Chapter 19
“You’re off form today,” Dare remarked, throwing a punch that I barely managed to block.
Probably because I’m waiting for my girlfriend’s life to implode, feeling helpless to do anything about it.
I’d nagged Dare into spending the two hours he had off at Viper’s shit hole of a gym because it was closer to Hope House, but it wasn’t giving me as much reassurance as I’d hoped it would.
What was the distance limit on this emotion-feeling thing? I’d never felt Grace when we were apart before—usually all I felt was misery being away from her—but the proper exhausted achiness hadn’t kicked in yet.
I didn’t feel good though.
“Has your dad been giving you shit?” Dare asked, easily dodging my sloppy swing.
“What?” I asked, bouncing on my heels. “No, not at all. I dropped the stuff I took from him back at his place a couple of days ago, plus my key. Haven’t heard from him since.”
“ You gave it back? ” Dare asked, dropping his fists and staring at me. “What is this, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Who even are you?”
Despite the foreboding that seemed to have crept up my spine and wound its way around my neck, I almost smiled.
“Didn’t need it. And I don’t want the drama with him,” I replied with a shrug. Grace and I had enough drama in our lives with her family, I didn’t need to bring any more to the table.
“I need to head back to the studio soon. Are we doing this or not?” Dare asked, moving his fists in front of his chin.
That foreboding feeling tightened like a noose around my neck. Maybe I was imagining things, but I couldn’t help feeling like Grace needed me.
“I’m tapping out,” I muttered, already unwrapping my hands. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“What do you mean?” Dare asked, frowning as he followed over me to the benches and pulled off his own wrappings.
I glanced around the filthy daimon-owned gym. It was mostly empty during the day, but I still had to be careful of what I said.
The more I focused on it, the more unsettled I felt. No, it was worse than that. There was a sense of urgency that something was very wrong .
As soon as I got my hands free, I was ripping my phone out of my bag, hurriedly opening the friend tracking app.
“Fuck,” I whispered, my hand tightening around the device, watching the little dot move across the screen. She’d never go willingly. There was no fucking way.
“What is it?” Dare asked, looking genuinely concerned.
“I need to get to Auburn. Like right fucking now.”
“Auburn? You go to Auburn, you might not come back,” Dare replied, looking at me like I’d lost my mind. “Seriously, Riot. Agathos’ non-violence rules don’t apply to us.”
“I know, but they’ve got my girl, so not going is not an option.”
Dare reeled back in surprise at that news, eyebrows disappearing under his hair that was sticking to his face after our workout. He didn’t say anything though, and I appreciated our weird friendship more than ever at that moment.
“I’ll come with—” he offered, but his phone rang suddenly, cutting off our conversation. “It’s Bullet,” he said, frowning down at the phone.
“You should take it,” I advised. Fucking Bullet. Why had he told her to go to work?
“Hello?” Dare said warily into the phone, scanning my face like he could see inside my head if he tried hard enough. I leaned in close to listen, contemplating cursing Bullet out while I was at it.
“Find him a vehicle. One to get to Auburn, then a different one to leave in. Leave the second vehicle by the edge of the woods on Parkway,” Bullet instructed. His voice was unsettlingly calm, but the constant shuffle of cards in the background gave him away. He was not relaxed.
“O-kay,” Dare replied hesitantly, frowning to himself.
“You need to be gone before they arrive. You can’t see her. Understand?”
“Why—”
“Trust the cards,” Bullet clipped. “Don’t fuck with my future, Dare. Put Riot on the phone.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” I snarled into the receiver.
“No, you’re not. Trust me, this was the best option, but you know she’s not safe from her people anymore, Riot.
Fake identity, paper trail, eyes on her apartment, the works.
You’ve got ten minutes to make that happen, then you need to be on the road.
Auburn town hall, in the sub basement. Blood the stone to get through the door—not your blood. Got it?”
“What? No,” I replied, trying to remember everything he’d just dumped on me while my panic threatened to wipe my mind blank.
You’ve got it,” Bullet said decisively. “You don’t think you’re the hero. You don’t think you’re capable. Do what scares you, Riot. Nine minutes.”
The call cut off and I shoved the phone at Dare’s chest, swiping my bag and jogging across the converted warehouse to the metal staircase.
“I’ll meet you outside in five,” Dare called after me, and I was reassured to see he was moving with the same urgency I was. Why was Bullet so weird about Dare seeing Grace?
Could he be one of her soul bonds?
I shook off the thought, filing it away for when Grace was safe and I had time to analyze it, then jogged up the rickety stairs to where Viper’s office was.
I fucking hated him, but he was a wheeler and dealer with connections everywhere, and I needed those connections right now, even though I’d probably have to sell my soul for the privilege.
I only had eight and a half minutes. He’d have to do.
