But I kept the bow at full draw. I had to for Desty’s sake. No one had acknowledged the things that Leif and his friends had done to me—any of the things any man had done to me—even when I tried to tell them. Even though I couldn’t stop what was happening to my sister, I had to be there, to be her witness.
Temperance? Kathan asked.
It’s almost over, I said.
Temperance, I need you to remember no matter what that I love you. I’ll always love you.
I know. It was in his nature. He loved me to the fullest extent of his ability to give love, which was more than anyone had ever loved me. Except for my twin.
Around the edges of our conversation, I could sense things happening, but I couldn’t understand them. It’d been too long. I couldn’t hold the bowstring tight anymore. I let go. Kathan caught my pieces and held me, just like I’d known he would. The world went away.
Tough
There wasn’t any fence left standing by the Dark Mansion, but I crawled over to where the fence used to be when I was a kid and watched. If I still could’ve touched a Bible without falling apart, I would’ve sworn on a whole stack of them that that scream had belonged to Desty. It was probably my imagination playing tricks on me, though. You couldn’t know what somebody would sound like screaming if you had never heard them do it.
None of the foot soldiers patrolling the front had reacted to the scream, and I didn’t see anybody going in or out of the mansion. I crawled until I made it to the short, mowed grass of the backyard, watched for a few more seconds, then I got into a crouch and ran to the back of the mansion.
I wasn’t tall enough to see in the first floor Hell Windows without climbing on something and probably making a lot of noise, but there was light coming from the basement. The panes down there were regular colorless glass set in casements, and they were caked with dust, spider webs, and bits of cut grass. The windows looked so normal that it almost made my skin crawl.
I hunkered down in front of one window and wiped a spot clean enough to look through.
This was definitely where the party was happening. The basement was cracked, dirty concrete, and the window I was looking through sat right behind a set of rickety wooden stairs that looked like they’d been built out of square for sheer creepiness. Through the empty spaces between planks, I could see black wings and business suits to spare. There were so many angels and familiars down there that it took me a minute to find Kathan and Tempie. Tempie was hanging on his arm in a dress I bet Desty would’ve worn a hundred times classier than her sister.
For a second, I just stared at Tempie. That’s the crazy thing about twins. One can be hotter than the other. The sweet, innocent one, the one who kissed you like she wanted to swallow your pain, the one you would’ve given anything to work it out with—
The one who left you and who you still don’t know what the hell she is.
My brain is the worst.
In the basement, Kathan gestured at something in front of him, just behind the stairs. I shifted position and craned my neck, but I still couldn’t see. Too many angels in the way.
More screaming. The little hairs on the back of my neck stood up. That had to be Desty.
I strained to listen harder. Laughter. Talking. Under that, I thought I could hear crying, but I couldn’t be sure.
There was another basement window about ten feet to my right. I might have a better view from there.
I looked over my shoulder. Took a second to check the rest of the backyard for foot soldiers.
Nothing.
I got up and low-ran over to the other window.
My plan was to look for Kathan and Tempie, get my bearings back, then look and see what it was they’d been pointing at. But in the middle of the room, the girl I loved was strapped to a table with a foot soldier ripping off a strip of her skin with a pair of fishing pliers.
I was about to kick the window in so I could beat that asshole to death—or as close to death as you could beat a fallen angel—but just then Desty’s head turned in my direction and I saw something that made the vamp venom in my veins freeze up.
She was crying.
Her face was flushed dark red. Tears rolled down the sides of her face and into her ears, the same way they’d done when I mesmerized her and she was fighting me.
Behind me, someone snorted.
I spun around.
Rian, wearing black riot gear like the rest of the foot soldiers on patrol. “Boy, you just will not die, will you?”
He reached for my shoulder one-handed like I was going to comply and go peacefully.
My fist shot out before I even finished thinking about how much I’d like to knock that shit-eating smirk off his face. All the pissed-off murder-rage from what they were doing to Desty was coiled up in my arm and I let it loose on Rian’s right side.
It’s hard to say what made the louder noise—my knuckles snapping or Rian’s ribs breaking. He stumbled back a couple steps, gasping for air. I didn’t give him a chance to recover. I tackled him. We hit the dirt with me on top.
It looked like Rian was going for his gun, but I didn’t care. My fists kept hammering into his face. I barely had any control over them. All I
