Page 9 of Phoenix Falling
She smiled, and I felt my heart break into pieces before reshaping itself. Before, the organ had beat for only two things: Lyris and protecting my people. Now there was a third reason: Imogen.
“She is worthy of you, Dragon,”Lyris said in my head.
I turned to her, surprise lighting me up.“Lyris?”
Aloud she said, shooing us toward the sleeping area, “Go, read your book. I want to know if you like it, Clara.”
“I guess I’m reading then,” Imogen said. She held out her hand for Clara. “Ready?”
The tiny female wiggled in my arms until I rested her feet on the floor. “Ready!” Taking Imogen’s hand, Clara dragged her toward the bunk reserved just for her, the one in the far corner, farthest from the light that might keep her awake at night. Imogen followed but turned her head back to me.
“Coming, Demetri?”
I thought I might forever hold that image in my mind—Imogen laughing, calling me to follow her. Eyes warm with amusement and a hint of something else that flowed like warm honey through my insides.
“I’m definitely coming,” I told her, and ignored Lyris’s snicker in my head as I followed the two females across the room to readLittle Women.
ChapterFive
RISK
The drizzle outside my apartment window made me fantasize about crawling into bed and pulling the covers over my head, but that plan would have to wait. Unfortunately even staying dry would be impossible, because instead of reading or sleeping, I was going out. Few times were truly safe from the monsters that shared this earth with us, but daytime was slightly less risky, and I had things to do before the bed calling to me could take precedence.
Pulling on a raincoat against the spring chill and wetness falling from the sky, I took a last look around my apartment—an instinct more than a concern that something would need my attention—then headed out. I’d chosen a place near downtown, central enough that I could stalk the night easily in some of the more run-down parts of town but could also grab a ride to the outskirts when I needed to. It was currently just after dawn, so I decided a walk was better than a bus and directed my feet toward the southwest. I had plenty of thinking to do anyway, and I did that best when my body was moving and my mind was free.
It had been nearly thirty-six hours since I’d met with Sun. Thirty-six hours of confusion, of exhilaration. Apprehension. And not only because he’d noticed the real me. That was certainly mind-blowing enough and the primary reason for any elation I might feel, but I couldn’t focus there now. He’d hired me—the Risk me—to do a job, and I had to focus on what to tell him and what not to.
The truth was, I already knew most of what he wanted me to research. I’d been tracking the victims of the Anigma attacks in this area since they’d started. So yes, there was a lot I could tell him, but not without revealing that I was the one who’d dragged his clan into whatever it was the Anigma were planning.
There was a lot to that plan, I was certain. Far more than I was privy to. But the women—I’d known about those forever. Since I was fifteen, in fact. I was one of them, after all. After my attack, I’d spent years getting some semblance of a life back, figuring out what exactly had happened to me. Hiding the changes. Over a decade had passed before I’d realized I wasn’t the only one, before meeting another woman like me.
That woman, Amanda, had died in my arms. Nothing I’d done had saved her.
“Miss you,” I whispered. And I did, every damn day.
I’d learned at a young age that monsters weren’t figments of our imaginations, and when I’d lost Amanda, I became determined to find other victims and do what I could to save them, to do for them what no one had been able to do for me. Or her. But through the years I’d learned a hard truth: my gifts didn’t include healing. I couldn’t put shattered minds or bodies back together, not even my own. Too many women had been found, only to be lost again, usually to death’s hand. I never stopped looking, but I’d despaired of ever being able to save one.
Until I’d realized what the Archai were. That they weren’t the same as the Anigma. Oh, they had the same mental and physical power, the same bloodsucking tendencies, but their agendas weren’t the same. One side could be counted on to bring harm and destruction. The other had the ability to heal as well as destroy. That’s when hope came alive in me for the first time since I was a teenager.
Hope had led me to Cale last year. Like with Sun, we’d run into each other at a nightclub, and I’d realized immediately what he was. I’d seduced him with my gift, praying I could gain information about the women—or females, as the Archai referred to them—that were being left to litter the streets by the Archai’s enemies. Unlike Arik, who’d played everything close to his chest, Cale had been an open book. Maybe because he thought I was too dimwitted to pick up on the breadcrumbs he was dumping out without even realizing it.
And he’d led me to Sun.
I reached the farthest outskirts of the Gulch and the coffee shop I was heading for without figuring out what I was going to do about Sun. I pulled open the heavy wooden door leading inside All about That Bean and sucked in the heavenly aroma of caffeine and sugar permeating the atmosphere. Raine had worked here for a few weeks, since losing her previous job after her attack, but already she was taking over. I’d never told her I’d put in a good word for her with Jack, the owner. I’d done some work for him last year, looking for a cousin of his that had run off with a hefty stack of bills from the store safe one night. His gratitude had paid my rent that month and left an opening for a trustworthy associate that could work her way up to manager over time. Raine was more than capable of that. And having her work at a location that wasn’t open during the night was a huge relief to both of us.
It felt so normal, just a quick walk to the coffee shop to see a friend. Were it not for the fact that I only knew the friend through a vampire attack, it actually would be normal. But nothing about my life was normal, was it? I mean, I didn’t even date normal men.
And what did that say about me?
As I moved inside, my gaze went immediately to the cash register. The one person still alive that I’d call a friend looked up and gave me a halfhearted smile. “Risk.”
“Hey, girl.” She reminded me of Robyn Wright, the actress who’d played Princess Buttercup inThe Princess Bride,all long blonde hair and long, long legs. The epitome of the girl next door. What worried me was what I saw every time I looked my friend in the eyes—a growing darkness that deepened every single day. Unlike me, she hadn’t been changed during her attack, thank God, but the change in her world wasn’t doing her any favors either.
Raine held up a large paper cup. “Want one?”
“You know it.”
I fingered the various packages displayed along the front counter while the whir and spin of the machines Raine knew intimately filled the air. My mouth watered at the thought of the caffeine jolt about to hit me. Nothing was better than coffee in my opinion. Except maybe a good pizza. Or a funnel cake. Cheesecake. Any cake.
