I focused on that. Gods help me, I focused on our last kiss. The way his heat penetrated through my clothes. How his hands felt digging into my skin, owning me, supporting me, and how it felt to be held like I was the only one he wanted.

  Anger simmered under my skin. No, that wasn’t true. If he did, he wouldn’t have betrayed me. Wouldn’t have left me.

  Inhaling a deep, long breath, I held it for a beat before slowly releasing. In my mind, I saw the dimmer switch, and I forced it down. My Death Lines retreated into my body, the magic sizzling as it returned to a resting place, coiled in the palms of my hands. It had never felt like that before. The times I accidentally used my Death Lines in the past, they had come out and retreated as if just part of me.

  “What the hell are you doing back?” sort-of roommate asked.

  Indigo moved out of the way, ushering me into the apartment. I stepped forward and halted again when my eyes met cold slate black ones. A shiver went down my spine. Unable to control my reaction, I studied him.

  Taller than Indigo, which was a feat of its own, he looked even more massive with sweeping elegant horns that sat just above his temples. They rounded off like a ram’s. The tips of his horns pointed to his thick lips. He had a prominent brow that looked almost ridged from here. Wouldn’t surprise me. I blinked, still trying to take all of him in.

  “Rowan, this is Cornelius. Neil, this is Ro.”

  Cornelius grunted as he eyed me, and it was only then that I could fully take him in because his wings twitched behind his back. Holy shit, he had wings too! The dark gray of his skin resembled the rock his kind had been mistaken for.

  “You’re a gargoyle.”

  “How observant of you, necromancer,” he said, obviously peeved.

  I didn’t even care that he’d insulted me. Meeting a gargoyle was not an everyday experience; from the little I did know about them, they were solitary creatures and had migrated to the mountains centuries ago. Their shape had been harder to glamour, and they usually had to go to a witch or fey to get spelled items.

  “You’re in the city.”

  “Was she dropped on the head repeatedly as a babe?” Cornelius asked, clearly done with me.

  Indigo growled. “Fuck off, Neil.”

  “Just saying, Indie.”

  “Don’t call him that. He hates it,” I interjected without a second thought. Indigo hated the nickname his brother gave him, especially since everyone attached it with the action hero. Nerdy archaeologist didn’t strike fear into pack mates’ hearts. Besides, Indigo had been way into the movies when we were kids.

  Neil raised his brow though he didn’t have eyebrows, and instead of normal hair, it looked like wiry mane.

  “And I fucking hate my name all the way around. Since you all can’t pronounce anything in my tongue, I got slapped with this name. What are you doing back already, Indigo?” Cornelius asked, then turned his gaze back to me. A question burned in his eyes, but I couldn’t even begin to fathom what he wanted to ask.

  “Pack business,” Indigo said. He gave the gargoyle a pointed look.

  “Do you two lovers want a moment alone together?” I asked.

  “You two better have that chat soon,” Cornelius replied, ignoring my jab.

  “Not tonight. Come on,” he said, turning to me. “I’ll show you to the bathroom, and then we can get some shut-eye.” Indigo pressed his hand on my back, urging me farther inside.

  The apartment seemed basic. We walked right into the living room where it was painfully obvious that two unattached males lived there. One couch sat flush against the wall facing the TV, which sat on a small rickety-looking stand. The walls were all painted the ugly off-white that came with most generic apartments. No decorations besides leftover pizza boxes, sitting on the counter of the kitchen, which was adjoined and tucked away.

  The kitchen was small but efficient, with a dishwasher, fridge, stove/oven, and the all-important microwave. The counter turned into a peninsula with a small lip for a breakfast bar. They had one wooden stool without any cushioning. The only other chair and “table” I saw were back in the living room. I guessed they used their coffee table as their dining table.

  Indigo led me down a small curving hallway. Around the bend, it ended abruptly at three doors. Two were closed, the other open with the light off.

