On the Prowl (Bad Things #2)(56)

Rayce moved closer to the angel. She hadn’t spoken. Her head was down. She seemed to be staring at the feathers on the floor around her.

“You said you couldn’t see the Collector’s location.” Julian’s voice thundered out. “That he was using magic to block you.”

“Maybe the witch was helping him,” Leo said flatly as he inclined his head toward the cells and the witch who watched the scene with wide eyes. “Now, last warning, let go of me.”

Julian didn’t let him go. “I think Simon may have been getting a lot of help—”

The witch immediately denied, “It wasn’t from me!” Then she shouted, “Assholes, will someone open the cell? He will come back. He got too much power from her wings.”

They needed to get out of those cells. Rose bounded to the body. She grabbed the fallen knife—the same knife that Simon had shoved into her chest—and she cut off his index finger. Then she ran to the witch’s cell. She used the finger and she typed in the code. The door opened with a click.

“Thank you,” the witch whispered. “I owe you.”

“Get out of here,” Rose said back. “You don’t owe me a damn thing. Get to your family. Go.”

The witch looked over at Simon’s body. “Fire.”

Fire?

“Burn that bastard to dust.”

Then she was rushing past Rose and heading through the open doorway.

“Uh, hello!” The muse’s voice rang out. “Don’t forget about me! Right here…a helpless muse. Not a bad girl, not really, just someone who wants the hell out!”

Rose hurried toward her cell. She used the finger and typed in the code as fast as she could. When the cell sprang open, the muse grabbed her and held tight. “I adore you. We are officially best friends forever.” The muse squeezed her hard enough to take the breath from Rose. “But now I’m gone. And you’ll never see me again.” She turned and ran away.

Rose dropped the finger. She backed away from the cells. Her gaze flew to Julian and Leo—they were still glaring at each other with a dark and twisted fury.

“You helped Simon, didn’t you?” Julian blasted. “You made some kind of deal with him. Did you give him power? Why? Why the hell would you ever do that? Why—”

Leo drove his fist into Julian’s jaw, but Julian didn’t let him go. Julian’s claws burst out and he raked them over Leo’s chest. Blood soaked the Lord of the Light.

Julian’s face had gone feral with rage. “He was going to kill Rose! Why did you help him? Why did you lie to me? Why—”

“You told him about the wings.” The angel’s voice was quiet, soft, and sad as it cut through Julian’s roar. “I know that you did, Leo. You told him about the power in the wings. That the feathers can give life, can give strength, can give magic. Because there is no other form of pure power that can match an angel’s wings.”

Leo flinched. “Lila…”

“You made a deal with him.” Her breath whispered out. “You gave him feathers, didn’t you? My feathers. And he wanted more and more so he took me.”

Leo broke free of Julian and lunged toward her, but Rayce stepped into his path, blocking him before he could touch the angel. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Then what was it like?” Julian demanded. “Explain it to me because I just don’t get it.”

Rose risked a fast glance at Simon. Was it her imagination or was that terrible wound in his neck closing? “Julian…” The witch had said fire. And when she and Simon had gotten in that wreck, Simon had actually seemed panicked when he’d been trapped in the SUV. Because he’d feared burning? Flames had been erupting from the back of the vehicle.

Where the hell was fire when she needed it?

“His wife was murdered,” Leo said. “Killed by a shifter—sliced apart while Simon watched. He wanted justice. He begged for it every night and so I thought…I might give it to him.”

Rose rocked back on her heels.

“You made him your assassin,” Rayce said. His gaze darted to Julian, then away.

But Leo had turned to fully face Julian. “Not so different from my brother after all, am I? I got tired of waiting for Luke to deliver justice. I had a human who wanted vengeance—vengeance he deserved. So, yes, maybe I gave him a few feathers. You don’t send a lamb out to slaughter wolves without giving the lamb some weapons.”

“He wasn’t a lamb,” the angel whispered. “And you aren’t God. You don’t get to decide who lives and dies.”

Leo’s face hardened. “He went after monsters—killers who tortured, raped and abused. He put them down but…problems arose. He wanted a new deal.” He laughed. “I’m like Luke, and you Julian…you’re just like Simon.”

“No, he isn’t,” Rose snapped.

“Simon wanted his beloved Helene back. He would do anything to get her. Just like you, Julian. Weren’t you ready to do anything to get Rose back?”

Julian’s gaze jerked to her.

“Love,” Leo spat. “It can make everyone weak.”

Rose grabbed Julian’s hand. “Or it can make you stronger.”

But Leo shook his head. “I didn’t agree to that particular deal, but Simon had learned too much already. He thought he could bring Helene back on his own…I told him it would be impossible to get the things he needed for a spell of that magnitude—”