Christian slapped the Mage. “Where’s the safe?”
“Upstairs.”
“What’s the code to open it?”
“Six one six, nine five nine.”
Christian stood up and kicked him hard. “There’s a special jail cell for men like you. One with hungry rats and broken toilets.”
Cristo coughed and rolled to his side. “No jail can hold me.”
Shepherd slowly circled around him and knelt down.
Cristo glared up at him, his nose bloodied. “What the fuck are you looking at?”
Shepherd tapped the tip of his blade against his own chin. “Remember me?”
“I don’t know you.”
“But I knowyou.” Shepherd held out his arms to show him the scars and then sliced open the front of his shirt, revealing more.
“Is that supposed to mean something?” Cristo, still lying on his side, stared daggers at him.
Shepherd gave him a mirthless smile. “Five years ago, an acquaintance of yours tried to stab me to death while you murdered a woman in her own bed.”
Recognition sparked in Cristo’s eyes. “Oh, yeah. That was back when I ran with a partner. I knew he should have cut off your head.”
“Your buddy cried like a baby when I killed him.”
Cristo rolled onto his back and gave him a crooked smile, blood smeared across his face from a broken nose. “That was years ago when I was new at the game. Taking on a partner was a mistake, so you did me a favor. We could tell you weren’t a Mage or Vampire, but he should have taken your head anyway. Joe was always sloppy. Sorry bastard almost got me killed.”
With lightning speed, Shepherd stabbed Cristo through the palm, pinning his hand to the floor. Cristo bellowed in pain, and before he could even think about blasting Shepherd with his free hand, I flashed over and stepped on it.
Shepherd twisted the knife slowly. “You killed my woman. You killed my future. And you killed… my… baby.”
A slow chuckle rose in Cristo’s chest until he rocked with laughter.
Shepherd wrenched the knife free and chopped off Cristo’s fingers. The Mage’s green eyes bulged, and he clutched his bleeding hand to his chest.
Shepherd held the blade against Cristo’s neck, and a rivulet of blood trickled out. “You held its lifeless body by the leg as if it were nothing but garbage! I’ve waited for this moment for years, but before I make you suffer, I want to know why.”
Cristo stared at the ceiling, his eyes watery and bloodshot from the pain he must have felt in his hand. Yet despite his obvious agony, he looked at Shepherd with amusement. “You really don’t get it, do you? Why would I kill a baby? They’re worth more alive than dead.”
Shepherd blanched, and I stepped on Cristo’s hand even harder until he whimpered and tried to jerk it free.
“Do you think that was my first cesarean?” he continued. “That’s not how I run my business anymore; it was too messy. But I can bring a baby into this world better than any Relic can. I remember that job. Accidentally cut his face when my knife went in. Thought I killed it. I only got paid half for damaging the merchandise.”
Cristo continued laughing maniacally, and I stepped on his hand even harder until I felt the bones crack beneath my boot.
“Fucking bitch,” he snarled.
Incensed, I fell on top of him and clasped my hands over his. With every ounce of power I had within me, I drew out his core light. It happened so fast that his eyes widened with shock. With the last drop, a white flash pulsed between our hands, followed by an audible snap.
“Give it back!” he shouted, realizing I’d stolen his immortality. “Give it back!”
His filthy light coursed through my body like a plague, and I instantly wanted to vomit. Instead, I stood up and wiped the blood off my hand.
“It’s not so funny when someone takes something fromyou, is it?”
