Chapter 8
Dianna. One Month Later.
M y thumb ran over the cold metal of the lock as it solidified in my hand.
I glanced up as another row of chains scraped across the wood.
The door bulged, loud thumps coming from the other side.
I snapped the lock closed, wiped my hands on my pants, and turned away, heading down the hall.
The murmurs behind the door grew quiet as I rounded the corner.
“You’re running out of time.” Gabby’s voice filtered through the living room.
I reached down and grabbed a brush from the rectangular bin on the floor. I dipped it into the paint before stepping up next to her.
“What?” I asked, sliding the brush against the wall, the thick white coat erasing the thin, torn wallpaper.
This house was older and definitely needed work, but it was ours. Our first real place since Eoria, and the first thing I spent money on after killing a syndicate Kaden needed gone.
“We don’t have long left to decorate.” She glanced at me with streaks of white paint on her face, hands, and clothes.
She lowered her brush and smiled at me, her loose pigtails dancing around her shoulders, pieces of hair sticking out around the edge of her face.
“You know those months when Onuna is farthest from the sun? It’s always been my favorite. I love the Celebration of the Fall.”
I snorted, rolling my eyes as I leaned down to add paint to my brush. We had already replaced the flooring and kitchen. Now, the last task was to paint the walls. The living room was the largest and the room we’d saved for last. “You would like the bitter cold.”
“Not just the cold, but I love the lights and the music.”
“Mm-hmm and it has nothing to do with the gifts?” I looked at her, raising a single brow.
Her grin reached her eyes as she shook her head, shrugging. “Okay, fine, I mean, I like that too, but it’s just the months of happiness for me.”
I bumped my shoulder against hers. “I know, I know. You know I just like giving you a hard time.”
She reached down and grabbed the paintbrush, preparing to paint the other end of the wall. “I can’t believe it. After this, we will be done. I feel like we have been working on this house forever, but at least it’s ours. Our first real home since... everything.” She shrugged, her eyes darting away.
“It’s ours.” I smiled back. “And I will make sure no one finds it or can take it away.”
She smiled, setting her brush down as I did mine. She placed her hands on her hips, staring at the part of the wall we had completed. I leaned closer to her and reached out to trace the letters into the wet paint.
“What are you doing?” Gabby asked.
“Making it ours.”
When I finished, I stepped back, the letters QRMA written on the wall. Gabby smiled and stared at the first letters of hers, our parents, and my names.
“I think Mom and Dad would like it here too. Especially given the seasons.”
“And the celebration you like so much,” I teased.
She laughed, going back to the wall with her brush. “Yes, that too. We should decorate this year. If you are around.”
“I’ll be around. I want to spend time with you before you go to university.”
She was quiet for a moment. “But only If Kaden allows it.”
I huffed. “Well, if Kaden says no, I’ll just sneak away. You know I am good at escaping.” I winked, trying to make her smile once more. She was not a fan of my current terms, but we were here, alive and whole. That was all that mattered to me.
“I guess.”
“Hey, you know I’d do anything for you.” I stepped closer, forcing her to look at me. This time, her smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“I know. Now get back to work because I am not finishing this by myself, slacker,” she said, trying to swat me with her brush.
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Pathetic attempt, Gabs. You gotta do better.”
She stuck her tongue out at me, and I grinned.
“We need more paint. Wait here.” In the kitchen, I grabbed several cans from the stack.
She had overbought again. I laughed and headed back to the living room.
“Did you really think we needed twenty of these, Gabs?” A small hum came from behind me, and I paused, my grip tightening on the can I held.
I slowly turned. The front door rattled, the knob vibrated, and a red light shone from around the edges.
It flooded underneath the door, the tendrils slithering toward me, illuminating the room.
I dropped the can of paint, the lid popping off and skidding across the floor. I backed up as the light grew and the door shook.
“Beware the blood-red moon.”
“What?” I spun to face a dull, fractured version of my sister. She stared back at me, a faded shadow of her former self. Her pale, lifeless eyes looked through me. A thick band of bruises formed on her neck, and the sound of that horrible crack flooded my ears once more.
