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Bad Omens

NYX

T he sky was a dark cauldron of churning storm clouds directly above the Sun & Moon Hotel.

A bad, bad omen. I felt each rumble of thunder in my soul.

But Los Angelians were creatures cut from a different cloth. They bustled busily about, paying no mind to the booming clouds above. If anything, they were electrified by them. The city had always been a wild place, but tonight, it felt entirely lawless.

Jed parked the monster bike across the street. We removed our helmets, but neither of us made a move to get off. Bolts of lightning lit up the darkness and I must have been hallucinating because I thought I saw something swimming in the clouds.

I squeezed Jed’s shoulders lightly. “Are you coming up, too?”

He snorted with disgust. “I’ll pass.”

My stomach tumbled. I’d faced Solaris alone plenty of times before. Why was I so nervous now?

Please come with me . I wanted to say it. So bad. Instead, I swung my leg over, hopping off the bike. “I won’t be long.”

He scoffed. “I’m not waiting around.”

“Jed.”

“What? I’m not your fucking slave. You go up there and do what you need to do, Nyx. I have my own shit to take care of.”

Gone was the gentle, caring man I’d just spent the day with.

“Where are you going to be?”

He shrugged, not looking at me. “I don’t know. Wherever.”

“Jed. Don’t be like this.”

“Just go, Nyx.”

“I’m only going up there to find out how to wake Natalia.”

His eyes sliced to me. He opened his mouth, but when no words came out, he clamped it shut. His disappointment pierced through me, a needle in the heart. Then he waved his hand over his face, casting the skull glamour. He tossed his helmet to the ground like it was trash, revving the bike to life before I could muster up a word. I stumbled back a step to avoid getting smoked as he tore off.

I watched him go. It undid me, as if he and I were linked by a thread that unspooled while he rode away. Stretching farther and farther, leaving me smaller and smaller.

Then my eyes wandered up to the dark, churning sky and I wished I could just arch my back and let my fury free. How satisfying it would be to watch that enormous obsidian tower burn.

But my fury had to wait. First thing first—I needed a glamour. Nyx Morningstar, the monster, the villain, the terrorist , couldn’t just go waltzing into the Sun & Moon Hotel.

I didn’t have time to craft one. My glamour from Hallows Eve had taken hours to design and cast in place. Creating a whole new face for yourself was no easy task.

There was another way. A forbidden way.

What choice did I have?

I kept my head down and dissolved my living tattoos as I made my way along the sidewalk. I’d make this quick. All I had to do was choose one and find a mortal whose face was pretty enough to wear.

The darkness was working in my favor.

I hunted around until I found a bar called Prowlers. The predatory name drew me in, and I was not let down by the crowd inside. Older, rich-looking men, and a whole mob of young, beautiful girls.

Perfect. All imbeciles with one thing on their minds.

I ordered myself a martini, keeping my eyes low while scouring every inch of the place. I needed to be quick—I couldn’t be here long enough for anyone to get a good look at me.

The red clothes and heels, though. It was turning heads. Shit . What had I been thinking when choosing this outfit?

Within minutes, a man was stalking up to me, grinning with his yellow teeth.

Yikes. I grimaced and darted away, wondering if I should just test my luck without a glamour. Maybe I could find a hooded jacket or something. It worked last time.

But when I ended up in the bathroom alone with another girl about my age, the opportunity was too good to pass up.

She was lovely. Long, dark hair. Big blue eyes. She smiled when our eyes met in the mirror while she applied fresh lipstick. Hibiscus pink. Not my color at all, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. I smiled back and came to stand beside her, pretending to fix my hair. She went about her business, finishing with the lipstick and then checking her phone.

“Hey,” I said, my tone friendly. “What lipstick is that?”

She looked up at me. “Oh, it’s—”

The girl was mine the second we locked eyes. Her face fell, words cutting off, lips hanging open a bit.

I kept her trapped in my Compulsion stare as I moved closer, erasing the space between us. My pulse sped up. “ Don’t make a sound. Don’t be afraid .”

She nodded slowly.

I placed my palms on her cheeks and focused all of my magic and intention on her face. Every curve, line, and divot of her features. Smooth, olive skin. A slightly big nose, thick eyebrows, cerulean irises framed with thick lashes. Long brown hair with glimmering red undertones. I gathered every detail, tugging with my magic, beckoning her essence to me.

Until the girls in the mirror were twins.

Only my clothes remained intact. Everything else about me became her.

“ Now go hide in one of these stalls. After ten minutes, leave. Head straight home. Talk to no one. You won’t remember any of this. You will forget me as soon as I leave .”

