jinn 02 - inferno (19 page)

Well she was completely off the track. She’d totally misread me. “I didn’t want you dependent on me or anyone, baby, but this wasn’t the answer. I don’t even know what you are now. You might be stronger in some ways, but trust me, there’ll be weaknesses too. You have to know your limitations before someone introduces them to you. Let me help you.”

“You had your chance. And don’t call me ‘baby.’ You have no right, not anymore.” She flung open the door and it smashed into the wall. Heightened hearing and strength. And a grudge. Fantastic.

Baker ditched me again. One text message and he ran off talking to himself about something called the Seal of Solomon. No explanation. Nothing. So annoying.

It wasn’t hard to find Corbin; it was the middle of the day after all. He probably wouldn’t appreciate a visitor during sunlight hours, but we really didn’t have time to be polite.

His house looked like crap—and considering my own dump that was saying something. Windows were broken, the walls seemed crooked on the foundation, even the door was wonky. I shook my head. Vampires.

I knocked on the crooked front door and waited a solid two seconds before trying the handle. Unlocked. Practically an invitation. I pushed the door open with my hip and swung it wide before sticking my head in. “Hello,” I called.

The inside looked even worse than the outside. Furniture was broken and scattered. A long crack traveled down the center of the floor. It was like the house had suffered its own personal earthquake. A flicker of movement caught my eye in the triangle of dark hallway that I could see. “Corbin?”

“Don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you. Either come in, shut that blasted door, and allow us to become better acquainted, or leave. My tolerance for uninvited guests is waning.”

“I’m a friend of Sy’s.”

“Congratulations,” he said dryly. “The offer stands.”

When a vampire talked about wanting to get better acquainted it meant they wanted a taste of your life force. Not ideal, but I did want to talk to him. “How about this? I come in and if you can touch me before I put you down, you can have a taste.”

There was a flicker of white teeth as he smiled in the darkness. “If I have to take it by force, there is no incentive to stop.”

“If you try, I’ll be forced to kill you and that would defeat my whole purpose in coming here.”

He sighed. “And what purpose is that?”

“To talk to you.”

“I thought we were talking. In fact, you’re rather boring me.”

I flashed him a grin. I had the perfect cure for boredom. “Do you accept my counter?”

“Why not?” His pale hands stretched slightly into the light as he cracked his knuckles. “I could use a snack.”

“Oh, sweetie, it’s cute that you actually think you can win. There isn’t a chance in hell you’re going to catch me.” I stepped inside and closed the door. The light from the heavily curtained window still brightened the living room to a point that would be uncomfortable for the vampire, yet he didn’t hesitate. I felt the air move as he took off toward me, but he wasn’t my first vampire. I spun at the same time, simultaneously grabbing my vampire cuffs from the back of my pants, and kicking hard exactly where he should have been— but nothing was there. A hand splayed over my stomach and jerked me back. I flung my head backward, hitting him hard enough his nose made an audible crack. I slapped the cuff onto the hand around my waist, then dropped down and out of his loosened hold. I kept a hold on the unoccupied end to the cuff as I moved behind him, pulling his arm up and back with me.

“Surrender,” I said.

The bastard laughed and turned. “Surrender? We’ve just started to dance.” He took his free hand and snapped the metal cuff like it was a toothpick, his fingers sizzling. “Never been a fan of jewelry.”

We circled each other, sizing the other one up. From the look of him, I wasn’t his first fight today, but he didn’t look like he had any intention of giving up. Cuffs were obviously useless. I could pull a knife, but I didn’t want to up the stakes quite that much. He moved fast when he attacked. Really fucking fast. I barely dodged when he lunged. The heel of his hand connected just over my kidney. I threw a bone-crushing elbow that smashed into his face with another cracking sound as pain shot through my back.

Focusing some minor healing energy on myself, I put a little distance between us again. “As much as I would like to kick the ever-loving shit out of you, there are really other things I need to do today. How about we postpone this and you answer my questions?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” He raised a dark eyebrow that boldly contrasted with his nearly white hair. “What’s in it for me?”

“I won’t be forced to stake your ass? How’s that for incentive?”

“You should probably aim a little higher than my ass, love.” He winked. “Besides, the threat would be more compelling if I thought you could actually do it.”

I kicked him square in the chest, purposely digging my silver heel in just above his heart, drawing blood. He staggered back and I hit him with a left hook. “Don’t forget you asked for this. All I wanted to do was talk,” I grumbled as I swept his feet out from under him with another quick kick. I could kill him. I could kill any vampire.

He landed with a thump, but his fingers curled around my bare arm and pulled me against himself hard and tight. “Checkmate,” he said and I felt the too compelling tug beneath my skin that made me want to melt into him.

I reached down and grabbed his crotch, making extra sure he felt my sharpened finger nails ready to slice off his sensitive bits. “One more pull and live the rest of your days as a eunuch.”

“I take it you’re Femi.”

“You’ve heard of me.” I dug in my nails a little further.

He released my arm and I released him. We both stood. “Paolo mentioned you once or twice.” He licked his lips. “He didn’t exaggerate. You do taste unique. But alas I believe I owe you a debt, even if you did come here uninvited.”

What sort of debt could Corbin possibly owe me?

