A Slither of Hope (12 page)

“No one asked for your opinion.”

Great. What a wonderful time for us both to be stubborn asses. But despite his big words Kade didn't leave. We waited through several songs, neither of us speaking or even moving. All the while, waiting for the seconds to tick away, for us to be discovered.

My mind worked me over again and again. What would they do to us? My heart pulverized my chest cavity, beating my ribs to dust. Not all the symptoms had fear stapled to them, though. The flutters circling in my stomach were mutant butterflies the size of hawks. I doubted those birds of prey were all due to the Fallen following us.

I squeezed Kade's fingers between mine. “Today…” My voice waivered, half-hoarse, half-cracking. “Today with Cam—”

“I know.”

“No you don't. It was a mistake, a huge—”

“Ray.”

The way he said my name stopped me. Even behind the dark curtain I could sense his eyes on me. “I know.”

My cheeks flushed. Thank God it was dark in here.

“Can you…still feel them?”

“Yeah.”

“How close do you think they are?”

“It doesn't work that way. It's more an on-and-off switch than radar. Either we're close enough to feel each other or we aren't.”

“How—how close? What's the range?”

“A block or two.”

We had only gotten that far away from the first threat before we saw the larger group below. “So you never stopped feeling them, then.” The realization sank the pit of my stomach.

The music was so loud I thought I imagined his answering sigh. His fingers curled around mine slowly, subtly, like ivy's roots taking hold. Another song ended.

“This is my first concert,” I said while I didn't have to shout.

He must not have heard me. No big deal. So then why did I have to swallow over a gumball-sized lump in my throat? My palm started to sweat inside his. So not cool.

“I'm going to go check things out.” He pried his fingers away. “No matter what happens, you stay here, all right?” I opened my mouth to object, but as his rough hand cupped my chin, the words fell away. He didn't wait for me to try again. There was a brief flash of multi-colored light and his touch was gone.

Great. Being alone in the dark was pretty high up on my things-that-freak-me-out list these days. Tiny tremors ran through me, reminding me just how much the sitting duck I was.

The curtain moved—a small, but noticeable ripple. With my back flat against the wall, I angled myself and readied my fists the way Kade had taught me. As soon as the curtain flew open I lunged, knocking Kade halfway to the ground. He caught himself and me by backing into the person behind him. When we were stable, Kade lowered me to my feet and nodded to the guy behind him in apology.

“You're full of surprises,” he said with a grin. “But throwing yourself at someone isn't really the best way to get them to not attack you.”

I rolled my eyes and squirmed out of his grip. “What's the plan?”

“For now, we're going to blend in with the crowd. Hiding behind a curtain isn't any way to experience your first concert.”

“You did hear me.” A breath of a smile drifted over my lips.

He led us to the other side of the venue. We slid into the last row of the standing room area where people jumped and swayed like a living ocean. “Of course I did. I always do. Even when I don’t agree with what you say.”

I rumpled my nose at his back-handed sweetness.

The beat picked up and the lights burned red and orange, illuminating the stage with sparks and pyrotechnics. When the flames died down a huge light formation of a red devil lady flipped on and the crowd screamed. I stared at the twenty-foot neon diva and the response it garnered. It was the single strangest and most beautiful thing I'd seen in a long, long time. I closed my eyes for an instant, preparing to store the memory, needing it for whatever drama might come next, when Kade pressed up behind me, closing his arms around me. I opened my eyes and smiled back at him. The crowd pulsed around us, energy personified.

A cloud of normal came over me in a way I'd never experienced before. This was something I could get used to. I ghosted my fingers over Kade’s.

He leaned into me, his lips brushing my ear. I let my eyes drift closed and hoped. “Don't freak out and don't so much as stiffen, but someone’s here.”

My normal cloud quivered, then exploded before my eyes. Freaking out was exactly what a normal person would do when told not to, and I was so far from normal these days I needed a telescope to see it. Kade's thumb circling my shoulder helped me to keep moving with the music, even though I could barely hear it now over my own heartbeat. “Tuck your wings in tight and slip into the crowd when I move. Got it?”

Pulling my focus toward the stage, I intensified my swaying and hooked my hand around his arm. “We aren't splitting up.”

