Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(78)

She couldn’t be the person who shot me and gave a baby to a demon. She was Sarah. She was my friend.

I held my hand out. “Just give me the gun, and I promise you, we’ll figure this out. We’ll get through this.”

And that was the moment my friend, my confidant, the one who had taken me for my first pedicure and introduced me to Cosmos, that was the moment she pulled the trigger and shot me.

I can’t quite describe the way it feels to be shot. This particular time was the first time I hadn’t managed to dodge the bullet, but it certainly wasn’t to be my last.

First there was the sound, and while it only lasts a second, it blasts through the air. It felt like an eternity before I felt the burn of fire against my skin as my body bucked against the force. There’s an awful lot of heat in a bullet. This particular round hit my right shoulder, and I felt the instant my shoulder blade cracked as the metal passed through it. I fell backward toward the shower, and I heard more than felt the shower door break as my body hit it. I remember thinking I had to hold on to the child. I shifted her against my chest as I went down. I pulled her close and tried to protect her little head and then my own head hit the tile and the world around me went black.





“Zoey,” I heard a sound but it was so far away I wasn’t sure I needed to pay attention. The darkness was truly blissful, and there wasn’t any pain here. If I listened to that voice calling me, I would have to go through a lot of pain to get to it.

“Zoey, wake up.” The voice was awfully stern, and there was the lightest of slaps attached to it. I moaned as I shook myself awake.

I was lying on the bathroom floor, and there was broken glass all around me, except it wasn’t glass. I shifted against it. It was some form of plastic, the kind that shattered into tiny, relatively safe pieces when you were unlucky enough to get shot by a crazy bitch.

“Zoey, are you all right? Can you talk?” Dev stared down at me. His green eyes were filled with concern and some form of warning. He was trying to tell me something without alerting Sarah.

I was disoriented for a moment. I was on the floor of the bathroom and the baby from the box was sitting on top of me while Dev cradled my head.

“It’s okay, Zoey. She let me out to check on you.” He leaned close to me and whispered in my ear. “The baby won’t let her near you.”

“Hey, no private conversation,” Sarah hissed but stayed close to the door. “Is she all right or not?”

Dev looked me over. He passed a hand over the hole in my shirt. I was surprised to find my shoulder was sore, but it didn’t hurt the way I thought it would. I grew very afraid that something was terribly wrong. I might not have been shot before, but I knew it was supposed to hurt. I learned a long time ago that if it was supposed to hurt and didn’t, I was usually in serious trouble. There also wasn’t anywhere near enough blood. It was there, but the blood on my shirt was already turning a dirty brown. There was none of the fresh, vibrant red one would expect when one was bleeding continuously.

Dev shook his head slightly, and I stopped my restless shaking. I actually didn’t feel bad at all. The baby tried to climb to my shoulder, but she kept slipping. She finally allowed Dev to pull her into his arms so she could pat my face.

“Mmmmbwaw.” She ran her hands over my nose and cheeks.

“Is she all right?” Sarah asked again, and I could have sworn there was concern in her voice. She’d been the one to shoot me, but now she seemed upset I was hurt.

I was going to respond when Dev stopped me. He put the slightest pressure on my head, a warning to stay silent. “Of course she’s not all right. She’s been shot. She has a bullet hole in her chest. Sarah, she’s human. She’s not full of vampire blood. You can’t shoot her and expect her to heal up like a vampire.”

Except that I was—full of vampire blood, as Dev was subtlety explaining to me. I was full of Daniel’s blood, and that was why the bullet hole didn’t hurt. The bullet hole didn’t exist anymore. It healed before I hit the floor, but I stayed where I was because if Sarah realized I was fine, I was sure she would put Dev right back into mannequin mode, and I needed him limber.

“I am sorry,” Sarah said. “I didn’t want to hurt her. I…I really like her. I just need the child and I’ll leave.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t do that,” Dev said.

“Pick up the baby or I’ll shoot you,” Sarah said. “I don’t know why magic isn’t working on the baby, but I doubt she can stop a bullet. Do you want to end up like Zoey? Don’t think I will hesitate on you, Dev. I just shot one of my best friends and put the other one in a sleep so deep I don’t know if he’ll come out of it. I don’t even like you much. I won’t hesitate to shoot you.”

“Oh, I know you’ll shoot, but I think you underestimate this baby.” Dev turned toward Sarah, but he looked the baby in the eyes. I started to pull myself up because Dev was putting the baby in the direct path of the gun. “I think she’ll hold her hand up and catch the freaking bullet because she’s not a baby, Sarah. She’s magic.”

The baby stared at Dev with huge green eyes, and for a moment I wondered if she understood. He spoke to her intently, as though she could understand everything he said.

“I warned you,” Sarah said before the room shook with the sound of gunfire.