Public Enemies (39 page)

I didn't let his grief jump-start my own. It was locked away inside my heart. Maybe one day, when this was over, I'd let myself feel it again. Until then, the moments of heartbreak I'd shared with the Harbinger had to suffice.

“It was Kian's plan,” I said softly. “Not ours. So now I play the hand I'm holding.”

Raoul took a couple of steadying breaths and his tone became brusque. Like me, he understood there was a time and place. “What do you have in mind?”

I told him.

“That's suicide,
mija
.”

“Maybe. But those are my conditions. If you want me to fight for the Black Watch, then you come with me. Afterward, if we both survive, I'll train with you for however long you want and follow that Smith guy's orders. But before any of that, I see the end of winter.”

“I don't have a sword that lets me kill immortals,” he reminded me.

“The building will be full of human minions. Can you take care of them?”

Before, I hadn't known if I could cut people down, those who lived, breathed, and bled. Now the answer was yes. Anybody who stood between Wedderburn and me had it coming.

“I have those skills, yes. But why is it so imperative for me to accompany you?” Raoul asked.

“Because you know the building layout. You know Wedderburn's weaknesses. Basically, you're my ringer, and I have to use you.”

He hesitated for only a few seconds before saying, “Very well. I accept your terms. When do you want to go?”

“The sooner the better. I'm waiting to hear from one more person. Once I find out what she says, I'll text you.” With that, I opened the confessional door.

“I won't tell Master Smith. He would not approve.”

“Since I'm not on his clock yet, I don't give a shit.” Feeling mildly guilty, I added, “But I'm sorry if this gets you in trouble.”

“In this case, I think he'd say the end justifies the means.”

“Doesn't he always feel that way?”

Raoul didn't respond, so I headed down the aisle, conscious of the shadows on either side. Sunrise caught the stained-glass panels as I passed, infusing everything with jewel tones. Outside, it was a warmer day than we'd seen recently, proving that we didn't need Dwyer for the sun to rise or for the seasons to change. I pulled up the hood on my jacket to avoid scrutiny from passersby. Cameron wrapped around me a little tighter.

You're not one of them anymore. You're special.

And maybe some part of me had always wanted that. I'd told Raoul's mentor that I never wanted to be the one who saved the day. That was … misleading. Because while I didn't want that, there had always been a darkness that yearned for revenge. It was what drew me down this road in the first place. Someone with a better, purer heart would've refused the deal.

Maybe it wasn't goodness that drew the Harbinger to me. It could've been the call of like to like.

I met Allison Vega at a coffee shop not far from Blackbriar. As usual, she was flawless, curvaceous, and beautiful. Her green eyes were especially vibrant, and they reminded me of Kian's. Somehow I managed not to flinch.

“You're looking worse for the wear,” she said as I sat down.

“It's been a shitty few days.”

“I hear you've been busy.” She examined her cuticles, pretending disinterest, but I could tell she was dying for details. Even in the supernatural world, she thrived on gossip.

“More than. I'm up to four dead immortals, at last tally.”

“Four,” she breathed. “I only heard about Dwyer.”

“Yeah, I added some to the tally this morning. And if you want to stay on my good side, you'll hear me out.”

“First tell me who you killed.”

Shrugging, I did. “He was the asshole that beheaded my mom. I'd like to say she's at peace now, but I doubt she knows the difference.”

“You're glum and nihilistic today.”

“You would be too,” I said quietly. “If you watched your boyfriend die the day before.”

“Holy shit.”

It took a little longer to get her up to speed, but since she'd offered to help me with my dad, she might be interested in some real action. For a creature like her, it must be boring to spend her time in high school, even if that was the best place to feed. I sensed that she missed real mayhem, and I could offer that in volume.

“So basically, I'm inviting you to participate in the raid,” I finished. “Lots of carnage, lots of killing. There's bound to be great stuff locked up in there too. I know for a fact that Wedderburn has a vault full of artifacts and future-tech.”

