Julian didn't wait long. Two nights later, I found his sleek, silver shark of a car idling outside my apartment building. The streetlights were flickering, casting long, jittery shadows over the cracked pavement.
Most girls would have kept walking. Most girls would have called the cops or dialed Silas's number with shaking fingers. But I wasn't most girls anymore.No matter how hard I tried. I was a girl who had watched her mother turn into a skeleton and her future turn into a grease-stained apron. I didn't have much left to lose, and that made me the most dangerous thing in this shitty town.
I didn't wait for him to get out. I walked straight up to the passenger side, yanked the door open, and sat down in the leather seat that smelled like success and sociopathy.
"Well," Julian purred, his hands draped casually over the steering wheel. "You're full of surprises, Alina. I was prepared to do the whole 'mysterious stranger in the dark' routine for at least another ten minutes."
"Cut the shit, Julian," I said, my voice flat. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it. The interior of the car was pristine; I made sure to blow the first cloud of smoke directly at the dashboard. "You've been sniffing around my life like a dog at a trash can. What do you actually want? Besides the 'savior' act, which…spoiler alert, is even worse than Silas's."
Julian's smile didn't falter, but his eyes sharpened. "I want someone with your... energy... in my circle. Silas is a relic. He wants to preserve things. I want to build things. And you? You look like you want to burn things down."
"You think you're so fucking smart," I said, leaning closer until I could see the tiny, expensive pores on his face. "You think because you have a fancy car and a dry-cleaned soul, you can just pick me up like a stray. You think I'm some prize you can use to piss off Silas."
I reached out, my movement so fast he didn't have time to flinch. I didn't slap him. I grabbed the expensive silk tie around his neck and yanked him forward until our noses were almost touching. I pressed the glowing cherry of my cigarette an inch away from his eyeball.
"Listen to me, you polished prick," I hissed, my voice dropping to a jagged, guttural whisper. "I've seen real monsters. I've seen death sit in a room for six months and eat a person piece by piece. You? You're just a bully in a tailored suit. If you come near my apartment again, or if you say my name to Martha, I won't go to Silas. I'll find out where you sleep, and I'll show you exactly how much 'energy' I have left."
For the first time since I'd met him, Julian's mask slipped. His pupils dilated until his eyes were almost entirely black. He didn't look scared…not exactly. He looked electrified.
His breathing hitched, a sharp, ragged sound that filled the small space of the car.
He didn't pull away from the cigarette. He leaned into it, his hand coming up to wrap around my wrist, his grip bruising and desperate.
"God," he breathed, and for the first time, his voice wasn't smooth. it was wrecked. "You're absolutely vicious."
"I'm a fucking nightmare," I corrected, staring him down.
Julian stared at me, and I saw a shift in him that made my skin crawl in a completely new way. It wasn't the oily appraisal from the diner. It was a look of pure, twisted fascination.
He wasn't just looking for leverage anymore. He was looking at me like I was a religion he'd just discovered.
"He doesn't deserve you," Julian whispered, his thumb pressing hard into the pulse point of my wrist. "Silas wants to protect you. He wants to keep you small. But this... this is magnificent. You aren't a bird, Alina. You're a predator."
"Get your hands off me," I snapped, shoving him back into his seat.
I got out of the car, my heart hammering a frantic, violent rhythm against my ribs. I didn't look back as I walked into the lobby of my building. I didn't look back as I climbed the stairs to my room and locked the door with trembling hands.
I went to the sink and splashed cold water on my face. My reflection looked back at me, eyes wide, hair a mess, a smudge of ash on my cheek. I looked like a crazy person. I felt like one, too.
I had meant to scare him off. I had meant to show him that I wasn't a toy.
But as I sat on my bed, staring at the door, I realized with a sickening jolt that I hadn't pushed him away. I had just given him a reason to stay.
Julian wasn't falling for a girl. He was falling for a disaster. And as much as I hated Silas for being a "gentleman," I realized with a cold, sharp dread that Silas was the only thing standing between me and the monster I had just accidentally invited to dinner.
Fucking great, I thought, lighting another cigarette with shaking fingers. I'm officially the most crazy girl in town with the absolute worst taste in men.