“Oh, yeah.” Her relief was audible. “Thank Go—I mean. Whatever.” She growled, remembering. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for you.”
“Why?”
“Why?! Are you kidding?”
The black energy was attached to her, and it rose upwards, moving to her face.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. A shiver went down my spine. Why did I get a feeling the energy was staring at me, like it could actually see me? That had never happened.
I broke out into a cold sweat.
“You’ve got the Big Bad’s energy all around you.” I paused, watching her to see her reaction.
There was no shock. She only eased away from me an inch. Her eyebrows dipped down. “So? I’m working the room that he’s in.”
He. I’d been right.
Also, I had a fifty-fifty shot there, so I didn’t know why I was rejoicing.
She eased away even farther, crossing her arms over her chest. “You shouldn’t be here, especially tonight.”
“Yeah, I’ve been told that a time or two on my way here. I’ll leave if you leave with me.”
“I’m working. This is my job.”
Alarm was racing up and down my back, intertwining with those shivers like little snakes.
“You can get off work, and you know it.”
All I needed was to call Benji. He’d let her off in a second if I asked.
“Benji’s not here.” She must’ve been reading my thoughts.
“Why? What do you mean?”
“He was fired last week.”
“What?”
This was a whole new level of apocalypse. Benji fired? He was my go-to with all things Bass. After him, I had no connections here. Nikki and Terath didn’t have any managerial power. Not that I normally cared about that stuff, but all the alarms going off in me were for something.
“I don’t know. There’s a lot of staff changes around here, and I don’t get involved. It's a hazard to me.”
My eyeballs almost popped out of my head at that. “Right there. That’s a good enough reason. Come with me.”
She laughed, easing away even more. As she did, the black energy doubled in size.
I was losing her.
She said, “I’m good. You’re seeing something that’s not there.”
That was my daily life. Hello.
But that energy was swirling more and more around her. The same metallic sparkly undertones were there too. It was almost mesmerizing to watch. Under normal circumstances, I’d think it was beautiful to see. Not under these circumstances. And definitely not on Halloween.
“Nik, please.”
“No.” She was sharper this time. “Go home, Cale. You hate Halloween anyway.”
I’d left my boyfriend of four years tonight, and I was pleading with her to leave with me. She wasn’t acknowledging any of this. This was so not my Nik. No way, but I couldn’t make her leave.
Well.
I could.
She just wouldn’t be happy about it, and it wouldn’t be permanent.
I could poof her somewhere. Then I’d have to try to knock her out.
But she was a demon, and Nik was strong.
I’d have to tie her up somewhere, I guess.
How could I tie her up where she couldn’t just teleport out? I got it.
There were ropes I could use. They were used for angels, so…it’d do the job, but it would hella hurt.
Oh man. I didn’t know what to do.
I feel like Ralph would know what to do.
“Who’s the Big Bad?”
“What?”
“The Big Bad. Who is it?”
Her eyes flashed black again. The horns came out, and the whole room shook.
A weird sensation took root in my gut, and it began to build.
I wondered…
Fuck it.
I had to try. I had to know.
I grabbed her neck, my hand wrapping around it, and I shoved her up against the wall behind her. My movement was fast and violent, and I had a second before she’d rally back. I closed my eyes, head down, and I sensed into her energy.
I sensed everywhere.
In all circles of her energy. The Big Bad’s energy.
Even the energy inside of her, and that’s when I felt her. The real Nik.
She was there.
She was sleeping.
She wasn’t in control of her body.
Suddenly, a whoosh happened and I was flung backwards.
I opened my eyes in time to see we were in mid-air. Nik’s body was being thrown back against the wall. I was moving away from her, in the air, and I’d be crashing against the door any second. The energy had swirled up, becoming a solid force around her.
I heard its snarling.
I felt its anger.
But I also felt its power, and more importantly, I felt branded by it.
I knew in that moment I’d never feel anything more powerful.
Then, everything went dark.6The Big BadI woke up in a blue velvet room.
I was on a blue velvet couch. The walls were blue velvet. The ceiling. I couldn’t find a door, so I’m sure that was blue velvet too. There were other chairs around the room, blue velvet on the arm rests. The floor was dark paneling, with blue and gold accents.