Chapter 27 #3
“Alix.” I sigh deeply at his clear resignation. “It’s not okay. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.” Another shrug is all I get. “I’m sorry.”
His hands are still, and he slowly looks up at me through his lashes. He knows I’m not one to apologize easily.
“You know…” Alix gulps, more nervous than I’ve ever seen him. “I never stopped caring.” He takes a deep breath. “Neither did Desi, but she’s better at hiding it. We—I—”
I know what he’s trying to say, and I don’t know how to respond.
The three of us were friends when they were still earth witches, and that friendship deepened when they became vampires.
I had a lot of time to think about it while I was stuck in my prison, finally seeing what I was unable to recognize back then.
Our friendship was more than friendship for them, but I never noticed, and they never confronted me about it.
We’ve talked about it since, on the few occasions I was able to leave, but I don’t feel like it was ever truly resolved. Even though I care deeply for both of them, I’m not sure it can be what they wanted it to be—especially now that I have Elly.
“I know,” is all I manage to say, my voice sounding grave. “And I still care as well, Alix.”
“Yeah.” Another sigh escapes him as he returns to his nails, but I see him cast me a sideways glance. “Do you think…”
“Maybe.” My throat tightens, knowing how grateful I should be that they still want to be my friends despite the rejection. “I don’t know.”
Alix nods absentmindedly. “We’ll never stop caring, D.”
I open my mouth, intending to add something, but I’m cut off by the buzzing of my phone. It’s like a crude wake-up call, shattering the moment and snapping us both out of our somber mood.
Alix leans over the coffee table to see who’s calling. “Unknown? Someone’s got a death wish.” He snickers, swiftly moving on.
I sense the lingering sadness but decide not to call him out on it. Reaching for the phone instead, I accept the call, not even trying to hide my annoyance. “Who is this, and how did you get this number?”
“Sheesh, take it down a notch, jerk.”
The female voice is patronizing and snappy but unfamiliar.
“Who are you?”
“Azraella.”
The bounty hunter—Yblis’s fiancée. She shouldn’t have this number.
“Who am I going to murder for giving you this number?” I make sure she hears my disapproval. If she has my phone number without my knowledge, who knows who else does?
“Your lovely wife,” she sneers, fully aware that Elly’s the only person I can’t kill for this. Or for anything, for that matter.
“She gave you this number?”
There’s silence on the other end, telling me I won’t like the answer.
“Not exactly.” Azraella hesitates. “I took it when I gave her mine.”
I clench my jaw to keep from snapping at her. “You do realize that’s worse, right?” My eyes close for a moment as I rub the bridge of my nose, anger threatening to overwhelm me.
“You can scold me later. Now shut up and listen to me,” she snaps.
I let out a low growl, and I can almost hear her flinch through the phone. I don’t know what my brother told her about me, but at least she has enough sense to fear me despite her own stature.
“She’s in trouble.”
Three words, and I freeze. My eyes snap open. “What?”
Alix tenses in his seat, easily picking up on my shift in emotions. He looks at me with concern, already starting to rise. I shake my head at him, gesturing for the vampire to remain seated.
“Someone came into your house uninvited. I warned her, but I haven’t heard back from her, and I can’t get inside to check.” She goes silent for a moment before adding, “You magic users and your fucking wards, I swear.”
I narrow my eyes at those words that I clearly wasn’t meant to hear. We magic users put wards in place specifically to keep people like her out.
“And why would I believe a single word you say?”
Azraella sighs, the sound conveying her annoyance at me, just as I am with her. “She saved my life. I owe her. You, of all people, should understand what that means.”
This whole conversation raises more questions than answers. “She’s more than capable of taking care of herself,” I bite back.
“I’m aware, but do you really want to take that risk, knowing someone managed to breach the wards she put in place? You know how powerful she is. It should be impossible.”
Shit. She’s right.
I look at Alix, and he nods in understanding, waving me to go. I point at the briefcase filled with money, and he nods again in confirmation.
The bounty hunter yelps when I appear next to her, black smoke evaporating in the chilly night breeze.
I hang up the phone and slide it into my pocket, using the movement to hide the stab of pain that pierces me at already using magic again—especially to transport between continents, which I don’t even attempt on a good day.
“Talk,” I demand, sizing her up, utterly unimpressed.
Azraella bristles as I turn and cross the street to the house. She hurries to follow me, her heels clicking on the asphalt.
“I told you all I know. Someone’s in there, and I have a bad feeling about it.” The annoyance in her voice is all too clear—makes two of us.
She halts behind me while I inspect the front door. I find the key in my pocket and insert it into the lock, which clicks. The handle turns, but the door doesn’t open. The bounty hunter chuckles behind me. I throw her a look over my shoulder that immediately silences her.
“I don’t care if she saved you. Annoy me long enough, and I’ll undo her kindness.”
She steps back. Good.
I turn around and send my magic at the door, but it still doesn’t budge. Unless Elly changed the wards, it should be impossible to shut me out.
With a sigh, I take my phone out again and give her a call. She doesn’t pick up, which doesn’t come as a surprise, considering how she struggles to keep her phone on her.
“You don’t know who’s in there with her?” I turn to look at Azraella while I pocket my phone.
She shakes her head. I turn back to face the door, hearing the bounty hunter wisely take a few steps back. With everything that has happened lately and all I’ve learned, I have a pretty good idea of who the intruder might be.
I examine the wards around the house and see that they have indeed been tampered with.
It’s unclear how they managed it, but here we are.
Cleaning it up will take too long, so I’ll have to force my way through.
I quickly pinpoint the weakest part and collect my blood magic into a ball of pure energy.
It eats through the wards, sparks flying around me as the entire structure begins to shake.
I dig deeper into my magic, offering up as much of myself as possible in sacrifice to gain power. The effort nearly makes me crash to my knees as pain rages through my body, clouding my vision, but I push on, the magic greedily consuming all I offer.
The power they give me in return grows exponentially until it inevitably reaches a critical point and explodes, taking the whole thing down with it. The wards flicker for a moment before falling away completely.
I regain my footing and remain where I am as my magic returns to me.
Even though I want to rush inside, I need a moment to heal.
With how this evening is progressing, I risk burning myself out.
To avoid that, I shouldn’t just step in and hope for the best, no matter how badly I want to.
Thankfully, my energy returns relatively quickly, as does my anger.
Feeling Azraella’s scrutinizing gaze on my back, I snarl at her as my hand reaches for the door, pushing it open. “Stay outside.”
Blood needs to be shed, and nothing is going to stop me.