“Y-ess, there have been two more human murders in the Chicago area, Ma’am,” Pavel says with a shake of his frail hand as he walks side-by-side with a tall, regal looking woman.
Her fiery hair is so vibrant that it matches her tight red dress impeccably. Her smooth pace and the casual click of her designer heels steals all of my attention.
Councilwoman Zavia!
Her piercing gaze zeros in on myself as well.
“Have there been any more within our walls?” she asks in a flowing velvety accent.
“None within the Crimson City. Creature Control have not been allowed within here without your approval, Ma’am.” Pavel too pauses his thoughts when his attention falls on me.
“Where are your shoes, Vega?” Zavia asks as her stare becomes rather deeply concerned for my black and dusty feet.
My toes lift and scrunch awkwardly as if I can hide them away somehow.
Do I say it? Do I out Rival? And say what, exactly? That he killed me? What would they do to a human snooping around their High Council?
“I found out my favorite red bottoms are a fake. I’m boycotting until I can make a trip back to Italy myself.” I flip my tangled hair back from my face, and it’s then that I realize I’m sweating bullets.
I’m burning up, actually. I swipe at my brow and moisture appears along the back of my hand. Not only that, but… Two small but solid points poke out from against my temples.
Are those… Are those horns?
Fuck.
What in the name of Lucifer is happening to me right now?
Don’t act human. Don’t act human. Don’t act human.
My lips tremble, but I shove a stiff smile in place.
I turn, and swiftly but casually stride out of the room.
“Vega?” Zavia calls after me.
I walk faster.
“Vega?”
And then I’m running.
Her yell echoes after me, but everything passes by in a streak of dark blurring colors. I don’t even consciously think about where I’m going.
I just run. I keep going for so long that the stuffy warmth of the house falls away, and cold night air kisses my face.
Damp grass flicks along my ankles as I walk, slowing my pace the moment gray stones come into view. Hundreds of them are spread out before me beneath the light of the full moon.
One of them belongs to Kyra now.
She’s buried here in a used grave. She’s been laid to rest among so, so many forgotten tombs.
But ultimately, she’s all alone out here.
My heart is so warm it feels like fire within my chest. That warmth falls low and hard as I think about everything Kyra went through without me. Without anyone by her side.
I thought I came here searching for her killer. Maybe I was really searching for her.
Like I should have done two years ago.
My knees give out and hit hard against the wet ground. The breeze picks up, but no matter how much it flings my blonde hair across my face, I can’t see anything except the darkness surrounding each and every pale stone.
“Get up, Miss Vega!” A deep tone commands.
I blink away the wetness in my eyes, but I remain seated in a heap of too many regrets.
A smooth shoulder bumps against mine as he slides down against my side. And then the Demon Prince is also kneeling in the dirt beside me.
“You didn’t kill her,” he whispers.
I shake my head slowly and a wetness splatters over my cheeks. I peer up at the heavy gray clouds hanging among the bright white moon.
“But you know who did.” I feel him staring at me. “You’re powerful, Miss Vega,” he whispers manically against my hair.
A shiver shakes through my core as his hot breath trickles down my neck.
“You know who killed her,” he repeats as he pushes back my hair behind my ear and whispers intimately, like an ocean breeze caressing my skin. “So get up and fucking annihilate the man who hurt her! Who hurt you.”
My feet push up and I’m standing just as the rain pours down over me. It soaks through my dress and even the deluge of cold water doesn’t cool my burning flesh.
I look up at the dark sky. The beauty of it is all around me, but I can see is him instead.
Aston sits on the roof and watches over me like an angel who knows what sin I’m about to commit. He knows me deeply. I feel him in my mind like a calming thought among all the chaos.
He feels good.
He’s the encouragement I need right now. Even as I turn toward the front house and spot a true monster within the night.
Rival Royale comes forward out of the darkness like a shadow coming to life. He holds something sprawled across his arms. His black suit is stained with a darker color across his chest and sleeves. That’s because he’s covered in Acessa’s blood.
She lies limply in his arms, her head has fallen back with her mouth hanging wide open. Her long arms dangle against him, jostling with every step he takes. His dark eyes meet the rage in mine.
“You killed her!” I seethe.
He shakes his head slowly.
“I found her out front. She was facedown just two yards from the steps of the house.” He keeps talking, but his words are an empty sound within my mind.
The excuses he gives for Acessa don’t register.
Instead I cut him off.
“How did you kill Kyra!?” My flashing eyes burn into him so hard it feels like pure hellfire sizzling through my skull.
His dangerous gaze narrows as he carefully lies Acessa on the ground like she means nothing to him. Like she is nothing.
“How did the demon get out?” He looks over my shoulder at the man I feel standing just behind me.
“There’s a demon out?” The Demon Prince echoes with exaggerated terror.
But I don’t dare look away.
“Was it an accident? Why kill her two years after?” I step closer, water seeping over my toes from the puddle that’s growing with every heavy drop that
