Page 19

CHAPTER 19

Countless mobile phones shone in the dark, raised high, like a hundred stars. I remembered chasing those stars, and flapped my wings now, eager to chase them again. Screams sounded, like squeaking bats, small and insignificant.

I was free.

Until I wasn’t.

The enormous sense of strength and space suddenly contracted, squeezing me tighter and tighter, making me smaller and smaller. The screams became loud again, and now meant something. Dread crushed my heart.

Something terrible had happened, and I’d been in the middle of it.

Gasping, I clutched my chest, trying to cling to the pieces of me.

But it was wrong. I was wrong.

Why were there stars on the ground?

Not stars. Phones. Taking photos.

But there was another light too, a halo, pulsing out from under the ring where the hook that had hold of my insides, originated from.

Batlike wings cut the darkness above, wings like mine but smaller. Zee!

Where were my wings?

I reached over my shoulder.

Why was I so small?

“Adam?!” Zee dropped to his knees. His hot hand cupped my face, lifting my chin. “ Now can we save you?”

I panted, trying to form words around small blunt teeth. “My glamor?”

“It’s back.” He winced. “For what it’s worth—since we all got front row seats at Jurassic Park—nice fuckin’ wings, Kitten.”

“Oh.” Then the enormous freedom I’d felt had been... me. My curse had failed, taking my glamor with it, but it was back now. Maybe? Why did I feel so different? “Something’s wrong.” Nothing felt like it should, like it had for the last four years. Everything was small and numb and tight.

“Yeah, I kinda got that much.” He hauled me to my shaky feet.

A growl drew my eye. Victor was beside the ring, cast in a cool-blue light that leaked out from beneath the ring. He held a bunch of colored wires that looked a lot like entrails. Whatever he’d torn apart, it was bad.

A slow, deliberate clap interrupted my reeling thoughts. “Bravo, Mr. Vex. Bravo indeed. A fabulous show! What a dark horse you are. Or should that be dark dragon ?”

“Cain,” Zee growled. “What did you do!?”

The property mogul stood at the front of the tables, cast in the same blue light as Victor, but in his hand he held a shimmering blue pearl. That little pearl called to me in hungry waves, demanding I take it .

Victor blurred toward Cain.

Cain flicked his fingers, sending Victor flying into the darkness through several tables and yelping people.

“Hey, touch my Victor and die!” Zee let go of me, launched into the air, then dove like an arrow toward Cain.

Cain clenched the blue pearl, its blue light squeezed between his thick fingers, and flicking his hand, the effortless gesture flung Zee into the dark. With a sickening thump, he hit the metal walls, making the ship we were still inside clang like a huge bell.

“No!” I stumbled through the ringside ropes, intent on checking Zee, but ended up bathed in blue light, with the rest of the venue cloaked in a dark so thick I could almost taste it.

I had to find them, had to get to them. But I could barely see straight, and my body was an awkward, unbalanced mess.

“Adam Vex.” Cain’s deep voice boomed, pulling me up short. “I should thank you.”

I raised my gaze. Cain admired the blue pearl as though it held the answer to all his prayers. I knew what it was then, and why I felt so small.

Behind me, beneath the ring, from where a similar blue light glowed, we’d find another harvester. This one didn’t have giveaway cables, but it was there, squatting under the canvas, stealing Lost Ones energy. Stealing me. For Gideon Cain.

He’d taken my power.

Taken a part of me.

That pearl was my truth.

Cain strode closer, unafraid. “Your gift just made me the most powerful being in this miserable world.”

I eyed the pearl and made a pathetic grab for it. “That’s mine. ”

“No, it’s mine.” He lifted the pearl out of reach. “Just like your pathetic hotel, your little friends, and whatever prophecy you think you’re a part of.” I reached for the pearl, but he snatched it back. “How does it go again? Your heart will save the world or destroy it?”

I touched my chest, over my heart. He didn’t have the fleshy organ that pumped blood through my body, but he did have some crucial part of me. Was that my so-called heart? The part that made me who and what I was. “You won’t get away with this,” I snarled, hoping it sounded more threatening than I looked, about to keel over.

Cain chuckled. “Look around, Mr. Vex. I am.”

