Page 115 of Stone Cold Touch

“She had been in and out of jail for ten years until recently she decided to rob a convenience store. She shot and killed one of the clerks and was killed by the police when they responded to the scene,” the man said, lowering the photo. “This is what you’ve done. How many more lives have you stolen since then?”

Zayne said something and tugged on my arm again, but I was frozen. All these years, I’d never really thought about what had happened to the woman. I’d thought that since I hadn’t taken her soul completely, she would’ve recovered. That she would be okay. But I’d effed up this woman like no tomorrow.

It struck me then and my stomach roiled so tightly I thought I might hurl all over the guy. What I had done to this woman by taking just a part of her soul was no different than what had happened to Dean and what was happening to Gareth and God knows how many more.

“You’re a demon,” the man seethed. “And the time will come when you won’t be able to hide what you are.”

I had no idea how the church knew so much about me, but at this moment, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except what he’d claimed and what I’d realized about myself.

“Wow. Man, you’re crazy.” Stacey crossed her arms, shaking her head. “Like not even in the slightly entertaining way, but in the ‘it’s time to call the police and possibly think about getting a restraining order’ kind of way.”

“You don’t believe me?” he asked.

She snorted. “Does anyone believe you?”

“You’ll see.” The hand holding the water bottle moved so quickly there was no stopping him. Even Zayne hadn’t seen it coming. With some pretty excellent force and aim, he shook the bottle at us. Water doused Stacey and me, and hit Zayne’s pants leg.

Stacey shrieked as she flung the water off with her fingers. “What the Hell!”

Water ran down my head, across my face and into my eyes, pooling in several spots on my shirt, turning the material transparent, except...except it wasn’t normal water. I stumbled back a step, bumping into Stacey as Zayne shot forward, sweeping his arm across the man’s chest, knocking him back several feet. He whirled back to me and the horrified look creeping across his face confirmed it.

“Oh no,” he whispered.

My skin stung all along my forehead and across my cheeks. My vision blurred and the inside of my mouth smarted as though I’d swallowed hot sauce. Patches along my breasts and stomach started to throb. Bambi whirled around my body, escaping to my back.

The sting quickly escalated, turning into a fierce burn that robbed the breath from my lungs as I raised my hands. Thin wisps of smoke wafted from the tips of my overly pink fingers.

“Oh my God.” Stacey’s horrified voice reached my burning ears. “Layla...”

The guy stumbled to his feet, the empty bottle clutched tight in his hand, and when he spoke, satisfaction dripped from his voice as he spat out two words that changed everything. “Holy water.”

27

I was only vaguely aware of Zayne punching the Church of God’s Children guy into next week. He hit the opposite wall and slid down. The water bottle of doom rolled across the floor. My skin felt as though it was being burned off my bones. This was nothing compared to the tiny amount Roth had used when I’d been clawed by the Nightcrawler.

Pain rippled through me like a shock wave. Doubled over at the waist, I tried to breathe through it, but it was nearly impossible. I could hear Stacey’s strained voice, but she sounded so very far away.

“We need to go.” Zayne was closer and then he was gathering me to his side, steering me out of the hallway and through the lobby. The cool air from outside intensified the burn and I bit down on my lower lip. “I need to get this off her.”

“Someone please tell me what’s going on?” Stacey asked, closer and clearer. “I don’t understand what just happened.”

“I don’t have time to explain right now. Drive.” He tossed the keys at Sam and if I hadn’t been close to keeling over anyway, I would’ve done so from the fact he was letting someone drive his Impala. “Your house is closer.”

Sam caught the keys, but he shook his head. “We can’t go to my place. My parents will freak.”

A low growl rose from Zayne’s throat. “I need to get her in a shower now. I don’t care what your parents think—”

“No,” I wheezed. “Take me...to Stacey’s place. It’s only a couple more blocks.”

“Layla—”

“She’s right. My mom isn’t home and I’m only a couple of blocks away. If you take Fifth Avenue, it might even be quicker,” Stacey said, out of breath. “But shouldn’t we take her to the hospital? Her skin is all pink. Was it acid? Oh my God, did that freak—”

“It wasn’t acid and a hospital can’t help her.” We’d walked about half a block before Zayne cursed and scooped me up. God knew what we looked like to people around us, but I was beyond caring. I bit back a moan as he shifted me. “Sorry,” he whispered, voice hoarse.

“I don’t understand,” Stacey repeated, her voice sounding distant again. “It was just water. It hit me, too. Idon’tunderstand.”

No one replied and when we finally reached the Impala, Zayne crawled into the backseat with me and tried to wipe up most of the water with an old shirt he had in the back, but it didn’t help. I needed a shower. The trip to Stacey’s house was pure Hell. I was vaguely aware of Zayne calling Nicolai and warning that we might have a possible demonic-level PR disaster on our hands. I followed the conversation enough to know that Nicolai would check out the theater, do some damage control. At some point, my vision cleared enough to make out Stacey’s stricken face.

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