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A pillow slams down over Seven’s face, and I have to blink up at Dante as he grins down at me where there was only empty space seconds ago.
“Shall we?” he asks, offering me his hand.
Dressed, and finally in a simple non-corseted dress for once, I munch on a cream cheese everything bagel as Dante expertly navigates our SUV through the underground tunnels.
I try not to notice the way Seven is nervously shaking his leg in the front seat, or the whitening of Dante’s hand against the steering wheel as we wind our way beneath the city.
It’s strange to think that the last time I was in an SUV I was trying to escape these men, and Luci in particular. Now, I’m here doing the exact opposite as I hope we’re able to find him before it’s too late.
Pulling out onto the ground-level street, we’re suddenly met with a wall of thick smoke as Dante pulls to a stop.
“Where are we?” I ask.
The two men glance at each other as Seven opens his door and ducks outside.
“Valentine’s, or what’s left of it,” Dante answers before exiting the car as Seven opens my door to help me out.
Together we stand staring at the smoke spills out of shattered glass windows and doors, and it slowly rises into the air.
“So, what now?”
“I’ll go in to look for him,” Dante says. “You two stay here.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?” Seven asks as the building groans loudly.
“No, that’s why you’re going to stay here, where it is,” he answers, running a hand through hair before turning to look at me. “I’ll be back, love. Promise.”
He bends to press a gentle kiss to my lips before turning and racing into the building’s wreckage.
“Why do you think he did it?” I ask after a long moment.
“Hmm?”
“Burn the building down. Why do you think Luci did it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe to erase the memories of what’s happened here.”
“What about all the evidence?”
“That doesn’t matter anymore, little one,” Seven says. “With Valentine gone, the police and everyone in this city are finally free of his deals. They probably don’t even remember half the things that happened here.”
“Oh.”
I take another bite of my bagel, chewing on it in thought as I try not to let worry consume me.
“Seven?”
“Yes?”
“How can I help you break the curse? And what exactly does that mean?”
His shoulders tense at my question, and his eyes remain focused forward as several seconds of silence pass between us.
“It means we can’t die,” Seven says, finally breaking the stretching silence, “at least, not in the normal sense. If we die without breaking the curse, or if go feral and die, our soul dies with us.”
“Oh,” I repeat, not really knowing what to make of this. “Do you mean there’s an afterlife?”
Seven shrugs.