I swung for him, not thinking, just reacting. He captured my fist, and crushed it in his. Pain surged up my arm, driving me to my knees. My strength was gone. My body weak. I couldn’t fight him.

“All those silly games, Mr. Vex.” The sorcerer leered. Power swirled in his eyes. A power so deep, so hungry, it might consume the whole world. “The vampires, Cain Technologies, dead protestors, those were all side acts. It has always been about power. Yours.” He let go, leaving me panting and clutching my burning hand to my hollow chest. “And now mine.” Cain snorted. “You should have stayed hidden, little lost dragon.”

“I will come for you— we will come for you.”

The stage lights burst back to life, burning my eyes, making them stream tears.

He dropped the blue pearl into his pocket. “Good luck with that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a world to subjugate.” He walked away, leaving me on my knees, surrounded by gawking people. One of those people skipped forward, planted her hands on her hips and beamed down at me.

Fangs gleamed in her candy-pink-lipped smile. “You don’t look so hot, Mr. Vex. ”

Was she going to kick me while I was down? Gritting my teeth, I rocked back and propped my ass on my heels. My vision swam, splitting into three Princess Daisys.

“I forgot to say thank you, Mr. Vex.”

“For what?”

“Killing Mommy.”

Wait, she wanted her mother dead?

Daisy hair-flicked her ponytail, and her grin curved into a voracious smile. “I’m queen now. Mr. Cain and I are going to rule this pathetic world.”

Yeah, I wasn’t so sure about that. Cain didn’t seem the sort to share.

Daisy patted my head. “Aren’t you cute. I’d kill you but I’ve just had my nails done.” She showed me her sharp, sparkly nails, then pouted. “I don’t think you’re going to be a problem now. Toodles, Mr. Vex.” She skipped off, blurring among the looming figures.

I rocked, and breathed, and forced back waves of nausea.

It had been dark when I’d shifted, so hopefully most folks wouldn’t have known what they’d seen, or they’d hopefully shrug it off as part of the show. Clever lighting, staged projectors, synchronized drones. Hey presto, there’s a dragon.

“Yeah, and stay gone!” Zee stalked over, shoving a table out of his way. One of his wings hung at an uncomfortable angle. He limped too, clearly the worse for wear after Cain had knocked him out of the air.

“Your wing?” I croaked.

“It’s fine.” He ignored my concern and drew me to my feet. “Kitten, are you hurt?”

I bit my lip and ignored his question. “Where’s Victor?”

Zee checked the crowd, searching for our vampire. “What are you all looking at? Got your money’s worth? Nothing to see here.” He shooed . “Move the fuck along.”

The crowd ambled off, grumbling about the show. Carving through them, Victor emerged, clutching his arm. He didn’t look so good either.

Zee sighed, and pulled me tight against his side. “I’d just like to add, that I didn’t say it first.”

“Say what?”

He held up a finger for me to wait.

“I told you so,” Victor grumbled.

“Bingo.”

“This was a terrible plan,” Victor added. “You almost died, Zodiac has a broken wing, and Cain has more power than one being should ever wield, let alone a dark sorcerer.”

I sniffed, and my wounded heart shrank some more. “How was I supposed to know he had a backup harvester under the ring?”

“I destroyed it,” Victor said. “Although I suspect it’s rather like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Hm?” His knowing gaze settled on me with sympathy.

“Hey, Fancy Pants, your delightful princess is queen now. She made sure to gloat. Happy fuckin’ ascension day.”

Victor straightened his arm. A sickening pop sounded, and he winced. “That is rather how royalty works, I suppose.”

“Can we go home?” I mumbled.

Zee led me up the metal steps toward the exit, with Victor close behind, still in sentinel mode, watching for further threats. We reached the lot, where most of the cars had already left, but a few Ubers waited.

“It’s worse than it seems,” I told them as we shuffled and limped our way toward an Uber.

“Worse than an evil sorcerer who wants to skin us alive and shove our heads on spikes getting his hands on the world’s most dangerous bath bead? How, Kitten, can it be worse than it seems?”

I worried my lip between my teeth again, and as we reached the cab, I cast my gaze over San Francisco glinting in the dark. Distant sounds of traffic reached my ears. I tasted the docks and sea on my lips, felt the wind ruffle my hair, but all of it was muffled. Muted. Smaller. Or I was. “Because... I think I might really be human.”