Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Cheater!”
Sasha slid across the marble floor of the library, groaning in pain. Her glasses skittered a foot farther away. Oh, good. She had her glasses again. That meant she was herself again. Progress.
“That was cheating!” Vile roared at her. “What do you think you were doing? Whose side do you think you’re on? Or have you forgotten?”
“I don’t—I don’t even know—I wasn’t trying—I guess I put in an epilogue? All good books have them, right?” She reached for her glasses and put them back on. “It made perfect sense, we had that unfinished deal we m—”
He picked her up by the back of the shirt. Or rather, something did. Because Vile was standing in front of her, fists clenched at his sides, his expression furious. But she was also hovering several inches off the ground as something kept her aloft from behind.
She was probably happier not knowing what.
“Put me down!” She kicked and struggled.
“Don’t you dare play coy with me, Sasha.” He stalked up to her, his voice lowering to a dangerous growl. “I know precisely what you were doing. A death for a death. You wanted the score to remain tied.”
“I was finishing the story, that’s all—Sherlock hadn’t had a point of view scene, so we couldn’t do that, it made the most sense!” She kicked, trying to squirm out of the grasp of whatever was holding her up. “I don’t even know how I did it! It just happened! I wasn’t trying!”
“You wish to prolong this game. You are only prolonging the suffering of you and your sister.” He stepped up, only an inch away.
He was still taller than her—stupid bastard.
But since he wasn’t human, she supposed he got to design how tall he was.
He caught her chin in his hand and tilted her face up to his.
“I will start to think you want to spend more time with me.”
The wickedness of his grin made her blood run both cold and hot.
“So maybe I shouldn’t be upset, hm? Is this you saying you want more?
” He lowered his voice to just above a whisper, though it was clear he was still incredibly angry.
“I suppose it’s true that we have only just begun our dive into the depths of the fun we can have together, sweetheart.
” His grasp slipped lower onto her throat and tightened, just enough to start to restrict her air.
“N—no—I—” It was honestly true that she had no idea how she’d come up with the epilogue. It had just kind of happened. And if she had to pick a reason why, it was more about keeping the score equal than anything else.
“Well, I think that after all that lovely work of yours, the score deserves to change! We cannot end all this without the stakes having shifted.” His hand tightened just a little bit more.
“And I believe this shall prove to be a perfect opportunity to prove to you what happens when you act against me.” His smile somehow seemed sharper than before.
“Where is your dear sister? I believe it is time to teach you a lesson in obedience.”
“Vile—please—we had a deal! I didn’t mean to—” He had to be kidding. He had to be! He wasn’t serious. He couldn’t be. “Leave her alone, take it out on me.”
“Our deal is meaningless! I cannot seem to teach you. I have tried to be patient with you.” He bared his teeth in a grimace as he loomed over her, all purples and blacks and sharp angles and the smell of books. “It seems I will have to try a different approach, hm?”
“N—no—I’m sorry—I didn’t—” She grabbed for his hand, trying to pull it away from her throat. But it was no use. He was too strong.
“Keep struggling. I like it when my prey struggles in the web. Makes it exciting. Because there’s always a moment when they fully surrender.
I wonder when yours will be.” He inched his face closer to hers.
He was going to kiss her as he choked the life out of her.
“You cheated to even the score. Sidney owes me a death. I plan to take it from her. And I will ensure you see every second of it.”
This was them. Not Irene Adler and Moriarty. No shields. No characters. No hiding. Them. Sasha and Vile.
“Put her down, brother.”
Vile sighed, tilting his head back and shutting his eyes in the ultimate expression of a man at his wits end. “Go comfort yours. I’m busy with mine.”
“Go put your fist up your ass, you stupid piece of shit!” Sidney hollered. If she was brutally traumatized from her death, she was focusing it in one direction and one direction only. Pure anger.
Sasha would like to say she was surprised. She wasn’t. But she was actually pretty damn relieved.
“Put. Her. Down,” Virtue repeated.
“As you wish.” Vile took a step back, lifted his hands in a show of harmlessness…and promptly dropped Sasha to the floor. Her feet slid forward with the sudden abrupt impact and she wound up jamming her tailbone on the marble.
Groaning again in pain, she opted to lay on her side for a second. Her ass hurt. But she probably couldn’t complain, given what Sidney had just been through.
“The score is tied.” Virtue stood in front of Sidney, his arm keeping her standing protectively behind him.
