Page 111 of A Shade Too Far
My magic vanishing, I slid down along the front of the stage, spent, looking anywhere but Frances’s lifeless stare. I kept telling myself that if she was truly dead, that was on Zev, but her pleas for help rang in my ears and I shoved my trembling hands under my butt.
I’d done what I had to. Tatiana would live. The dybbuk was no more.
Now it was on Juliette to save Frances.
Laurent pressed his nose into his aunt’s hand.
She patted him. “I’m okay, Lolo.”
“What about me?” Emmett still held Tatiana’s arm from when he’d helped her up. “I protected her.”
The wolf flicked his tail at the golem then trotted from the room.
“Ingrate,” Emmett called out.
I flashed him a thumbs-up. “You were awesome.”
Emmett ducked his head. “Thanks. Wasn’t that hard.”
Naveen’s shadow fell over me, his face a mask of fury. He’d removed the knife from his arm and bound the wound.
“Didn’t catch Zev?” I idly noted the new scuff marks on my sandals.
“You’ve now sided with the vamp twice. Butt in the next time I go after the gloves and you’ll be sorry.”
I craned my neck up at him, one hand shielding my eyes from the glare of the lights. “Did you see the part where they didn’t work?”
“On the dybbuk. You don’t know the same is true of humans.”
“Reasonable guess.”
He slammed his light staff into the ground, cracking the tile.
I winced. “Vikram is not going to be happy about that.”
“You don’t guess where demon artifacts are concerned,” he snarled.
“As opposed to all the hard evidence you had?” I pushed shakily to my feet, one hip propped against the stage for support. “Zev was the demon of legend who tore the men apart. You know his magic. Still think the gloves are cursed?”
“Zev?” If his brows scrunched together any harder, they’d switch places. “No.”
“Yes.”
Juliette performed chest compressions on Frances, tiny bursts of soothing green light flashing under her palms. The Banim Shovavim’s neck was once more intact, although a jagged scar ran across it.
Naveen swore, rubbing his arm because Tatiana had pinched him.
Old Jewish women and pinching, I tell ya.
He looked down at her haughtily. “What was that for?”
“That was because Miriam was right to give him back the gloves.”
I blew on my knuckles, shining them on my jumpsuit.
Tatiana gave a barely tolerant shake of her head before pinching Naveen again. “What were you thinking, stealing from Zev?”
The Ohrist threw his hands up. “Saving your life?”
