“What Bonnie said back there— there was something to it, wasn’t there?”
The Chevy Malibu rolled through downtown Salem, one of the few cars on the street, and I’d been enjoying the relative silence of the drive.
“Don’t worry about what Bonnie said.”
“You never really talk about it— what you did for the Caretakers for all of those years.”
“I don’t talk about it because I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Maybe it would help.”
“Help what? Talking isn’t going to change anything— it won’t change the things I’ve done. The people—” my voice broke off and I steered left, merging onto the access road that led toward Darkheart Manor. Buildings along both sides of the narrow streets transitioned to thick trees, evenly spaced, bracketing the expansive yard outside the mansion that loomed ahead.
“As you might imagine— I was in court-mandated therapy for a while.” Indigo fidgeted with her hands in her lap. “After what happened with my dad. State paid for it, so I used it.”
I felt a little guilty for my harshness with Indigo, forgetting completely that she had her own share of trauma she dealt with. Her father, facing jail time and poverty had elected to spare himself that fate by committing suicide. Only he’d decided to take Indigo’s mother and sister along with him. It was by a pure stroke of fate that Indigo arrived home late and was spared.
“Did it help?”
Indigo chuckled, leaning back in the passenger seat. “Sometimes it did, yeah.”
“But you stopped going?”
“I was kidnapped, Gus.”
“Oh. Right.”
“If I could afford it these days, I think I’d go back. I’d try and find someone who could help me work through my issues. Though I will say, Miranda has helped.”
I guided the Malibu into the parking lot to the right of the cul de sac outside the mansion and killed the engine. Loren had claimed that she was beefing up security based on the assassination attempt earlier, yet I’d driven right in.
“You and Miranda seem to be getting along really well.”
Indigo nodded, her cheeks flushing pink. “At first, I told myself I was just letting her stay with me until she got on her feet. Then I realized how much I enjoyed her being there. Then I realized how much I enjoyed— her.”
“I wish you both the best.”
“No such luck with Loren?”
I leaned forward and looked through the windshield at the darkened silhouette of the Darkheart Manor, which looked a bit more intimidating in the approaching darkness.
“Our lives are very different these days. We’re both really busy and busy in separate ways. Finding time together is a challenge.”
“But when you are together— do you still feel that connection? That spark?”
“I do. I can’t speak for her.”
“Maybe you should speak to her, not for her.”
There was a silence in the car as I contemplated her words. “Am I taking advice on my love life from a Generation Z girl wearing a flannel shirt and a baseball cap?”
“I don’t know, smart ass, are you?”
I chuckled and opened my door, stepping out into the parking lot as Indigo did the same on the other side of the car. I’d never even heard them approach, but as our doors slammed, we were suddenly surrounded by Handmaidens, a group of female security fanning out around us, penning us in, with a swift swoop of dark fabric and silent motions. I stepped back, my spine pinning against the driver’s side door of the car.
“What is your business here?” The lead Handmaiden’s pale, green eyes burned in the dusk, glowering at me. For a moment, they shot past me and over to Indigo. “And why is a vampire with you?”
“I’m just here to see Loren,” I said, showing my palms.
“Ms. Montague is a very busy woman.”
“She’ll want to talk to me.”
“So you say.”
“Gus, is that you?” Another figure moved from the stairway ahead, the heads of the Handmaidens twisting to see the newcomer. To my pleasant surprise, it was Doris, the owner of Side Pocket and senior advisor to the Darkheart Coven.
“Doris? What are you doing here?”
“I imagine the same thing you are.” She gestured toward the Handmaidens and they peeled apart, creating room for her to walk through. “This assassination situation has us all a little on edge. Loren is trying to prepare for the peace summit and can use all the help she can get.”
“The situation may not be over.”
“Come,” she said, beckoning us with her. “Come.”
Indigo and I walked alongside her, much to the consternation of the Handmaidens in attendance.
“And this is still about Lucas Androse?” Doris looked toward me as we walked up the steps and into the mansion.
“I think so, yes.”
“And he’s the one who attacked Bonnie’s place a few days ago?”
