Page 134 of Cold Curses

“Damn. Thought I might get in a quick jog.”

“You would,” I said, and kissed him again, letting my lips linger against his, searing the contact into my mind.

I rose, walked toward the others. “What happened?”

“Black,” Gwen said. “He’s gone. Again.”

How was I going to get him back? How was I going to stop him? The questions echoed in my head, but no answers followed. Well, other than monster’s gentle prodding that it wanted to go home.

I turned back and found Lulu staring at me, eyes wide and bewildered.

And I knew what she’d seen.

And I dreaded what was to come.

* * *

Connor and I had apparently missed a show of light and magic while he’d been unconscious and I’d been trying to bring him back. Lulu and Black had exchanged fireballs while officers ran for cover, but he’d managed to poof himself away.

“I’m sorry,” Gwen said, but I shook my head.

“This isn’t on you,” I said. “He used demons and a ley line like a water fountain. He’s more powerful than all of us.”

We returned to the town house, and I got Connor, who was suffering through his second magical attack of the week, into bed and ran a hand through his hair until his body relaxed. When I was sure he was asleep, I sent an update to my parents about Black’s connection to Sorcha, and warned them to be careful.

Then I opened the bedroom door. And found Lulu staring at me. “We need to talk. Right now.”

I guess it’s time,I told monster, my heart beating like a drum. And swallowed hard.

“Okay,” I said, and followed her to the room she was using.

She closed the door behind me, locked it. I wouldn’t say I was afraid of Lulu, but I certainly wasn’t comforted by that. The magic peppering the air said she was hurt and angry. And I knew why, because I knew what she’d seen on the Reeds’ property: Jonathan Black trying to rip monster out of me.

“I know you’ve had a shit night,” she said. “But you need to tell me what the hell’s going on.”

I swallowed hard, nodded, afraid—rationally or not—that I was about to end our friendship.

“There’s something…,” I began, and realized I hadn’t imagined the actual telling of it nearly enough. Only the emotional consequences. So I cleared my throat and tried again. “It started with the Egregore.”

That had her brows rising. But she didn’t speak. Just stood there stiffly.

“I’m not alone in my body. There’s something—someone, I guess—in here, too. I think it happened when the Egregore was bound. A fragment stayed behind that wants to be reunited with the rest of the Egregore. That’s what Black was trying to take from me.”

Before I could move, she wrapped her arms around me, squeezed the breath from my lungs.

“I know,” she said.

Not since Han Solo had uttered those words had a woman been so shocked to hear them.

I pulled back, stared at her. “I…What? What do you mean, you know?”

“I know about the something inside you. It’s obvious, Lis.”

That, for some reason, offended me. Maybe because I’d tried so hard to hide it. “How is it obvious?”

Lulu’s stare was flat. “Well, you get red eyes when you fight like you’re some kind of modern-day berserker. And I’m a sorcerer, and I’ve met vampires before. I know what vampire feels like. You feel more like…a vampire plus one.”

“This isn’t how I thought this would go,” I murmured.