On Pins and Needles: Sierra Fox, Book 3 (4 page)

“Don’t worry,” Oren said. “Like all predictions, this one can be ambiguous. We’ll make it through this.”

“Sure we will.”

“Sierra…” Oren forced me to turn to face him. His light blue eyes were intent on mine, fierce and determined to get his point across. “Have I let you down yet?”

I shook my head, trying to connect to the positive energy he wanted me to find.

“We’ll make this work to our advantage, okay?” He held my face steady between his cold, thin hands. “Now, I’ve really got to go. But I think it might be a good idea if you stay here for a little while.”

“Sure, okay.” I still had hours before the meeting that would probably change my life even more. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You sure will.” He dropped his hands, leaned forward to give me a quick kiss on the forehead, retrieved his packages, waved, and left the store without any fanfare.

I took a few breaths to collect myself and turned around to find both Lavie and Sally staring at me.

“What happened?” Sally asked, leaning against the backrest.

“You predicted something,” Lavie answered. “Something terrible…”

“What? What was it?” She pressed both hands to the sides of her head as if she wanted to push all the confusion out of her brain.

“My death,” I whispered.

Sally’s eyes widened in horror, and she rubbed her fingers harder against her temples. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure someone’s plotting to kill me as we speak.” I tried to keep my voice steady. “Now, why don’t you tell me more about the hidden ritual?”

She looked at the mess in front of her as if she were trying to avoid me, and caught her niece’s eye instead.

“You two talk, I’ve got this.” Lavie kneeled in front of the coffee table, collecting the ruined fragments of the porcelain cup and saucer.

Sally licked her lips and nodded. “If you and Oren can decipher the contents, you’ll be able to find out how to put an end to the ritual and how to stop what the
Obscurus
want to unleash.”
 

“I thought you said the text covered what they intended to do—”

“It does, but what’s even more important is how to turn it against them.”

“So all is not lost, then?” I asked.

“No, most of it isn’t.” Sally averted her gaze away from mine, but not before I noticed the unshed tears.

I suspected her prediction would eventually come to pass, but I wasn’t going to let it interfere with my life right now. We were all predestined to die at some point—my time might just be messier, and sooner than expected.

Chapter Two

I knocked a third time, making sure to really smack my knuckles against the white door.
 

After leaving Lavie and Sally on a somewhat melancholy note—because not even pleasant conversation can erase your death prediction—I’d stopped by Ebony’s apartment. I even called her home phone and mobile about a hundred times, but heard the ringing of both coming from inside her empty apartment.
 

There was only one other place she could be—with Conrad, the Vamp Boy.

Speak of the devil.
There he was, standing on the other side of the window situated beside the closed front door. He pushed the curtains aside long enough for me to catch a glimpse of him. When our eyes met he stepped back and away, leaving behind the swaying fabric.
 

Too late—I already knew he was home.
 

Conrad lived in the same kind of apartment block as Ebony—a simple three story brick structure with deck access to each flat’s front door, and parking out the back.

I smacked my palm hard against the wooden surface, making full contact. The constant knocking would no doubt annoy him. I really needed to find out if Ebony was with him.
 

“I know you’re in there, Conrad!”

The front door finally opened wide enough for him to fit inside the frame. He yawned as he looked me up and down. “Hey, what the hell can I do for you, Mistress of the Dead?”

“Very funny, Vamp Boy.” It was hard to believe we’d actually worked pretty well together only a few weeks ago. Of course, it had been to save Ebony and now that she was back, we’d reverted to being frenemies.

Conrad wore nothing but a pair of faded jeans that hung low on his narrow hips and a silver chain with a crucifix sitting in the hollow of his throat. He rubbed his taut abdomen, looking bored. “You’re not stalking me, are you?”

“No, you idiot, I’m not stalking you. I’m looking for Ebony.”

“Yeah, sure, but how do you know where I live?” He yawned again. “I’d hate to have your wolf blow my door down because you’ve developed a crush on me.” A lazy smile curved his lips.

“Don’t flatter yourself. It wasn’t as hard as you think. The Internet reveals a lot of interesting things.” This conversation was going nowhere. “I need to see Ebony.”

“I’m sorry. She’s asleep.” He looked almost apologetic as he avoided my eyes. Almost.
 

 
“Don’t bullshit me. I’m a big girl, I can take it.” I sighed. At least my suspicions were confirmed. Now all I had to do was convince him to call her outside. “She’s not asleep. She just doesn’t want to see me, but she’s going to have to talk to me sometime. It might as well be now.”

“No, actually, now’s not that time.” Conrad took a step back, but I grabbed his wrist before he could duck inside.

“I know she has to work through this on her own, but I…”

He glared at my fingers, which gripped him tightly. Judging by the way he was looking at me, I was either hurting or pissing him off to the point of aggravation. I dropped his hand. He was all that stood between Ebony and me, and if I pushed too much he could make it even harder for me to see her.

“I just want to know that she’s all right—”

“Sierra, she’s okay.” He met my gaze, his blue eyes sharp. “But she’s going to need a lot more than a couple of weeks to deal with everything.”

I stood in the open corridor of his apartment block with the wind swaying strands of my hair into my face and the cold seeping into my skin. My jacket and jeans weren’t enough to keep the chill of guilt and frustration from piercing deep inside my soul. I didn’t know what else to say, so I wrapped my arms around my midsection and squinted under the bright glare of the overcast sky.
 

The rain would start soon, but I wasn’t ready to leave. Not until I at least caught a glimpse of her. She’d had her spirit torn away from her body and I didn’t want her to suffer through this alone.

