Blood Cursed (8 page)

8

I gulped a breath and ran.

Paris and Tinker hared behind me like hungry beasts. My stupid heels crippled me, my lungs a hot mess. That creeping hellfire cackled inside me, greasy with inevitability. I couldn’t outrun them, couldn’t hide. Couldn’t fight them off.

Out of options. Out of luck. Out of time.

I scrabbled in my purse with shaking fingers. Dragged out Jasper’s phone, moonbright blood smearing. Hit CALL BACK.

In a ring and a half, he picked up.

Club noise, harsh. His voice, impatient but harmonious like windchimes. “Where you lurkifying, Jay-jay? Don’t got all night.”

I flung a glance over my shoulder, hair flying. “It’s not Jasper,” I panted. “It’s me, Ember. Jasper’s dead. They’re chasing me, I—”

“Ember?” The noise faded, like he moved where it was quieter. “Whattaya mean, deaded? How? What happenated?”

“They’re chasing me, okay?” Tears gripped my throat tight. I couldn’t breathe. I gulped, wet. “They’re gonna kill me, I can’t—”

“Okay, angel. Chillify.” Cool, authoritative, in control. “Where you at?”

“Outside, I’m out the fr—Ugh!”

Broken concrete caught my heel, and I tripped.

I flailed my wings for balance, but no good. My hips hit the asphalt, rattling my bones. I skidded, gravel scraping my midriff raw, and my chin slammed the pavement.

My teeth crunched, a mouthful of blood. Stars shimmied before my eyes like drunken jewels. Jasper’s phone cracked on the ground and spun out of reach.

Fuck.

I shook my aching head, desperate to clear it. Dizzy, I tried to clamber up, clawing the dusty brick wall.

But Paris kicked my feet from under me, and I crumpled, wings flapping wet.

Tinkerfang sniffed me, grinning. “You smell good bleeding.”

I kicked at him from the dirty ground, trembling. “Get off me, freak!”

Paris smiled cruelly, and she glanced cunningly at the watching crowd. “There you are, precious. Come on home, now. Don’t be afraid.” Her smooth voice soothed, placated, like a mistress to her naughty dog, and she offered me her hand, those vampire eyes seething with hot crimson death.

I shrank, my bruised flesh aching like the hellfire in my bones. “Get away from me!”

“Don’t be silly, pretty. We’re your friends. Come home. We won’t hurt you.”

Desperate, I searched the indifferent crowd. “Please, help me. She’s not my friend. They’re gonna kill me! Please!”

But no one moved or spoke. No one would help me, not the gangster’s skanky girlfriend. I’d probably brought it on myself, right? For dressing like a tart?

The cruel moon shone, careless, spilling the dark shadow of my new friends onto my body. They’d kill me. Drink every last slurp of my richcandy blood, and I didn’t have Kane’s stones and he’d drag me wailing to hell. Forever.

Paris leaned in. Tinker grinned, salivating, and dragged his hotslick tongue over my collarbone. Already my greedy moonpulse swelled hot and ready. I wanted to scream. I wanted to lie back and let them take me.

My guts clenched tight, but I didn’t close my eyes. I stared them right in their faces.
Watch me die, fuckers. Look into my eyes while you kill me.

Roseglass wings sliced the air apart.

Tinker stumbled, his chain suddenly yanked taut, and his grip tore away. Paris staggered and snarled, a flash of wet teeth and lustdrunk eyes. But a shining pink blur cracked her skull into the wall.

Blood spattered. She choked, her throat gripped tight in a fist that glowed like blood-drenched starlight, and Diamond’s whisper sparkled the air with crystal. “Careful where you play, trashgirl.”

I stared, detached, surprised he’d even bothered. Sweat shone on his bulging translucent muscles, and his glassy wings blazed scarlet as he jammed her against the wall.

One-handed. Three feet off the ground. Strong son of a bitch.

Especially for a guy who’s … well …
pink
.

Mad giggles bubbled my throat, and I swallowed them.

Tinker whimpered, dribbling, and Diamond gave his chain a savage pull, sprawling him facefirst to the ground. “Hush it, Fido, grown-ups are talkamating. That’s my fairylady, petal. Hands off.”

Paris snarled and kicked, struggling in his grip. “Don’t see no lady. That bitch poisoned our friend.”

“And you can take it up with Angelo. He says, we do-ify. Wanna get shitty with him? Be my guest. But she’s my vampire bait, and you can’t have her.”

Indignation burred my skin, but I crouched small and kept my mouth shut.