“Are you offering me loot privileges?” she asked, amused.

“Does it sweeten the pot?”

She ran a red lacquered nail around the rim of the cup. “Somewhat. But honestly, you had me at ‘carnage.' Things have gotten so civilized. I was just having dinner with Graf the other night, and he's so bored, you wouldn't believe it. Sure, there are a few countries where the fighting never stops but so many humans are all about giving peace a chance.”

“But … Graf is allied with Wedderburn. If you're on dinner terms…” And I shuddered over what they had probably eaten. “How can you think about—”

Her smile was awful, hinting at the real face hidden beneath her candy-box beauty. “There's social, and then there's
pleasure.
Graf will absolutely understand. In fact, if we create a big enough boom, he may wade in. He loves a party.”

“But against who?”

Allison shrugged. “He might flip a coin. You can never tell how War will turn.”

That didn't sound like a very safe alliance for Wedderburn, but it wasn't my problem, unless Graf unloaded on us. “So I can pencil you in as ‘yes'?”

“Write it in waterproof ink. Just tell me when. And since you sweetly included me in this festival of death, I'm going to clear something up for you.” Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “They once called me Lilith. And, yes, I existed before you monkeys.”

Okay, even though mythology wasn't my thing, I recalled the bones of her story, which she apparently wrote,
not
us. Buzzkill had said something about demons being here first, but I didn't remember what, exactly. It wasn't likely I'd be able to ask him, either. As of now, we were mortal enemies.

“Tonight, just before midnight. We'll meet in the underground parking lot. I should be able to get us into the building proper from there.”

“If you can't,
I
can.” From her toothy smile, her way involved blood, guts, explosions, entrails, and evisceration.

Fine by me.

Fell wouldn't know that the Harbinger had said good-bye and cut me loose, so I should be safe from Death. That was the only immortal I truly feared since I couldn't wield Aegis when it got close. The rest of them, I thought Cameron could protect me from, as long as I didn't drain him too much. Speaking of which, I checked the compact, but his reflection was still clear and strong, and his gaze met mine in the mirror.

I'm the one who will never leave you.
The promise filled me with dark satisfaction, though something niggled at me about that. Rochelle said—

What does she know? She doesn't have what it takes to fight—to make them pay for their crimes.

That much was true. I pulled the spirit armor even closer. Oddly it even numbed the pain and grief I'd felt so strongly the night before. But such things were for the living, not for the spirit of vengeance I'd become. No matter what it cost, I'd yank Wedderburn's heart out of his chest. For my mother, for Kian, for Raoul, and for
all
the people in the world he'd hurt whose names I didn't even know.

In time, we will punish them all.
The voice in my head could've been Cameron, or it might've been me. How much did that distinction matter anyway?

I texted Raoul the time and place, just in time too. My phone was almost out of juice. With a quiet shrug, I chucked it into a waste can.
It's strange how easy it is to leave a life.
Hopefully the replica the Harbinger had crafted would reply to e-mail messages. If not, there was nothing I could do. My course was set.

Before tonight, I needed to visit one more place.

I went out to Jamaica Plain and with a few wrong turns located the store Rochelle had taken us to. Like before, it was locked tight and looked deserted. I whispered to Cameron, and the lock froze over, then I broke it with a decisive blow. The door creaked open. Inside, all the cursed objects perked up, practically vibrating with excitement.

“Find something that will help us,” I whispered to my familiar.

My head turned, and then he used my hands to prowl through the stacks. He came up with an ornate ring coiled like a snake with small rubies for eyes. It stung a little when I slipped it on, but I also felt icy calm, completely in control. I needed that for what was to come. But before I could pick anything else, a shadow fell across the open doorway.

“After I helped you, little one, you'd
steal
from me?” Rochelle wore an expression of quiet fury; there was no kindness or compassion in her now.

“You said not to call,” I said.

