CHAPTER TWENTY
Myra
My drug-induced madness cleared slowly as the night went on, but the lingering paranoia was impossible to shake.
I might not have been acting tinfoil-hat crazy, but my mind was a mess of thoughts that I couldn’t distract myself from no matter how busy the place got.
And the focus of this unwanted rumination was a certain fae who’d been MIA for days.
And I didn’t really need Curtis’ secret stash to be paranoid about Yael.
His continued absence was disconcerting to be sure, and with every passing minute, I attached meaning to it in an attempt to explain it away.
Nothing I came up with was favorable for me.
Any way I sliced it, it looked like he was doing me dirty in some way, shape, or form—or was dead—neither of which would help my cause.
What was even more maddening was that the thought of either scenario being true evoked an inexplicable feeling of sadness.
As much as I joked to the contrary, I didn’t actually want Yael dead—and not just because he was my ticket home.
However, it was the thought of him betraying me that really penetrated my defenses, leaving me to fight back feelings I had long since locked away in my cold, dead heart.
By the time the dinner rush slowed, I had chewed my nails to stumps.
“We need to get her home,” Laney said to Sasha, as if I weren’t lucid enough to hear her or understand.
“Agreed. I’ll see if Curtis can drive her there now—without getting her high.”
“No!” I said with a little more volume than intended. I looked around at the startled patrons, then lowered my voice. “No, I’m good. I don’t need him to.”
Laney frowned with worry. “Myra, you can’t go out like this.”
“Like what?” I asked, leaning across the bar. “I’m fine. Don’t I look fine? I feel fine—”
“Okay there, sparky,” Sasha said, as she came around the bar and took me by the shoulders, “let’s sit down and take a breath. I’ll be right back with your chauffeur.”
I wanted to argue but knew it would be useless. Instead, I looked at Laney, wondering if maybe she could help me solve Yael's disappearance. “Have you seen Yael lately?” I asked in what I hoped was a casual tone.
She shook her head. “No, not for a couple days. Why?”
“I have to talk to him, and he’s not answering my texts.”
“Are you worried about him?” she asked. “I’m sure he’s fine. It’s not like he’d just bail on you.”
“True.”
Or would he?
Something niggled at the back of my mind, and I tried to grab hold of it—a warning of sorts I couldn’t quite puzzle out.
I focused as hard as my paranoid brain would let me until I started to recall the pact Yael had made with me on the shore that fateful night.
His words grew clearer with every passing second until the whole scene played out in crystal-clear detail, word for word: You help me locate the person I’m searching for, and once you’ve succeeded in finding her, I’ll secure your return to the Deep. ..
For the first time since I’d entered my deal with the devil, I realized how he planned to get what he wanted without having to deliver on his promise.
He wouldn’t use me to find his sister; he’d use me to learn what happened to her, then hunt her down on his own, thereby keeping me from actually holding up my end of the deal and absolving him of his half.
It was genius, really. I was furious I hadn’t seen it sooner.
Suddenly, his continued radio silence made so much more sense.
That lying son of a bitch!
“Myra!” Laney called, as though it wasn’t the first time she’d tried to get my attention.
“Yeah? Sorry, just zoned out there for a second. Hey, do you happen to know where he’s staying?”
“You don’t?” she countered, confused.
“It’s been easier for us to meet at my place.” I leaned toward her in conspiratorial fashion to get her back on track. “And when we do, we’re a little too preoccupied to do a whole lot of talking.”
“I remember him saying something about that grand apartment building in fae territory—the big one with the gilded dome roof you can see from upstairs if the sky is clear enough.” A hint of worry tugged at her mouth. “But you know you can’t just go there unescorted, Myra. That would be crazy.”
“Correction,” Sasha said as she walked through the doors, “it would be suicide.”
“Yeah,” I said, the gears in my head turning at a feverish pace, “you’re right.” I stood from the bar stool and headed to the back. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” I didn’t really listen to their goodbyes because I was too fixated on what I needed to do.
“Hey, Curtis,” I called out to him over the clanging of stainless pots and pans, “I’ll wait for you in the van.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be out in a sec.”
I grabbed my jacket and waved at Ravi and the crew before slipping out the side door.
The second I did, I bolted down the alley toward the border of the Devil’s Playground where our decaying neighborhood ended and the gentrification of the city started, courtesy of the fae who reigned supreme there.
While humans roamed those streets freely, blissfully unaware of who they shared them with, supernaturals like me had no such privilege.
I’d need to hunt Yael down before someone caught me, or I would be in serious shit.
Thankfully, I had my paranoia to help keep me safe, so instead of turning around and abandoning my suicide mission, I barreled through the dark streets, full steam ahead.
I had not killed one of Argo’s men and pissed off a cannibalistic witch just so Yael Kristoris could turn around and fuck me over.
I smiled when I thought of how annoyed he’d be when I confronted him, and imagining watching him squirm gave me joy that fueled me as I neared the borderlands.
My pace slowed as the streetlights grew more plentiful, and I struggled to stick to the shadows because of how well-lit the area was.
Tucked into an alcove just outside fae territory, I peeked around the corner to see the building Laney had mentioned in the distance.
It was only then that I realized I didn’t have a plan for when I arrived, but I was in too deep to worry about that now.
I quickly shot Yael one last Hail Mary text, telling him we needed to meet.
To no one’s surprise, he didn’t respond.
Anger flared in my veins, and I muttered under my breath as I stepped out onto the sidewalk, ready to risk it all on the chance he was hiding away in his apartment like the lying, deceiving little shit he was.
A scuff on the pavement behind me sent ice down my spine, and I turned just in time to see Yael lunging for me in a blur of speed. My hair whipped around my face as he yanked me back into the darkness of the alcove and pinned me against the metal door. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”