I let him pull me back a few steps. “Thanks.” I smiled sweetly at Lyric, who seemed less than amused.
“Make sure she doesn’t have anymore,” Lyric ordered Hunter, before turning and heading back to the bar.
“Go mingle. Be in love. I want people to see excitement and happiness, nothing less.”
To be honest, after our initial arrival, people seemed to forget who we were, which I expected. Even Cesare and the rest of the council who chatted in the back corner, drinking alcohol, seemed to forget where they were and what we were doing here. I preferred it that way. As everyone began to slip into wine-induced craziness, Hunter and I slipped out of a side door. Outside, the air was surprisingly warm, and I slumped against the courthouse’s brick wall.
“I don’t think I’m going to make it through the night.” I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair. “I’m suffocating in there.”
Hunter stood in front of me, watching me, before reaching into his suit jacket and pulling out a small, silver flask. “You can have one sip. I want you to be alert when you go into Cesare’s room.”
Truth be told, my head was already spinning—not too much—but enough to make me hesitate before taking the flask from him. One sip quickly turned into two sips. Three sips. Four. Our positions progressed from standing to sitting lazily against the wall.
“Seriously, I was scared.” He laughed, taking the final mouthful of whiskey.
“But you were a vampire, she was just a little old lady.” I chuckled, resting my head against my arms.
Hunter was telling me the story of when he ran into an old lady in a parking lot and he scared her by accident. She proceeded to yell at him and hit him with her bag.
“She was insane and her bag was heavy. I feared for my life.”
More chuckles shook my chest before fading away. “I should probably get up and invade some privacy, right?”
“Yeah, the night isn’t getting any younger and the longer we leave it, the higher the risk of getting caught.”
I pushed off of the ground, resting my back against the wall and using that to support my weight. Before the whiskey, I would have cared if my dress tore, but now, being my half-drunk self, I couldn’t have cared less.
When I straightened myself, I took a step and stumbled forward. Hunter snatched my arm quite roughly and I winced at the pressure. He pulled me into him, until his body was flush against mine. My heart raced at the thought of falling and when I looked at Hunter and he was staring at my lips, I knew his heart was racing too, but for an entirely different reason.
“Don’t kiss me,” I muttered, feeing his breath blow across my cheek.
“I won’t kiss you… I want to, but I won’t.”
He held me in his arms for a few more minutes and I didn’t do anything to free myself. If he wanted to hold me, he could, there was nothing wrong with that.
“You’ll be careful?” he asked, loosening his grip.
“I will.”
He let me go and I managed to take a step back, this time, without stumbling.
“You have fifteen minutes from now, and whatever you do, don’t get caught.”
With a swift nod, I paced away from him and towards the building behind the courthouse. My nerves began to erupt, filling every inch of my body with electrified currents. I was anxious, but at the same time, I was exhilarated. The hair on the back of my neck prickled, standing higher and higher with every step I took. This was going to work, or this was going to fail. I’d prefer it to work, but the reality of it failing was just as high. As I stepped into the courtyard of Cesare’s building, I expected to run into a line of elites, or any kind of security, really, but I got nothing. There was no one there to stop me from waltzing right through the door. So that’s exactly what I did.
There were a lot of rooms in here, a lot of rooms, and I had no idea what they were for. Elite bedrooms, perhaps? I marched up flights of stairs, not wanting to stick around to find out. I moved quickly, until my calves burned and my chest heaved. Remind me to catch the elevator on the way down, I thought to myself. I would have caught it up, but I figured the wait time for the doors to close would slow me down… obviously I was an idiot.
I sighed in relief when I reached the top and practically threw myself through the door and into the hallway. At the end was a single door. Room 345 – Head Councilmen, Cesare Ramone. I stepped toward it, but a single ding from the elevator signalling someone stopping on this floor, froze me in my spot. Uh oh. I stood as still as stone, waiting for the doors to open and when they did, I had no idea what to expect. Okay, so that was a lie. I expected someone like Cesare or someone of equal authority to punish me for trespassing, what I did not expect was a pair of bright green eyes glaring at me from inside the lift. Eli marched from the steel case, his entire body tense and mad.
