Page 84 of Death Trap

Knowing he was right, I collapsed and relaxed as feeling slowly returned to my body. When I could lift my arms again, I looked at my hands. The jagged cuts Tamara had made were closed, leaving only puckered pink lines.

Tamara.

I sat up again, glancing around the empty street for Marla’s twin sister.

“Are you looking for the woman you came out of the door with?” Eli asked. “She ran off the moment we pulled you out.”

Of course she did.

“She’ll turn into a haunt if she’s on this side of the veil for long,” Simon said.

But if she was crossed over, she’d undoubtably be sent back to Hell. Azrael had said many demons were after her soul.

“She’ll have to be captured and crossed over,” Simon added. “You know that, right, Jade?”

I nodded vacantly. Tamara had tried to yank me out of Hell, even though the door was closing. She could have left me. She could have, but she didn’t. She’d stayed.

When it came time to find her, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.

But that was a thought for another time. Now, I had enough on my plate to worry about.

Climbing to my feet, with Eli’s hands hovering nearby just in case I fell, I scanned the area for Cole. My non-beating heart seemed to thunder in my chest at the thought of seeing him again.

“She’s gone, Jade,” Eli repeated, thinking I was still looking for Tamara.

I continued to crane my neck to search the street, even the shadowy parts where an assassin could hide, but didn’t see him. When I’d heard his voice, he sounded so close. Like he was right in my ear. Surely Simon and Eli would have seen him, too.

Sadness filled my chest. Maybe it had been in my head. Again. Like when I had been in the shower. Why did I have a vivid imagination?

“We need to get somewhere safe,” Simon said to Eli.

“What about that human’s place? The trailer?” Eli glanced at me for confirmation. “I can only fly us there one at a time, though.”

“Kay’s is closer,” I said.

“The Medium?” Eli said.

I nodded.

Eli considered it for a few seconds, then agreed. He hooked his arm through mine like a true gentleman would—although I think he did it just to steady me—and we began walking down Fairport’s familiar streets. Simon glided like a ghost ahead of us, completely calm but constantly scanning for danger. Did he know about the Halflings, too? Eli must have told him.

As we turned onto Oh! Kay’s street, all my senses were right again. The marks on my hands were just faint lines now, barely noticeable at all. I slid my arm out of Eli’s hold.

“Right as rain, now. Thanks,” I said. My awkwardness never ceased to amaze me.

He gave me a skeptical look. “If you insist.”

Honestly, I was still dealing with what had gone down between us. I still felt as uncomfortable about it as I had the moment I’d woken up with him in my bed. The sex was good, don’t get me wrong. Hella good, actually, but the things he’d made me feel… That, I hadn’t been ready for. Confused but completely safe, like I could trust him with my life. Vulnerable. That was the right word for it. Eli made me feel vulnerable.

And I didn’t like it.

I was still processing it all. Dealing with it. But for now, being around him made me uneasy.

We drifted through Kay’s apartment door and climbed her stairs. In the living room, Kay sat on the couch, reading a book, with baby Zach fast asleep in a bouncer near her feet.

When her gaze met mine and Eli and Simon filed in behind me, she sighed heavily, seeming annoyed.

That surprised me a bit. But I tried to paste on a cheery smile for her. “Hi, Kay,” I whispered, even though the baby wouldn’t be able to hear us as spirits.

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