“Not the time to argue. Do what I say.” He pressed closer. That was when I realized he wasn't holding me because he wanted to or had lost himself in the moment the way I had, he was trying to hide my wings with his body.

“How many?” I asked, with probably the worst forced smile on my lips.

A loud cheer from the balcony carried over the band. Kade and I glanced over our shoulders at the same time; our muscles stiffened as one. A Fallen with pale-tinged skin dressed all in black stepped over the railing on the far end of the balcony. Hoots and hollers from the crowd behind him urged him to jump. His eyes locked on Kade and his wings unfurled, stretching wide.

“Run! Go for the door.” Kade spun me around and shoved me toward the nearest exit.

This time I didn't bother arguing, I just ran. Pushing and shoving anyone in my way, I barreled toward the green-lit exit sign. All I could hear was my own breath, all I could see was myself in slow motion ping-ponging off the concert goers that wouldn't move out of my way fast enough.

Finally, I reached the aisle. A straightaway. I stepped in a puddle, a spilled drink I hoped, and my Chucks slipped, sending me scrambling. I got my hand down in time to jump back up and keep going, until I almost ran flat into the blindingly tall form of a man with oil-slick black wings who landed right in front of me.

I tried to move, begged myself to do…anything. My feet were bolted to the floor, inside concrete shoes that would most certainly get me killed. With nothing left to do, I stared at the Fallen. His square face was the perfect vessel for his clenched jaw and severely dimpled chin. When his lip came up in a sneer, even his teeth were straight as arrows. Deep darkness exploded in his eyes, filling them with an inky blackness that left room for nothing and everything at the same time.

Move, run, do something….

Blinking away the fear, I broke my feet free of their imaginary prison. Instead of facing him and testing out one of Kade's maneuvers, I shuffled back. If I moved too fast I had an inkling he would spring like a lion. Having inched back a good ten feet, I extended my hand behind me. I’d passed the aisle that would lead to the main entryway in favor of a side door, but now that the side door was cut off—

My hand connected with a body part instead of the metal railing I'd expected. Still, with fear coursing through me, holding something while this Fallen watched me with an animalistic sneer was better than nothing. Kade cleared his throat behind me—I'd know that sound anywhere—and slid my hand away across his thigh to his side. That meant the bulge I'd had my hand on was…oh, God.

Kade tugged me back and stepped forward in my place, obviously not one thousandth as concerned that my hand had been way too close to his man junk. He didn't even bother with the peacock flaring of wings. He just took a low stance and held his ground.

All around us camera phones were flashing, the humans paying more attention to the man that just flew—or glided—across the room. Yeah, that would definitely get them noticed. Them. What was I talking about? I was as much a part of this as they were.

“It's her,” the Fallen said to Kade. “Azriel told us, but I wasn't sure I believed until…”

Kade lunged at the Fallen before he could finish. The two of them toppled, Kade keeping leverage by staying on top, in the power position he'd taught me.

The Fallen twisted, freeing a tree-trunk of an arm. His fist cracked on Kade's jaw, sending him to the drink-littered floor. An echo of “aahs” and “ooohs” carried over the still-playing band. The attendees behind our section of the aisle ignored the concert, and those in the front row of the balcony leaned over to watch the fight.

With Kade out of his way, the Fallen climbed to his feet, his hands and legs looking so much larger as he started toward me. The crowd whistled and cried “Uh oh”, as if they thought this was some dramatic performance installation hired by the band's PR team. The storming in his black eyes made me beyond glad that the music was too loud for me to hear whatever he was trying to influence me to do.

Kade popped up and kicked his foot out, nailing the Fallen behind one of his knees. Before he was fully down Kade grasped the light-haired Fallen's head in his hands. With Kade's eyes laser-focused on my own, he twisted the Fallen's head to the left, then snapped it to the right. The black wisped out of the Fallen's eyes and he went limp in Kade's hands.

No. Oh, God, no.
The crowd cheered. I backed up into the railing I desperately needed earlier. Even the bass rocking the building competed with the beat of my heart. He… killed him—Kade killed someone, right in front of me. Weakness, in my knees, my chest, my head. Dead. Just like that, with two moves. And no remorse.

