Page 113 of Reaper Flame

Giles shook his head and started to sob uncontrollably.

Zander rose from the sofa. “That’s all for tonight,” he said, signaling for the rest of us to leave.

“What about me?” Giles blubbered. He shakily pointed at the Blackbird’s corpse. If he’d ever had a proper conversation with the Blackbird when he was alive, he’d realize that sharing a room with him dead was better. “Don’t leave me with him!”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Zander snarled. “You could still be helpful.”

Giles didn’t argue. The old him would have tried to fight back, but he had no ounce of spirit left. Until we had Mieko back, we needed to keep him under our watch. He knew too much.

* * *

As soon as we were back in the penthouse, Vixen paced back and forth.“What now?” she demanded. “If we can’t get to them before morning, what can we do?”

“We’ll come up with something,” I said.

“I’m going to call all the hotels and hospitals in town. I’ll call everyone I know,” Vixen muttered. “Someone might have seen them!”

“Do you want us to help?” Rocky offered.

It was a pointless activity. Hiram was too clever and well-resourced, but she wanted to do something, and I couldn’t blame her for that.

“The only thing all of you can do is stay the fuck out of my way,” Vixen said. “All of you! You’ve already done enough.”

Her reaction was justified, but it still stung as she slammed the door behind her and locked herself in her room. If the situation was reversed, I’d already have done a lot worse.

“Hey, C.” Rocky put his arm around my shoulders. “It’s okay. We’ll get her back.”

“You don’t have to keep saying that,” I snapped, stepping out of his reach. “Vixen’s not around anymore. We all know what Hiram’s capable of. Even if we get her back, and that’s a huge fuckingif, we both know it’s what will have happened to her while she’s with him that’s the problem.”

Rocky always tried to look on the positive side, but optimism only led to disappointment. The rising sun made the white kitchen glow, but Hiram wouldn’t be in touch until later. He was nocturnal and lived for the night. He’d keep us dangling on a thread for news.

“You’ve come back from worse than this, C,” Rocky said.

I walked over to the sofa and collapsed down.

“I don’t know how long I can keep doing this,” I admitted, my voice cracking. There’s only so long someone can run from their past. How much fighting can you do before you lose all hope? “Wherever I go, he’ll follow.”

I should accept it. I’d been swimming against the tide for so long, I hadn’t realized I was still miles away from shore, and water was filling my lungs. There was no escaping Hiram. Hell, I’d tried! But how many more people had to get hurt? How many more people would Iletdie because of me?

“I won’t let him hurt you,” Rocky said. He sat down and wrapped his arms around me. I didn’t have the energy to resist. “You’ll have to shoot me again.”

“Don’t you see?” I murmured. “All of this destruction is because of me. People are dead! Hiram has Mieko, and all of this is my fault. All because I dared to defy him.”

“This isn’t your fault,” West said, sitting on my other side. “This is on Hiram. That bastard is the only one to blame.”

“What about killing the Blackbird, huh?” I asked. I looked into West’s eyes to see guilt reflected, matching my own. “Vix was right. I killed the only fucking chance we had of getting Mieko back!”

“You didn’t know what he was going to do, C,” Rocky insisted, stroking my shoulder.

“I should have been smarter,” I said. “Hiram has been right about me all along. I’m fucking broken, and nothing will fix it. Everything I touch falls apart.”

“That’s him talking,” Rocky said. “You were a kid when he took you. That sick fuck brainwashed you. You didn’t ask for this life. This isn’t what you wanted.”

“That doesn’t matter,” I snapped. Didn’t he know wanting something wasn’t enough in our world? “I’ll do anything if it means getting her back. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll go back to Blackthorne Towers and live in his fucking dungeon if I have to!”

Zander had been standing at the window, looking out on the street below, but spun around with a ferocity at my words.

“And mean everything we’ve fought for has been for nothing?” Zander snarled. “Cupid died because he wanted to keep you safe. Do you want his death to be in vain? For things to go back to how they were before?”

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