I gave Covington a cool look and pointed my gun at him. “Care to tell me the story again?” A deadly note crept into my voice. “This time, try using the truth.”
His face went through a series of emotions, each one filled with desperation, until finally, he sighed and let his mask fall. The color in his eyes bled out. His cheekbones sharpened, and his fangs snicked down. Jackson pulled his gun and pointed it at Covington. The man gave Jackson a mocking glance and shook his head. “That lead bullet won’t work. Just sting a little is all.”
“His gun might not work. But my sister’s will. But before she kills your ass, I will make you suffer,” Pearl said, moving in closer. She could make him hurt. But I needed answers first.
Covington nodded. “I believe you. But please,” he raised his hands, “hear me out first.”
He stared at the gun in my hand. “The sheriff smelled the silver when he showed up at Willow Sin last night. At first, he thought it was the bullets in Clarence’s gun. But the officer he left outside said he could still smell silver when they took Clarence and his gun away.” He stared at me, waiting for me to react. When I didn’t he continued, “In exchange for my cousins life, the sheriff asked me to kill you and your companion. He was afraid you had figured out what was going on in town.”
“Parasol. If you’re going to kill him, I suggest you get on with it,” Jackson said, his voice strained.
I kept my eyes on Covington. “Let him finish,” I told Jackson.
Covington dipped his head in thanks.
“He should know silver alone won’t kill the Soulless.”
He glanced at Pearl. “He believes you have other means of destroying us.”
I furrowed my brow. “My sister?”
He nodded. “I was supposed to plead my case. Gain your trust and sympathy. But I knew it wouldn’t work.”
No wonder the sheriff had been so interested in Pearl. He thought she could kill them. Not me. Her. Maybe my secret was safe.
“Did you kill the Cummings family?” I asked.
“No. The sheriff did. I tried to stop him, but the others came and restrained me. Made me watch while he slaughtered the rest of the family. Then they burned the place to the ground. My cousin and I have been in a cell ever since.”
“Is the entire department Soulless Ones?” Jackson asked.
It would explain why the sheriff lied about what had killed the Cummings family.
“Yes. I believe a great many in New Orleans are. I was only able to identify the five officers in the police department. Along with the sheriff and his deputy.” He hesitated, then closed his eyes and said the last in a rush. “My cousin, Lionel was changed some time ago.”
“Why did you come to see the Cummings?” I asked.
“Mr. Cummings found Sophia’s journal. I was supposed to meet him. I believe they got wind of what I was doing and eliminated the entire family.”
Which meant the sheriff had the journal now. And if I wanted to get it, I’d have to kill him. I wished I felt good about our chances of survival. I turned to Pearl, resolve settling over me. “Send Grandpa a message. Let him know we’re in New Orleans and we’re surrounded.”
She nodded, her face grim, and then closed her eyes. Her gears worked as she sent a message to George, my grandfather’s automaton. While she did that, I turned back to the others. “Jackson. I believe you owe me a story.”
“I assume you will be going next,” he said, staring at Pearl.
I opened my mouth to respond, then closed it. This was going to be hard. I looked at Covington. “Are any of the girls at Willow Sin Soulless Ones?”
“No. They plan to turn the rest of the town within the week. All the ones they’ve managed to turn are holed up in Josephine’s, waiting for the town to open again so they can feed. They want to turn Orleans into a mecca for the Soulless Ones. It gets enough tourism and wayward souls to sustain them. I saw plans to build a resort here in my boss’s office.”
“Then why risk coming here if you knew of your boss’s plans?” I asked.
He glanced down. “I had to try and get my cousin out. He never mentioned in his telegram about the journal that he’d been turned. I assumed he was human. So, I took a chance. My plan was to get the journal and take my cousin as far away as possible. If I hadn’t stopped at Willow Sin, I might have succeeded.”
“Why would you stop? And why brag about your plans to Cherise?”
He gave me a pitiful smile. “Pretty girls are my weakness.”
I shook my head and turned to Jackson. “How did you find out about me?”
He ran his hand down his face. “My team and I went to New Haven, Texas when we got word of a Soulless One den. One got away from us. I gave chase and stumbled onto you right after you dispatched it. I was mad at first. Hurt, even. But then…shit, Parasol. I’m tired of our on-again, off-again relationship. I want you in my life. Always have. Always will.” He stared at me, letting his last words sink in.
I focused on what he first said, pointedly ignoring his last statement. We couldn’t afford to get sentimental right now. If my estimates were correct, we had a horde of Soulless Ones to kill, and talking about feelings just wasn’t in the cards right now. “The Marshal service is hunting the Soulless?”