Diamond flung Paris aside, and she landed in a snarling crouch, angry blond hair tangling. Tinker rolled over, quick as a snake, and dived for Diamond’s ankles with a hungry howl.

Diamond skittered aside, wings clinking. Tinker grabbed his legs and chewed, sharp teeth slashing at leather, and Diamond hissed and yanked at Tinker’s bluedusted hair. Rotting hanks ripped off in his hands, but the little rat screeched in famished delight and wouldn’t let go.

“Get off, you sick little freak!” I flexed my aching thigh and kicked at Tinker’s face.

My heel connected, a crunch of bone. Tinker howled again and let go, blood spurting from his cute button nose.

I scrambled up, my pulse racing. It felt good to stand up for myself, even if I wasn’t tough enough to escape on my own. But still, my heart stung. Tinker was just a hungry kid on a chain, trying to please his mistress.

I knew how he felt.

I stammered, confusion melting my disgust. I wanted to claw Tinker’s eyes out for threatening me. I wanted to put my arm around him, say,
There, there, sweetie,
and wipe his little nose clean. I just wasn’t cut out for this gangfighting shit. “Yeah … that’ll learn ya to chase me, weirdo. Take that.”

Paris grabbed sobbing Tinker close and stroked his hair, soothing his whimpers. “Shush, now, pet. Mummy will make you better. Another time, shitfae.” She shot us a hate-filled glare.

Diamond bared shining teeth, glassy claws aglitter. His fury burned rich around him like a raspberry fireball. “Whatever. Go on, piss off.” And he swept me behind a redstained wing and stood there glowering until Paris gathered her bloodsoaked baby under her arm and stumbled away.

And then he swiped Jasper’s dented phone into his pocket and dragged me up the street.

I pulled back, alarmed. “Hey—!”

His golden murmur burned my ear. “Trustify. Freakazoids got friends. You don’t wanna hang here.” He grinned, for our audience’s benefit, and raised his voice a notch. “Come on, darlin’. Get you cleanified.” And he tossed a casual arm around my shoulder and marched me off.

I swallowed, my belly warm. His protective act unnerved me. I was tall, for a girl, but his strength threatened me, his size intimidating. His elbow brushed my ticklish wingjoint, and I jumped, inadvertently pressing closer. His body felt hot, smooth, slick against my side. My pulse quickened, the moon purring on my skin. Mmm. That warm rosy scent lit my senses, dangerous and intriguing. God, he smelled fantastic when he was angry.

I flushed, shrugging his arm off.
Trouble, Ember. Don’t go there. He thinks you’re trash just like everyone else. He’s only letting you hang around because you owe him.

Graffiti snarled from the shadows, torn billposts hanging loose on grimy walls. Glass and black marble gleamed from offices and hotel foyers. Eighties music spilled from a redbrick pub, a corny saxophone solo, rows of lightbulbs under the cantilever shedding more heat into the scorching night. A tram rumbled by, sparks flashing in overhead wires.

Fatigue hit my limbs like a wave, all the tension of my escape exhausting me. I stumbled, and Diamond caught me, his fingers a warm temptation for a second on my waist and then gone. I swallowed, sick. “Where we going?”

“Rehydramate. You’re pale, candy. Next time, don’t let him drinkify so much.”

Next time. Ha. That was a laugh. He still thought I was a whore. I turned my hands over, studying my skin, and frowned. I was brown. How could I go pale? Still, maybe he was right. I did feel strange, light-headed, that greedy moon dizzying me.

He tugged me around the corner, where traffic lights burned red and green and car headlamps flashed on polished shopfronts, and into a cheerybright café.

Wooden chairs and tables lay cluttered in the rich smell of coffee beans. The place was nearly empty, a few students sipping mochas on the stained brown sofa, a giggling blue fairy in torn jeans with his nose poked into a chocolate pudding. The soft orange spotlights looked warm, but overconditioned air parched my lungs. My damp skin already shrank into bumps. The bored boy behind the counter didn’t look up from his dishcloth.

Jasper’s ring burned icy on my finger. I pulled back, urgency nipping my toes like an angry crayfish. Jasper was dead. Vampires nearly ate me. I was going to hell, for god’s sake. Was this really the time for a coffee date? “But what about—?”

Diamond pushed me toward a table at the back. “Just sittify.”

Confused, I sat, and cool brown wood stuck to my butt with a squelch. I crossed my legs, tugging my tiny excuse for a skirt down. This dress was ridiculous. I rolled bloodsweaty hair off my neck, gazes real or imagined prickling my back. I’m used to being stared at, envy or desire or curiosity, and mostly I don’t mind.

Mostly, I don’t look like a desperate slut with a bloodfetish.

