Ari blanched, nodding slowly. “Remember, I used the seal on her.”
“Yeah,” he grinned, “she’s pretty pissed at you for that. And guess what? She knows you’re no longer the seal and that you have no power over her. She wants my help in bringing you down.” He watched Ari’s face grow ashen. Part of him wanted to comfort her. He squashed that feeling like an ant beneath his thumb. “She thinks since you’re apparently hunting me with the intention of killing me, I might be up for a little preemptive attack.”
“Charlie, I—”
“Relax, Ari. If I thought you wanted to kill me, I wouldn’t be here.”
Noting her suspicion, Charlie had to temper his growing irritation. She would never trust him again, would she?
“Why are you here?”
He slid off the bed and stood, standing a few inches taller than her. “To bargain with you. I’ll help you take care of the ghulah if you’ll keep the Guild off my back.”
“How?”
She hadn’t immediately scorned the idea. Charlie tried not to growl. Goddammit, she had to stop caring about him! And yet … he needed her to care if his plan was to work out. It was such a mess. “You make it hell for them every time they think they got me. You mess up, you cause problems, you do what it takes to give me the time to get the hell out of dodge. In exchange, we’ll take the ghulah down together.”
She was clearly worried about his plan and his intention for her to betray people she’d grown to care about. “I don’t need help taking down a ghulah. I’m not worried.”
Charlie felt a shot of triumph as he readied himself to deliver the bigger news. “You should be. She’s packing some serious heat.”
He decided the arrogant way Ari curled her lip was incredibly hot. She’d gotten more confident in the last few months and it was definitely a good look on her. “I can take down a ghulah carrying a talisman.”
“Sweetheart … she’s not packing a Talisman. She’s packing Pazuzu.”
Ari thought nothing could be as horrifying as looking at her best friend and discovering that he was really gone. The warmth and personality behind Charlie’s dark eyes was gone. His cheeky smile was gone. It was replaced by blank indifference and a chilling grin. He was gone.
But perhaps as horrifying was the news that one of the deadliest, most ancient jinn in the world was gunning for her.
When her father, the White King, was trying to bully her into accepting his command, he’d gone after her human father, Derek, using the powers of Pazuzu, an ancient Mesopotamian wind demon who’d put a curse on Derek. The only way to break the curse was to hunt Pazuzu down and use the power of the seal to command him to undo it. Ari and Jai tracked him down to Roswell, New Mexico. Before they battled with Pazuzu, however, they came across a flesh-eating jinn, a ghulah, and got into a fight with her while trying to rescue some humans. Ari used the command of the seal against her, before using it on Pazuzu after an epic but short battle. Now that Ari was no longer the seal, her commands had worn off from her victims and it seemed they were not very happy with her.
Crap in a shot glass.
As for Charlie …
Ari gazed up at him, desperately seeking the old Charlie. The real Charlie. She still refused to believe that this was his end. That because of her, everything good and special and kind about him was gone.
“Or …,” she hedged, taking another step toward him, “you let me negotiate with the Guild. Give me the emerald and I’ll negotiate your rehabilitation.”
Charlie quickly closed the distance between them, his body almost brushing hers as he stared down into her face with a smirk tilting the corner of his mouth. His dark brown eyes were shadowed with so much … Ari couldn’t pin the expression. Scorn? Rage? Indifference? Hate? Longing?
“One: this emerald is mine. Two: screw rehabilitation. I don’t want it. What I want is for you and your effing jinn to get out of my life.”
Ari bit back a gasp at his aggressiveness. “Charlie …”
“You don’t make this deal, Ari. I will lead that bitch ghulah and Pazuzu right to you.”
At the determination in the clench of his jaw, Ari felt an overwhelming amount of sadness close in around her. “He’s gone, isn’t he? My friend is really gone.”
Before she could brace herself, Charlie took that final step toward her so his body pressed against hers. He lowered his head, his mouth almost touching her lips. “We were never just friends, no matter what lies you tell yourself. And yeah. Charlie Creagh doesn’t live here anymore.”
For the first time in her life, Ari felt cold in Charlie’s company, cold and vulnerable. But more worrisome was the naked longing in his regard—a longing that seemed mixed with a frustrated amount of blame and anger. His warm breath blew across her face in a huff and she realized his intent as his head took that last dip toward her.