“Don’t hurt yourself thinking so hard. We have a friend in common. You helped her in the past, and I have an interest in her well-being, so I am willing to overlook your breach of etiquette.”

“Who would that be?”

“What did you come here to ask?” He wiped the trickle of blood from his nose.

“Where is the pathway to the underworld?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You cannot cross it. It only works one way and that’s leaving. There’s only one way for a mouth breather to get in.”

“I didn’t ask if I could cross it. I just need to know where it comes out.”

His eyes glittered. “And what are you willing to give me in return?”

A swift kick in the junk.
For once I bit my tongue and the smartass comment didn’t come out. “I’ll give you Thomas” rolled out of my mouth instead. I even shocked myself.

At first he looked confused. Then understanding smoothed his features. “You know where the fugitive is.” It wasn’t a question. New appreciation for me filled his eyes. “You are an intriguing woman. How did you find the single vampire that no other bounty hunter or vampire, including myself, has been able to locate?”

“It’s less important how and more important that I have. Tell me what I need to know and I will have no more use for him. You can have him.” My stomach twisted in knots, rebelling against the idea of making such a heartless trade, but at the same time this sort of trade was in my very nature. Corbin was the bigger benefit to our cause, to winning this war. And there was never too high a price to pay for winning.

He sighed. “Perhaps I’m cynical, but I’m gonna need proof that you actually have him or know where he is. Nothing personal. Anyone can say they have Thomas and many others have. Show him to me.”

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. “I’m not taking you to him until you tell me what I want to know.”

He held out a hand. “Hand me your phone.”

I hesitated, but gave it to him. His fingers were a blur of motion before he handed it back. “Text me his picture wearing this.” He reached into a pile of junk on the floor and pulled up a pair of cracked sunglasses. “After you send me the picture, come back. I will give you the location of the opening and you will accompany me to Thomas.”

“And what will stop you from killing me and freeing him once we’re there?”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “I could kill you in a heartbeat, Sekhmet, if it suited me to do so. But right now, I would rather kill him. You will accompany me because if this is a double cross or you somehow fake the photo, I don’t want to have to come find you. I’m a busy man.”

“Deal.” I turned and strutted outside, holding my breath.

On the other side of the door and in the warm light of day, I exhaled the air in my lungs and felt my eyes sting. I didn’t owe Thomas anything. He led me into a trap. He almost got me killed. Sure he changed his mind at the end, but how many other people had he done that exact same thing to? He deserved this. He deserved what was coming to him. But even though the words were there and I knew them to be completely true, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was crossing a line.

In that moment I missed Olivia more than I ever had before. I needed someone to talk to about this. But she was a crazy angel at the moment and I couldn’t share it with Sy either. Not only did he hate Thomas, there was his jealousy thing that made him anything but impartial. My only other choices were Holden or Baker. Holden wouldn’t give a shit. There was no reason to run it by him. It would only irritate him. Baker on the other hand might care, but he also wanted Thomas dead. If Thomas weren’t such an asshole, my life would be so much easier.

I walked around the city for a while holding onto the cracked sunglasses, hoping remembering the past would ease whatever this was I was feeling. But all I really remembered was Thomas and how naïve I was back then. I learned about vampires from him and to take a closer look at the bounties I took. Abyss politics weren’t plain to see, but there was always someone pulling the strings. And if a bounty hunter wasn’t careful she could end up right in the middle of a fight that had been going on for hundreds of years. He opened my eyes to how the world really was.

Growing up, I only ever interacted with other Sekhmets. Everything I knew about other races came from books that were provided to us. Much of what I learned turned out to be, at best, misinformed and, at worst, lying propaganda to keep us home. When I left, the size of the outside world—and the sheer number of adventures waiting around every corner—almost overwhelmed me. Then being a bounty hunter sort of fell into my lap and I was all but delivered to Sy wrapped with a bow. He taught me a lot, including how to use my natural talents to find anyone anywhere. In the process we became friends.

Thomas, however, didn’t shelter me or act as my teacher. It was his actions mostly, but also his words, that made me see the world wasn’t exactly as Sy portrayed it. There were good people, sure, but there were also a lot of assholes. Vampires, not that I was a fan of them myself, were scapegoats far too often. I wasn’t about to champion the cause or anything, but call me old- fashioned, I liked to see the actual evil-doers punished. I was funny that way.

It was too easy to push the blame for every bad thing that happened in the Abyss on the one group no one liked. Once I noticed that, I could see the patterns. I knew the company names who sought bounties on vampires exclusively. And every time I dug into one of them, it would disappear and a few weeks later another would appear in its place. There was a darker underside to the Abyss that most of us weren’t aware of.

Someday I’d find the piece of the puzzle that would bring the whole charade tumbling to the ground, but not today. Today I had to help Olivia and Holden. If that meant betraying a vampire, who was for a very brief moment a friend, then that was what I had to do. Even if that vampire was Thomas. I saved his life once and he saved mine once. According to my math, we were even.

I made my way back to the warehouse stopping to eat twice along the way but even that didn’t settle the knot in my chest. Holden was studying the ley line maps, while the kid climbed on him like a jungle gym. She didn’t seem to faze him at all.