start . Bao didn ’ t make any move to stop her . He must have known she wanted to leave . All he wanted was the angel-bone knife back .
Ivy didn ’ t bother making her way back to Connecticut once she left Bao ’ s . She had stayed in New York , found a small and cheap apartment , and found work as a waitress in a number of small diners . Her life was the same before , except that she was older and she knew her vengeance against Lannus , what she had thought would make her happy , left her nothing but empty on the inside . Ivy wiped the tears from her face with a few squares of toilet paper . She hated cracking like she did , and she wanted to go back to feeling the nothing she had been feeling since Lannus died and smoldered in front of her all those years ago . She turned , pushed the emotions deep inside herself , opened the women ’ s room door , and returned to work .
13
The ice clinked in Lannus ’ s glass as he set it down . Ivy stood , staring . She had been in the women ’ s room of Nick ’ s Pit a moment before , leaving to go back to waiting tables . She looked into Lannus ’ s face , a small smirk upon it . “ Welcome back ,” he said .
“ I killed you thirteen years ago ,” Ivy said .
“ No ,” Lannus said . “ I showed you your future after you exact your revenge upon me . It ’ s a little trick of mine . Did you like what you saw ?”
Ivy looked around , flexing her hands . She had lived every minute of the last thirteen years , what she thought was thirteen years . Now , it was starting to feel like an extremely vivid nightmare . “ No ,” she finally said . “ I didn ’ t like it at all .”
“ Is this not what you wanted ?” Lannus said . “ I thought you wanted your revenge for whaever it is you thought I did to you .”
Ivy looked around . She realized Lannus was the only one in the entire restaurant . There was no coup , no demon civil war . It was only him and her . None of Bao ’ s men had followed , but she heard them fighting the demons below , all pawns in an elaborate ruse . “ You did this ,” she said . “ You set this whole thing up . Why ?”
Lannus poured himself another glass of liquor and filled the glass on the other side of the table , motioning for Ivy to sit . “ I am nothing if not thorough , my dear ,” he said .
Ivy sat , placing the angel-bone knife on the table . She knew she should bury it into Lannus ’ s chest as she thought she had already done , but the memories of the thirteen years she hadn ’ t actually lived , although fading as dreams often do , were still playing in her mind . She picked up the glass and took a sip . She needed a drink .
“ Have you put it all together yet ?” Lannus asked after sipping from his own glass , the ice clinking as he set it down . “ No ,” Ivy admitted . “ Did the witch not warn you all those months ago ?” Lannus asked . “ She told you to beware of coincidence .” “ She said she didn ’ t believe in it ,” Ivy said . “ Yet ,” Lannus continued , “ you found yourself in New York City , whisked directly to a demon hunter , given a job at a demons ’ club , and told when I ’ d be here . Were you so driven by revenge that you were blind to see that you were being pushed ?”
“ Why ?” Ivy asked , keeping her emotions in check . “ Why put me through all this ?!”
“ I ’ ve already told you ,” Lannus said . “ I am thorough .” Ivy stared in disbelief . Lannus sighed , as if bored by the onesided conversation , but Ivy knew he was relishing every moment . “ You gave up your old life , as unsatisfying as it was , to become a whore to find