“Come in,” he called through the closed door before I knocked. He probably had cameras covering every inch of this place.
Viper looked up at me from behind his desk, smirking as he always did because he was a smug motherfucker sitting up here in the freezing cold office above his shitty decrepit gym-slash-pool-bar.
His chin-length brown hair was slicked back as usual, showing off the scars on his face he was so proud of. One cut from his inner eye down his entire cheek, the other was on his forehead, bisecting his eyebrow. Viper was the king of pissing people off, and his scars were proof of that.
“Riot, my man. What can I do for you?” he asked, leaning back in his chair and giving me an assessing look.
“I have a friend who needs to go into hiding. Keep an eye on her apartment, new identity, fake paper trail, the works.”
“Riot, Riot, Riot,” Viper said, shaking his head. “She’s not going to come and ask me herself? You know what that means.”
“I’ll take the debt,” I replied immediately, trying not to snarl at his arrogant expression. “All of it.”
Viper’s mouth lifted, eyes glinting. “Wonderful. Who’s the girl? A daimon who messed with the wrong people, or have you found a human to occupy yourself with?”
Goddess, this guy was an asshole.
“Your silence is part of the deal,” I warned him. “I need discretion.”
“How intriguing,” Viper chuckled, holding out his hand.
“Fine, you have my word. New identity, fake paper trail leading her out of town, security at her apartment, and this stays between us in exchange for your ongoing service to me until the girl no longer needs hiding or for one year, whichever is longer.”
Fucking asshole.
“Fine. Deal,” I gritted out, clapping my hand into his and feeling the ripple of the goddess’ magic pass between us as the deal was sealed. I ripped my hand back as soon as I could, already feeling the weight of what I’d just agreed to settling on me.
“She’s an agathos.”
Viper’s brows shot up in surprise. In any other circumstance, I would have laughed at the uncharacteristic expression, since he usually vacillated between smug or smugger.
I rattled off her name and address, as I backed out of his office, not willing to waste any more time in getting to Grace. “Leave the paperwork with Dare.”
“Try not to let them catch you, Riot,” Viper called after me. “I’m not coming after you if the agathos lock you in their basement dungeon.”
I flipped the bird over my shoulder as I jogged down the stairs, confident his cameras would pick up the gesture. I might be his servant for the foreseeable future, but I wasn’t going to be cheery about it.
Bullet:
Three minutes.
Very fucking helpful, thanks.
I sprinted to the shitty bar in the corner and swiped a few supplies, shoving them in my bag while I sprinted towards the exit, hoping Dare had come through for me.
The nondescript metal door slammed shut behind me as I stepped out into the alleyway, the brightness outside almost offending my eyes.
The screech of brakes from one end of the alley drew my attention at the same moment shouts came from my other side.
“RIOT! What the fuck?!” my dad roared, taking me by surprise. I braced myself as he shoved me up against the wall, shoving him back as best I could.
Really could have used some of that Keres line of violent energy right about now. My dad was lost in the kind of rage most daimons suffered from—bloody, single minded and volatile. That I’d never experienced it was another reason why I was a bad, useless daimon.
“What is your problem, old man?” I grunted, shoving him back. My phone vibrated in my pocket and terror seized my lungs for a second. I did not have time for this shit.
“You working with fucking Viper now? That’s why you bailed on me? You traitorous little snake. I’ll fucking kill you!”
“What the fuck—no, I’m not—get off me,” I grunted, shoving him back as he came for me again. Viper wasn’t really direct competition to my dad, but he could get his hands on more exclusive products if people requested them, and my old man had always taken that as a personal insult.
Dare jumped out of the car and had one arm banded round Dad’s neck, the other around his chest within seconds, dragging him off me.
“Keys are in the ignition. Go!”
The heavy metal door was already pushing open behind me, and I had no doubt Viper had cameras on the entrance and had been watching this interaction with his fingertips pressed together, Mr. Burns style, cackling gleefully to himself.
“I owe you,” I yelled to Dare, already running to the driver’s side of the black SUV, hoping Bullet’s timer hadn’t already run out.
I didn’t look back as I drifted the car out of the alley, driving like a bat out of hell towards Auburn.
It was time to get my girl.
Our secret was out. Things couldn’t go back to how they had been before, but once I knew Grace was safe, a part of me might be relieved about that.
Grace had been forcing herself to fit the agathos mold long before she’d met me—hiding every negative emotion she had, every questioning thought, every criticism of how the agathos did things, no matter how mild.
She’d followed the rules, and they’d led her to be the outcast of her community. She’d listened to her parents, and they’d betrayed her at the first opportunity.
No more.
Grace would never be allowed to shine among the agathos, but I’d build her a safe place where she could fucking glow .
As soon as I got her back.