Wicked Harmony

Chapter 38 | Dorian

Chapter 38

Dorian

O ver the next couple of days, Sin spends most of her time cooped up, working on adjusting her gadgets for our next gig.

We’re all keyed up and antsy. Excited about the gig, sure. But we’re also on edge, hyper aware that the gig is only a small part of what we’re hoping will go down over the next few days.

Sin’s in the zone, back to being focused and barely eating or sleeping unless one of us actively puts something into her hand or lures her away with a kiss.

I’m also pretty sure she also needs the time by herself to process.

Despite how confident she was when the latest video from Cedar Orlog went live, she’s made some big decisions this past week, and she needs space to get her head around it all.

It also seems that Jules’ plan to involve Sin in our interviews is paying off, and it feels like there are fresh stories coming out about the five of us every few minutes. Iri’s also been on his phone even more than usual as he hurries to organize things in case Orlog follows the breadcrumbs Sin has been laying out.

Thank fuck we all have a bunch more PR stuff to deal with to distract us, which also means we can’t hover over her too much. Cal’s protective instincts seem to be in their highest gear and he has growled at more than one paparazzo when they get too close, or yell questions at Sin on the way from the car to the stadium .

None of us like the threat of Orlog hanging over us. None of us like Sin’s idea to use herself to try to lure him out either.

In fact, Sin seems to be the calmest of all of us.

I guess it’s part of her taking control. While the rest of us look helplessly on, she’s facing her demons, experiencing the thing that’s given her nightmares for years and recognizing it’s not so scary after all.

“It’s like I’ve been stuck in this black bubble of fear for years. Now it’s popped, and I can see the world outside and I’ve realized it was all just air. I’m a grown ass woman, and I have been for a long time. He can’t make me do anything, not anymore,” she told me as we cuddled together in bed last night.

Then she gave me one of those smiles that transformed her entire face and made my breath catch.

Part of me can’t fucking wait for this tour to be over. I want more time with Sin, with the five of us all together.

“You have us now,” I told her. “Support. We’re not gonna let anything happen to you.”

I just hope we can live up to that promise.

WE GET THE CALL ON the day of the gig.

“I thought trailing this guy would be interesting. But he’s not tried to brainwash anyone once . He mostly sits around in his underwear. I’m bored and I miss my dogs.” Elara—Sin’s friend—is supposed to be calling with an update on Cedar Orlog’s location, but instead she’s spent the past two minutes complaining.

“Elara. Focus,” Sin says. “Hopefully, you’ll be done soon and you can go home.”

“After the gig,” Elara adds. “The gig with the backstage passes. Bro, you owe me that much, at least. ”

“Sure, Elara.” Sin shakes her head with a tired smile, leaning against my side. I lift my arm and tuck her closer, my heart beating faster as she rests her head briefly on my chest.

“Anyway, the leaks about your location seem to have done the trick. Your guy’s on the move again, headed in your direction. He should be in Meridian within the hour.”

Sin re-enabled tracking on her phone a couple of days ago and almost immediately her location was splashed all over the internet. Those girls from Willow Ridge sure work fast. Faster than I think any of us expected, that night we had to abandon her phone at one hotel to get some fucking privacy at another one across the city.

She glances over at Iri, whose mom apparently has demon mobster contacts, even halfway across the world. “Are we good to go when he gets into the city?”

Iri nods. “As long as you’re sure you want to do this, they have an enforcer in the area. All it’ll take is one phone call.”

That’s Step Two in Sin’s plan.

As it turns out, the monster mobsters aren’t too happy with Orlog disappearing off the face of the earth without paying them what he owes. They’ve been more than happy to get someone involved in Sin’s plan for him.

Her chance at retribution.

I share a glance with Iri and can tell we’re both fighting our instincts to lock Sin away so she doesn’t have to face Orlog herself. But she’s insisting on acting as bait in person.

Still, I can’t say I’m happy about her having to face the slimy fucker that spent years exploiting her powers and her loyalty.

Gripping the sofa cushion beneath me, I squeeze hard, imagining it’s Orlog’s neck.

“I guess we better get into position and see if he shows up.”

Sin

AN HOUR LATER, DORIAN and I are sitting at a café in the middle of Meridian City. I’ve got a frothy, pink cocktail in front of me and Dorian has a coffee and a massive slice of cake. We’re both wearing our matching shades, and it would be a damn cute date if I didn’t feel two seconds away from throwing up.

I shove my hands under my thighs to hide the way they’re trembling, but clearly I don’t do a good enough job. Dorian pulls my chair closer to his, leaning into my space. He then presses a gentle kiss to my lips, lowering his shades for a moment as he checks in with me.

I give his thigh a reassuring squeeze and nod, murmuring. “I’m fine.”

“Right. Well, I’m going to take a piss,” he says, just loud enough to be slightly inappropriate in public and I roll my eyes.

That’s the cue, though. It’s his planned response to the message we both just received, letting us know that there are eyes on Cedar Orlog and he’s in the area. While he might have the balls to approach while Dorian is with me, it’s more likely to happen if I’m alone. Hence the bathroom subterfuge.

