girls not to take nighttime walks.
The girl looked older now in her stage makeup, which painted her mostly red to match the glittery dance costume and headpiece she wore.
A devil. They had dressed this little girl like a devil.
Layla’s fangs threatened to break free at the startling realization.
But the curtains were already pulling back, and another human had settled beside her, with one hand held out.
Without looking, Layla could still sense Josi on the other side of her with her own human partner.
The stage lights were so bright, at first all Layla saw were blurry white flashes while she took the man’s hand and stepped onto the stage.
It was not until the music began and her vision adjusted to the lights that Layla even knew what to do.
Before she could process the familiar jazz song blaring throughout the room, the man was swinging her into a stiff stance.
Layla faced him, noticing the sheen of sweat covering his exposed throat and arms. For a long time, she had always assumed it would be a cold day in hell before she ever experienced stage fright.
Growing up, the stage had been one of her few safe havens, and stepping onto had it felt like coming home.
But now, after these startling moments, all Layla could think about were the countless ways she could fail during this performance.
Her grip tightened on the man’s shoulders as he pulled her across the stage, their feet moving in perfect sync with the music.
Jazz had never been Layla’s preferred dance style.
Her toes stepped on her partner’s during various quick turns, and her back arched a bit too far on certain dips, but for the most part, she kept up.
Even as she began to sweat and the smell of blood became more pronounced the longer the dance went on, Layla became grateful for the relentless training her dance instructors had forced her through.
After one particularly prolonged spin ended in a pose, Layla took the moment to stare into the crowd.
While many in the audience applauded the way she and Josi held their positions, Layla locked in on the sight of Elise in the clutches of the two reapers at the booth.
One held her in place with an arm wrapped around Elise’s waist while the other gripped her chin, leaning in to sniff her throat.
It might have appeared scandalous in the way most people perceived flappers to be, with their short dresses and casual naked vulnerability, but in a place like this, where no one knew of mercies and blood flowed freely beneath the floor they stood on, Layla knew there was nothing but sin being planned between the reapers’ blushing faces and roaming hands.
Elise smiled at both of them, but the smallest flicker of fear in her eyes sent a spark of fire up Layla’s spine.
Just that one look had her digging her nails into her dance partner’s shoulders. His movements hesitated, bringing her face-to-face with the younger Saint girl.
“Where is the karma?” Layla whispered just loudly enough for Josi to hear over the music.
A devious look filled the girl’s eyes, and she laughed. “It’s me. I’m karma.” She twisted back, launching herself out of her partner’s arms.
The man startled, confused. Josi landed in a crouched position on her feet, one hand on the dusty floor while she glared up at him.
The intensity of Josephine’s displeasure might have been strong enough to start several wars in another life.
In this one, however, her nose dripped blood that leaked down her mouth and over her jaw.
The audience gasped as they watched the broken dance routine fall apart before them.
Layla’s partner released her, and she was glad to see that the halted performance had baffled the spectators so much that even the reapers with Elise stopped what they were doing to look toward the stage.
Layla felt something shift in the air. But though the crowd murmured about the show, she knew it had nothing to do with the onlookers.
A violent chill swept through her senses, and she turned to the small Saint girl.
Josi now stood facing her partner, who looked desperately contrite.
Apologies spilled from his lips, but only a faint roaring filled Layla’s ears as she watched Josi’s gaze turn into something more lethal.
As soon as Layla recognized Josi’s expression, the Saint girl lunged for her partner.
Despite being much shorter than the man, she knocked him over with the precision and quickness of an experienced predator.
Josi slammed the man onto the floor and was upon him in seconds.
Blood sprayed across the stage, and screams erupted from the audience as she tore into his throat.
Flesh fell away from the man’s body, which had gone eerily still in only moments.
Josi appeared to not be drinking from him but rather playing in his blood; a smile split her lips while she pressed her palms into the blood spilling across the stage and gripped her partner’s face with rough hands.
The roaring in Layla’s ears only continued as she approached the girl, her hand outstretched.
With the chaos of the room exploding around her, she stayed intent on reaching Josi.
By the time she did, the man was far beyond dead.
His glassy eyes stared up at the ceiling, mouth and chest agape from Josi’s assault.
Layla tried to reach for her, but a clear voice, desperate and lovely, cut through the commotion.
“JOSI.”
Layla dropped her hand and turned to see Elise approaching the front of the stage.
Their eyes met for a moment before Josi stood, the blood soaking her dance costume shining a brilliant crimson in the light.
She looked like a princess of death, crowned by her baptism into violence.
Josi waved a bloody hand at her sister. If the horror in Elise’s face bothered her, she didn’t show it.
Instead, the little girl descended the stage steps.
She cut a path through the crowd easily, with people stepping away from her and yanking their dresses and shoes out of her way to keep themselves from becoming soiled with her carnage.
“Lisey,” Josi said in a light voice.
As the sisters neared each other, Layla snapped out of her shock and followed Josi toward Elise.
One of the reapers who had been at the booth with Elise emerged from the crowd.
His eyes flitted from Josi to Elise, calculating, until realization settled into a cold darkness in his expression.
He was closer to her—Layla realized with a panicked gasp.
She moved faster, but another man came between them, this time reaching for Josi.
He hauled her up by her waist and flung her over his shoulder.
Josi let out a screech loud enough to make people in the crowd duck and cover their ears.
After all that Josi had done to the man onstage, Layla knew the girl was more than capable of holding her own.
Meanwhile, Elise had become surrounded by several reapers now, all watching her with more-than-hungry eyes.
Whether it was greed or true craving that drove them to her, it didn’t matter to Layla. She needed to get closer.
New blood filled the air; Josi had managed to grab the arm of the man carrying her and twist it until it dislocated.
As she dropped from his shoulder, she took his arm with her, tearing the remaining flesh apart as she went.
Blood trailed her quick movements through the crowd.
Josi passed Layla in a heartbeat, approaching Elise.
The girl did not utter a word as she dropped the arm and rushed to her sister.