We have to outsmart him, it’s our only option. We need to set a trap.
I push it aside and focus instead on what we need to do.
“Diablos,” I whisper. “We need you.”
He appears instantly. “I hope this is important, Sire-” he cuts off mid-word, turning first one way, then another.
“What the fuck happened?”
“Deux,” Mei says quietly.
Diablos exhales roughly. He opens his mouth, then closes it. I can see him thinking all the things he wants to blurt out but stopping himself before he does. I’m glad I don’t have to try to kill him.
I’m not even sure I could do that right now.
Leaf takes Mei’s hand in his, ignoring the way she tries to pull away from him.
“Deux?” Diablos mutters. “Perhaps I ought to stick Stix on him. Or Puppy.”
“No!” Mei shouts.
Diablos looks at her with real anger this time. “Why not?”
“He will consider it a challenge. He will go after anyone they care about, and he will make Becky’s death horrible. She doesn’tunderstand herself yet. Stix is too honourable; Deux would kill him, and Puppy is too thrown by his instincts.”
Diablos stares at her, really seeing her. “What would you have me do? I can’t leave him to run around killing entire villages of humans. They will get out their guns and nukes and blow us all to hell.”
“We will do it,” Mei says. “If we work together, I think we could do it.”
I stare at her. Working together? I think about it, all of us. Yeah, we might be able to pull it off.
Diablos nods and looks around sadly. “Get out of here. I need to notify the local authorities and let them investigate. I don’t need anyone to see the Sirens here again.”
Leaf picks Mei up and carries her away. I move closer to Diablos and stand shoulder to shoulder with him, watching as Ronit gets our shiver moving.
“If we fail, there will be a place you can send him. Listen for my song.”
Diablos scowls. “Don’t fail, Siren. That Nightmare deserves better than this life has given her.”
I incline my head, acknowledging the truth of that statement. Mei does deserve better.
I look up at the frozen bodies, but then again, so did they. Not everybody gets a happy ending in this life. Some of us are destined for tragic ends and tears. Some of us have to suffer so that others can soar.
That is the way of it.
It just never occurred to me that I would want so badly to change the fate of one person.
Chapter 24
Mei
Iwalk straight inside and stop in the middle of the room, my mind too full of what has happened. Even navigating the furniture right now is too much. I want to scream and cry. My lungs feel too big, my head feels stuffy.
I couldn’t see the people, but I could smell the decay, their individual scents. The terror they felt clung to their frozen skins. I could tell their ages by how they smelled. Their pain had soaked the woods, the screams echoing still in the air. The pain was a blanket as thick as the snow we walked through. It’s like the trees and the snow took their cries into themselves and just howled around, amplifying them and replaying their last moments.
This is my fault.
A hand grabs my arm and spins me around into a hard chest.
