CHAPTER 171

The silence was broken by the sound of rustling fabric.

"If he took something from you, it isn't here." It was Abella's voice, and she didn't sound very happy.

"It's not what you think," Velvet whispered.

"Enlighten me." There was another meaty thunk, followed by a groan from Leeds.

"Do you have him?" Velvet asked.

"For now. Have to be careful not to kill him is all."

There was a small rush of movement, and Velvet could almost picture Abella smashing Leeds' face into a nearby wall. The devil was being repeatedly stunned.

"Abella, I—"

"Had you smash my eggs but hid one from you?" In the silence that followed, Leeds groaned.

Velvet wasn't sure how to respond. She moved toward Abella's voice and got her hands on Leeds. He tried to fight her off as she searched him again, then grabbed his throat.

"Where is it?" she asked. A shadow grabbed her by the leg, but vanished when she squeezed his throat hard enough that something popped.

"So I was right." Anger and disappointment laced Abella's words.

"Listen. There's a lot I need to say about—"

She's going to attack you, Leeds whispered in her mind. Your betrayal has enraged her!

Velvet stepped back and put up her hands. "Please, just hear me out before you do something you regret."

"Huh?" There was genuine confusion now. "I'm not going to risk letting this piece of shit go, even if I'm pissed at you."

She lies. There was just a hint of desperation in Leeds' tone.

"Leeds says you want to hurt me," Velvet admitted. "I can hear him in my head, he keeps taunting me."

There was a loud snap, followed by a scream from Leeds. She felt him withdraw his presence and let out a sigh of relief.

"You only have one wrist left," Abella growled once he quieted down. "You go in her head again, I'll break the other one. Or the first one again, whichever hurts worse."

Velvet let out a sigh. "It's true, I did hide one of my eggs from you. But it wasn't like the others, I promise. When Mike and I...when I held those eggs, they really were bad. Each one of them was a killing spree waiting to happen, but the one I hid was different." The other eggs in the clutch had all been a mottled grey, but the one she had kept had been the most beautiful blue she had ever seen in her life. Upon touching it, she had received a static shock that had set her hair on end. Whereas the other eggs had radiated hunger and intensity, this one had an aura of curiosity to it.

She didn't know how to convey all of these things to Abella, not in the dark where they couldn't even see each other. She needed the gargoyle to see how genuine she was, to know that these weren't just lies spoken in the dark.

"Look," she began, her hearts pounding loudly in her throat. "You know it exists now. This bastard said he had it, and since he was on the roof of the barn, I figured he stole it out of the jeep. It was in the glove compartment. After we take care of this, you and I and Mike can sit down and discuss what happens next. I need you to trust me, to trust that my kind can be different. Despite our differences, you should know that I trust you. Maybe it's just because Mike does, and I'm in love with him, or maybe it's something more, I just...I need you to give me some time. "

There was a long moment of silence, broken only by a groan of agony from Leeds.

"Velvet." Abella's tone had shifted drastically. "The jeep was the first thing to burn. If he didn't take it, then..."

The beating of her hearts was like a pair of hammers now, and Velvet's limited vision blurred in anger. She lunged toward Leeds and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Did you take it? DID. YOU. TAKE. IT?" She was shouting now, her veins filled with ice water as her human heart dropped through the floor and spiraled toward Hell itself. She was hyperventilating, waiting desperately for his response. When he said nothing, she shook him violently, his head flopping back and forth.

Leeds let out a cough-filled chuckle.

"Never even went inside," he declared. "I was too busy here, slaughtering the Nirumbi with the help of their own. You see, we're all monsters here, inside and out. And to be honest, even if I had stolen your egg, I would have smashed it on my own, because we all know that your kind are little more than—"

Velvet let out a roar and ripped Leeds free from Abella's grip. She smashed the demon into the stone walls of the cave, her fingers digging into the horse-flesh of his head. Leeds let out a strangled cry, and the air grew thick around them.

The hairs on Velvet's body stood on end as a wave of darkness picked her up and smashed her into a nearby wall. Abella was shouting something, but Velvet couldn't make out a single word of it. She fought to stand, her legs weak beneath her as Leeds ran back out into the main cavern, his cape flapping noisily behind him.

"Grab him!" Abella cried as she moved toward the exit. The ceiling was too low for the gargoyle to fly, and her running speed was very slow. Velvet could feel the impact of her massive steps as tremors that reverberated throughout her body.

Cursing, Velvet bolted past Abella in time to see Leeds gliding down to the bottom of the Nirumbi's main chamber. He cackled maniacally as the shadows thickened and broke free from the ceiling, each one a massive tentacle that reached for her. She dodged a few and took aim with her pistol, but Leeds had moved around the massive pillar in the middle of the cave.

"Shit!" She sprinted along the nearest wall, her feet slipping on the wet surface of the cave. When she fell, she scraped up her arms as she tumbled to a stop near the bottom of the cavern. Her head was spinning now, and she stumbled sideways and tripped over a pile of bodies.

Up above, the shadows were no longer reaching for her. Instead, they were wrapping around the main pillar of the cavern like a nest of anacondas. Each coiled shadow squeezed, making the rock beneath them groan.

"Velvet!" Abella shrieked in panic from up above. "Run!"

"Abella, I..." She was simply too dizzy. The dim light of the cave plus the odd echoes of laughter and breaking rock had thoroughly disoriented her. Stumbling forward, she heard a loud groan from the stone above, followed by a sharp crack.