I heard the crunch of gravel behind me, and I whipped around and up onto my feet in one motion. Deacon. Before I could speak, he had me pressed back against a nearby car, his mouth hot on mine, his hands on my breasts, and damned if I didn’t want him right then, right there. I’d been primed on the dance floor, and I hadn’t come close to being satisfied. And now, with this darkness inside me, I just wanted it. Wanted him. Wanted the release.
“I didn’t like seeing you with him.”
“He’s dead,” I said, arching back as he cupped my breasts, trying to keep a hold on thought and reason, then wondering why I was bothering. “He was a demon. That’s what I do.”
“Kill them,” he said. “Don’t fuck them.”
I arched up, then met his eyes, and for the briefest of seconds the marks on my arm seemed to burn. Then there was a snap as the vision took hold, but he jerked away, and the moment was lost and, honestly, I wasn’t disappointed. I didn’t want to know any more. Not then. Right then, I knew all that I could handle. “You’re a demon,” I said.
“I’m an exception,” he murmured, then closed his mouth hard over mine. I moaned, wanting nothing more than to ease into the kiss and lose myself in the touch of this man who was danger and mystery and delight all rolled into one.
I fought to keep my senses, though, and through the haze in my brain, I saw the back door open, and I saw Kiera step outside.
I shoved Deacon—hard.
His eyes flashed. “What the—”
“Kiera,” I said. “Fight.”
He did, making it look damn good, but I wanted no questions. Nothing that Kiera could take back to Clarence that raised suspicions. And with his back blocking her view, I thrust my knife into his hand. “Kill me,” I said.
“What?”
“Kill me, goddammit, and make it look good.”
“Lily,” he said, and though I saw the pain in his eyes, he did what I asked. He shoved my knife deep into my heart.
And then, dammit, I died.
TWELVE
The convenient thing about being me is that death no longer sticks. So I came back, and when I did, I found Kiera crouched over me with Rose beside her, and both their expressions frantic.
“Holy crap,” Kiera said, as I blinked the world back into focus. “You were dead. Fucking A, you were absolutely, completely dead.”
Beside her, Rose’s mouth hung open, tears streaming down her face. I reached for her, and she crouched down, her arms around me, her sobs shaking us both. “It’s okay, hon,” I said. “I’m fine. Swear. See?” I pointed to the hole Deacon had left in my shirt, then at the un-marred flesh beneath. “I’m okay.”
She backed up and sniffed. “How?”
“Perk of the job,” I said.
“Fucking A,” Kiera repeated.
“Just one of my many party tricks,” I said, managing to draw a smile from both of them.
“Who?” Kiera asked.
“Deacon Camphire,” I said, and Rose sucked in air. I met her eyes, shaking my head ever so slightly, afraid she’d say something stupid. Like, oh, mention that she and I and Deacon had all been happily hanging together just last night.
“I thought that was him,” Kiera said, apparently not noticing my silent exchange with my sister. “I saw someone running away. I was going to go after him, but Rose came out, and you were here, and—”
“It’s okay,” I said. “He’s strong. You don’t want to screw with him.”
“I know. He’s on Clarence’s Do Not Disturb list.”
“Right,” I said. When I’d first become Prophecy Girl, Clarence had made it clear that I shouldn’t try to kill Deacon, what with him being superstrong-demon dude. But then all that changed, and Clarence told me that Deacon had been the one who murdered Alice. A big fat lie that I’m certain he spun so that I’d take the bastard out. He did it, we assume, because he’d learned that Deacon was trying to close the Ninth Gate. But that didn’t explain why Deacon was suddenly back on the Don’t Kill list. Clarence had to know Deacon was still trying to lock the gates up tight. So why would he want Kiera steering clear?
These, however, were not issues that I had time to ponder. Instead, I sat up, wincing a little, and held out my arm for Rose, who pressed her head onto my shoulder. “It’s okay,” I said. “I’m fine. Just stiff.” I drew in a breath, wanting to change the topic before this one got too dangerous. “I got that other demon, though,” I said to Kiera. “How about you?”
“Nailed her,” she said with a wide grin, and I realized I didn’t have any way of knowing if she really had. Right then, though, I had to admit I didn’t care. The darkness was still surging through me, even more intense now that the dead demon’s essence had been sucked in and was filling me up, shooting down into my fingers and toes like a drug. I’d gotten a hit—that was for sure—but I still craved another. “Let’s go,” I said.