Vendetta (11 page)

"I don't . . . I can't explain it right now." My voice seems to fade without my even trying, and my eyelids grow heavier.

"Genesis!" Seth's voice. It's magical. So far away.

A light, flittering feeling washes over me, and the pain begins
to dull. I take a breath, but it doesn't fill my lungs.

"You need to stay with me, okay?" Seth says, an uncomfortable edge in his tone.

My eyelids flutter. I focus on Carter, concentrating on his face through the haze.

"Keep talking to her!" Seth demands.

"What do I say?"

"It doesn't matter!" he shouts.

Carter blows out a quick exhale. "Um, okay. Do you remember when we first met? The first time I ever talked to you? I asked for your biology notes and you practically yelled at me?"

I feel a smile pulling a
t my lips. "I told you I didn't take notes."

He laughs, nervous. "Yeah, you looked me straight in the eyes and told me you didn't take notes. I swear to God, if looks could kill. . . . But even after you blew me off, I knew I had to try again. That I had t
o keep trying. You just. . . . You were so
different
. You looked like you had stories. You were worth getting to know."

"I've been keeping things from you," I confess.

"It doesn't matter. Whatever it is that's going on. It doesn't matter. You're important
to me, Gee. And I'd do anything for you. You know that, right?"

I force my head to move, nodding.

"Whatever you want. Whatever you need. All you have to do is ask me, and come hell or high water, I'll get it for you. Do you understand me?"

Something
aches inside, something like my heart breaking. I push against the suffocating burden working to pull me under, forcing the feeling away. Even my good arm feels heavy, leaden, but I lift it anyway, touching Carter's face. It's flushed pink, his gray eyes d
amp. I sweep the hair away from them.

Don't cry.

"Switch these out," Seth says. And, in the next moment, a wet rag cools my arm. I close my eyes.

"What happened?" A third voice. It's Mara. Everything inside me lifts at the sound.

She'll know what to do. S
he'll make it right again.

"She was attacked. He came out of nowhere. We weren't warned. We didn't see him coming."

"This is a good thing," Mara insists. "Now she understands the danger she's in."

"What kind of danger?" Carter asks.

"Demons," Mara says, ma
tter of fact.

"I'm sorry, did you say
demons
?"

"Genesis?" Seth calls. "Can you hear me?"

"She's fine." The voices are muffled now, muted.

"She's losing a lot of blood. We need to take her to the hospital." It's Carter.

"The wound isn't that deep. She's
only in shock. Let her sleep."

"Look, I don't know who you think you are, but I can't just sit back and not do anything." Carter's voice is heated. Words clipped.

"She's stronger than you think she is," Seth says.

"What the hell does that mean? And who
are
you?"

"This is going to sting a little." Mara calls, far away.

The liquid is cool on my arm at first, then begins to burn. Inside I recoil, flinching. As far as I can tell, this reflex is trapped inside.

"This isn't going to stop bleeding on its own. I c
an do stitches."

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Carter asks.

And this is the last thing I hear.  

*
             
*
             
*

I step inside the empty room, gripping my knife tighter. Moonlight streams through the cracks in the windows boarded shut.

"Where are you?"
I call. But my voice, it doesn't sound like my own.

She steps in front of the window, blocking the light, her shadow stretching across the floor.

She doesn't speak as I move toward her, hand outstretched and shaking.

"What do you want from me?"

The demon
doesn't answer. She remains rooted in place, unwavering.

I step closer, watching the rise and fall of her shoulders as she breathes. A trail of blood trickles down the side of her face, falling, splattering to the floor. She lifts her head, eyes meeting
mine, but there's nothing. They're gone. The sockets are empty: gaping, black holes.

My stomach churns, the bile rising at the sight of her. I swallow it back.

Do it.
The voice in my head cries.

Don't
.

It's what you came to do.

I lift the
knife, aiming for the throat.

Hasn't she suffered enough?

A life for a life.

Then you're no better than she is.

But I have waited for this moment, and nothing will stop me.

She makes no effort to fight back, or escape.

It's too easy. Like someone has lef
t her for me. Left me to finish her. A gentle flick of the wrist and a crimson stripe paints her throat.

She falls to her knees, and those eyes . . . those empty cavities remain fixed on me. As if she's seeing me without seeing.

Viola crumples to the flo
or in a heap, a pool of blood gathering around her head.

Her chest continues to lift and fall automatically, until it doesn't anymore, and I know she's gone.

My heart pounds heavy in my ears.

There's something else, though. Something missing.

I search t
he room, but find nothing. No one.

I'm alone.

*
             
*
             
*

I struggle to pull myself upright. My left arm burns, rendering it useless.

"You're awake." Carter says, sitting down beside me, relief coloring his tone.

Across the room, Joshua rolls his eyes. "
Told you."

