Skip’s wild eyes volleyed back and forth between us.
“Today, genius,” I snapped.
Skip nodded.
“What’s your name?” Grim’s menace was palpable, rolling off him in heavy, black waves. All of it was directed at Skip.
“Dev—Devon Seward.”
“He’s lying,” I said. I knew very little, but I knew I drank blood, I wanted Grim naked, and this dude’s name was Skip.
Grim held up his hand at me. Oh no he didn’t. Did he give me “talk to the hand”? ‘Cause I might bite it right off.
“What’s her name?” Grim asked next.
Confusion flickered over Devon’s face, as if he were wondering if this were a prank of some kind. Skip, or Devon, looked back and forth between Grim and me, until he realized the punchline wasn’t coming. “Jane,” he stuttered again.
Something dropped to the bottom of my stomach. Recognition. Disappointment.
So much for fancying myself as a Vivien or Persephone.
“Last name?” Grim probed. Dark clouds of death continued to curl up and around his shoulders, choking the air. Even I felt the oppression of Grim’s power.
“I— I don’t know, man. I just know her name is Jane.” Devon’s voice was strangled, nearing hysteria. Tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes.
“How do you know her?” Grim dropped his scare-o-meter a couple levels. Good call, because it looked like it took all of Skip’s focus to not crap his pants right on the gray leather seat.
Skip’s words tripped all over each other as he cried, “She’s a bounty hunter.”
Every fiber of my being stilled as I digested that.
I was a bounty hunter.
Did that feel right to me? Searching inward, I thought of what Grim said. How I could fight, knew things only a sketchy criminal would. How I was able to track Skip by combing his hotel room. I’d even tracked down Chad when I needed information.
When I met Grim’s eyes, he seemed to be waiting for confirmation from me. I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. “Skip. You call someone who runs out on bail a skip.”
Devon’s words sunk into my gut, full of truth. I knew he was right, while the rest of my memories and my identity remained elusive.
Stepping forward, I took control of this inquisition. “Do you know me because you’ve tried skipping bail before, Devon?”
Getting a hold of himself, Devon shook his head. “No, I just know you’ve been tracking me down. My ex said you came by the house a couple weeks back and texted me a picture from her doorbell with the camera and told me you were trying to find me.”
“Were you busted for showing up to the party with drugs, Devon?” I asked, putting my hand on either side of his chair like Grim had done with me. I wanted Devon to feel pinned down, small, and trapped. That was how Grim had made me feel repeatedly. I wanted Devon to squirm the way I had. I would punish him for my disappointments.
“Yeah, they text and I make room deliveries.” Now that Grim wasn’t the one in his face, some of Devon’s attitude returned. “And you’re hassling me for providing a service. If it weren’t me, it would be someone else. You should keep your bitch nose out of my business.”
Dark, soul-sucking power flared behind me when Devon called me a bitch. “Oh, you are going to be sorry you said that,” Grim said in an airy tone. He didn’t move, giving me ample room to work.
A line formed between Devon’s bushy eyebrows as he peeked over my shoulder. “You going to sic the monster back on me?”
Grim chuckled darkly. “He thinksI’mthe monster here.”
It took Devon a second to turn his perplexed focus back to me. Opening my mouth, I let my fangs elongate and hissed in his face. The piercing shriek that came out of Devon could have cracked glass as he jumped up in his seat. I punched him out cold, shutting him up.
We stood there in Devon’s shitty apartment in silence for a long moment.
“Jane,” I said finally, before making a face. “Blech.” At least there was no way my last name was also Doe. Right?
