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.And the longer she talked, the more okay she seemed to be with the idea of talking.Christ.The things the woman had gone through.Shanti felt like she was going to be sick.Captured, tortured.Killed over and over again.Resurrected.Fighting for her life against beings who called themselves gods.Her own family.Shanti sat and listened, and stared.She wanted to cry.But even more, she wanted to hunt down the bastards who had hurt Molly and beat the hell out of them.Yeah, they could probably kill her in like two seconds, but at least she’d go out hurting them.And a thought kept coming to Shanti: if these were really gods, what about the god she believed in? The one she’d never seen, yet prayed to every single day?“Do you believe they’re gods?” Shanti asked quietly.“Not really.The only thing I know for sure is that there is no fucking way I’m a god,” Molly said, looking up at Shanti and rolling her eyes.And then they both erupted in laugher, and it felt like the old days, when they’d sit around on the roof or in Shanti’s room, and she would talk and Molly would listen.“Want to patrol?” Molly asked as they left the restaurant.Shanti grinned.“You really know how to show a girl a good time,” she said.But she knew Molly didn’t want to go back home.She understood now, more than ever, how even when everything else was a mess, the fact that they could go out and cause pain to those who deserved it, or save those who needed saving, was as much a blessing to them as it was to those they saved.It kept them sane, gave them a sense of control when everything was falling apart.So they patrolled, Molly’s imps running through the shadows.And they ended up in the same neighborhood Nain was in, and he’d gotten to their lost girl first.Except that they’d been too late.She stood and watched as Molly and Nain talked, as he put his huge hands on her thin shoulders tried to save her from having to see the carnage.She watched the way they looked at each other.The intensity in every single glance, the quiet way Nain spoke to Molly, unlike the way he talked to anyone else.The almost-hungry way he looked at Molly.And the way Molly seemed to be hyper-aware of everything about him.Very, very interesting.Molly pulled Shanti away, still glancing back at her former husband.As they walked down the street, Shanti noticed Molly throw one glance back at him.“Well, that wasn’t a whole bunch of sexual tension or anything.Damn,” Shanti said, laughing a little and fanning herself.“It wasn’t,” Molly answered, glancing back again.“Right.”Molly just shook her head in irritation, and Shanti dropped the subject.They made their way back to the loft.Shanti considered staying the night, but she didn’t feel okay about leaving he vampires after what had happened the night before.Everyone was still on edge.She hugged Molly and promised she’d talk to her soon, and yes, she’d be careful.And then she drove off, heading toward Rayna’s.When she got home it was a little after three.She guzzled a bottle of blood, greeted Sam, then went up to her room.She sat on her bed and texted Zero.Are u still up?A few seconds later he replied.Yes.Everything ok?Just checking to see if you were ok.Her phone rang then, and she saw it was him.“I’m okay.Is everything okay with you?” he asked, and her stomach flipped at the sound of his voice.“Fine.”“What’s wrong?”“The Angel is back,” she said.“That’s a good thing, right?”“It is.It’s just… the things she went through while she was gone…” and then she found herself filling him in on the Brennan situation.“So she fights her way back only to have her heart broken by the man who swore he loved her.And I know that part of it was that he was pissed off at her for being gone.Because our life is freaking insane and relationships aren’t the first thing on our minds.”“Shanti,” Zero said.“What?”“Don’t even think it.”“What?”“You’re thinking it’s best to stop before I break your heart.”“Didn’t know you were a telepath, Zero,” she muttered.“I’m not.I know you.”“You don’t know me,” she said.“We barely know each other.”“And you’re determined to keep it that way, aren’t you?”“It’s probably for the best.”She heard him let out an irritated breath [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]