“Will you?”
“Um, okay.”
I didn’t give her time to change her mind. I tried again. And again. And on the third time, although she still felt me, she said the image was fuzzier. As if my efforts to shield myself really were working.
I leaned back, smiling smugly. “We can practice more later, right?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks. And if you really want to come back to waiting tables, I’d love to have you.”
“Yay!” She leaned forward and tossed her arms around me, giving me a big hug. “After we close tonight, we totally have to go out. Me, you, Brian, and Aaron. Nothing major. Just a drink and friends. At Thirsty. Okay? You should get out. I know you, Alice, and you can’t sit in here and brood, or go off and hide wherever you were hiding.”
“I wasn’t hiding.”
“And no avoiding the subject.”
“I’m just not sure it’s a great idea.”
“Why not?”
“The last time we went to Thirsty,” I said, “I got jumped in the alleyway and technically died.” The paramedics had been called, and everything. Turned out they hadn’t been necessary, what with me being immortal and all. But at the time, no one knew that. Least of all me.
She frowned. “Well, yeah. But isn’t that all the more reason to go back?”
I couldn’t help it; I laughed. The question was so very Gracie.
Her cheeks flushed. “No, I mean it. You’ll be fine. Because lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place, right?”
“I really shouldn’t,” I said, thinking of Rose and the fact that I’d entered the ranks of single parents who required babysitters. Or demon sitters, I thought with a frown.
“Alice, come on. You have got to be running out of excuses by now.”
My current excuse stepped into the hallway, her hair mussed, a fluffy pink robe tied at her waist. “Who’s she?” Rose asked.
“A friend,” I said. “Gracie.”
Rose took a step forward. “Oh. Hi. I’m Lily’s sister.”
Gracie’s forehead scrunched up. “Whose?”
“A friend of mine,” I said. “She died recently.” I held out my hand for Rose, who walked slowly over and took it. “This is Lily’s sister, Rose, and her dad is having a hard time of it, so Rose is staying with me for a while, and—”
“Oh, God, Alice. I’m so sorry. Your friend dying, then Egan, and here I am trying to push a night out on you, and—”
“No,” I said, “I like the idea. I think it’s a good idea.” For that matter, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it. That pocket of normalcy to balance out the doom. That moment of laughter to make me remember why it was important to fight the dark that was building up inside of me and threatening to take over. “I want to go,” I said, meaning it. “But I can’t leave Rose alone.”
“Of course you can’t,” she said. “I guess she could come . . .”
I shook my head. “Actually, I have an idea.” Zane. He’d already watched her once, and I knew that Johnson would behave around the immortal. More than that, though, I wanted a reason to speak to him again, and I was more than happy to grasp my sister as an excuse. “After work,” I said. “We’ll go out for drinks after work.”
“He won’t like it,” Rose said darkly, after Gracie left, and I didn’t need Clarence’s mind-reading powers to know that she wasn’t talking about Zane but about Johnson.
“Yeah? Well, that’s too bad for him. I’m doing his damned dirty work, but I’m not on the job twenty-four/ seven. He’ll get his little bits of key, but that’s all he’s getting. Not my life. Not my time. And he’s damn sure not getting you.”
She licked her lips. “He already has me.”
I let out a breath, realizing I’d gotten too worked up. “Yeah,” I said. “I know.” I took her hand. “But I’m not going to let him keep you.”
Rose nodded, her face pale, her eyes huge against her sunken cheeks and sallow skin. “I want to hurt him,” she said. “Even though he’s inside me and can hear me, I have to say it. I have to say it out loud, you know? I want to hurt him. I want to kill him.”
“I know you do,” I said, my stomach clenching with the knowledge that my sister—my sweet, innocent sister—now had murder in her heart. “I know you do,” I repeated, “but you’re going to leave that part to me.” I might not have been able to save her from this horror, but I could damn well do that much for her. And I would. So help me, I couldn’t freaking wait.