Dangerous Creatures(44)

“Yeah. It’s called an audience.”

Rid bristled. “What do you think that stunt with Ryan was?”

He shrugged. “Kids sneak out to see bands all the time.”

She tried to control herself. She tried to stay calm. She had to make him understand, whether or not she felt like unleashing every Cast and hex in the Caster universe on him.

Which she did.

“Link. We’re not safe here. This isn’t me being jealous or crazy. This isn’t about me wanting to be the center of attention. I know what the Power of Persuasion feels like, because I have it, too.” She looked at him, daring him to even try to stop her.

He didn’t.

“There are some things I still know better than a brand-new hybrid Incubus. This is one of them, whether or not you want to believe it. And I’m sorry if that means you suck as a band. I’m sorry if you’re never going to be Sting. I’m sorry if nobody really wanted you for a drummer after all. But I’m not sorry that I’m telling you the truth.”

There.

It had to be said, and now she’d said it. She only wished it didn’t make her feel so awful. The way the words had sounded as they came out of her mouth was almost as bad as the look on Link’s face.

“Why should I believe you now?” he asked.

She wanted to smack him.

“Why should you believe me ever?” She wiped the rain off her face. “Look. This is me doing the best I can. I’m not perfect, but I am trying to help you.”

“Some help.” He still wasn’t buying it. She didn’t know what more she could say to him.

“Someone’s setting you up, and they’re going to take you down. Maybe both of us. That’s how it works. Trust me. I invented that game.”

Tell him. Tell him what Lennox Gates said. Tell him that Abraham Ravenwood is going to come for him. That he will never be safe.

That you got him into this mess in the first place.

But she couldn’t. She didn’t want him to live in that world. It was no place for regular people. She had to take care of this.

She had to handle it for both of them.

Link didn’t say a word.

Ridley felt herself swaying, on the inside. She felt little pieces of her breaking off, smashing into the street like that old couch Link was sitting on.

“I can’t believe a word you say anymore, and that’s the truth,” Link said. “That’s all the truth I’m ever going to get from you, isn’t it, Rid?”

She knew she was going to burst into tears, and she couldn’t let that happen. She was Ridley Duchannes. Nobody made her feel like this. Nobody but a dumb quarter Incubus from the middle of nowhere.

But deep down, she knew something else, too.

He’s right.

She took a deep breath.

“I haven’t been completely honest with you. Some things happened that night at Suffer. I didn’t beat a Dark Caster in a game of Liar’s Trade. I lost to Sampson. Because I didn’t know he was a Darkborn, and I couldn’t—” Rid shrugged.

“Cheat?”

“Pretty much.”

“So you lost your shirt to Sammy Boy, huh?” Link smiled, in spite of his anger. “I guess he’d have a good poker face.”

“I didn’t lose my shirt to him. Not exactly. He was playing for the house.”

“What house?” Link asked slowly.

“The club. Suffer.”

“You mean Lennox Gates?” He didn’t look at her.

Ridley nodded.

“What did you lose, Rid?” Link’s tone was darker now.

She swallowed. “Two markers.” She really didn’t want to tell him the rest, but she knew she had to. It had all gotten too big for just one person.

“One was for a drummer. Because the drummer for Devil’s Hangmen lost his talent in the game. When I cheated it out of him.” She didn’t look at Link.

“A drummer?”

Rid nodded. She felt her eyes starting to water.

“So you had to hand me over in return? You lost me in a card game? Some sick Dark Caster game?”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“What was it like, Rid? You sold me out and then you lied to me about it ever since?”

“I feel awful, Shrinky Dink. You have to believe me. And I thought it would be good for you. I thought you’d get a chance to be in a real band, even if it was a Caster one.”

“What else, Ridley?”

Rid didn’t say anything.

“The other marker. You said there were two. What else do you owe him?” Link didn’t even say his name. She had the feeling he was dreading the answer as much as she had been dreading the question.

“It was a house marker,” she said.

“What does that even mean?”

“When you’re playing for TFPs, it means the house calls it.” She shrugged. “They can ask me for anything, and I’d have to do it.” She took a breath. “I mean, I will have to do it.”

“Anything.” It wasn’t a question, and she didn’t answer it. He stared down the street into the rain. “For how long?”

“A year.”

“What if you don’t do it?”

“I don’t have a choice. I’m Bound. Those were the terms of the game. I can’t undo it. Believe me, if I could, I would’ve already.”