Blood Cursed (11 page)

11

We skidded sideways to the curb, the back end of Diamond’s hellpurple machine sliding like an eel, and hurtled to a stop in the shadow of Jasper’s building, facing the opposite way to which we’d come.

Diamond killed the engine with a cheeky grin, and I let out a pent-up breath, my pulse racing, excitement laced with terror. “You always drive like that?”

“Angel, I do
everything
like that.”

I snickered. “Hard and wild and too fast? I’ve heard that about you.”

“All lies, baby.
That
takes me all night.” He hopped over me on a flick of wings, lighted on the pavement, and flipped my door open, an exaggerated courtesy. “Madam.”

I unclipped my belt and climbed reluctantly from the bodyhugging seat, glancing surreptitiously downward. Blood throbbed tightly in my thighs, and I was sweating and kinda … well … damp. I sure hoped I hadn’t left a stain. “Damned if I know how you’ve still got your license. You’re a fucking maniac.”

He stuffed the remote in his pocket. “Who said license? They askify your last name. They wanna take your picture. Screw
them
.”

“I’ve got a license.” Emma Sinclair, it said. Jasper knew a guy who knew a guy, and we got some human girl to pose for the picture. Cameras and glamour don’t mix, at least not my glamour. Of course, Jasper never let me drive. He already took me everywhere he thought I needed to go.

“Course you do. You’re a girl.”

“What’s that got to do w—?” I saw his teasing glance and shook my head in mock disgust, a giggle sweetening my mouth. “Shut up, okay? Just get in here.”

We hopped up the grayslate steps. Above us, dark marble gleamed yellow in the moonlight. Our shadows fell short beneath our feet, one black, one haloed in pinkspun gold. In the distance, clouds gathered, and a flash of lightning split the sky. We were in for a storm, but for the moment, the heat hung thick and dry.

I popped my security card in the slot, and the blackglass door hissed open. Same card for the elevator, cool and white-lit fluorescent, my sweat drying to a crisp, and the foyer on twelve lay silent, rich dark carpet gleaming beneath golden downlights.

Jasper’s apartment was dim and cool, the wide glass windows spilling moonlight over his sofa, his bookshelves, the dim flash of his television hanging on the wall. I stepped inside, and his cinnamon scent crawled over me, hot and accusing, a virulent curse I couldn’t escape.

Dizziness punched me hard. I staggered against the wall, the same sick starlight shimmering in my eyes that flashed there when he hit me.

Why was I here without Jasper? Why was I alive, when he crumbled to fairydust in some greasy alleyway? Gone only a few hours, and already I brought some other guy home.

Guilt chewed my skin raw. Diamond had crept effortlessly under my radar, lurking beneath the surface like a hungry crocodile, waiting for me to glance the other way. I’d smiled at him. Laughed for him. Even enjoyed some honest good time.

Jasper’s hellviolet eyes glowed in my mind, sharp and unforgiving.
You’re a dirty flirt, Emmy. Hitting on my friends like a gutter bitch. What kind of ungrateful slut are you?

My heart quailed, and I hugged myself, my throat clamping tight.
Didn’t mean it. Wasn’t my fault. Not what you think …

“You okay?” Diamond’s glassy claws brushed the bare curve of my back in the dark, and tingles swept my body. His rosescented glow heated my skin. It felt nice. It felt wrong.

I jerked away and flipped on all four lights, until the creamy walls gleamed like midday and the balcony windows sparkled. “Uh-huh. Won’t be a sec. Just … just stay out here, okay?” And I stumbled to our bedroom, a few feet of corridor stretching like a mile, and clamped the door shut.

I held my breath, my back pressed against the door, my heartbeat thumping like a guilty drum. The bedside lamp had popped on automatically as I entered, a dim golden halo showing our bed, dark and soft, the ivory bathtub festooned with candles, the shining glass shower. My mahogany dressing table with my jewelry box on it, the carvenwood mirror, my walk-in wardrobe stuffed with dresses and coats and pretty things. All my things. Everything Jasper had given me.