“Conrad, it’s okay. I’ve got this.” Ebony stepped up beside him and wrapped a skinny arm around his naked torso. Her face had a hint of gray, just like Roe and the other three spook catchers who’d been through the same ordeal. She was wearing a long-sleeved oversized shirt with only the top buttoned. It highlighted just how pale and thin her legs had gotten, and when the breeze lifted the hem it showed off some bruising on her thighs. “What do you want, Sierra?”

I stepped forward. “I just… I just want to make sure you’re all right. You haven’t answered my calls—”

She recoiled closer to Conrad. “I’m busy.”

Conrad kissed the top of her head and moved back—as if he wanted to retreat into the darkness of his apartment and give us some privacy—but Ebony refused to let him go. He looked as uncomfortable as I felt.

“Okay.” I licked my lips. “When can I expect you back at the office? I’m going back today for a bit.”

She snorted. “So you haven’t been back since all that shit went down at the Council?”

I shook my head and noticed she was staring at the left side of my face, where the bruises were pretty much gone. The last time I checked, bad lighting revealed the barely-there yellowish stain on my skin.

“I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“Eb, you can’t just cut me off—”

“Yeah, actually I can.” Her usually familiar blue-gray eyes narrowed as she glared at me, looking cold and distant. Without an ounce of makeup she seemed young and innocent, but the icy edge hardened the effect. “I’m taking two weeks off. No, make that four! I’m taking all of my annual leave at once, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

I counted to ten, trying to calm down. As much as I understood why she was having a hard time recovering from her ordeal, I didn’t understand why she wanted to make me suffer. If she wanted some time off work, all she had to do was answer my calls and let me know. I wasn’t going to deny her what was rightfully hers. Even if I desperately wanted her to go with me next Tuesday, when I was due to meet with Roe. He’d warned me about how fragile her condition was because he’d lived it, and I was pretty sure he was the only one who could help her out of this.

But I couldn’t make her do anything.

I took a quick shallow breath and released it. “Fine, take a month off. I can cover the office on my own. It’ll do me some good to get my hands dirty.” I depended on her organizational skills too much. It was time to take the reins of my business and get my ass back into the office. I’d stepped back in a few times during the last week for quick stops, but hadn’t been able to spend too many hours there since our office neighbor Benita Sorrenti was killed by the black dog. The
Perro Negro
hunting
me
down.

“You go and do that, and leave me alone for a while.” Ebony pressed her face against Conrad’s chest and closed her eyes.
 

“Why are you blaming me for this, Eb?” I blurted the dumbest question I could’ve summoned before I could stop myself.

She turned her face towards me. “This happened to me because of
you.
It’s your fault!”

“Eb, honey, don’t be hasty.” Conrad patted her hair. “It wasn’t her fault that asshole took you, and she did everything she could to get you back.”

She ignored him—didn’t even seem to register his touch. She only had eyes for me at the moment, and they were full of accusation. “Do you have any idea what it feels like to have your soul yanked out of your body and then shoved back in, only to find that you don’t quite fit together anymore?”

“He did the same thing to me. So yeah, I have a clue.”

Ebony snorted. “Yeah, he did it to you for about five minutes. I was separated for hours! You should’ve let me die. It would’ve been a hell of a lot easier than trying to wear a body that doesn’t fit.”

“Hey, don’t say that,” Conrad whispered. “Never say that.”

Anger boiled inside me. It was fine to blame me for my part. After all, Mace had taken her because he wanted to get to me, but I’d warned her to the point of sounding like an overbearing mother. Maybe she needed to be reminded. “You know what, Ebony? You can condemn me all you want, but I tried telling you to stay away from the Council several times, and you reacted the way you usually do—by doing whatever the hell you want!”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Just leave me the fuck alone. I don’t want to see you right now, and I don’t know if I ever will.”

“Ebony,” I said, but it was too late. She’d already retreated into Conrad’s apartment and I knew she wasn’t coming out again. We were done for now, or indefinitely. Giving her the space she wanted was my only option. Chasing her down probably wasn’t the best way I could have handled this, but at least I knew how she really felt.

There was no getting through to her at the moment, so I would respect her decision and accept that I might have lost my best friend and colleague, forever.

“I’ll talk to her,” Conrad said with a small smile. “She doesn’t mean what she said. I know how much she cares about you. Just give her some time.”

I nodded. This was the second time I’d heard this today. “Yeah, thanks.” I swung around and strode away, then paused. “Take good care of her, okay? She really needs you right now,” I called over my shoulder. I didn’t bother waiting for a response, just willed my heavy legs to move along the concrete walkway beneath my feet, and continued down the stairs. I held onto the wet metal railing all the way, because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stay upright or not.

Between almost being hit by a car, the death prediction and now this, I couldn’t see how my day could get any worse.
 

That’s when the rain finally broke through the clouds in a torrential downpour.
 

I didn’t quicken my step, actually took my time to reach my 1972 Ford ZF Fairlane.

Half an hour later, I stepped into the familiar red-brick block and kept my head down until I reached my floor. Benita’s accountant office was no longer marked by police tape, but it was an empty reminder of what had happened. Her husband had cleared out the small space last week—he’d told me his plan at the funeral and I was glad I hadn’t been around when he returned to the place where his wife was murdered.
 

It might make me a coward, but I had so much to deal with at the moment that Benita’s murder only made me feel more like a freak. A guilty freak, because her death was as much my fault as Ebony seemed to think her getting grabbed had been.

The corridor was empty—the other offices on this floor had their doors closed but I could hear the buzz of activity and see lights glowing behind the glass panels.