Shadowglass (9 page)

I swallowed, and the echo of a soft metal whisper chilled my blood. Ice crystals crackled on my wings, and I tried to shake them off but they froze fast. “No, it’s not possible. The mirror’s gone. We got rid of it.”

Blaze chewed his lip, and his bold black gaze flickered. “Did we? You sure?”

I remembered my delight at that woman’s misfortune, the way I wanted to laugh at her and needle her and taunt and sneer and bait until the truth burned out of me like acid through a plastic cup.

I shuddered. I’ve always wanted to be brave. But not cruel.

My pulse gibbered at me, hot and seductive and in vehement disagreement.

I’ve always been terrified of consequences, mistakes, making an idiot of myself. Why’s everything about me all of a sudden? What if Blaze was right? What if that spiteful squidgy cast a spell on us?

Stupid, right? I was a fairy, not some witchy magic chick. Hell, I didn’t even believe in magic.

But what if it had?

Blaze brushed his finger under my chin, searing. “Think about it, Ice. Before it’s too late.”

My treacherous skin sparked alive at his touch. Discomfort scratched in my bones. I shook him off and pushed past him, his arm smooth and sweet on my fingerpads. “I don’t wanna know, okay? I feel fine.”

And I walked out, my body tingling with alien sensation and the dark whisper of denial.

9

A
nother midnight at the Court, the same as last and next, a carbon copy oblivion. Water throbbed in my ears to the beat, dizzying me pleasantly like alcohol, and starry lights dazzled my retinas in the primal smell of smoke and sweat.

But tonight colors swerved at me, objects jumping eagerly into my vision like magical apparitions of things I’d always craved but couldn’t identify. Seductive tastes assaulted my mouth with every breath, flesh, ozone, fruity fairy glitter. My eyes rolled everywhere, covetous as I slunk through the undulating crowd, my gaze draping lustfully over figures and clothes and jewels, and half the time my fingers followed, earning me slaps and pokes and gleeful grins. If hell exists—and there’s no denying it does, not in a sweltering black city ruled by demons—then there must be heaven, too, and surely fairy heaven’s a nightclub, jammed with colors and sounds and sensory candy.

Wow. Look at that banshee’s glassy earrings, that vampire girl’s blue satin dress, that fire sprite’s fabulous black wings. I wanted everything I saw, craved every smell, longed for every sweet vibration. And maybe it was just me, but there seemed to be an excess of screw-me-senseless gorgeous guys here tonight. Will you look at that green fae boy’s butt? So tight, it’d burst like a cherry in your mouth, and the glowing green veins in those wings . . . Gosh.

My palms dripped, a greedy ache growing inside me. Mmm, sly vampire twins in identical white velvet suits, all long limbs and loose blond hair, tiny red jewels set into their teeth. And someone water me down, that fae-struck human boy was hot, dusky ruby-stained skin and double-jointed fingers and wet cocoa hair. Yeah. If there’s heaven, it was definitely like this, anonymous and exciting and darkly beautiful. I just hoped the drinks were cheaper there.

At the bar, a tall, tanned human kid in black leathers and a ruby skull necklace stared at me, ultrablue eyes intense. My hungry gaze drifted over him, and I dragged it away. Luscious muscles, inked pretty with curls and arrows. Great ass. But human boys are trouble, clueless if they can’t see us and nasty if they can. And besides, they just don’t measure up, even big boys like this one. You want some serious anatomy, get yourself a fae boy.

I slid my last twenty across the glowing glass, my limbs still jittering. I’d walked the street for a while and headed home to work this madness off, but even washing the walls down from our custard-throwing party hadn’t calmed me down or cheered me up. I kept thinking about how I tore that woman’s heart out today, about what Blaze said, the way I leered with strange selfish eyes at everything.

The others hadn’t come home, and our little house loomed lonely, shadows making me jump, every sound I made echoing in empty rooms. So in a fit of sulks, I’d pinned my hair up in a wild mango knot, squeezed boldly into what Azure calls my look-the-fuck-at-me-now outfit—it’s a slinky silver Lycra number up to my ass with crisscross string straps over the back and more hole than dress at the front—and come here to the Court alone, to dance myself silly and drink this weird lust away. My skin itched, my fingers trembled, my body yearned for some elusive stimulant I couldn’t name. I felt weird. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t right.

But it felt good.

I flicked the cute blond bar boy a wink and scratched my bare midriff, claws tinkling on my belly ring. “How drunk can I get for twenty bucks?”

“You really mean that?” He leant on tattooed forearms, buckled leather bracelets fragrant with his sweat.

My damp nose tingled, and I wanted to bend forward, sniff, run my tongue over the rough leather edges, tell him how nice it smelled. “Hell yes, I mean it.”

