Darker Days (The Darker Agency #1)(74)

“Never tell me what to do,” she breathed and kicked at the legs of his chair. It wobbled and toppled to the side with a thud. Harrison’s head smashed against the floor, but it didn’t matter. It’s not like he could feel it anymore. “Those days are over. What to wear. How to act.” She turned to Lukas and winked. “Who to marry. Never again.”

With another snap of her fingers, I was free. “Don’t even think about it, Darker girl. I don’t want to kill you. Not yet.”

I could move and I could talk, but that didn’t mean my common sense had returned. “Oh, that’s right. Huge vendetta? ’Cause Simon Darker buried you alive? How was that, by the way?”

I half expected her to launch herself across the room, but she only smiled and shook her head. “Laugh while you can. I told you before. Your number’s almost up.”

That was the second time she’d said that. “Yet here I am.”

“Jessie,” Lukas warned. He was still on the ground but seemed to have gained some control. I could feel it in the air. I was still annoyed but was sure that had more to do with Meredith being, well, Meredith, than Lukas.

“You think you have it all figured out, but you don’t have a clue. Your fate has been arranged for a long, long time.”

“My fate?” I laughed, remembering what Ava had said in the park about destiny. A knot of worry formed in the pit of my stomach, but I ignored it. “Sorry, Girl Interrupted, but I make my own fate.”

Meredith shrugged. “We’ll see about that.”

“You’re playing with fire. If you think you’ll be able to control those Sins once they’re bound to human bodies, you’re in for one hell of a shock. No matter how much power you think you have—”

“Control the Sins? It’s never been about controlling the Sins, you simple little girl. It’s about so much more…” She laughed, snapped her fingers, and disappeared. Her voice lingered in the air. “The countdown begins, Darker girl.”

…

“You doing okay?” Lukas had been quiet since we’d gotten back to the office, and it was making me twitchy. He’d calmed down, but there was still an edge of anger to him that wasn’t fading.

“We should have gone after her,” he growled. “We just let her get away!”

“And how were we supposed to do that?”

He sounded like me. Normally, Mom would be the voice of reason and I’d be the one jabbing to plunge in headfirst. Kick ass and ask questions later—that was my take on things. I didn’t like playing for the other team. “She disappeared into thin air. How do you follow someone who does that?”

He relaxed a bit. “She’s more powerful than before.”

“Well, duh. She’s had time to learn some new tricks.” I pulled my feet up onto the couch, remembering something Kendra said. “Kendra said she used to be a mid-level witch, but in 1882, something changed. I’m guessing that thing was meeting the He she referred to… The one who gave her the spell to fuse Wrath to your soul.”

“If only we knew who he was. Another witch, maybe?”

“Could be,” I said and shrugged. “We could try asking her. Think she’d talk?”

He looked at me like I was crazy.

“Oh, come on. I bet all you have to do is go in and bat your eyes and she’d be a waterfall of intel.”

Lukas rolled his eyes. “Your mind is a truly disturbing place.”

“Why thank you.” I did a little bow. “Side note, though, what she said about the Sins—that really bugs me. Let’s forget for a minute about her twisted little failed happily ever after from 1882. She obviously arranged for the box to be opened, but she says she didn’t do it to gain control over the Sins. Why bother? I mean, what’s the point?”

“Revenge, maybe? Possibly, her plan was to use them to destroy your family for imprisoning her then let them get taken by the box.”

I shook my head. “Granted, her sanity’s rivaled only by garden gnomes, but that seems like a lot of trouble to sic something bad on our tails. There are easier ways to get at us.”

He flushed. “She did insinuate she wanted to mend fences with me.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Don’t get me wrong—you’re about as awesome as a guy could get—but releasing the Seven Deadly Sins just to get her ex back? No way. There’s more to it than that.”

He reached across and took my hand. “I have a bad feeling.”

“I’m not getting the warm fuzzies either. I mean, I agree that she seems to still have a thing for you, but there’s no way I buy that she cracked open that box just to relight an old flame.” I looked at the clock. “Wonder where Mom and Dad are.”

Perfect timing as always, Mom answered by charging through the door, Dad on her heels. I stumbled to my feet as they barreled into the middle of the room. “What—”

The large glass window on the front side of the office exploded inward, followed by a loud crack against the door.

I jumped back and stumbled over the coffee table, taking the magazines Mom kept piled so neatly with me. “What the hell?”

Mom caught me before I went down and grabbed my arm, hauling me across the room as Dad snatched the back of Lukas’ shirt.