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Knees tucked under my chin, I listened to the world coming awake—a pleasant, comforting sound. Two larks flitted and chirped on the stone wall surrounding the courtyard. On Dauphine Street, a car door opened and shut, then the engine started and was gone. The distant murmur and shuffle of vendors opening booths at the French market rose over the wall. Someone laughed. It all seemed so strange, but soothing at the same time. My personal troubles didn’t keep the world from turning. Funny, but that actually made me feel better.
“Good morning.” Kat walked toward me, bright smile beaming.
“Morning,” I replied, but not as brightly.
In faded jeans and a gray peacoat with her platinum hair twisted in a messy bun, she appeared so much younger than she normally did in her kick-ass attire. She sat next to me and slid a white baker’s box across the stone bench. “I thought you’d want some breakfast.”
I tried to smile. She opened the box to a tempting assortment—chocolate éclairs, bear claws, cinnamon twists, chocolate-glazed donuts.
“Oh, come on. Chocolate always makes a girl feel better.” She picked up an éclair and took a bite, smiling encouragingly.
“He told you?”
She nodded, setting the pastry down, and sighed.
“He told me that Danté soul-sifted you last night and that he’d…possessed your soul before you could get away.”
Her eyes dropped, then met mine with a knowing look. More green than black, they held empathy. A horrible thought struck me.
“Danté’s taken you before?”
She shook her head. “Not him. Another.” She stared at the fountain. “He kept me for a long time and possessed me in every way possible.”
Something shifted inside. This bad-ass beautiful woman reeking of confidence and I-don’t-take-no-shit attitude had been through an ordeal even worse than mine—dominated and humiliated through pain and shame for the sick pleasure of another.
“How are you holding up?” she asked, her tone sharp.
“Barely.”
She wiped her fingers on a napkin in the pastry box and stared at the bench a minute, stalling, it seemed.
“I’m sorry, Gen,” she said awkwardly. “I’m just glad Jude was able to get you out of there before he could do worse to you.”
“He didn’t. I got myself out.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
I nodded.
“Your Vessel power saved you? That’s awesome!”
I nodded again with a shrug.
“Holy hell!” She stood up, pacing in front of me. “Don’t you see? Don’t you get it?”
“No. What?”
“It’s a sign!” She sat down, taking one of my hands and squeezing. “You’re the one, Gen, the Vessel in the prophecy! I know it now! Like, I’m absolutely sure of it!”
“What do you mean? What does that prove?”
“Are you kidding me?” She stared, incredulous and wide-eyed. “You’re not even fully awakened, and you fought off a demon prince, older than earth, who controls your soul with your blood, and you fought him off in his realm where everything must obey him. As far as I know, it’s never been done. I mean, even I couldn’t get out on my own. I needed—well, never mind.” She shook off the persistent memory marring her face. “I’m certain. You aretheVessel.”
She was right. I suppose it was pretty incredible, knowing the power he wielded up until the moment I blasted him.
“Oh man, what I would’ve done to see his face.”
I couldn’t help but smile, remembering Danté’s wicked eyes widening with confusion.
