| |
I didn't know where to go.
I was furious with Eli for lying to me about something so huge. I wanted to hit him but that would only make things worse and I couldn’t do that to him. I felt betrayed and staying in his house only made it worse.
Usually, in times of crisis like this, I wanted to run to my mom or Dante. But I knew that Dante was just as speechless as I was and I would have to tell my mom everything and relive and that thought made my stomach sink.
I found myself walking into Azolata's tattoo shop. The girl at the front took one look at me and winced. I don't know what she saw, but it wasn't pretty.
She waved me through to the back. I found Azolata in his office after I passed the private tattoo rooms that were occupied by three other artists. I wasn't surprised to see Stephen there with him. Stephen was reading a book, completely absorbed in it. Azolata was looking at something like invoices and I wanted to laugh. It was so strange, knowing that Azolata was thousands of years old and still he had to do taxes and deal with invoices. I snorted.
Azolata looked up and frowned. "You look terrible."
I sat down in a chair next to Stephen and leaned forward. I put my head in my hands and groaned.
Stephen nudged me and I looked over he was offering me a bottle of whiskey. I groaned again. "I can't get drunk."
"That's the worst thing I've heard all day and I've been reading up about Azolata's sister. Did you know she was a beautiful woman with the wings of a bat that were tipped with poisonous knives?" Stephen said.
I looked over him and shook my head. "I did not know that."
"Stephen said she sounds like a badass," Azolata murmured and scribbled something on an invoice. I wondered if he gave Stephen the book to read to keep him from staring at him all day.
"She does," I agreed.
"I can only assume something has happened today that pulled you away from your books?" Azolata said and looked at me. He leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head.
"Eli lied to me," I said.
Stephen and Azolata exchanged a look before Stephen nodded. "Go on. About what?"
"Well this is just the perfect way to start a relationship, this and it? Even though I don't know if what we have right now is a relationship. We haven't talked about it."
"You should probably talk about it," Stephen said quietly and glanced at Azolata.
I groaned.
"Is that all you were worried about? Although I don't mean to sound like I don't sympathize, I believe that your dating life should take a backseat to what we are currently dealing with," Azolata said and returned back his paperwork.
"The status of my relationship would be awesome if that's all I had to worry about, but it isn't."
Azolata still didn't look up. "Oh? Then what are you worried about? What did Eli tell you that is so great and important that it's taken time away from your studies? Studies, might I remind you, that are critical to you successfully joining the Ortega pack and remaining on this land and helping to defeat the forces of evil that are knocking at our front door as we speak," Azolata said, his words laden with sarcasm. He did not look up from his paperwork.
I don’t know what I expected from him. I don’t even know why I came here, of all places.
"Azolata," Stephen muttered. He looked up and met Stephen's eyes. "Dude, you're doing it again. You've been here for four thousand years, at least pretend to have a little bit of empathy."
Azolata muttered something under his breath but put his papers back down and turned to me. "I don't mean to make light of your situation. I'm sure that Eli will see the error in his ways and you will have a bright and happy future together."
"Artie's book told him how to kill me and Dante and they kept it a secret from everyone," I said flatly.
Azolata, who had been leaning forward with his forearms on his thighs sat up and leaned back. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Stephen. "I'm afraid I am out of my emotional depth here."
Stephen was blinking at me. "But you are the Sentinel. No offense, buddy, but killing you is just the same as killing a human. It's not a big secret."
I looked over at Azolata. "You didn't tell him?"
Azolata was still staring at me and it took him a moment to answer me. "I didn't feel it was my place. I felt that it was your story to tell."
I laughed but it felt hollow. I turned to Stephen and said, "Buckle up. It's quite the story."
***
WHEN I FINALLY FINISHED telling Stephen everything, we had ended up at Cindy's Café. Cindy brought us our meals almost as soon as we sat down and Stephen looked up, surprised. Cindy patted him on the shoulder and swept away without another word.
"Well," Stephen said when I finally finished. I had barely touched my burger and the other two had long ago finished their meals.
"Artie brings up some salient points," Azolata said quietly.
Stephen and I turned to him, betrayed and offended.
"I don't agree that he should have lied to you. Don't get me wrong. But what I am saying is that many of us have taken advantage of his willingness to help, his time, and his energy. I think we all would do well to remember that Artie is only sixteen years old," Azolata said.
"And what about Eli? Why didn't he tell us?" I demanded.
Azolata looked out the window at the darkening skies and the headlights that were passing us by. "I don't presume to know what Eli could've been thinking when he decided not to tell you what he knew. But, I've known him since he was born and I imagine that he thought he was doing his best to protect you. It is rooted in everything that he is. If you were given the option to design a guardian, you would not do better than Elias Ortega," Azolata said.
I hated that I knew he was right. I could feel the truth in his words.
