Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)(81)

Before I could turn away, the little girl glanced up and flashed me a huge smile. At first it seemed so innocent, so child-like. Until she blinked solid black eyes at me and waved.

I backed away, straight into Falon. Jumping as if I’d been burned, I put distance between us so fast I almost lost my balance.

“I’m not sure if I should be amused or insulted,” he said. “I’m part of you now, in some way. Accept it. Or get over it. Either way, settle the f*ck down. Oh, and Juliet isn’t here.”

His words chilled me. I’m part of you now. He wasn’t wrong. That’s how it worked. But I’d already broken my heart into four pieces and given them all away. There was nothing left for Falon. Yet, the lack of love didn’t mean that I was untouched by him. I’d learned early on that giving myself to a man in the throes of passion didn’t leave me unchanged. It stole a part of me. Every f*cking time. My heart had already been claimed, but this encounter had reached into my soul, stealing a piece of my very being, changing it forever. I hadn’t known myself for some time now. I felt more detached, like I’d given away something I would never get back.

“What do you mean she isn’t here? Did you check every room?” Panic seized me, snapping me out of my thoughts. Where the hell was my sister?

“There’s a vampire in the room at the end. He’s clearly out of his f*cking mind because of this place. We leave him. Everyone else down here is human. We leave them too.” Falon awaited my reaction, showing more patience than I knew him to have.

There was so much of the building left to check: the lab, the interrogation room, the torture chamber upstairs. But we couldn’t. I was starting to suspect that Briggs had deceived me.

Falon frowned and glanced down the hall. He seemed to be sensing something. “Have you considered that this entire thing was a trap? Maybe she was never arrested at all.”

I felt like a fool. Briggs had outsmarted me. Regardless of where my sister was, she sure wasn’t here. But I was. If I’d had any resistance to handing Briggs over to Shya, it was gone now.

“Let’s just go.” I motioned toward the end of the hall that curved away from the main entry. I’d escaped the building that way before.

We’d only taken a few steps before I felt what Falon had felt. The air rippled, announcing the arrival of a demon. This wasn’t going to be good.

I tensed, expecting Shya or maybe Brook or any number of black winged beings. So when Willow appeared between us, I was both shocked and delighted. Until he grabbed Falon and flung him against the concrete hallway wall. Over and over Willow banged Falon’s head off the solid surface. His red eyes shone with an inner light that was so evil, so suffocating.

“How dare you put your hands on her,” he seethed. “How dare you defile her like that!”

Black wings spread wide, Willow oozed a dark, murky force that stank of sulfur. It was strong, stronger than anything I’d ever felt from Shya. For the first time since we met, I was afraid of Willow.

Izzy gave a small cry and clapped a hand over her mouth. I dragged her back, away from the fight. My delight shriveled, killed like a flower in a drought.

“Willow, don’t!” My shout echoed in the empty hall. It went ignored.

He didn’t use power, choosing instead to use his fists, which made his assault uncomfortably personal. What exactly had Willow seen?

Falon didn’t fight back. It was a battle we all knew he couldn’t win. He took the beating Willow dished out, and he might even have enjoyed it in some twisted way.

Falon smirked through the blood smeared on his face. “How much did you see, Willow? Did you watch? Because if you did, you’d know that she f*cking loved it.”

My heart seized, or it would have if it had beat at a pace that matched my panic. All I could do was watch as Willow beat the hell out of Falon. I winced as each blow landed. This was a fight that never should have happened.

“You took advantage of her,” Willow hissed into Falon’s face, a hand around his throat.

“I didn’t have to,” Falon grunted. “She wanted it. If anything, she took advantage of me.”

I wanted to hit him myself then. Being a succubus gave me a manipulative edge. There was no denying that. But Falon was strong enough to withstand it if he wanted to. Wasn’t he?

My horror grew when Willow produced a silver-coated dagger and plunged the blade into Falon’s heart. Blood seeped from the wound, staining his shirt. Silver eyes wide, he gaped at Willow like he wanted to throw out one last smartass remark. He never got the chance. Willow jerked the blade free, and Falon dropped, disappearing as he hit the ground. He’d been weakened to the point of being forced back to the other side.

I stood frozen beside Izzy. When Willow shoved the dagger into a sheath in his coat and turned to us, I trembled. There was no real way of knowing what kind of shape he was in. He’d gone dark for me, and still I was a mental case. How much worse would Willow be?

He gathered me in his arms and hugged me close, smoothing a hand over my hair. “I’m sorry I left you to face this alone. I should have been here for you. But why, Alexa? Why him?”

Tears pricked the back of my eyes, and I blinked them back. He smelled like sulfur and tequila, and he felt like the absolute black that only existed in the absence of light. But he was still Willow, and I held tight to him.