Free Night's Deep Hush: Reveler Series 4 by Erin Kellison Page A

freaky progeny. Jordan set up this Rêve. Blackman’s been helping her.” He flicked his gaze toward Vince, who’d stopped obsessing over the stain on his hands and now watched them with feral eyes.
    Fawkes held up a hand. “Wait. Who set up this Rêve? Because it should be shut down, its operator incarcerated.”
    “I arranged it,” Jordan said, repeating what she’d just told Malcolm. “I knew we’d need a place outside the Agora to meet, so I found a guy who had a setup and made a deal. Then I called Sera’s reservation number, hoping she’d give you the message.”
    “That, by the way, was brilliant. Sera has decided to like you.”
    “Since she pulled her weight without warning, you can tell her the feeling’s mutual.” Thank God for Sera. Jordan was going to hug her the next time she saw her. “And please let Maisie know I’m okay. Steve’s still with her?”
    “Steve’s got her. They were both fine last night.”
    “Fawkes,” Malcolm said. “I have to go. I’ve stayed too long already. You’ve got to watch over Jordan for me.”
    “Did you say Lambert’s progeny has you?” Fawkes asked. “That psycho has kids?”
    “Yeah,” Malcolm answered. “Jordan will fill you in on everything. Take care of her for me.”
    “Jordan can take care of herself,” she put in. Efforts needed to be focused in Malcolm’s direction. Besides, Fawkes was in San Diego, and she was in New York City. And she would be hunting some guy named Charles Langer, as well as Lambert’s daughter.
    “I don’t doubt it,” Fawkes told her with a cocky grin, “but tell me where I can find you so we can coordinate.”
    “I’m staying at an apartment in Manhattan belonging to a friend of Vince’s, Paula Morse, while she’s in Spain.”
    “Got it.” Fawkes jutted his chin toward Vince. “What’s his problem?”
    Jordan made a worried face. “I told him about Lambert being part nightmare, and he lost it. Says he doesn’t believe me, but it seems like he believes something.”
    “I’ll talk to him,” Fawkes said. “Why don’t you two go back to whatever you were going to do before I interrupted?”
    Jordan’s bright joy was dimming as she obligingly stepped into Malcolm’s arms again. “Promise me you’re okay.”
    “I’m okay. So much better now.”
    He kissed her and lifted her off the floor again with his embrace. He was holding her so tight, and she twined her legs around him so that they might merge or become knotted like a pretzel. This was a dream, after all—anything could happen. “When will I see you again? How do I find you?”
    “I’ll find you. Stay hidden. Do what I taught you.”
    She nodded. Kissed him again. “I am. I’m good. Please don’t worry about me.”
    “Can’t help it,” he said, speaking against her lips. “I love you.”
    She tried to frown at him, but it was hard with her soul so high. “You stole my line.”
    He kissed her again. “I did?”
    She nodded slightly, relishing the satin on satin texture of his mouth on hers.
    “Say it anyway,” he told her.
    Okay. “I loved you first.”

 
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
    Vince stared at the blood on his hands. It belonged to the nightmare creature he’d torn apart, and now it stained his skin. The blood was just as cold as it had been when it spilled, and he knew it was poisoning him. The violence inside him was just as savage as it had been in the Scrape, where the will to live had overcome whatever civility he’d been taught. He’d become fear—hungry, mean, and knowing.
    Marshal Fawkes was speaking to him low and easy about what a fight like that does to a person.
    Yes, yes. Trauma.
    But Vince’s sneaking suspicion was that he was forever changed, infected, slowly turning into one of them. It was what made Jordan’s assertion that Didier Lambert was part nightmare so frightening. Because Vince felt a bit nightmarish himself.
    “It’s going to take a while,” Fawkes said. “Won’t be easy. You’re