Chapter 26 #2
“I liked that one,” he said mildly, nodding at the broken body at my feet. “The twist. Very… decisive.”
“You’re supposed to be dead,” I snapped, chest heaving. “I killed you.”
“You did,” he agreed, lips twitching at the corners. “It was impressive. Therapeutic, even. Ten out of ten, dearest Dany. I’d let you do it again.” His gaze raked over me, the blood, the tears crusted on my cheeks. “But I did tell you, Dany. I will always come back for you.”
My lungs burned. Rage and relief and want tangled in my throat. Rage for his manipulation, relief and want because…
Fuck. I still didn’t want him to leave.
“You could have warned me about Joe,” I spat, one last effort to force an apology that I wasn’t sure I even wanted.
I’d rather him own his shit than try to console me with half truths.
. “You could’ve told me who he was. What he was doing.
Instead you let me fall for Callen’s fucking son like some tragic after-school special. ”
His expression didn’t soften but there was something almost like regret in the tilt of his frown.
“I did warn you,” he said quietly. “You simply didn’t want to listen. Free will, remember? Infuriating little experiment.”
I lunged, fisting his shirt and dragging him down until we were nose to nose. His breath was winter and whiskey, cutting through the copper in the air.
“You made me like this,” I hissed. “You and him. You broke me and then set me loose in your little murder sandbox.”
He hummed, low in his chest, eyes darkening as he looked at me like I was something carved just for him.
“And look how you shine,” he murmured.
A wet sob tore the moment apart.
It was small, muffled, and so full of terror it sliced through everything else like a razor.
My head snapped toward the sound.
The container.
The girls.
“Later,” I said, shoving his chest hard enough my palms stung. “I have people to save.”
I ran toward the container, stooping to yank a ring of keys from one of the guards cooling on the ground with a dead, wild-eyed stare.
Behind the metal doors, the whimpering intensified. Chains clinked. Someone choked on a sob.
My vision went red around the edges.
I jammed the key into the lock. It stuck once, twice, and I growled, bracing my boot against the door and wrenching until the mechanism screeched and gave.
The doors swung open on a stale, sour rush of air.
They were all huddled together, tears leaving tracks down their dirty faces.
Sapphire’s hair hung in greasy red ropes around her face.
Trinity’s chin jutted out like she could hold the whole world up with rage alone if she tried hard enough.
Nova’s eyes were glassed over, fixed on some middle distance only she could see.
Lola had her arms around a girl I didn’t know, fingers dug in so tight they’d leave marks.
Caramel.
“Ivy?” she whispered, voice wrecked.
It hit me then, really hit, what Joe had done. What Callen had done. My girls. My fucking family. Lined up and shipped out like product.
My hands shook. I wanted to burn the whole world down. I wanted to cradle them and tell them I would fix it. I wanted to go back in time and tear Callen’s throat out the first night he touched me.
Instead, I knelt in the doorway, forcing my voice steady.
“It’s Dany,” I said. “And you’re getting out of here.”
A few of them flinched, and I realized how I must look; blood everywhere, a bullet hole in my shoulder slowly knitting itself back together. I couldn't blame them. I looked like a fucking nightmare in fishnets.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I assured them. “Give me your hands,” I ordered, holding mine out.
One by one, they shuffled toward me. I sliced through zip ties, ropes, anything holding them in place. My fingers were shaking with the bloodlust still driving me, and I accidentally nicked Lola’s wrist with the tip of my knife.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. “You’re here,” she said, like that was the only thing that mattered.
Behind me, Lucifer leaned against the container wall, watching with eyes that had turned some unreadable shade of dark.
“You can get them out,” I threw over my shoulder at him. “Right?”
He arched a brow. “I do many things, dearest Dany. Ferrying traumatized mortals to safety is not usually one of them.”
I looked back at the girls, at Sapphire trying and failing to cover herself with her own arms, at Trinity positioning herself in front of Nova without even realizing she was doing it, at the way Caramel was shaking so hard her teeth chattered.
My glare snapped back to him.
“Then figure it out,” I growled. “You wanted me sharpened? Fine. This is the part where you hold the goddamn whetstone while I go for the throat.”
Something like pride flickered across his face.
“Girls,” I said, drawing their attention back. “Listen to me. You’re going to follow him—”
There were a few panicked noises at that.
“He’s an asshole,” I said flatly. “But he’s not going to hurt you. I swear on my fucking life, okay? Stay together. First lit road you hit, you split. Scatter. Find help. Cops, hospitals, whatever. Don’t come back to the club. Don’t look for me. Do you understand?”
“What about you?” Caramel’s voice cracked on the last word.
I smiled softly and let the sadness I felt wash over my expression.
“I love you, but I want you to forget you ever knew me.” She started to protest, but I cut her off.
“Trust me, Carm. It’s better this way. I’m not who or what you think I am.
But I want you safe, and I want you to live a life away from this fucking city. ”
We looked at each other’s tear stricken faces for a moment longer. I was going to miss her. All of them. But before I could change my selfish mind, I said, “Luci, please.”
He snapped his fingers and just like that, they were gone.
“Guess that’s one way to call an Uber,” I rasped. “Where did you send them?”
“Somewhere safe with no memories of what’s happened here.”
I jerked my chin up. “You made them forget? Isn’t that against free will?”
“Sometimes, Dany, circumstances are worth breaking the rules for.” His gaze was pointed and, on another day, maybe I’d be able to read it.
Not tonight, though. I was on a mission.
Somewhere deeper in the maze of metal and rust, a voice snapped out orders. Clipped. Controlled. I knew the cadence before my brain even translated the words.
Joe.
Of course he was still here. Loyal lapdog to the end.
I tilted my head, listening. Spread out! He can’t have gone far,” carried just right on the cold air.
He. Joe didn’t even know who was after him.
Good.
“Sounds like someone’s nervous,” Lucifer murmured, eyes half-lidded, watching me. “I wonder why.”
Because I killed my way through his friends and broke his daddy’s toybox, I thought.
My fingers tightened around the knife hilt until my knuckles ached.
Blood had dried tacky on my palm, sticking my skin to the worn handle.
It felt right. Like this was what my hands had been waiting for since that alley.
I’d taken my anger out of Lucifer, but he wasn’t the source of my rage; only the distraction.
“I’m still mad at you,” I grumbled.
“I know.”
“Are you going to apologize?”
He tried to cover a smile. “No.”
“Jesus Lucifer Christ help me,” I sighed before closing my eyes to focus on Joe. Lucifer must have heightened my sense because I could pinpoint exactly where the piece of shit was. “He’s three rows down, two stacks over.”
“What are you going to do, Dany?”
I smiled at him sweetly. “Why, I’m glad you asked, Luci. I’m going to be a good little mistress of Satan and deliver an extra soul for my bargain this year.”