Chapter 13 #3
It definitely couldn’t be a reward for me. I hadn’t done a single thing in my life to deserve her.
I never thought I’d even have a girlfriend , let alone this, but I was determined to be the best fucking soul bond in the history of ever. Starting with morning orgasms, as soon as I had a morning off.
I glanced up as something out the window of Dare’s studio caught my attention. Blonde hair, dark clothes, and a slightly maniacal smile.
It could only be Bullet.
“I’ll be back in five,” I called to Dare, letting myself out the front door. I didn’t need Bullet coming inside and scaring away the customer with his cryptic psychic talk.
“Bullet,” I greeted him, pulling the door shut behind me. “I thought you had imprisoned yourself in your country manor, content to spend your days with just your cards and musicals for company.”
Bullet tilted his head to the side, his pale blonde hair flopping over as he did so, grinning like a lunatic. “Firstly, it’s a temporary imprisonment. Secondly, you say that like it’s a bad thing. Obviously, you’ve never experienced the life changing event that is the Hamilton soundtrack.”
“I prefer my music more-”
“Emotionally tortured? Dripping with angst? Esoteric? ”
“I was going to say subtle ,” I groused, crossing my arms. “Are you here to book an appointment?”
Despite my teasing, I knew Bullet did leave his house sometimes.
Dare had inked multiple tarot cards into him over the years, ones that Bullet felt strongly connected to.
None of them were on display today. As always, Bullet was dressed like he was going to strut down a catwalk—today it was a dark navy suit, but with a gray knit jumper instead of a shirt, and black kicks.
The gold bullet he always wore on a thin chain hung around his neck.
It all highlighted how pale his skin and blonde hair were. If he wasn’t an Oneiroi and tortured by his dreams, he’d probably be a model with his angular features. Grace would probably find him pretty, I mused, startling myself with the bizarre thought.
“Not today,” Bullet answered breezily, tapping his foot to a beat only he could hear. “I’m here to see you.”
“To explain how you know all the shit you somehow know?” I asked hopefully. I still didn’t know how I felt about his preternatural knowledge when it came to Grace. We needed allies, but Bullet was yet another unknown factor.
“Nope.” He popped the ‘p’ obnoxiously and I rolled my eyes. “That conversation involves more people.”
I glanced around the street, not wanting anyone to overhear this conversation, but there was no one close by and Dare’s client hadn’t emerged yet.
“Then what do you want?”
“You should really work on your customer service skills,” Bullet said cheerfully.
“You’re not a fucking customer,” I snarled.
“Well, not at this exact moment—”
“Bullet,” I hissed impatiently. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
“Fiiiiiine.” He gave me a mischievous smirk that I wanted to punch right off his face. If he knew something about Grace, then I needed to hear it now .
“The paths have diverged again.”
“What does that mean?” I asked as unease slithered through me.
“Exactly what it sounds like,” Bullet said casually. “The path she was traveling has split again. There is a new option that wasn’t there before.”
“This is about what the Elders decided?” I asked in a low voice. “Should we run?”
Bullet gave me a look that was almost sympathetic, which was a bizarrely normal reaction for him.
“No. Running will delay the inevitable, and do more harm than good.”
I opened my mouth to argue with him, but Bullet shook his head slightly, cutting me off.
“I know you don’t want to believe me, and I get it. Trust me, I get it a lot more than you think I do. But don’t run.”
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
So, what were we supposed to do? Just hang around and hope for the best? Why couldn’t Bullet provide a step-by-step guide on how best to stay ahead of the interfering agathos? What was even the point of being psychic if he couldn’t do that?
I glanced back through the window as Dare led his client out, a young blonde woman who was inspecting the elaborate saran-wrapped mandala tattoo on her upper arm.
“Hold on, I need to deal with this,” I instructed Bullet, not surprised in the least when he followed me inside. Dare’s client did a double take when the two of us walked in, looking between Bullet, Dare and I with surprise.
“This must be the most attractive tattoo parlor in the Northeast,” she said, blinking slowly.
“Probably,” Dare replied with his most charming grin. “What brings you here, Bullet?” he asked, leading the customer over to the desk to pay, waving me away when I tried to take over.
“I just needed a word with my old buddy, Riot,” Bullet replied, draping an arm over my shoulders. He grunted as I elbowed him in the gut and shrugged him off, grinning the entire time.
I grabbed his upper arm and steered him back out while Dare finished up, my mood already souring from spending hours away from Grace. It probably wouldn’t help the situation to go off on Bullet, but he was doing jumping jacks on my last fucking nerve.
Couldn’t he have put this in a text message?
“You wouldn’t be so grumpy if you’d bonded,” Bullet muttered under his breath, stopping me in my tracks.
“What are you talking about?” I hissed, glancing back to make sure Dare was still occupied.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Bullet replied easily.
