A Touch Morbid (27 page)

Hearing Az’s name come from him was enough to spark her rage. “Is getting Kristen your revenge for what I did to Libby?” she jeered, knowing the blow had struck true when Luke’s smarmy smile faded. “Yeah, remember Libby, your girlfriend? Looks like you moved on pretty quick there. But since she’s Downstairs, I imagine you’re splitting your time between her and Kristen,” she said sweetly.

Kristen moved suddenly, put herself in front of Luke as if she were protecting him. “My utter
contempt
for you right now aside, you’re wasting your time, Eden. I’m not leaving with you. You have nothing to offer me.”

Sebastian shifted forward. “I’ve offered you my loyalty for years now. Trust me enough to come with me, Kristen.”

Her face changed at Sebastian’s words. “No,” she said, but this time it was a whisper, uncertain. She took a step away from Luke, her eyes flicking back and forth as she hovered between him and Sebastian.

Luke took her hand. “I’m the dark you’ve always craved, Kristen. I need your light.” He drew his thumb down her cheek to her jaw, curled across her chin. “Stay.”

“Kristen, you can’t possibly be buying this?” Eden asked in disbelief.

Kristen’s stare was fixated on Luke.

Sebastian tried to grab her arm, but she pulled away. “You’re better than being with someone who wants you to be dependent on
him
to be your best. Are you not seeing how he’s manipulating you?” he demanded, his intensity surprising Eden.

“You think I’m manipulating her? That I wouldn’t grant her every whim?” Luke toyed with the rings on Kristen’s hand.

Eden laughed bitterly. Inside her chest, her heart hammered, her brain humming with things Madeline had told her—that she would try to press Luke, see if there were some way to get Gabe Bound again. “It doesn’t matter, Luke.”
Work
, she thought.
Please work
. “You’ll always know if it were an option, Kristen would have chosen Gabriel.”

Luke froze as her words hit him. “It doesn’t matter.” He tried to work up his smile, but it faltered. He turned to Kristen. “Do you want the choice?”

Kristen gave her head a slight shake. “What are you saying, Luke?”

His face hardened, confidence pulling back his shoulders. “I won’t be your second choice.” Eden held her breath as Luke smiled at her. “They go by the books Upstairs, and Eden’s not on the books. You can’t murder someone who doesn’t exist.”

Kristen raised a hand, clutching her chest in disbelief. “What are you saying?” she demanded.

“If someone were to go Upstairs and point out that little loophole, they’d have to let Gabriel back.”

Eden couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Gabe would be Bound again; Kristen wouldn’t need Luke. Az would be safe. “And you’ll tell them? The Bound?” Eden managed, her heart racing.

Luke scoffed. “I’m Fallen, Eden. It’s not like they sent me off with a set of day passes.”

Disappointment flooded her. “Then what does it matter? We can’t get Upstairs.”

Luke smiled. “
You
can’t. No one can but the Bound. Or,” he added slowly, “those who have an open invitation in the form of a pair of pretty wings.”

Eden’s breath choked off. The room tunneled. She tried to shake it off, make sense of what he said. Az. Az could save Gabe?

Kristen dropped back into Luke’s arms. She stared at Eden, heat in her glare. “You’d better help Gabriel. You owe me that much.”

Luke smiled at Eden over Kristen’s shoulder before he pulled away and took Kristen’s hand, walking toward the backstage door.

Just before they reached it, he turned back.

“Oh, and Eden? Az already knows. He’s known the whole time.”

S
ebastian stayed quiet beside her, staring awkwardly out the window of the cab while Eden fought to control her rage. By the time they reached the apartment, it was a tightly wound ball inside her. She took the stairs slowly, dreading every one, knowing what came at the top. Sebastian didn’t follow her up.

She opened the door. Az leaped up from the couch when she came in, relief on his face. He covered the ground between them in seconds, caught her in his arms.

The tight squeeze stole her breath.

“Are you all right?” He kissed her neck, his hands gripping tight around her waist. Eden didn’t move. “Where’s Kristen?” he asked, confused. “Where’s Sebastian?”

She wanted to react. To call up the rage she’d felt in the cab, the heartbreak. Nothing was left. Nothing.

“You don’t want to save Gabe,” she said. The words sounded flat and hollow in the empty room. She didn’t know where Jarrod and Sullivan were, didn’t ask.

Az’s fingers stopped just before brushing against her skin. “Eden, what happened at Aerie?”

“All you have to do is tell the Bound I wasn’t mortal when he killed me. I’m not on record. That’s all you have to do.” She whispered the last bit, the words slow. “Did you know?” She looked up at him, his hand frozen near the side of her face, lips parted with denials still shaping.

“Wait, who told you this? Luke?” He stepped away from her. “Eden, it’s a trick. It’s not that easy.”

She followed him. “You can go Upstairs and clear Gabriel’s name. Michael was only trying to get you to help Gabe, wasn’t he?”

Az’s legs hit the back of the couch.

“You could save Gabriel and you choose not to.” Fury found its way back into her. “Deny it.”

