“No, we’re at our place.” Beth’s response sparkled. “You’re coming? For real?”
“Yes, for real,” she said on a wave of affection for this sweet, pretty woman who’d once been Marguerite’s baby girl. “I’ll drop by to say hi to Sara on the way, so give me an hour or so.”
“I’m going to bake your favorite cake.”
“Bethie.” Elena took a deep breath. “I don’t have my wings anymore.”
“Are you sad?” Soft words. “You loved your wings.”
“I was.” But she’d done her mourning—and she’d said fuck you to the Cascade by coming out of hell with the ability to bring things to lush, green life. If Lijuan burned down the world, Elena would bring it back to life. The Cascade could go suck on that. “Now I’m just glad to be home.”
“I missed you so much.” A quickly muffled sob.
Elena swallowed. “I’ll be there soon.” No matter what, Beth would always be Elena’s baby sister, the bewildered little girl who’d clutched her hand with a soft and pudgy one as they laid their sisters then their mother to rest.
After hanging up, Elena called Ashwini. “You free to give me a ride? I don’t think I should be driving just yet—bit out of practice.”
“I’m already in a car out front of the Tower. Wait till you see the ride I requisitioned.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed; Ash definitely got a kick out of messing with her friends using her ability to glimpse snatches of the future. “Be right down.”
It didn’t take long to pull on black jeans, a metallic blue sweatshirt printed with the Tower logo, socks, and boots. She still wasn’t sure about the shorter hair, but a few brushstrokes and it was done.
Grabbing her leather jacket, she headed out.
She found Ash sitting behind the wheel of a topless baby pink Cadillac. Her fellow hunter’s sunglasses were a reflective gold, her dark hair streaked with the same color, and the hoops that dangled from her ears an Indian design that featured a waterfall of bells. A brown leather jacket worn over a scoop-necked black tee and dark blue jeans completed the outfit.
“I feel underdressed now,” Elena said, opening the passenger-side door.
“Would I do that to you, Ellie?” Ashwini passed over a box wrapped in silver paper.
“Smartass.”
“Hey, why have the third eye if I can’t use it to wink now and then?”
Grinning, Elena settled into the seat before she set to ripping open the package. Inside, she found a pair of mirrored sunglasses tinted a deep graduated purple that looked fantastic against the near-white of her hair. Also in the box were a pair of hoop earrings similar to Ash’s, except that hers were a stunning beaten steel.
She touched one earlobe. Yep, as she’d suspected, the chrysalis had “fixed” the piercing hole. Then she saw the hoops were designed to clip on. “Seriously, you’re getting worse in your old age.” Scowling mutter or not, she put on the earrings.
A sharp grin from her friend. “Now we’re ready.”
They roared off.
The car attracted plenty of attention—and so did Elena. When they stopped at a light, the neighboring motorist did a double take, looked behind her, then bit down on his lower lip before leaning out his window and shouting, “Welcome back, Guild Hunter! Anyone who survives the fucking house explosion from hell is a legend in my book!”
Elena gave him a playful salute. She knew the whispers would’ve already begun; speculation about how she’d lost her wings would soon become everyone’s favorite activity. The worst would be among the immortals. Some outside the Tower would cackle in glee at her loss, while others would look on her in suspicion for being neither vampire nor human nor angel.
Did she care? Only if it impacted Raphael.
As they zipped along, the wind playing through their hair, Ashwini updated her on Guild news and other random bits of information. “Ransom’s probably going to be waiting inside Sara’s office,” she said at one point. “Man’s done so many slow drives past the Tower since you woke that Dmitri asked him if he wanted to join Tower security.”
“He and Nyree found a house yet?”
“He won’t talk to me for a month if I blab all his news.”
“Tell me about the Slayer situation then.” Hunters policed their own; the Slayer was their big bad, the hunter tasked with executing those who’d crossed a final line.
“Sara went with the team.” Ashwini took a corner with smooth speed. “All senior active duty hunters take the assignment on rotation, with three of us on call at any one time. I’ve been through the training already, so have Ransom and Demarco, Hilda, Rose, and Kenji. Sara dusted off her active duty skills and put her name on the list.”
“This is my not-surprised face.” Sara was director of the Guild partially because she cared so much for her people—everyone knew that if it all went to shit, Sara would shield them from angry angels or pissed-off vampires until things calmed down. “Any of us going to allow that to happen?”
Ashwini snorted. “As if. She’s too important to risk on a Slayer hunt. Demarco’s in charge of the roster and he keeps ‘forgetting’ to add her name. I think she might be starting to get suspicious.”
Shoulders shaking at the thought of Sara’s toe-tapping irritation pitted against Demarco’s “oh shucks” charm, Elena leaned back farther in her seat. “I’ll do the training, too, once I’m back at full strength.” She might no longer have wings, but she hadn’t lost her hunter-born ability to scent vampires—as if that was so deep a part of her, nothing could erase it.
“Told Sara to save you a spot in the training schedule down the track.”
“Keep going and pretty soon you’ll be whispering portents like Cassandra.”
“Hah!” A huge grin. “I got some other juicy news. Demarco has a girlfriend.”
“What?! And you didn’t lead with that?” Demarco was good-looking, no doubt about it, but he seemed to put out some pheromone that made women see him only as a great guy to have as a buddy. “Is she a good one?”
“Ransom’s Nyree introduced them. You’ll never guess what she does for a living.”
“Another librarian?”
“Nah.” Ashwini took the turn into the Guild HQ parking lot. “Girl’s a hard-ass tattoo artist. Ink all over. Piercing through her upper lip and eyebrow. Boobs straight out of some fantasy comic strip, sleek muscle everywhere else. Taller than Demarco by a couple of inches and you know he’s no shortie, and here’s the kicker—she hauls him to her for a kiss every time she sees him.”