Freak Show (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #7)(49)

“Do we have a plan?” I inquired when I noticed Arys watching me. He was going to get after me about eating if I didn’t change the subject. “Do we even know where to find them?”

“We don’t find them. We let them find us.” His knowing gaze strayed from me to the room service cart. “Between now and nightfall, we regain our strength and rest up.”

“Do we absolutely have to keep him?” Jez gestured to Jenner with her fork, and he scowled. “I don’t like the way he’s looking at me.”

“Yes, we do,” I said, shooting a warning look Jenner’s way. “He owes us for this entire night of hell.”

Jenner sat up straighter, brow raised. “Excuse me? I told you to leave town. You chose to stay. Not my problem.”

“You withheld information that endangered us all,” I snapped, my fists clenched. “Not to mention that bullshit you pulled with the poker game.”

Jenner’s mirthless laugh warmed the atmosphere. “I won that game fair and f**king square.”

“Yes, but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.” I was far too exhausted to waste energy on anger, but Jenner was the one I blamed for whatever Shaz was going through right that moment.

Arys sighed and held up a hand. “There’s no point arguing. What’s done is done. We must focus on the next step.”

“I say me and Jez find them. Today. Take them out during daylight.” Even as I said it, I knew I wouldn’t have the strength. I just hated feeling so helpless.

“Like hell you will,” Arys objected. “You’re not going anywhere without me, not as long as we’re in this city.”

I expected to find that blue spark burning in his eyes, the one that preceded every fight we ever had. Instead, I found concern. He had thought it was over. I couldn’t blame him for feeling so protective. Running off without him to confront the blood ring vamps would be stupid.

“I just can’t stand the thought of Shaz being out there.” I hung my head so my hair fell to hide my face as I blinked back tears.

Arys reached out to touch my thigh. His hand was cold, a sure indicator he needed to feed. There was a knock on the door at the same moment my cell phone rang. Both Arys and Jenner rose. I didn’t want to watch them steal the life force from unsuspecting women so I slipped away to the bathroom to talk in private.

“You really know how to make a guy crazy, don’t you?” Kale’s low, smooth tone greeted me. “I must have called you a dozen times.”

“More than that actually.” I found myself smiling. He almost sounded like himself again rather than the manic fiend I’d left behind. It was an illusion though. Kale would never come back from the kind of crazy that claimed him.

“Obviously, you’re still alive. Is everything ok? I knew you wouldn’t want me to send Falon, but the only way to find you was through Shya’s demon mark.”

I repeated the events of the evening while stripping down for a shower. It was odd speaking to Kale as if nothing had changed between us when in fact everything had. It was tough.

Since the night he had violated me and tried to kill me, I’d struggled to accept that the friend he had been was dead to me now. The promise he had made echoed in my mind as we talked. Kale had declared his intent to force me to release him by driving a stake through his heart. He intended for me to put him out of his misery.

“You’re strong. You’ll play the heroine and save Shaz. No worries.”

I laughed bitterly, examining the bruises marring my naked flesh in the mirror. “Right, no worries.”

“It’s what you do though, isn’t it? You put yourself in danger to save those you love.” Something in his voice, a crack of emotion, told me he wasn’t just talking about Shaz.

The sound of girlish giggles echoed from beyond the door, followed by Jez’s sarcastic tone. Blood was about to be spilled in the living room, and I was hiding out in the washroom. Pitiful.

“Kale, I’m sorry about what happened with the FPA. I went in there for you, twice, and I failed. It’s because of me that they drove you so crazy.” Slowly I dragged a brush through my tangled hair. I waited nervously for his response.

“They didn’t drive me crazy, Alexa. Somebody else did that long ago. Your blood opened a door I’d thought was closed forever. The FPA just made me feel ok with it again.” He was flippant, speaking like it was no big deal. Shit happens.

I set the phone down and put it on speaker. Needing to feel normal, I washed the remnants of smeared makeup from my face. “You sound fine right now. Like the Kale I first met.”

“That’s because there’s fourteen hundred miles between us.”

Very unnerving. I stared at the phone, glad I couldn’t peer into his mismatched eyes. “Is that what it takes for you to talk to me without wanting to kill me?” I blurted the question, knowing I shouldn’t be asking it.

His silence frightened me. I was tempted to hang up, however, that would only postpone this conversation for a face-to-face encounter. “You don’t want to know what it takes.” The devious chuckle that followed sent a shiver down my spine. His voice dropped even lower when he said, “If only it was as simple as merely wanting to kill you.”

He would lose his grip on the precarious scrap of sanity that somehow kept him from being a ravenous, unstoppable killing machine. That day would come. I knew it in every part of me, and selfishly, I prayed I wouldn’t be around to see it.