My Wicked Enemy Read Online Free PDF Page B

the air around her was crackling with electricity. Her fingers and palm hurt from gripping the bar, but she didn’t want to be without a weapon ever again. Having a weapon was all that kept her from breaking down.
    Nikodemus was past the bus stop. He looked over his shoulder, saw how far back she was, and stopped. Carson headed for the unaware crowd at the bus stop. She wanted out of here. Away. Far away from Kynan and visual hallucinations and exploding doors. Sweat trickled down her back, and her shoulders were one huge knot of tension. Someone bumped into her, pushing to get ahead of her in the line of waiting riders.
    The bus stopped and the door whooshed open. Nikodemus scanned the crowd, looking away from her for just a moment. One advantage of being short was she fit into a gap in the line of passengers. She got on, dug out quarters, and paid the fare. Standing room only. Her jaw clenched. So many people, bodies pressed together without regard to age or gender or propriety.
    On the sidewalk, Nikodemus headed back the way they’d come. She walked to the rear of the bus, into the thick of people who lived every day of their lives without wondering if they were going insane. Nikodemus scanned the street, and then he shoved a man with a briefcase and shouted. He whirled. His mouth was tense, eyes darting everywhere. He called out again. Her name.
    As the last passengers paid their fares, panic grabbed her by the throat. He’d fought in that alley and kept Kynan and Tibold away from her. From her. She was insane if she thought Kynan wasn’t going to find her again. He wasn’t going to give up. She knew it. As for Nikodemus’s intentions, if someone was going to kill her, better him than Kynan.
    At the last minute, she leaned over the seated passengers and banged her fist on the window. Nikodemus turned around. Their gazes met, and swear to God, she felt like he was right there in her head. He dashed for the bus and got on just as the doors were closing. He flashed a Metro card at the driver and joined her at the back of the bus. He stood close. Too close. No more than six inches between their bodies, and there wasn’t room to back up.
    Nikodemus smiled. “You whacked Kynan a good one,” he said.
    She tilted her chin so she could see his face. “He deserved it.”
    His smile flashed into a grin. “You can play on my team anytime.”
    The bus lurched and headed up the hill. And Carson’s head was full of Nikodemus, who might or might not be five thousand years old.
    She gripped her metal bar and prayed he wasn’t planning how to kill her.
    Chapter 3

    N ikodemus grabbed the witch’s hand and got off the bus at Polk Street, an area transforming from down-and-out to up-and-coming. This was a commercial/residential area: restaurants, used bookstores, a corner grocery, a bakery, a chain store with a pharmacy. Most of the upper stories of the buildings were apartments. She kept a step behind him, but he could tell she was having trouble walking a straight line.
    He turned around and drew her toward him. She came without resistance. He pressed a finger to her forehead. The noise of traffic receded. No more distant sirens or people talking. Just a moment of perfect silence he wished would last forever. Her eyes were heartbreakingly clear. An intense gaze, even filled with pain. Considering Kynan Aijan had been trying to kill her, she was holding up damned well. “You gonna be okay?” he asked.
    She swayed toward him, not as unsteady as before, but not entirely steady, either. “Sure,” she said. And then she laughed, but not like something was funny. “Unless you decide to kill me, after all.”
    “I don’t kill people when they’re helpless. You have my word on that.” He smiled, because he wasn’t sure how much she knew, which he guessed was jack shit, and how much she was figuring out on her own, which was possibly more than he thought. “It’s okay,” he said. Damn, but she was pretty. Exactly his