Death Wish . Amy Blankenship

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СКАЧАТЬ a year, never breathing a word of his whereabouts as she became deeper and deeper entangled in the high-end thievery ring. As soon as she noticed that she was no longer being watched so closely, she started planning her great escape. She’d even warned Vincent that she was going to do it the first chance she had.

      He’d reminded her about the mark Masters had placed on her shoulder, but she’d considered what to do about that. She’d ensured him her next stop would be to break into a certain safe that she knew held a spell book that would help her with the demon mark… she just didn’t tell him it was her grandfather’s safe. As far as Vincent knew, she didn’t even have a grandfather.

      The last two missions they’d been sent out on had been so dangerous that she’d nearly gotten herself killed both times and would have if Vincent hadn’t been there to take the injuries for her. He’d given himself up so she could get away. Both times he’d been brutally killed and his body dumped only for him to make his way back once he’d woken up healed.

      Finally agreeing that it was getting too dangerous for her to stick around, Vincent had offered to help her escape. It just so happened that the next mission landed them right back at the same museum they had met at. The job involved them stealing a device that was said to incapacitate all demons within a hundred yards of it when it was triggered. Perfect.

      The plan was that only one of them would return from this job. Their hopes was that when Vincent gave the device to Masters, the demon would be focused on the device that was obviously a weapon against his kind and wouldn’t come after her right away, giving her time to get to the spell she needed to counteract the mark Masters had put on her.

      They’d easily stolen the object that, to her, looked a lot like a ten sided metal Rubik’s Cube that was covered with golden symbols instead of colors. While they were there, they knocked the guards out and had stolen their weapons. Vincent had then turned and given her a cute little ‘goodbye dear friend’ speech and a quick kiss on the cheek.

      The problem arose as they’d made their way out of the museum only to find Masters and a horde of demons waiting on them. Masters had laughed, saying that the mark he’d given her had given him a warning of what she was planning… right down to the fact that she was the granddaughter of the Chameleon and was running back to him where there was a whole safe of things he was now interested in… including the soul orb.

      Masters had then nodded at Vincent, thanking him for keeping her distracted and unaware of the mark’s true power.

      She had glared up at Vincent accusingly then snatched the device from his hand and prayed she knew what she was doing as she started quickly turning it. She’d been obsessed over a picture of the Cube before coming to the museum to steal it and used that memory to rapidly link the symbols together.

      One by one, the demons started going down in agonizing pain but not Masters… no, that son of a bitch began walking straight toward her with an enraged glint in his eyes.

      That’s when Vincent had moved. She’d not noticed him taking an ancient blade from the same hidden vault the Cube had been in, but there it was in his hand and he was holding it against the demon’s throat. In a movement just as quick, the demon plunged his hand all of the way through Vincent’s chest and out his back.

      “Run,” Vincent growled at her just before his eyes slid shut and the demon’s head fell to the ground beside him.

      All of the other demons were glaring at her from their prone positions, so she laid the Cube on the ground at her feet and did exactly what Vincent had told her to do… she ran like hell.

      She had no way of knowing if Masters had told anyone what he knew about her and prayed the greedy son of a bitch hadn’t shared her secrets in fear that another demon would beat him to the legendary soul orb. Her thoughts kept straying back to Vincent, wondering if he was okay or if he was being tortured for his role in helping her escape.

      They couldn’t kill him permanently, but she was well aware there were a lot worse things than staying dead… being brutally killed over and over again being one of them.

      She glanced back down at her shoulder knowing she had to get that spell and counteract the mark so that Vincent’s sacrifice wasn’t for nothing. She let the hot water of the shower wash the silent tears from her face as she renewed her determination.

      Upstairs, Ren suddenly stopped pacing and looked straight down hearing the water pumping through the system. A devious smirk appeared on his face when he realized that he was standing directly above the bathroom downstairs where Lacey was. His gaze followed the sound over to the wall where the pipes that ran water through the whole place went down to the floor and into the bomb shelter.

      She’d been in that shower long enough and he was ready to try again with the interrogation.

      Walking over to the pipes, he placed his hand on the one he wanted and closed his eyes, concentrating on the temperature gauge of the water heater. His lips pulled into a satisfied smile as frost appeared under his fingers on the brass pipe. The scream that rang through the bomb shelter made everyone except Ren jump in surprise.

      In the steamy shower, the water had gone from scalding hot to freezing cold in less than a second making Lacey flinch out from under the spraying water. In the process, she slipped on the slick bottom of the tub and stumbled out nearly taking the shower curtain with her.

      “Lacey!” Gypsy called out worriedly.

      Lacey untangled herself from the shower curtain and pushed it aside thankful it hadn’t been pulled down.

      “I’m fine,” Lacey shouted glaring at the shower head. “You need a new water heater… the damn thing just went from hot to arctic cold in less than a second.”

      Gypsy frowned on the other side of the door wondering what had made the water do that. She’d taken an hour long shower earlier and the hot water had been just fine.

      “I’ll have Ren check it out,” Gypsy called back through the closed door. “He has a way of manipulating machines and making them work even after they’ve stopped operating.”

      Lacey turned her head and stared wide eyed at the door hearing Gypsy’s explanation and immediately knew what had happened.

      “This means war,” she hissed under her breath then not having a choice, she stepped back into the chilly spray to rinse the rest of the soap out of her hair.

      Ren was upstairs sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and a grin on his face. Moments later he heard footsteps on the stairway and didn’t bother to hide his smile when he saw it was Nick.

      “I knew it,” Nick exclaimed in a loud whisper. “But I have to admit… that was pretty good.”

      Ren patted the cold pipe beside him, “I do have my moments.”

      Nick ran a hand through his hair, “I’d be careful around her… Gypsy just told her that you have a way with machines.”

      Ren’s grin widened, “Well, ain’t that a damn shame.”

      “You’re having way too much fun,” Nick accused.

      “Of course I am,” Ren agreed. “Now let’s go back down and see if I can figure out what’s wrong with Gypsy’s poor water heater.”

      Nick snorted and shook his head as Ren wandered back down to the bunker. СКАЧАТЬ