“Such a smart boy,” I coo as I give the swing he’s lying in a tiny kick with my foot. “I bet Tobie is ready to say her first word.” I bite down over my lip while I look to Chloe. “Wesley is going to die the first time she saysdaddy.”
“Don’t you wish.” Chloe rides a finger over her bare arm. She didn’t spend the night, but as soon as she popped into the room, she practically disrobed to nothing before crawling into bed next to me. And trust me, there was nothing even remotely sexual about that gesture. There simply isn’t a comfortable place to sit or stand in this crowded, little overheated hole. Chloe is the last person I want to be bedmates with, but we are just that, both literally and metaphorically at themoment.
“God, how I can’t wait for Wes to die,” she moans with delight. “I’ll celebrate that day each year. It’ll be the greatest holiday ever.” Leave it to Chloe to take my words at face value. “But Wesley’s death is miles away. It’s Gage we need to be concerned with. Demetri has plans for your man, Skyla, and it has nothing to do with pumping blood through that beating heart of his. If anything, that beating heart is an obstacle he’d very much like to extinguish. Gage’s life stands in the way of everything he wants to andwillaccomplish. Some people stop at nothing to make sure all of their dreams come true, and Demetri Edinger has always gotten what hewants.”
“He doesn’t have my mother.” It comes out quiet, catatonic, as I silently wonder if he does and if he’s had her allalong.
“Please. Have you seen that kid of theirs? She’s got Demetri’s soullesseyes.”
“Watch it. That’s my little sister you’re talking about.” God, she’s right. I can’t even look at Misty anymore without seeing Demetri’s miniature face. It’s shocking to me the way she’s brazenly morphing into him. Soon enough even Tad will be forced to face the DNA, and this entire family will go to hell in a Fem-giftedhandbasket.
“Demetri Edinger gets who and what he wants. If he wants Gage Oliver dead”—Chloe touches the tip of Barron’s foot, and he donkey kicks her until she withdraws her claw—“then dead is exactly what he’llbe.”
My heart ratchets up into my throat. “We have to dosomething.”
“We? Don’t look at me. I signed up for Factiondetail.”
I glower at her a moment. “Liar, liar. I would love to set your pants and the rest of you on fire.” Chloe signed up for so much more. Chloe and I are both Celestra—thankfully, her host body was, too. Speaking of my favorite ax wielding mad scientist. “I think maybe we should pay Ezrina and Nev avisit.”
Her brows rise at the thought. “That old hag has been foaming at the mouth with revenge for years against the idiots who cost herfreedom.”
“And killed her family. They thwarted her love with Heathcliff for centuries. Ezrina is the perfectweapon.”
“Weare the perfect weapon, Skyla. Once you relegate the victory to someone else, you may as well give up. What we should really do is snuff our own husbands. I’ll kill Wesley, and you smother the last living breath out of Gage.” She scowls a moment as if she were sorry she didn’t assign that task toherself.
“And then what? Demetri finds a way to resurrect his sons, and we’re still in a shitposition.”
“Demetri isn’t God, Skyla. Who holds the key to life? The Creator or Demetri? If Demetri had that power, don’t you think he would have resurrected the dead to haunt this world? What the hell is a zombie—or a Fem dressed as a ridiculous clown—when compared to a reanimated corpse? If he had that power, Dr. Oliver would have been out of business long ago. Demetri wouldn’t waste any time in bringing back the entirecemetery.”
“Ezrina can bring back the dead—Counts. And Dr. Oliver did bring youback.”
“You brought me back,” she says it so fast it feels like a slap in the face. And believe me, I want to slap my own face for theendeavor.
“My blood, Chloe, never me. I’m the one that put you in the ground to begin with, remember?” That was the only concerted effort I put into thisfiasco.
“Yes, Skyla.” Chloe tosses her arms in the air with exasperation. “You killed me. You slaughtered me in the woods like a boss. You’re thegreatest. I’m just a peon that lives in a dark cave in some physical plane that mankind has no clue about. I’m at your mercy. I’mthe—”
“Oh, would you stop. Get it together or you can leave,” I hiss. Nathan shouts something that sounds like an agreement, and I can’t help but give a little smile. “Okay, we’ll both get it together, Chloe. Now that Nathan and Barron have finally gotten over their Emma plague, I can refocus on the task at hand. I think we need to roll intoaction.”
“About damn time. And I know just where tostart.”
“Speak.” More often than not, I resort to Ezrina’s style of verbal brevity around Chloe. Just because we’re joined at the hip as of late doesn’t mean I have to likeit.
“Maybe we should kill the Kraggers first?” She strums her fingertips over oneanother.
“That would be a great place to start. Killing the Kraggers is like delousing society. But I think I killed themall.”
Chloe straightens. “I killedEmerson.”
“Correction, Chloe,Ikilled Emerson by not stoppingyou.”
She blinks with dismay. “My, aren’t you the blonde martyr. What about Arson? Shall we kill himnext?”
A smile pulls on my lips, but I refuse to give it. “I suppose we shall.” Leading Chloe by the nose is far easier than expected. “On second thought, killing Big Daddy K might lead to more problems than it would solve. We need solidideas.”
“We need that witch of a mother of yours.” She glances at the ceiling. “Or are you more of a warlock, Candace? I’ve always suspected you’ve been hiding a pair of very large, hairy balls under that white toga you run aroundin.”
My eyes close involuntarily, and I groan. “Stop it, Chloe. My mother doesn’t respond to belittling. I should know. I tried it all through high school. In fact, my mother doesn’t respond to almost anything. She’s impossible to get ahold of unless she’s in the mood to play.” It’s true. But as of late, it does seem she’s been a bit easier to connect with. Having the boys—and, of course, Sage, has bonded us on a level I didn’t think was possible. Who knew it would be the children I’d have with Gage that would bring us closer? My mother may not be Gage Oliver’s biggest fan, but she does love hischildren.
