Page 63 of Reapers Don’t Ride

I stared at him. “Where it all began? Where what all began?”

His smile was slow and sharp. “You know. Search your feelings and they will tell you where you must go.”

Gavriel raised his sword, snarling, but when it came down, it slashed through empty space. We were outside the gates of Wonderland, never having reached the casino. “I should have killed him.”

“No, we have better things to do. Worse things to kill.” I turned to him and then held out my hand. It was trembling. He immediately sheathed his sword and took my cold fingers in his.

“You know what he means?”

“I would guess Tralcon’s first house, where he gave me the deal.”

He picked me up in his arms and cradled me against his chest. “You don’t have to go back. Tell me where it is, and I will deal with the monster. You’ve already paid too great a price.”

I touched his cheek and could smell his blood speed at that one touch. He really was compromised, heart and soul. Maybe I should let him take care of it himself while I disappeared where he couldn’t ever find me again.

Except that this was my job. My course was set. No turning back. This was my fight, and with Gavriel beside me, it would be a pleasure.

“It’s my purpose. Everyone keeps telling me that I had angelic blood before I turned. You wouldn’t take my purpose away from me, would you?”

His eyes glimmered before he snuggled me close under his chin so I was wrapped in his scent as well as the sound of his beating heart. “No. It is a great honor to share a purpose with you.”

I shivered at the sweetness of his words. “Then let’s fly. Northeast, near the coast.”

He launched us into the air, cutting our way through Song towards the escalators and up into the sky above. After another beat of his wings, we shot away from the world we’d never return to. Except if we survived this, I would have to get Crucible. Also, the cake box. What happened to the cake box? We’d had it going into Wonderland, but hadn’t ever taken it out. We must have left it in the woods.

I’d have to get her a new one. And then my thoughts and breath were swept out of me as I clung to the only person in the world.