Page 120 of Thirst
I stepped from the shadows, silver dagger ready, and locked an arm around her neck. She bucked, trying to throw me off, her chest moving in panicked bursts. Her hand went to the weapon at her belt.
She never got it free.
I drove my blade deep into her sternum. Blood sprayed, slicking my arm.
She gasped, fingers plucking at the carved ebony handle. She must’ve realized it was hopeless because she strained to look at me over her shoulder.
When she caught my eye, she bared her fangs. “May the Black Goddess…chain your soul and cast it…straight to Hades.”
That pulled a smile from me. “I never figured I’d go to heaven,” I returned—and gave a last twist of the blade.
Her low scream tore through the cell. The magical fire sparked to life, dark and hungry. I wrenched the dagger free, wiped it on her sleeve, and shoved her away.
She staggered to the wall and collapsed next to the door, ending up seated on the stone floor, legs splayed, head flopping to the side, smoke pouring from her mouth like a doll out of a low-budget horror movie. The air thickened with the acrid stench of burning flesh.
In the hall, Brien and Twilight had already stepped into the physical world. Twilight leaned into the cell, taking in the scene with a professional eye.
“Nice work,” she told me, giving the guard’s twitching body a quick once-over.
I grunted acknowledgment and turned back to Perla. She struggled to her feet, the half-eaten sandwich in her hand, careful not to put weight on her injured foot.
Her gaze darted from me to Nyx-as-Jérémie. “What do you want?” she rasped.
Nyx dropped her glamour and crossed to her, hands outstretched. “C’est moi, ma chum.”
I shot forward and caught her arm. “What are you doing?” I growled in her ear. “He could have a camera in the cell.”
“Let him see me,” she returned, gaze on her friend.
“Nyx?” the other woman mouthed. Then her face crumpled. “You came.” She leaned into Nyx, dragging in a shaking breath. “He said you would, but I wasn’t sure. Oh, ma belle, you shouldn’t have.”
“Fuck him,” Nyx said.
Perla startled at that—eyes wide, mouth parting like she couldn’t believe Nyx had said it out loud.
Nyx slid an arm around her waist, taking most of her weight. “Can you walk?”
For answer, Perla tried to put her injured foot on the stone floor and winced. “I’m sorry. My foot—he threw me into a wall and… I think it’s broken.”
She looked helplessly from her foot to the sandwich in her hand, as if she’d forgotten she was holding it. She tucked it into her pocket with a shaky breath. The water bottle she tipped back and drained, then let it fall to the floor.
I eyed Nyx, torn between wanting to smack her pretty ass for exposing herself this way, and getting out of here ASAP.
“Get back in the shadows. We can take it from here.”
“Can’t.” Her slim shoulder lifted in a rueful shrug. “I’m almost out of juice.”
My right hand clenched around the dagger’s handle. Yeah, I definitely wanted to spank her ass.
“Lean on me,” Nyx told Perla, and half-carried, half-walked her to the door.
I exhaled and went ahead to check that it was safe. Twilight and Brien had remained in the tunnel outside, watching for trouble.
As the two women exited the cell, Perla froze, her gaze pinging around the tunnel. “We have to be careful,” she said in an undertone. “He’s not going to let us leave.”
“We’ve got this,” Nyx assured her. “But we do have to hurry.”
“My foot…” Perla bit her lip, obviously in pain. “I don’t know if I can.”
