Dark Champion (Flirting with Monsters #4) - Eva Chase Page 0,46
in the darkness up there where you have a decent view of the tower area. As soon as any flames come out, get your asses to us as quickly as possible.” He cast his gaze toward the others. “The rest of you, stay put and out of trouble.”
Snap frowned and tugged me to him for a quick but demanding kiss, as if to remind me why I’d better come back. Ruse didn’t look all that pleased to be left behind either, but his contribution in charming the Company woman’s fiancé seemed to have eased some of his doubts about his worthiness.
“Give her hell for us,” he said to both me and Omen.
Antic hopped from foot to foot in a frenetic dance around the two of us, looking like a little kid who desperately needed to pee. “Are you sure I can’t do anything—cause a distraction? Get her guard down with a laugh? I haven’t even seen this crazy lady yet!”
“Believe me, you’re better off that way,” Omen said dryly.
I had a vision of Tempest pouncing on the imp like a lion on a wobbly baby gazelle. “We can produce some laughs,” I assured her. “The two of us are practically a comedy act.”
She looked at me skeptically while Omen let out a resigned huff. Even if this was the most important scheme we pulled off in his entire crusade, he didn’t expect me to take it with Thorn-level solemnity, did he?
At least we didn’t have a two-mile trudge ahead of us. After we’d walked a few blocks, Omen hailed one of the few taxis cruising the city late into the night. As I sat down in the back seat, my purse clinked faintly.
The cab took off, and Omen glanced over at me. “Are you ready for this?”
I nodded, even though “ready” wasn’t exactly the word I’d have used. I was ready to accept that there was no way I’d ever feel more prepared to face off against a shadowkind psychotic genius than I did right now, so we might as well get it over with. We’d trained more throughout the day. I knew the movements I wanted to make by heart. But neither of us could predict exactly how Tempest would behave once we had her in front of us.
Would the silver-and-iron chain in my purse be enough to restrain her voodoo? Would I manage to meld the ends into place around her in time? How much of myself would I scorch while burning her eyes blind?
All very good questions I’d soon have the answer to, whether I liked them or not.
It wasn’t hard to tell when we were coming up on our destination. The Leaning Tower of Pisa caught the light from the streetlamps on its pale, slanted surface, looking for all the world like a several-tiered wedding cake a few seconds from toppling over. Here was hoping our little duel didn’t give it the final shove. I’d already destroyed one city landmark in the course of this crusade.
Tempest wasn’t visible when we first stepped out, but a couple of young men were standing near the base of the tower. I hesitated, not sure how we could go through with this meeting when we had mortal spectators, but the sphinx materialized out of the darkness a moment later in between the two guys without showing any concern at all. Actually, she patted one of them on the shoulder with the air of someone petting a dog.
She’d dressed differently but no less lavishly for this occasion. Tonight’s robe looked like a toga, I guessed to fit the Italian theme, but not your standard white sheet. No, when Tempest wore a toga, naturally it had to be rich crimson silk adorned with an ornate golden clasp and stitched with glinting gemstone beads. While we were in view of the public—though quiet—streets, the thick locks of her bronze hair lay peacefully around her head, but as I watched, a couple of them twitched as if jonesing for the chance to fly free.
I couldn’t get close to her just yet. Judging by his own sensitivity, Omen had estimated that she wasn’t likely to notice the chain of noxious metals I was carrying as long as I kept at least ten feet away, ideally more just to be safe. I stopped on the grassy lawn that filled much of the yard around the tower and curled my fingers around my purse strap, resisting the urge to check yet again that I’d left the top