“Do you think the boy you lost would want this for you?” She dragged me by my shoulders to a looking glass on the opposite wall.

The mirror was unspeakably ancient, polished silver instead of glass, and in its wavering reflection, I saw a hollow-eyed thing, pale and hooded, with spectral shadows flickering all around. In this light, I was a witch or a demon, not a human girl at all. This wasn't an ordinary mirror, for it showed what was truly there.

I glanced away. “You said all my paths are dark, right? This is the one I chose.”

“I won't stop you.” She took a step back. “Not because I shouldn't … but because I
can't
. Think on that. Your blade has a taste for killing now … and so do you.”

“Bullshit.”

“Do you think it'll be over once you fight this battle? I think you've felt the hunger already. Blood always wants more.”

Cold prickled where Aegis wrapped around my wrist. I barely managed
not
to say,
I can stop whenever I want.
Instead I muttered, “Govannon didn't give me some cursed sword.”

“Did he not? Have you tried to put it down?”

That silenced me for a moment. But in the end, it didn't matter. Nothing did, except making Wedderburn pay. “Sorry about your lock. I'll take the ring and go.”

“It's not too late,” Rochelle whispered. “It's
never
too late. I've turned aside and I write my own stories now. I heal the sick. I live on their gratitude. In the old days, they sacrificed to me, one child for the sake of another, daughters for sons. But you have to want it, and you have to be stronger than you've ever been.”

I remembered Raoul saying that about my training, how I needed to learn to fight to defend Kian. But in the end, Death still took him from me.
They took everything from us, everyone we love. We must make them pay. Revenge is all that's left.
Some part of me wrestled with that leaden certainty.
My dad, Jen, Davina, Vi, Seth, Ryu—

Wait.

My mind went red with rage, blotting everything out. Rage, red as blood. Cameron spoke with my mouth, but it was all right, because they were my words too. “I'm already stronger than I've ever been. Soon enough I'll prove it.”

Whatever she might've said, I didn't hear. I ran from the oppressive energy of those haunted objects, focused only on the goal.

Tonight, I kill the winter king.

 

NO ONE LEFT TO TORTURE

I was the first to arrive. If Wedderburn was watching, he knew that already. I half expected there to be a wrecking crew in the underground parking lot, as I waited for Raoul and Allison in the shadow of a stanchion. Allison came first, dressed practically in black from head to toe. She'd even donned steel-toed ass-kicking boots in honor of the occasion. She glanced around and I stepped into view.

“I'm here. The cameras don't show this corner from what I can tell. Otherwise security would already be after me.”

“Good thinking.”

Raoul slipped in a few minutes later. In fact he crept right up on us. Whatever he'd studied in the east, he hadn't lost a step working for Wedderburn all those years. I didn't bother giving a mission brief; they knew we were here to wreck up the place and ultimately ice the winter king. Pun intended. Anybody who got in our way was collateral damage.

I gestured toward the elevator and Raoul nodded. This was most of the reason I'd insisted he had to come along. He knew secret routes and access inside. No high-rise was impregnable. He led us the long way around, skirting camera angles until we arrived at the service elevator. It required a code to open, and Raoul tried one, but it didn't take.

“I expected as much,” he murmured.

“Will that set off alarms?” I asked.

“It shouldn't. Sometimes people mis-key their pass codes. It used to take three failed attempts to lock the system down.”

“What now?” Allison wanted to know.

“The late-shift cleaning crew will be out soon,” Raoul said. “So we wait.”

True to his word, five minutes passed as we watched the lights on the elevator tick downward, then the doors opened. Only one man got off, so maybe the rest of them were taking their time, cleaning out lockers or whatever? Raoul grabbed him and slammed him into the lift before the doors could close. From what I could tell, he was a normal middle-aged dude; there was no tinnitus. With his arm levered behind his back, he moaned as his face hit the metal wall.

“I don't have any cash on me,” he babbled.

Allison laughed. “Do we look like muggers?”