W\\CKED

Death Defying Savior

[Jul]

He was there, his arms around me - and then he was gone, his presence wrenched from my mind as I slipped out of his grasp. For a split second, his gaze caught mine. There was hesitation in his eyes. Then he turned away and the string binding us together snapped.

I was falling. Wind battered my face, shoving its way down my throat, strangling me. The gray pavement of the parking lot rushed closer and closer, until I could see nothing else.

Arms grabbed my waist, pulled me close. My descent slowed. The wind eased off as I drifted to the ground, landing with the gentle tap of my feet against the pavement.

"You're safe, for now," a voice said behind me. "Dae won't come back as long as I'm here. Can you stand on your own?"

I opened my mouth. No words. Was my voice stolen forever? I nodded instead.

He shifted his grip so that I was free to move. I turned to look at him, swaying unsteadily. He braced my shoulder with one hand.

I could see nothing inside his hood.

"Are you in pain?" he asked.

I lifted my fingers to the wound on my cheek. To my surprise, I felt the familiar ridge of a long-sealed scar. How could a fresh wound close so quickly?

"The scar is Dae's," the stranger said. "It opens when he wills it to, and closes at his command." His words came a little sharper when he added, "He didn't drink your blood." It was not a question.

He was right. Dae licked my cheek before the wound opened, but never tasted my blood after it started bleeding. Fate, in the form of Sanny's fist, intervened.

I nodded in confirmation.

"You can't speak," he finally realized.

I shrugged.

"He took your voice, but it's not his to keep. It will come back when you're ready to claim it."

He knew so much and I knew nothing. I put the question of his identity in my eyes, pointing at his chest.

"I'm a former accomplice of Dae's." He released me, taking a half-step away so that his hood no longer pointed in my direction. "I was there when he killed your family."

I stumbled back, alarmed.

"You're not in danger. I didn't save your life so that I could hurt you." His hood shifted away from me, toward the figure of Sanny stumbling toward us as she favored one ankle. "They were precious to you, weren't they? The lives he stole."

I lowered my head.

"I'm trying to make up for that."

The moment Sanny reached us, she threw her arms around me. "You're okay! Before Hoodie Guy caught you, I thought you were street pancake!" She drew back to inspect me. "Your scar closed." She turned to the stranger. "Did you do that?"

He did not reply.

She talked on, as if his silence hadn't registered in her brain. "You can take off the hood now. We know you're hiding fangs under there."

"Some of us don't pretty ourselves up like Dae," he said in a scathing tone.

Sanny looked at him curiously. Her fingers flexed like they were resisting the urge to yank that hood down. "So what are you like under there? Are you hunchbacky or scarred-opera-phantomy? We're not superficial twitbrains. We can handle a little personality in a face."

The stranger grabbed her chin. Claws with razor-sharp edges burst from the tips of the gloves he wore, their glistening points digging into her skin enough to make her wince, though not enough to make her bleed.

"The subject is closed," he said, releasing a guttural growl at the end of his statement.

Sanny stumbled away from him. Her whole body looked tense. Knowing her, she was resisting the urge to punch him.

"Message received," she said, almost growling herself.

The claws retracted. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a car fob. He tossed it to Sanny.

"This is Kay's," she said. Then: "Coño!" She spun toward the club.

The stranger grabbed her.

"Let go!" She slapped at his hand. "Our friend needs medical-"

"Leave him to me. Focus on Juliet. She's in danger as long as you're in the city."

He leaned forward and swept Sanny into his arms. She started to struggle, but he caught her gaze and she grew still, as if in a trance. I followed them to Kay's car, where he deposited her carefully in the driver's seat while I got in on the passenger side.

Sanny blinked, taking in her surroundings with a confused look. "How did I..."

"Drive home as fast as you can," he told her.

"I'm not sure I can drive with this ankle."

That was a problem. I had a license, but since I got chauffeured everywhere, my driving experience was severely limited.

"There's nothing wrong with your ankle," he replied.

"You saw me hobble...." She fell silent as she stared into his eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with your ankle."

Sanny blinked.

"Try using it," the vampire said.

She cautiously bent the foot forward, then rolled it in a circle. "The pain's gone." She looked up in amazement. "You fixed it. Can you fix Kay?"

"I masked the pain. It'll return later. Drive as fast as you dare to the Abrams estate. Don't stop along the way, no matter what happens." He turned away.

"Wait! Did Abadai send you?"

"If you want to protect your mambo, when you tell Juliet's father what happened here don't mention the vévé on your phone, the texts you received, or the eye on my sleeve."

"He wouldn't believe me anyway!" she said with an eyeroll.

Hoodie Guy headed into Under Crash without answering.

Sanny shifted the car into motion. The moment we pulled onto the empty street, she rammed the pedal to the floor. The Lotus tore into the pavement, the smell of smoldering tires filling the air as we left the flickering neon of the club behind.

I couldn't leave the truth behind with it. The monster was back, and he was so much worse than the human serial killer my father thought he was looking for.

The scar is mine.

I shut my eyes, willing his voice to go away, but it spoke as if he were still beside me.

Just as you are mine.

An explosion jolted me out of my thoughts. The road under us shook.

Sanny swore as the car swerved, then straightened out again as she adjusted her grip on the wheel. She glanced in the rearview mirror, her face going ashen. "Oh, no. Kaydrien."

Behind us, the club was a pillar of raging fire and shattered glass. In the sky above the inferno, a solitary figure soared away, its golden-brown wings glistening in the light of the flames.