Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)(72)

We both knew what it would take for me to get the demon mark off my arm. While I was in Vegas, Juliet had approached Kale, offered him a job and also the dreamwalker they had in lockup here. Kale had refused, knowing I’d never want him to take that deal for me. I was willing to bet Briggs had been hoping his secret was never revealed. Now things were getting interesting.

Leaning back against the chair, I held my cuffed hands out, changing the subject. “Any chance you can take these off? Please?”

“I can,” he said. “But I’m not going to. Sorry, but I’m not an idiot.”

That was arguable but not worth it. He squared his shoulders and raised a hand to motion for the guard outside to let him out. The * was going to leave me here bound.

“How long do you expect me to sit here, Briggs? You know Arys and I don’t do so well apart. Eventually he’s going to snap, and he will come. And every agent in this building together won’t be able to stop him.” It wasn’t a threat or a promise, just a warning.

Briggs didn’t need the warning though. He’d seen Arys in action. In fact, he still wore the bandage on his neck that covered the bite he’d received from Arys. Briggs was playing with fire, and he knew it. He just didn’t give a shit.

“I guess that’s a risk I’ll have to take. I’m not blowing this chance to save Juliet from further trouble. You shouldn’t want to either.” Without another word, he motioned to the guard outside for release and left the room.

I watched them through the window. They exchanged words. Briggs cast a dismissive glance back at me, and then he was gone. In a sudden fit of temper, I got up and kicked the wooden chair. It hit the stone wall and broke apart into several pieces. They clattered to the floor, also stone. Briefly I wondered where they put the suicidal types. Did they have a padded room for them?

The guard outside in the hall walked away. When I looked through the window, I could see him doing a slow walk down the hall. He’d likely go up and down until someone came to relieve him.

Forgetting about him, I turned to survey the room. This time I wasn’t checking out the depressing décor but searching for cameras or other surveillance devices. The FPA wouldn’t leave these rooms unmonitored. There had to be something in here somewhere.

Most recording devices gave off some kind of high-frequency noise that humans couldn’t hear. In recent years, such things had been improved. They weren’t all noisy, obvious things anymore.

I scanned the stone walls, up to the ceiling, also stone. The FPA knew better than to throw a vampire into a flimsy room. Fuck.

‘Two nights,’ Arys’s voice in my head distracted me, drawing my attention inward. ‘Two nights until I come for you.’

The first thing I felt at his presence in my mind was confusion and then wistful sorrow. After seeing Shaz outside and sending Kale away, I was ready to be alone. But I never stopped longing for Arys. Maybe some time in lockup would be good for me. I was overdue for some quality alone time.

‘Don’t jump the gun. I’ll get out. I think Briggs might be up to something, especially now that I know he’s a dreamwalker.’

Arys’s shock spilled into me. I felt it like it was my own. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. This is too perfect.’

‘It really is.’ I smiled to myself, knowing Arys could feel it. ‘But I think it may have just convinced him to screw me over. He took my blood. And I don’t even know if Juliet’s in here or not.’

Arys didn’t try to hide his frustration. ‘I told you this was a bad idea.’

‘Perhaps,’ I said. ‘But I wouldn’t have found out about Briggs otherwise. It was worth it for that alone.’ For a moment I wrestled with myself, fighting against the need to ask, unable to win. ‘They’re gone, aren’t they? Jenner and Kale.’

‘They are. Their flight left just over an hour ago.’

It made me sad because there was nothing I could do about it. An awkward silence fell between us. There was no hiding my misery over Kale’s departure from Arys. He was in my head, able to access those thoughts without even having to try. Because it worked both ways, I could feel the deep desperation that racked him, the need to fix what he had broken. A wedge had been driven between us. My death.

‘It will be ok, Arys,’ I said because I didn’t know what else to say and because his hurt was my hurt. We were never going to stop causing each other some kind of pain. Would we ever learn how to manage the dark side of our bond?

‘I’m here if you need me.’

He was gone, closing that mental door between us, leaving me alone again with my thoughts. I sat heavily on the edge of the bed, staring at my cuffed hands.

How the hell did I get here? I ran back through the days in my mind. There were now so many versions of me: The one that had been human. The wolf. And now the vampire. Each version of me was constantly changing, leading me to this place where I now sat in an FPA holding cell pondering how I’d gotten there.

I’d left a trail of bodies on my journey here. Some of them had had it coming. Many of them didn’t. I didn’t doubt that I deserved to be right where I was. However, I knew well that the man who put me here should probably be here as well. Briggs was no saint. There was blood on his hands too.

Once I got thinking about my many mistakes and poor choices, it was easy to fall down the rabbit hole of guilt and despair. My anger at Briggs faded, replaced by my loathing for myself.