  “Don’t go in there. Cornelius will likely kill you,” Indigo said, indicating Cornelius’s room. “This is my room, and the bathroom is here. If you want a shower, it’s yours first.”

  “Sure.” I needed some time alone.

  I opened the door to a sparse, bare-bones bathroom. Small sink and vanity, with a toilet and a shower/tub combo. The shower curtain featured an old sci-fi movie theme and made me want to laugh. Finally there was a piece of the Indigo I used to know.

  Stepping over to the shower, I cranked the knob for hot water and let it run for a minute. On the lip of the tub sat store-brand shampoo, probably cheapest you could buy. And a bar of soap that smelled like citrus. I walked over to the vanity and checked the cabinets underneath—only extra toilet paper rolls.

  All right, back to basics for me. Not unusual for me, having lived in a house full of guys, especially when I spent time over at Wilson’s. But I still needed a towel.

  “Have you told her yet?” I overheard Cornelius through the bathroom door. I crept out of the bathroom and down the hall to hear better.

  “Do you think she would’ve come with me if I did?”

  “You need to. The longer you keep it from her, the angrier she’s going to be.”

  “You hear anything suspicious lately?”

  “Nah, you should head down to the Beat though. Any black-market news you want is going through them right now. Also, Keller’s on the warpath, so stay the fuck away until you tell her. And him.”

  What the hell are they talking about? I tiptoed my way back down the hallway and made more noise as I walked back. Normally I would storm out there and demand answers, but for reasons I didn’t want to acknowledge, I kept quiet. An idea sparked as the guys’ conversation took a sudden sharp turn toward sports. I rolled my eyes. Girls used shoes, fashion, and the like to get guys to become uninterested. Guys generally used sports or cars. But Indigo should’ve known better, considering he knew my past.

  “I need a towel.” And a ghost. When I showered, I would have to try to remember my brief lessons on tying a ghost to me. My parents hadn’t wanted us to use that sort of magic; while most people saw necromancer magic as dark, even we had our limits.

  “Sorry, I forgot.” Indigo got up and walked down the hallway with me. I waited outside his room until he came back out with a towel. “Tomorrow, we’re going to have to talk.”

  Hm, maybe the ghost isn’t necessary.

  “Who is Keller?” Curiosity definitely bit me in the ass.

  Indigo’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t answer. Instead he handed me the towel. “Tomorrow. Now shower.”

  Pressing my lips together, I smothered my annoyance.

  “I’m only showering because I feel gross, not because you told me to.”

  Indigo waved at me without turning back around. I rolled my eyes and went back into the bathroom.

  Maybe tying a ghost to me wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. I considered it as I undressed and stepped into the shower.

  The shower relaxed my tense muscles. Nothing could soothe the ache in my heart though. The longer we went without information about Abel, the harder it was to ignore my fears. Without a doubt, I knew he still lived. I would feel his death.

  When we were younger, people asked us all the time if we could feel each other’s pain. Phantom twin pain. Once, in third grade, I remembered Corey asking me about it right before he twisted the skin on my bicep with sharpened werewolf nails. Indigo had tackled him to the ground even though he’d been smaller at the time. Abel came running because he heard me scream, but he hadn’t felt my pain.

  As I showered, I brushed my fingers over our shared tattoo. It had been a mixture of two different runes that meant knowledge and justice. Combined, they formed something we had created together. Only with both of us alive would it still work. My magic flared, illuminating the rune, and I felt my powers grow, twisting and forming into something new. Abel and I had only been able to conjure this power when we were together. Maybe that had been because it was before our birthday.

  I still trusted in the magic of our tattoo though. It would die if he did.

  After I finished in the bathroom, I toweled off and dressed before returning to the living room. Cornelius sat with a tumbler in his hand, his neck resting on the back of the couch.

  “Here.” Indigo handed me a short glass filled with a dark drink. I took a subtle sniff. “Dark spiced rum with Coke just the way you like it.” He took his own tumbler filled with an amber liquid to the practical but uncomfortable-looking chair.

