“Promise me,” Cody said, voice thickening “and I’ll do the same for you.”
Take me out. “I promise.” He knew that if the time ever came, he’d be the one to kill Cody.
Just as he’d be the one to kill Brandt. His gaze fell back to the broken angel.
Sick bastard.
Then, whispering through his mind . . . I never want to be like him.
But the fear was always there, hiding in his head. Don’t want to be, but what if I am?
She expected Az to take her to some small shop in the Quarter. A place that promised magic and dreams with a dozen magic crystals and potions stocked in the windows.
But he drove past the Quarter and left the crowds of the city behind. Her gaze lit on the tossed beads as they headed out. Beads that dangled from lamp posts. Beads that had been shattered in the street.
Only a few more days of Mardi Gras madness were left. By the time the big party ended, what would her life be like?
Jade held tighter to Az as houses began to blur past them. Soon, the houses were gone, and she saw bigger buildings. Old warehouses. They crossed train tracks. Turned to the right. The left.
He braked the motorcycle. She glanced up. Another warehouse. All the windows on the lower floor had been boarded up, but the windows on the second floor shone in the sunlight.
Not exactly where she’d expected to find a witch, but nothing was really what she expected these days.
When she climbed off the bike, Az took her hand. “Remember what I said,” he told her, voice soft. “Stay close. Mateo is very dangerous, very strong, and he doesn’t exactly play by the rules.”
There were rules? Why hadn’t anyone told her about them?
Stopping in front of the double doors, Az raised his fist and pounded. The fierce knock seemed to echo inside. Jade glanced over her shoulder, half-expecting to see Bastion lurking behind her. But she didn’t see anyone.
She looked back at Az. His body was tense, on alert, and she wondered just what—
The door opened with a groan. A tall, muscled guy in a black T-shirt and faded jeans cocked a brow at them. Tribal tattoos circled his shaved head. “I was wondering when you’d be on my doorstep, Fallen,” he said, with just the faintest hint of a Spanish accent. “You and your . . . querida.” His dark stare locked on her.
Az’s fingers tightened on her arm. Mateo’s gaze dropped, noting the movement. A faint smile curved his lips. “It’s like a sickness, isn’t it?”
“What?” Az frowned at him.
“Emotions. Once you start to feel them, they get inside and tear you apart.” The guy smiled. “They can slice deeper than anything, even a panther shifter’s claws.”
Chill bumps rose on Jade’s arms. “You know about Brandt.”
“There’s very little in this world I don’t know about.” He stepped back and motioned them inside. Once they entered, she expected him to immediately close the doors behind them. Instead, he stepped to the threshold and gazed out with that faint smile still on his lips. After a few moments, he looked back at her. “You’re a wanted woman.”
This guy was creeping her out. “So I hear.”
He bolted the doors and headed for a rickety staircase on the right. “Come.”
Jade glanced at Az. He shrugged and started following Mateo.
“There will be a fee, of course,” Mateo said without glancing back. The staircase squeaked as they headed upstairs. Nothing was on the bottom floor. Well, an old desk. Two chairs. Nothing else.
Mateo opened another door at the top of the stairs. This doorway led to an apartment, or at least what looked like an apartment. The whole place had been redone. Kitchen. Den. The room sported a giant flat-screen TV. Not what she’d expected. It just looked like any other guy’s bachelor pad. Had witches gone mainstream?
But Mateo walked past all that. He headed down a hallway. Opened yet another door.
Ah . . . and this was where the magic happened. She saw the carvings on the wall. The black and red chalk that had been drawn carefully on the floor. A black table sat in the middle of the room, and she could see the gleaming surface of a mirror resting on the top of that table. A mirror, and a knife.
“Been scrying lately?” Az asked, voice flat.
So Heather wasn’t the only one who liked to gaze into the future.
“Sometimes you need to know what’s coming.” Mateo stopped next to the table. His fingers were just inches from the knife. “You got to be prepared for the enemies who’ll be at your door.”
“We’re not your enemies!” Jade said, the words bursting from her. She reached for the small black bag she’d knotted at her hip. “We just . . . we need your help.”