Lilith Saintcrow - Night Shift

I'd been taught a better prayer, hadn't I?

O my Lord God, do not forsake me when I face Hell's legions. In Thy name and with Thy blessing, I go forth to cleanse the night My lips shaped the words, and the candleflames flattened. The scar on my wrist grumbled uneasily, a hot hard knot under the skin, infected.

I shut the thought of Mikhail away, along with the thought of Saul. It took a physical effort, a tensing of every muscle. When it was done, I inhaled, let out a long huff of air.

The click sounded inside my head. I'd never told Mikhail about this switch in the very bottom of me, the one I could now flip. I could lift off, shutting away everything but the job that had to be done, the shining path of vengeance laid out before my feet. That road might eventually end at Hell's bony clutching gates, but at least I'd take plenty of the predators who preyed on the weak with me. Maybe a few innocents would survive a little longer because I was out getting dirty.

Enough whining. The night could use some cleansing. I was just the girl to get it done. If the Weres kept the rogue out of my way, and if Cenci's need for revenge on her hellspawn father was greater than her need for revenge on me, and if Perry's interest in me would keep him from interfering, and if ..

I was counting on a lot of if s, and on a lot of hellbreed jealousy. I was also counting on Navoshtay Niv Arkady being killable, which was by no means certain.

"Only one way to find out." My voice echoed in the church's cloistered quiet, the sunsword ringing softly underneath it. The ruby at my throat was warm and comforting. I had never seen a priest in here, but the doors were always open. I was glad on both counts; if I did see a priest now, I wasn't quite sure I could control my sarcasm. It would hurt too much to be respectful, and in any case I've never done submission well.

Did the man on the cross mind? Did he forgive me for it, knowing I was as I'd been made? By the same hand that had made him, the same hand that abandoned him to be nailed up for sins he didn't commit? Sins he had no choice but to pay for, over and over again?

Was memory a curse for the man on the cross too?

Quit fucking around, Kismet. Get your ass moving.

I did. But as I left the church I felt comforted, for once. I pushed open the doors and stepped out into an early evening eerily dark with storm clouds covering the sky's bright eye. In the west was a crimson streak. Dusk was coming, the sun sinking under the rim of the earth and night rising to start its games.

I didn't have to walk out to the Monde or take a cab. I wasn't more than four blocks away from the church when a pristine black limousine detached itself from parking up the street and crept toward me.

It was absurdly anticlimactic.

I got in, taking one last drowning breath of heavy muggy air crackling with approaching thunder before air-conditioned calm and the smell of hellbreed closed around me. I had to unbuckle the diagonal strap and lay the sunsword across my knees, a bar between me and the blue-eyed 'breed who lounged, patently unconcerned, across from me on the white leather seat. The blondness of the interior matched his sandy hair, and the scar on my wrist leapt with sick hot delight under the copper cuff.

"Alone at last," Perry greeted me. His suit jacket was unbuttoned, and the stickpin in his pale blue tie was a diamond. I suspected it would have a flaw like a scream-ing face in its depths. "That is an exceedingly undainty tool for such a pretty thing as yourself, my dear."

You're not the first man to tell me that . I stared out the window as the quiet residential streets around Immaculate Conception flowed by. The driver was behind a pane of smoked glass, and Perry sat with his back to the driver and regarded me. "No word for your faithful slave, dear Kiss? You're even surlier than usual. I've decided to forgive your insubordination this time as well. Comforted?"

There's nothing you can do that would comfort me, Perry. Except stop breathing, and maybe not even then. I wouldn't put it past you to rise from a grave or two . I caught myself, focused my eyes out the window. Mikhail had always told me a woman had an edge in this kind of bargain.

I was about to use that edge for everything it was worth. Besides, my head was full of colorless gasoline fumes, and all I needed was a spark. I hoped I was as dangerous as I felt right now.

He fell silent for a short while. I could feel his eyes crawling avidly over me, leaving behind a sparkling, oozing trail like the wetness coating a hot scaled tongue.

The driver was taking the direct route to the Monde.

Like that's a blessing, Jill.

The scar turned warm. Heat oozed up my arm, a pleasant bath of sensation. I set my jaw as the limo turned left, bracing my foot against the floor.

"You make this so difficult." He managed to sound mocking and contrite at once. I didn't dignify it with a response. "I've done what you wanted. Arkady is waiting at the Monde, enjoying such blandishments as might make him a little more amenable. I've spent a great deal of time and effort soothing his ruffled feathers and persuading him to overlook—"

Now, Jill. Go on the attack . "Bullshit." My voice slashed through his. "You've convinced him I can be used as bait for his daughter, since you've deduced—or maybe you even know —that the Weres are hot on the rogue's trail. Can the act, Perry. I'm tired of this game."

"There are other games to play." His eyes half-lidded, a movement I could sense, though I kept my gaze out the window, by the sudden heat brushing my cheek. Every nerve was agonizingly aware, waiting for the violence. "You should take that abominable thing off. I like to hear your pulse."

"The cuff stays on, Perry." At least until I start getting my ass beat by Arkady . The limo's engine opened up, accelerating up the slight hill of Mendez Road.

"You're harsh." Delicate, dainty as a cat. "What have I done to deserve your ire, avenging one?"

You're here instead of in Hell, Perry. And you're fucking with my head. Watch me fuck right back . "Just don't start with me. I'm not in the mood."

"Changeful woman," he murmured. I sensed his eyes lighting up with predatory glee. The scar prickled, burrowing wetly into my skin. "It's your prerogative, I suppose."

Keep going, you scumsucking hellspawn . I was an idiot to think I could manipulate a hellbreed, especially one like him.

Still, even idiots get lucky sometimes. I felt lucky tonight. Or maybe just reckless.

He kept his voice low, thoughtful. "You've grown quiet. And very thoughtful."

I glanced at Perry. His profile was presented to me, he glanced out the opposite window, one leg crossed over the other, his hands folded on his knee. He looked like a mild-mannered businessman.

I let him have it with both barrels, a mismatched stare and my seeming-full attention fixed on him. "I'm wondering how far you can be trusted when Arkady decides he wants to rip my throat open." Or just use those eyes on me until I do it myself .

Perry's head slowly turned. His blue eyes met mine, a shadow of indigo clouding the whites. "That is one thing you don't have to worry about, Kiss. You're signed, sealed, and mine . Navoshtay Niv Arkady isn't what you should fret over." His colorless tongue stole out, touched his bottom lip in a flicker of motion. "You should worry more about satisfying me once this meeting is over. You've put yourself right into my hands."

Oh, have I ? Amazingly, I felt the corners of my mouth tilt up. It was a crazy, suicidal smile, and I heard Mikhail's voice from a long time ago—it seemed like centuries. When you stop fearing them , milaya, you have made first mistake .