I could feel Brian’s pulse increase, and I pressed closer, enjoying the fantasy. We moved together for a while, lost in lust and the music.
Then I felt Brian’s erection and caught the intense thrum of his desire. I eased back, the bubble bursting. I wasn’t the old Lily. Not by a long shot. And I wanted out of there. Wanted to make amends to this nice guy for the games I was playing. Games he probably didn’t even realize were going on.
Someone tapped at my shoulder, and I whipped around, expecting to find Deacon.
Instead, my eyes met Gracie’s, hers wide and disturbed.
“Gracie,” I said, the buzz fizzling. “I’m sorry. I—”
“It’s about Rachel,” she said, thrusting my phone toward me. “It rang, and I couldn’t catch your attention, and—”
I wasn’t listening anymore. I had the phone up to my ear, and the man on the other line was telling me that he was from Carney Hospital and that Rachel had been assaulted.
I didn’t hang around to hear the rest of it. With the phone plastered to my ear, I grabbed up my coat, signaled to a worried-looking Gracie and a dazed Brian that I was leaving, then raced out of Thirsty and gunned the bike to the hospital.
“Rachel Purdue,” I said to the first person I saw with a name tag. “Where do I find her?”
“I’m sorry—”
“Patient. Emergency room. Assault victim.”
“Right.” The woman’s voice was soft and calming, and she walked me to a set of double doors and pointed me down the proper hallway. “It’ll be okay, honey,” she said with a soft pat on my back.
I wasn’t at all sure about that, but I jogged down the corridor until I reached the emergency room, then accosted yet another employee.
“She’s doing well,” the lanky redhead said. Her hair had been pulled back into a severe ponytail, and she moved with an efficient step to one of the small cubicles set up for ER patients. I followed her in, then exhaled in relief when I saw Rachel sitting up in bed, her face a black-and-blue mess, but her eyes bright and alert.
“What happened?” I ran forward and took her hands.
“Some of my old acquaintances weren’t exactly thrilled that I decided to change the way I’m living my life.”
I winced, understanding perfectly who the old friends were. “What did they do?”
“Jumped me. By my apartment.” She twisted her head to look at me. “They said I ought to follow your example. You wanna tell me what they meant by that?”
I didn’t, of course. And at the same time, I wanted her to know. I didn’t want her to believe her sister had fallen in with the very thing that Rachel herself was trying to escape. And, yes, I realized that this could be one big, huge, honking trap. Use Alice’s sister to bait me into revealing my true allegiance.
But do that, and they either had to kill me, or I’d have to run. Either way, they couldn’t use my arm to find the rest of the relics.
So I figured I was safe.
Or maybe I was just rationalizing. Bottom line, I wanted Rachel to know the truth. I felt like I owed it to her. She’d lost a sister, after all.
“Alice,” she pressed. “Do you know what they meant?”
I sat up straighter. “It means I’m doing something right,” I said. “It means they think I’m working for the demons. And Rachel,” I added, “my name really isn’t Alice. I told you. I’m Lily.”
“All right, Lily,” she said in an exasperated tone. “Tell me. Tell me everything.”
And I did. All of it. Or most of it. I left out a few bits. Like sex on the floor of the Bloody Tongue. I figured we could skip those details.
When I was finished, she was no longer looking at me like I was crazy. Instead, she closed her eyes and sank back into the thin hospital pillow. “My uncle Egan killed my sister.”
“Yes.”
“And a demon is trapped in your sister.”
“Yes,” I said. And this time my voice broke.
She rolled her head and opened her eyes to look at me. “And now you’re killing demons.”
“That’s my plan. It’s complicated. I have this whole double-agent thing going, and they—”
“I need to sleep.”
I jerked back, almost as if her words were a physical blow. “What?”
“I need to sleep now,” she said. She turned away from me, but I saw the way her shoulders hitched as she held back tears.
“I—okay.” I stood up, wishing I could comfort her. I couldn’t, though. She’d lost her sister, had her world shattered, and looking at me only reminded her of the horrible truth.