Slayer(76)

When you’re a Watcher because of your family, but the Watchers take precedence over that family, it gets complicated. The three of us—sitting here sulking in a car as we defy our mothers—are evidence of that. Maybe we should ask Cosmina to take us in, instead of the reverse.

After two stops for petrol—this car has issues—it’s almost dark when we finally pull to a stop. The neighborhood leaves a lot to be desired, like safety and buildings that won’t fall down if someone sneezes next to them.

“Being a Slayer isn’t a very lucrative gig.” I stare up at the bleak apartments.

I used to resent Slayers, but now that I’ve felt some of their lives and fought some of their battles in my dreams, I get it. At least a little. It’s too much for one girl. Cosmina shouldn’t have to do this alone. I hope we can convince her of that.

Leo’s a good Watcher. Better than the rest of us, who are so bitter toward Slayers that we didn’t put any of them before our own safety. Maybe . . . maybe that’s what happened with Buffy all those years ago when she broke with the Council. It was the wrong choice, obviously. But I’ve seen behind the scenes. We don’t always work the way we should, or even could.

Maybe that’s why my mother made another unilateral move. She knew the idea of bringing Cosmina in would get deadlocked in the Council, and while they argued and debated, Cosmina would still be out here alone. Not in the castle where she could take my place.

My mother’s motivations might have been selfish, but Leo’s weren’t. He made the right call. He’s still that boy showing up in the darkness to help when things are dire. I glance over at him, glad he’s on my side. His expression is worried, his shoulders tense.

“We got this,” I whisper. His tension eases ever so slightly.

Artemis tries the door to the building, but it’s locked. She pulls out a lockpick.

“Allow me!” I say. She moves out of the way, waiting for me to kick it in. I push a random buzzer instead.

“What?” a voice grumbles.

“Let me up,” I say. “I’ve got the stuff.”

“About time.” There’s a buzz and a click, and the door opens.

“What stuff?” Artemis asks.

“I don’t know. It looks like the type of place where a lot of people are waiting for stuff. Worked, didn’t it?”

She walks past me without responding. Leo nods in approval, but his nervousness has only increased. It radiates off him with the same level of intensity as Artemis’s derision.

I follow them up four flights of stairs, half the lights broken and my shoes sticking on substances best left unseen. The building is even colder than it is outside. I shrink into Artemis’s leather jacket, wishing I had worn another layer. When we get to the door, I knock. No one answers.

“It’s dark,” Leo says. “She’s probably already out patrolling.”

“We can leave a note.” Artemis searches her weapons bag.

Leo leans against the wall, settling in. “I want to talk to her in person. Make sure she’s okay.”

We can’t afford to hang around all night. The Doug problem is still waiting for me back at the castle, as well as the mystery of Bradford’s death. I want to press my mother for some actual answers. I bet Eve will back me up. Hell, Wanda Wyndam-Pryce will too, if only to catch my mom in wrongdoing again. I don’t want to believe it was my mom who’s been contacting demons and bringing them to the very castle she spent all this time keeping secret, but it seems more and more likely. That, or it really was Bradford, and he’s dead because of it.

Cosmina can’t take up too much of our time. She’s pretty low priority, all things considered. I knock harder, and the door swings open. It hasn’t been latched all the way. Dread pooling deep in my stomach, I force myself to step into the apartment.

Cosmina’s home after all.

Sort of.





23


I’M FIXATED ON THE YELLOW ducks. No girl wearing pajamas with yellow ducks on them should be lying dead on the floor.

“Bed’s cold,” Artemis says. “But it looks like she was in it before this happened. Check the body for marks.”

Leo’s frozen at my side. We came to help her. We were too late. I was too late. My dreams gave her to me, and I failed her. My father died to save a Slayer. I wouldn’t even risk losing my spot in the castle for her sake.

“Window’s secure, and we’re four stories up. They probably got in through the door. Check the body!” Artemis snaps her fingers impatiently.

She’s not my Watcher. But she is the only one of us who seems capable of coherent thought. I half expect her to tell me to leave the room, to shield me from this, but she’s done doing that, apparently. I kneel next to Cosmina’s body. She’s lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. According to movies I should close her eyelids, but it feels disrespectful. She met death open-eyed and fighting. Who am I to pretend she’s at peace?

“No marks.” I check her neck and exposed skin. “Her knuckles look raw, but that might have been from before.” She’s stiff, too. I haven’t studied dead bodies as much as living ones, but I suspect she’s been dead for more than a few hours. Possibly a full day.

“Was it your demon?” Artemis asks.