Page 57 of Amber Gambler

Carter leapt back, smashing my cheek with her skull, and screamed louder than a police siren. In my ear. I stumbled back, head ringing, clutching my face. She kicked out, smacking the drawer, and slammed the whole thing home with a rattling clang.

As much as I hurt, I couldn’t stop my laughter as she raised her hands in some martial arts style pose.

“Worth it.” I tasted blood in my mouth and spat in the sink. “Ten out of ten, would do again.”

A hand clamped on to my shoulder, and I whirled around, brandishing a roll of paper towels.

“I heard screaming.” Kierce cradled my jaw in his palm. “You’re bleeding.”

“You should see the other guy.” I winced as his thumb stroked what promised to bloom into one heck of a bruise. “Carter almost wet her pants.” I started laughing again. “I only regret not recording it.”

Josie and Matty would have howled with laughter at watching the big, bad redcap in panic mode.

With a snarl, Kierce shoved me behind him. “Stay back, powrie.”

“I’m not…going…to hurt…her,” Carter growled at him, her body shivering with strain. “Her blood…”

“Shit.” I fisted the back of his shirt. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“If you run, she’ll give chase.” He kept his gaze locked on her. “Won’t you?”

“No.” She covered her nose with the neck of her shirt. “I’ve got this. Get Frankie out of here.”

“I’m sorry, Carter.” I peeked around Kierce. “I’m so damn sorry.”

“This isn’t your fault.” She sank to the tile floor. “I just need a minute.”

Slowly, I backed out the door into the hall. Kierce lingered, I thought to stand watch, but he rinsed out the sink, ridding the space of the scent of fresh blood. He too backed out then shut the door on Carter.

“I wasn’t thinking.” I banged my forehead against the wall. “I hope this doesn’t set her back.”

“We should go.” He took me by the elbow. “We don’t want to tempt her.”

“I’m such an idiot.” I let him drag me outside. “I was just playing around.”

After stowing me in the wagon and convincing himself we were safe from pursuit, he slid in next to me.

“You’re not an idiot,” he said after we hit the road. “You treat her the same as everyone else. That’s why she’s fighting her nature so hard to maintain a relationship with you.” He kept a wary eye on the mirrors to either side of the car, searching for company. “Acceptance is a gift.”

Maybe so, but if I fumbled again, she might begin searching her pockets for a return receipt.

“Mija.”Pedro greeted me at the open bay door. “What happened?” The cloth he was using, and the part he was polishing, fell with a clatter. “Your face.” Careful of my injuries, he used three fingers on my jaw to angle my face this way and that. “What happened?”

“I pranked someone who didn’t take the joke well.”

“I’ll get the ice.” He herded me outside again. “Wait on the bench.”

With Kierce steering me, I sat like a good little girl. “How are you doing?”

“Well.” A faint smile swept across his lips. “Thanks to you.”

“What happened back there?” I angled myself toward him. “And will it happen again?”

“Ankou explained how he picks up on prayers and twists them to suit his purpose. I have a similar talent, but I hear those balancing on the precipice of life and death. I’m drawn to them, to ease their passage.”

“The way you did with Duncan Phelps?”

Phelps, a vampire, was Lyle Harrow’s first victim. Kierce had held Phelps’s hand while he bled out in a River Street parking lot. An act of compassion on Kierce’s part, yes, but also his calling.

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