Everything I owed him slammed shut around me like a horrid metal cage. I couldn’t do this. Couldn’t stay with Diamond, trust him, let him near me. Jasper wouldn’t like it. It wasn’t right.

My legs shook, and I clutched the doorframe tighter. Jasper was dead. I knew it was stupid. That didn’t make it any less real. I had to hide, run, get rid of Diamond before I made another really bad mistake.

That clammy fearworm slithered in my guts, and I swallowed hard, my skin tingling. The door had no lock. If he followed me, I’d scream, fight, claw his eyes out. Prove I was true to a dead guy who’d treated me like scum.

But Diamond didn’t follow. Silence for a few moments, and then a glassy tinkle, metal sliding as he opened the balcony door, his voice a deep-pitched windchime on the phone.

Cautious relief twinged my nerves looser, and I released my breath silently.

Stiffly, I unbuckled my torturous heels. My sore feet cooed relief, sinking into the lambswool rug. I peeled off my torn dress and climbed into the shower.

Cool water sloshed through my hair, over my shoulders. I sighed and fluttered wet wings, blood and sweaty makeup swirling over the dark marble tiles. God, I’d been dying for a shower ever since that bloodsucker first laid his feverstank fingers on me.

But it didn’t feel good. Wet hair stuck like peeling skin to my breasts, and water slimed over me like dead hands. Jasper’s hands, cold and clammy, smearing wet dust as he disintegrated, caressing me to sick arousal. His wings dragging wet over mine, his cold rotting lips on my face …

I shivered and wrenched the hot water higher, but it didn’t help. Now the hands were Kane’s, his smooth hot body claiming me, pleasuring me horrid. Liquid hellfire flooded my belly, my bones burning, and his blond hair rained blood over my skin, clots squelching and smearing on my belly, my breasts, my face.

I gurgled and fought, but it was all over me, dripping, sliding, stinking. Death’s meaty stench clumped in my mouth. Ashen hellstink seared my lungs. The ring smarted on my finger, and I clawed desperately at it with scarlet soap suds dripping from my palms, but it wouldn’t come off, wouldn’t come free and I was dead, damned, poisoned by a demon’s bonescorching kiss … .

“Ember? You cool?”

My forehead hit the glass, shock snapping me from the depths. Cool, clean air, gentle bathroom lights, trickling water.

My breath squeezed shallow and sour. Frantically I palmed my wet body under the spray. No blood. No hands. Just water. I was alone.

Surely, I’d wailed for help. Diamond’s question was low, concerned, his claws a faint tickle on the door. He could’ve entered, but he hadn’t.

I caught my breath, my pulse slowly calming. I leaned my forehead against the glass, and my reflection shone back at me, green eyes wide and wet.

And then they glinted scarlet, and Big Em grinned at me, ghostly, brimming with all the defiance I didn’t have courage for.
Jasper’s dead, Little Em. He can’t touch you now. Get over it, and get on with it.

I closed my eyes, sweating. Big Em was right. I couldn’t let that stupid wetfaced fearworm paralyze me. No matter how vivid its lies. No matter how much Diamond was like Jasper, with his dominant will and heartshock confidence and sexy give-a-shit grin. Being alone scared me. But being with a man like that scared me more.

I knew how quickly I lost my confidence. It was too easy to get used to being protected, doing what I was told, doing anything to please him so I’d feel safe. And Diamond’s “favor” sounded ominous. Could I stand up for myself? Keep my newfound freedom? Tell him no? Even if it meant he’d leave me, alone and vulnerable?

Determination fired me. My freedom was too important. I was over being owned. Enough with the flirting. I could let Diamond help me. Didn’t mean I had to let him have me. Right?

Jasper had saved me from starving. Diamond might help save me from hell. But no one could save me from myself.

Except me.

“Ember? Everything righty?” Claws tinkled the iron doorknob, hesitant.

