Page 24 of Grave Revelations

A sputter of laughter from the woman made heat lick up her arms.

“You want to take him to your backwoods town to let the local vet care for him?” She said something in Spanish that Rebecca didn’t understand, and the nurses and staff filed out of the room, leaving the two of them alone.

Rebecca’s arms fell to her sides as she widened her stance. The woman crossed the room, getting in her face.

“You broke his heart. Not once, several times, and each time, he ran back, accepting whatever scrap of attention you offered. He wasted his life on you, and you threw him away the first chance you got. He deserves to be happy. He deserves someone who appreciates him for who he is, not what he can do for her.”

“And I suppose that’s you?”

“It was once, and it can be again.”

Rebecca stumbled back as if the words had physically struck her, glancing between his still form and the woman blocking her path to him. “You were together?”

Her lips hitched up at the corners, but her eyes held no warmth. “We were happy for ten years.” Her mouth fell into a thin line. “Until you came back into his life. What was your name this time? Alex?”

Rebecca couldn’t breathe. Air rushed in and out of her lungs, but it was coming too fast. She couldn’t catch it, couldn’t hang on to it. The room was spinning. She leaned into the wall, steadying herself.

Someone was talking, a hand resting on her shoulder. It was a blur; everything was.

Suddenly, she was being lifted, wrapped in someone’s embrace, and then they were moving.

The world faded. All she knew was her pain, the flood of emotions crashing over her again and again.

“Breathe, Rebecca.”

Arms tightened around her, their cool caress a balm.

“Slowly.”

She fought to control it, to stuff the feelings back down into their box. The world was coming into focus, and it was… blue. She blinked.

“Where… Where are we?”

Azazel looked down at her as he landed on a rooftop. “You were having a panic attack.”

Rebecca’s feet settled firmly on the roof as he released her.

“Why did you take me away? She must have seen you!”

“Valentina is no stranger to my kind,” Azazel grumbled.

Valentina. The name was foreign to her. She’d never heard it on Simon’s lips. “I have to go back. She’s going to take Simon to New York. She’ll take him away.”

“You wanted him to go back to the US for treatment.”

“Do you listen to my thoughts all the time? Even when we’re not together?”

“I can only hear them when I’m near.”

“But… When did you come back?”

“I never left.”

Rebecca’s skin was clammy, her heart still beating too fast in her chest. “What do you mean?”

Azazel leaned into the railing beside him. “Did I not tell you I wouldn’t leave you again, Light?”

She bit her lip, tucking his words away to examine later, when her thoughts were private. “She can’t take him. I don’t know who she is, but she’s not Simon’s business partner. She’s probably one of Elizabeth’s minions. We have to help him.”

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