We pulled up to Devlin’s at a little after two in the afternoon. Rosalind’s revelation about Juliette’s thoughts not being her own still bothered me, and I couldn’t shake the feeling we had missed something. But no matter how many times I reviewed our meeting with her, I just couldn’t find anything. Rachel did, however, confirm Juliette had a pale blue aura, which meant she could have elemental magick. I should have checked, too, but I’d been too distracted, trying to determine what her end game was. Maybe one day soon it would become second nature for me to check if a person had magick. Like it was for Rachel and Alek.
Rachel opened the door, and we made our way toward the back—only to stop dead in our tracks. Gone was the single desk set up for Marta as well as the plastic fold-out table for everyone else. They had been replaced with two wooden tables. Each table held two laptops, lamps, and chairs. Our whiteboards remained. However, a collapsible projector screen and projector sat on a table next to it.
“I see you decided to redecorate,” I said to Marta.
She looked up from her laptop and glanced around the room. “I think this works better.” She got up and stretched. “It felt awkward being the only one with a desk.”
“We’ve only been gone for a couple of hours,” I said, moving further into the room. It was just like Marta. She always had to make a space her own. I would say she had OCD, but it wasn’t like that. It was more of a need to have a space for everything and everyone. She needed order in her life, which made the disarray at her house even more jarring. It wasn’t in Marta’s nature to let her immediate area become so disorderly.
“I made a list when I got here at seven this morning. Devlin said it was okay for me to make changes. So, I ordered the items we needed, and Jonah went and picked them up.”
I nodded, fighting the urge to laugh. She had come in here like a boss and reordered everything to her liking. Devlin and she had to be twin souls. “I don’t see any nameplates. Can you direct me to my desk, ma’am?” I asked, smiling.
“You are such a smartass, Nicole,” she said and extended her hand out to the table on the left. “You and Alek can work there.”
“Okay,” I said, ignoring the obvious matchmaking she had set up. “There are only four spots and six of us.”
“Rachel said she preferred to work from the floor. I got her a bean bag chair and floor desk. Jonah and Devlin both rotate standing and sitting.”
“So does Alek,” I said, visualizing him sitting on the edge of the desk. He rarely worked at a computer.
Marta gave me a half smile. “I know.”
I shook my head at her and sat at my newly assigned seat. At least the chair was comfortable. And I had my own brand-new laptop. Maybe Devlin would let me make improvements as well. We could start by adjusting the temperature on the thermostat.
Rachel grinned from ear to ear as she plopped down on her bean bag chair. The whoosh of the leather giving almost made me laugh. I could so picture her playing on that thing. “Thank you, Marta. I love it!” she said and leaned back with a smile on her face.
Rachel really was a kid at heart. A dangerous one, mind you. But still, she could manifest enough joy to light up a city block. It was confusing at first, seeing how deadly she could be. But then I remembered what Devlin had told me about her past. I still needed to work up enough nerve to ask her about it. He didn’t give me all the details, just enough to help lay things out. Of course, I could always wait for her to open up. Otherwise, she might expect the same from me. Yeah, not going to happen.
Jonah came into the room with a pan of French bread pizza covered in pepperoni.
“Oh, bless you,” I said, taking a piece. I had polished off the muffin on the way home, and I was still hungry. Or needing to eat my feelings. Since I wasn’t above lying to myself, I’d go for saying I was hungry.
After handing out pizza to everyone, he sat on the edge of the table and said, “Update.”
I gave him a rundown of our meeting with Juliette while Marta took notes. Once done, Rachel told him about the texted image she received from Alek and the circumstances behind it.
Jonah looked at me. “When you…” He trailed off.
I knew what he wanted to ask: If I’d seen them putting bodies in the walls when I was at Greenwood Apartments. “No,” I said. “But I did spend most of my time high.” Jonah gave me a look. Not pitying or judgmental—one that said, ‘I appreciate you opening up.’ I could have hugged him. Instead, I settled on getting myself another slice of pizza.
“Seems morbid,” Marta said. “And…showy. Like he wanted to prove he was the biggest, baddest person around.”
She was right on both fronts. Why stick bodies in the wall? It screamed, ‘Look at what I can do!’ Only people who needed to prove themselves did things like that.
Rachel plugged her phone into her laptop. “I can run an image search. It might take a while.” She took a large bite of her pizza and smiled. “You put extra cheese on it!”
Jonah laughed and turned to Marta. “What have you found so far on Divine Evil?”
Marta got up and retrieved some papers from the printer. “I printed out all the stories that came up. I figured I’d highlight all the similar information in each article and post. I can compile a list from there.” She set the papers on her desk. “One thing stands out, though: the name of the monk and hints of him being both Divine Evil and immortal.” She looked at Rachel. “So, I’m thinking that part is true at least.”
Rachel nodded as she chewed the last of her pizza. “If we can get some religious texts, there might be more.”
