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Even if I couldn’t admit it out loud, a big part of me wondered if Darrio and River hadn’t been there, if Sam hadn’t pulled my attention from Xanaya and Illyria, how far would I have gone? Would I have reached the point of no return and walked away from two more corpses? Possibly even more? It wasn’t as though I had enough control to direct my power when it took me over, and humans had to be much easier to kill without immortality on their side.
“You’re full of shit, Thea.”
“Fuck you, Remy.”
“Yeah, sure, fuck me. When you’re ready to take command of yourself and stop being a danger to everyone around you, let me know. Varon won’t always be around to clean up your mistakes.”
My slight temper flared into a full-fledged fury, just like his stupid little nickname for me, and my cheeks flamed. Oddly enough, I didn’t feel any sense that my power was on the verge of bursting forth. No, this rage was all indignation and the unwillingness to admit he might have a point.
Without another word, I spun on my heel and stormed off. I lost myself in the flow of pedestrians on the outer edge of the sidewalk. The crowd thickened as I moved toward the city center, and I was less considerate than I would have been under normal circumstances, shouldering between people and cutting in front of others in my haste to escape Remy and the truth of his accusations.
I didn’t look back, but something told me Remy wasn’t following me. Still, I didn’t slow until I had gone so far I couldn’t even see where I’d come from. In my blind rage, I hadn’t been smart enough to look at street signs as I fled.
It didn’t matter. Now that I had my phone back, I could look up the address, which Kate had texted everyone before we left Divinity.
After so long stuck at the school, surrounded by the same people day in and day out, it was freeing to be around the unfamiliar. A sea of strangers and places to explore were things I’d never appreciated until that moment. It was tempting to duck into a bar and have a drink, but I decided to keep walking. The night air felt good and was helping to cool the smoldering edges of my temper.
As with most arguments, I thought of so many great, non-“fuck you” responses after it was already over. I played out exactly how I would have refuted Remy’s statements.
Okay, not “so many,” more like two. But that was better than what I’d come up with on the spot, so it was an improvement, right? Fuck, he was so far under my skin, and him being right about almost everything only made him that much more irritating.
“Thought you could fuck with our shit? Big Mike warned you what would happen.”
A grunt followed the shout that had broken through my mental reenactment. Quickly glancing around, I realized I’d passed straight through the bustling, tourist-heavy streets of downtown and into the seedier section of the city.
Down an alleyway to my left, I could see a small group of men gathered around a prone figure. Closer inspection revealed there were four of them, each one bigger than the last. Prone guy looked smaller than them, but that could be because he was curled up in the fetal position while several booted feet flew at him. The solid thuds as they connected made my stomach flip and my heart race.
“Hey!” The yell was out so fast, I never had a chance to question if this was a smart idea. The answer was unequivocally “no,” but it was too late for that. “Leave him alone!”
“Get lost, bitch, unless you want a turn when he’s done.” The voice of the man who called back was different from the one who’d reminded poor Timmy—that’s what I decided to call him, he seemed like a “Timmy”—that this would be the consequences of betraying Big Mike.
“I said leave him the fuck alone! I called the police.” My phone was gripped tightly in my hand, but I had yet to actually unlock it and dial, loath to take my eyes off the gaggle of gangsters who were now eyeing me like they’d actually love to give me a “turn.” I wasn’t so naïve that I didn’t know exactly what that meant.
“You ain’t called nobody.” The tall Asian man nearest me smirked as he called me on my lie, his arms bulked with muscle as he crossed them over his chest. “I’ve been watching you since you walked up.”
Damn.
There went that line of defense.
“Well, I’m calling them now.” My eyes flicked down for a nanosecond to allow facial recognition to see me and unlock the phone. By the time they were back on the men in front of me, they’d shifted to form a united wall of menace. Timmy lay groaning behind them, and despite my growing fear, I was glad they seemed to have forgotten about him.
At least for the moment.
“Looks like we’ll have to make your turn quick then, huh?” This came from the hulking blond man who’d delivered Big Mike’s message, and the malice in his eyes was unmistakable. He would hurt me, and he’d fucking love it. The dark-skinned man beside him looked ready to pounce, too. The last member of their fucked up boy-band was a Latino man who held a knife clenched in his fist.
“How about you take your little super diverse gang of badasses and leave us alone?” I put as much bravado into my voice as I could, but there was a shakiness in it they had to hear. But it wasn’t just out of fear. No, it was out of my growing anger.
Fucking bullies. They’d ganged up on someone who couldn’t defend himself against their onslaught, and now, they intended to do the same to me.
Or worse.
Much, much worse.
And if it had been any other woman who’d dared to speak up to help poor Timmy, they’d have been able to take her down without a thought. But I wasn’t any other woman. I was more than capable of protecting myself.
I hoped.
The tingle of my power built inside me, but I wasn’t focused enough yet to reach down and touch it like Remy had taught me. If I couldn’t get my concentration under control, Timmy and I were both royally screwed.