She nodded again, docile as ever. She turned and did as I said, hiding away in one of the stalls.

I strutted back into the bar, not looking at anyone as I left.

“Nicole!” someone shouted after me. “Nicole, where are you—”

“Shit,” I muttered to myself. The heavy bar door swung shut behind me, and then I was running across the street, weaving between moving vehicles as they honked at me.

I didn’t look back to see if Nicole’s friends were after me. I beelined it for the hotel.

My heart jumped into my throat as I pushed through the golden double doors of the Sun & Moon. Despite the glamour, I felt fucking exposed. Mort, the infamous desk clerk, stood in his usual spot. He eyed me with disdain when I passed by. I pretended to be as shallow and clueless as possible. Just another bobble-headed guest. A socialite heading up to her expensive room. Those were the only kinds of people that stayed in this Goddess-forsaken hotel.

Once I was inside the elevator, I could almost breathe.

It worked . I released a winded laugh, incredulous.

The ascension took forever. Finally, I was spat into the opulent suite, greeted by the black polished floor that led to the terrace overlooking the twinkling city.

As soon as I stepped foot inside, I felt him. A heavy magnet on my heart, pulling me forward.

Then… pain .

I gasped, the sudden force making me stumble. It was quick, like a stab. Deep and true. My hand flew to my chest to nurse the phantom wound.

He wasn’t doing well.

Black candles scattered every surface, casting a cool glow through the dim space. My heels click-clacked on the hard floor. I fought to keep my breathing even. “Solaris?”

He appeared right in front of me out of thin air.

I stiffened. He was that fast.

Standing before me, tortured and ethereal like a Victorian painting. Those dark, enormous wings were wilted, feathers whispering against the floor. The veins under his dead eyes were swollen and dark. The heavy cloak draping him pooled at his feel like black liquid.

He regarded me back, seeing through the glamour instantly.

“Firefly,” he murmured, voice gravely.

“We have to talk,” I snapped, praying to the Goddess that my expression stayed neutral. He had no business knowing how fast my heart was racing. How hot and achy my chest felt. How his closeness was the biggest fucking relief yet also made me want to crawl out of my skin.

I hated him. I hated him.

“Fix yourself,” he demanded.

I checked my nails, shrugging. “Why should I? I worked hard to acquire this glamour. Why waste it? You don’t deserve to see my true face anyway.”

He didn’t relent.

After a moment of prolonging the inevitable, I begrudgingly waved my hand over my face and dismantled the glamour. He released a breath of satisfaction as my rightful face and silver hair emerged. My true self lit heat in his gaze and had his pupils expanding like oil over water. Knots tightened my stomach when my brain forced me to remember the way he’d been looking at me in the bedroom of the beach house.

“You are healed,” he breathed, casting a flush of ice over my skin everywhere his eyes touched. From my shoulders to my breasts, my stomach. Everywhere I’d been shot. I thought I might explode.

“You knew that,” I snapped, trying to break the tension.

His gaze settled on the gold dragon pendant on my chest. He reached out and grabbed it gently, taking a look. I swallowed, heart absolutely raging, but didn’t stop him. He kept his features even, showing no hint of emotion for me to read.

Then he dropped it, and his attention flicked over my shoulder. I felt dismissed. “The Groundshaker didn’t come.”

I scoffed. “You thought he would?”

He looked pissed. “Bold of him to leave your side.”

“Listen, you fucking prick. I know about Natalia! You’re going to tell me at once what you did to her! And how I can get her back!”

“What I did to her ?” he boomed, stepping forward to close the space between us. Rage crackled like silver flames in his glare. He held up his hands, the sleeves of his cloak sliding down to reveal the manacles biting into his wrists. I winced at the sight of all the blackish blood crusted around the edges. “That witch did this to me. She deserves whatever fate has befallen her.”

I searched his face, finding nothing that felt like deception. “You didn’t trap her?”

“I do not wish to speak of this nonsense any longer.” He moved passed me, and it took everything for me to not gasp wistfully as feathers brushed my skin. “Come have a drink.”

“A drink?”

He had a bottle of vodka waiting on the countertop. He poured a shot into a crystal glass and slid it down the marble where it settled in front of the stool I always chose to sit on. “Yes. A drink. It is your birthday, after all.”

Of course he knew.

“I didn’t come here for a birthday drink with you, Solaris.” I stood stubbornly with my arms crossed, refusing to move from my spot. The walls breathed, my head reeled. His presence always tipped my world off its damned axis. “It will never be like that for us.”

