Dangerous Creatures (42 page)

They made good progress until one of the support beams in the ceiling began to splinter.

Ridley felt it before she heard it.
My hand is burning. Why is my hand burning?
She looked down to see her ring glowing red.

Something was wrong.

“Link—” she began.

But Nox saw it first. “Rid! Watch out—”

A hunk of burning wood ripped free just as Ridley looked up.

She screamed and jumped back.

No!

Nox tried to push her forward, but there was already too much distance between the two of them and Sampson and Link.

The fire streaked across the floor between them, and the ceiling beam crashed to the ground, taking Ridley with it. The burning beam now separated Ridley and Nox from Sampson and Link, and the flames were closing in quickly.

I’ve seen this
, Nox thought.
This is how it ends.

That thought was followed by another, only a fraction of a second later.

No. It can’t be. I won’t let it.

“Rid!” Link shouted from the other side of the wall of smoke.

Nox scooped Ridley up off the floor. Her expression was a mixture of confusion and panic. “I’ve got you, Little Siren.”

He coughed as the smoke seared his lungs. The fire was so intense, he could barely see. The world was collapsing around them. Without the Darkborn, they wouldn’t last long.

He searched the smoke for a sign of Sampson, but he could barely see a few feet in front of him. If the Darkborn wasn’t coming back, there was a reason. Nox knew he wouldn’t leave them behind.

Nox stumbled away from the hottest part of the narrow hallway, holding Ridley against his chest with one arm and running his hand along the stone wall with the other. Flames crept closer, and the smoke blew ash and embers in their faces.

Not now. Not like this.

Nox fell back into a recessed doorway, finding a temporary reprieve from the heat and flames.

But they were running out of options.

The door behind them was locked, and they were cornered by the fire. There was no sign of Link and the Darkborn.

Ridley was stunned and coughing. “We’re trapped, aren’t we?” Nox looked around but shook his head. “I’ll figure this out, Rid. We’re going to make it, I promise.”

We aren’t going to make it.

Nox positioned himself between the fire and Ridley in a vain effort to shield her from the heat, but now he was coughing as hard as she was. His back burned as the pain grew too much to bear.

His stinging eyes closed.

“Nox, stay with me.” He could hear Ridley’s voice, though it sounded like she was far away.

I’m here
, he thought, though his mouth wasn’t making any sounds.

Because it was hopeless—that was his next thought. And the fact that they were never getting out.

I’m so sorry, Ridley. I’m sorry that the shadows follow me wherever I go. That they followed me to you.

“Stop it, Nox. Open your eyes. I’m right here.”

His head fell onto her shoulder.

“Lennox!” Sampson called out through the flames.

The cloud of smoke cleared and Sampson burst through it, untouched. He grabbed Ridley and Nox with each arm—and the heat suddenly and mercifully dissipated. “The crazy hybrid lost it. He wanted to come back in here and get her himself. Took everything I had in me to knock his dumb ass out before Silas’ men got a look at him.”

“We need to get her out of here,” Nox said, struggling to hold his head up.

“I’m okay. I can walk.” Ridley sounded like herself again, and Nox was feeling better. He didn’t take his eyes off her, now that they were open. He knew it might be his last chance to have her this close.

Sampson led the way, and when they reached the last stairwell, Link was slumped against the side of the stairs.

Nox and Ridley could feel a draft of fresh air blasting toward them.

The outside world is so close now.

Nox pulled Ridley close, gasping for air.

“Thank god,” he said.

Ridley didn’t speak. She was just trying to breathe. Still, she reached for his hand.

Nox bent his face toward hers as he caught his own breath, letting his lips graze her cheek one last time.

Then Nox let go of Ridley, pushing her toward Sampson. “You have to go, Little Siren.”

“You mean
we
have to go.” She was still holding his hand.

Sampson turned away, trying to give Nox a moment alone with her while still keeping the fire at bay.

There wasn’t much time.

“That’s not part of the plan. Someone has to stick around and face Silas, or he won’t believe the two of you are dead,” Nox said.

“No, I already told you. We
talked
about this. I’m not leaving you in here. Not with them.”

“I’ll be right behind you, or close enough. But I need to make a dramatic exit for Silas’ benefit. I can’t do that with you on my arm. I have to go out the main doors. I’ll see you in the outside world, when it’s safe again.”

“You’re lying,” she said.

It was true.

Nox looked up to the blackened ceiling beams.
How long before these rafters fall?
He had to make her understand. “When Silas finds out you’re alive, he’ll never stop looking for you. I can help you, but only if I stay. You have to get out of New York. Go anywhere you want, as long as it’s far away from here.”

Light fixtures began to pop, one at a time.

Old wine bottles began to explode and ignite.