Still, my knight-in-shining-attitude didn’t seem to care. He just flitted to the counter, flicking his bright wings gracefully this way and that so he wouldn’t tip anything over. Electric glamour shimmered, and I caught a dizzying glimpse of his magical cover. Long pale hair, fair skin, deceptively gentle gray eyes, a faint blur where his wings should be. His chiselglass features were smoothed into inconspicuousness. Even his overt strength faded, his limbs slimming. He looked small, dull, the kind of unimpressive guy you’d brush past in the street without noticing or remembering.

Hell of an effort, considering the real thing.

I fidgeted, fiddling with my bag. He’d a lot more magicjuice than most. How effortlessly he’d read me, how viciously his faesight stripped me raw. And how softly he’d teased me into touching him, trusting him, taking his lead.

I swallowed, unwilled memory of a scorching almostkiss drenching me in rosescent. Strawberry Boy was a threat, even if he’d just saved my skin.

Especially since he’d just saved my skin. His help me made me nervous. What would he ask in return?

Diamond perched his butt on the chair’s edge opposite with a muffled crystal clunk, and slid me a tall sparkling pink lemonade. “Drink it, candy.”

Great. Now he’d bought me a drink, too, even if it was just lolly water. I should refuse, pay for it myself. But my old obedient habit twitched my fingers toward the glass before I could stop them, and indignation prickled my wings hot. It wasn’t his fault. But I wanted to throw the drink over him, shove it into his lap, yell,
Stop calling me “candy,” you crystalwit freak!

But perky sugarscent dried my mouth. I needed fluid after losing so much blood. Thirst clawed my tongue, and I dragged the glass to my lips and swallowed, ignoring the straw. Delicious chill poured down my throat, and my mouth sparkled, enraptured with glorious raspberry sweetness.

I stopped for a breath, and burped, bubbles frothing. Most unladylike.

Diamond handed me a bunch of paper napkins, glitter-lashed eyes unreadable. Downlights flashed on his rippleglass wings, eerie yet warm. He’d faded, calmed himself down, just a shimmer of rose caressing his skin. A strange angel indeed.

I took the napkins, self-conscious, and wiped clumsily at the clotted blood on my chest. I remembered how he’d stared at me in the club, contempt flashing rich in his eyes, and I flushed again, my wings sore and sunburned with embarrassment. I’d expected him to demand answers:
Where’s Jasper, who killed him, why the hell did you just stand there and let it happen, you sillyfae bitch? You’re useless, Emmy, you know that?

But he said nothing. Like he trusted me to tell when I was ready.

My belly warmed. Either that, or he didn’t expect any sense out of me. Huh. Right. He already thought me a stupid tart, and my helpless girly behavior wasn’t helping. Not that I cared for his opinion one way or the other.

I finished with the napkins and tossed them onto the table. They were sticky, a scarlet-smeared mess, but I was kinda clean. Pity about the dress, which was ruined. And I didn’t have Jasper to buy me another one.

An ache swelled my throat. Jasper was gone. I was alone. Except for this mercurial glassfairy, who despised me one moment and guarded me with his life the next.

My skin prickled. I could feel him watching me, that hot rubycrystal gaze cataloging my every movement. I wished he’d stop. I didn’t want the way it made me feel. Exposed. Vulnerable. Naked.

“Better?” He flashed me that blinding smile, and my skin heated. The scratches on my midriff stung like ant bites, the ring chopping my finger tight. I wanted to cover myself up, turn away, hide.

God, I hated it when he smiled. I crossed my arms, my breasts hot. “Uh-huh. Umm … thanks. I know you didn’t have to … well, y’know. Thanks.”

“No biggie.” He wouldn’t look away.

Jeez, just cut to the chase already. What did he want from me?

I tried to swallow my discomfort. I guessed I owed him an explanation, no matter how I distrusted him. Reluctantly, I offered my hand for inspection. “Jasper gave me this ring, see? I … well, I thought it was a gift.”

Diamond bent to sniff at it, his sharp nose brushing my knuckles. He straightened, flicking his hair back. “Pretty. So what?”

“See that flame, deep inside? He and his friends did a deal with Kane, and then they tried to hide from him with these gems. But Kane found out, and he … I mean, Jasper …” Tears choked me, and I swallowed hard. “He’s dead. Kane crushed him. And now I can’t get the stupid ring off and that flame’s chewing up my bones, okay, and if I don’t bring Kane all the jewels by big full moon, he’ll drag me down to hell and yeah, I’m a stupid gullible bloodfae tart and you can just stop looking at me like that!”