“I’m glad you’ve finally worked out the answer to the question you were asking yourself all along, the question you both already knew the answer to, but this thing between you is bigger than just you two,” he added, confirming what was possibly my worst fear.
Bullet gave me an appraising look, scanning my face. “The cards are clear.”
“I would never push her to bond with me,” I spat, disgusted at the concept. I would be no better than Grace’s oh-so benevolent goddess if I did that.
“No, you won’t,” he replied with a tight smile that seemed less maniacal than normal. “Time is no longer on your side. As I was saying, my vision changed last night. The pathway that was once relatively clear now diverges.”
“Into what?”
“Into a path you can walk together, and a path she would walk alone.”
Unacceptable.
“She’ll never walk alone while I walk this earth,” I replied in a low voice, feeling the conviction of those words deep in my bones.
“Well we’re in agreement on that then,” Bullet said cheerfully, grinning even wider when I narrowed my eyes at him.
“How do you know all this? What aren’t you telling me?” I asked, even though there were probably a million things he wasn’t telling me.
“Nothing you won’t find out when the time is right for you to learn it.” Vaguely, I wondered if all people with prophetic abilities were insufferable, or if it was just a Bullet thing.
“You could just tell me now,” I pointed out. Bullet’s eyes darkened for a moment before his usual grin was fixed back in place.
“It’s not a future I’m willing to risk changing by divulging it too early. You’ll know when the time is right. In the meantime, you’ll have to wait for it, wait for it, ” he sang while I stared blankly at him.
“ Hamilton . No? You are such a philistine.”
I frowned as I examined Bullet, remembering the time he’d gotten revenge on Viper back when we’d hung out in high school.
Viper, noted asshole, had shoved Bullet in the hall in front of everyone, and as payback, Bullet claimed he’d visited Viper’s dreams that night, giving him a nightmare so fucking twisted he’d made Viper wet the bed.
“Can’t you dreamwalk?”
“I can,” Bullet replied, his face completely serene, and not giving anything away. The tricky bastard. “Time is no longer on your side,” he repeated, stepping around me and moving to the side as Dare’s customer exited. “Be ready to act, Riot.”
How the fuck was I supposed to be ready for anything if he wouldn’t tell me what I was meant to be getting ready for? Asshole.
Dare joined us outside, leaning back against the door with his arms crossed, looking intrigued, and Bullet paused for a moment, tilting his head to the side as he examined Dare like he’d never seen him before.
“You’d look good in a purple toga,” he observed, like he was considering something. Dare’s eyebrows raised slowly as he looked from Bullet to me, like I knew what the fuck he was rambling about. “Interesting. I’ll be seeing you, Riot. You know I always enjoy getting visitors.”
He gave us a half-assed salute before shoving his hands in his coat pockets and striding confidently down the street, radiating a borderline psychotic level of cheerfulness as always.
“Is he whistling Amazing Grace ?” Dare laughed, making me freeze. Even hearing Grace’s name come out of his mouth was bizarre. “Bullet is something else.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” I murmured.
Time is no longer on your side.
I pulled my lighter out of my pocket, running my thumb over the grooves of the dragon before flicking it to life.
He could only be referring to that outreach thing Grace had mentioned, but the agathos Elders were out of their fucking minds if they thought they were taking Grace.
I’d burn Auburn to the ground before I let that happen.
“What was that all about?” Dare asked from behind me.
Time is no longer on your side.
“Riot,” Dare sighed. “You were being weird as fuck the other night, and now Bullet is visiting you? Give me something, man. Is this about your dad? Are you in trouble?”
“No. And maybe,” I admitted, still staring at Bullet’s back as he disappeared down the street.
Dare’s hand landed on my shoulder and he pulled me around to face him, looking more concerned than I’d ever seen him. “I don’t know what to make of you lately. You’re somehow the most chilled out I’ve ever seen you, and the most stressed at the same time.”
My lips twitched at his eerily accurate description of my mental state.
“Talk to me,” Dare commanded, unusually solemn. “What do you need?”
“Have I told you lately that I appreciate you?” I asked.
“Not once in the whole time we’ve known each other,” Dare deadpanned.
“I wish I could tell you more,” I assured him. “But Bullet’s visions are involved and he seems to think things need to happen on a certain timeline.”
Dare looked frustrated, but eventually gave me a terse nod. “Who am I to interfere in the goddess’ plans? Just…don’t do anything stupid. I’ve gotten used to having you as my errand boy, you’re good at fetching my coffee. It’d be a real shame if you got killed.”
“Aw, I love you too, buddy,” I teased, bumping him with my shoulder. I had no intention of getting killed, but I was beginning to worry that it was a genuine possibility.
Bullet had seen a path where Grace was alone, and there was no way I’d ever let her go willingly.