Another support beam crashed against the floor behind them.

The club was coming down.

Ridley bit her lip. “What about my marker? What about what I owe you? Or have you forgotten?”

Nox reached into his pocket and pulled something out, pressing it into her palm. “Take it. It’s yours.”

Her fingers curled around what looked like a harmless poker chip. “Nox,” she said.

“I didn’t forget. I remember every single thing about you,” Nox said gently. “And you don’t owe me anything. You never will.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“You got me my drummer, remember?”

“I’m not talking about that marker, and you know it.”

Nox put his arms around her, pulling her close. “What you owe me, Little Siren—what you owed me all along—wasn’t something that should be won in a game. Not even when you’re playing for TFPs.”

Her voice was trembling. “It was a house marker. It was your call, Nox. You could have taken anything you wanted. Anything I had to give.”

“I know,” Nox said.
I know better than anyone. I’ve thought about it a thousand times, every day.
“I wish I’d never won it. I wish I hadn’t made you come here. I wish I hadn’t even asked you for the drummer. It was wrong, all of it. I’m sorry.” The truth of his words was undeniable, as well as the emotion behind them.

Ridley leaned and tossed the chip as hard as she could, flinging it into the hot red heart of the fire.

A tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it with the back of her soot-streaked hand. “I forgive you.”

A Siren’s tear.

He’d only seen a Siren cry once. His mother, on the day Abraham Ravenwood took her from him. He’d never forgotten that moment.

And I’ll never forget this one.

Nox didn’t watch as Sampson carried her out the back door. The deception was a good one; Ridley was limp as a rag and covered in soot. Silas and his men would never know a heart was still beating in the little Siren’s chest.

It was an unsettling sight.

I might never see her again. I don’t want to remember her like that.
He touched his fingers together, still wet from her tears, wonderingly.

I want to remember this.

Nox walked back toward the doors of the club, probably for the very last time.

By the time he had finally made it out, there was nothing left of Sirene. He watched the firefighters saturate the framework and the remaining roof, if only to keep the fire from spreading to nearby buildings.

Mortal fires, Mortal firefighters.
They were remarkably good at their job. Too bad they wouldn’t remember any of it tomorrow.

A black SUV pulled up to the curb behind him.

The tinted window rolled down, and Silas Ravenwood stared back at him from underneath his fedora. He glanced at what was left of the club. “Hope you’ve got insurance, kid.”

You just have to bluff one more hand.

For her.

Nox thought about his mother, and the night he found out his father was dead. He thought about every terrible thing that had ever happened in his miserable life. Then he remembered the one thing that was even more painful—the way he’d felt when he thought of Ridley in chains, just like his mother in a cage.

And the way he felt now.

Totally and completely empty.

Nox raised his bloodshot eyes to meet Silas’ empty ones. “What do you want, Silas?” He gestured at the club. “I’m out. I’ve got nothing left for you to take.”

Silas lit a cigar and climbed out of the car. He walked over to Nox and brushed the ash off the shoulder of Nox’s burnt shirt. “I hate hearing you talk like that, kid. There’s always something left to take.”

Fear shot through Nox’s veins.

Don’t react.

The Incubus slung his arm around Nox’s neck, then tightened it.

Nox struggled against him, fighting for breath.

“Did you think I’d fall for this piss-poor act of yours? I know you let that little bitch go.” Silas tightened his grip, cutting off the air Nox had left. “You’re a sucker, Gates, just like your old man. Threw your life away on a Siren who won’t live long enough to benefit from all that misguided devotion.”

Silas’ driver opened the back door, and Silas tossed Nox into the car. For an older Incubus, he had an iron grip.
Dealing in other people’s powers your whole life will do that for you
, Nox thought as the door slammed on him.
I should know.

Nox laughed at the irony. He had more in common with Silas Ravenwood than he’d ever imagined.

Air tore through his lungs, and he choked on every breath. Nox knew Silas Ravenwood was going to kill him—and enjoy doing it. But his future didn’t matter to him anymore.

Because Nox had seen hers, in the third and final vision. The last time he’d looked at the last days of Ridley Duchannes’ life.

Let her have today. Leave tomorrow to the angels.

There was always more Darkness.

Lennox Gates knew that better than anyone. Whether you were pushing the Wheel or it was headed straight for you, Darkness always found you in the end.

He just hoped he was the only one who knew it.

Nox closed his eyes as the car started to move.

He was going to pass out.

I should have told her how I felt about her, the first time I had the chance. That’s my only regret. All those years ago, when we were kids.

On that beach in Barbados.

The first day I met the only person in the world who would ever be able to understand me. The girl who knew what it felt like to do the things I could do.

I should have told her.

Nox blacked out before he could remember why he hadn’t.

AFTER