Fuck.

This is it. He’s actually here.

I laid the bait. Splashed my location all over the internet over the past three days.

I just knew the Herald wouldn’t be able to resist.

Risking a sip of my drink, I swallow hard and quickly put it down again with a grimace. My stomach turns over itself and I have to take a deep breath as saliva fills my mouth.

Do. Not. Puke.

Barely thirty seconds after Dorian has left the table, a shadow passes by me, and I freeze.

Well, that was quicker than expected .

“Hey, none of the interviews you did asked about your best friends. Next time you do an interview, you should mention me and tell them how great I am,” a female voice says. A very familiar female voice.

She then leans over the table and takes a massive bite of Dorian’s cake.

“Elara,” I hiss, recognizing her instantly, even though for some reason she’s wearing a long blue wig. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I wanted to talk to you about that guy from Willow Ridge, the one who I almost adopted. Remember him?”

“Elara—” My tone is low and a warning for her not to fuck with me right now, but she brushes me off.

“He mated a cat shifter. Can you believe that? Crazy things happen when you don’t reply to my messages, you know?”

“Right. That’s nice. Now, tell me what the fuck you’re doing here.”

“I just figured we wouldn’t get a chance to talk later during the gig, so I wanted to fill you in now.”

I blink at her. Somehow, despite having known her for years now, she always manages to both frustrate and surprise me.

“You really thought now would be the best time?”

“Also, can you sign this napkin for me?” She leans close, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Figured it might throw the dickhead off the scent so he won’t suspect anything.” She winks and my fingers twitch with the desire to throttle her.

“Sure.” I grab the pen she plucks from nowhere and squiggle on the napkin, leaving a smear of ink and a hole.

“I’ll treasure it forever.” She straightens and tucks it in her pocket. “Signal if you need anything. I know a few moves of self defense and can jab a fork in his eye before he can blink.”

She saunters off and I’m left staring after her .

... I think that was her way of letting me know she’s here if I need her.

As weird and unwelcome as her intrusion was, it distracted me from my nerves and my hands are no longer shaking.

I take a sip of Dorian’s coffee and recross my legs, trying not to jiggle them under the table.

“Blonde. Really, Saint, darling?” A male voice makes me startle enough to slosh coffee onto the table. “Dyed hair just isn’t for you.”

My breath catches in my throat as my heart pounds and the world tilts slightly.

Cedar Orlog—the Herald—is here.

It worked.

It’s like all the words have evaporated off my tongue, though.

Careful, darling, you don’t want to show the world what you are.

Abomination.

Slut.

You belong with me, Saint. Stepping off The Path will only lead to ruin.

Luckily, the Herald has never needed an active partner in conversation.

“You’re doing well for yourself, Saint,” he continues. “I’m proud of you.”

It takes everything in me not to spit coffee in his face.

He shakes his head, and I take him in properly for the first time. Gone are the fancy suits and the shiny hair. Instead, he’s wearing a tatty jacket that’s probably designer, but has a large tear all along one sleeve. His hair looks greasy and unwashed and his bright white smile is now stained to a dull gray.

“You never told me you weren’t satisfied, darling,” he adds. “I tried so hard to make a good life for you. If you weren’t happy, you should have told me. We could have talked things through. ”

“I don’t think we could,” I rasp, my voice not as strong as I’d like it to be.

Do you think people would accept you if they discovered what you are, Saint? My child, there’s a reason people like you need their names on a register.

Fuck him and fuck his words. I just need to get through the next couple of minutes and then I’ll be able to put the past behind me.

“You didn’t have to leave like you did, Saint. Darling, you really left us in the lurch.” He leans closer and I instinctively shy away from his proximity, my nose wrinkling at the scent of decay on his breath. “Things have been... difficult recently.”

I scoff. “Couldn’t swindle more money out of enough vulnerable people without my help?”

Clenching my fists under the table, I regret the words instantly. I shouldn’t engage, I should keep my mouth shut.

Where the fuck is Iri’s mobster? He should be here by now.

“We lost our heart when we lost you, Saint,” the Herald continues.

I scoff internally. Better than me losing the rest of my soul.

I smile and his eyes widen, like I’ve surprised him. I guess I didn’t smile too much when I knew him. Not true smiles, anyway. Certainly not how I’m smiling now, one dripping with malice.

“I hear you owe money to the wrong people. Sounds like you’ve been running with your tail between your legs for a while now. It’d be a shame if things finally caught up with you.”

Stupid, really. I should keep my mouth shut until he’s in the hands of Iri’s mobster. I realize that a minute too late.

The Herald freezes for a moment, and then his expression changes to a mask of fury.

“What. Did. You. Do?”

Before I can move, he lunges. His hand grips my wrist. Hard. He then yanks on my arm and I let out a little yelp of pain .

My body freezes as something hard and very sharp digs into my side.

Oh fuck. He’s got a knife.

One that’s digging into the top layer of my skin.

“Saint. Tell me what you did.”

My heart is beating so loudly I can barely hear his words over the rushing of blood in my ears.

I’m frozen in place. His grip on my arm is punishing and I just know I’m one wrong move away from him sinking that blade into my gut.

