Dirty Angel (Sainted Sinners #1) (15 page)

C
lutching at her head scarf
, trying to keep her steps at a normal pace, Vesper walked around the back of the blood brothel. Now that she was here, on the verge of finding Mercy, she began to tremble.

Without Kirael at her back, anxiety truly set in. The building itself was a neat three-story stone affair, something that wouldn’t have been out of place, perhaps, in the oldest parts of London.

She found the servants’ entrance at the back, just as Kirael said. At the right of the door was a simple silver plaque that read: Drisgell House — Ring Bell For Assistance.

Biting her lip, she tried the door. To her immense relief, she found it unlocked. Easing it open, she stepped inside. Pulling a piece of paper from her pocket, she jammed it in the door lock, making sure she’d be able to leave again.

Taking a deep breath, she turned and scanned the dark, silent hallway before her. She’d talked this part through with Kirael. He didn’t frequent them himself, but he’d been inside them before.

She couldn’t just walk through, opening doors until she found her sister. She’d do a quick examination, get as far inside as she could, and when she eventually talked to someone… she’d lie her ass off.

The ground floor proved uninteresting, mostly storage and a big kitchen. A couple of women worked in the kitchen, but Vesper swept right past them, heading for the stairs at the far end of the hallway. When she reached them, she realized that there were two sets of stairs. One simple and worn, one gleaming and polished.

One for staff and one for customers, then. She took the staff stairs, thinking it prudent to chance a confrontation with a servant than to run into an important Fallen or demon.

She went straight up to the third floor. Kirael said that most of the slaves were kept in rooms upstairs, so that was her target. She emerged onto the third floor, immediately spotting a woman in a head scarf at the far end of the long, door-lined hall.

When the woman didn’t notice her right away, Vesper tried the first door to her right. It opened and she slipped inside, gasping when she saw a hulking male leaning over an unconscious woman.

“Hey!” he cried, turning to glare at her.

A Vampyre. She could handle this.

“The owners sent me up to you,” she blurted out. “I’m… fresh.”

The Vampyre scowled, wiping blood from his mouth. On the bed, the girl he’d been feeding from stirred and moaned.

“Let me see your face,” he said.

Vesper reached up and drew her scarf down, her stomach turning at the way the Vampyre’s face lit up. “Fresh, you said…?”

“Yes, let me just…” she pretended to fumble with her scarf, moving toward him.

At the last moment, she pulled her swords, burying them in his chest. He let out a shocked gurgle, clutching at her arms, but Vesper gave both swords a sharp twist.

She felt nothing as he dropped to the floor, or as she made quick work of removing his head. Nothing but disgust, and perhaps a grim determination.

He went up in a sulfurous billow of smoke, the close quarters making Vesper cough.

She turned to find the girl blinking at her. She was half-naked, her white night dress ripped open at the chest, a thin rivulet of blood running down from her neck.

“Who are you?” the girl rasped.

“No one. Do you know Mercy?” she asked.

Vesper moved over, dragging a thin blanket over the girl’s body. The girl didn’t even flinch; her enlarged pupils and too-sweet scent said she was high as a kite.

The girl blinked, then slowly nodded.

“What room is she in?” she asked.

“Two down…” the girl said, closing her eyes.

“Thanks. Don’t… don’t call out, okay?” Vesper said, but the girl was already asleep, or unconscious again maybe.

It took everything in Vesper’s soul to make herself leave the girl there like that, but there was nothing for it. Brushing the last bits of Vampyre dust off herself, she sheathed her swords and left the room.

“You can’t be here,” said a voice.

She turned to find the same servant standing just to her left, staring at her.

“Oh, I—” Vesper started, then faltered.

“You can’t be here without a head scarf,” the woman said.

Vesper pulled up her scarf immediately, eyeing the servant. She could only see a few inches of the woman’s wrinkled face, but the sound of her voice was… vacant.

“Sorry,” Vesper said. “I’m just here to retrieve a girl for… Jeremet.”

She took a risk, naming the Fallen that had chased her and Kirael earlier.

The servant stared at her, then bowed and turned away.

Vesper tried not to look shocked. She hadn’t actually expected that to work. Then again, if this place wanted tighter security, they shouldn’t rely on drug-addled slaves.

