Retribution

CHAPTER 50

IT TAKES A MOMENT TO REGISTER—CULEBRA SITTING up, speaking.

I don’t pay attention to what he said. I’m at his side in two seconds, searching his face for reassurance that he’s all right and back with us.

He returns my stare with a bewildered frown. “What’s going on?”

I touch his cheek. It’s warm, color flooding up from his neck at whatever emotion he reads on my face.

“Do you remember?”

A flash in the depths of his eyes. It comes flooding back—a shared memory. The helplessness, the spell, dangling on the edge of death.

He remembers.

A sound from the corner.

Frey.

I’d almost forgotten Frey.

I turn around.

In the pile of rubble that was a chair, Frey struggles to his feet. When he straightens, a rush of relief loosens another knot in my stomach.

His hair and face are morphing back to normal. The white streaks fade, the deep claw marks fill in. He’s shaking his head as if to clear it, but I can tell by the way he’s moving that he hasn’t suffered any permanent physical damage. He meets my eyes and smiles, and I know he’s going to be fine.

Two down.

Williams hasn’t moved from his place against the back wall. He’s watching me, too, trying to figure out if I know the truth—that we were paralyzed by our own fear. It isn’t until this moment that I understand Burke’s power drew strength from that fear. She cast the spell, but it was our own weakness that forged the chains that bound us. It makes me ashamed. If I had stopped Burke in the restaurant, many lives would have been saved.

I turn away from him. I have my own guilt to deal with. Let him come to the realization on his own.

Now there’s only Sophie.

She’s slumped on the floor at the foot of Culebra’s cot. Her face is drained of color, of emotion, a blank slate from which two dark eyes stare dully at nothing. She looks so young, so fragile. It would be easy to forget that there is a powerful witch concealed in that childlike body.

A witch who just allowed her sister to what—?

I realize that I don’t know what happened to Burke. And I need to.

I kneel down beside her.

She raises her eyes to meet mine. Immense sorrow and deep regret are reflected there.

“Where is she?” I ask.

“Gone.”

“What does that mean?”

For Christ’s sake, Deveraux snarls. Leave her alone, will you?

I ignore him. Take one of Sophie’s hands in both of my own. It’s cold, colder than mine, and it raises gooseflesh on my arms. “Is she dead?”

“Is that what you want?”

Yes. “I want to know my friends are safe.”

“They are.”

“Then she’s dead?”

This time, I see the shift in Sophie’s eyes. Resolve replaces the dull ache of loss. “She can’t hurt anyone.”

It’s not the answer I wanted to hear. “She’s still alive.”

That gets a reaction from Williams. Moving faster than I can stop him, he yanks Sophie to her feet. He looses the vampire with a snarl.

“Where is she?”

This time I recover quickly enough to meet his beast with my own before he can do any real harm. With one hand, I grab the back of his neck and fling him away. Don’t touch her.

He hits the wall, stumbles, loses his footing. He’s back on his feet in an instant, hands twisted like claws, snarling. But when he looks at me, instead of attacking, he stops. For the first time since I’ve known him, Williams hesitates. He isn’t flouting his contempt or screaming at me. His fists open, his body loses its rigidity, his vampire face disappears. He meets my eyes, a terrible calmness replacing the fury. The words he hurls at me are filled with hate. “The witch lives. You can’t protect them. Both will pay.”

Before I can respond, he turns and leaves through the door that leads to the bar.

A different chill crawls down my back. Williams’ threat hangs in the air. It isn’t finished.

I make sure the beast is contained before turning back to Sophie. She shrinks back from me anyway. “I’m sorry if he hurt you.” I keep my voice low. “We both have concerns about Burke. We need to know what happened.”

She peers into my face. I don’t know what she sees. I don’t know what she’s looking for. I appeal to Deveraux. What’s wrong?

He hesitates a heartbeat before answering. I told her who you are, he says .

I don’t know what that means.

She recognizes you now. She knows what you are. The chosen. The one.

I’m too shocked to do more than gape at her. What did she recognize? What did I do?

Deveraux is chuckling. You beat down that old-soul vampire like a dog. You met Burke head-on. You hide your power well. I wouldn’t have suspected it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. You don’t seem the type, really. Too—ordinary, I guess.

I don’t know whether that’s a compliment or an insult. It’s too ridiculous. I put steel in my voice. Listen, in a minute Culebra is going to start asking questions. He’s the one Burke almost killed. You’re going to have to get Sophie to talk to us. He’s going to be as pissed as Williams.

He’s already as pissed as Williams.

Culebra’s voice at my elbow makes me jump. I’d forgotten he could get into my head as easily as Williams. Since Williams didn’t seem to be able to hear Deveraux, I assumed Culebra wouldn’t hear him, either.

I was wrong.

Culebra stands beside me, eyeing Sophie. What’s going on? I thought she was a witch.

You want to tell him, I ask Deveraux, or should I?