"Who?"
The fridge open and shut on her end. "A Lucas, Marcus, someone. Maybe it was Jason. What's important is that I could pick his manaconda out of a police line-up."
"Never use that word again." I tightened my ponytail. "How were my boys?"
"Ari is playing hard-to-get. He's got game. When did that happen?"
"No idea. But it's about time."
Rohan came out of the shower, hair damp, but dressed and ready to go.
"Gotta run. Schmugs, babe."
"Schmugs," she said and hung up.
"Schmugs?" Rohan asked.
"Leo. It's an old goblin word for good-bye."
"You are so full of shit," he said.
"Good thing I'm cute. Come on, Rasha, let's go make sure Gelman's all right."
Her trashed hotel room and signs of struggle proved that nothing was all right. I sank onto the bed with a low moan. "This is my fault."
Rohan sat down beside me. "Nava, we don't even know what this is. There could be any number of explanations for what happened. Gelman is a witch. Who knows what else she was involved in? You don't know much about her."
"You're wrong. This was on me." I walked over to the window, fingering the torn curtain dangling precariously from the broken rod to peer outside, as if I'd catch her down on the street strolling back to the hotel without a care in the world. When I released the fabric, my hand was sticky. I grabbed the edge, twisting the curtain into the light.
"Oh." The fabric glistened with a familiar silver substance. It trailed down the wall, hardening in a small pool on the carpet.
Rohan caught me before my knees hit the ground. "What?" He inhaled in a hiss when he saw the secretion.
I looked at him bleakly. "The Brotherhood is using demons."
26
I sat on the floor, next to the gogota's slime. I couldn't stop poking at it. If I did it enough times, maybe it would become something else. Take away the fierce sting of hurt. I'd barely been Rasha for any time at all, and still, the magnitude of this betrayal stole my breath away.
We killed demons. We didn't modify them to be more effective and send them after our enemies. Except, it seemed we did. Someone in the Brotherhood did and it didn't take a genius to figure out who'd be able to pull something like that off.
If I was devastated, Rohan was shell-shocked. He stood in the middle of the room, just blank. It scared me. "You're right," I babbled, watching him desperately for signs that somebody was home in there. "I didn't know much about her. This could have been anyone –"
With a silent roar, Rohan tore down the curtain rod. He threw it like a spear, the decorative tip embedding itself in the wall across from me.
I flinched.
Rohan raged. Overturning the mattress, punching furniture until his fists turned bloody. All in a silent, cold fury.
I curled up into a ball, my hands thrown up protectively around my face. He wasn't going to hurt me, but that didn't mean I couldn't get injured from the fallout.
Eyes wild, Rohan spun around the room, looking for another way to vent but there was nothing left to destroy. He stood there, panting, his blades out.
I waited. I wasn't going to leave him alone but I didn't think I could get through to him yet. I counted guests coming and going on the floor outside. I'd gotten to seventeen before the savage light left Rohan's face and something resembling him returned.
I grabbed the edge of the windowsill above me, using it to pull myself up. With hands up placatingly, the same way I'd treat a feral animal, I spoke. "What you said before about not knowing –"
"Stop." A muscle jumped in his jaw. His eyes practically sparked and I could feel the wildness emanating from him. Rohan was still very much lost in the dark.
Not that I could blame him, but seeing him like this freaked me out. Especially knowing it was my determination to see Ari inducted that had led to this horrific moment. I'd say anything to make Rohan better. "Gelman was a witch. An enemy to the Brotherhood. I don't understand how they could use demons but if she was considered the greater threat … " I pulled my sweater sleeves down over my hands, shifting at the look he threw me. "What?"
"The first gogota. They sent it after you. A Rasha." The rage in his voice was absolute.
I thought about the Brotherhood. "I don't really count, though."
"You count, Nava." His impatience was palpable.
It triggered my own fury. I wrapped the emotion around me, drawing fuel from it. "No shit I count, Rohan. I'm not fishing for compliments and validation. My ego is fine, thanks. But I am a female Rasha and to the ones who would stoop to doing this," I waved a hand around the room, close to tears and hating myself for having no other way to express my angry frustration, "bullshit to begin with? No. I. Don't. Count."