Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(80)

“I don’t understand any of it. I don’t. I just know I don’t even recognize myself anymore. Do you think there’s any way out?” Sarah asked.

“I don’t know, but I can’t sacrifice this child for you.” I could halfway forgive the crazy gun-toting act, but I was going to be immovable on this.

“I don’t know how you healed that gunshot wound unless you and Daniel had a bunch of fun last night. And if you did, and what I heard about you is true, then I was right and he won’t let some demon take you down. You’re his companion. The Council won’t let it happen.” Her hands were shaking as she touched Neil. “He’ll wake up in a little while. I love him, too, you know.”

I wasn’t sure the Council would care about me one way or another, but I needed to think up a way to help Sarah. First, we needed to get the baby to the faeries. We had a few hours, but I wouldn’t feel safe until she was home.

“Dev, will you drive us back to the hotel?”

He frowned, still holding the baby tight. “Us? You really think I’m getting into a car with the crazy witch who just tried to kill us all?”

Such a drama queen. “She only really tried to kill me.”

“Dev, I was desperate. I’m sorry. God, you have no idea how sorry I am. I didn’t actually mean to hit her. I thought I would just scare her. You don’t know what he showed me.”

I didn’t have time for them to argue. “I’ll get the baby’s things. Dev, you go get her in the car seat. Sarah, follow him and try not to go insane on me again.”

They walked out, Dev’s suspicious eyes on Sarah. I gathered a few of the baby’s things and kissed my sleeping Daniel. Hopefully it would all be over before he woke up.

When I walked into the fading light of early evening, the first thing I noticed was that we were not alone in the parking lot. There was Dev, and he was kneeling with his hands up. Sarah was flat on the pavement, her arms behind her back. The baby was crying, wiggling in another woman’s arms. Two men stood guarding Dev. They all looked familiar, and I realized why. I knew in that moment that I wasn’t going to have to find the faeries. They found us, and they were armed. One of them looked straight at me as he held his weapon up.

And that’s the story of how I took my first arrow straight to the gut.





Chapter Twenty-Two





“Is she going to be all right?”

“You’re going to have to explain to me why you give a shit, Sarah.”

“I already explained this to you. I didn’t want to hurt her.”

“Then you shouldn’t have shot her.”

“I told you that was a huge mistake.”

“You aimed and fired. It’s not a mistake.”

“I was aiming at the wall behind her.”

This was what I woke up to. Arguing and the horrible feeling that someone had shoved a poker through my middle and left it there for me to writhe on. Even as I started to come back to myself, the pain sizzled through my system.

“The only reason she’s still alive is Daniel’s blood, and unless he gets here with a fresh supply, I don’t think she’s going to make it.” Dev’s voice was hushed but urgent, as if he didn’t want someone to hear him.

“Daniel?” I managed to get the word out, but even moving my mouth hurt like hell. I opened my eyes and saw a ceiling and crown molding. It took me a few seconds, but I realized where we were. We were back in the Gilmore suite, but the last I remembered, Daniel had been completely helpless in an entirely different place.

“Zoey?” Dev asked, and I wondered why he didn’t come to me. I heard a shuffle and tried to move but stopped when my entire body lit up with agony.

“Don’t move,” Sarah said from across the room. “Stay as still as possible, Z.”

Yeah, I was getting that. If I didn’t move I could still sort of manage to make my lungs work. Any kind of motion and that whole part of me shut down, replaced with extreme agony. But there was one thing, one tiny motion I had to make. I probably shouldn’t have. I should have just lain there and let the image stay where it should have, in my mind’s eye. Unfortunately, my face’s eye just had to look.

“Oh, my god.” There it was, just sticking straight out of my gut. An arrow pierced through my torso. It wasn’t even as long as it should have been, but that might have had something to do with just how much of the sucker was inside me.

“Okay, so it’s bad,” Dev said, and I finally realized why it took him so long to get to me. He was on the floor beside me with his hands behind his back and his feet tied together. I could only guess that he was either tied up or they used handcuffs. Since there was a freaking arrow in my belly, I was betting on rope. My hands and feet were free. Either they’d only had enough for two prisoners or they'd figured the arrow in my belly was enough to keep me down.

“Did they stake Daniel?” I asked, wincing with every word.

“No, I don’t think so,” Dev replied quietly.

“You don’t think so?” Even I could hear an edge of hysteria tinting my words.

“Well, I’m sorry, I was kind of knocked unconscious with the hilt of a crossbow,” Dev replied irritably.

I didn’t feel a lick of sympathy. “I got the other end, Dev, so lucky you. Please tell me Danny is alive.”