Kiss of Vengeance (True Immortality 2)

Images of the frat party, of Judd Grant flying across the room, flooded her.

Oh my God. She sucked in a breath. Had she attracted his attention because she was fae? And … maybe she had killed him after all.

Horror eclipsed all other emotions.

One by one, the lights in her apartment exploded.

“What the fuck!” Craig ducked as he spun to see the last, the ceiling light, burst into pieces.

The sun had already begun to rise, so the room was merely dull, not dark.

Her landlord turned to her, a terrified, vicious look on his face, and he grabbed her by the hair, pulling her toward him. “You’re a fucking witch!”

Astonishment flooded her.

He knew about supernaturals?

His grip on her hair tightened as spittle flecked from his lips. He snarled, “How the hell did I miss it?”

“Step back,” Rose warned.

“Oh no, no.” Craig shook his head. “I haven’t come across a witch in a long time. You’ll be useful to me, Rose.”

Wincing at the sharp tug on her head, Rose wrapped her hand around his wrist. “I said, step back.”

All she’d meant to do was tug his hand out of her hair.

That was it.

Instead, she gave it a jerk. A loud crack, followed by his scream, filled the apartment. Agony pervaded his features as he fell to his knees, clutching his broken wrist in his other hand.

Holy. Shit.

Rose stared at her hands.

Her strength … she didn’t know how to control it.

“You bitch!” Craig screamed.

The whole building would have heard, including the staff at the bakery below.

In a whirl of panic, Rose blurred across the room to the drawer by her bed where she kept her passport. Shoving her feet into her comfiest boots, she then grabbed her wallet and her phone, along with her jacket. Turning toward the door, she saw Craig was gone.

She pricked her ears and heard him stumbling down the staircase.

Damn.

Okay. You can do this, Rose. Just focus.

Concentrating on the building door, Rose blinked and she was beside it.

“Holy…,” she whispered. It worked. A strange giddiness flooded her before she remembered to worry about being seen using magic. Thankfully, none of her neighbors saw her pop out of thin air. Shaking with a mix of fear and excitement, she lunged out through the building’s door.

Fionn.

Fionn knew what she was and he was here in Zagreb.

Trust him or not, someone had to help her control her abilities. And maybe he could tell her if she’d killed Judd. There was still a possibility he’d had a heart defect.

God, she hoped so.

Rose concentrated on Fionn’s hotel room.

Just like that, she was in the middle of a street with a tram coming right toward her!

Sidewalk!

She stumbled as she popped onto the sidewalk, fearful as people startled at her sudden appearance, staring at her like she was a ghost.

Shaking with panic now, Rose whirled, trying to get her bearings. Why hadn’t she ended up in Fionn’s hotel suite? Was it too far? Were there limitations?

Nearest alleyway.

She fell against a trash can, landing on her ass in the smelly alleyway. Tears glittered in her eyes. What if she’d just broken some cardinal rule about using her abilities in front of humans?

Humans.

She wasn’t human anymore.

In fact, according to Fionn, she never had been.

For the longest time, Rose had felt a distance between her and everyone else … and now she knew why. Deep down, she’d always sensed she wasn’t one of them.

Shit, shit, shit.

Pushing up to her feet, hands trembling, Rose pulled the business card out of her back pocket along with her cell. Sucking in a deep breath, she dialed.

He picked up after the second ring. “Where are you?”

“From what I can guess, about five blocks from the hotel …” She glanced around and saw a sign on an exit door. “I’m in the alley behind Bar Zubec. I, uh, a lot of people just saw me pop out of thin air.”

The words barely left her mouth and Fionn Mór was in front of her.

Rose cried out, tripping over her feet and falling against the downed trash can again.

“How did you do it? I tried to ‘poof’ to your hotel suite from my place and ended up nearly being crushed by a tram.”

Fionn’s lips twitched with a surprising show of amusement. “You have natural abilities and powers, but like any gift or talent, it needs practice to stretch to its absolute limits. And traveling has limitations.”

“Traveling?”

He shrugged. “To shift from place to place. We’re the only beings on earth who have this ability. But you cannot think of a person and travel to where they are. It doesn’t work like that. You can think of a place within the city or town you’re in and go there.”

Rose frowned. “It’s like putting a wheel boot on a car. What’s the point in having the car?”

“It can prove very useful in a fight.” Fionn took a tentative step toward her. “Don’t worry about being seen using the ability. Humans always rationalize these things to make sense.”

“Okay.”

“Does this mean you’re ready to accept my help?”

Rose felt her skin prickle at his nearness, her awareness of him almost supernatural in its intensity. She tried to retreat but had nowhere to go. Lifting her chin in stubborn defiance of this weird pull toward him, she shrugged. “It seems like the logical thing to do at this point.”

More amusement flickered in his cold, stunning eyes. “How you stroke my ego, Rose.”

“Somehow I think you’ll live.” She brushed past him, needing a little distance. “So, what now?”

Fionn turned toward her, all amusement dying. “Give me your phone.”

Frowning at the request but deciding if she was going to trust him she couldn’t half-ass it, Rose handed over her cell.

Seconds later, as he crushed it into dust in his big fucking paw, she wished she hadn’t.

“What was that?” She lunged too late for the now-nonexistent phone.

“Your phone is the first thing enemies will use to track you.”

She glared at him. “I’m loving this so far. What next, oh wise one? Cut my hair, plastic surgery on my face?”

He ignored her sarcasm. “Nothing quite so drastic as that.”

“Then what?”

“Now … we get the hell out of Croatia.”