OBSIDIAN VINES

DIAN

The Spark &

E: A BODY

I

City did

re

ath the concrete-steady, aggressive, hot like blood on tile. I knew this city like the

treetlight was a witness. You either learned to wa

d with

at pocket, heavy and hot-like i

e, clinging. The kind that crawle

cci muscle tonight-pissed-off little princelings with too much ammo and too little sense. So I cut

ard it: a low, raw groan. Followed by

each for the switc

ist p

here

s shirt, soaking into his expensive pants, one hand still twitching towa

s dead. But then his head jer

Bleeding rage and some

. Not de

calcu

ed clos

ers kept twitching. Reaching.

pistol into

"you'd already be bleeding out throu

ips c

speech," he rasped, voice ro

he usual S

what a

was coming fast, but I could tell

ed. Entry wound just below the ribcage. Clean shot, bu

o bleed out her

t the

ould've f

Nik

ething. Like I should flinch. Like

n't b

tell hi

nt to work. Gloves, antiseptic, a hooked needle I'd stolen from a vet clinic two weeks ago. I could suture

dn't

groan

ike I was a puzzle piece he'd been mis

s unn

linch," he s

help if

d disapp

stitch and wiped the

nna owe me

twitche

just don't

ing a hand. He wouldn't take it. Men like him didn't like being help

, or he wouldn't. Th

away when he called out

s your

aus

red everything but my eyes. A whisper of hair clung

as the

e," I said softly, "b

vanished in

KO

etrayals from my inner circle, and a car bomb that

, in my entire

unti

cursed me with the calm of a soldier, and disapp

yes li

blood drying on my ribs, and

y: Why can't I stop

ession starts

A touch.

dn't t

idn't

t ask for

left me

us than lust. More

ntact, camera, and snitch in Car

found a d

ther and most trusted consigliere-asked, swirling

called me cute," I replied coldly. "I

ed. "Damn. Yo

ward. "She s

ha

ing the east sector. The lights

aw something she wasn't mean

t's

d. "That's

I

that night. I could feel it in my bones

't have h

Nikolai

e. Ruthless. Brilliant. Cold. His name was stitched into

ked him in the eyes. Fixed

" Eva hissed, slamming th

in crime, and the only person in this wor

she continued. "You run from them

ve died,"

let

eed

shut

t me. "Need

ide the Mor

dy have intel

, voice low. "It's about the night my fa

"You're gambling wi

lready

KO

ge-caught on a grainy street cam

a fighter. Maybe ex-military, may

er and over again in my

stood b

r," he said,

n't r

even know

wil

nd if she's l

'll kil

it, something in me

F CHAP