Forget About Midnight (31 page)

Projecting the power at the demon ward, I clenched my teeth and began to vibrate with the effort it took. It was like trying to chip away at a brick wall with a half-assed tool, but chip away it did. Gradually, the ward began to come apart. I was elated. As a mortal, this would have killed me.

The thought of getting out of this shitty little room and putting some distance between Falon and me offered the encouragement I needed to push harder. That was all it took to shatter what remained of the ward. I felt it fall apart and away, ceasing to exist.

I opened my eyes to find Falon watching me with a strange expression, like he wasn’t sure what to make of me anymore. Well, that feeling was mutual.

“Good job, wolf. You did it. Don’t touch the door though. Not yet.” Falon faced the rest of the room and waved a hand toward the ceiling. “There. The cameras should be frozen so anyone watching will see a frozen image. If they aren’t staring too intently, they might not notice for a while. I’ll get the ones in the hallway too. Let me go first.”

I stared up at the ceiling, studying the stone until I spied the tiny black dot embedded into the middle stone. The camera I’d forgotten to seek out when Arys broke into my thoughts. It had seen everything.

Falon followed my gaze, understanding the dread on my face. “Maybe we can destroy the footage,” he offered, knowing as well as I did, that was easier said than done. Knowing the FPA there would already be several back up copies stored in servers on the other side of the world.

“What do you care?” I asked. “I’m the one who’s going to suffer the most when that gets out.”

“Right, because I don’t have anything to lose if someone like Shya sees that,” he retorted. “He doesn’t trust me as it is. Fucking his prized wolf isn’t going to earn me any points with him.”

“Please don’t say shit like that.” I shuddered and turned away, unable to meet his eyes. Why did a few precious minutes of freedom from misery have to come at such a massive price?

Falon didn’t toss another nasty remark at me, which made it clear that he was feeling some shame of his own. Well, good. “I’ll go out there and deal with the cameras in the hallway and the guard. Then I’ll let you out.”

Having to trust him to do what he said was harder in light of what we’d just done. He could very well leave me here after using me to get out himself. So when he vanished with the rustle of feathers, I had no choice but to sit tight and wait. The door remained locked from the outside.

Unable to resist, I glanced out the window to see Falon reappear in front of the guard. The poor man never even got a chance to shout before Falon had snapped his neck. Then, as he’d claimed, the fallen angel did return to let me out. He had a set of keys as well as a swipe card. When he opened the heavy iron door, I took note of the many different ways it had been locked.

“Thanks,” I said, shivering when a wandering ghost walked right through me.

“Cameras are frozen, and there’s a few hours before sunrise. We should have enough time to get out.” Falon turned to go, expecting me to follow.

“Wait,” I said, my glance darting down the hall. “I have to see if my sister is here. And I want to let some of these people out.”

Falon rolled his eyes and sighed. “Are you fucking kidding me? We don’t have time for that shit.”

“Then help me, and it will go a lot faster,” I snapped. The pressure to move fast made me impatient and short tempered.

Falon could have vanished and left me behind. He didn’t have to accompany me out. So when he swore at me but started checking rooms, I mustered some gratitude.

“You can’t break every ward, you know,” he said, peering into the window of a room across the hall. “The only people who can walk through the ward are those without any kind of extrasensory power.”

I nodded and rushed to the room across from mine. I recognized the man inside. Like the last time I saw him, he lay on the bed, drawing. He was able to see potential outcomes of various decisions. The FPA had struck a deal with him. He willingly stayed, and they took care of his family’s expenses, including expensive schooling. Something told me he wouldn’t come with us even if he could.

Moving on, I came to the door with the werewolf I’d sensed earlier. It was a woman. This wolf was tall and dark skinned with a wild main of tight curls that I would have envied if we hadn’t been racing for freedom. In haste I unlocked the door and hauled it open. She turned solid-brown wolf eyes my way, wide open in surprise.

“Interested in a jail break?” I asked. “Come on, we don’t have a lot of time.”

She lunged for the door as if afraid I was joking. Circles lined her eyes.

“Oh my God, I thought I was going to be in there until I died. Thank you.” She flung her arms around me, desperate for the touch of another wolf. Her beast was restless and half mad inside her.