“Are you out of your mind?” he snapped, raking his fingers through his hair. “What are you doing up here?”
“I’m looking for clues,” I countered, folding my arms. “What are you doing up here?”
“I followed you. I had no problems watching Hunter feed you alcohol and trying to charm you, but when he sent you off toward Cesare’s building, I had to step in.”
“He didn’t send me anywhere. This is my idea,”
He stepped closer. “What’s your idea? What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for evidence, Eli. I’m looking for proof of their involvement.”
His eyes narrow. “Let’s say you find exactly what you’re looking for, what are you going to do with it?”
“Easy,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “I’ll take it to Mr. Aleksandrov and he’ll expose them.”
“To who? How do we get out of here with the evidence?”
Crap. I didn’t think of that. He nodded his head smugly. “Don’t you get it? Finding evidence is all well and good, but we have to get out of here first. We have to build a base that will support us. One the council can’t fight.”
Everything he said made sense, but I was here already and I was going into that room with or without him. He could drag me from this building, but I’d be kicking and screaming the whole way and I doubt he’d want to deal with that.
“We’re here. Either come inside with me, or wait out here.”
I pushed past him, but he grabbed my arm, stopping me from going any further. I angled my body so I faced him. He needed to see that I was serious. He needed to see that I wasn’t leaving without the evidence that I was sure existed, or peace of mind that the council wasn’t at fault.
“You’re insane if you think I’m letting you go in there alone.”
I reached out and curled my fingers around the edge of his jacket, toying with it. “So come with me.”
He surveyed me… he surveyed me for a while, and after a few long minutes, the blood under my skin began to heat up. His eyes brightened and there was no mistaking the look in his eyes. He shot forward, crushing his mouth to mine, and I stumbled backwards until he pushed me hard against the door. I kissed him back. I kissed him back because I missed him more than anything. I missed the feel of his skin and the warmth of his lips. I couldn’t rein in my emotions and I just knew Hunter would be feeling them in full force. As I fiddled with the door handle, Eli’s lips never broke from mine.
With one swift turn of the handle, the door swung open and Eli and I almost fell inside. We didn’t look around the room. We were too consumed in each other, in the feelings we hadn’t shared in weeks. I wanted to hold onto him and never let go, and I didn’t plan to let go, until we bumped into Cesare’s desk, spiling some papers onto the floor. Eli and I flew apart, palms exposed to each like the other was a vicious animal.
“I’m on official angel business,” I tell him, breathlessly. “Don’t distract me again.”
“No, I’m on official angel business. You don’t distract me.”
My lips twitched and I found myself staring at him again. He was watching me, too, and we started toward each other again, but before we could touch, the sound of paper being crushed under a shoe stopped us. We froze and glanced down. We’d knocked papers off Cesare’s desk and then ruined them.
“Are you kidding me?” I whispered as Eli took a step back, freeing the paper from underneath his shoe. The previously crisp, clean sheet had a large footprint right in the center. “Please tell me that isn’t important…”
I rubbed my fingers against my palm as it began to sweat. Eli bent down and grabbed the sheet of paper, treating it as if it was going to explode at any second. He turned it over and in big, bold letters it read:
‘COURT PROCEEDINGS — WEEK COMMENCING’
and then it had Monday’s date. Eli gave me a look, the kind of look that said ‘This is all your fault.’
“Oh no,” I snapped hastily. “You are not pinning this on me.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t so incapable of doing what you’re told.”
“Me? This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t suggest I get married.” I was done. I was sick and tired of arguing with Eli. It was all we did anymore. My bottom lip quivered as my head spun and tears threatened my eyes.
