jinn 03 - vestige Read Free Page B

importantly, how to ensure this fight was on my terms, not his. What I needed was someone who knew a lot about Hell, which got me thinking harder. The vampire was the only non-demon who came to mind.
    Femi had tracked down Corbin to find the pathway out of purgatory. Why would he know how to get out, unless he had been in? Not that the vampire, or any vampire, had ever been even remotely helpful to me before, but perhaps he could be persuaded? He was old enough that physical violence probably wasn’t going to break him. Vampires knew how to deal with pain or they didn’t last. Their lives were often feast or famine. In times of war or strife, they fed openly and often because they could. The rest of the time, they lurked in shadows, hiding, trying not to draw attention. They knew pain, they knew isolation—my usual tools. However, everyone wanted something . All I had to do was figure out what Corbin wanted and then I’d own him.
    I glanced up and found I was in front of Baker’s house, which was actually Maggie’s house now. Not that he left it to her or anything, but Femi moved Maggie in as soon as we got back from Arizona. Maggie was no longer suited to apartment living—especially while she was learning how to control herself. Baker’s neighborhood may have been unsavory, but she could more than take care of herself.
    “You just going to stand in the rain all day?” she called as she opened the door.
    I wiped water off the face of my watch. It was too early for her to be up. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” We still didn’t know how sunlight and half-vampires mesh.
    “By all means, just stand in the storm shouting at me instead of coming inside.” Maggie shut the door.
    I went up the steps and shook myself off on the porch, though it was hopeless; I was soaked through. I turned the handle and walked inside.
    Maggie had blackout curtains and cardboard over the windows to block all natural light, but every bulb in the house was on. I surveyed the layout of the place. Baker had all but disappeared, and touches of her were everywhere, especially in the homemade cupcakes covering the kitchen table and all the countertops.
    “Hungry?” I asked. “Have you figured out how you feed…other than on cupcakes?”
    Her curly hair was a mess, and her crimson eyes were still jarring. “I haven’t. I’m starving and I can’t sleep. Baking distracts me somewhat, so I make cupcakes.” She looked at me seriously. “All day. Every day.” She beckoned me to follow her into the kitchen, where two giant black trash bags sat. “Wanna guess what’s in them?”
    “Cupcakes?”
    She nodded, then plucked one off the counter and looked at it longingly. “I’m getting better at decorating them. Too bad they all taste like shit now.” She sighed. “Yesterday was garbage day. I put out fifteen bags of cupcakes. I have a problem.”
    I scratched my jaw. I sucked at women problems. “I could ask Olivia to come see you.”
    She squished the cupcake she was holding, and pink, glittery icing shot out between her fingers. “I’m going crazy, Holden. I sit in here alone, day after day, baking food I can’t eat. When I do try to go outside, I’m riddled with anxiety that I might accidentally hurt someone. Please help me.”
    “I didn’t tell you to become a fucking vampire. You did that all on your own. What do you expect me to do? I can’t fix everyone’s problems.”
    She smeared the ruined dessert down the front of my shirt. “Nothing. I expect nothing . I just wanted to complain, but hey man, thanks for listening. Asshole.” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Oh and by the way, the whole fire thing doesn’t scare me. Real grownups talk about their problems instead of bursting into flames.”
    I looked down at the flames licking my skin then at the smears of food on my shirt. The flames grew. Damn it.
    Her voice softened. “Baker’s clothes are still in his room if you want to change. I’m