“Once an Agent, always an Agent,” Lucifer said. “The Agency can give nothing to you nor take anything. It is all within you.”
“I don’t even have wings,” I said. “Why don’t you do it?”
“I am not permitted,” Lucifer said.
“I’m not, either. The Retrievers will come for me for sure,” I said.
“You have more flexibility than I,” Lucifer said. “The one rule that neither I nor my brothers will break is this.”
“But you are breaking it. You’re just sending me to do your dirty work.”
“The letter of the law will be honored,” Lucifer said. “I will not leave my son in that dead place.”
“You should have thought of that before you got busy with Evangeline,” I said. “You’re putting my child,
“I will allow you the time you need to deal with the vampires,” Lucifer said. “And then you will go.”
“No,” I said.
“You will go, by my word or your own,” he said. “And I know you well enough that I think you would prefer not to be under the compulsion of the Hound.”
“I hate you,” I said.
“Of course you do,” he replied, and then he disappeared.
I stood there on the empty street, fighting back tears, trying to pull myself together. There was no way I could tell anyone else about this.
J.B. would never let me defy the Agency so openly. Despite everything that had happened between the Agency and myself, he still had a strong belief in the system. He still believed that there was an order to the universe that could not be undone. I had seen enough of Lucifer’s machinations to know that this wasn’t true.
I sucked in a heaving breath and wiped my cheeks dry. Crying wasn’t going to solve my problems. I walked slowly back toward the house, dreading the moment when I’d have to explain to everyone else that I had no idea how we were going to get rid of the vampire infestation.
“Madeline Black!”
I turned around, surprised to hear someone calling my name. In the middle of the street were three teenage boys that I hadn’t noticed earlier. Had they been there while I was talking to Lucifer? They were all skinny and had scraggly pubescent beards. The boys carried a variety of weapons that looked like they might be handy for killing vampires—swords and crossbows and stakes. Where had they gotten all those things from?
“Yeah?” I said.
The boy in the center leveled a crossbow at me. He had a red bandanna tied around his head like he was a refugee from an ’80s action film. “You’re coming with us.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed.
All three boys scowled at me.
“We’re taking you to the Vampire Authority station,” Red Bandanna said. “Don’t make us hurt you.”
I’d completely forgotten about Therion’s stupid message. Now these boys had somehow managed to find me and were intent on collecting the bounty on my head.
“Listen, kid, you can’t take me anywhere I don’t want to go,” I said, trying not to be angry.
They were just humans. Little humans who lived in a city that I had nearly killed myself trying to protect. If the ungrateful little shits knew what I had done for them, to protect them and their families and others like them, they wouldn’t be standing there threatening my life.
One of the other boys also raised his crossbow in a menacing fashion. “You have three seconds to agree or else we shoot. One…”
I blasted nightfire at his crossbow and the weapon burst into blue flames. The kid screamed and dropped the bow, holding on to his hand. The skin on his palm was blackened and peeling. I’d never seen the effects of nightfire on a human before. Was I really prepared to kill some boys whose only sin was stupidity? Maybe Beezle was right. Maybe I was going dark side.
My anger drained out of me suddenly, leaving me exhausted. “Get out of here before I get mad,” I said.
The other two stared at me with mouths agape while the third boy turned and ran.
“Go,” I repeated.
The other two followed, dropping their weapons on the ground in their haste to escape.
I dragged myself down the street, up the stairs and into my apartment, anticipating the expectant glances of my friends.
Instead, no one was there except Nathaniel. He looked grim. He held a piece of paper in one hand and he stared at it as if he hoped his gaze would set it on fire. He had removed his coat and shoes and rolled up his sleeves.
“Where’s everyone else?” I said, putting my sword on the side table and taking off my wet boots.
“Beezle, Samiel and Chloe are downstairs. I believe Samiel and Chloe are…reuniting,” Nathaniel said delicately. “The gargoyle said something about a video game. J.B. and Jude have gone to the Agency.”
“To the Agency? Why? J.B. shouldn’t be going to the Agency. He should be recovering,” I said.
“He went to deal with this,” Nathaniel said, thrusting the paper at me.
It was an ordinary piece of printer paper with the Agency’s seal at the top. The message below was brief.
I was so angry I could hardly see. I ripped the paper into a bunch of tiny pieces, threw them on the floor, jumped on them several times, picked up the pieces again, smashed them in a ball and then set them on fire in the palm of my hand. The paper went up in a whoosh of smoke and ash.
“Madeline, calm yourself,” Nathaniel said.
“Don’t
Deprived of the proxy of the Agency’s letter, I went to the hutch in the dining room and pulled out a wineglass. I threw it at the wall with all the force I could muster. It shattered into a very satisfying kajillion pieces, but I still didn’t feel better. I wanted to find Sokolov and pound his smug little face until his features were unrecognizable.
I stomped away from the hutch, looking for something else to break. Nathaniel stepped in front of me.
“Madeline, stop. Think,” Nathaniel said. “A temper tantrum is not productive.”
“This is not a tantrum,” I said furiously.
“It looks like one,” he said.
I clenched my fists. I had so much anger inside, months of it, months of frustration and pain and fear mixing with fury until I felt like I would burst. I needed somewhere to put that anger. Either I could vent it on Sokolov, or I could take it out on whatever was closest.
“You’ll do,” I said, and pulled Nathaniel’s head down to mine.
I was truly in the grip of madness now. I sent my power and my anger coursing into him, pushing up against his magic. His own power met mine and we crashed against each other in a furious storm.
He pulled my sweater off, tore the fastening of my bra. His hands replaced it, then his mouth. And then his mouth went lower, and my pants disappeared. I writhed under him, the power and the anger and the lust stretching my skin, making me burn.
His mouth touched the core of me. I arched under him and the magic inside me surged as I peaked. I found the heart of his power, the true heart, the one that Puck had kept hidden from him his whole life, and I lit it on fire.
