Page 47

47

No Vengeance

JEDIDIAH

I woke up on fire. Every inch of me screamed with agony as I vaulted upright, instantly breaking into a panic. The pain was vivid and focused, blasting from my head down to my hip. My pants clung to me, weighed down by a thick, half-dried substance.

Blood.

I stared down at myself, breathing heavily. My chest was bare, only tatters of my shirt remained. My skin was slick with violent red. The pain, however, began to drain as my consciousness settled in. It waned until it was nothing but a phantom reminder. I was drenched in old blood but the wounds had healed.

It took me too long to remember where the fuck I was and what the fuck happened. Slowly, like molasses dripping in the dead of winter, my surroundings emerged into my awareness. A war zone that was once the most opulent suite in the city.

Now, it was quiet. Too fucking quiet. The destruction hardly seemed real.

I stood up from the sofa I’d been placed on. Glanced over at the pool of blood I knew belonged to me. Those last moments were like a distant dream, dancing in and out of my mind’s eye. All I could recall was the blare of gunshots.

Which fucking one of them shot me? Nyx ?

“Oh, good. You’re awake.”

My spine turned to steel as I turned. He stood where the wall of glass used to be. It lay shattered at his feet.

The only thing more glaring than his presence was her absence.

“Where is she?”

“She is gone, for now.”

My fists clenched at my sides. “Where.”

He stared at me with his inhuman eyes. “To return a birthday gift.”

My face twisted.

“She will be back.”

Nyx wasn’t here. She’d escaped, thank the fucking gods. And now I was free to finish this.

He didn’t think I would. I could see it on his face now. He was smug, thinking my death nap had cooled me off.

He was always fucking wrong about me. He had this twisted idea in his head that because we shared blood, he knew me. But he didn’t know the first thing about me, and he consistently underestimated me. He didn’t know how far I could bend before I’d break. Or how sometimes I chose to snap, and how I’d take every fucking thing in my path down with me.

“Oh, just bloody well give it up. ” He stared into my eyes and spoke as if he could hear my thoughts.

“No, I cannot read your mind,” he continued. “Everything is always written all over your face. You and her are the same that way.”

A wordless growl rumbled from deep in my chest. “How do you expect this to go, man? For us to hold hands and sing Kumbaya?”

“No, Jedidiah, I do not expect that. But this war between you and me is pointless destruction. A complete waste! A real war is looming, as you should know by now. I would think you’d be able to see past your own fury and bias, to admit we have enough in common to stand on the same side.”

I snorted venomously. “Yeah? And what side is that?”

“Our own side.”

I made a sound of disgust but said nothing. He was fucking unbelievable. A truly relentless cunt.

He took my silence as an opportunity for coercion. “He tried to kill you.”

I swallowed hard, feeling stabbed in the gut all over again. “Yeah. He’s a vile piece of shit. And?”

Solaris’s freak eyes hardened in what almost seemed like a betrayal. “And he did worse to me!” he hissed. “If he treats his own kin in such a way, what plans do you think he has for the realm? He is sitting on an old, rotten prophecy. Each day, he thinks we are closer to it. And perhaps we are.”

I shook my head, waving him off sharply. “Fuck! I don’t want to hear about prophecies. They’re fickle, useless ideas that turn people mad.” I stepped closer to him. “The difference between me and you is I don’t fucking care about him. I’ve hated him since I was a kid, but I seek no vengeance. All I have ever wanted was to get away. Being dead is honestly not the worst thing to happen to me. I’m better off as a ghost.”

He regarded me silently for too long. Finally, he shook his head. “I don’t believe you. If that were true, you would have scampered off into the sunset by now. You’re drawn to Nyx for a reason. You’re standing here right now, for a reason .”

The floor under my feet trembled, flames licking across my knuckles. “Yeah, to kill you.”

Solaris scoffed. “Go ahead and try. Death is nothing to me.”

“I could collapse this whole fucking building right now.”

“Wonderful! I am growing tired of this lair, and have a far better one awaiting me.” He clasped his hands in front of his body, his fingers pointed together like a steeple. He shrugged, his expression amused. “It would give me the push I need to finally move out.”

“You know, I don’t believe your act for a second. You act so unfazed, so stone-faced, but I’ve seen glimpses of the true you.”

His jaw clenched, though only slightly.

The city behind him twinkled, the sky dark and clear. It had been a thunderstorm before, but the rage in the clouds had waned now.

“You’re weak,” I stated.

His steely eyes narrowed. “And you, the picture of strength. In your constant loop of substance abuse and brutish aggression.”

I rolled my eyes. Shook my head, then turned it away. Fuck . Behind my eyes was starting to pound. I needed to eat and sleep and fucking regroup. My muscles ached and burned, my mind depleted.

“So, what will it be?” Solaris pressed. He splayed his arms. “Will you attack me again?”

