Page 18 of Till Death

I’d made a good friend with Marla and I’d be forever grateful.

“Great, then.” I blew out another long breath. “Great, great, great.”

Minutes ticked by and I stood there trying to figure out the right thing to say. After what felt like an eternity, I turned around, only to see Tamara staring at me with a feral gleam in her eyes.

CHAPTERFIVE

Iyelped and jumped back at her expression, at the savagery there. Okay. unexpected. I thought we’d at least made tentative peace with each other before I’d gone off into the Hell hole. Now it seemed she’d be content to rip me a new one, mouth to navel. Hmmm.

Sure, I mean, I’d rescued her from Hell once, and she hadn’t exactly lived a good life, but I never expected her to turn on me the way her expression suggested.

I also remembered thinking there was so much about the supernatural world I didn’t know.

Now?

I’d kill to go back to my happy little bubble of ignorance and stay there.

“Um, hi, Tamara,” I began lightly. “What’s the matter?”

Please don’t make an issue now.

“I know what to do,” she said, making sure to keep her voice soft and low so as not to be overheard. “I’ve got a few spells for this kind of thing, and I’ve been waiting for the right moment to use them. Spells of my own creation. I remembered them when Arianna retrieved my book in the garden.”

Hearing the cockiness in her tone lightened a bit of the tension inside of me. Some things did not change. Tamara might have looked like she’d had a change of heart, especially when it came to her daughter, but she was still the same black witch who’d earned her place among the damned.

“And what exactly do you plan to use this spell for?” My hands went to my hips. “Please tell me you aren’t thinking of trying to resurrect Michael, because he’s gone.”

My lungs hitched. Shit, Michael was dead. How could I forget it even for a second?

“Seriously? What do you take me for?” Tamara acted flabbergasted but I didn’t buy it. “I’m dead. I know the rules better than anyone else.” She also had the nerve to bare her teeth at me.

I held up a finger before she had a chance to say literally anything else. “If you think you can use your dark magic against me, well, prepare yourself for a tsunami of pain.”

The screaming never stopped. I heard it now, outside the shop. Even the wards couldn’t get the noise to cease.

Tamara tilted her head to the side, her gaze never leaving me, her eyes open wide. “You really think I’m going to hurt you, Jade?”

“I think I know better than to trust you,” I replied simply. “Especially knowing you’d do whatever it takes to keep your daughter safe, and if sacrificing me might get the demons to back off, well then…”

“I know what you want to do,” she said in a gravelly voice. “Where you’re trying to run. Or rather, who you are trying to run to. Believe it or not, I was in love once.”

I scoffed before I had a chance to keep the reaction to myself.

“Mock me if you want. I also realize the trouble you’ll bring down on us if you do. You’re going to need a way that doesn’t alert the demon host to our present location.”

“Me?” I squawked and pointed to my chest. “Seriously, girl, you need to take a look around and rethink everything because you’re deluded. I didn’t bring any of this on us. I’ve been trying my hardest to fix this mess.”

A tingling sensation began to creep from the base of my neck to the tip of my toes. I glared at the woman. The bitch with a capital B, by all accounts, and no matter how many times she’d crawled out of the woodwork to be helpful, I still didn’t trust her. She hadn’t exactly been an angel up to this point. What did she stand to gain by helping me now?

And what did she expect todo?

“I thought we understood each other at this point,” she said, pouting.

Mentally kicking myself for not being more prepared for this possibility, I replied with, “And I thought that you were onourside.”

“I’m onmyside, Jade. I’m trying to do what’s best to make sure my daughter makes it through this war. You were right about that part. She’s my only concern and I have a job to do. If you run off and get yourself killed, it’s lights out for the rest of us. Don’t you get it?” Her eyes flicked from my feet to the top of my head. “You’re trying to go right back and throw yourself into the pit. Worst part of it? I don’t blame you.”

I shrugged. “Well, notthrowmyself, exactly.” At least, not this time. I’d definitely done a fair bit of throwing the first time.

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