Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah.” She shrugs again. “It is what it is. I need to serve tea now. Want to come?”
“No, but thanks. I just need some time to process everything.”
“Of course. I’m here if you need anything.”
“Thanks,” I tell her and watch as she goes out of the room. Waiting just a beat, I get out the map and look at the pale circle stained into the paper. The way Mable said “Long Island” and not New York City makes me think she was talking about the other end of the island all together.
Which falls just on the very edge of the circle.
CHAPTER 30
“Wren?”
I turn, tearing my eyes away from the koi pond. The sun just set and I’ve been in the garden, trying to clear my head. I don’t know who to believe or what to do. Vivian said my parents are alive. She could have been lying, of course, to save herself.
Or she could have been telling the truth.
“Yes?” I reply to Xavier.
“Would you like to go out to dinner?”
I cross my arms. “Why? You need me to suss out another human for you?”
“No, not tonight. It’s been a rough day for you. I was going to suggest you pick a place tonight. Anywhere. I have our personal pilot on standby, so distance is no issue.”
“Seriously? We could go to Disneyland?”
He shrugs one shoulder. “If that’s what you want, sure.”
“What about New York? I haven’t been to Long Island before.”
“Do you have a place there in mind?” he asks without flinching.
“No.”
He strides over and it’s like I suddenly can’t breathe. My body reacts to his on its own accord and I find myself turning so I’m facing him, repressing the urge to grab his hand and bring it to me, letting him touch me until I’m undone again.
“Don’t think too much, just tell me the first place that pops into your mind.”
“Marie Elena’s in Asheville,” I say honestly. “It’s a Mexican restaurant we would go to when we’d come home after a hunt.”
“Then let’s go. Maybe you could find a succubus to kill on the way.”
“You heard about that?”
Xavier gives me a sly grin. “This is my house. I hear everything.”
“Everything?” I raise my eyebrows.
“Everything,” he repeats and extends his hand. I take it, lacing my fingers through his. “You are quite a force to be reckoned with.” He pulls me toward him and steps close at the same time. I almost stumble on the cobblestone and reach out, hand landing on his waist for support. Swallowing hard, I look up, knowing I can easily get lost in his eyes.
“I am a hunter,” I say softly. “And you know what they say. You can take the girl out of the Order, but you can’t take the borderline abusive training the Order beats into you out of the girl.”
“You don’t have to hunt demons anymore.” His eyes widen ever so slightly with excitement. “But you’ll always do it for the thrill.”
Deep down, I know he’s right. There’s something so intensely satisfying about killing demons. The entire process from the hunt to the kill, it makes me feel alive and exhilarated.
“And because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Right by who?”
“Humanity,” I say without thinking. He’s not human, not anymore. “I have the skills and abilities to kill demons. And, yes, I like it. I like the chase and the risk, and the fact that I’m facing death quite literally and I’ve always made it out alive. So why let them live?”
“What about bad people?”
“That’s where things get gray. Demons…demons are black and white. Good versus evil.”
“You don’t think people can be evil?”
I cast my eyes down, thinking about the way Marco looked at me in the club. He and Vivian were shocked, but not in a what have we done sort of way. They weren’t expecting to see me, and they weren’t expecting things to have gone the way they did. No, they weren’t worried or feeling riddled with guilt.
They were scared of what would happen to them because of this.
“They can be sure. But is it another human’s job to kill them for it?”
“What’s the alternative? Lock them up instead?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. Like really, I don’t know what’s right here. Maybe we should bring back capital punishment and give people a one-strike-and-you’re-out kinda deal. But then what constitutes a crime that should be punishable by death? It’s a whole big debate and one I’d rather have after eating a gummy and laying outside under the stars.”
“Gummy?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Oh come on, you know what kind of gummy I’m talking about even though you wouldn’t consume one.” His lips curve into a smile and I realize this is the perfect chance to ask about vampires doing drugs. “What would happen if you smoked weed?”
“Nothing. Inhaling the smoke would bring it into our lungs but then it would just stay there until it went back out. Nothing would be absorbed into our bodies.”