“Please,” I whispered as tears filled my eyes. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Hush, child,” Andrea tsked. “The sooner you accept what’s happening, the sooner this will all be over.”
Sharp pain flared in my arm. A cry bubbled up in my throat, but I swallowed it down as I gritted my teeth so hard I swore I heard the enamel crack.
The scruffy beefcake withdrew the knife. Blood dripped down the glinting blade. The other man rounded me and held a shot glass out beneath the knife to catch the blood. I frowned. What the hell?
I stared at the bright red, such a contrast to the all-white ensembles surrounding me. As I was distracted, Andrea smashed a cloth against my arm and held it there, pressure firm and unyielding.
“I don’t understand,” I whispered as the men strode over to the window and held the blood beneath the moonlight pouring into the living room. The blood sizzled, sputtering up bubbles and foam.
“Just what I thought,” Andrea murmured as my mouth dropped open. The men turned to me, along with every single cult member inside the room, with smiles as bright as the sun.
Suddenly, the sizzling stopped. The blood had turned as black as the night outside the windows.
I swallowed hard as my mouth went dry. “Um, can someone please explain to me what just happened?”
Andrea gripped my arm and yanked me toward her. Her eyes were alight with glee. “When you stopped Charlie, the Orb of Darkness shattered and grazed your skin. You hold the power of the orb now, Eva. And we can use your blood to gain immortality.”
2
Caim
TWELVE HOURS EARLIER
As I strode down the New York City streets, I had to admit that I had a little bounce in my step. Eva and I had practically been to hell and back, and while the cult was still out there somewhere, we’d cut them off at the knees.
Whistling, I pushed open the door of the corner bagel shop, and a little bell dinged to signal my arrival. Mattison Edgars, a kind-eyed man with grey-black hair, pushed up from his stool behind the counter.
“Ah, Caim. The usual, I’m guessing?” he asked in his gravelly voice and immediately turned to the coffee machine behind him.
“Not today, Mattison. Well, I do need the usual, but there’s an addition to my order.” My grin widened as he arched his caterpillar eyebrows.
“Is that so? Well, then. Tell me all about her while I get your order together. Oh, what will she want then?”
I rattled off the order and leaned against the sticky plastic counter while Mattison got started on the bagels, a neon coffee sign buzzing on the wall behind him. “And her name is Eva.”
“Eva,” Mattison said slowly, smiling. “Pretty name, though I’m sure there’s far more to her than that if she caught your eye.”
I drew a deep breath into my lungs. “You have no idea.”
Eva had taken me by surprise. “Spunky, brave, determined. A lot of love in her heart.”
Mattison glanced over his shoulder with an arched brow. “A lot of love for you?”
I chuckled. “I don’t think we’re quite there yet.” Though at the rate we were going, I could see it happening in the not-so-distant future. It was certainly something I’d never expected to encounter. My life had been full of a lot of things, but that kind of love had never been a part of it.
Mattison scooted the paper bag across the counter, followed by my coffee and Eva’s tea. “Bring her by here, eh? I want to see the girl who has put that light in your eyes. I know you, Caim. Always smiling. Always joking. But there’s always been sadness hidden behind all that.” He cocked his head. “Seems less apparent today.”
The bag crinkled as I grabbed it from the counter. With a smile, I gave Mattison a nod, trying to ignore the tightening in my chest. “Next time she stays over. I’ll bring her with me then.”
He grinned. “So, that means I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Maybe,” I said, backing out the door.
But if I had it my way, Eva would definitely be with me in the morning. And a lot more mornings after that.
I strolled back down the block and practically jogged through the door of my loft apartment, eager to see Eva’s smile when I gave her the much-needed breakfast. I’d heard her stomach rumbling when I’d left. But when I pushed through the door, she was no longer sitting at the kitchen island.