“You— know Bonnie?”
Doris drew back, her mouth tilting into a crooked smile. “Of course. I know everyone, Gus.”
“We just came from there, actually,” Indigo chimed in. “Bonnie’s place.”
“Loren and I are discussing ways we can help.” Doris led us down the hallway and into a great room, a room I wasn’t sure I’d ever been into before, in spite of my repeated visits to the manor house over the centuries. Loren stood near a bookshelf, flipping through a thick, leather bound tome. As we entered, she pressed the book closed and fed it back into the gap in the shelf she’d pulled it from.
“You really need to start calling first,” she said, giving me a sideways glare.
“Oh, right. Sorry.”
“He’s a man— they don’t know how to do that.” Indigo rolled her eyes and Loren stepped toward her, leaning to give her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
“It’s good to see you, Indigo.”
“You, too, queen.”
“Stop with that queen stuff.” She redirected her attention toward me. “Talk to me, Gus. Tell me what you know.”
“Well, first, I’d prefer to hear what you know. You told me a little about Lucas Androse when I came last time, but it feels like there’s more to that story.”
“There always is.” Doris ran her finger along the spines of several books, then located one and slipped it free, carrying it over to a nearby table. She set it down and opened the book, flipping through some pages until she found what she was looking for. I stepped closer and looked down at the pages.
It was an old book by the looks of things and etched onto one of the pages was a line drawing. A pile of deceased canines rested upon the bottom section of a square-shaped outline, a shadowed form standing over them. The shadow held two revolvers with thin wisps of smoke rising from each barrel.
“Lucas Androse is an old soul. He’s been around for two or three centuries. He was a classically trained artifactor in the supernatural realm, a magic user who used his talents to build enchanted machinery. Actually, truth be told, he tried to become an Enforcer at one point in his life.”
“What?” I drew back, lifting my eyes from the book’s page.
Doris nodded. “Indeed. Tried, and failed. The Caretakers decided he was a bit too— aggressive for their liking.”
“Aggressive was right in their wheelhouse.”
“Apparently Androse was a bit too much for them. Anyway, he was so bothered by his dismissal that he left the supernatural realm and struck up a life in the human one. Decided he was done dealing with the Caretakers. If the rumors are true, he met a nice, human woman, started up a family. Carved out his own little homestead out west.”
“Doesn’t seem like the kind of bloodthirsty guy I’ve run across.”
“He wasn’t at first. But— at some point— history is a little murky about exactly when— he was out hunting and stumbled upon a den of werewolves. They’d been living amongst the Navajo nation, trying to stay under the radar, to live their own peaceful lives. Old prejudices don’t die, however, and Androse decided he was going to have to get rid of them. He tried— he failed— and his family paid the price.”
“Ouch,” Indigo whispered.
“Indeed,” Loren agreed. “Since then, Lucas Androse has fostered a vendetta against shifters in general and werewolves specifically. He began to contract out his services— offered to kill shifters for money, to leverage his hatred of their kind to fund his lifestyle. He’d gone quiet for a while, especially since everyone believed Lycans to be extinct a hundred or so years ago. He’d started diversifying his income stream.”
“Becoming a more— general gun for hire?” I asked and Loren nodded.
“Frequently works as not just a bounty hunter but a mercenary and assassin. He’s built an underground network of undesirables who pass him jobs in exchange for a cut of his profits.”
“So Cornerstone Logistics must be a front— a way for him to travel the human realm legitimately so he can do his work.”
“Cornerstone— Logistics?” Loren looked confused.
“It’s a global shipping and commerce company. From what we can tell, Lucas Androse is its CEO, at least on paper. He owns and operates container ships used to ferry freight. But we believe his only freight are the bounties he collects.”
“That’s the ship you mentioned,” Loren replied, “the last time we talked. The one in the harbor under watch by the Realm Walkers.”
“The one and the same.”
“And it’s still there?” Doris asked.
