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Ethan flushed in the dim light. “Not fair.”
“He’ll worry if you’re not home. So will Gen. Tell them everything is fine. I’ll be right behind you.”
He scowled. “Is everything fine?”
Kierse didn’t have an answer to that, but she put on her winning smile, the one that got her out of anything. “Now you’re worrying.”
“Kierse,” he groaned.
But they’d reached the bus stop and the bus was already pulling to a stop in front of them.
“I’ll see you later,” Kierse said.
“Please be safe!” Ethan called back.
She waved goodbye, running past the M10 as it pulled into the uptown stop. She moved away from the wealthy brownstones that lined the well-lit street toward Central Park. She couldn’t help but glower at the luxury that still existed as if it had never been touched by the wars. This part of New York City looked much the same as it always had here.
There were two worlds in her city—the wealthy and everyone else. The wealthy had integrated with monsters from the beginning. Some even suspected that they had already known of their existence and, when the Monster War started, had bought their way to freedom. They lived in their mansions as if the economy hadn’t collapsed, monsters had never taken to the streets, and millions hadn’t died. Nothing had changed for them from one day to the next except that they now coexisted with monsters. Well, at least the monsters with equal wealth. They ran businesses with them, went to galas with them, and sent their children to the same fancy private schools. It turned out money really could buy anything.
Then there was Kierse’s part of the city. Once you left uptown behind, the world looked remarkably different. Ramshackle apartments that had tripled in price practically overnight. A police force that only cared for the ones lining their pockets. Gangs popped up on every corner. Women and men alike selling their bodies when all the other jobs had evaporated. The destruction hadn’t only made the monsters appear; it had made monsters of everyone.
Since the Monster Treaty, shops were reopening, people went out after dark again, and prices were rebounding. More and more people were leaving the shadows to find the light, but the city hadn’t completely changed. Gangs still ruled. Brothels lined the blocks of lower Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs. Monsters didn’t kill openly for sport anymore, but everyone stayed out of their way. Maybe this was the new normal.
Kierse cut south until the lights grew brighter, then cut east. Midtown had recently begun to thrive again despite monsters still occupying Times Square, and she merged into the steady flow of sidewalk traffic. She angled out of the way of the bulky half troll trundling down the sidewalk and nearly ran into a wayward vampire. She sidestepped the vamp hastily, colliding with a tourist holding up her phone and snapping a photo of the troll. Kierse ducked her head to hide her distaste. Cell phones had been a necessity for many before the Monster War. The plans were sadly out of most people’s budgets now . . . as was traveling. How and why wealthy tourists still wanted to come to New York City was beyond her. Let alone being clueless enough to take pictures of monsters on the street. Some people never found common sense.
She pushed past the tourists gawking at Rockefeller Center and angled toward the Amberdash building on Madison Avenue. Gregory Amberdash had used his skills as a wraith—advanced hearing, quick feet, and shrewd business sense—to get rich during the Monster War. And despite that, he was one of the few wealthy people she could stand. And though she didn’t particularly care for working for monsters—after all, look at what they’d done during the war—she honestly preferred monsters to the rich, who had just sat by and let the world go to shit.
A doorman nodded at her as she entered. The interior had a sky-high ceiling, marble columns, and plush seating. Her high-end clients liked a high-end place to run their business. The Amberdash building was a perfect place to appease them. She strode straight past the concierge to the bank of elevators and entered the first that opened.
She tapped a keycard to take her straight to the top floor. Amberdash himself had given her the key to bypass his security and take her up to the penthouse. She had started working with Amberdash in Jason’s thieving guild before things went sour. Their relationship had survived the fallout, and now he provided jobs for her when he had clients who needed a little under-the-table business. Amberdash as the middleman usually resulted in fewer people trying to kill her for their secrets.
The elevator dinged open, revealing the entrance that divided his office from his living quarters. She shivered as she headed for the office. No way did she ever want to be alone with a wraith in his own space. That was just asking for trouble. Like the loss of her soul.
