ColorBlind (Book #2 of S.H.A.D.E.) ✔

Fatal Flaw

Warning: sexual violence and gore ahead.

19.

I am reeling from the shock of seeing Danny again, living and breathing, despite the very real fact that I put a bullet through his brain.

I soon have to get a grip, however, because he and the no-name Demon are walking directly towards me down the hall. I look around for a room to duck into before they reach the end.

I settle for a broom closet that smells like moth balls and decaying something. I'm sure I'm stepping on rat bodies, or something of that nature.

I'm still, not even daring to breathe as I hear their voices grow closer.

"They're here now, she said Ebony's inside the building.  Can't wait to get my hands on that bitch. Won't she be surprised? Takes more than a bullet to kill me."

"I'm going to get the surgery soon. Can't wait," says No-name. "Maybe Ebony will be mine?"

Danny scoffs. "I deserve her more than you. Look at everything I've done for the Necro Proxy, for the Underworld. I was their damn guinea pig."

"Get off your high horse. You got a hot blonde as your Sync, anyway."

"But Ebony..." My skin prickles at his tone, a possessive one. "I don't know. I like the ones with fight. Her soul would probably taste really good."

"Whatever, man. You aren't the one who calls the shots. Once we pick off S.H.A.D.E., there will be no one on Earth who can stop us from dominion."

"I hear the Demon Lord's daughter has returned. You know-- that one."

No-name laughs, and both come around the corner, walking in front of the closet. I watch them pass through the slits in the door.

"No bitch is gonna stop us. We have these chips now, and the healing antidotes. I can't wait for Doom's Day."

"The sooner we kill off S.H.A.D.E., the better. That includes Gray. Guy thinks he's hot shit, thinks he's our superior. A fucking human -- our livestock. And if he thinks that he's gonna get Ebony, I'll rip his heart out of his chest myself. Now, Jade says that they're just outside the gate, hiding in the thick of the trees. Stupid humans, don't they know? But I guess the mice always try to hide from the owl..."

Their voices fade away down the hall.

I am paralyzed by shock for a few seconds. Jade. A Sync for the Demons. An agent.

Yes. Yes, of course.

Why lie about the bars on the window, why hinder our escape? Why refuse to leave the basement that had been her prison?

"I thought your chips were disabled?"

How did she know our chips were disabled? How did she know that Copper was my Sync?

"Gray helped me escape."

Her freedom in exchange for her service to the Necro Proxy. To help take down S.H.A.D.E., the ones who turned their back on her.

She was never a prisoner. It was all staged. She is the best actress I have ever seen.

.... and Copper?

"Copper! They know we are here, don't trust Jade, she--"

The closet door wrenches open, and Danny's reptilian smile is all I can see.

He grabs my arm, flinging me out of the closet and against the wall.

"You think I wouldn't notice you are here?" His body pins me and his lips graze my neck. "You think I wouldn't recognize the smell of your skin?"