“Yeah,” Marta said. “Like what ritual helped him become Divine Evil and immortal in the first place.”
Jonah looked at me. “When you’re done eating all the pizza, search for any references on The Daughters of the Vine.”
I covered my mouth. “Oh, should I have saved some for Alek and Boss Man?” I asked, my voice filled with sarcasm. It was on the tip of my tongue to call him Boss Man Junior, then I remembered him telling me he didn’t like leading; hated being in charge. So, I swallowed the joke along with my pizza. Even I wasn’t that crass.
Rachel laughed and grabbed another slice. “They can make their own.” We shared an air toast with our pizza and chuckled.
Jonah shook his head and pulled out the chair next to Marta and straddled it. “I guess they’ll have to,” he said finally, a smirk on his face. He opened The Wisdom of Boyd and started reading.
“Oh, please tell me you are not reading that book,” I said.
“Never know where the clues are unless you look.” He shrugged. “But so far, I’ve found nothing; only Boyd taking scripture from the Bible and writing his own interpretation of it.”
I knew there wasn’t going to be any wisdom in that damn book—just double-talk and pretty words. Boyd was an idiot. A charlatan. A snake oil salesman in a nice suit. Hell, even his wife thought so. But sadly, Jonah was right. If we wanted to find answers, we’d have to examine everything. Including text written by a hack.
What we weren’t talking about was what came next. After we found the connection to blood magick, did we storm the church guns blazing magick at the ready? Or did we execute a sneak attack and take them out while they were sleeping? What if they had more followers involved? Did we take them out as well? The Markums did say, ‘Kill them all.’ Should we assume that meant every single blood magick user, or just the main families that practiced? So many questions that I wasn’t going to ask because I doubted Devlin, or the rest of the team, knew either.
So, after polishing off my third slice of pizza, I turned on my laptop and searched for The Daughters of the Vine. A host of items popped up. Damn. I might need another snack. Or drink. Maybe even a cigar to weed through all of it.
A few hours later, we all sat back and went over what we’d found.
Jonah confirmed Boyd had no wisdom, and no command of the English vocabulary, either. He did, however, have a load of charisma and self-love. All those qualities were necessary if you wanted to con a bunch of people into believing your bullshit. And to think, people—including us—paid for that damn book.
The Daughters of the Vine presented themselves as a woman empowerment movement. Gavina held seminars teaching women about taking charge in their lives and not bowing to the demands of male partners. Her rhetoric walked a fine line between out-right hatred of men and simply helping women deal with the few males who believed they set the sun. So why was she still married to Boyd if she didn’t like men?
They also bottled and sold wine they called, ‘Nectar of the Gods,’ which was a blend of organic grapes and a secret ingredient they didn’t want to disclose. They also gave all their profits to charity. It looked nice on the surface, but I wasn’t buying it for a second. And neither was the rest of the team.
I rubbed my eyes and leaned back. “It’s not like I expected them to announce they were a cult. But I did expect to get some salacious tidbit or a damn complaint at least.” My brain hurt from reading an overload of pretty, well-cultivated words, aimed to sell me on the idea I should join their ‘movement.’ I hated salespeople. And I hated bullshit as well.
“We might need to dig deeper,” Rachel said. “The Young family is powerful. If anyone did complain, they would have buried it.” ‘Or killed them’, she left unsaid.
“Still.” I looked at Jonah. “Can you make us something else to eat?”
He gave me a look that, to the casual onlooker, would appear to be scornful. But I knew it was loaded with sarcasm and a touch of irritation. Damn. I was such a bad influence on everyone.
“So, that’s a no, then,” I said, fighting my smile.
“Are you hungry, Nicole?”
I shook my head. “No. Just frustrated.”
“We all are,” he said, his tone placating. He was trying to help. I appreciated that.
I smiled and he winked at me, then turned to Marta. “Any luck?”
She nodded, staring at the pile of highlighted papers in front of her. “So, all the stories had the same three elements we learned before.” She stood up and taped notecards to the whiteboard. “The events took place in a monastery in Tibet in 1340 A.D. The monk involved was named Khuchar and he had managed to achieve Divine Evil and immortality.” She added two more cards to the board. “Five sources claim he killed all the members in his brotherhood. And one source claimed he had made a blood sacrifice.” She turned to us. “Despite it only being mentioned once, I’m thinking the blood sacrifice is significant.”
“Magick is in the blood,” Jonah said. He got up and went into the kitchen. When he returned, he had a bag of chips and four sodas. After handing them out, he continued, “I’m sure Devlin would want us to follow that lead.” He checked his watch. “Your meeting is at seven, right?”
I groaned. I really didn’t want to go, but knew I had to. I also had to work on not being sarcastic and asking questions laced with sarcasm. Looks like I was going to need a new mantra. Or I could just recycle the other one.
My phone buzzed, and I looked down at the display. “Well, looks like Kara is coming with me tonight.” I gave the team an accusing glare. “Who told Kara about the meeting?” As soon as I said it, I knew: Devlin. Damn him. He probably thought I needed some emotional support. Or that I couldn’t handle it myself.