I pushed upright, rinsed my mouth under the spray, and wiped my sour lips dry. “Yeah. I’m fine. Won’t be a sec.”

And I turned off the shower and flittered out. Dried myself on Jasper’s towel, combed my hair into a slick flamescarlet twist. Chose a dress and put it on, working my wings through the cutaway at the back. Sparkleblack silk draped respectably to just above my knee, and I slipped on a pair of low heels I could walk in.

I surveyed my reflection, uncertain. I hadn’t asked Diamond where we were going. I’d no clue if I’d dressed right.

Put your face on, Emmy,
Jasper insisted darkly in my head.
You can’t go out like that. Take some care with yourself. What will people think?

My fingers crept automatically toward the mascara, and I yanked them back. No time for makeup. If we were gonna trick this Scarletfire tonight, we couldn’t waste a second.

Jasper’s ring glowed evilly on my finger. My bones burned, a searing echo of hell, and I crunched my fist tight.

Screw it. I wouldn’t let him control me. I’d never let any man control me again.

I retrieved my bag, shivered my wings dry, and walked out into the lounge.

Diamond sat perched on the balcony rail like a careless crystal angel, knees folded to his chest. Hot moonlight flashed from his hair, and his outstretched wings glittered. A tiny updraft swelled, and his wings wafted to compensate, his thighs rippling, strong but featherlight.

My wingtips curled, hot and rebellious. Mmm. Those duds he wore looked … hot. The plumdark leather had worn soft, and it clung to his body like wet velvet, showing every … um … curve. And he sure had the jump on curves. That butt of his was epic. My mouth watered. Tight, muscled, the perfect shape for naughtiness.

He looked up from flicking through his phone and hopped down to meet me at the open glass door, a fluid flex of chest and leanmuscled thigh that left me breathless. Oh, how I longed for moonlight on my skin, that warm glow spilling over my wings … .

My hands wanted to twist together, and I forced them down, one finger coiling in my bag’s strap.
Don’t look. Don’t flirt. Don’t give him ideas. Just keep it business.
“Who you talking to?”

“No one.” He clicked his phone dark and slipped it away. “Just business.”

Right. I smoothed my skirt over my thighs, swallowing. “Do I look okay? I mean, is this—?” Great. That was cool and confident.

He swept me up and down, his gaze a hot caress of appreciation that made me shiver. “Baby, you’re gorgeous. Readyfied?”

My cheeks heated. I hated him looking at me like that. But I liked it, too, and I hated that more. Was the heat in his glance an act? A tease? Genuine, even? I didn’t care. I wouldn’t act on it, no matter how he tempted me. If he could help me run from hell, I’d take the chance.

I met his gaze straight, barely a tremble in my voice. “Sure. Where we going?”

12

I gripped the card table’s edge with both hands, my sweaty palms sliding on the smooth black leather. The ponytailed dealer flipped cards on green baize, her white shirt and golden waistcoat sparkling in flashy casino lights. One each, faceup. Blackjack, I guessed. I knew the rules, sort of. I had a ten of hearts. Was that good or bad?

I forced a smile, my whisper tight. “What are we doing here?”

Beside me, Diamond plucked a green melon-scented cocktail from a waiter’s tray and slid it in front of me. “Relaxify. No one’s gonna eat you.”

“You sure?” I grabbed the glass and swallowed, green fizz and alcohol sparkling warm in my nose. Two in the morning, and the crowd was middling, but everywhere light, color, sound, the scrape and plop of colored chips, shiny cards sliding smooth on green and merlot baize, dice tumbling in metal cages. Beeps and chimes rang, the brash music of slot machines. Chips changing hands, cash pushed down the slot with plastic catchers, the roulette ball spinning red-black-white.

My head swam, a muddle of perfumes and alcohol, the baffling mix of takeaway noodles and lobster bisque, fizzy cola and champagne. Heady human sweat a temptation, wingdust sugaring my tongue, the dizzy whiff of vampire blood. And like a poisoned undercurrent, the dark plasticgrime scent of money.

