Page 23

TWENTY-THREE

Sorsha

Even though there was no denying Ruse’s seductive charms, we had the taxi drop us off a five-minute walk from our actual destination. The incubus gave the driver a jaunty salute and said in a cajoling tone, “Thank you, my friend. You’ll drive back downtown and forget you ever came out here.”

As the cab pulled away, Thorn glanced at me. “What is this spot you wanted us to come to?”

I started walking, pointing to the glowing motel sign ahead of us, the letters distorted where half of the bulbs had burnt out. “This is a place people go to specifically when they don’t want anyone to know where they’ve gone.”

Every time Vivi had driven us to the outlet stores farther down this strip, we’d passed the motel with its weather-worn sign offering hourly rates. It’d become a running joke, making up stories about who would be so desperate for anonymity they’d take a room in a place that looked straight out of a slasher flick. A dude having an affair with his wife’s sister—who was also his kid’s teacher and his brother’s girlfriend. A mafia foot-soldier on the run from both the mob and the cops after a catastrophic incident involving a thrown plate of cannelloni. And so on.

Now I was getting to experience that desperation firsthand. Lucky me.

The sign also declared that the management only accepted payment in cash, because they were just that classy. My hand settled on my purse as we approached the front office, but Ruse waved his hand at me dismissively. “I’ve got this.”

In the last few days, my criminal activities had multiplied like rabbits. After yet another tight escape and looking up at the dingy shingles lining the motel’s roof, I couldn’t quite bring myself to care about this latest con. “Be my guest.”

As we’d agreed in hushed discussion in the cab, Snap and Thorn lurked in the shadows while Ruse and I went in. I took one look at the sputtering fluorescent light mounted on the ceiling, the board of nails dangling tarnished keys with numbered fobs, and the faded floral curtains that must have been at least a few decades old, and swallowed a slightly hysterical giggle. I was standing in the middle of a real live cliché. The only thing missing was getting murdered in my sleep, but who knew—there was still time for that.

Ruse strolled up to the reception desk with its patchy varnish and shot one of his smooth grins at the woman there, who had bags under her eyes big enough to hold spare change. “Hello there, darling,” he said in the same voice he’d used on the cab driver.

The woman gave us a look of utter boredom, but as Ruse drew out the companionable chitchat, a friendly warmth came into her eyes. By the time he asked her for “two rooms, side-by-side, with an adjoining door if you’ve got that,” she was so happy to help that she handed him two keys off the wall without the slightest hint of skepticism about a young couple asking for completely separate rooms.

“We could have made do with one,” I said to him after we’d stepped back outside. “It’s not as if the three of you need beds.”

Ruse clucked his tongue at me. “I was respecting your privacy. Besides, I need to get my fix of late night cable TV, and I wouldn’t want to keep you up.”

I rolled my eyes at him, but the truth was, I did feel better having a little space that the shadowkind weren’t invading. And even if the incubus and I were on better terms now, I wasn’t interested in doing anything other than sleeping tonight. As we reached our rooms, a yawn stretched my jaw.

“Let’s have a look at them before I decide which is mine,” I said.

There wasn’t exactly much to choose between. Both boasted similar flower-print curtains that were more gray than any other color now, moth-bitten carpets, and bed covers dappled with faint stains bleach hadn’t quite eliminated. A chlorine-y scent clung to them, but at least that meant they should be somewhat sanitary if not pretty to look at.

The first room had a slightly larger TV, so I left that one to Ruse and set my bags down on the bed in the other room. Thorn followed me in through the adjoining doorway. He closed the door and studied the knob.

“We should leave this unlocked on both sides,” he said. “None of us will disturb you unless there’s urgent need—but if we should have to escape in a rush…”

“No argument here.” I sat down on the end of the bed and eased open my purse. Pickle sprang out with a distressed but ineffectual flapping of his clipped wings. He shot a steely glare at the purse, as if it were to blame for his troubles, and bounded into the bathroom to put as much distance between it and him as he could.

Thorn prowled through the room, eyeing every wall, corner, and piece of furniture for signs of danger, going as far as swatting at a spiderweb so tattered I suspected the spider had abandoned it months ago.

“I’m pretty sure there aren’t any actual serial killers hiding under the bed,” I teased, but that only prompted him to actually check under the bed just in case.

While he occupied himself with that, I slid the deadbolt on the outer door into place and went into the bathroom to fill up a glass of water for Pickle. The little dragon took a sip, allowed me to stroke his neck a few times, and then tugged one of the towels into the tub to make a fuzzy nest for himself.

When I came back out, Thorn was still there, now standing near the door between our rooms. As I flopped down where I’d been sitting before, he stayed in place, his pose oddly hesitant.

“M’lady,” he said, and paused. When I lifted my head to meet his gaze, he cleared his throat and glanced briefly at the floor before continuing.

