Keeping the pistol trained on her, I slid around the bed and edged toward the exit. Stealth didn’t move, only watched me with flat, expressionless eyes, as I pushed back the door and left the room.

The second I stepped through the frame, I began to run.

Ember

Ember

Made it.

The taxi pulled up to the curb, and I scrambled to the sidewalk and raised my head to bask in the artificial glow. I’d never been so relieved to see the bright neon lights of the Strip and the crowds wandering the streets in the middle of the night. Light meant visibility, and crowds meant lots of witnesses, and no matter how much they hated us, the Order of St. George was just as secretive and paranoid of discovery as Talon. They preferred to do their killing in dark alleys and abandoned buildings, where they could murder us in peace without having to worry about silly things like questions or the law. They would not risk gunning us down in the middle of a busy street.

At least, I hoped they wouldn’t.

“Stay alert,” Garret warned as the taxi cruised off after leaving us on the curb. Every bit of him was tense, gray eyes sweeping the crowds and sidewalks, constantly on edge. “The Order could still be here.” Faith whimpered and edged close to him, clutching his shirtsleeve. Annoyance flared, sudden and unreasonable, but Garret didn’t react to the girl’s pawing. “Keep calm,” he said without looking at her. “If you’re scared, you’ll be easy to notice. Try to act like nothing is wrong.”

“Easy for him to say,” Faith whispered to me. In the glow of the street lamps, she was pale and thin, with dark smudges beneath her eyes, and my irritation faded somewhat. Poor kid wasn’t trying to be overly clingy; she really was terrified.

“You’ll be fine,” I told her, as Garret motioned us toward the hotel. “We won’t let anything happen to you. Just stay close to us.”

Cautiously, we ambled toward the entrance. Okay, so maybe ambled wasn’t the right word; Faith was way too frightened to act normal, and her casual walk was more of a rigid march, eyes glued straight ahead. As we neared the doors, Garret casually reached down and took my hand, lacing our fingers together and making a knot form in my stomach. I stared up at him, and he offered a smile, squeezing my palm. I relaxed, even managing to smile at the bellboy who opened the door for us, like we were just three ordinary humans here for a good time. Faith, having relinquished her grip on Garret’s shirt, glued herself to my other side and clung to my arm as we swept through the doors into the relative safety of the hotel.