Page 65 of Infernal

My arms flopped to my sides as I looked back at him disbelievingly.

“That is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” I bit my lip to keep my shoulders from slumping. “But what about tomorrow? What if something happens to you—?”

“It won’t,” he said, as though his saying so was even remotely enough to calm my unease.

I needed a guarantee. One written in blood.

“You can’t just stop cold turkey. What about the bloodbond? The repercussions?” We both knew that the longer we refused to exchange blood, the more brutal the withdrawals would become. And since I was already hyperventilating like a junkie who hadn’t had her fix in days, I wasn’t particularly interested in finding out how much worse it could get.

He stroked the back of my cheek again, and my stomach tightened.

“Relax, angel. We’ll be fine,” he said as he slipped his hand into his pockets and produced two small vials. One of them was empty, but the other one looked like it had been filled with thick, red blood.

“For the withdrawals—as per my brother’s recommendation.”

“You can’t be serious.” I gaped at him. When it became clear he was in fact serious, I reached forward and snatched the vials from his hand to get a better look at them. I quickly turned the full one around with my fingers, confirming that it was indeed blood. “Since when do you listen to Gabriel?”

“Since it became what’s best for you.”

My gaze snapped to his. “So, all of this is for my benefit?”

“Entirely.” His jaw muscles feathered as he smoldered me with his eyes. “I wish to be many things to you, angel, but a regret is not one of them.”

“Well, I guess it’s all settled then. Problem solved, right?”

Ducking his chin, he slipped his hands into his pocket and stood there stoically—completely in control. But something about the way his eyes flared told me he was working hard to stay on his best behavior.

I took a small step back, my eyes never departing from his as an uncomfortable feeling of disappointment settled deep in my belly. I didn’t understand why the disappointment was there at all, but I didn’t stick around to question it.

“I’ll have this ready for you by morning,” I said and then forced my feet to turn around. I could feel his eyes on my back as I walked away from him, but I never did muster up the courage to look back at him.

23. A DREAMWALK TO REMEMBER

Back in the privacy of my hotel room, I sat down on the edge of the bed and looked down at the vial of blood in my shaky hands. I still had so much to do tonight, so much to mentally prepare myself for, and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to any of it. Especially the part where I had to call Ben and tell him what had happened to his best friend.

As much as it pained me to admit it, I was going to need a little push to get me through the night.

Flipping the cap off, I brought the vial to my lips and then tossed it down. The minute the enchanted elixir was in my system, I immediately felt my anxiety ebbing away until nothing remained but me and blood’s magic.

I sighed and then sucked in a deep, cleansing breath.

Honestly, if pharmaceutical companies ever got a hold of Rev blood, they’d be hitting the jackpot. There wasn’t anything like it, and although I didn’t feel great about needing it, the benefits usually outweighed my disdain for it.

Finally feeling like myself again, I hopped off the bed and sauntered over to the phone to call Ben.

After a very long and tiring conversation with him, explaining everything from what happened at Angel’s Peak up until the plan we had in place for tomorrow, I changed into a long t-shirt and dragged myself to bed. Even though I had intended on training a little tonight, by the end of the call, I was entirely too drained.

Somehow, the simple task of having to explain all of this to Ben in plain English had been so much harder than actually living through it. Probably because a part of me was still in denial, living through it like some dream—some nightmare I could skirt in and out of as needed. But the more people I involved in this, the realer everything became for me and the harder it became to bounce out of it.

The truth was, I was scared out of my wits. Scared of what tomorrow would bring. Scared of screwing this up. Scared of losing Trace forever.

I had to think of everything, to cover all my bases, because if one little thing went wrong, the entire plan would fall to pieces and it would be all my fault. That was a kind of pressure I’d never felt in my life. It was the kind of pressure that could buckle your knees just by thinking about it too long.

So, I wouldn’t.

For now, all I could do was pray to everything above that the sisters would be at Trace’s and that Nikki’s spell would work. I knew that if I could just get one of them alone, I could make her tell me everything I needed to know to bring Trace home and send Lucifer back to where he belonged.

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