Page 8 of The Serpent's Bride
Pulling the curtain down on the door, Nadi sat next to Monica and, in the same movement, pulled a silenced pistol from her pocket and dug it into Monica’s side.
Then she smiled at Monica with Monica’s own face. “Hello.”
Monica squeaked, her hands flying over her mouth.
“No screaming. No running. I’m not here for you. You’re going to walk away from this unharmed and with alotof money in your pocket if you do what I say.”
“Wh-wh-what do you want?” Monica stammered. “Please—please, I?—”
“Do you know who and what Raziel is? Do youreallyknow what you’re walking into? What happens when ahumanis married off to avampire?” She arched an eyebrow.
The way the other woman chewed her lower lip told Nadi that she did know who Raziel was. And what was going to happen to her.
Monica’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t have a choice. Papa…”
“Sold you off like cattle?”
Monica nodded.
“Here’s what I’m offering you.” Nadi shifted, dropping her canvas bag from her shoulder onto the ground at her feet. “In this bag I have cash, credits, a new identity, and priority passage rights from here back to anywhere else you want to go. Monica—you’re going to feel ‘sick,’ and I, as captain of the guard, am going to take you off the train to recuperate. The guards will assume I’m having my way with you or something disgusting.”
Monica snorted.
Nadi shrugged. “From there, you leave. Go anywhere you want. You’ll be free. And I’ll get back on board the train to take your place.”
“You—you want to switch places? But…but why?” Monica blinked, astonished.
“I have a bone to pick with your fiancé.” Nadi gritted her teeth.
“And if I won’t…?” Monica asked the obvious follow-up question.
“Then I kill you, stuff you out the window, and I go on in your stead, anyway.”
Would she? She honestly didn’t know. Probably. Monica didn’t deserve to die. But that was the nature of revenge,sometimes. The Serpent and his family needed to be stopped—how many lives could she save by stopping them?
Monica looked down at the bag at Nadi’s feet. “How…how much exactly?”
Greed really was fantastic, sometimes. “One million.” Nadi smiled, still wearing Monica’s own face. “Call it a wedding gift.”
“I don’t want to marry that vampirefuck.” Monica’s cussing sounded surprisingly natural on her. Farm girls—always full of surprises. “One million dollars to go live my life, and not get tortured and murdered by that unholy monster?” She shook her head. “I don’t know how I can say no.”
Nadi let out a small breath of relief. “Great. Then I’m going to lower the gun. I’m going to take the shape of the guard again and follow you off the train. Donotdo anything stupid. Please.”
Monica didn’t do anything stupid.
In fact, after they had gotten off the train, shehuggedNadi.
Fuckinghuggedher.
And thanked her for saving her life.
Nadi killed people. She didn’tsavethem. She was doing this out of a selfish need for revenge—to make Raziel pay. Not out of charity. It kind of put a damper on the whole exchange.
But the real Monica headed away, toward the center of the metropolis, bag of clothing and supplies slung over her shoulder, a smile on her face.
And Nadi, now wearing Monica’s face and using her voice, got back on the train, and shrugged at the rented goons that had resumed their positions either side of the door. “He wanted to play a round of cards,” she said to one of them with an innocent giggle. “Nice man. Very lonely. And here I thought he was going to do somethingdastardly.”
The two guards glanced at each other, not sure what to do with that statement. “Are you ready to go, miss?”
