Dangerous Creatures(31)

“I heard he sucked,” Ridley said carefully.

The three Supernaturals stopped in their tracks. “Wait a minute. He doesn’t know?” Necro looked amused, while Floyd looked amazed. Sampson seemed only mildly interested.

“Know what?” Link looked at Rid. She glared at the others. All three of them were there, the night she lost everything at Suffer. They knew what a mess she was in, and worse, how she’d gotten herself into it. She just had to keep them from telling Link all the gory details, until she fixed things. And until she figured out what the hell was going to happen with her second marker. She couldn’t tell Link about that. It was too humiliating, she was too scared, and he might get too angry. At her, or at Nox, she didn’t know, but she didn’t want to find out.

But what are the odds of that?

Floyd clapped her hand on Link’s back. “You realize this is all a scam. Your Siren’s scamming you, bro.”

“What are you sayin’?” Link looked even more confused than usual.

“Nothing,” Ridley snapped. She looked at his bandmates, meaningfully. Don’t even think about it.

Necro shook her head. “It’s not nothing. You need to tell him—”

Floyd cut in. “Your girlfriend took down our drummer and crossed a badass dude in a big card game, and—”

“Won. I beat him.” Ridley looked up at Link. “Believe me, Hot Rod. I was as surprised as you are.”

“Yeah, right,” said Floyd. “And then unicorns flew out of your ass.” She twisted two fingers into a unicorn horn and held it up to her forehead.

“How did you know? It’s my specialty.” Ridley glared at Floyd, desperately wishing she would shut up. Then Rid turned back to Link. Believe me, she thought. You have to believe me.

“Come on, Ridley. That’s not what happened,” Necro began.

Link started to waver. “What went on that night? You never actually told me anything about it. One minute, you took off for Europe, the next thing I hear you’re in that club in New York. Then suddenly you show up in Gatlin, actin’ all kinds a sorry, and you just happen to know a band that needs a drummer? Since when do you even know bands?”

Ridley started to panic. Think fast. “What does it matter? I went out. I met the band. Their drummer sucked, and he left. They needed a new one. We made a deal at the club. End of story. That’s it.”

“Why didn’t you just say that? Are you hiding something? Were you with someone? Is that what this is about?” Link looked like he might lose it, right there on the street.

“We were broken up!” She backpedaled when she saw the pain in his eyes. “Why would you even think that?” Ridley gave up trying to explain. She didn’t want to Charm Link, but the way she saw it, she didn’t have a choice. Unfortunately for him, she did have a lollipop. Her fingers began to fumble for it in her pocket.

No magic. You promised. No Siren stuff.

She hesitated, but only for a second.

Who am I kidding?

Ridley smiled up at Link. “Of course not. I know you believe me. That’s all that matters.” As she spoke, she felt the candy wrapper come off in her fingers. You know I’m right, Shrinky Dink.

“Of course I believe you. It’s just—”

“You’re worried because you care about me and you want me to be happy.” Her fingers curled around the lollipop. You want me to be happy, Hot Rod.

“That’s all I want, darlin’.”


“But I know that deep down, you trust me.” And you absolutely really truly believe me, Wesley Lincoln.

She held her breath. She hadn’t tried anything like this on Link in a long, long time. He didn’t like it, and she didn’t blame him. Truthfully, she didn’t really like it, either.

Link smiled at her. “You know I do, Babe.”

She smiled back. “I know.” Let’s go to the gig, Link.

He took her hand. “Now let’s go get us a gig, Sugarplum.”

As they walked away, Ridley tried not to think about what she had just done.

It worked, didn’t it?

But if it was all for the best, why do I feel so bad?

She ducked her head and tried not to see their faces everywhere she looked. If she let herself remember, they’d fall from the sky like so many autumn leaves. Hundreds. Thousands. The people she’d Charmed. The men she’d destroyed. The boys who had worshipped her. The women who had hated her.

Do I really want to add Wesley Lincoln to that pile of burning leaves?

Have I crossed a line?

Ridley wished Lena was here. She would know—and she’d tell Ridley, too. Lena was Ridley’s barometer; she always had been.

What would Lena say now?

Ridley let her hand slip from Link’s grasp. He and Sampson began talking about the set list and walked ahead of her. Rid fell back, trying not to think about it. She had bigger problems to think about than Charming one more hybrid Incubus.

“Hey, Siren.”

Necro grabbed Ridley by the arm. She waited until the boys were out of earshot. “When this is over,” she said, “we’re going to have a little girl talk. Heart to Dark heart.” Any goodwill between them was now long gone.

Floyd shot Ridley a nasty look. “She’d have to have a heart to do that.”