Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(27)

I pushed myself off the fine leather and managed to straighten my now ruined dress before Daniel hopped in the front seat and decided to see if the car really could go zero to sixty in ten seconds flat. It seemed the commercials didn’t lie about that feature. I heard cars honking as Daniel blew through a red light.

“Hey!” I yelled as I hit the leather upholstery a second time. “You don’t have to drive like a bat out of hell.”

“I have to get you out of here. They just tried to kill you, Zoey.” His words were tight. I could see through the rearview mirror that his whole face was locked in an angry expression.

“Does it really surprise you? You’ve been saying you want to kill me for years.” For some reason it all seemed funny at that moment. It was completely ridiculous. I laughed at the silliness of the situation. I was a second tier thief at best, but it looked like I had just hit the big time. People don’t hire assassins unless you’re doing something right. I suppose it was the adrenaline rush hitting me, but I couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up.

“Don’t you joke about this.” Daniel’s order cracked through the car. I stopped laughing because Danny hadn’t yelled at me like that in years. Since his return, he was exquisitely controlled. He never raised his voice, preferring to use a quiet, condescending tone to show his anger. “Those three tried to kill you, and if Neil and I hadn’t been there, they probably would have succeeded.”

I noticed the conspicuous absence of credit for Dev’s help but chose not to argue. He was right. This was serious, and we needed to talk about it. “We don’t know they wanted to kill me. They just wanted you to hand me over.”

“They weren’t inviting you to a tea party, Z,” Daniel spat back as he roughly turned the car toward downtown. My apartment was the other way. I was surprised we were going to his place. He had to be really worried to take me to his apartment. “You’re bleeding. You’re injured. This is out of control, and tomorrow night we’re going to fix it.”

“It’s just a little scratch, and it’s stopped bleeding. I’m fine. Shouldn’t we figure out why they wanted me in the first place?” I decided not to point out that we might have been able to answer that question had Daniel not been so quick to kill the lion.

“I know why they wanted you. The only difference between tonight and yesterday when no one was trying to hurt you is that contract with Halfer. It all goes back to that box the demon wants us to steal. Halfer didn’t bother to mention there were other interested parties. There’s something wrong here. He’s keeping something from us, and it will only get worse. You can bet that those *s were just the first wave. Whoever is behind it will use something worse next time. You’re leaving town in the morning.”

“No, I’m not!” Now I was yelling. “Unless you intend to drug me and force me onto a plane, I really don’t see what you can do about it.”

Daniel didn’t answer, and I knew that he wasn’t above doing just that. I was going to have to do some serious work during the day to get him off my back because I was done letting Daniel force his will on me. I hadn’t let him push me around when we were together, and I was done letting him do it now.

We drove the rest of the way to Daniel’s apartment in perfect silence. There was no point in telling him I wanted to go home. He was right, and I wasn’t stubborn enough to argue. His complex had actual security since it housed three vampires and had room for visitors. The Council supplied a security team, and the place was warded against unwanted supernatural creatures. Daniel pulled the car into the parking garage and slid it into his space.

I got out and followed him silently into the elevator. He was just trying to protect me, but his interference in my life was starting to chafe. Meeting Dev was a turning point. Dev was someone I could really like.

In a perfect world, there would be no need for a Dev. Daniel and I would be happy, and Dev would just be another hot guy. But Daniel had changed, and he didn’t want that life anymore, at least not with me. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. And I wasn’t sure who I was really angry at—Daniel or myself.

The elevator doors closed, and Daniel punched the number of the floor he wanted. The vampires all lived in below ground apartments for obvious reasons. It was too easy to accidentally open a window and let a stray beam of light burn the hell out of a sleeping vampire. I knew all of this in theory only as I’d never been invited past the lobby of the building before. I didn’t know this private garage existed, and it made me feel the weight of the distance between us more than ever. His life was a secret to me, and he wanted to keep it that way. I could feel his anger at having to bring me here. I resented it with all my heart.

“Look, I don’t want to taint your precious bat cave with my presence,” I bit out. “I’ll go up to the lobby and call my father. He’ll be thrilled that I was almost killed by assassins. It plays into his every paranoid fantasy. His house is secure.”

“Shut up, Zoey.” Daniel’s back was to me, and I snapped. The least he owed me was to look my way when he insulted me. Maybe I was stubborn enough to argue.

“I don’t have to take this crap from you anymore, Daniel. I’m not your girlfriend. I’m not your daughter. Hell, as far as I can tell, I’m not even your friend. I’m not your responsibility and I don’t take orders from you, so I’m going to Dad’s. You can go to hell.”