Vile adjusted the cufflinks on his right sleeve. “What a waste of a good death.”
Finally managing to get up to her feet, Sasha winced in pain.
It took a second for her to straighten up fully before she turned toward her sister.
Her heart felt like it was shattering in half.
“Sid, I am so, so sorry. I didn’t know—I didn’t want that to happen, I’d—I didn’t know what else to do, I tried so hard—”
Sidney’s shoulders slumped. “I know, Sash, I know. You did your best.” She opened her arms. The relief was palpable as Sasha ran to her sister, throwing herself into her arms, hugging her close. “But I am never, ever agreeing to any of your fucking stupid plans ever again.”
Sasha laughed weakly into her sister, sniffling as the tears let loose and started to pour down her cheeks. “That’s fine, that’s totally fine.”
“If you’re willing to forgive your sister so readily for getting you turned into expressionist wall art, you should know that she has had sex with me twice now.” Vile grinned, leaning up against the end of one of the bookcases.
“Moriarty. Not you.”
“Same thing!”
“Not the same thing at all.” Virtue argued. He had put himself in between Sidney, Sasha, and Vile. “In the same way that a single brick isn’t an entire building.”
Sasha felt her cheeks burning. She took a step away from her sister. Or rather, she tried. Sidney took her by the arms and gently pulled her back.
“Hey. Hey. Look at me. Sash. Look at me.”
She really didn’t want to. She kept her gaze fixed on her sister’s clavicle.
“Eyes are up here, sweet cheeks.” Sidney chuckled.
Warily, tears still blurring her vision, she looked up at her sister.
“Was it good?” Sidney had a lopsided smirk on her face. “Like, world-shattering?”
She nodded weakly.
“Better be worth it.” Sidney pulled her in close into a tight hug.
“You’re my sister. Just don’t go getting attached to him.
Any part of him. Okay? But, I get it. I do.
I needed someone to hold on to in this story, too.
I—I didn’t have anybody, and it almost sent me over the edge. I’m glad you did.”
Trying not to weep, she rested her head on her sister’s shoulder and just focused on breathing. “I’m so sorry, Sid…I’m so, so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. It really isn’t. It’s okay. And, hey. I always told you that you’d like dark romance.” She snickered. “You never listen to me.”
“Shut up.” Sasha laughed and half-heartedly nudged her sister away from her, rubbing her eyes. Letting out a breath, she looked up at her twin. “Are—are you okay? After…”
“No. I’m not.” Sidney’s expression faded. “I don’t want to think about it. Therapy and alcohol. A lot of both. A lot of both at another time.”
“I am bored. Have you two finished having your obnoxiously long family moment?” Vile was thumping the back of his head on the bookcase quietly. “I am debating how many times I could make Virtue choke on his own fist and come back from the dead before you two would notice.”
“Brother, stop.” Virtue shook his head. He smiled apologetically at Sasha and Sidney. “He gets like this when he loses.”
“I did not lose! I won!” Vile pushed away from the bookshelf to point furiously at Sasha. “That one snatched our defeat from the claws of victory. I had nothing to do with it!”
“It was very clever.” Virtue smiled broader at Sasha. “Using the epilogue to give Moriarty a bit of a half redemption.”
“No! He was not redeemed! He murdered her on their eighth wedding anniversary. That is not redemption, that is—” Vile paced away, snarling in anger. “You overly sentimental idiots are the literal death of me, I swear.”
“I’m going to ask again. Please, just let us go home.” Sasha knew it was pointless to ask, but she had to try. She had to.
“No. Not until one of you is dead for the final time. Those are the rules, darling.” Vile was seething. As she watched, his form leaked around the edges, turning to an inky darkness that spread into the shadows near him like it was magnetically attracted to it.
When he was angry, he lost control of his shape.
And she was the reason he was furious.
And she was stuck with him.
Oh. Yeah. She was in a lot of danger, wasn’t she?
He chuckled, low and dangerous, shutting his eyes for a moment. “Wishing you could change your choices, Sasha?”
Right. Mind reading. Or page reading. Or whatever. “No.”
“Good.” He straightened up, tugging on the bottom edge of his black suit coat with the purple trim. As he did, the parts of him that seemed to be leaking out the edges snapped back into place. “I cannot abide regret.”
Her blood ran cold. She was in a great deal of danger.
“Your turn to pick a story, Sidney. Get on with it.” Vile smiled, cruel and thin. Whatever he was planning, it wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all.