CHAPTER SIX
KENNEDY
Rolling over, I stretch, and a delicious ache radiates through my body. I can still feel Reaver inside me as I squeeze my thighs together. A smile stretches across my lips as I remember our day together.
“Mmmm,” I moan as I roll over, hoping to find Reaver lying next to me. Instead, I’m alone. The sun has set, and I know without a doubt that he’s gone. And not just from our rooftop oasis, but from here, for good.
Sitting up, I clutch the thin blanket to my chest and let out a long sigh before swinging my legs over and searching for my clothes. Somehow getting dressed feels like a finite end to whatever Reaver and I could have had.
I’m usually not one to dwell on what could have been, and I’m no stranger to the occasional one-night stand.
But this is different. Walking out into the night air, I walk past the now-illuminated pool and make my way toward the Dimmu gate located on the other side of the roof.
If I didn’t know what I was looking at, it would seem like an odd place for two large potted trees.
I asked about it the first time I came through it with Michael and Salem.
Michael was nice enough to inform me that the magic used to create the intricate gate system requires a natural conduit, or in this case, the potted trees.
I’m aware that no matter how often I walk between the two trees, I’ll only end up on the other side of the plants, not wherever I want to go. I have no idea how long I’ve been standing here staring between the two evergreens, but I’m lost in thought when Salem’s voice startles me out of my trance.
“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” she says as she places her hand on my shoulder. “I spoke with Ash and he—” She stops speaking when I turn to look at her.
“He left,” I inform her. No need to explain further. Reaver was the reason we came here.
“What? How do you know he’s gone?”
I take a few minutes to get Salem up to speed on the events of my day. She listens intently, giving me the customary “Oh,” and “I see” when needed. We’ve known each other so long that I don’t bother leaving out any detail.
“Okay, so how do you know he’s gone gone and not just out and about?” She emphasizes “out and about” with a wave of her arm toward the Vegas strip.
With a deep breath in and an even longer exhale, I spit out the words I don’t want to admit or even say. “I watched him go. He didn’t even bother to look back.” My voice hitches as I tell her, but I refuse to shed even one more tear for someone who can leave so easily.
“Are you sure he didn’t just… I don’t know, go talk to Michael or Cain? You can’t be sure he’s gone.”
I appreciate her trying to rationalize Reaver’s actions with a plausible explanation, but there is no need to sugarcoat it.
“I need to talk to Ash and tell him what Reaver said about people being in danger.”
I’m heading toward the door before Salem even has a chance to stop me. Reaver might not have given me all the information, but he gave me enough to know he’s only doing this because he believes his friends and family are in danger.
Walking into The Black Door club at night as a human is about the scariest thing you can do.
Especially if you aren’t claimed, which essentially means you’re on the menu.
When the elevator doors open, the sound of the music is deafening.
Salem pushes me aside and steps out first before holding out her hand for me to take.
“Safety first!” she shouts over the beat, flashing me a bit of fang. It’s a sight I’m still not used to seeing on her. I take her outstretched hand and hold on for dear life—literally—as we make our way through the club. “Ash is usually over by the main bar!” she yells again.
I can feel every hungry eye in the place looking at me, and Salem hisses at a few who dare to get too close. Thankfully it’s still a bit early for the hardcore crowd, or I’d end up being someone’s dinner.
As we approach the main bar, Ash looks up from serving some ungodly concoction to a patron and scowls at us.
“Are you two fucking insane?” he scolds as we sidle up to the bar. “You know better,” he points to Salem. “And you… Reaver, will have your head if he finds you here.”
“He’s gone!” I shout, even though I know he can hear me just fine without my yelling.
Asher leans over the bar to speak to me because I don’t have the super-human hearing they do. “How do you—” He stops mid-sentence, and I watch as his nostrils flare, and he gives me a raised eyebrow. “Oh,” he adds as he takes a step back. “Well, that’s new.”
“Fuck,” I hiss under my breath, even though I know he can hear me perfectly fine. I really hate that they can smell Reaver on me. I glare at Salem, who gives me a coy smile and a shrug. So she knew before I even had to tell her. Great.
Ash waves over a lanky blonde who should be walking in fashion week, not peddling drinks in Vegas, to cover him behind the bar.
“Come on,” he says as he motions for us to follow him.
Walking into his office reminds me of when Salem and I were in school together. We were often pulled into the principal’s office for talking during class. On instinct, we both take a seat opposite his desk. We most likely look like scolded schoolchildren waiting for a stern talking to.
Asher looks between the two of us before leaning against his desk. “What do you mean, he’s gone? I spoke to him yesterday, and he said he wasn’t planning on leaving for at least a week.”
I give him a shrug. “I don’t know. But he walked through the gate on the roof without even looking back after we…” I don’t bother elaborating. He already knows. “Well, you know,” I say as I get up and begin to pace the room.
“Reaver said that he had to leave to keep me safe. I have no idea what that means,” I add as I run my fingers through my hair in frustration. “He said that whoever is after him will stop at nothing and use anything they can against him, including me. Do you know who he’s trying to protect me from?”