  “So, little necromancer who can’t keep her powers in her pants, why exactly did you come to the big city?” Cornelius asked as he opened one eye to look in my direction.

  I took a hearty drink of my rum and let it settle in my belly.

  “You’re one to talk.”

  “I’m in my own home. I shouldn’t have to hide what I am.”

  “Then you won’t mind if the mice and rats from your basement come join us so I can be myself as well?”

  “Rowan,” Indigo warned. I hadn’t planned on it. Honestly, the building felt clear of the dead. There were a few trails outside that felt like death moving, which had been a strange concept for me to grasp. Normally I wasn’t this in tune with my surroundings either.

  “Indigo.”

  “I think it might be time for you to head to bed. Tomorrow we’ll talk.”

  He was probably right. The last thing I needed right then was less control. I stood up, swaying and realizing that Indigo had a heavier hand than he did five years ago. Coupled with the fact that I hadn’t had any real food all day…

  I went from vertical to horizontal in two seconds flat.

  “No fucking,” Cornelius called out as Indigo carried me to his bedroom.

  I snuggled closer to Indigo. The rum had found its way to my head.

  “Do you think we’ll find him?” I asked.

  “We will, Ro.” Indigo set me down on his bed, tucking me under the covers.

  I released a sigh, the fear I had kept trapped down, hidden away, bubbling to the surface.

  “I can’t lose him. He’s my best friend.”

  “I know.” Indigo leaned forward and pressed his lips against my forehead before leaving the room, clicking off the light.

  ****

  Sleep had been a fitful fight of nightmares involving Abel, the mystery encounter with the vampire at Bam’s Diner, and my parents’ deaths. I couldn’t make sense of what my mind had been trying to help me through. The mystery vamp had been the biggest confusing turn.

  I rolled over in Indigo’s bed, and my hand smacked warm flesh. I peeked one eye open and glared at the body next to me.

  “You did not sleep here last night in the nude.”

  Indigo still had his eyes shut, but his lips, surrounded by a day’s worth of stubble, ticked up into a small smile.

  “Don’t worry. I’m wearing sweats. Can’t say the same about you though.”

  I checked myself. I still felt the elastic of my boy-short undies, and the soft fabric of Indigo’s shirt still caressed my skin.

  “I’m fully dressed, thank you very much.”

  “Hmm, true.”

  “You said we would talk today. What about?”

  “Lots of stuff. I might be more help than you think when searching for Abel. But before we hit the streets, you need to be able to control your powers. Even with the change of your emotions.”

  “I’m fine,” I replied stubbornly.

  “You aren’t, and these aren’t our streets. This is a different world out here.”

  “Then teach me quickly because we’re searching for him today.”

  Indigo growled as he rolled out of bed.

  “You want a pop, or do you want just water? We have limited choices, and since you don’t like normal coffee…”

  “Water is good.”

  Indigo left his room in search of drinks, and I settled back on the bed, trying to remember the dream featuring the vampire. The harder I thought about it, the further it drifted from my mind. I recalled the things Terry had said to me, the questions that hung on the outside of my subconscious; it would make sense that I tacked it onto the first and only vampire I really knew. The werewolves’ and vampires’ tentative truce rarely held any weight out in the wild. Out where we lived, they wouldn’t coexist.

  A long time ago, vampires had stolen stronger necromancers and forced them to work for them. Vampires along with a few other immortals lived very long, endless lives. From our history books, vampires wanted to use our knowledge of the dead to help them advance forward. Other races had tried as well, but vampires had been the worst offenders. Fear brought out the worst in all creatures.

  Indigo came back into the room with a mug for himself and a cup for me. He handed me mine and took a seat on the edge of his bed, watching me from over the rim of his cup.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked, hating that look in his eye.

  “Wondering how you’ll take everything I tell you today. And all the things I can’t tell you yet.”

  “Well, that’s ominous.”

  Indigo didn’t laugh.