“Seems to be.” I leaned against the table and quite suddenly had an almost irresistible urge for a cigarette. “I’m pretty sure he got his hands on Daniel, that werewolf I was at Side Pocket with the other night.” I looked at Doris and she acknowledged her recollection of the event. “But his work’s not done.” I diverted my attention to Loren.
“Someone still wants me dead.” She said, as if just stating a simple fact.
“Any clue who that might be yet?”
“We’ve got— some ideas. The list is— unfortunately longer than I’d care to admit.”
“Don’t take it personally.”
“I don’t.”
“We are operating under an assumption,” Doris interjected and Loren flashed her a look. “That it’s a relative of Dornac— the shadow demon who tried to overthrow the coven. His death has caused— waves. And when you’re dealing with demons, waves are something you don’t want.”
“So even if we stop Lucas, there’s no assurances that they won’t just send someone else.”
Loren sighed, shaking her head, her long, brown hair slipping from across her shoulder. “Being a coven leader is a dangerous job. I didn’t ask for it, but it’s mine. This is all part of the contract.”
“Living under constant threat of assassination is part of the contract?”
“It’s not as overt as this, but yes. It’s part of the contract. That’s why we have a cadre of Handmaidens, that’s why we have the best witches in the world reinforcing our defenses with protection spells. It’s— how it works.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
“I won’t argue with you there, Gus.”
“Seems to me,” Doris said, placing a calming hand on my shoulder, “we need to deal with the immediate problem first— and Lucas Androse seems to be that immediate problem.”
“His boat is still parked in the same berth— at least the computer records say so.”
“But it’s still under guard by Realm Walkers and orcs, right?” Loren gave me a grave stare.
“Last I checked, yes.”
“So— what options does that leave us?”
“No good ones.”
“Unless—” Loren crossed her arms, her brow furrowing slightly. I didn’t like the look on her face.
“Unless what, Loren?”
“Unless we can maybe— draw him out?”
“Are you suggesting we use you as bait?” I no longer leaned against the table. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Decision is not yours to make, Gus. It’s mine.”
“Loren, I’ve gone toe-to-toe with this guy twice and he’s kicked my ass both times. I mean— it wasn’t even close. He shot me twice last time.”
There was a flicker of concern on Loren’s face and she took a slight step forward, her hand shifting at her side. She seemed to compose herself quickly, however and regained her previous, regal stance.
“Are you— okay?”
“I suppose that depends on how you define okay.”
“He’s a walking shitshow,” Indigo said quietly and Loren burst out laughing.
“Not helping,” I said, glaring over at the young woman. “I’m glad my near death experience is a source of joy for the two of you.”
“Oh, unclench your butt cheeks, Savage,” Indigo said, rolling her eyes. “We’re both glad you’re still on the right side of the dirt.”
Ignoring Indigo’s snide comments, I continued questioning Loren. “Even if we were to use him to draw you out— how would that work, exactly? What would we do? Just like— drop the protection spell around the manor house?”
“Too obvious.” She crossed her arms. “I think you’re overthinking it.” She looked directly at me.
“How so?”
“You said his ship is still in its berth, right? Still parked down at the terminal?”
I nodded.
“So maybe I take a team down there myself. A group of Handmaidens to back me up. Confront him on his own turf. While he and his little army of orcs are busy dealing with me, you find a way into the ship, get access to the cages and set Daniel and his family free.”
“You’re not serious.”
“Dead serious.”
“I’m afraid you’ll just be dead.”
“I’m the leader of the most powerful coven in North America, Gus. I’m pretty sure we can hold our own.”
“Lucas Androse isn’t just a guy with a gun. He’s an artifactor. He can do things with technology that defy reason.”
“And so far, he seems to be using that talent to make very fancy pistols and rifles. He’s a blunt object, Gus. He doesn’t scare me.”
“He should.”
“Are you with me on this one or not, Gus? We can do it with or without you. I’m sure Indigo would be happy to sneak onto the ship while we’re all distracting him.”
“Calm down, calm down.” I drew a breath and held it. “All right. Have it your way. I’m in.”
Loren smiled and pressed her hands together. “Then let’s get to work.”