Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(160)

I pulled back, nearly wrenching my arm in the process. I shouted, hoping, praying anyone would hear me. “Daniel!”

I got to meet the back of Louis’s hand for my trouble. I barely managed to hold onto the knife as I tumbled into the water. I tasted blood in my mouth.

The vampire stood over me. “Don’t you ever say his name again, Zoey. You will never speak of him.”

I was willing to do anything to delay the inevitable. He seemed to want to go through some weird therapy session and all I could think was the longer we talked, the more time Daniel had to figure out something was wrong.

“What are you planning on doing with me, Louis?” I didn’t bother to get up. The knife was still in my hand but he would surely see it if I brought it out of the water now.

Marini’s dark eyes gleamed in the low, flickering light. “I plan on keeping you. You’re mine. I won’t let Donovan have you.”

“He’ll come after me,” I pointed out. “He won’t ever stop looking for me and neither will Devinshea. You’ll have an entire army after you if you take me.”

That seemed to actually penetrate his brain. “He’ll search for me anyway.”

“How will he know you didn’t die in the battle?” I asked and immediately saw my mistake.

The vampire’s fangs were long. “Well, darling girl, I assume he will know when you tell him.”

I doubted promising him I would keep my mouth shut would work. He could hardly believe me.

Reaching down, Louis placed his palm against my cheek. His eyes were slightly wild. “I might be going down, my Zoey, but I will not go alone.”

He leaned in to brush his lips to mine and I thrust up with everything I had. I pushed the silver knife up into his chest with as much accuracy as I could muster. I went for the heart and heard Louis groan. He looked down at the silver sticking out of his torso. It had to be very close to his heart. His skin turned pale, ashen.

He managed to stand, but didn’t try to take the blade out. I think he knew it was inevitable, but he had one last trick up his sleeve. He raised his pistol. I got to my feet as quick as I could and began to back away.

“As I said, my precious blood,” Marini intoned, “I won’t go alone.”

I felt the bullets enter my body—two in my chest and one low in my gut. I felt the blood begin to flow even as Louis Marini turned to dust before my eyes. I stumbled and couldn’t quite get my legs to work. I placed my hands over the wound in my gut and tried to stop the bleeding. I didn’t like how low it was, almost to my pelvis. I couldn’t help but think about the babies growing there.

I stumbled through the water, almost making it back to where Marcus had been left and then my legs gave out completely. Up ahead I could almost see the light from the arena where Daniel and Dev still fought. I hit my knees as a wave of nausea overcame me.

Vaguely, as though from a great distance, I heard someone calling my name, but it seemed so far away as to be inconsequential. My face hit the water and I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t make myself turn over to get a breath. The world was dark and cold and it didn’t seem to matter anymore.

I woke up in the grotto, the light warm on my skin, and I seemed nice and whole and unharmed.

“Hello, Zoey,” Oliver Day said with a big grin on his face. “Nice job.”

I could only think of one thing to say given my current predicament.

“Shit.”





Chapter Thirty-Nine





“Is that any kind of language to use around your guardian angel?” Oliver asked with a sarcastic grin.

I looked up at the angel, who seemed happier than I’d ever seen him, and scowled. “Seriously? I go through all of that, suffer through being Marini’s companion and fighting everything under the sun to reach this grand destiny of uniting the supernatural world and what do I get for it? I’m dead. Let me tell you something, Oliver, as rewards go, that sucks.”

“I told you she’d be unhappy,” a soft feminine voice said.

I sat up from the couch I’d been lying on. It was the same couch where Danny, Dev, and I sat and watched movies and fooled around. I wouldn’t be doing that anymore. “Well, look, the gang’s all here,” I said with a bite. Then I realized Felicity could answer a question for me. “Is Dev all right?”

Felicity smiled. The angel was a stunningly beautiful blonde. Oliver was her masculine counterpart. “He’s fine, though it wasn’t easy. He’s very reckless. I had to work hard to keep him alive.”

“Daniel is fine, as well,” a third voice said. I looked around and saw another male. The way I understood it, angels worked in threes. Oliver represented judgment and justice, Felicity love and devotion, and this one must be Jude, who had taken Felix’s place. He would represent faith.

“They won’t be once they find my body,” I muttered, thinking about how it would affect them both. They would have lost me and the babies. I wasn’t sure they could handle that.

Oliver rolled his blue eyes. He seemed very disappointed I wasn’t excited by the turn of events. I was bringing down his little victory party. “Come on, Zoey. This isn’t time for gloomy predictions. We won. You did it. Don’t you feel an enormous sense of accomplishment?”

“No.” I stood up and looked at the three of them. They were dressed like suburban yuppies going to a garden party. Everything about them was perfect. “I feel pissed off that I’m dead.”