“How long have you been in here?” I asked, checking to see where Falon was. He stood across the hall, holding up a hand for me to join him.

“I don’t even know,” she said with a sob. “I lost track of the days.”

The crescent moon tattoo on her neck revealed her as one of Dayne’s wolves. Did he even know where she was?

“Come on.” I gave her arm an encouraging squeeze before turning to the door Falon stood at. He looked in on a teen boy holding a ball of fire. When he saw us at the window, he flipped us a middle finger and leaned back on his chair so it balanced on two legs.

“You’re not going to be able to get most of these people out,” Falon said. “They may be human, but the wards were made for their abilities. You’re going to have to cut your losses and leave them.”

“All of them?” I asked, my mind racing. The thought of leaving these people behind was unacceptable.

“You don’t have a choice. If you waste anymore time here, you won’t get out either.” Falon reached for my arm, and I jerked back before he could touch me.

I turned away before he could grab for me again. “Help me find Juliet. If she’s not here, we can leave.” To the werewolf hovering at my side, I asked, “What’s your name, sweetie?”

“Izzy,” she said pushing the untamed mane out of her eyes.

“Alexa,” I said, then pointed at the fallen angel moving swiftly from door to door. “That’s Falon.”

Izzy nodded. “I’ve heard your name before. They asked me if I knew you when I first came.”

That didn’t surprise me. Briggs seemed to think every vampire and werewolf in the city knew me. They didn’t. Not yet. I hoped to change that, if only to rally them all together for the greater good, whatever that happened to be.

I continued to peer in windows, seeking either my sister or someone I could free. I found myself looking in at the same little girl I’d seen during my last basement visit. Unlike last time, she was awake and carrying on a conversation with someone I couldn’t see. The animated way she chattered along, her hands gesturing wildly, gave me the creeps.

“Not that one.” Falon appeared behind me, looking in over my shoulder. “Never that one.”

Before I could turn away, the little girl glanced up and flashed me a huge smile. At first it seemed so innocent, so child-like. Until she blinked solid black eyes at me and waved.

I backed away, straight into Falon. Jumping as if I’d been burned, I put distance between us so fast I almost lost my balance.

“I’m not sure if I should be amused or insulted,” he said. “I’m part of you now, in some way. Accept it. Or get over it. Either way, settle the fuck down. Oh, and Juliet isn’t here.”

His words chilled me.
I’m part of you now
. He wasn’t wrong. That’s how it worked. But I’d already broken my heart into four pieces and given them all away. There was nothing left for Falon. Yet, the lack of love didn’t mean that I was untouched by him. I’d learned early on that giving myself to a man in the throes of passion didn’t leave me unchanged. It stole a part of me. Every fucking time. My heart had already been claimed, but this encounter had reached into my soul, stealing a piece of my very being, changing it forever. I hadn’t known myself for some time now. I felt more detached, like I’d given away something I would never get back.

“What do you mean she isn’t here? Did you check every room?” Panic seized me, snapping me out of my thoughts. Where the hell was my sister?

“There’s a vampire in the room at the end. He’s clearly out of his fucking mind because of this place. We leave him. Everyone else down here is human. We leave them too.” Falon awaited my reaction, showing more patience than I knew him to have.

There was so much of the building left to check: the lab, the interrogation room, the torture chamber upstairs. But we couldn’t. I was starting to suspect that Briggs had deceived me.

Falon frowned and glanced down the hall. He seemed to be sensing something. “Have you considered that this entire thing was a trap? Maybe she was never arrested at all.”

I felt like a fool. Briggs had outsmarted me. Regardless of where my sister was, she sure wasn’t here. But I was. If I’d had any resistance to handing Briggs over to Shya, it was gone now.

“Let’s just go.” I motioned toward the end of the hall that curved away from the main entry. I’d escaped the building that way before.

We’d only taken a few steps before I felt what Falon had felt. The air rippled, announcing the arrival of a demon. This wasn’t going to be good.

I tensed, expecting Shya or maybe Brook or any number of black winged beings. So when Willow appeared between us, I was both shocked and delighted. Until he grabbed Falon and flung him against the concrete hallway wall. Over and over Willow banged Falon’s head off the solid surface. His red eyes shone with an inner light that was so evil, so suffocating.

