Dying Light Read Free

Jeremiah’s pleasure when the nurse arrives with my
water.
    “ Thanks,” I snort and
accept the drink. I get half of it down in the first go. God, it
feels good. I swear, it’s like death sucks all the water out of
me.
    This is only my second death since
Brinkley died in October, two months ago. When Jeremiah insisted
that we come to Chicago where we would be useful and safe, I
thought he would use me for more replacements. After all, that’s
what I do. I die so others don’t have to. I’m good at it. But just
like the last time I died, Jeremiah looks pissed.
    “ Why didn’t you kill
Jason?”
    I meet his eyes over the rim of my Big
Gulp water. “Uh, because I’m not a murderer?”
    “ Caldwell has killed at
least three partis and absorbed their abilities. Acquiring a second
ability would be useful.”
    “ You’re still talking
about killing someone.”
    Jeremiah steeples his fingers. “You
need to be stronger if you want to take him on. You have your
shield and your pyrokinetics, excellent abilities. But think of
what you could do with Jason’s ability to heal.”
    “ When I die, I heal
anyway. Too bad he doesn’t have super strength or the ability to
fly. That’d be cool.”
    And who said I want to take Caldwell
on? Where did Jeremiah get that idea? I want Caldwell dead. I’d
bring maracas and a kazoo to his funeral. But actually taking
someone’s life is a whole other matter.
    Jeremiah prattles on, unaware that
I’ve stopped listening. “Your mission—”
    “ Listen.” I cock my head
to the side. “I don’t care about the missions. I only care about keeping
Ally safe. She’s the one who insists we help you, so here I am. She
seems to believe that you’re saving all the babies from war-torn
childhoods or whatever. So I get why she thinks the work you do is
important. But don’t act like my handler or my boss, because you’ll
never be either.”
    “ Your handler was a good
man, but—”
    “ Don’t.” Heat rises in my
face.
    Gabriel appears at the end of my bed,
his feathers ruffled. His gaze is murderous and fixed on Jeremiah.
Good. I don’t like the guy either, but melting Jeremiah in his seat
is a bit of an overreaction, even for me.
    I release a nice controlled breath.
Some of the tension in my chest loosens and Gabriel’s own feathers
lay flat. I breathe again, in and out, and Jeremiah arches a
curious eyebrow.
    “ You’ll thank me for not
boiling your eyeballs in their sockets. Or ruining this year’s
argyle.” I flick my eyes down to his sweater vest. Jeremiah’s lips
press into a thin line.
    The heat of my anger cools and I try
to speak like a civilized person. “You didn’t know Brinkley, and
you’ll never replace him. If you insist on trying, I’m out of here
and I’ll take Ally with me. Got it?”
    I have no idea if I can actually get
Ally to leave this place. She believes that Jeremiah is trying to
help people and save all the orphans Caldwell is leaving in his
wake. Until I can prove otherwise, I have to hold on to her
coattails and keep her out of trouble. No thanks to
Jeremiah.
    Even if I can’t prove Jeremiah is
secretly evil, maybe I can prove her new girlfriend Nikki is a
traitor, liar, or cheater. Anything horrible would make Ally never
want to set foot inside Tate Tower again. Who cares about helping
people?
    A girl can dream.
    “ Understood,” Jeremiah
relents. “I am your friend, Jesse.”
    I consider making the pig nose again.
The door opens and Ally appears, smiling, cradling forty pounds of
pug against her chest.
    “ Winston. Come here,
squishy.” I reach for him and his cinnamon-bun tail wags, slapping
Ally’s arm. She plops my fat pug on the bed, and he pounces on my
legs. “You want to get under the covers? Get under these
covers.”
    I throw the covers over his head. He
turns circles between my legs, nibbling on my fingers playfully as
I poke him through the bedding.
    “ This is a sterile room.”
Jeremiah presses one finger against his