Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(58)

“Can’t be too safe,” I said into the mike.

“Why?” the faery managed to ask. She fought the drug with admirable effort. She finally looked toward the box, and I was surprised to see the look in her eyes wasn’t covetous. She didn’t appear to be angry. Sadness. Regret. Those were the emotions plain on her face.

Something took over. It was that little rebellious streak that almost always got me in trouble, and it surely would now. I leaned over the fallen faery. “It’s just a job. Nothing personal. If you want your box back, go see a demon named Lucas Halfer. His true name is Brixalnax. He’s the one who wants the box.”

She slumped back on the carpet.

Daniel laughed and the sound was rich. I looked over, and he was smiling at me.

“I thought you would be pissed.”

He pulled out a small card and laid it on the coffee table. “Great minds think alike. I was going to leave the *’s business card.”

“Zoey,” Sarah’s voice came over the ear piece. “Keep it down in there. We have guests coming off the elevator.”

Daniel nodded and lowered his voice. “Get the box, Z. I’ll watch the door.”

Neil came out of the bedroom. “We’re alone. Is that it?”

I slid the backpack off my shoulders and reached for the box. It was surprisingly heavy. I couldn’t help but stare for a moment. What the cameras hadn’t shown was how truly beautiful the box was. My hands caressed it as it went in the pack. It was so shiny and pretty. Someone had spent time on it. Some artist had poured himself into this box. It was made of love. For the faintest moment, I thought I heard it whisper…

“Ready?” Neil asked, abruptly breaking the moment.

I zipped the box into my backpack. It took every inch of space in the extra-large pack. I shimmied my arms into the straps and settled it on my back. “That’s it.”

“Guys! You have company.” Sarah’s voice was tense in my ear.

“What kind of company?” Daniel’s gun was in his hand once more. He pulled a clip out of his pocket and reloaded. This time the bullets were silver. It was a gamble but a safe one. Silver works on most supernaturals, and it goes without saying it works on humans.

“Five.” Dev’s calmness was reassuring. “As far as I can see, they’re human. It might be a coincidence, but...”

The door suddenly opened, and I knew this was the trouble I had been expecting ever since I noticed the Light of Alhorra sitting out in the open. Whoever was coming through the door wasn’t breaking in. They had a freaking keycard.

I stood there, rooted to the floor. I was pretty sure Dev and Sarah could hear my heart pounding through the ear pieces.

“Who the hell are you?” The first man to appear was large, his body built on muscular lines. His face was craggy as though the years between childhood and his current state had been rough enough to carve a perpetual expression of hate. His eyes shifted between me and Daniel.

Neil was nowhere to be seen. He’d disappeared, giving us the potential advantage of surprise if they thought Daniel and I were the only ones here.

Five men. Somehow they’d gotten through our wards and knew exactly where to find us. And they had come prepared. Each man carried two pistols and likely had more weapons hidden. But at that moment, I was mostly concerned with the ten guns pointed at us.

Daniel laid his gun on the coffee table, holding his hands up. “All right, everyone stay calm, and no one has to die.”

One of the other men, a shorter fellow who looked like he could use hygiene tips, laughed. “Yeah, you’d like that. Why don’t you give us that box and we’ll see what happens.”

“Box?” I took a deep breath and hoped they didn’t notice the backpack. I couldn’t lose the box now.

“My soul’s on the line here, bitch.” A short man with a plethora of tattoos stalked closer, stepping over the bodies of the faeries. “I want that box. Give it to me, and maybe I won’t leave you for what was coming up behind us.”

“You don’t want that, girl,” the unhygienic one spat. “You ever seen a demon?”

Fuck it all. It was my worst nightmare.

“Stop talking to the marks, Greg,” the bald guy said.

I took great exception to that statement. I sure as hell wasn’t a mark. I was the girl who took out marks. Except, of course, this time I had played straight into Halfer’s hands or claws or whatever he had.

“Now, girlie, hand over that pack on your back,” the leader was saying. “Thanks for taking out the faeries for us.”

He looked at me, and for the slightest second I thought I could reason with him. “No. I can’t do that. Let’s talk for a minute.”

I took a single step back, and then he smiled and fired his gun straight at my chest.

One minute I was waiting for the bullet to hit, and the next Daniel slammed me against the wall so hard I felt the breath knocked straight out of me. I hit the wall and bounced off it to the cold tile. Daniel’s body covered mine, surrounding me completely. I couldn’t move. I could barely breathe. Daniel rocked against me, his body jumping in odd, jerky motions. Every couple of seconds his back would spasm and press my body further into the hard tile.

Bullets. They shot Daniel over and over again.

The sounds cracked the air, threatening to split my ear drums. The box on my back pressed against my skin until I was almost certain it would cut through my clothes and stab into my flesh, but they were shooting Daniel. Pure panic assaulted me. How much could he take?