The young woman considered her words, various unidentifiable emotions flashing in her eyes. “You are a reaper, proudly affiliated with a business that wishes for your death? I find that very hard to believe.”
Layla thought of Elise again and how each second spent here was wasted in her search for the heiress. “I’m sure you find a lot of aspects of New York very hard to believe. How long have you been here?” she asked.
A sharp laugh left the young woman. “The worst part of New York is how you monsters murdered my brother and his men in cold blood. There’s not a single sense of morality or control in these streets. Every neighborhood in the city runs red with blood, and yet you expect everyone to take you seriously. This place is a lost cause.”
Though the criticisms of her home raised in Layla a violent anger, she knew she could not do anything brash before she got significant information from these gangsters. Julius would likely lie about hisinvolvement and find some way to turn the rest of their clan against her. Layla refused to let this lead die. “Why not just find the reapers who killed your brother? Why punish all of us?” she demanded.
“Nicoletta.” One of the gangsters gestured toward the other end of the street, where a few police cars had materialized, no doubt to survey the activity in Jungle Alley.
Nicoletta lowered her gun. “Would you not do the same if your Saint was threatened?”
Hot anger flared in Layla’s stomach. “Where is she?” Her voice went hard, despite her efforts to keep calm.
The gangster ignored her question. “You wouldn’t happen to be friendly with the reapers who murdered my brother would you?” Nicoletta eyed the Saint gun she held, turning it over in her hands while she spoke. The chamber clicked, and she held the gun up again, facing Layla once more. “You can tell me the truth about the Diamond Dealers, Layla.”
The blood froze in Layla’s body at the mention of her name. Just by Nicoletta’s knowing smirk, Layla knew she already had an idea of what had happened with the Diamond Dealers. Layla had not been the one to incite the fight that had left most of the gang dead, nor had she inflicted most of the violence. That had been another reaper’s doing. But Layla knew that would not matter to someone like Nicoletta, who took vengeance seriously enough to travel across the world to enact it.
“I have my secrets and you have yours. Do you want to see what happens if I spill the details of your operation to my clan mates? Orshould we just never speak of this again?” Layla tilted her head to the side and watched the heated anger rise in Nicoletta’s eyes.
The lead gangster took in a deep breath, her jaw clenching. “You are absolutely right. I’d prefer to shut your mouth so we can never speak of this again.” Nicoletta raised her gun and squeezed the trigger.
Layla moved faster than her aim. Having anticipated her attack, Layla lunged for the gangsters beside Nicoletta, knocking them into her hard enough to jostle the gun from her hand. Nicoletta cursed and reached for her belt, but Layla was already hovering over her with a Saint blade in her own hand. She nodded as Nicoletta flashed her a nervous grin. “I like your fear. It tells me I’m doing something right. But if you’d only told me what your plan was here, we could have avoided all this.”
Nicoletta’s smile widened. “I prefer mutiny while avenging my family.” Her eye flicked to something behind Layla, and the tell was all she needed to strike against the approaching gangster.
Layla sank the blade into his gut and reached for his hand, twisting it so hard that the bones and muscles popped. He dropped the gun, but Layla kept wrenching his arm until the skin split and the muscles pulled away from the bone. Blood sprayed across her face as she yanked his hand free. It pulsed in Layla’s own grip for a moment before she shoved it into Nicoletta’s gaping mouth. The gangster choked on the ruined flesh and blood, her eyes going wide as Layla bared her fangs at her.
“Does this mutiny taste good?” Layla seethed.
Nicoletta gurgled around the hand but still tried to fight back.She reached for Layla, grabbing onto her shirt and her belt, but coming up empty.
Layla gripped her wrist and glared. “Touch me again and I’ll take your hand too.”
A gun cocked behind her. When Layla turned, she saw the unmaimed gangster aiming his weapon right at her heart. Her clan mates, Roy and Sam, had vanished, leaving the rogue reaper’s body behind on the street.
“Get off her,” the gangster demanded. His comrade writhed on the ground by his feet in a pool of blood fountaining from where his hand used to be.
Layla rose, with blood flowing down her chin and chest. She faced the gangster and spat a mouthful of blood and saliva onto the ground. Already the presence of human blood in her system had her thoughts spiraling into oblivion and her skin prickling with adrenaline. “You are making a fool’s bargain. Look around.” Layla gestured to the fallen bodies between them. Even the police vehicles still idled at a safe distance by the end of the street.
The gangster’s gun arm shook. He pressed his fist beneath his elbow, trying to steady it, but the fear in his eyes was nearly palpable. Layla relished it now. She felt her heart rate quicken, and her gaze narrowed to the throb of blood in his jugular. Even now, while mostly full, Layla craved the destruction that would bring the sweet satisfaction of his blood. She almost wanted him to shoot. To give her a concrete reason to lunge and tear his throat open until a geyser of blood poured down her throat.
“Leave it,” Nicoletta grumbled. She finally got to her feet, wiping at the blood on her face. Without her weapons and confident attitude, she seemed much smaller, though she still stood a few inches taller than Layla. “We’ll take care of this later.”
“You will not,” Layla warned. She eyed the gangster still cradling the bloody stump of his arm. “I suggest you leave town. Reapers never forget the blood of their betrayers. My clan mates and the rogue reapers will go after you, and I won’t stop them.”
Nicoletta gave her a fierce glare. Even her human eyes, full of mortal ignorance, challenged the ravenous spirit threatening to break from Layla. “We do not run.”
Layla shrugged. “Fine. I’ll kill you next time.” She bent to hoist the fallen rogue reaper over her shoulder, then picked the gangster’s hand up. Blood smeared over the gang-affiliated tattoo on his knuckles, but it was visible enough. She watched as Nicoletta and her colleague entered the nearby car and sped off into the night. The reaper on Layla’s shoulder groaned, but remained unconscious. The lair, Layla realized, would have a feast on tonight’s finds.
She disappeared into the alleyway just as the police vehicles sped by, blood trailing in her wake.
***
In all her rage, Layla didn’t stop to talk to anyone or gauge the scene before she stepped into the cathedral lair. Reapers scattered, though they remained interested at the sight of her carrying a bleeding rogueand a severed hand whose blood had yet to dry. She stopped only when she made it to the wall by the staircase where Elise stood with Celie and Julius.
The older reaper turned, his face falling first into shock, then shifting to confusion when he saw her. “Layla, I’m sure no one wants your mess in here. You can go back to treating your girl like a sack of blood—”
“Shut up.” Layla dropped the rogue reaper onto the floor between them, tossing the hand onto his chest. The tattooed gang symbol was face up and visible to everyone who crowded around them. She frowned at Julius. “You’re a goddamn traitor. Selling out your own kind to gangsters for God knows what unethical reasons. You should have never been allowed to call yourself the head of this clan. You’re a danger to us all.”