The blank sheen in the unknown Fallen's eyes seared into me, the sight of death. So much like the death of Cassie. I'd been there, felt the life leave her body, felt her blood pour over me. But this… this was so much quicker. Instant.

White lights flashed from the stage, recapturing most of the crowd's attention. But not mine. Kade had mine. A killer. His face, not quite blank, not quite unfeeling, not quite human.

My knees finally gave out. I welcomed the cold slosh of ground, the predictability of it, feeling as gross as it looked.

Climbing up the handrail proved more difficult than I'd hoped, but I managed without falling, and I stumbled toward Kade. He dropped the Fallen—the body. It crumpled in a heap at his feet.

“We need to go.” I didn't think he could hear me over the music considering I couldn't even hear myself, but he nodded, still somewhere between here and somewhere very far away. I reached for his hand, held it there when he didn't take it. “Kade?” His image swam in my vision. Stupid tears. For the love of everything holy, not now. I blinked them away. Now was the worst time to think about who—or what—the Fallen had once been.

Kade dropped his chin, staring down at the body. Time seemed to stop. The crowd in front of us froze in mid-cheer, the people leaning over the balcony still trying to decide what they just witnessed. The small section of people behind us were satisfied enough with the show to converse with their neighbors and return to watching the band's performance. My Fallen angel blinked and scooped up the body, throwing it over his shoulder and heading for the exit doors to the hallway.

Baffled, I hurried to catch up with him, but he was through the doors too quickly and they closed behind him. Several people stepped in my way; walls of drunk “congratulations” and “great show”. Arms patting my back and shoulders, hands pushing drinks at me, dozens of bodies, all lips and words and smiles. I didn't have time for this.
Don't you people know those things are dangerous and more are probably on their way?
I shoved my way up the aisle. Kade could have been anywhere. He'd been trying to separate from me. He'd taken his chance. I burst through the doors, expecting him to be gone.

“Time to go,” he said, approaching from the end of the hallway farthest from the front doors. Without the body.

Despite my curiosity, I didn't ask what he’d done with it. Really didn't want to know. It was gone and we needed to get the hell out. That was all I needed to know. Kade never stopped walking for the door. Neither did I.

“Do you still…feel one?” I asked. He didn't answer. I guess that was another thing I didn't want to know.

We ran through the lobby and out the doors. Darkness painted the sky. The closest things to stars were the yellow glow of streetlights and Kade's wings shimmering silver by my side. Cars passed in drones, solidifying the constant thriving pulse of Market Street. To our right, a man with a scruffy beard, his frame bulked up with at least six layers of clothes, gripped his shopping cart with one hand and held out a cup in his other. As one, Kade and I looked to the left. Two or three sets of black wings walked together three-quarters of the way down the long block, their backs to us.

Chapter Fifteen

Rayna

Kade immediately turned toward them and started walking.

What was he doing? Did he plan to kill them, too?

I had to do something. This part of Market Street consisted of long, straight blocks. If the Fallen turned to look behind them at any point they would see Kade’s wings reflecting the stars from nearly a mile away. If their sight was better than human, they might be able to see my wings, too. Not to mention they were probably still on the hunt. They wouldn’t be going very far at all.

Thinking quickly, I pulled the last bill from my pocket—a five—and placed it in the homeless man's cup. “This is yours if you get us a cab.” The man nodded and pushed his shopping cart toward the street. I ran forward and jerked Kade back, pulling him around the corner of the building we landed on. Taxis weren’t very abundant in San Francisco, and the best place to catch one was at a busy street, like Market Street.

“I need to take care of them. We can't have them chasing us,” Kade barked.

“They won't.” I hoped. “I have a plan. Just trust me.” I peered around the corner, but from this angle I couldn't see past the odd curve of the building we hid behind.

A yellow cab stopped at the corner. The homeless man opened the door and motioned us over. I yanked Kade forward, shoving him inside while keeping an eye down the street. “Get down,” I growled at him, then thanked the homeless man. Before I slipped in, I looked again. Three Fallen ran toward us. I dropped in, slammed the door, and yelled for the driver to go.