“When we first came to you, I intended to keep you out of danger. I didn’t anticipate that our presence would propel you so much further into it. You have lost your home, most of your belongings, been drugged once and nearly captured twice in a span of three days…”

“I do remember all that,” I said when he trailed off. “I was there.”

He made a frustrated sound, his hands clenching. His voice came out even gruffer than usual. “I’m trying to say that I apologize for misjudging the threat—and that you may have been right to wish us gone in the beginning. I can’t make up for what’s already come to pass, but I can avoid dragging you into further peril. We’re closing in on Omen’s captors even as they attempt to close in on us. You’ve assisted us far beyond what I ever would have asked, so I can’t possibly ask for more. When we continue on Meriden’s trail tomorrow, you can go your own way, apart from us.”

Understanding sunk in slowly and then hit me in its final burst like a slap to the face. “What?” I sputtered. “You’re telling me to take off?”

Thorn grimaced. “We would see to it you have everything we can provide that you might need—Ruse should be able to supply you with money and perhaps other resources—and we would ensure that we draw our enemies’ attention to us to give you time to make a clean escape. If that isn’t enough?—”

“It’s not about whether it’s enough .” I pushed myself off the bed to face him on my feet, my hands balling into fists at my sides. “Are you fucking kidding me? I lost my apartment, yeah, and lied to my only friends and now have run all over this city with bad guys at my heels, and you think after all that I’m going to throw in the towel and say it was all for nothing?”

The warrior’s expression turned puzzled. “You never intended to find yourself in such treacherous waters.”

“Maybe I didn’t expect exactly this, but I knew there were risks. I saw what happened to Luna because of these sword-star assholes. So what if things have gotten ‘treacherous’? When exactly did I give you the impression that I’m the type to run off with my tail between my legs when the going gets hard?”

Thorn was silent for a moment. “You’re offended,” he said. “You’re angry with me.”

“Yes, I’m fucking angry.” Was there anything nearby I could throw at his somberly stoic face? The lumpy pillow wouldn’t be at all satisfying. “I committed to finding out what the hell is going on, and I’m going to see that through. It isn’t just for you, you blockhead. It’s because of these pricks that Luna is dead. They might have killed my parents too. Who knows how many other people and shadowkind they’ve hurt before then and since? And you really think I’d take the chance to shrug it off and walk away?”

I’d obviously rubbed him the wrong way now and then—it wasn’t as if his attitude hadn’t irritated me often enough too—but I would have thought that by this point he’d believe they could count on me just a little. I’d run when the hunters came for Luna, when it was too late to help her anyway, and it’d killed me doing that. No way in hell was I letting the bastards off the hook now that we had them in our sights.

But he’d really thought I’d accept his offer that I leave. Possibly even expected me to be grateful for it. My teeth gritted.

“That wasn’t how I saw it,” the warrior said stiffly. “I merely was concerned for your well-being and the strain we’ve put on it.”

Since I couldn’t throw anything at him, I set my hands on my hips instead. “Stuff your concern up your ass. I’m not looking the other way while someone’s out there still sticking beings like you in cages and who knows what other horrors, so you can just forget about keeping me out of it. I have helped, and a lot, haven’t I, as inconvenient as this mortal body might be to you all?”

“I would never deny that. We would not have accomplished anywhere near as much in our quest without your assistance.”

“All right. Then assume I’m going to keep assisting, and keep your ideas about what kind of ‘strain’ I can handle to yourself unless I ask for your opinion. Agreed?”

Thorn bowed his head. When he raised it, his lips were twisted at a more pained angle than before. “M’lady,” he said, and seemed to struggle before adding my name. “Sorsha. I apologize. I promise I didn’t intend to insult you, although I see now how insulting my proposition was. I hope you will accept that my misstep was made out of lack of consideration and not contempt for your courage and resilience.”

The flare of my anger simmered down, although I couldn’t tell how much he meant those words and how much he was simply placating me. It was hard to read that ever-solemn voice.

“All right then,” I said. “Apology accepted. And listen, I can promise you this—once we find Omen and whatever other shadowkind these assholes have trapped, I’m going to burn everything that belongs to them to the ground just like I did your collector’s house. That’s the least they’ll deserve.”

The corner of Thorn’s mouth quirked up, just for a second, into what might have almost been a smile. “I look forward to that day,” he said in the same sober tone. “I’ll take my leave of you so you can rest and prepare for tomorrow’s plans.”

“You do that,” I said, but my grumble was half-hearted. He stepped out, closing the door behind him with a click. I sank down on the bed, my heart suddenly heavy.

I was in this ‘til the end. I hadn’t the slightest doubt about that. The only question was how much of my life from before would end up in tatters before this mission was over—if I was left with any life at all.