  Chapter 16

  Indigo insisted we both get dressed and ready for the day before we had our big chat. The one he’d been pushing on me and I’d been avoiding. After he dropped the little tidbit that he might be able to help me find Abel, I was eager to know.

  He knew how to manipulate me. He and Abel had been masters at it when we were younger, especially when I tried to get them to do something incredibly stupid with me. My decision-making had been subpar at best. Abel had always been the wiser of the two of us. He thought things through meticulously.

  It would be a moment like this when I would turn to my twin and ask him for help. The thought sent a pang of guilt through me. He shouldn’t have to be the only one who remained responsible. Even at our ceremony, he had promised to remember the harder lines. Since we were twins, we would say it together. I promised myself and Abel that once we found him, I would do my part for the ceremony. I would be more like him.

  Indigo sat on their couch. “Look, there’s a lot we need to go over, but I also can’t tell you everything. I need you to understand that I’m bound by something stronger than…”

  “Than what?”

  “Our friendship.”

  I snorted at that, rolling my eyes. “I think you screwed the pooch on that one, buddy.”

  Indigo flinched at the word “buddy.” What, did he expect that I’d suddenly forgive him because he helped me get here?

  “It’d been obvious to my dad, and my mother before she passed, that I was destined to be an Alpha. Some Alphas are born smaller in their human form, and on their second puberty, they go through another transition. I didn’t leave because I wanted to leave you. Quite the opposite, actually. My dad had to order me out of town. Away from the pack. I couldn’t have been around you when I went through it. My dad and Ira had been concerned about what I would do to you.”

  “You would never have hurt me. You never have before.” Because I truly believed that. Indigo wouldn’t have hurt me.

  “No. And I didn’t say I would’ve. But we were close, you and me. They knew; the whole pack knew. My dad and brother didn’t want me making any harsh movements the moment I came out of my transition and was all Alpha emotions and instincts.”

  “I need you to be straight with me, Indigo, ’cause right now I have too much going on up here.” I paused, taking a breath. “Were Abel and I just a practice pack to you?”

  “No. Fuck no. Abel is my brother. And you are… family. Both of you are family.”

  His hesitation over my part worried me only for a second. This wasn’t about me. It had to be about Abel.

  “All right, let’s just cut to the chase then. I need to know about the stuff that will help us find Abel for now. Tell me that, and we can get started. The longer we wait, the more I worry about how we’ll find him.”

  Indigo had a pinched look on his face, but instead of fighting me, he nodded tightly.

  “Reader’s Digest version, then. Ira had always been big, buff, and ready to take position as an Alpha or Beta. But I needed to be a little more refined, so I started training out here. Found a job, found my place. And found my control again.”

  “A job like the Guard?”

  “I can’t answer that question. But I have the resources to find Abel.”

  “You said you talked to him while you were away.”

  “I can’t answer that,” Indigo said with a heavy sigh. I needed to set my curiosity aside for the time being.

  “Okay then, let’s go over what I know. I know there’s a very high chance that the Quintano family has Abel is are allied with vampires.”

  “We can go to the Beat. It’s a Mystics-only club. We can get some information there about the Quintano family and the vampires they’re working with. But here, rules are different. People aren’t always what they seem to be,” Indigo said.

  “Like your friend Cornelius?”

  “Don’t ask him anything about his life. I’m serious, Rowan. I know how curious you can get, but don’t piss that man off.”

  “What kind of questions should we be asking once we get to the Beat?” I asked, changing subjects again. Truthfully, I felt out of my depth. I liked the point-blank questions; they were easier than doing the tango just to get a sort-of vague response.

  “Well, first you have to make sure you have an ironclad hold on your powers. If vampires get a whiff of that much power coming off you, off a necromancer, you’re going to have more than the Quintano family coming after you. Don’t ever reveal what you are under any circumstances.”

  A Curse Breaker. I knew better then to reveal that. We were rare stock. And if word got around there was a female Curse Breaker necromancer running around, I might as well wrap myself in a pretty bow and deliver my ass right to the Quintanos’ front door.

 

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