He nodded. “I had wanted to recruit you. But . . . ”
I shook my head and turned away. There was no way in hell I would willingly join the government.
He reached for me, and I stepped away. “We can talk about the rest later,” I whispered.
“Okay. I can wait.”
Pearl opened her eyes. “Grandpa says he’s twelve hours out. Said for us to reserve as much of the ammo as we can and use the axe.”
I nodded and turned back to Jackson. “How did you find me this time?”
“I knew you were still working for Blankeon, so I watched him, and when he hired you again, I followed. Turned out you were after the same man as me.” He turned to Covington. “We knew about your boss being a Soulless One. Didn’t know about you, though. We figured he had some plans, and you could give us the information we needed.”
“You were stalking my sister?” Pearl asked.
Jackson shook his head. “It wasn’t like that!”
After a short pause, I took them through what I knew.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jackson asked, sounding wounded.
“I’m sorry. Our secrets were our own.”
“Your secrets could have saved thousands of people, Parasol. Can you imagine how many Soulless Ones we could have killed if we only had the knowledge?”
“They would have taken my grandpa’s weapon and sold it to the highest bidder. Maybe even capturing me to ensure my grandpa’s cooperation. Any weapon in the hands of the government would be deadly. Do you really believe they would have shared with the rest of the world? No, Jackson. They would have made the world pay. Their greed would have got in the way of their better judgment.”
“And you think you and your grandfather can bring them down by yourselves?” he yelled.
I cringed at the anger in his tone. “Between my grandfather and I, we have killed hundreds.”
“Leaving thousands more to kill,” he said.
I shook my head. He was right. But I was too stubborn to admit it.
“I know we should have shared with others. But if we had, my grandpa could have been killed. I can’t lose him, Jackson.”
He crossed his arms.
I needed him to understand. Covington hadn’t attacked us even though he was supposed to. Which meant he probably had control like my grandpa. At least I was hoping he did. “When is the last time you fed?” I asked.
“Three weeks ago. A man I caught trying to force himself on a woman. I never kill the innocent. And the pain . . . ” He trailed off, looking away. “It gets better.”
“Not all of the Soulless Ones are so willing to give up killing, Parasol,” Jackson said.
“I know,” I snapped.
He started to say something, and I lifted my hand to stop him. We were going round and round and right now, no matter what I said, Jackson wouldn’t understand. “We can argue about this later. First, we need to come up with a plan.”
Jackson nodded. “Do you have enough ammo?”
“No. Like Pearl said, we have to use the axe.”
“Beheading?” Jackson asked.
“Yes. I have five bullets to last us until my grandfather gets here with more. If we hole up in Willow Sin, maybe we can make it through the night. Otherwise, we will have to get up real close and personal.”
“I can help,” Covington said.
I gave him a skeptical look. “You sure it’s not another ploy to set us up?”
He turned toward the town. “Let’s just say I’m motivated. I want to find a cure. And that means I have to pry that journal out of the sheriff’s hands. Preferably his dead hands. He got the jump on me once, but I know he’s been changed recently. I was changed over a year ago. His strength is no match for mine one-on-one.”
“Why were you playing docile before?” Jackson asked.
He gave Jackson a remorseful look. “I wasn’t just putting on a show for you. I needed the others to believe I was going to go along with their plan.”
“Were you planning on killing us to get away?” I asked.
“No. But I did figure I could overpower you at some point.” He looked at Pearl. “But when I saw your automaton—”
“Her sister,” Pearl said, cutting him off.
He smiled at that. “Your sister. I knew I couldn’t get away. I would have told you the truth.” He looked down at the vial I’d dropped on the floor. “Does that let you see us?”
I nodded. I still wasn’t ready to share everything. “Where did you send the items you purchased in the other towns?”
He rubbed the fingernail on his thumb over his eyebrow, his eyes cast to the ground. He didn’t want to tell me. I could see it in his body language.
“We are going to have to start trusting one another,” I said.
He bobbed his head up in down and let his hand fall to his side. “I sent them along to Ohio. My plan was to send what I got here there as well. But . . . ” he trailed off.
“What’s in Ohio?”
“A place I secured for me and my cousin.” He shifted on his feet.
I wouldn’t press. It wasn’t important anyway. The only thing we had to worry about now was how to keep Ella and her girls and anyone else in town who hadn’t been turned safe.
“The sheriff was right to fear you,” Covington said. He stuck out his hand. “What do you say. Enemy of my enemy.”
I hesitated, then extended my own. “Well. Make sure you don’t double cross us.”
“I won’t,” Covington said with conviction. “My old boss has already destroyed one town. I won’t let him destroy another.”
“What?” I said, gaping at him.
“This isn’t the first mecca he’s created.”