She looked at me again, her skin gray and sickly. My chest heaved as she stepped forward. The house shook, a crack forming on the ceiling, and debris raining around her. She lurched forward and grabbed my shoulders.
I opened my eyes and sat up. Gabby’s voice echoed in my ears, but she no longer haunted me. Sunlight drifted through the open curtains, revealing the high-end hotel suite.
A warm body nestled against my naked side, reminding me why I was here. I sat up and stretched. The arm around me fell to the floor with a soft thud, no longer attached to the guy who had taken me back to his lovely room. I turned to look at the mess on the bed.
Webster Malone was one of Kaden’s lackeys. Now he was an arms dealer with no arms. Webster wasn’t terrible to look at, handsome until I had gotten ahold of him. He had blonde hair, his green eyes staring off to some far-away place. Just like hers had.
I wanted to cry, to scream, to do something, but nothing came.
I felt it in those rare moments when I would sleep.
The pain would clench my chest, the force of it raging up my throat, but then it would just stop.
I hadn’t cried or shed a single tear since the accident. I felt numb. Maybe I was broken.
A shimmering emerald green light manifested in the room.
“You are being careless.”
I half turned, seeing the hollow image of Camilla standing near the bed. She glanced at the wreckage and body parts all over the room. All of them had aligned themselves with Malone. That had been a mistake.
“I don’t care.”
I threw the sheet to the side and stood. Camilla’s eyes darted away, and she sighed. “You should. Leaving a trail when you want us to stay off the grid will only make Samkiel find you faster.”
I wiped the side of my face with the back of my hand. “I know. That’s why I am leaving him a little present this time.”
I staggered, passing through the hollow image she projected.
“Is this retaliation for the worldwide curfew?”
I smiled wickedly. “Maybe.”
Camilla sighed. “I swear, this is just another prolonged version of flirting for you two.”
“I am not flirting.” I glared at her, a low growl emitting from my throat. “This will be a clear sign to him that the girl he is looking for is long gone.”
“A clear sign to who?”
I ignored her but stopped when she snapped her fingers, and the large screen on the wall flicked on.
It was muted, but the banner at the bottom flashed the highlights of the current news.
Even as far away as Camilla was, she could still wield power here.
I never understood why Kaden chose Santiago over her when she was clearly more powerful. His loss, my gain.
Camilla pointed at the screen. “You kill, and he hunts you. Dianna, he shut the world down looking for you. No one is allowed out past nightfall. Every place he thinks you might be is being watched. He is looking for any sign of you, and this,” she waved to the room, “is a fucking beacon, Dianna.”
“Don’t tell me you’re scared.” I scoffed.
Camilla shook her head. “No, but I can’t cover this up, look for the others, and hide a temple in the middle of Eoria.”
I waved a hand at her and headed toward the shower. “I don’t want you to clean this up.”
“Why?”
I paused, one hand on the doorframe as I turned toward her with a half-smile playing on my lips. “I told you. I want to send a message.”
“Well, this is one way to do it. I think they will get the message.” She swallowed, trying to avoid looking at the gore-filled room.
“While you’re here, can you magic me some new clothes without all the blood? Thanks.”
I didn’t wait for her to answer before stepping into the bathroom.
Camilla wasn’t wrong. Samkiel shutting the world down put a damper on how quickly everyone moved.
Finding even one of Kaden’s informants had been a struggle, and this shutdown only made things more challenging.
Who knew kidnapping a witch, slaughtering a coven, and destroying a vampire line would put Samkiel on such high alert?
I turned on the shower, and waited until steam rose before getting in.
The water slid across my skin, but I didn’t feel a flicker of the heat.
It wasn’t hot enough. It never was. I couldn’t feel anything.
Not the water against my skin nor the lips, teeth, or hands that had touched me last night.
I felt nothing but that now familiar painful emptiness.
A void had ripped open the second she died, and I didn’t know how to heal it.
I thought about it as I grabbed the soft sponge and scrubbed at my flesh, unsure if I wanted to go back to feeling.
My skin gleamed clean, slick, and unmarred.
The only wounds I carried were within me.