“Why don’t you want to help me?” I muttered, sounding more like a sad child than an adult. “Why aren’t you fighting harder to stop this?”
It was then I knew how I truly felt. All of my bitterness wasn’t because I was marrying Hunter. I liked Hunter, he was more like me than anyone else I knew. I was hurt and bitter because the one person that has literally taken on hell for me seemed to have given up.
“I am fighting,” he told me, avoiding my eyes. “I fight myself every second of everyday. You don’t think I want to kick the hell out of everyone and drag you from here under my arm?” His brows furrowed. “You think I want to see you happy with him? Every time you kiss it’s like a knife being thrust into my stomach and then there’s that sad look you get in your eyes after it twists the metal deeper.” Eli stepped closer and I swallowed hard. “I talk myself out of burning this place down every morning when I wake up and remember it’s not me you’re lying next to.” He reached out for my hand and took it in his.
“There’s only one man I want to be experiencing all of this with…” I whispered, inching closer.
His eyes brightened and his expression froze as he registered what I said. “You want to get…” He skipped the word married, almost as if he was afraid he misunderstood me. “To me?”
I bit my bottom lip, stopping a smile. I don’t think I’d ever caught Eli off guard before. Not like I had now.
“Who else would I want to spend the rest of my life with?” My smile quickly faded. “Unless, of course, you don’t want to marry m—”
He briefly pressed his fingers against my lips. “Shh.” My heart accelerated, immediately pumping blood too quickly around my body. “Don’t you dare say it.” Eli smiled a full smile, one I hadn’t seen in a while and it warmed my chest. I was messed up. Here I was, engaged to someone else, practically proposing to Eli. I shouldn’t be held accountable for the things I say around him. He messed with my head.
“We need to start looking for something,” I muttered, feeling my body heat up under his gaze again. He sobered and quickly folded the sheet of paper, stuffing it into his pocket.
“Right.”
“What are you doing?”
“It’s better if he thinks he misplaced the court proceedings and assume it was us rather than have proof that someone was in his office. I’ll burn the paper as soon as we’re finished here.”
Eli made his way around Cesare’s desk, turning pages and opening drawers. Following his lead, I darted over to filing cabinets in the far corner and began flicking through them. I didn’t find anything, at first, only lists of previous court hearing filed in alphabetical order. It was like that for six drawers and I was getting tired. Eli was silent so I knew he hadn’t found anything, either. I was ready to call it off altogether, but then I found a few separate folders filed away in the bottom drawer, out of alphabetical order. I read the names, confused. Hank. Tay. Lucian. Meredith. There were a bunch of others I didn’t recognize.
“Eli?”
He was at my side in a second. He reached down and pulled out Tay’s file.
“It has everything in here. Place of birth, blood type, cause of death.” He flicked through more and more before putting the file back.
“Do you think it has anything to do with seeing Tay again?”
Eli shrugged. “Maybe… but it could also be research for the hearings.”
He flicked through the rest of the names, his body growing tenser.
“Who are those other people?” I wondered aloud.
“It doesn’t matter now,” he replied. “They’re all dead.”
All dead? “How do you know that?”
“Because I killed them.”
I froze, watching only the side of his face. “What do you mean you killed them?”
He shut the drawer and pulled me to my feet. I got no response from him, even as he dragged me from the room and half pulled me, half carried me down the stairs. Eventually, with little help from me, we made it out into the clean night time air. My legs felt like jelly now, combining that with a floating head and you’ve got one hot mess. Eli wasn’t going to say anything to me by the look of it, so I wasn’t in any rush to get back to the party. I stopped walking, kicked of my heels, and slowed my pace. To Eli’s annoyance, he slowed his pace, too. He didn’t say anything, just strolled at a forced leisurely pace in front of me. I could both hear and see the party still going in the courthouse in front of me, but I wasn’t ready to go back there yet. As we passed a beautiful garden filled with small trees and beautiful roses, I decided to sit down on one of the large, white boulders.