next to me. “What can I do?”
As if on autopilot, I answered, “Smash the mirror in the hallway.” Otherwise, more powerful demons could use it to get here.
Jasmine ran off, and I heard the sound of glass breaking moments later. Then, so faintly I almost missed it, I heard Adrian’s voice.
“Have to...kill her, Ivy.”
I couldn’t believe Adrian could talk with his throat half ripped out, and I tried not to panic at how more blood spurted through my fingers from his efforts.
“Don’t talk,” I urged him before yelling, “Where’s the fucking manna, Costa?”
Adrian grabbed my wrist, his grip surprisingly strong. “Kill...’er,” he repeated, jerking his head toward Obsidiana.
His movement sent another spurt of blood free. Now a strange wind began to blow my hair back, but I paid it no mind as I put more pressure on Adrian’s neck.
“As soon as you’re healed,” I promised him.
Adrian grabbed his neck, blood making his hands slick enough to slide beneath mine despite the pressure I’d been applying. With his throat in a tighter grip than I’d dared, he stared at me, his sapphire-colored gaze seeming to burn.
“Now.”
Didn’t he know he was inches from death himself? Yes, Obsidiana would wake in an hour or so, but until then, she wasn’t a threat.
Or was she? She’d been strong enough to survive on this side of the realms when the gateways had sealed. Maybe Adrian knew she’d wake a lot sooner than I expected her to.
“As soon as you get the manna,” I said. I refused to endanger Adrian’s life by killing Obsidiana now, even if it meant that waiting would endanger mine. I’d take that risk.
Adrian made a frustrated sound and tried to get up. I pushed him back, gasping, “Don’t!” in horror. He only gestured angrily at Obsidiana. Kill her now! that wave demanded.
Costa finally came out of the hotel room, a heap of manna in his hand. I was so relieved; I couldn’t tell if I started crying or if it was the water from the sprinklers.
“Move,” he ordered, pushing me and Adrian’s hands away.
I watched Costa smear the manna over Adrian’s throat and found myself praying. That odd wind increased, until between that and the sprinklers increasing until they jetted out like fire hydrants, it was getting hard to see. If Adrian’s injury was fatal, the manna would do nothing because it didn’t work on mortal wounds. If he’d lost too much blood while waiting for Costa to find the manna, I’d have to watch him die.
The clump of manna over his throat immediately turned crimson, the flow of blood turning from paste into freely running liquid. I was shaking so hard, it felt like the whole hotel was shaking along with me.
“Ivy,” Adrian whispered, his voice fainter as that merciless red flow continued down his throat. “Please...kill her.”
Adrian couldn’t be dying...but if he was and this was his final wish, I wouldn’t fail him. The last thing he’d see was me killing the bitch who had done this to him.
I stood up and looked around almost blindly for the sling. Then my shaking hands caused me to miss it twice before I grabbed it. “I love you,” I told Adrian, tears choking my voice.
I spun the sling as I kicked Obsidiana’s body a safe distance away from Adrian, then I hurled the glass stone it contained at her. Even with my vision blurry and my whole body shaking, the stone hit her right in the chest.
Her body burst into ashes as if I’d thrown a dozen supernatural grenades at her. The instant cloud of embers was caught by that strong breeze and rolled over us like a fog, coating me, Adrian and Costa in its dark wake.
For a moment, I stood there, not looking away from the ashes wetly falling to the carpet. I’d faced a realm full of demons and minions determined to kill me, yet I had never been more afraid than I was now. What if I turned around and saw that the manna hadn’t worked? How could I bear it if the last seconds I’d spent with Adrian were the final ones we’d ever get?
I tried to breathe, but my chest ached too much. The wind picked up and the sprinklers began shooting out as if trying to douse a five-alarm fire. Please don’t let this be the end. Please, please, please!
“Ivy.”
A sob escaped me when I heard Adrian’s voice. I whirled, my paralysis vanishing. I fell to my knees next to him, an incoherent sound escaping me as I saw him brush the remains of another clump of manna from his now-healed throat. Then hard arms pulled me to him, his lips found mine and I kissed him until I couldn’t breathe for a different reason this time.
When he finally lifted his head, he was smiling. “I love you, too,” he murmured. “More than you will ever know.”
“I’m glad I get the chance to find out,” I said, so overcome I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.
I thought a shadow crossed his features, but it must be remains of the wet ashes. “One day, you might.”
ADRIAN KISSED ME AGAIN. I could’ve stayed that way for the rest of the night, but Costa cleared his throat in a manner meant to get our attention. When Adrian and I both ignored him, he tapped us on the arms. Hard.
“Guys,” Costa said through gritted teeth. “Security’s here, and they look pissed.”
I looked up to see three uniformed men glaring down at us. Then they looked around in a disbelieving way at the holes in the wall, the dark stains on the sodden carpet, the broken mirror farther down the hallway and, finally, the blood still staining Adrian’s clothes.
“What in hell happened here?” one of the guards asked in heavily accented English.
From the other people peeking out of their hotel rooms, they weren’t the only ones who wanted to know that. Adrian got up, bloody droplets accompanying his every move, and reached into his pants pocket.
“Don’t worry—I’ll pay for all of it,” he said, pulling out a credit card with a ridiculously high charging limit.
That was one way out of this situation. The security staff no longer looked as if they were about to tackle us, but they were still clearly pissed.
“You’ll pay on your way out,” one of them growled before giving another disgusted look around. “This flooding will take days to clean up!”
“Hey, that’s from your sprinklers,” I corrected him.
“What sprinklers?” the guard snapped.
I pointed at the ceiling, but the word “Those!” died on my lips. The hallway had several smoke alarms, but unbelievably, I didn’t see any sprinkler heads. Now that I was thinking about it, the water had seemed to come from the sides, not just from the ceiling, and I still had no explanation as to where the