“She’s selling. She’ll want more than your twenty, though.” He gestured with his chin a few stools to my right, where a dusky earth sprite broke off a kiss with a pale-limbed vampire girl, their wet lips peeling apart like sticky tape. White flowers tumbled through her long caramel hair, her golden wings shedding bright dust. The vampire wobbled on her heels, thin black dreadlocks dangling, and the fairy spat something that looked like dark purple grape juice into a glass and handed it to her in exchange for a fifty.

Memory trade. Swap them something precious from your past and they’ll use it to brew you a high you’ll never forget, delirium or forgetfulness or plain oblivion. Whatever you like. Hot temptation licked my skin, and my dress stuck on my damp breasts as I shifted, but I wrinkled my nose and dragged my gaze away before I did something stupid.

I don’t like people screwing with my mind, even if it does feel good. You never know what they’ll erase, or insert. Besides, I didn’t have enough cash. “No, thanks. I’ll keep my memories. It’s tonight I wanna get rid of. Gimme a vodka raspberry, babe, and keep tippin’ it in ’till the money runs out.”

“Comin’ up.” He poured, three shots and a splash for luck, and I drank, swallowing until it was all gone, vodka sliding down like cool syrup in my throat. The alcohol hit my stomach, and warmth slid into my blood like a slow needle. I didn’t know if Blaze had paid Sonny Valenti his five grand or not. He could let Sonny suck his cock for all I cared. This was mine, the last of my stolen cash. Might as well get the most out of it.

I plonked the glass on the bar and burped, my sinuses already stretching. “That’ll do it. Cheers, sweet pea.”

He winked at me, and I headed for the dance floor, pleasantly unbalanced, warm comfort spreading inside. The crush tightened around me, slick limbs and sweat-fragrant bodies and the glittering flutter of wings, all pulsing like blood to the flooding sound. My heart skipped faster, and I wriggled in farther, my skin a tingling glory of contact. I didn’t care if no one talked to me or tried to pick me up. I just wanted to dance, punish my disobedient body, thrash my eardrums ragged on this gorgeous noise, sweat out this madness and puddle it on the floor for someone else to drink.

I closed my eyes, letting the music fill me, caress me, seep into my burning blood. Damp throbbing air sizzled my senses, glorious, sparking my nerves in time with the beat. I stretched, writhed, jumped, twisting my arms and jerking my legs until I ached, wrapping my sensitive wing membranes over the glowing smell of hot living flesh. Water crept under my skin, drawing secret pleasure from within, filling me, drowning in the glory of motion. My sweat sprayed in droplets, clumping my flinging hair.

Light fingers, sliding hot over my bare waist. “Are you Kane’s?”

Warm voice rough with smoke or whiskey, intriguing. A tempting caress on my hip. I cracked my eyes open. Blazing blue eyes, dark hair, ink, and black leather. That tasty human boy who’d stared at me at the bar. Trouble. I swallowed. “Look, I’m not interested, okay?”

Scarlet gemstones glowed in silver eye sockets along his necklace. A skinny dark girl clung to his muscled arm, the same glaring blue eyes shining from her bruised face. He smiled, scary handsome, his fingers lingering on the curve of my waist. “Come with us. Show us.”

I backed away into a squirming pair of banshees, their nails raking my wings. “No way. I am
so
not up for a threesome. Bugger off.”

“You must show us.” He bent to sniff my bare belly, tugging curiously at the ring there, and my skin squelched in alarm. Freakin’ weirdo.

“Just leave me alone, okay?” I yanked free and squirmed through the crowd away from him, his sharp blue gaze scorching my back. I hid behind a tangle of sparkly fairy bodies and held my breath. He didn’t follow.

After a moment, I sighed and let my eyes drift closed again, enjoying the rainbow smell of body moisture and the shuddering sway that the music thrust into my body.

I stretched my arms over my head in sultry smoke, content. I missed the warm tinkle of diamonds on my wrists, but that was okay. There’d always be more diamonds, and I never got to keep them anyway. I was just the messenger, a little fae insect in a gangsters’ world. Diamonds were for Kane and Sonny Valenti and handsome blue assholes with no manners. But there’d always be more.

“That guy bothering you, sweet?”

“Only as much as y—Oh, it’s you. Hi.” I squinted in a jumping haze of strobe lights. Tumbling black-dyed hair, pencil-smeared lashes, a sapphire twinkle in his purple brow. Vampire lover boy, he of the delicious kiss and the collarbone fetish. I never did get his name.

He tickled a kiss over the back of my hand, deft fingers cold as his lips. He looked paler tonight, and his blue eyes gleamed glassy with starvation. “I dreamed about you.”