Why the hell didn’t I expect him to have a weapon? He’s desperate.

And desperate people do desperate things. Like stabbing someone in broad daylight in the middle of a city café.

There are people all around but they’re not doing anything. No one knows anything out of the ordinary is happening right now.

Should I scream? Or will that just make him stab me?

My breath comes out unsteady as I try to fight the wave of panic threatening to take me under.

“To your feet,” he says through gritted teeth. “Now, we’re going to make our way out of here slowly. And you’ll pay for whatever little trick you were trying to pull.”

I stand on shaking legs as he presses the knife harder into my side. There’s a stinging pain and warmth. I can tell he’s broken the skin.

Fuck.

Why did I think I could do this? I should have ignored him and swanned off into the sunset. Maybe he’d have faded into obscurity and I could have had a future with my rock stars.

Now, though, that future’s not guaranteed.

He manhandles me out of my chair, away from the table and I peer around blindly, trying to do what, I don’t know.

Before we can take more than a couple of staggered steps, a projectile hits him at high speed, directly in his face. It flaps around wildly and he shrieks as something attacks him.

It’s... a pigeon.

One that seems to have a taste for eyeballs.

I yank my arm away while simultaneously summoning my magic and blast a wave of confusion at him. I stagger out of his reach, clutching my side as he continues to howl, covering his face with both arms and sinking to his knees.

Dorian sprints toward me, placing his body between me and the Herald as Iri, Cal and Micah charge up to me and I’m scooped up into strong arms.

“Are you all right? Did he hurt you?” Cal rumbles, frantically touching me everywhere.

I wince as he makes contact with my torso, pulling up my shirt to reveal an inch long cut that’s not too deep but is bleeding all down my side.

Cal freezes and I grip his arm as his expression turns murderous.

“Don’t. We’re in public.”

“Your first mistake was being a greedy prick,” Dorian spits at a cowering Cedar Orlog. “Your second was exploiting this beautiful woman here. And your last mistake was touching what’s mine.”

He doesn’t hesitate to remove his shades, hitting the Herald with a full blast of his gaze, freezing him in place on his ass, with the pigeon still going nuts at his face.

He’s covered in gashes and bleeding profusely.

When it starts to go for his eyes, Iri gently traces his finger along my jaw, twisting my head so I can’t see what’s happening and inspecting my wrist like he thinks I might break.

“He hurt you.” His voice is a guttural growl.

I rub my slightly reddened wrist. “I’m fine.”

“I’m going to tear his fucking head off. ”

“No. You’re not.” A sandpaper rough voice sounds from behind us. Peering past Cal’s massive arm, I see a huge midnight blue skinned demon approach. Iri shifts so he’s standing between me and the other demon.

The air around the demon shimmers with a faint blue light and he smirks at me.

“You Scourge?” Iri’s words are clipped, like he’s two seconds from losing his shit.

The demon nods and claps Iri on the shoulder, giving me a brief nod in greeting before inspecting the frozen form of the Herald.

“Took you fucking long enough to arrive,” Iri growls.

The demon ignores him. “Huh, you could come in handy if you ever get bored with prancing around on stage and want a proper gig,” he tells Dorian, who just shakes his head.

“No. Thanks.”

Scourge shrugs his massive shoulders and hefts the Herald to his feet. “Well, thanks for the assistance. I think I’ve got this from here.”

I watch in slightly stunned silence as he drags the Herald along the ground by his ankle.

“Aren’t people going to notice... that?”

Scourge turns around and winks at me, causing Iri and Cal to let out low warning growls.

“Nah. No one in the vicinity will remember anything that happened in the past ten minutes, other than you fine folks.”

That’s an interesting power to have.

It makes me wonder—

“Do I want to know what they’re going to do to him?” I ask.

Iri wraps his arm around me tightly and I can feel his heart racing as he presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Better that you don’t, love.”

I blink up at him, feeling slightly out of it, like I’m waking from a deep sleep.

“That was scary. ”

“Terrifying,” he agrees.

“You’re never doing that shit again. Never putting yourself at risk,” Micah says, wadding up some tissue and pressing it against my wound.

“Please, Sin. My heart won’t take it,” Cal adds.

I hesitate for a second and then nod. I’m still trembling like a leaf and want nothing more than to get somewhere private where it’s just the five of us.

Whatever the demon mobsters do to the Herald, I can’t imagine he’ll be walking around a free man for a while.

“So, it’s really done.”

“It’s really done,” Dorian replies. “You’re free, Sin.”

I guess that’s going to take a minute to sink in.

Cal adjusts me in his arms and Dorian takes hold of one of my hands, while Micah continues to press against my wound, even though it’s not much more than a cut, really.

“I guess I got lucky with that pigeon going feral, huh?”

I glance at Iri who rubs the back of his neck, like he’s hesitant to answer.

“What?” I say.

“About that, did you know Elara can talk to animals?”

That... explains a fair bit actually. I glance around the square, trying to catch sight of her, but she’s nowhere to be found.

I guess maybe I do have a true friend beyond the guys, after all.