A Touch Morbid by Leah Clifford Page A

Siders?”
    He took her hand and carefully slid the gaudy emerald onto her finger. “Yes.”
    She gasped, trying to pull her hand away and stand. Luke held on. If the Bound knew about the Siders, they’d be trying to find a way to eradicate them. And Gabriel? Kristen thought, her horror turning to shame. He hadn’t called her back because he was in trouble. She covered her face with her free hand. She’d thought he was angry and petty, and he was probably worried sick about her. “Let me go.”
    “No.” Luke’s tone stopped her dead. His dark eyes glittered like the gems. “We’re not done.”
    She had to use the questions she had left to gain the most information. “Do the Bound know how to kill us?”
    “No.” Her head tilted in surprise as he slid the ring on. “Ask me how I knew you weren’t being helped.” He didn’t bother with the rings, answered anyway. “You didn’t call me in the park. I’ve been keeping an eye on you, waiting.” He didn’t look away as he said it.
    “If the Bound know of the Siders, they know Gabriel wasn’t telling them. He’s being punished. And you,” she spat. “You waited for me to get sick so you could play games?”
    He shook his head, adding another ring to her hand. “He must have suffered so much to keep his secrets. To stay,” he said as he looked up at her. “You can’t believe he’d let the Bound keep him from you.”
    She drew a shallow breath, enough air to speak the words. “What have you done to Gabriel?”
    “Not a thing. We played the same roles for millennia, he and I, and nothing had ever changed,” he said. The gold band was back on her thumb. “No one can force a Fall.”
    “He… No.” She yanked her hands from his, stumbling away. She made it to the chair, clutched the back of it. Get it together , a voice said stubbornly. You’re showing him all your weakness. He’ll break you with it .
    Luke’s leg bounced, energy finding its way out. “He confessed. A murder, at his hands.”
    “It’s not possible. There must have been a mistake.” She wanted him to be lying so badly she ached.
    It hit her. Sudden terror. Gabriel. Fallen. She couldn’t catch her breath, swayed against the chair, her hands clenching the armrest in a death grip. If she could get Luke to say it, smile and say All a bad joke; I find your gullibility so amusing . “You swear to me, Luke. You swear to me you’re not lying.”
    “I swear on all that I am.”
    “I want to see him.” She couldn’t bear to move.
    “Kristen, that’s not a good idea. He can’t control his impulses. He’s unstable.” It was written all over his face; he’d say no and leave and she’d never find Gabriel on her own. Not in the city.
    “Luke, give me this one thing.” An idea blossomed, a desperate, dangerous thought. One that would have broken Gabriel’s heart to know she offered Lucifer. She dropped her eyes to the bed.
    On the comforter lay the last ring. She held it up.
    “Do you know where he is?”
    “Yes,” he said. She held out her hand and Luke pushed the ring on.
    The static of voices had gone silent. A tiny bead of sweat rolled down the back of her neck. “How do I find Gabriel?”
    “No ring.” Luke’s eyes burned black, hungry. “You don’t get an answer.”
    Kristen’s heart hammered in her chest. She could almost hear Gabe’s voice in her head screaming at her to stop, not to do it. She licked her lips and blurted out the words before she could let him talk her out of it. “If you answer me, I’ll owe you.”
    Luke’s irises swirled an oily sheen, a frenzied moan breaking from him. “That’s open-ended, Kristen.” His tone was a warning, an out.
    One she couldn’t heed.
    “You tell me where to find Gabriel, and I’ll owe you one favor.”
    Luke stared at her for a full minute before he spoke again. “He rides the trains.”
    “Thank you,” she whispered.
    “It won’t help, Kristen. You can’t get him back.”
    “He made me a promise. I