“How dare you put your hands on her,” he seethed. “How dare you defile her like that!”

Black wings spread wide, Willow oozed a dark, murky force that stank of sulfur. It was strong, stronger than anything I’d ever felt from Shya. For the first time since we met, I was afraid of Willow.

Izzy gave a small cry and clapped a hand over her mouth. I dragged her back, away from the fight. My delight shriveled, killed like a flower in a drought.

“Willow, don’t!” My shout echoed in the empty hall. It went ignored.

He didn’t use power, choosing instead to use his fists, which made his assault uncomfortably personal. What exactly had Willow seen?

Falon didn’t fight back. It was a battle we all knew he couldn’t win. He took the beating Willow dished out, and he might even have enjoyed it in some twisted way.

Falon smirked through the blood smeared on his face. “How much did you see, Willow? Did you watch? Because if you did, you’d know that she fucking loved it.”

My heart seized, or it would have if it had beat at a pace that matched my panic. All I could do was watch as Willow beat the hell out of Falon. I winced as each blow landed. This was a fight that never should have happened.

“You took advantage of her,” Willow hissed into Falon’s face, a hand around his throat.

“I didn’t have to,” Falon grunted. “She wanted it. If anything, she took advantage of me.”

I wanted to hit him myself then. Being a succubus gave me a manipulative edge. There was no denying that. But Falon was strong enough to withstand it if he wanted to. Wasn’t he?

My horror grew when Willow produced a silver-coated dagger and plunged the blade into Falon’s heart. Blood seeped from the wound, staining his shirt. Silver eyes wide, he gaped at Willow like he wanted to throw out one last smartass remark. He never got the chance. Willow jerked the blade free, and Falon dropped, disappearing as he hit the ground. He’d been weakened to the point of being forced back to the other side.

I stood frozen beside Izzy. When Willow shoved the dagger into a sheath in his coat and turned to us, I trembled. There was no real way of knowing what kind of shape he was in. He’d gone dark for me, and still I was a mental case. How much worse would Willow be?

He gathered me in his arms and hugged me close, smoothing a hand over my hair. “I’m sorry I left you to face this alone. I should have been here for you. But why, Alexa? Why him?”

Tears pricked the back of my eyes, and I blinked them back. He smelled like sulfur and tequila, and he felt like the absolute black that only existed in the absence of light. But he was still Willow, and I held tight to him.

The last time I saw him was when he’d taken my darkness. His sacrifice had allowed me to keep both the light and the dark powers I possessed. Shya and Falon claimed it was making me crazy, which I didn’t doubt for a second, but I knew how much worse it would be without Willow’s sacrifice. It was an act of love, and I could never thank him enough.

“Where’ve you been?” I asked, pulling back to gaze into his gold-flecked, red eyes. “Are you ok?”

“I’ve been… adjusting.” Willow touched my face. It was the affectionate caress of a dear friend. “I know you have been too.”

“Trying,” I said. “And failing.”

The concern in his eyes was reassuring. I’d been afraid that the darkness would change who he was, but I could see that he was still there behind the red demon eyes and the black wings.

He continued to smooth down my hair. With a sad smile he said, “There is no failing as long as you’re trying.”

Dear God, how I had missed his perfectly timed wise words. I threw my arms around him and squeezed tight. “I’ve been so worried about you.”

“Don’t worry about me, Alexa. I’m playing the role I was created to play. And so are you. I’m here. I won’t leave you.” The warmth and genuine care in his words broke what was left of my heart. It reminded me that I couldn’t let his sacrifice be in vain.

“You smell like tequila,” I said with a laugh.

His laugh was the laugh I remembered, and it put some of my worried mind at ease. “I’ve changed, but I’m still me. You’re still you. We’ll get through this.”

Izzy shifted uneasily from foot to foot beside me. “I think we should get going. Someone’s coming.”

I followed her gaze to the main end of the hall. I could hear the tread of footsteps and the murmur of voices. We turned to continue on the way we’d been headed only to jerk to a halt when we heard footsteps approaching from that direction too. They’d discovered Falon’s frozen cameras, and now they were coming for us.