He shook his head. “Eden, it’s not—”

“Deny it!” she screamed, a hot tear rushing down her cheek. “You tell me I’m wrong. You tell me you’d never be capable of doing something this awful, this evil! You deny it, Az!”

He slumped against the armrest of the couch. “I can’t.”

“Why?” she yelled. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Az turned from her. His fist slammed into the wall, the clock rattling before it fell, breaking when it hit the floor. “Stop asking, Eden! You know what’s wrong with me! The same thing that’s always been wrong with me!”

“Gabe was there for you for years! He sacrificed everything he knew for you. Now he needs you to help him. And you’re trying to tell me you won’t swallow your fucking pride and clear his name! Use the wings!”

He flexed his hand, his knuckles already bruising. He kept his eyes on the floor. “It’s his revenge on us,” he whispered. “Of course he’d tell you I could go.”

He slumped, his voice dead as he explained. “I can’t get in unless I’m Bound, Eden. So I use the wings to get there. And then I take an oath. I give up everything down here. I become one of them again. Shackled to duty. Doing their bidding.” He glanced up. “It’s got nothing to do with pride. They won’t let me back here.”

“No,” she whispered. Too easy, she’d thought, when Luke had told her. And now the terrible twist cut through her.

“I lose the wings, I lose you.” Az took her hand.

“But can’t Michael just—”

“They need a witness, someone who was there, to testify. That’s why Michael wanted me. He needs me.” His face clouded. “If I’m Bound again, they won’t trust me to come back here.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, her voice small.

“Because I was afraid.” His eyes deepened to the bluest blue. He didn’t bother keeping the pain from his voice. “I was afraid you would want me to go anyway.”

“So you kept it from me. You lied.” She swiped her hand across her cheek, barely noticing the black on her fingers when she lowered them. “I used to see the good in you.”

She closed her eyes, couldn’t even look at him.

“Eden, please. Don’t do this.” A soft, broken sound escaped him. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

She slid her hand out of his. “You could have told the truth. You could have trusted me. You could have kept your promises.”

“I promised you I’d stay,” he said.

A sharp stab dug through her chest. She thought at first it was her heart, but then it worsened. She hissed a breath.

“You’re sick again, aren’t you?” He brushed his thumb across the side of her neck. “You said the pain was nothing.”

“It’ll pass. I just need…”

“What’s happening to you?” His eyes were wide and frightened.

“I don’t know.” Everything was falling apart. Even her.

“Eden, I don’t think this is a normal thing,” he whispered.

She couldn’t get enough of a breath to answer him. She doubled over, a scream nearly silenced behind her clenched teeth. Her legs gave out and the cry burst free.

“Eden!” He brushed the tears from her cheeks, his fingers dripping black as ink. “Oh God,” he whispered, staring at her face in horror. She didn’t want to know what he saw.

It’ll stop. Any second
. She bore down, waiting for the release, but the pain only intensified. She felt his hands, thought he was trying to figure out where she hurt, but then the hands were gone again and she heard the tones of him sending a call on her phone.

“Eden, breathe!” She couldn’t, ashes clogging her windpipe. She mouthed his name, reaching for him. “Madeline,” he yelled into the phone. “It’s Eden; something’s wrong. I don’t know—”

He cut off and Eden forced herself to focus. “Yes, there’s black on her face, all over her hands.” His breath caught in a hitched panic. “Fuck, Madeline, ashes are coming out of her eyes!” He cuffed his sleeve around his fingers, gently wiping her face. “Stay with me,” he murmured as he listened to whatever Madeline said. “You have to kill the Siders, Eden. This is happening because you stopped.”

She shook her head.

“What if she won’t?” he said into the phone. The color drained from Az’s face. He grabbed for Eden’s hand as she finally managed a hacking cough of air. “She won’t send them Downstairs, Madeline.” His eyes met Eden’s. “But she would if her Siders went Upstairs, if Gabe were Bound again.”

She gasped hard, trying to pull in enough air to speak, her head shaking wildly. Az dropped the phone. It clacked against the floor and spun away. She could hear Madeline screaming for him but couldn’t make out the words.

“I can fix this.” Az stared down in a daze, as if putting a puzzle together. His hands cupped Eden’s face, forcing her to stop thrashing. Certainty shone in his eyes. “I can do this.”

“Az, no!” she blurted. “Wait!” He ripped away from her hold on him and ran for the door.

She screamed as he took off through it. Her eyes clouded over black.

She rubbed them furiously, heard his steps slam down the stairs. She fumbled blindly for the railing. “Az!” she cried.

She froze, waited for him to answer, to come back.

“I love you,” he whispered. The stairwell fell silent, and then Eden heard the twist of the doorknob.

The click as it closed.

G
abe could smell the cooking meat. In the distance an orange glow ran along the broken horizon line, the flames hidden from view by rolling hills. Barren trees stretched into the dark sky. A low drone hummed through his bones, the far-off sound of uncountable screams carried up his legs through the dirt and ash below his feet. Cages hung, hundreds of them on J-shaped hooks protruding from the ground, holding them aloft like oversized aviaries. Each one held a single drenched prisoner. Droplets streaked down Gabe’s own face, the drizzle slowly soaking him through.