I swallowed. No clocks. No windows. You couldn’t see either end of the room. Even the doorway vanished into clutter, like the money went on forever.

Normally, I liked the casino, Jasper leading me about on his arm, so charming and confident as he chatted and connived, doing the business with people I smiled at as if I remembered them, and then forgot about ten seconds later. When I was with Jasper, I liked everyone assessing me with covetous eyes. Men because they wanted me, an apparition in designer gowns and jewels he’d paid for in cash. Women because I was pretty and charming and
his
girlfriend, a queen to be lauded and flattered and kissed on the hand. It made me feel special like I never did when I was alone.

But tonight, I longed for Unseelie Court, dark and anonymous. I wanted to crawl under the carpet and hide. Even the lights dazzled harsh, glittering glass cascades flashing, stretching from the distant ceiling like electric stalactites.

And Diamond was no comfort, delicious and dangerous like a mouthwatering raspberry dessert I just knew was bad for me. Jasper was hot-tempered and careless, but he was the devil I knew. For all his taunts and irritating attitude, Diamond crept under my skin, and not all the uncomfortable warmth in my belly was fear.

Diamond sidled closer, absently pushing chips across the baize and tapping for another card, chancing on sixteen and losing. He played my game for me, keeping fifteen. “Roulette table, ten o’clock,” he murmured, light like a tinkle of breeze. “Seeify?”

I glanced over, casual, sipping my drink like I did this all the time. But inside my pulse danced a crazy slam, bouncing off the walls like a mad-ass skeleton.

On my left, the low roulette table gleamed, green under golden spotlights. The yellow betting grid lay spotted with chips in all colors, and the croupier spun the wheel and tossed in the little white ball, his eyes vacant. Alongside hunkered a pair of grouchy black spriggans in dirty T-shirts and jeans, spiky hair gleaming, eyeing off some giggling human girls having a hen’s night party. The bride sported flashing red demon horns and a white veil plastered in love hearts.

My heart warmed. Whoever her guy was, I hoped he actually loved her.

My ring tightened a notch, and I shuddered, moving my gaze on.

A tall dark human boy and his black-eyed fairy lover, hot glances and swallows, hands brushing together secretly. They were losing hopelessly, and didn’t care. An old woman thick with jeweled rings, eyes glassy with fatigue and greed.

And then, at the far end, a bunch of guys.

Hot guys.

My mouth watered. Oh, my. This one looked like a jeans model, all tight muscles and tumbling brown hair and lashes to kill for. Identical vampire twins dressed in white, sleek strawberry blond hair swept back, graceful like twin tiger cubs and as gorgeous. A lissome blue waterfae boy, gleaming sapphire eyes and glossy wings like stormy rainbow sky.

Only it wasn’t just guys. There was one girl, and as the group parted to reveal her, my breath stopped.

Tall, flawless pale skin, a long red sparklesatin gown wrapping whipslim hips and small ripe breasts. Face long and oval, uptilted amber eyes tipped with scarlet lashes. Dragonfly wings, delicate and graceful, the kind of wings I’d always wanted instead of my uncouth jagged ones. Hair like a volcano sunset, a bright orange-gold cascade that rippled alive when she laughed. Long redclawed fingers wrapped seductively around a martini glass. And those lips, so full and ripe, her smile a heady shock of desire.

My pulse tripped faster, and I didn’t even like girls. Jesus in a jam jar, she was gorgeous.

But it barely registered, compared to her flames.

Long ghostly ribbons of underwater fairy fire licked her skin, dancing lovingly over her curves. Rippling orange and crimson, darkening to purple, flashed with green and blue as her light caught metal or dust. Warmth lifted her hair, tugging at her flowing gown, her fingertips fluttering over updrafts. Even her step was elevated, so graceful, like she danced on air.

I swallowed, envy warming my skin. How did she do it? Her glamour must work overtime to cover that up. I had enough trouble with red hair and wings. But firefae always had strong magic. It came with the blisters and the singed hair, though this Crimson looked like she’d never burned a wisp out of place in her life.