His eyes darkened. “It was once.”

And then we remembered it together. I could feel it—his mind replaying the vision of me drunk in his lap, our bodies flush together, my lips pressed to his cold skin. The way his hands gripped my hips, holding on as if I were the only thing anchoring him to this Earth.

“I was delirious,” I deadpanned. “I kissed your demon of a sister, too. I was out of my mind. High off my own power. Because you had just returned it to me, after stealing it and blackmailing me into blood magic. Remember?”

“Yes, yes, I remember.” He made dramatic hand gestures as he spoke, pacing. “You can hate me all you want. Yes, I ripped the rug out from under your pretty little feet. I knocked off your paper crown. Get over it . You’re wasting time. The path to greatness is unbeaten and thorned. I set your life into motion. In fact, you should be thanking me. Without me, there would be no dragons.”

I shook my head, my neck hot with disgust. “Oh, you are glib! You always have some fanciful, metaphorical way to justify your malevolence. But look around Solaris. There are no dragons.”

We stared at each other from across the penthouse, the air electric.

“You still see only what’s right in front of you.” He said the words like they were a criminal accusation.

I released a long-suffering sigh. “If you can’t help me with Natalia, I’m going to leave.”

“I have not given you your gifts yet. Stay for a drink. Please.”

Please? Gifts?

Goddess damn me.

I’d come to learn that the easiest way to deal with Solaris was to cooperate. As much as I loathed it, he was easier to get away from once you satisfied his twisted delights. This was what I told myself as I threw in the towel and went and sat at the bar. I drank the vodka in one go, grimacing through the burn.

He watched me. I thought he was going to pour me another, but instead, he put the bottle back on the top shelf.

I pouted.

Then a question came up that I couldn’t possibly swallow. “What made the bullets that shot me so deadly? That infection was dark magic, I presume.”

His expression clouded over, matching the fury in the sky outside. “Indeed.”

“Answer my question.”

He sighed. “The bullets were coated in dark ichor. An ancient substance, extracted from an unholy creature that no longer walks this Earth.”

A deep frown set between my eyes. “How would a mortal be in possession of such a thing?”

“Some mysteries are beyond even me, Firefly.”

I rolled my eyes, ready to be done here. As if he didn’t know. He was just gaslighting and gatekeeping, as fucking usual. “Whatever. Where’s my present?”

He disappeared into the double doors of his bedroom. I waited, tapping my long red nails against the marble. It was from this angle that I saw the floor beside the bar hadn’t been fixed. It was still caved in from when he and Jedidiah fought. I scoffed, shaking my head. I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t interfered.

Solaris returned, presenting me with a flat black box wrapped with a shiny gold bow. He placed it on the counter before me, nodding for me to open it. The weird expression on his face made me scrunch up my nose. Under the mask of stone, he almost looked… giddy. What a fucking freak, seriously .

“I don’t want it.”

“Yes, you do. I intended on giving this to you the night I stole you away to the Vatican. But you looked so ravishing in the red dress that I decided to wait.”

Was it clothes? A dress? My weakness.

My curiosity was piqued, and even though I hated obliging him, I needed to see.

I used my magic to burn off the bow, smirking deviously as he rolled his eyes. Then I opened the box. I managed to cut my gasp short, but my lips still popped open in awe.

They were fucking everything .

I couldn’t help myself. I beamed. Blame it on the vodka. Folded neatly, the set of badass fighting leathers practically had me salivating. Cut in my usual style—a thin strapped crop top with tight, sculpted leggings. But instead of smooth, plain leather, the material was carved into dragon scales. Thick and black, with a realistic, 3D look.

I shook my head, sighing as I shut the box and leaned back. “You’re evil. You know that?”

He was grinning, beyond pleased with my reaction. “You love them.”

“They’re alright.”

“Stubborn creature. No matter. Your face gives you away every time.” He smirked in my face. I opened my mouth to spar, but he went on before I could get a word in. “Now for the best part. Come out, girl.”

My brows narrowed. He wasn’t talking to me. Who—

The door to the second bedroom opened. The girl from the rooftop stepped out.

My jaw dropped. Our eyes met, and she recognized me right away.

“You’re alive!” we exclaimed to each other in unison.

Her expression was frantic, her arms stiff at her sides. Without the designer clothes and the caked-on makeup, she looked like a baby.

We stared at each other in disbelief. Then my attention darted between her and Solaris, trying to figure out what in the seven hells was going on.

“Happy birthday, Firefly.”