“Nothing at all.” He flew at her, grabbing her as he had me, and bit her neck. She screamed with surprise and pain, clawing frantically against him. But he had her at a disadvantage. He’d done this before. It was obvious. She didn’t have a chance.
I could grab the key. I could free Thierry and we could both get the hell out of there before he finished with her and started looking for dessert.
But that wasn’t going to happen.
I pulled my hand away from my neck and crawled across the stage as quickly as I could, and grabbed the gun to point it and pull the trigger.
Nicolai jerked again and pulled away from Janie. He looked down at the dart I’d just shot into his other shoulder before he pulled it out and threw it away from him.
“Really?” he said incredulously. “Didn’t you hear about the antidote? Truly, I have never witnessed such stupidity from a woman.”
I stood on shaky legs and threw the dart gun away from me. It clattered to the ground. “Okay, jerk.
First off, I’m not that stupid. Got it?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Because,” I continued, “I wasn’t trying to knock you out. I was simply trying to distract you. Who’s stupid now, asshole?”
He turned just as Janie sank her wooden stake into his chest and stepped back, holding a hand to her wounded neck. He looked at her with surprise.
“Now I do realize that this probably means I’m not going to be paid for this job, too,” she said. “But I’m okay with that if you are.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but the rest of his body was too busy turning into a puddle of goo to let him.
“Gross.” I stepped away from his remains. Luckily, I wasn’t wearing my new good shoes. I wanted to feel bad about what had to happen, but I found that I simply couldn’t. Nicolai was dead and all I felt was relief.
Janie stared at what was left of Nicolai for a moment, clearly shaken by what had just occurred, then she turned away.
“Where are you going?” I asked. “Don’t you want the necklace?”
She turned back to look at the gold chain hanging around my neck. “To tell you the truth, I’m a little sick of following orders. I’m going to tell my boss I didn’t get it. Whatever happens, happens.”
“What is it, anyhow?” The metal felt cold against my skin as I thought about how it might have helped transform Barkley back into his human form. “What does it do?”
“No idea. I just retrieve them, I don’t write the instruction manuals.”
I tucked it back under my shirt. “You didn’t let me thank you for saving my life.”
She shrugged. “I guess we’re even. That doesn’t mean we have to hug, does it?”
I shook my head.
“Look,” she said. “I’m not okay with what happened to my brother. I get that he was different than I remember. I know in the end that he was a bad guy. But still. It hurts. So we’renot friends.”
“I know that.”
“I’m out of here.”
“What about Lenny?”
She smiled at that. “While he should devote his attention to someone who deserves it, I’m afraid he’s stuck with me as his partner for a while. I’ll catch up with him.”
“Enjoy the poetry.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that. And tell Quinn . . . ” she paused, and then smirked before turning away again. “Tell him I’m sorry I kicked his ass.”
“I’m sure he’ll love that. Oh, and by the way, Janie?”
She turned again. “Yeah?”
“Great shoes.”
She looked down at her feet. “Yeah, I know. Would you believe these were on sale?”
“Lucky bitch.”
She shrugged at me and then smiled, just a little one, and vanished into the shadows offstage.
Chapter 21
Iturned to Thierry.
He stared at me and shook his head.
I shrugged. “I don’t even get a thank-you for saving you?”
“What you just did was incredibly foolish.”
“And what’s your point?”
“It could have gone very differently. You could have died. You are lucky.”
I touched my neck and flinched. “I guess I am. I didn’t even check my horoscope this morning to make sure that all my stars were in alignment or anything.”
“Don’t make light of this, Sarah. Nicolai would have killed you. And I would have been able to do nothing to prevent it. It was all my fault that he felt that way.”
I shook my head. “Nicolai was insane. Get it? And no matter how you try to rewrite what happened with Elizabeth , you weren’t responsible for her death. Hunters were. End of story.”
He took a deep breath. “You’re so very innocent.”
“No, I’m practical. You’re just addicted to guilt. Gets you through the day like caffeine used to with me.
But you have to let go of it. It’s over. Permanently over now. Nicolai was the true murderer who definitely deserved what he got. If he didn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation about guilt and caffeine.”
He looked away. “We shall agree to disagree, then.”