Sarah Gilman - Deep in Crimson

He blinked and stared at her from under thick, blond lashes with eyes the darkest shade of copper she’d ever seen, like rust polished to a crimson shine.

“The boy you tried to help today is my little brother.”

His lips parted and closed.

“When you can speak, will you tell me everything you can that might help us find the humans who took Bryce?”

He blinked, the movement slow.

“I hope that’s a yes.” She stood and rubbed her shaking hands together. She couldn’t chase away the mental image of Raphael in the woods, holding Jac. Forcing back more tears, she bit her lower lip. Keep it together, Lexi, keep it together .

Vin turned to the gathered demons. “The rest of you, spread out and study the scent trails. I want to know every step the humans and Jett took.”

The Guardians dispersed into the darkness, their movements as silent as owls hunting in the forest.

Lexine’s pulse pounded so loudly in her ears, she almost missed Jett whisper, “They won’t hurt Bryce.”

Vin knelt. “Care to elaborate?”

In a sluggish movement, Jett pulled at the handcuffs. The chain links chimed against each other. His voice strengthened and darkened. “Get these off me.”

“The sooner you talk, the sooner I consider taking them off.”

Jett got an elbow under his body and, with far more effort than normally necessary, righted himself into a sitting position. He leaned back against the tree. “I stopped being anyone’s bitch the moment I walked out of Thornton’s little fun house last year. Get these handcuffs off me.”

Vin sat back on his heels. “Well, that’s disappointing. I really thought, considering how you helped Raphael, that there was more to you than a hermit who used to work for poachers. No demon I know would put his own pride over a child’s safety.”

Jett’s voice remained quiet, but filled with threat. “Don’t you dare get all holier-than-thou on me.”

“Hey.” Lexine gave Vin her best back-the-hell-off glare, sat on a large tree root, and put her hand on Jett’s shoulder. He glanced in her direction, more surprise than anger in his expression.

“My older brother was killed tonight. Please, I need to get my younger brother back. You said the humans won’t hurt him. How do you know that?”

“Because they need him alive.” His tone softened. He shifted and faced in her direction, giving Vin his shoulder. “The humans who took Bryce work for Victor Lawrence, a scientist who studies demons. I was his guinea pig for most of my youth. Assuming the nature of his work hasn’t changed, he’ll need Bryce both alive and healthy.”

Lex leaned forward, her mouth dry. “Did you help these humans take Bryce and murder the others?”

“No, and I’m going to tear Lawrence’s throat out with my teeth. I know where to find him.”

“Thank God.” Her eyes burned and a tear ran a hot trail down her skin. “But then, why did they spare your life?” Heat rose to her cheeks. “Don’t misunderstand. I’m glad you’re safe.”

“I don’t know why they left me alive.”

With a muttered curse, Vin pulled a key from his pocket. He bent forward and unlocked Jett’s ankles.

“Change of heart so quickly?”

“My instincts are never wrong, and they insist you didn’t do this,” Vin said. “All I care about right now is getting that child back safely.”

Jett held out his cuffed wrists.

Vin rubbed the key between his thumb and forefinger. “I want to know everything you can tell me about Lawrence.”

“I will deal with Lawrence myself.”

“You will help my Guardians find Lawrence. You don’t want tonight to happen again, do you?”

Tension thickened the air as Vin and Jett stared at each other.

“Please.” Lexine touched Jett’s arm again.

Jett glanced at her. “Your brother will not grow up in that place, I promise you.” He returned his attention to Vin. “If I won’t be restrained we have a deal, Guardian.”

Jett sat at the base of the tree, staring up at the first hints of a colorful sunrise that filtered through the branches, waiting out the last of the paralytic drug’s effects. He itched to get on his feet and go after Lawrence. The son of a bitch would not live to regret taking the child. Even if the Guardians caught up with the human’s SUV and brought Bryce back, Jett would hunt Lawrence down as soon as he could walk.

He needed a vehicle. It would take days to get to Lawrence on foot. He loathed the idea of working with the Guardians, but what choice did he have? Besides, going after Lawrence and killing him would have been one thing. Jett could have done that alone. Getting out alive with a small child, past Lawrence and his security? Like it or not, he needed the Guardians. Didn’t mean he had to trust them, though.

“Damn me.” He should have gone after Lawrence months ago, as he’d intended to during his first hours of freedom from Thornton, the poacher who’d imprisoned Jett for years. Instead, he’d given in to the damnable urge, the borderline addiction—something he didn’t even understand—to make sure the archangels were indeed safe. If nothing else, he owed Raphael that much for saving his life.

Now, several children and an adult demon were dead, and Bryce kidnapped, because Jett hadn’t stuck to his guns. He’d feel the weight of his screwup in his gut until he made it right.

Vin walked away, ranting into his cell phone, giving orders with military focus and precision.

“What for?” Lexine sat at Jett’s side on the tree’s knotted, exposed roots, her hands clasped between her knees. Bryce’s older sister. How much older? She appeared to be in her midtwenties, but so did all demon adults for hundreds of years of their life.

“Huh?”

“Why should you be damned?”

He shifted his gaze to her face, framed by her black hair, which she’d braided and wrapped around her head. Such an unusual, exotic hair color among the mostly blond and redheaded demon population. “Because I excel at putting others in harm’s way.”

She tilted her head. “Looks to me like you excel at rescuing people. Raphael—”

“Raphael would have died because of me had Wren not shown up with that healing ability of his.”

“At least you didn’t leave him in that miserable place.” Her throat worked. “I know you won’t leave Bryce, either. I’m glad you’re here.”

His jaw slackened, but he covered the reaction with a cough. Had anyone, ever, been glad to have him around? He’d befriended Raphael, but that didn’t count. Jett had simply talked to the archangel to help pass the time, as opposed to taunting him and abusing him like the rest of Thornton’s thugs. It wasn’t as if Raphael had his choice of friends. Now, with all these Guardians around, why was Lexine looking to him?

He changed the subject before, heaven forbid, she made him blush or something equally horrifying. “You take care of the cemetery.”

Her face wrinkled, and she dissolved into sobs.

Okay, wrong thing to say.

“Yes, I do,” she answered, to his surprise. “You’ve been visiting often the last couple of months. And hiding in the woods. I haven’t worked a day recently without catching your scent on the breeze.”

“I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“My brothers,” she choked out, and shook her head. “You’re not upsetting me. Please. I need to talk about something, anything, or all I can think about is…” She cried some more, her face in her hands.

He rolled his shoulders and stretched, attempting to awaken his sluggish muscles from the drug. The sooner he got moving, the better. He needed to get on Lawrence’s ass, and out of this situation—what did he know about comforting a female? Nothing, that was what. “When I first saw you working in the cemetery, it was noon on a sunny day, and you had no sunglasses. I thought you were a human, so I stayed downwind and got closer to investigate. How can you see in full daylight?”