Page 12 of Villains Never Die

“No.” I held up one finger to warn it, even though there was nothing I could do to punish them for their incessant chatter. “Let me sleep.”

I lost count of my breaths and my mind whirled again. This is why I got no bloody sleep! It was always someone trying to double-cross me, or a client reluctant to buy, or the goddamn blonde-haired menace who had my phone number, who told me about Blackwell’s death before I even knew it had happened. Did I owe him? No, people owed me. That was how this worked!

I cracked my eyes just a little and glared at the phone on my bedside table. It was the middle of the night. It could wait until morning. By then I would probably change my mind and feel sane again.Breathe in for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, rest.I picked the rhythm back up and settled. When I lost count again, my inhales and exhales slowed and evened out on their own, and I settled into the warm, calm place right before sleep. My mind stopped spinning, darkness settling over me like a blanket.

Blue eyes. Blue lips. A different warmth, not one that settles, but one that ignites and consumes. My dick stirred beneath the sheets and I picked up my pillow as I sat and threw it right across the room. I grabbed my cell phone, scrolled through the contacts, and smashed my finger into the button to dial it.

He answered on the first ring.

“England, you finally called me back.”

“No, you called me, we conversed, I hung up. ‘Called back’ implies that you called me again, in which case I absolutely would not have responded.”

“So, business not pleasure?” I couldhearthat insufferable smirk on his face.

“You are never a pleasure.”

He barked out a laugh. “I can be a pleasure when I want to, I promise.”

“I have no interest in finding out.”

“Not your type?”

“Not even close.”

“Is it because I’m not dying now? You’re not one of those perverts who likes corpses, are you?”

“Ilikepeople with more than two brain cells who—why am I explaining this to you?” I sighed into the phone and began pacing endlessly around the room again. Rook created this energy, something akin to anxiety, that refused to let me sit still.

“Okay, okay, all business. What do you want?”

“Do you recognize the name Clayton Pope?”

He hesitated before speaking again. “Yeah, the guys call him The Pope. He’s banned from just about anywhere that offers gambling and is still half a million in debt. I’ve had him removed from the club twice.”

“Was half a million in debt,” I corrected him.

“Oh shit. I guess there’s a reason you’re telling me this?”

“He was the first victim.”

I didn’t have to specify which victim I meant. Rook knew as well as I did what these murders had done to the supernaturals in this city.

“No, that doesn’t make any sense. Some dumbass who got himself into trouble and then the magicians’ Council representative? That’s not a pattern.”

“It is if the killer is targeting both people with influenceandthose in possession of rare magic. I sold Clayton an untraceable killing spell, something unique that no one else had, as protection from the problems he created for himself.”

“Okay, rare magic and powerful people. What’s your point?”

“My point is that the message isn’t finished yet, and I am likely on that list, as are you.” And as far as I knew, I had not only wealth and influence but also something uniquely magical—something that was given, traded to me for something precious. There was no one who knew my secret, but if the killer somehow found out? I may have been much higher on that list than Rook or anyone else.

He blew out a breath on the other end of the line. “There’s no chance in hell the Council catches them, not before this guy kills his way through everyone with real power in the city.”

“I’m aware of that, and if the human police catch on, it’s going to get bloodier, and it’s going to ruin the relationship I’ve built with the captain.”

He hummed and shifted, but not in the loud chair from before. I wondered if he was in bed. Did he sleep without clothes on like I did?

“We’re going to have to take him out,” he said, finally, and it was half the conclusion I’d drawn. I knew I would have to deal with the killer.