Sky Ghosts: The Night Before (Urban Fantasy series for adults) Read online

incredulously, hand flying up to his neck, as if he could stop the bleeding, "?bit me?"

  "She does that," Marco said from across the room, wringing an apologetic grimace and a shrug from her.

  "Yeah, I do that."

  Emilio's big brown eyes stared at her, his attempts to escape weaker and weaker.

  "Not a bad way to go, buddy!" Marco raised his voice again. "Oh, the things I would give to die with her legs wrapped around me?"

  She glared at him, eyes wide. "A, not gonna happen, and B, have some respect! A man's dying here."

  Marco shrugged awkwardly, rattling his chains as he waved one manacled hand. "Just saying? I think he's done."

  She turned her gaze back to Emilio's limp form and let his body slip down to the floor at her feet.

  "You promised me you'd never do that again. Two years ago, remember?" Marco's disapproving voice made her look back up at him.

  "It's not like I had any choice. Twenty minutes, man. You heard the guy."

  "Yes, but this is unsanitary."

  Her lips pressed into a thin line. "Unsanitary?" She looked down, rearranging Emilio's body on the floor the way she needed it. "Naomi and Miranda, that's unsanitary. And this," she paused to blow out a weary breath, "this is our way out."

  "What, you have a key in your pocket?"

  "No, but he does."

  "You don't know that."

  "Anyone who's got ears knows that." She shot Marco an annoyed look, poking at Emilio's pants pocket with the tip of her boot. The metallic sound was clearly that of keys. "Hear that? We'll be out of here in a minute."

  She let out a relieved sigh when the big bunch of keys finally slipped out of the pocket, and reached out with both feet to pick it up. The next part - bringing the keys up to her hand and finding the right one without dropping them - was the trickiest, and the fact that Marco was watching her every move wasn't helping.

  "Do you mind??" she growled, shooting him an irritated look from somewhere between her knees, her abs burning from staying in the uncomfortable position for so long.

  "No, I don't," he mocked her with a grin, staring even harder, if that was possible. "You're a sight to behold, Patricia."

  She froze at the sound of her real name as an awkward silence settled over the room and Marco probably bit his tongue. Her thoughts quickly returned to the task at hand, and she exhaled slowly, focusing on her work. A few seconds later, she was free of the manacles, flexing her numb muscles and checking her pockets. Most of her weapons were gone, but not all of them. The only one she cared about was her sword.

  Marco cleared his throat loudly as she checked every corner, not finding the katana.

  "Some help here?" He rattled his chains, impatient, but she ignored him.

  She had two or three dozen Beasts upstairs, fifteen minutes to get the party started, and no sword. Freaking Emilio, she kicked his body angrily before storming to Marco and his annoying rattling.

  "Finally!" he boomed, but she didn't hurry to help him out of the manacles.

  Instead, she grabbed his right forearm, tracing the long, ugly scar there with her thumb.

  "Use my old name again, and I'll carve another reminder into your other arm," she murmured, digging her nails into his skin before letting go of him.

  "You can try," he growled, his temper taking over. "This time, I won't be drunk."

  "And I won't be seventeen," she parried, getting lost in the conflicted memory of their quarrel four years ago for a moment.

  She shook her head, picking up a couple of knives from Emilio's table and stuffing them into her belt. "I wish I could stay for the show, but I gotta go find my sword." She dropped the keys on the floor at Marco's feet as his eyebrows crawled up his forehead. "I bet it'll be a sight to behold," she whispered with a wicked grin, leaning in for a second before backing away as he lurched forward.

  "Get back here, you little?!" He yanked at the chains, as if he could reach her as she hurried to the exit, her smile impossibly big. "You can't do it alone!"

  "So hurry up! I'll stall." She winked at him, pausing at the short flight of stairs that led to the hatch.

  "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to, it slipped out!" She heard his voice as she exited the basement, ending up in the corner that stayed dark even when all the lights were blazing on the other side of the big room.

  "Sure it did?" she muttered to herself, pausing to pick up a fire axe that someone had left carelessly by the wall. "Well, this is just perfect."

  She weighed it in her palms and looked over the crowd of Beasts before her.