Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(64)

I stepped back and hated the fact that he faltered before gaining his balance. I looked at him and memorized everything about him, from his thick, sandy hair that was too short, to his too big feet. I loved every inch of that body. Our life together played through my mind. Every moment had been precious. Even the crappy ones had been worthwhile because they were ours. I wished things had been different. I wished Daniel hadn’t died and we’d had that life we wanted. I wished we hadn’t ended up on this shithole roof where we were probably going to die. I wished a million different endings, but I knew I’d settled on one because I wasn’t going to leave him alone to die.

There was movement in the doorway as Stewart finally managed to make his way to us. He’d changed bodies, but there was no mistaking the glint in those eyes. He had a gun in his hands. “Nowhere to run, kiddos.”

He was wrong.

I threw Daniel one last look. “I’m so sorry.”

His face registered shock as he realized what I was going to do. “Don’t you dare, Zoey!”

But I was already running, and he was slower than normal. I leapt across the wall that separated the roof from the ground eighteen floors below, and then I was free.





Chapter Seventeen





I would like to say that I fell soundlessly through the air. I was a graceful swan floating on the wind, letting fate take me wherever it wanted to go. I was free and flying with no thought but the joy of defying those who would kill me. I would love to be able say all those things.

The reality was more of a high-pitched, girlie scream that seemed to go on forever because falling is really scary.

The speed took my breath away, threatening to stop my heart in my chest. The wind hit my eyes, forcing them to close, but not before I got a real hard look at just how fast the earth below was rushing up to greet me. My arms and legs flailed almost of their own accord as though trying to find purchase and solidness in a world that had none.

It had been a spectacularly bad idea. I’d just jumped off a perfectly good building in the hopes that the guy I was with could, maybe, if I’m really lucky, fly.

I closed my eyes for good, and prayed Daniel could forgive me.

Then I was jerked upward and my heart was in my throat as I flew even faster but in the opposite direction. I flew up, passing one and then two windows before I started to fall again.

I landed with a thud in Daniel’s arms. He tried to nestle me in his arms like a groom carrying his bride over the threshold, but that was so not enough security for me. I threw my arms around his neck and wound my legs as tightly as I could around his waist. Daniel was warmth and security and everything damn good in the world in that moment.

His arms tightened around me and a warm chuckle brushed my ear. “What’s wrong, Z? You were never afraid of heights before.”

“I never jumped off a building before.” My voice shook as I nestled my head between his neck and shoulders.

We floated there somewhere between the eleventh and twelfth floors. I held on for dear life, and Daniel, well, Daniel cupped my ass.

“Hey!” I said, surprised.

“You scare the crap out of me, I get to cop a feel.” he said, proceeding to do just that. “It’s a vampire rule.”

“Fine.” I couldn’t keep the happiness out of my voice. “If it’s a rule then I have to follow it.” I rubbed my cheek against his, so relieved to feel him against my skin. I was alive. He was alive. We had the box. And holy crap, we were floating. “God, Danny, you can fly.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Just call me Peter Pan.”

I was thinking more along the lines of Superman, and I thought about asking why it bothered him. He could freaking fly! I didn’t see how that could be a bad thing. I was about to open my mouth to argue when I realized he was shaking. He had to concentrate to keep us afloat, and I decided to save all questions for after the tour.

Daniel breathed, quelling his shakes, his body steadying again. He anchored me with one hand and the other sank into my hair as he began our descent.

I let myself look around from the safety of Daniel’s arms. I was floating through the spring air with strong arms around me and the lights of downtown twinkling like enormous stars.

“Why isn’t anyone looking at us?” I could see people walking on the street below, some even glancing up, but there was no pointing or shouting.

“I’m shielding us from sight, Z.” His face rubbed against mine. “They can’t see us. I do it every time I have to fly.”

So many secrets. But for the first time in a long time, I started to hope that maybe this little episode would bring us close again.

We descended lightly to the ground, Daniel’s feet hitting without a sound. He readjusted me in his arms, swinging my legs up and carrying me properly.

The people on the street continued to ignore us. They walked by, though many altered their paths as though they could sense us there. Daniel moved toward the parking garage. He stumbled as he reached his destination just inside the concrete walls.

“Sorry,” he said, rolling off me. He got to his knees, his arms struggling to remove the pack from his back. His clothes were a ruined mess. Bullet holes riddled his jacket and there was a huge tear in the front where Stewart had gotten off his lucky shot. “I can’t keep it up. They’ll see us now. You have to run, Zoey. I’m done. I can’t even walk.”