Flick wasn’t fond of having work done for her, much to the dismay of her household staff. And now, hiding behind the desk and watching Jin saunter through the glass doors as if he owned the place, shoulders thrown back, one hand in the pocket of his trousers and the other swinging his umbrella, Flick wished she could do something.
“Who are you?”
It was a woman’s voice. Flick’s pulse thundered in her ears. Was it the same woman from the bedroom down the hall?
“I might ask you the same question,” Jin said coolly. Flick wondered how he could do that. If she’d been out there, she would have sputtered herself to death already. “I was told to wait in the office for a Miss…”
Flick held her breath.
“Eleanor Thorne,” the woman finished. Her voice was low and husky. Flick thought back to the discussions with Matteo. She was the vampire sister stationed in the marker archive room, and not the doorkeeper. Flick was relieved they wouldn’t have to worry about her recognizing him at the Athereum entrance.
Don’t waste this, Flick told herself. She peeked over the desk and pulled whatever loose sheets she could get her hands on, pocketing anything with that neat and pretty script exhibiting a sense of meticulousness and certainty.
“Miss Thorne.” Jin smacked his lips. “See, I’ve been waiting far too long, and now I must make another appointment, so please inform her that I will need—”
The footsteps started again, and Flick peered over the side to find the woman circling him. She was barely dressed, her silken robe slipping down one shoulder with sensual confidence. Her hair was bold black, sea-glass eyes bright in the dark, skin a rich brown. Flick had seen more and more vampires since Arthie and Jin had allowed her into their fold for this job. She was beginning to recognize their sculpted bones and ethereal features.
“Who allowed you inside?” the vampire asked.
“Your sister, I’m guessing?” Jin asked. He was facing Flick now, so she could see him scrutinizing the woman. “Looked a lot like you.” His gaze slowly traced down her form with a grin that quickened Flick’s pulse. “Though I must say, you’re far more my type.”
The woman tittered and stepped even closer. She pushed a hand into his hair, and Flick thought she would combust. Surely she should look away. The vampire tilted his head back and slid the bridge of her nose along his jaw with a hum. Jin’s eyelids fluttered. Flick touched her lighter to her scalding neck and looked away when his lips parted with a rasped exhale.
“What a coincidence,” the vampire cooed, “because you just so happen to be mine. I’m only trying to decide if I should kill you here, or let you run. Blood always tastes better freshly pumped.”
Flick straightened, accidentally bumping the lighter out of her hands. It tumbled slowly through the air. Her heart collapsed. She scrambled and fell on the rug with a soft thud, catching it just before it clattered to the floorboards.
The vampire stilled. Flick could have sworn her ears twitched.
Jin’s mouth feathered along the woman’s jaw, and this time Flick’s breath shook.
“Murder is a crime, but I must say oxygen makes everything better,” he drawled in the vampire’s ear in a low murmur. His smile turned lazy, and somehow, Flick knew it was for her. “Now would be the time to jump, love.”
He took off down the stairwell.
The vampire hissed and shot after him. Flick’s heart leaped. He couldn’t outrun a vampire. Stop thinking, start moving. Shoving the lighter into her pocket, Flick stood up from behind the desk and nudged open the office doors. Downstairs, glass crashed to the floor. She winced and ran for the next room.
She flung open the curtains leading to the balcony and unlatched the doors. The balcony was narrow, curved balusters giving the illusion of more space. A neatly tended garden sprawled beneath it, a little too far down for her liking.
“Jump?” she asked, panicked. No one answered. She climbed over the railing, the iron slick beneath her hands, toes cramping from the inch of space. “Easy as pie, Felici—Flick.”
She carefully crouched, gripping the spires like her life depended on it. She laughed. Her life did depend on it. One leg at a time, she lowered herself off the edge, heart between her teeth. She craned her neck to look—still too far off the ground. But what could she do now, grow an inch or twenty?
A muffled shout came from somewhere in the house, and footsteps crashed up the stairs. Flick had no choice. She dropped, her leg twisting painfully when she hit the damp ground. She heard a door burst open and noises spilled into the garden as she got to her feet.
“Oh, wonderful,” she muttered, limping ahead. A brick wall surrounded the garden. She found footholds where chunks of the brick had broken off. Stone ground into her legs, ruining her dress as she hoisted herself to the top of it. She’d felt scandalous when she’d worn it this morning and her hem had fallen just above her knees, trousers hugging each leg, but now she wished she was wearing a shirt like Arthie did.
Something crashed. Flick nearly toppled. Jin emerged from the house, hair sticking out on end and eyes bright with mayhem. He was stunning.
“Jump, Felicity!”
She jumped, tumbling to the cobblestones. Seconds later, Jin landed on his feet beside her and grabbed her arm, half dragging her down the backstreet. Footsteps echoed behind them.
“Jin?” Flick asked shakily. She didn’t dare look back to see how many were on their tail. “They’re following us.”
A sound rang out, like rapid rain pinging a metal roof, and Jin swerved. Flick ducked. Goodness, gunshots. She knew guns were meant to be triggered, but she’d never heard one, much less been the target of one.
“Now they’re firing at us!”
She could die here, and then her mother would finally know Flick wasn’t in a cell.
“Really, love. You ought to be a fortune teller,” Jin said, hurtling over another wall and into someone else’s garden. He let go of her hand, trusting her to follow. Flick scrambled over it as another shot pinged the stone, sparks marking her sleeve. On a bench in the garden, a couple in the midst of a heated conversation leaped apart.
“Pardon us,” Flick exclaimed without breaking stride. “We truly don’t mean to intrude.”
Jin laughed.
“A little concern would be nice,” she shouted at him.
They tumbled through a gate into the next yard and paused to catch their breath. “You know, it’s quite possible to laugh and be concerned at the same time.”
She met his dark eyes, noticing the smears of blood on his face, and her heart fluttered in a way she recognized. Stop it, Flick. He was wild and dangerous, and she should not be attracted to either.
“Aren’t you afraid?” she asked.
“Fear stops life, not death,” he said, and when she looked at him in surprise, he paused, and the world seemed to pause with him. “I tell myself that anytime I think a fire’s going to swallow me whole.”
Flick wondered if that had anything to do with that patch of burned skin on his arm. “You’re bleeding.”
“Oh, it’s not mine. I might have shattered a blood reserve or two.” Jin pulled her up, and the air was suddenly too tense between them, too … real. She almost swooned when Jin leaned down and winked at her. “You’re so sweet.”
“Just you wait,” Flick snapped at his teasing tone. Whatever Jin had done to give them a head start was wearing out. The vampires were catching up. Her arm screamed as they hurtled over a line of hedges and another round of shots rained down on the wall behind them. He chuckled at her yelp, and the words flew out of her. “You’re going to eat a bullet and then—”
And then he threw himself in front of her and fell to the dirt with a startled hiss, blood blossoming from his side.