Ash looks away. It might only be for a fraction of a second, but it’s enough to tell me he knows and will most likely lie about it.
“I’m not exactly—”
I hold up my hand to stop him. “I’ve studied human behavior for quite a while.
” Asher opens his mouth to interject, but I stop him again.
“And before you point out that you aren’t human, your behavior is.
So don’t bother with whatever lie or half-truth you would spout out.
I don’t need to hear it, especially if you know who’s coming for him.
” I flop back down into my seat, cross my arms over my chest in a huff, and wait.
As I wait, I look between Ash and Salem, who seem to be having a silent conversation. “Is that a thing?” I blurt out.
“What?” they both respond in unison.
“Speaking telepathically.” I motion between them. “Is that a thing now?” My voice is laden with annoyance. I’m annoyed at them for being who they are. But I’m annoyed more with myself for letting Reaver walk away again.
“No,” Ash says with a laugh. “It is definitely not a thing. If it were, I wouldn’t be in the doghouse with Sloane so often. But I can tell you who Reaver is avoiding, and she’s a ruthless fucking bitch.”
My hackles instantly go up, and I can feel my ruthless anger boiling to the surface. “She?” I snarl out. “So he’s avoiding a woman? Great. Just fucking great.”
Standing, I begin to pace the room, letting my mind create endless scenarios with this mystery woman from Reaver’s past. Unhealthy, I know.
But the thought that some woman has gotten so far under Reaver’s skin that he feels he needs to leave has me wondering who she is.
It also has my self-doubt at an all-time high.
When I glance at Salem, I can see she’s following my thought process. Asher, however, has a confused look on his face as he watches me silently chastise myself.
“Who is she?” I finally snap as I stare down Asher as if he now holds all the answers. “And don’t even think about leaving anything out,” I add, pointing my finger in his face.
Ash holds up both hands in mock surrender. “It’s not like that. Pestilence is the one who freed him from Treachery Prison, and she doesn’t do anything for free. He seems to think she’s about ready to collect his debt.”
It takes me a minute to register what he’s saying as the green monster of jealousy takes over my brain. “I thought he fought his way out of prison in the fighting pits.”
Reaver and I talked for hours when I was living in Colorado. I remember him telling me about fighting to earn his freedom. At the time, I thought it was the most barbaric thing I had ever heard, but that wasn’t even the tip of the fucked-up iceberg of Reaver’s life.
“He did. But she’s the one who got him into the pits for a chance. Themis signed the order to imprison him, otherwise he would never have seen the light of day again.”
“So why not be grateful for the help? How bad can this woman be?”
Ash leans against his desk and takes a deep breath as he crosses his arms over his chest. “You may want to sit for this.”
Something in his voice tells me that I’m not going to like whatever I am about to hear. Without a word, I take my seat and wait. It’s now Asher’s turn to pace the office.
“Did you know about this chick?” I whisper to Salem, who gives me a shake of her head.
“No, never heard of her before,” she whispers back.
“Pestilence,” Ash starts, and I have to chuckle at her name because apparently, I’m delusional. “Is something funny?” he chastises, not unlike our middle-school principal would when Salem and I sat in his office.
Feeling like a scolded child, I sink deeper into my chair.
“No… It’s just an odd name. Why would her parents name her after—” I stop mid-sentence and think about what I’m about to say and to whom I’m about to say it.
“No,” I shake my head in disbelief. “Are you telling us she is Pestilence, like one of the Four Horsemen of the fucking Apocalypse? This is who’s after him?
” I look at Salem for reinforcement, and she gives me a shrug.
Any plans I might have had about finding this mystery woman and telling her to lay off my man just shriveled and died. There is no way I can go up against someone who is literally death and destruction, not even on my best day.
“I said she’s a fucking bitch,” he replies as if that explains it all. “She’s the one that convinced Gabriel to destroy the world. She has an uncanny way of getting what she wants.”
And he’s lost me again.
“What?” Salem and I say in unison, both of us clearly confused by his statement regarding the destruction of the world, considering we are both living in it.
Asher lets out a long sigh. “I always forget that you guys don’t have the same grasp on history that we do.” He sounds almost condescending in his tone, as if we just haven’t been privy to everything around us. Which, of course, we haven’t been.
I bite my tongue to keep myself from humansplaining my point of view to him. “Go on and pretend for a second that we know what the fuck you’re talking about,” I droll out instead.
Asher looks at his watch and shakes his head. “Long story short, she’s not someone you want to fuck with. I’m guessing that Reaver’s options were limited, and that’s why he took her up on her offer.”
I feel the need to ask the most obvious question. “What does she want as payment, his soul?” I jest, yet the look on his face tells me that Reaver’s soul may actually be on the table. “You’re kidding. She wants his fucking soul.”
He gives me a shrug. “I don’t know what she wants, and I don’t think Reaver knows either. But she’s waited a thousand years for it, so I’m guessing it won’t be cheap.”