Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)(90)

“Giving me to Shya will only solve one of your problems.” Briggs let his head fall back against the couch. He looked exhausted. I hadn’t taken it easy on him. I also didn’t allow him to achieve any kind of release. Poor bastard. “It will just breed more though. I don’t think you’re thinking this through.”

Ignoring him, I called Jez. No answer. So I called Shaz whose voice was thick with sleep.

“Jez told me to head home and get some sleep,” he said. “She said you’d call when you needed a ride.”

“Did she now?” That didn’t sound right. It gave me a bad feeling. I had a pretty good idea of what would make Jez disappear for a while. “Do you want to come get me? I’m just waiting for Shya, but I don’t want to stay here a second longer than I need to.”

Shaz promised to come as soon as he could. I hung up and turned the phone off so it couldn’t be traced. When Shya hadn’t shown his stupid face nearly half an hour after sunset, I began to grow impatient.

“It’s not too late to strike a deal, O’Brien.” Ragged and weary, Briggs maintained his stiff agent persona. Always business.

“Pretty sure it is.” I eyed him, curious as to what Juliet saw in him. “Why the hell would you want to make a deal with me after what I did to you all day? You had fun, didn’t you?”

Briggs sighed and rolled his head to the side to meet my eyes. “Between you and Shya, you’re still the lesser evil.”

“Oh, well good for me,” I quipped. “Too bad you’ve violated any chance of me trusting you ever again. I don’t make a habit of believing liars.”

Annoyed that Shya was absent, I rolled up my sleeve and dragged a claw through the dragon marring my skin. The demon would sense it, and it would draw him like a lion to a lamb. I was anxious to get this deal done with and be rid of this damn mark.

I watched blood well up from the cut I’d slashed through the dragon’s tail. It was a minor wound that started to heal right away. I counted the seconds. Thirty-three seconds passed before I felt the air ripple. Finally.

“What the hell took you so long?” I demanded, beating Shya to the first snarky remark. “I’ve been waiting all damn day for you.”

Shya stood in the middle of the living room. His red gaze darted from me to Briggs, and he raised a brow in intrigue. “Have you brought me a gift?”

I stood in front of Briggs, unwilling to let Shya too close until my mark was removed. “I brought you your damn dreamwalker.”

The demon stared hard at Briggs, his mouth curving in surprised pleasure. “Well, this is interesting. Agent Briggs, I had no idea. That is a secret you guarded well.”

Briggs sat stiff now, using what was left of his strength to brace for what might come next. He didn’t speak a word.

“Not well enough,” I said, extending my arm. “Now, let’s make this snappy. My ride is on the way.”

Shya made a show of adjusting the cuffs of his suit jacket. He was stalling. “I must say, Alexa, I’m both pleased and disappointed. I never really thought you had it in you to hand over a human being to me.”

“Disappointed? You never really wanted me to bring you a dreamwalker, did you? You were just f*cking with me.” Fury started to spin its web, stretching one thread to another. The demon hadn’t wanted the dreamwalker as much as he’d wanted something to hold over my head.

“Oh, make no mistake, I still have use for him. However, it was nice having you on a leash, so to speak.” Shya chuckled, constantly amused with himself.

Keeping calm was going to take me farther than losing it and hurling the expensive vase from the coffee table at Shya’s face. So I concentrated on keeping my voice smooth and even. “I upheld my end of the deal. Now get this thing off of me.” I thrust my arm out again as if that would hurry him up. It didn’t.

Shya clasped his hands together and regarded me thoughtfully. For a moment I thought he was going to refuse. Then he sighed, a sound heavy on the drama. He shouldered me aside, approached Briggs, placed a hand on Briggs’s head, and closed his eyes.

Briggs made a small sound of discomfort. Shya was searching him, seeking and discovering the piece of Briggs that was more than human. Nodding as he found what he sought, Shya stepped back.

“I never anticipated we’d meet again under such circumstances, Agent Briggs. I do apologize for your discomfort. You’ll be taken to a room where you can shower and rest.” Shya spoke as if he were the host at a fancy hotel instead of a warden in a demon prison.

“Yeah, it’s the epitome of luxury,” I said snidely.

Briggs continued to remain silent. Shya was going to have a hell of a time with him. For just a moment I wondered if I’d gone too far with this, fallen too far into my dark side. But I flashed back over everything, the lab, the video, my sister, and any remorse I might have had faded.

Shya turned to me with a nod. “A deal is a deal. Pity though. I’d hoped you would hold out.”

He waved a hand over my arm, never touching. The dragon began to fade as if the lines were being erased one at a time. When it was gone, I stared at my now unblemished forearm in disbelief and glee. It felt like having a ball and chain cut off after hauling it around for so long. Freedom.

“Well, I’ll just be going then. I’ll wait outside for my ride.” Staying in Shya’s presence a second longer than necessary was not ideal. I’d died to stop him from breaking open a powerful demonic kingdom. But looking at his smug, calculating face made it feel like that had been all in vain.