Moving down the hallway, she opened what she prayed was Mercy’s door. There was no client in this room, at least… just a sleeping form under a pile of blankets.

Vesper crept over to the bed, drawing back the blanket. A horrified sound flew from her mouth at the sight of her sister, thin and bruised and shivering.

“Mercy,” she whispered, her voice breaking a little. “Hey, Mercy…”

She reached out and shook her sister’s shoulder. Mercy rolled over, showing Vesper the full extent of her injuries. She was covered with black bruises, the after-effects of vicious bite marks, all over her arms and neck and chest.

“Ves?” Mercy asked, her eyelids fluttering open. “Am I in Heaven?”

“Oh, honey…” Vesper said, blinking away the tears that stung her eyes. “I’m here to take you home, okay?”

“I can’t leave,” Mercy said, closing her eyes. “I’m
his
now.”

“Okay, don’t worry about that,” Vesper said. A thousand questions came to mind, but there was no time. “Come on, I’m gonna help you up.”

She drew back the sheets, cringing at the mottled black and blue marks all over Mercy’s body.

“How’d you get here?” Mercy asked. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

Likely, Mercy didn’t even know where she was.

“I’ll tell you later. Come on. Do you have shoes?” Vesper asked.

“Don’t need ‘em,” Mercy sighed. “Besides, it doesn’t matter. He’s gonna take care of me…”

Vesper helped her sit up and swing her legs over the bed.

“Sure, honey. Can you walk? Here, let me just put my arm around you, okay?”

Vesper got Mercy upright, then looked around. There was little in the room except a second twin bed, so Vesper stripped the dark-colored top sheet off the spare bed and wrapped it around Mercy, making sure to cover her head.

“Where are we going?”

“Just for a walk,” Vesper said.

“I don’t think you’re real,” Mercy said. “I always think you’re here, but you never are.”

“Shhh, it’s okay. Come on, quickly now,” Vesper said. “Remember that game we played as kids, hide and seek?”

“Course. I always won,” Mercy slurred.

“Yeah, well we’re gonna do that, but while we take our walk. So we’re gonna be really sneaky, okay?” Vesper said.

“Kay.”

Sucking in a lungful of air, Vesper opened the door and stuck her head out into the hall. It was empty, so she hurried Mercy out and toward the stairs. Mercy was slow and clumsy, each movement jerky.

“You got this, Mercy,” Vesper said. “Come on, now.”

Vesper half-carried her all the way downstairs. Mercy was painfully thin, making Vesper’s job all too easy. To Vesper’s complete shock, she actually got her sister all the way to the back door without incident.

So close…
she thought.

Pulling open the back door, she dragged Mercy outside.

“Ves…” Mercy moaned.

“Shhh, just a little further,” Vesper said.

“I can’t leave him, Ves.”

“Who, honey?”

Vesper waited until a cloak-wearing demon shambled passed them, not even looking up, and then pulled Mercy across the street.

“Lucifer,” Mercy said.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to,” Vesper said, too preoccupied to work through her sister’s words.

“He loves me.”

“Okay.”

“He really does.”

“Sure, honey,” Vesper said.

“Said I’m his favorite girl, because of you,” Mercy said in a near-singsong.

“What?” Vesper asked, stopping. “You know what, I want you to tell me all about it once we’re inside again.”

“Kay.”

They moved down the street, Mercy slowing things down so much that Vesper started to sweat under her clothes. It took almost ten minutes to make the two blocks from the brothel to the safe house, and getting Mercy up the front steps was a Herculean task in itself.

Finally Vesper flung open the door of the safe house, pushing her sister inside before slamming it behind them. Vesper flattened herself against the door, pressing her hand against her hammering heart.

Mercy slunk to the floor, and Vesper let her.

“Don’t move,” Vesper cautioned her sister, pushing herself off the wall. “I’ll be right back.”

Vesper took a minute to check out the house. It was a simple apartment, entirely empty. The windows and door were all papered over, like someone was about to paint the walls. After a moment, Vesper returned to Mercy.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, crouching down next to where Mercy sat, staring vacantly.

“Mmm. Tired. Need a fix,” Mercy mumbled. “He promised he’d bring me something really good. We should go to him.”