"And it might have had something to do with me as well," Azolata admitted.
"You?" Stephen said.
"I told him once that we should be careful with the kind of information that Lou and Dante receive. Not because we don't trust them,” he said and looked over at me. “But because information like this could upset the delicate emotional balance that they have. At the time, they were both walking on tightropes. I believe Lou himself can attest to the fact that it took very little to set him off."
I couldn't deny that. One wrong word at the wrong time could have resulted in more casualties than I wanted to think of. Azolata turned towards the front door just as the bell rang. "Here she is."
"Speak of the devil," Stephen said and offered Celia his chair and grabbed another. Cindy came by and put a bowl down in front of her, filled with warm soup.
"Your to go order will be ready in just a few," Cindy said.
Celia stared after her. Then she turned back to her soup and shook her head. "No matter how many times it happens, it always surprises me."
"So what's going on?" I asked slowly.
"A lot," she said and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes. "Marcus is coming back from the airport with Alpha Clint Hart and I imagine his Beta and Sentinel will be with him as well. We need to go over that and some more information that came to light this afternoon that I wasn't able to share. I know that you don't want to see either Eli or Artie right now, but we need you."
I pursed my lips and nodded.
"And if you two aren’t too busy, I could really use your help as well," Celia said and looked at Azolata and Stephen.
"Of course, Alpha Ortega. Whatever we can do," Azolata said.
He didn't even seem to notice that he was already talking about him and Stephen as a pair.
***
I DROVE BACK TO THE Ortega house with Celia. She was balancing several boxes in her car filled with food.
We didn't speak much on the way, both of us lost in our thoughts.
"I don't want to make this seemed like a surprise or something that I was keeping from you –"
I snorted.
"But before everything that happened today, some new information came to light. Stuff about Dante's trials. We will have visitors over the next few days and it may be uncomfortable for you," Celia said.
"Uncomfortable?" I repeated.
"With Clint coming in, there will be another Sentinel with him. Their magic may not be as cohesive as yours and Artie’s is. In fact, she may rub you the wrong way completely. There's no telling until you meet. But it's just one more concentration of magic in a relatively small space. You, Artie, and Azolata are already a lot. With Darla, it may feel like it's too much for you to handle. You may have the instinct to lash out at her, but I would like to ask you to restrain yourself as best as possible," Celia explained.
I sighed. I leaned back in the seat and closed my eyes. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
"I prefer to wait until we have everybody. It will be easier that way so that I don't have to repeat myself," she said.
"That doesn't sound promising," I said.
"It isn't."
When we got to the Ortega house, everyone else was already there, including Stephen and Azolata. I wanted to ask them how they got here so quickly but then I remembered how Azolata was able to open up a pass from one part of the town to another.
We set the food out and the silence in the house was eerie.
I didn't even need supernatural hearing to know that Marcus and the others arrived when they did.
Eli answered the door and noise spilled in.
The first person was a large man. He was tall, probably six foot six. He was grinning broadly and gripping Eli by his upper arms. "Eli. You handsome bastard. Have you gotten bigger and better looking since I last saw you?" Instead of waiting for an answer, the men leaned forward and kissed Eli hard on the mouth.
Behind me, the plates shook in the cabinet. Eli froze but the man pulled away like there was nothing wrong.
Artie put a hand on my forearm and even though I wanted to pull away, he gave me a look. I let the calmness from his touch seep into me and when he raised his eyebrows, asking if I was better now, I nodded.
The plates behind us stopped rattling.
After the large man, a slender, shorter woman came in. She had a shock of red hair and skin so pale that I immediately wanted to offer her sunscreen. She was petite and when she smiled up at Eli, I found myself growing jealous once more.
Artie moved closer to me and pressed his shoulder to mine.
"Please forgive Clint. He is a grown man and still doesn't know what the word boundary means."
"I know. How are you, Ronnie?" He asked.
Ronnie gave Eli a brief hug and stepped away. "Good. Excited, curious. Do you know why we're here?"
"I didn't even know you were coming," Eli said.
The last person to walk in was a woman of average height. Her head was shaved and there were tattoos on her head above her ears. She had blue eyes so bright that for a moment I had to wonder if they were contacts. She also stepped up and hugged Eli. "It's been way too long."
"Hello, Darla. It has been a very long time," Eli said.
"Whoa," she said and her eyes widened. She stood on her tiptoes and looked over Eli's shoulder at me.
We stared at each other for a long moment and I didn't know what to do. Then I realized that Clint and Ronnie were staring at Dante who was also at my side.
"I don't know the protocol for this," Ronnie whispered.
"Neither do I," Darla said.
Dante and I looked up each other and he looked just as helpless as I felt.
I raised my hand. "Hi. My name is Lou. This is my best friend, Dante."
"Holy shit," Clint said.