“Not right fucking now, but watch your damn back.” I stalked away from him, snatching my leather jacket off the back of the sofa. It was fucking heavy and damp with blood, but I didn’t care. I shrugged it lazily over my shoulders, leaving it open over my chest. “Unless this elevator doesn’t work right now. Then I’ll bash your skull in.”

When I pressed the button and it didn’t arrive, fury lashed up my spine like a snake. From behind me, I heard a metal clink , and the world shook then went still again. I turned in time to see him sliding something bronze back into his cloak pocket, his expression wry.

My fists clenched, my tongue ready to hiss threats and demands, but then the elevator dinged.

For reasons unknown, I hesitated.

My ticket out of here was right there, and yet, I didn’t move.

Seconds later, a burst of light ignited right between me and the elevator doors. I grunted and stumbled back.

What the fuck. .

Nyx stumbled out of the portal with a brunette girl in tow. She hiccuped obscenely loud, her black-smudged eyes lazily scanning the suite. The smell of greasy fast food wafted from paper bags each of them carried. She came to a wobbly halt when she spotted me standing to the side.

She was fucking wasted. How in the seven hells did she portal here?

Her arms flung out, and she dropped her bag of food, yelling unintelligibly as she crashed into me. She smelled like a godsdamned distillery. “You’re aliiiive! Thank Goddess, you fucking idiot.”

My resolve drained pathetically fast. I wrapped her in my arms, obsessed with the way she melted into me with her blazing-hot skin. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Yeah, I’m alive.”

And I’m fucking sorry. I’m pathetic.

The girl she’d brought stared at me like a frightened rabbit.

“Who the hell is this?” I sneered.

“My frieeend ,” Nyx declared, pulling away from me. It was physically painful to let her go. “She’s my friend and she’s staaaying, mmmkay there, big boy?” She poked me in the chest and cackled. Then she picked up the paper bag, turned to her ‘friend’ and wiggled her finger. “Come.”

The girl passed me to follow Nyx, and that was when the memory flashed in my mind.

She fucking shot me!

I gritted my jaw to hold back the rage that ignited in my chest, watching in disbelief as Nyx and the girl stumbled their way to the guest room.

“I need to plug my phone in,” the brunette said. Then she almost tripped on her face and they both yell-laughed.

“You have a phone!” Nyx squealed in raspy delight. “Let’s watch stuff on it!!”

The guest room door slammed, and then we were left with muffled crashes and booms followed by ridiculous laughter.

After a moment of much-needed silence, I turned to Solaris. “What the fuck just happened?”

His lips were pressed into a thin line. They had not even acknowledged him, I realized. Grim amusement danced in his eyes as he shrugged innocently. “She is very protective of that little mortal, so you should be mindful of that.”

“Why? Who is she?”

He moved closer to me, glass crunching under his heavy boots. “She’s the pitiful creature Nyx was protecting when she got shot.”

Of course.

I should have known.

“That girl got her shot,” I affirmed through clenched teeth, fingers flexing. “Then shot me… And I’m supposed to just—”

“Yes,” Solaris deadpanned. “Do nothing. Let her have this. The girl gives her a renewed sense of purpose.”

My hands shot out so fast they blurred. I grabbed him by the cloak, fury turning my vision red. “You need to stop fucking telling me what to do!” I roughed him up and he kept his face even but I could see the snares going off behind his eyes. “Get that demented little fantasy out of your head. We are not on the same side. We never will be. You—”

Shadows whispered around us, and Solaris’s eyes clouded over with black. His lips parted and his hands grabbed aimlessly at me. I instinctively let go of his cloak, stumbling back as I watched in disbelief. Shadows claimed him from inside and out. His mouth opened and closed, words not quite making it off his tongue as he slumped to his knees. Then to the floor.

His wings twitched under him. His blacked-out eyes stared at nothing.

“What the fuck?” I muttered in disgust.

I glared down at him, half expecting him to get up. He didn’t.

A golden opportunity. My eyes swept over the demolished penthouse, searching the destruction for the weapon that would wipe him off the board at last.

I found the demon blade amid the shattered glass, clutching the hilt in my hand and feeling its dark power course through me. My chest heaved, my head was fucking pounding. I needed to just do it, now—while Nyx was wasted and oblivious.

I stood over him with the cursed dagger.

I wasn’t hesitating.

I was… He looked so fucking pathetic right now. Helpless on the floor, eyes black, face warped with terror.

“You’re nothing,” I sneered, twirling the blade in my fingers. I knelt beside him, adrenaline coursing through me. A heady, magnetic tug in my chest, throbbing like a second heart. It clouded my vision, darkening the corners. It became hard to breathe, to focus. I blinked rapidly, trying to steel myself. Black ants hoarded my vision. Pins and needles exploded through my limbs.

It hit me a beat too late that it wasn’t adrenaline invading my senses. It was shadows.