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X.
Why was he looking for me here when he’d been nowhere to be seen for weeks?
But that was all over, wasn’t it? X had returned to fight me. And when we fought, he didn’t care about the souls that became collateral. Not that he ever cared, but this time, I cared more than usual.
I couldn’t let anything happen to Catina. I jumped up, my heart racing, and ran to one of the windows to look out. The street and apartment buildings outside seemed normal, but the darkness in the air that felt like a black fog. I turned as mist curled around my feet with a chill, filling the apartment like a twisted smoke machine.
“What’s going on?” Catina inquired, her voice shaky, obviously still oblivious to what was happening. But how could she know? If she did, she’d be screaming and running for her life.
“He’s here,” I breathed.
“Who?” She hugged one of the couch pillows to her chest, staring at me as if I’d gone mad. “You’re scaring me.”
X appeared inside the apartment out of thin air. Dread pushed against me like an invisible gale, and I locked my jaw tight, my muscles tense.
The fuckhead looked about as human as he ever would, but there was nothing about him that wasn’t short of a nightmare. His smooth, dark skin stretched across his body, while his eyes burned like an eternal fire. His pupils were never-ending pits of doom, and I instinctively looked away from his eyes.
Catina screamed, and I flinched. X had made himself visible to her—he very often stayed out of the humans’ way. But today, he was the bogeyman, the monster under the bed that was real. And the world seemed to freeze in those few moments when reality crashed through me, my heart ticking like a bomb in my chest.
“Elyse, what the fuck is that?” Catina yelled, spilling her wine over her pants and couch. She whimpered, hysterically crawling backward on the couch, and jumped off to put distance between her and X.
“Get out of here. Run!” I wasn’t taking the time to explain. X was in my territory now, and he was going to get what was coming to him. I was stronger and faster than ever, and I could take him.
I used my newfound speed, shooting from the one side of the room to the other so that I stood right in front of X in a blur. I struck out at him with a fist, aiming for his jaw. And the blow would have been perfect if he hadn’t been anticipating an attack.
But somehow, X wasn’t there for me, even though I had thought he was initially. Instead of fighting or even blocking my blows and kicks, he merely sidestepped me as if I were inconsequential. He gave me a smile that flashed sharp fangs, and like a vision, he disappeared from my side of the room and reappeared in front of Catina.
A chill crawled over me, numbing my brain.
Catina stood paralyzed with fear. She trembled on the spot, looking up at X. All the blood drained from her face.
“Don’t look into his eyes!” I shouted, but it was too late. The expression on Catina’s face sank as she fell, fell, fell.
My brain only offered me one thought: this was it. This was where I’d watch my best friend die. Lead seemed to fill my stomach, and my feet were set in concrete. They shouldn’t have been, but panic slithered through me.
X had started sucking the souls out of his victims instead of sending them to the Underworld, consuming them and adding them to his arsenal of magic. He was going to use my friend the same way he’d used so many other humans he’d consumed.
“Catina,” I cried out, charging X. I threw a punch against the side of his head, but my fist flew right through his form. He was fading, the darkness of his body becoming transparent enough for me to see Catina through him. Her eyes were wide, rolling in their sockets and her expression was riddled with the knowledge of her death.
My stomach dropped, and fear slammed into me, ragged and harsh.
But X didn’t consume my friend as I expected him to. He disappeared the moment I reached out a hand to grab him.
“Catina!”
But by then, she was gone, too. X had taken her. Why hadn’t he consumed her when he had the chance? He never took victims away to kill them. Was this a hostage situation? As scared as I was for Catina, it was almost too good to be true. It meant I had a freaking chance to save my friend.
The spot where Catina had stood only moments before was empty, every sliver of darkness dissolved, the apartment undisturbed as if nothing had happened. I remained alone in the middle of the room, panic creeping up on me.
I fumbled for my phone in my pocket and called the first number on my list: Apollo.
“He took her,” I mumbled, hysterics wracking my body as I started hyperventilating. My breath refused to enter my lungs, and the room tilted beneath me.
“Elyse, calm down,” Apollo demanded. “Who took her? Who got taken?”
“X.” I swallowed hard and barely got the words out. “The fucker took Catina. And he didn’t kill her.”
Apollo was quiet for only a second, so I rattled off Catina’s address, talking over him.
“I’ll be right there, then take you home straight away,” he said, and the line went dead.
