“Ava, look.”
Her eyes opened and she looked down to where their hands joined. She saw it. The spells on his arm creeped up and over, curling into themselves as if drawn by an invisible hand. She watched them, still singing, and when she finally fell silent, the marks remained.
“I remember when you sing to me,” he said. “My mind. My heart.” He smiled before he kissed her. “You’re bringing me back to life.”
She smiled and leaned forward, craving another kiss.
There was a rustle in the forest and a blast of cold air.
His eyes narrowed and swung toward the disturbance.
The sound came again. Louder.
He squeezed her hand. “You need to wake up.”
“What?”
He sat and pulled her up with him. “Wake up, Ava.”
Fear clutched her throat. His name came to her. “Malachi?”
He shook her shoulders. “I’m not there. I’m not there, and there’s danger.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Wake up, Ava. Wake up now!”
“Malachi!”
She gasped, calling out his name as she sat bolt upright in bed. Renata’s flat was pitch-black, but Ava could hear someone struggling in the corner. Hissed voices and the rasping whispers that haunted her nightmares.
Grigori were in the room.
She heard a crack and a thud, then Mala stepped into a shaft of light, brandishing twin daggers that seemed to glow. She stalked toward Ava with death in her eyes.
“Mala?”
The Irina opened her mouth, but no sound came. It was enough to make Ava open her senses and listen.
Ava scrambled away from the hissing whisper she felt at her back just in time to escape the grip of the soldier who snuck from behind. He muttered a curse before he rolled away, dodging the silver daggers Mala threw at him. Ava kicked out, catching his knee with her heel. He grunted, still trying to remain quiet. The Grigori rolled into the darkness and Mala followed.
Ava yelled out, “Mala, lights?”
Two clicks of Mala’s tongue told her yes. She felt for the switch on the wall and flipped it up.
The smell of sandalwood filled the air, and the window to the bedroom was open. A flicker of the curtain as freezing air blasted into the room. Then another flicker as a shadow darted in the corner of her eye. The Grigori attacked silently, grabbing her neck as he tackled Ava to the ground. He forced a hand around her throat and pressed, cutting off both her voice and her air. She could hear another soldier climb in the window and run toward Mala.
The helpless rage filled her. His body trapped her on the ground. For all her training and preparation, she was no match for the large male. Her heart raced as his palm pressed harder. Her breath was running out. She would pass out soon, and there would be nothing to stop them.
Black spots danced in front of her eyes. Then the blackness grew and spread as the whispers in her mind grew louder.
Do not fear the darkness.
Ava closed her eyes.
A rush of wings and feathers from the corner of her vision. A rising shadow. Tall, as if a dark mountain had come to life, he loomed over her, cloaked in the void. A soughing breath stirred the black feathers that drooped over his hood. He was nothing. As if the stars had been snuffed in the night, he bore no face behind the droop of his black cloak. A nightmare. A monster. He leaned closer, forcing her to look. Forcing her to face the secret—
Her eyes flew open with the screaming.
No hand clutched at her throat. It had fallen away, and the Grigori soldier was screaming in her ear. She rolled over, shoving him off, but he kept up his hoarse cries, even as the building began to come alive. Someone pounded on the door. Ava heard shouts and running steps. All the while, the soldier rolled on the ground, clutching his hands to his temples, his eyes frozen on some invisible terror, his pupils dilated so his eyes appeared pure black.
In a blink, Mala rolled him over and speared her knife into his neck, ending the screams and releasing the creature’s dark soul. Then she turned to Ava with fear in her eyes.
There was a muffled conversation at the door, then the voices died away and Ava heard the deadbolt turn. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, enjoying the bite of the winter air that still poured into the room.
“What happened?” It was Renata. “The neighbors thought someone was being murdered!”
There was silence, so Ava knew Mala was signing the answer. She simply rolled over, making no attempt to rise. She watched the two women who stood at the door. Mala was almost naked. She was only wearing a T-shirt and underwear to sleep. Two empty knife sheaths were strapped to her thighs. Renata looked exhausted. Covered with a dusting of snow, her hair was almost grey. Mala’s explanation went on a long time, then Renata finally turned to Ava as Mala went to snap the window closed.
“Ava, are you all right?” Renata knelt down and shook her shoulders. “Why are you crying? Are you hurt?”
She hadn’t realized she was crying.
“I’m fine.”
“What did you do to the Grigori?”
“What?” Ava sniffed. “Mala, how do you sleep with those on your legs?”
“Pay attention.” Renata swatted her cheek, not hard enough to bruise but hard enough to notice. “What did you do?”
“I don’t know.” Ava curled up on her side, shaking with cold and not caring that she was lying on the floor. She reached for a blanket that had half fallen off the bed. She was freezing and she shook so hard she felt as if her skin might fly off her body. “Maybe h…he was scared of the black angel, too.”
Renata looked at her like she was crazy. Maybe she was. Adrenaline coursed through her system. She felt hopped up, despite the tears on her face. “I didn’t even get a punch in. Not even a kick. Need to practice more. And my magic—”
“She’s rambling,” Renata said. “Ava, sit up. Take deep breaths.”
She could breathe now. She hadn’t been able to when the Grigori had his hand on her throat. Hadn’t been able to say anything. The black spots danced across her eyes again, so she sat up carefully.
Renata stood and crossed the room to the window.
“Three sets of prints below the snow.” She secured the blinds and turned. “Just those three?”
Mala nodded and signed some more. She also kept her distance from Ava.
Renata said, “Mala says thank you for turning on the lights. And she doesn’t know what you did to the Grigori, but whatever it was incapacitated both the one she was fighting and the one who had you.”
“Oh…” She sniffed. “Well, that’s good.”
“And she always sleeps with her daggers. Her mate thought it was sexy.”
Somehow, an Irin scribe thinking sleeping with a deadly woman was sexy didn’t surprise Ava at all.
Mala was still signing and Renata watched her with a frown.
“No,” she said. “I have no idea.”
More signing as Ava climbed to her knees, smoothing the sheets on the beds and wondering if she would ever sleep again.
Renata said, “I told you, I don’t know. Orsala said she sees visions. You said their eyes went black?”
If Ava couldn’t sleep, then when would she see Malachi?
“Wake up, Ava. Wake up now!”
He’d known. He’d warned her.
She shook her head. No, of course not. She was being absurd. It wasn’t Malachi. Her subconscious had sensed danger and used her dream to wake her. Her quivering hands pulled on another sweater.
“I’m not there.”
The pain in his voice… It was almost as if he was speaking from far away. As if he could swoop in and protect her. Impossible. Fresh grief threatened to swamp her, and Ava thought she heard a flutter of wings in the air. She shoved the grief to the back of her mind.
Mala and Renata were still speaking.
She felt like climbing the walls. Her skin crawled. Were shadows moving in the corner of the room? There was something just beyond her perception. Some instinct needled her. She couldn’t pinpoint the threat, but she could feel it.