Nothing like chanting in the middle of the night, he replies. We’re going now.
I sit back on my heels and wipe the tears. I almost laugh because Nyla would probably die just from knowing he was there. Her little old lady heart wouldn’t be able to take it.
“Thank you, Chazaqiel.” It comes out soft. I’m not even sure he hears it over the shower until I put his phone away and stand up.
“Yeah,” he says. “Now, can you shut the damn door and let me wash my junk in peace?”
I smile and pull the door on my way out, turning the handle when it doesn’t latch and tugging again so it stays closed.
I’m on the couch when he comes out a little while later, dragging a towel over his head. He barely glances at me before going straight to his room. I sigh and slip my shoes off. As I reach for the blanket at one end, he steps around the corner in low-slung sweatpants with a Q-tip shoved in his ear.
He doesn’t say anything. Just raises his eyebrows and gives me a what the fuck are you doing look. Then, he clicks off the light and disappears. I decide that’s his way of telling me he doesn’t trust me out here on my own. Which is fine because I want to sleep in a real bed.
Neither of us says anything after I follow him. We get under the covers and lie in the dark, facing away from each other. It’s hard to believe we were naked in the camper just a few hours ago. Now, we’re here, where the sheets and the pillows and the comforter smell like him. Everything except me, which is still a mix of artificial strawberries and cheap vanilla.
“You were talking about killing me earlier.”
The mattress shifts under his weight. I think he rolls over, but I don’t look.
“How else did you think this would play out, Nyx?” he asks. “You thought Abaddon would abandon the grudge he’s held for an eon? That I would be cool with my existence, relying on no one killing him? Neither of those is happening.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, wanting to hate him for what he’s saying. For all but telling me what he’ll do to me once he regains his light. Or what someone will do for him.
In the desert, Chaz’s life was at risk, and I was safe. But the second we left, the coin flipped, and the safer he becomes, the closer I am to death. The scales haven’t been in balance once since we met, and somehow, I’m only realizing it now.
One of us has been dead all along. We just haven’t figured out which one it is yet.
When I wake up, my hands are free, and Chaz isn’t beside me anymore. I stretch, looking around the room in the morning light. All black furniture with nothing personal in sight. Not that I can imagine him framing pictures of Kai and Avery or the other angels. But it does make him look slightly like a serial killer.
Feeling the effects of two and a half days in the desert, followed by a half-day of drinking, I want water, shower, and food. In that order.
I climb out of bed in search of all three but pause at the sound of voices in the living room. The amulet’s gone from the nightstand, so I’m guessing it’s Cass or Rosdan.
I consider listening, but in case they’re planning my murder, I’d rather break up the conversation. The door creaks the rest of the way open, and Chaz looks up as I step around the corner. He’s on the couch with the Dimming Blade while Rosdan stands several feet away, fingers steepled under his chin. Rosdan’s eyes flit to mine and then down to my hands.
“She won’t suck the life out of you or something?” he asks.
Chaz only shrugs a shoulder, his focus returning to the weapon. “Water’s in the kitchen. Towels in the cabinet.”
“Thank you.”
But neither is paying attention to me anymore.
“Human sacrifice.” Rosdan dips his head for a better look. “Should we see if straight blood works first?”
“Nephilim,” Chaz says as I open the fridge. “I’ll grab a vial.”
As I drink my water, I notice a black velvet bag on the counter. The drawstrings are loose and the top open. A crystal lies beside it and a few more inside.
“It’s a blocker bag.” Rosdan’s propped in the doorway. “When active, it prevents anything light or dark from entering other than whoever cast the spell.”
“This is what’s protecting my sister?”
He cautiously approaches, like all five-four of me will attack the towering and muscular angel at any given moment. “Cass set one in the house last night.”
I nod and force a smile. “Good.”
Chaz rounds the corner, rubbing at his chest. “Ready?”
Rosdan passes him, and I leave my glass on the counter, following them.
“When can I go to my apartment?” I ask.
“You can’t,” Chaz answers, sitting down.
Rosdan looks between us, his face saying he wants to be anywhere but here right now. “I’ll check on Avery and Kai.” He quickly strides across the room and into the hall.
“I need clothes,” I say. “And my phone.”
Chaz reaches in his shirt and takes off the amulet. “A swarm of Lowers will be waiting for you the second you step foot into your place. And Hex is one hundred percent the kind of ex who would be tracking your phone.”
“What if Nyla’s doctors need to contact me?”
“Give them my number.”
“And what am I supposed to wear? I have a shirt, sweatpants, and one pair of underwear. Do you expect me to do laundry every day and hang out in a towel until it finishes?”
He smirks and spreads his arms across the couch cushions behind him. “Suddenly shy of strutting around my apartment in a towel?”
I let out an exasperated groan and stomp toward the bathroom, but he cheats with a portal and appears between me and the door, bracing his arm on the frame.
“Fine,” he says. “You can get some clothes from your apartment.”
“Fine.” I duck under his arm, and he switches direction, pressing his other forearm to the wall.
“But you still aren’t stepping into the building.”
Rosdan lands us directly in the center of my bedroom.
Chaz cocks his head to the side. “Lucky shot, Ros?”
Rosdan steps away from us, scrunching up his face. “I might have been here before.” I raise an eyebrow, and he says, “Kai mentioned your name when I went deep-diving for anything useful in finding Chaz. When his car ended up being in the parking lot, I thought it was worth checking inside.”
Chaz moves to the dresser and picks up one of my bras. “So, you raided her panty drawer?”
I rip it away from him, and he winks.
“Recast your amulet spell,” Rosdan tells him. “Your darkness is showing.”
He flips Rosdan off, but his lips move.
“You have a bag?” Rosdan asks. “We need to hurry before Mark and Scarlett, uh…” Dimples appear with his half-smile. “Before they—”
“Ros’s charge is getting laid on his lunch break,” Chaz says. “So, we need to be in and out in the time it takes him to be, well, in and out.”