“Great. Glad to be of service. Hope you enjoyed it.” Hungry vampire. Definitely not my type. Maybe if I pretended he wasn’t there, he’d leave me alone.

But he spun me around and pulled me close, crushing my wings against his chest. Nice body, slim and lean, ripped jeans rough against my bare hip. His sharp chin dug into my shoulder as he nuzzled my wing out of the way. “I dreamed about tasting you.”

Nice hard-on denting my ass, too. His breath moistened my neck in the hot smell of bourbon, and I shivered. Drunk, starving, horny vampire. Not good. “Baby, we had this conversation the other n—Hey, I never said you could put your hand there.”

He stroked my half-covered breast, teasing gentle nails under the fabric, and his hot tongue slicked the ticklish point of my ear. “You didn’t mind a bit of initiative last time.”

“Well, I d—Mmm.” His claw spiked my nipple, and shock crept tingling roots deep into my breast. My flesh hardened for his finger, and he pinched me, delightful. Recklessness flared in my blood. “Oops. Well, I suppose you can . . . Ooh.” He swept kisses down my neck, cold lips but hot tongue, and nuzzled my dress strap aside to delve into the hollow behind my collarbone.

“Whoa.” My knees melted, and slick warmth spread between my legs. His inky black hair rubbed on my shoulder, and shivers curled down my chest as he sucked that collarbone with a tiny sting of fang, just how I liked it. “Mmm. This kinda wasn’t my plan, you know. . . .”

“Wasn’t mine till I saw you.” His voice grated, lustful vibrations tingling my ribs. “You look so fucking horny in this dress, and the way you dance makes me wanna slide into you right here.”

“Uh-huh. Vampire sweet talk. You don’t just mean your dick, do you?” I exhaled, delicate, aroused and disgusted at the same time. Fear piqued my pleasure. I knew I should push him off, get away before he hurt me. But . . . On tonight’s special-crazy Icyspice scale of hot to scorching, he rated a definite
screw me now
. And flirting with danger was kinda fun, wasn’t it? My heart raced, my skin shone damp and hot, and a needy ache brewed inside me that longed to be stroked. Couldn’t hurt to have a little fun, could it?

“Honey, you can have everything I’ve got.” He dragged me against him and crept his fingers over my hip and under my stretchy skirt.

Okay, so no underwear was a bad idea. Or a good one. My insides twitched in anticipation. What would it feel like, a vampire’s bite? Good, maybe?

His fingertip brushed my exposed flesh. I shivered in delight, and he groaned and burrowed his finger deeper. “So wet.”

Why, so I was. I giggled, mad. “Water sprite, genius. I’m always wet.”

“Liar.” He grazed my shoulder with hungry teeth as he stroked me, light as a whisper.

“Mmm. Maybe.” Nerves tightened inside me, curious and pleasured. Tempted. The risk of infection was supposed to be small. And what else did I have to do tonight? Let’s see. Nothing. Just like tomorrow night, and the night after, and the night after that.

My fear scratched at me like desperate claws, but I brushed it aside.

He snarled softly. “Don’t tease me. You want it or not?”

“Why the hell not? Yeah. Wanna do it here? You can, if you want.” I leaned back into him with a sigh, thrusting my hips forward to meet his hand. His body moved sensually against my back, and pleasure stirred in my guts. How would it feel, his fanged mouth on my sex?

He crushed me tighter, effortlessly strong. My pulse quivered, wary, but too late. Nerveless. Breathless. I couldn’t pull away. I wriggled, but he tightened his arm to force me still. His razor tooth sliced along my collarbone, and the sting hurt more than I’d expected or wanted. Alarm jump-started my pulse with a jerk. Blood seeped, warm on my skin, and he laughed, his fingers curling between my legs. “Honey, I’ll do it wherever the fuck I like.”

And in one simultaneous movement, he pushed his finger deep inside me and forced hungry fangs into the skin of my neck.

Pleasure and pain, meeting in the middle. I gasped, delirious, as my vein popped and sticky warmth spilled, caught by his waiting mouth. My skin stretched, tore, ripped open under his tongue and teeth. A horrid cramp stabbed down the side of my neck, and my wing jerked, my shoulder convulsing in agony.

Yet inside me, flesh hardened as he stroked, pleasure flooding to my center. He found my nipple and pinched it, and my clit pulsed despite the ripping pain. He sucked, thrusting his finger inside me in time, and the sensation of blood dragging out of me as he forced inside started cramps of deep pleasure inside my sex that fought back the pain. I wanted to talk, to tell him not to stop, but my throat had seized with the ache and the shock, and all I could do was groan.