Page 46 of Shadow of Death

I dusted a piece of trim in the hallway, following it along and using it as an excuse to get the layout of the place. So far I’d passed three doors, and every single one had an armed guard eyeing me as I came near. Question was, could they get a shot off before I got to them? Most likely yes.

The other problem was that I wouldn’t leave here without Kicks. He’d risked his life for me, and I wouldn’t repay him by escaping and leaving him to hold the bag.

I was just turning another corner when I heard men heading my way. Dicon was in the lead, and they had guns in their hands. They stopped on either side of me, and then Dicon poked me in the rib with the butt of his gun. This poking business was getting old. If anything was capable of breaking through to my powers, the poking would do it.

“Varic wants to see you. Move.” He gestured upstairs, where the bedchambers were.

“Why?” I asked, not moving at all.

“Doesn’t matter why. Now move.” He poked me again.

“Before you poke me with that fucking thing again, I’d think about what you’re willing to lose.”

He paused. I caught a quick glance toward his companion.

“Move.” His tone was harsher, but as he waved his gun in the direction of the stairs, it didn’t so much as graze me.

I moved, deciding to take my win because I wasn’t sure if I had the goods to back up my threats. Damn the unappeasable Death. Her target was dead, but that wasn’t good enough for her. He had to get tortured first to make that witch happy.

I made it upstairs, almost wishing the dick would poke me again. I had a reason to lunge for him, and it would be nice to know if I had some powers left. Could I kill him by touch, or was that gone? Maybe Varic would do me the favor and get out of hand to let me test out my powers.

I didn’t think that was going to happen, though. Varic wasn’t going to try to rape me. His guys wouldn’t even touch me, and Varic wasn’t suicidal. A psychopath? Yes. But not one with a death wish. He wasn’t just scared of me. I’d seen the fear in his eyes when he thought he’d have to fight Kicks for the alpha role. He might do it, but he’d rather get rid of us in an easier way.

The more I got to know this pack, the more it was painfully clear why Kicks hadn’t talked about his family much. No one would want to talk about this crew.

I paused on the landing, unsure of which room. Luckily, I had a dick behind me to point his rifle in the right direction.When it almost touched my arm, I made atskingnoise at him and waved my finger.

He followed a few steps back after that, even if he did glower a little more.

We stopped in front of a door. When none of my entourage stepped forward, I took it upon myself to knock.

“Come in,” Varic called.

I did the honors of opening the door myself, too.

Varic was sitting at a table on the side of the large room that looked to be used solely as an office. He glanced over my shoulder to where his guys were standing behind me. “Leave us.”

Had I written off rape too soon? No. There was interest in Varic’s eyes, but I didn’t think that was where this was going. Not yet. One thing was for certain—he was getting Kicks out of here during the day for a reason.

He leaned back in his chair, tapping his pen against the table like a teenager with no sense of rhythm. I wanted to leap over the table and rip the thing out of his hands. Instead I said, “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, I did.” He rested his elbow on the chair’s arm and brought his fist to his chin as he stared at me. I’d never seen such a contrived pose in my life. It was hard to not wonder if he’d practiced with a mirror. I held back from saying,Can you get on with it already?Self-important people had always run my patience thin.

I let out a very loud sigh and then glanced around the room, looking for something of interest. The room was as sparse and as uninteresting as him.

“The way I see it, you’ve got two choices and two very different outcomes,” he said, finally getting on with it. “The first choice is you continue on the way you are, lying about killing my father. You can see how long you can drag it out, but that choice is going to lead to your death. Or two, you tell me how you did it and you can be of use to me.”

I had to hold back my laughter. He hadn’t liked his father. I hadn’t liked mine either, but I wouldn’t have tried to work with his killer mere days after the crime. Man, was this group dysfunctional.

And good luck killing me. Death might not be saving me from the fate of being stuck here, but she wouldn’t let someone else kill me. If she got to a point she didn’t need me, she’d probably do it herself first.

He was watching me closely, almost absurdly so. Laughing wouldn’t be good unless I wanted to show my hand. It was better off letting him think he was pulling off this whole show for a while. Faking tears was way beyond me. I wondered if I could make my lip tremble.

“Well? What will it be?” He squinted, his nostrils flaring as if he were wondering why he couldn’t pick up the scent of fear.

He was testing the waters. He wasn’t sure enough of anything to press his hand. All I needed to do was stall. Leave it vague. Don’t deny blameoraccept it.

“It might take me a while to think through this situation,” I said.

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