Page 136 of Hellbound

“I’m having a panic attack. I need to go sit in the car. Can I have the keys?”

Paul looked skeptical. “Sitting in a hot car’s gonna help that?”

She nodded wordlessly. He tossed her the keys.

“Come back in when you’re ready?”

Marian barely managed to catch them. Then she turned around and fled past clothing, beyond the registers, straight to the car wearing now-stolen Pikachu shorts, ignoring the buzzing theft detector behind her.

It took her a few tries to open the driver’s side door, and several attempts to sit down and buckle her seatbelt. Her hands shook so badly.

Her key was almost in the ignition when her stomach revolted. She threw the door open and vomited on the asphalt as memories swam to the surface. Old wounds throbbed and bled.

Only when she’d stopped retching did she hear the determined echo in her head.

You have to do this. She needs you.

Marian took a deep, slow breath. Then another. With a twist of the key, the engine turned over. She plugged the address into the car’s computer and started its navigation. Muscle memory returned as she peeled out of the parking spot, past the private security guard yelling at her. Her hands shook all the way to the freeway on-ramp, but she made it.

Her phone buzzed loudly in the console cup holder. She glanced down at Paul’s name. Call after call came through. She’d apologize later.

Then Vale’s name appeared. Marian’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel as she maneuvered through the slow crawl of traffic.

Against her better judgment, she answered it and put it on speaker.

“Verinne has Tori,” she said immediately. “I don’t know how, but she does. She’s going to do to her what she did to Roman if I don’t meet with Verinne alone. You can’t come after me.”

“Marian,” Vale replied, his voice shockingly level given what she’d done. “If you go to her, Verinne will get everything she wants. She will turn Tori with or without your cooperation.”

“I’m going to kill her before she can even try. I’ll summon the knife and end this.”

And she meant it. There was no room for doubt or anything less than iron resolve. Tori’s soul was on the line.

“Listen to me and think.” Vale’s growl crackled through the speaker. “Verinne won’t be alone. We know she’s recruited other Argent to her cause and keeps a contingent of armed guards.”

“But I can’t die.”

“And you will become mortal when you kill her,” he replied, filling the car with thinly veiled anger. “I can’t protect you if I’m not with you when that happens.”

“So what?” Marian said carelessly. “The Argent will be gone. There won’t be anyone left to turn Tori and the Gifted into her puppets. Everyone will be safe.”

“Except for you.”

A heavy pause followed.

“But you’ll have your vengeance. It’ll all be over.”

“And your death will be final. My mark will vanish from you, and my protection will end. The ixyura will take you and you will face another eternity of suffering.”

Marian snorted softly. A bitter knot lodged in her throat. “Maybe my dad can share some hot tips on how to pass the time this go-around.”

She thought she heard the sound of glass shattering in the background.

“For fuck’s sake Marian. You are allowed to live and enjoy your life, so stop running toward every opportunity to throw it away. Your self-destruction serves none but those who wish to see you fail.”

There were too many things to be said and so many conflicting feelings she couldn’t put into words. She’d never heard Vale speak so forcefully. What did he care? She was going to give him what he wanted. She was a living weapon with benefits.

Marian exhaled a shuddering breath.