“Later, Mercy.”

“He talks about you, you know? I get jealous.”

“Who?”

“Lucifer,” Mercy said, losing patience. “You never listen when I talk.”

“I’m listening. He talks about me?”

“Yeah. He said he knows what we are,” Mercy said, absently rubbing a piece of her makeshift sheet cloak between her fingers.

“What you mean?” Vesper asked, reaching out to trace a bruise on Mercy’s wrist.

“Ow, don’t!” Mercy said, shooting her a glare. “He said I’m not gonna get these bites anymore, cause we’re so special. That’s why I’m his girl. He said he was gonna bring you here, too. So we could both be his girls.”

“Lucifer said that?” Vesper asked, feeling a chill run through her blood.

“Yep. He said we were gonna have the nicest life. Immortals deserve a really nice life, since it’s so long, you know?”

Vesper shook her head. “Okay, Mercy.”

“Don’t be like that. You never believe me.”

“I do. I’m just… worried, right now. We have to take a long walk, and I’m not sure how we’re going to do that.”

Mercy flapped a hand at her, but Vesper was distracted by a quiet sound from just outside. Grabbing Mercy by the shoulders, she hushed her sister as she dragged her away from the door, motioning for her to stay quiet.

Pulling out one of her short swords, Vesper crept to the door, putting her eye right up to the peep hole. Outside, several Fallen were striding down the street, coming in the direction of the brothel.

One of them called to the others, and they all split in different directions, trotting and looking around.

“Shit,” Vesper whispered.

They were definitely hunting for someone, though whether it was for Mercy or for Kirael, Vesper couldn’t know.

Kirael, where are you?
she wondered. She checked her watch, chewing her bottom lip, then put her sword back in its shoulder sheath.

It was three minutes past the time he’d insisted that she run. Vesper started to panic; there was no way she leaving without him. Not only was Mercy simply too loopy to run for it, but she couldn’t even consider the alternatives.

She paced the floor, jumping at every little sound, checking the peephole again and again. Her breath caught when one of the Fallen strode through the yard, glancing at the front door. Luckily he didn’t slow, just kept moving.

“Vesper.”

Vesper nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned to find Kirael walking into the room.

She immediately ran over to him and flung her arms around him, hugging him tight. Her face heated, but the relief she felt at seeing him just couldn’t be expressed in words.

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close for a long moment. Vesper wanted nothing more than to hold him, to close her eyes and then open them again to find herself far, far away from here.

“How did you get in?” she asked, confused. There was only one door, after all.

“Basement window. The Fallen are out in force, I had to be careful.”

“Looking for you, or for Mercy?” she asked.

“Both, probably,” Kirael said. “You broke your promise, you know.”

“What?”

“I’m late. You should have left already,” he said, releasing her and stepping back to give her a look.

“I wouldn’t do that,” she said, a little hurt. “Besides, Mercy’s not doing so hot.”

They both glanced over to Mercy, who was slumped against the wall, mouth wide open as she slept.

“Alright. The search is going to spread wider soon enough, and then we’ll make a break for it,” Kirael said, running a hand through his hair. “I won’t lie, it’s going to be pretty tough.”

He peeled back a bit of the paper at one of the windows and glanced out, his expression dubious. She could see the wheels turning.

“I need you to promise me something,” she said.

He dropped the paper and looked at her, arching a brow.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“No heroics,” she said. “None of this,
I’ll distract them while you run
stuff.”

Kirael’s face went stormy. “Vesper…”

“I mean it. I want to get out of here more than anything, but I don’t want it without you.”

They were both silent, looking at each other, a thousand unsaid things between them.

“I can’t promise that,” he said, his gaze intent on hers.

“Kirael… I know we’re in a very uncertain situation, but… I don’t want to go home to a world without you in it.”

“You’d rather die down here, then?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“No, I’d rather we all stick together, no matter what. Call me crazy, but I’m still hoping we can pull this off.”

“Vesper, I just…” he started.

“No! This is not the time and place for your bullshit about
unclean hands
and
what I deserve
. Please, Kirael.” She moved closer, placing a hand on his chest. “I’m not saying marry me, I’m just saying… I want you in my life. You make me feel good, and… that doesn’t come around very often. Or ever, actually.”