My fingers tensed around my glass. She was crazy-beautiful, an amazing freak of nature.

And I was going to kill her.

Steal her gemstone and send her squealing to hell, where she’d burn into a lump of ugly, charred, disgusting flesh, just like the rest of us.

Guilt stung me raw. Could I really damn her? Just to save my own pitiful skin? For all I knew, she’d fallen in with Kane through no fault of her own. And it wasn’t only this pretty Crimson I needed to kill. It was
famine
and
flower
as well, whoever they were. My own imminent damnation didn’t make it okay to turn into a serial murderer. Did it?

Diamond poked me back to reality. “Seeify?”

I edged my glass onto the table. My chip stack had grown. He’d won me a couple of hundred bucks while I’d been staring. Hell, how could he not stare at her, too? How could any straight guy not worship her?

His pinklit shadow reddened on my hands, a whiff of darkrose passion, and my wings prickled hot. I was used to being the prettiest girl in the room. No doubt he was drooling over her like a cow in hay. I scowled. “Yeah, I see. What about her?”

But he just wrinkled his nose, like he didn’t like some taste, and slipped his arm around my shoulder, turning me. “Look again.”

“Hey!” I wriggled in protest. But he held me tighter, pressing my back against his hard body. His hot flavor of wine and roses licked my tongue, delicious, and glassy chill clinked down over my vision like underwater lenses. “What the f—? Oh!”

The room telescoped into tortured black and white. Gray outlines loomed, translucent, ghostly charcoal cartoons. Lights flared icewhite and cold. The metal edges of tables and stools shone black and hard, their insides washed out to monochrome like watercolors in the rain. People stretched and writhed, ghoulish, insectoid limbs floating, their faces real but distorted with all the raw and unfettered emotion they tried to hide.

My wings crushed against Diamond’s chest, damp and warm, and the sensation made me shiver. His cold glassy world swallowed me like an alien planet, the only reality his body against mine, his arms around me. I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut, let his scent fill my lungs, feel his gentle touch on my skin, be safe again.

“Look, Ember.” His whisper caressed my name, sliding warm into my ear. “Seeify her now.”

I lifted my gaze. There she floated, tall and ghostly, her flames a mirror-rippled shadow, gray and lacking substance. Those magical amber eyes shone dull, their color gone. Serrated teeth gleamed, her hair a torn frightwig. Her body contorted, wizened like a bird’s bones. Her wings rotted with worms, and her skin wasn’t smooth but crackled and old, her face disintegrating like a monster who’d far outlived her time.

I shuddered. Her spells fouled the air, wrapping like spectral fingers around those handsome boys who adored her. Their eyes gleamed freshgold with ambition and lust, their inflated self-image plastered on their ghostly façades like carnival masks. But they were still young and beautiful, the blue fairy’s wings glossy, the human boy’s hair a distant autumn glory.

They were real. She was a monster.

She reached out skeletal hands and drew the human boy’s face to hers for a kiss. Their lips met, mingled, her grayboned mouth sucking at him like she ate something tasty. Color flooded down her throat like rich brown honey to melt into her belly. And when she broke away, the boy staggered, that gorgeous auburn hair fading. His youthful glow subsumed, dull, sickly like he’d been drained of life.

I let my breath out. “Holy shit. She’s using them to stay young?”

“Uh-huh. Revenant, maybe. Some kinda juicetheft. Or just a wicked old bitch who won’t dyify.” Diamond shrugged and broke his glamour with a pinkstatic crack.

A mirror shattered before my eyes. I yelped, shards tumbling, and colors flooded in, the lights golden over green tables, pale carpet, black hair and a blue dress and red lipstick on a girl’s mouth.

Water sprang to my eyes, dazzling, and I shook them clear. I’d never been so pleased to be blinded.

But my gaze crept back to Crimson, her façade tucked neatly in place. That stunning smile, that shimmering sunset hair and glorybright flame. All a lie. A predatory, insatiable lie that sucked the life from strong virile boys to survive.