But Carter ignores him. "Can I get you anything?"

"I'm fine," I reply, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. My voice is small, rough, scratchy. 

"How are you feeling?" Mara asks.

"Fine. Sore." I examine the bandage on my upper arm. It's spotted with
dark red blotches where the blood soaked through. "I'm sorry. I—I don't know what happened," I tell them. "He came out of nowhere. He was . . . stronger than the others."

"They're all strong, Genesis," Mara says.

I turn to Carter, imagining how he must fe
el. What he must think of me. "I'm sorry. I should've said something."

"I understand why you didn't," he says, casting a stern glance toward Seth.

"What, exactly, did they tell you?" I ask.

"That you're cavorting with angels and killing demons. Nothing to
o insane."

"We're
not
angels!" Joshua insists.

My mouth twitches, pulling into a smile. Carter's pale eyes meet mine, serious. "This is dangerous, Gee. I mean, I can't say I'm all that surprised, but . . ."

"It's been fine. Until tonight, I mean."

"Viola'
s getting more brazen," Seth mutters.

"What I don't understand is why she picked
you
," Carter says.

"
Arsen
. . . before he tried to kill me, he asked me to join them and I refused."

"They can invite anyone to join them," Seth says.

"But they knew about he
r visions," Joshua reminds us. "She's more powerful than your average human."

My forehead knits in concentration, remembering the conversation with
Arsen
in the diner that night. "They promised me . . . the world. Everything, really."

"Your visions aren't
predictable," Seth says.

"They might have thought they could influence her," Mara says, then, turning to me: "You're a threat because you chose the Guardians."

Seth shakes his head. "No. There's got to be more to it than that. They've taken over the city
, but none of the
Diabols
have come after her. And the demon tonight
could
have killed her. Something kept him from doing it. And Viola hasn't returned . . ."

"That we know of," I interrupt.

Seth eyes me carefully. "
Mara might've been right, Genesis. They're playing you from a distance." 

"Maybe they are, but that doesn't change anything."

"It changes
everything!
You
have
to stop this," he says, voice rising.

"I'm strong. And I'm getting stronger every day. I'll be r
eady for her. I can do this."

"You
are
strong. But this is about more than you, or me, or the Guardians. You're not going to win this battle. You
can't
."

"I can," I tell him. "I
have
to."

"What is this even about?" he asks. "Is it Stu? Because honestly, Ge
nesis, I don't think he'd want you putting yourself in this kind of danger for him." Tears sting my dry, sleep-filled eyes.
And I feel them watching me. Carter. Mara. Joshua. "He'd want you to move on. To get on with your life."

"I'm the
reason
he died.
Ar
sen
never would've taken that job if it wasn't for me. He would have never met Stu. They wouldn't have lured me to the restaurant that night. It's all my fault. I
have
to make it right."

"What do you possibly think you can do? Kill every
Diabol
in the city
? The state? You have no idea how many are out there. Killing a demon here or there—it means nothing. It makes no difference!"

"
One
demon will."

"Viola is
gone
," he says. "The next time she comes back it'll be to kill you. Meanwhile she's just going to
tor
ture
you. . . ." He exhales an angry sigh. "What happened to you tonight is just going to happen again and again. Until it's too late." He glances at the faces around the room, pleading. "Does anyone else care to help me out?"

"It's dangerous, Gee," Carter
says.

I force my eyes not to roll.

Great. Just what Seth needs. Another voice to back him up.

"They're right," Mara says. "It
is
dangerous, and it's not your fight. No one will think any less of you if you choose not to go through with this."

My eyes na
rrow. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? So you can get back to your real job."

"The Council asked me to step in. My responsibility is here until someone tells me otherwise."

"What are the alternatives?" I ask Seth. "The visions will keep happening. Viola wi
ll still be out there, ruining people's lives. . . . Ruining my life."

"We can go somewhere. There's nothing tying you to this town. We can move somewhere else and start over," he says, sprouts of hope building inside at this, the best he can offer.

"You
can't move, Seth. You're stuck here, remember? If I move I'm assigned a new Guardian. We'll
both
be tied to someone else."

"I can leave," he insists. "I can separate myself from them. It doesn't have to be like this."

"I'm not going to let you damn your so
ul for me. You're not walking away from the Guardians."

"Then we'll figure something else out."

"She'll track me down. I know it. I have to end this."  

He shakes his head, refusing. "I can't let you keep doing this, Genesis. And I cannot go on not knowin
g if today is going to be our last day together." He fights to control himself, to keep his voice even. But there's an edge—an uneasiness—behind the words. I can hear it. 

"Then help me win," I beg. "
Please
."

F
OURTEEN

Seth stretches
a long piece of black cloth in his hand. "This . . . is from Mara."