Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(48)

It was like someone turned the volume down and I could think again. “We’re a bit confused. Do you want us to do the job or not? If there’s something we should know, I’d like to know now.”

Halfer sat back with a long sigh. “I’m not some chaos demon. Those idiots will lay out a plan and then f*ck it up on their own because they just can’t help themselves. They have to push everything to the limit. They have to break everything around them. I’m an entirely different beast. I like an elegant plan. I prefer to get what I want with minimum effort, and I can keep my mouth shut. The question then becomes which one of you idiots blabbed and who did you talk to?”

“Blabbed about what? The job?” I asked, confused.

Halfer’s lips thinned to a dismissive line. "Yes, the job. I know my people didn’t open their mouths. I made sure I worked on this outside of the Hell plane. I had a powerful witch and her coven checking the signs and reading the cards for the last fifty years to discover when the box was being moved. I told no one and made sure the witches kept their mouths shut.”

“How can you be absolutely sure?” Neil asked. “Just because they’re afraid of you doesn’t mean they didn’t mention it to the wrong person.”

“It’s difficult to talk when your throat has been slit.” Halfer sounded as though he were talking about the weather. Christine’s sharp intake of breath was the first clue that she had a sense of self-preservation. “I killed all thirteen to ensure that something like this didn’t happen. I don’t want any competition. Now tell me exactly what happened in minute detail.”

So I told him what happened. Every now and then Daniel or Neil would throw in some detail I forgot. Halfer sat listening to everything we said. He didn’t move his gaze from me even when the others were talking, and I found myself trembling under the weight of his alien eyes. Even as I spoke, voices in my head told me this was all going to go wrong and it would be my fault. I just wasn’t good enough to even try this. I should just stop and give up. I would be Halfer’s soon, so why bother to try? It would be so much easier to give in.

I didn’t realize I was crying. I was standing there reciting yesterday’s events like a good little automaton when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Stop it.” There was a command in Neil’s voice I heard rarely.

“What’s wrong, little dog?” Halfer smiled an evil little half grin.

“You know what you’re doing.” Neil faced the demon.

I shook my head as though to free myself from a fog and looked around. Everyone seemed to have retreated inside themselves. Christine mumbled something I didn’t understand. Sarah wept openly, asking someone for forgiveness. Dev’s body trembled, and Daniel just looked pissed. We all had retreated into our own little worlds, ones Halfer had sent us to.

Only Neil seemed unaffected by whatever was happening.

“Yes, I know what I’m doing, but I’m really surprised you do.” Halfer focused all that darkness on Neil now, and I actually felt a weight lift from my soul. “I’m also surprised you would try to stop me. What are you afraid of, puppy? I know, of course. How common. You know you’ll never find that man who wants a lover who turns into a dog once a month.”

“Oh, you would be surprised what a guy will put up with to get at all this.” Neil gestured up and down his well-formed body.

“But he won’t love you.”

“His loss,” Neil said quietly but firmly.

“You’re going to let her down, you know,” Halfer said in a silky voice, and I realized it had been his voice I heard in my head all along. It had sounded like mine, but the smoothness was all Halfer. As he continued to focus his talents on Neil, the rest of us were coming out of our stupors.

Daniel looked my way. I wondered what the voice in his head had said.

“You’ll let Zoey down and Sarah down and even that big, dumb vampire will be disappointed in you,” Halfer was saying to Neil.

“Probably at some point,” Neil conceded.

“You’re the reason they are going to die.”

Neil shook for the first time. His hand was still on my shoulder, and I felt the fine tremble in it. I let mine drift up to cover his and he took it, entwining our fingers. I felt him sigh against me as though our connection was a source of strength.

“If that’s true then I’ll go with them. I’ll share whatever fate they meet.”

Halfer laughed, an unpleasant sound. “I like you, little wolf. You’re a challenge.”

Neil let out a long breath. “I grew up with someone a lot like you. You’re not the first to try this shit on me. Hell, you’re certainly not the best.”

Halfer smiled, and I could have sworn his fangs were back. “Oh, but I haven’t even tried yet, wolf. Please forgive my lackadaisical fumblings. I was really only half trying. I can do better.”

I felt the start of Halfer’s second assault. The weight was back on my chest, and I felt an almost suffocating sense of sorrow.

“Bastard!” Dev reared his fist as he started toward the circle.

Daniel moved with preternatural speed. He caught Dev before the circle could be broken. In a blur of speed and strength, Daniel crossed the room and threw Dev back, slamming him against the wall. I heard the drywall crack as Dev slid to the floor. He slumped there against the wainscoting, unconscious. Through my stifling sorrow, I hoped Daniel hadn’t killed him. I’d gotten Dev involved. I would be the reason he died. I should have been happy when his chest moved up and down, but the black cloud Halfer sent through us all held me in its grip. He was stronger than we could have imagined. Our crappy circle could hold his body, but his mind wasn’t caged in the least. Halfer’s wicked power surged.