My wilting resolve firmed like a rose stem sucking up water. Fine. If suckerbitch had traded Kane her soul—for beauty, immortality even?—that was her own pile of thistles. I’d be saving lives by killing her.

And Diamond’s glassfae sight showed him all that. Stripped everything of illusion. A gift, or a curse? Would I prefer ignorance or reality? Not seeing the threat, or having to pretend it wasn’t there?

And what did he see when he looked at me?

His warm body shifted against my back, and his lips teased my ear. “You feel real. I like realicality just fine.”

My eartip curled, and hot tingles spread all the way down to my wingjoints. He still embraced me, smooth and strong, his hair a soft caress on my wings. My skin sparkled alive. I wanted to lean back in his arms, let him hold me, protect me. But his crystalsight crept cold and prickly along my nerves. I didn’t want him seeing inside my heart. It was too barren there, too fickle. Too afraid.

My wings jittered, defensive, and I shrugged him off. “So. Umm … what do we do now?”

Diamond touched a finger to my lips and flicked glitter lashes upward.

I glanced up. Security cameras, black hemispheres like clams hugging the ceiling. No doubt they had audio, too. We’d already given away enough.

I smiled for the camera and slipped my arm into his. “Had enough?”

“Yeah.” He scraped his chips into a cup and we wandered off, casual, eyes anywhere but on our redflame target.

The crowd wasn’t thick, but it was noisy enough to cover us now we’d moved away from the tables. “So whaddaya think? Where do we start looking?”

He shrugged, stroking my hand and gazing at the lights as we wandered past endless neonflash slot machines. “Who knows? We can upturn her place if you want.”

“Breaking and entering? You’ve got to be kidding.” I ruffled my wings, uncomfortable. I wasn’t a burglar. Then again, a lot had changed tonight.

“Choice? Think she’s even got it on her?

I bit my lip, thinking. “Well … what would you do with a gemstone you’d wired your soul to?”

He laughed, dark. “Choicem on? Swallow the fucking thing, maybe. Smashify? Chuck it off the pier at South Melbourne?”

“Better hope she hasn’t thought of that. But you’d at least keep it on you always, right?”

“Or give it to someone I trustified.”

My face heated.
Wow, thanks for reminding me.
“She eats pretty boys for supper. She doesn’t trust anyone. And she’s wearing enough bling to crash a rocketship.”

He stopped me under a low-hanging sign flashing golden with lightbulbs, electric beeps chiming. “Okay. So how we gonna get it off her?”

I frowned. I’d swiped a gem from right under a vampire’s nose. But I had an advantage when it came to vampires. I pictured her, surrounded by her boy harem, other players, the croupier. Not to mention a zillion security cameras. No way could we roll her in plain sight. “We need to—”

“—get her out of there somehow.”

We both spoke at once, and I looked away, discomfited. I didn’t want to think like a gangster. “But what we gonna do, wait for her to go home? Or head out the back with one of her snacks? It might take all night. It might never happen … .”

Unless we made it happen. But what could make her leave? Boredom? Run out of money? The munchies, a run to the food hall before it closed?

A trip to the ladies’ room?

Bingo.

Diamond tilted his head, rainbow hair waterfalling, and I knew we’d had the same thought again. “What’s she drinkify?”

Long red claws, a conical glass with a long stem. “Vodka martini. Olives, no ice.”

“Sweet. What you got on you?”

“Huh?”

“How much you carrying?” He dragged a little silver case from his pocket and popped the lid, revealing a little mound of sparkling black dust.

I bristled, glancing around for cameras. “What makes you think I’m—?”

“Tell it to the angels, princess.”

I sighed, and hunted in my bag for the foil. I handed it over, and he untwisted it one-handed and dumped my blue on top of his blackjewel. The crystals crackled and glittered, slithering like they were happy to be together at last. He poked one claw at the mix, glitter puffing. “Should be strong enough.”