Breathless by Kelly Martin Page B

talk, like he’s not the cause of all of this. He’s slightly right, though. Hart and I screwed up Seth’s already screwed up plan.
    “I looked in the car at Gracen’s mom’s house. I looked at the hotel. I looked everywhere I can think of, and I can’t find the damn book.”
    “You said the book wouldn’t help. You said that she can’t be stopped.” I like reminding him of things he’s said in order to piss him off. Because that’s what the world needs right now… to be pissed off.
    “And do you know of any other mystical books from Heaven that mentions the Abomination and possible ways to deal with it?”
    I don’t like it when he’s snarky. “No. Do you?”
    “No.”
    Great.
    “So, in the meantime, Lucien, go into wherever you have Hart stashed, ask him about the location of the book. Tell him anything you need to for him to trust you enough to tell you the location. We’re running out of time. It’s bad out here, incredibly bad.”
    “How bad?”
    “What part of incredibly bad don’t you get?”
    Click.
    He actually hung up on me. That little twerp.
    “Lucien!” Hart’s voice has nearly faded. Most of the fight is gone.
    I don’t know if his spirit is giving up, but I think his body is. I wonder if these bodies, our old bodies, are going to last. Or will they speed up and die now that they are out in the wild, now that we should be dead?
    “Lucien, please. I have to get out of here. I have to help her. Any way I can, I have to help her.”
    Anyway I can. Seems like the Hart Blackwell way.
    I grab the key from my pocket and turn to open the door when he says something I never in my life thought he would say. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry, Lucien. I’m sorry about everything. I’m sorry… I’m sorry for Colleen.”
    Colleen.
    The keys drop from my hand.
    Tell him anything you need to tell him.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
     
    Hart
    “ L UCIEN B LACKWELL, GET YOUR LITTLE SELF back here now!” I’ve tried everything I can think of to get Lucien back here. I’ve begged. I’ve yelled. I’ve called him every name I can think of… and then some. I’ve been the loving younger brother. I’ve been the jerky little brother. I’ve been the demon who tortured him…
    Maybe that one wasn’t a smart idea.
    The point is that I’ve tried everything to get my big brother in this little room to unchain me so I can save the world, and he hasn’t even said one word to me.
    I heard him talking to someone behind his locked door. I guess it’s locked. I don’t suppose it would mean anything if it wasn’t. Not like I can break these chains or anything.
    I used to could.
    Oh, there was a time I could’ve broken these chains. Easy. Child’s play. It’s very difficult going from that thing that can destroy people, can talk people into killing themselves (not my finest moment if I have to be honest), and get into people’s minds to this… this… human. This body that can die and hurt. That, even though I can’t see, I can tell that I’ve gotten bruises on my wrists from trying to break out of my chains and failing.
    Failing.
    Miserably.
    It’s dark.
    It’s cold.
    It’s miserable.
    I’m weak.
    I’ve always hated being weak.
    I never thought Lucien would get the upper hand on me.
    I’ve very ashamed that he did.
    He cooked me breakfast? How did I not see right thought that?
    He was nice to me. After everything I’ve done to him… not just as a human, not just as his brother, but as the demon Hart… and I expected everything to just be all right. To just be okay and go back to the way it was before.
    Am I really that naïve?
    I used to tell Gracen she was the naïve one. The one who didn’t know anything about the world. The slow person who wouldn’t know anything about anything unless she was told, and even then she was as slow as Christmas.
    I didn’t believe any of that. Not really. I always thought Gracen was the smartest person I’d ever met…. Well, I mean she could be dense at times. We