But this ismywar.
No king or queen who’s unwilling to fight on the frontline deserves their crown.
Texting Brontë that I’m spending the night at Beelzebub’s with Emi, I head downstairs. Jezebel meets me at the foyer, blocking my exit with a loud yowl. She sounds almost…pleading.
I crouch, scratching her cheek. “I’ll be back. Keep the bed warm for me.”
She huffs, pawing at my chest with a whine.
“You can’t come with me.”
She bats me again, and I fold her paw between my hands.
“If I don’t return, protect my parents. They’ll need you more than me.”
She grunts, and my throat burns.
“I willnotlose another friend, sweet girl. You will stay here, and if I don’t come back, you will guard Mama and Papa for the rest of your days. Do you understand?”
Jezebel’s glacial eyes search mine, an entire lifetime of unconditional and unfaltering love in their depths. What I face tonight is too dangerous for her. She may follow me into death, but it doesn’t mean I’d ever allow it.
Throwing my arms around her neck, I hold her for long minutes. Her soft whimpers stab my heart and bleed me dry. I kiss her nose, giggling as she sneezes.
“Look after a certain coroner, too, would you? He’s kind of grown on me a little.”
Jezebel bows her neck. I tug my leather jacket on and slip out the house like a wraith, my fingertips skimming the scar over my heart carved by the man I love.
HUNT
Brontë
“Is it cruel to be eating pizza while surrounded by corpses?” Quinn wonders aloud as she eyes the morgue coolers.
“Of course not.” I scoff, happily clogging my arteries with another grease-ridden slice. “We’re hungry, and they’re dead. What’s so cruel about that?”
She chuckles, shrugging and devouring her own slice. It’s been an easy healing journey for us, repairing our broken friendship from the roots. She’s slowly getting over Scull’s ‘disappearance,’ though I’d be lying if I said I feel no shame every time she talks about him with a mournful tone. As if, subconsciously, she knows he’s no longer alive.
“You look good, Brontë.” A serene smile tugs her lips up. “You’ve been practically glowing lately.”
“Sex will do that,” I drawl, washing the crust down with a thermos of cold black coffee that Poppy made for me before I fucked her in my car as payment.
Quinn quirks her lips in thought. “Does Poppy have any single friends?”
“None that aren’t felons.”
“I assumed as much.” She shrugs, sipping her can of sparkling water. “I’m starting to think that’s my type.”
“Fair enough. Give me your phone.” She does, and I add Poppy’s number to her contacts before sending Poppy a text with Quinn’s number. “There. Ask her yourself.”
“Right now?”
“If not now, then when?”
Quinn audibly gulps, dialing Poppy. My eyebrows scrunch when she leaves a message. Poppy should be at Beelzebub's with Emi, according to her text she sent less than an hour ago.
“Probably got caught up watching vampire anime,” I say lightheartedly as I try calling.
She doesn’t answer for me, either.