“Probably Dev,” Rachel said, grabbing a handful of chips. “He might want you to have backup.”
Well, there was that, too. Why did my mind always latch onto people thinking the worst of me? Like everyone believed I wasn’t good enough.
Rachel stared at me. “That’s okay, right?”
I laughed. It sounded forced. “Of course,” I said and downed my soda.
Marta gave me a questioning look. I shook my head and turned to Rachel. “Did you find out who Logan had buried in the walls at Greenwood Apartments?”
She nodded and looked at her computer. “Leonard Beltran. He was a business associate of the Stewarts.”
“Why would they have Logan kill their business associate?” I asked, not expecting an answer. There was no way any of us could figure this out. We’d have to ask Gerald himself. Might give me the opportunity for a rematch. It still needled me I hadn’t been able to come up with a better comeback. And yes, I sounded like a juvenile.
Jonah rubbed his head. “We’ll put that to the side for now.”
We all agreed.
The front door opened, and I turned toward the sound. Devlin walked in the room, and his gaze landed on me.
“Nicole,” he said, and ticked his head toward the front room. “Alek wants to talk with you.” He glanced around the room with a look of admiration, then walked over to the new table and tossed a wrinkled file folder on top.
I glanced at my shorts and the now-stained tank top and groaned. Too late to change now. I got up and ran outside.
Alek’s Buick sat idling in front of the house with the passenger window down. He stared transfixed at me as I walked to the car. I flushed under the weight of his gaze and had to fight the urge to run back inside and clean myself up. Fuck. He was turning me into a girly, girl.
“Hi,” I said, leaning in the open window. “You’re not coming in?”
He smiled. “No. Have work to do. I wanted to see you before you left.”
I licked my lips. Damn. Even rumpled, this man looked good enough to eat. “What did you and Devlin do all day?”
“Play hide and seek.”
“What?”
“Get in, Nicole.” His smooth voice rolled over me and I had to suppress a shiver.
I opened the car and climbed inside. He reached over and pulled me onto his lap—my legs resting on the seat. “You okay?” he asked as he slipped a strand of hair behind my ear.
“Why am I sitting in your lap?” I asked, avoiding the question.
“Because I want you here.” He glanced down at my lips. “I’m worried about you.”
“I can take care of myself.”
He laughed softly, his eyes fixed on mine. “I met someone today who reminded me of you.”
“Oh, really?” I gave him a teasing smile. “Are you cheating on me already?”
Our lips were inches apart. Did I move or did he? My eyes fluttered and my stomach dipped. I pulled in a breath and inhaled his familiar scent.
His hand gently pressed into my side, moving me closer. That answered my question. I had moved first, but now, he was moving me. I really needed to stop this before we went too far.
“Are we doing things my way now?” he asked, his voice soft. Just one last millimeter and our lips would touch. He’d told me weeks ago, after I told him we shouldn’t be in a relationship since we were going to be working together, that we would do it my way first and his way forever.
“We can’t,” I whispered. My hormones cried foul.
He leaned forward and kissed me on the side of my face, his lips dangerously close to mine. I sighed. Why couldn’t I just take the next step?
“Let me know when we can,” he said, easing away.
I leaned back, trying to put even more distance between us. My body felt tight, and need was making my head a little foggy. “I will.”
“I would tell you to take your gun, but…” He trailed off, a smile playing on his mouth. His sexy damn mouth.
I narrowed my eyes. “But I don’t know how to use it, so it’s better I leave it. Is that what you were going to say?” I tried to put some heat in my tone, but it came out breathy instead. This man really did fuck with my head.
He laughed, his body shaking, and I fought the sudden urge to rip my tank top off and straddle him at the feel of him pressing into me. Boy, that vision got hot really quick.
“Kara’s coming so she can act as my gun.”
“You forget I witnessed just what you could do when you’re cornered.” He glanced down between us. I remembered our attack and how I almost ripped a man’s dick off.
“We’re meeting with a group of women.”
“Well, I’m sure you can improvise.”
“I will not stoop to titty-twisting!” That was a lie. I would definitely twist the hell out of a bitch’s titty if she tried to come for me.
His laughter filled the car. He cupped the back of my head. “We need to work on your magick again soon. I’m not happy Petronela didn’t train you.”
“Did she say why?” I asked, shifting.
Alek grinned. “Stop that. And no. But when I bring her Unrie, she promised to have someone else help you.”
He studied me for a minute, his eyes roaming all over my face. He did that sometimes, and it made me think, despite my protective mark preventing magick attacks against me, he was trying to find a way inside my head. Especially since I refused to open up to him, no matter how many times he tried.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper. I looked away, and he gently turned my head back to him. “Haven’t we moved past this?”
“I don’t know. I want to.” We weren’t talking about Petronela anymore. The intensity of his gaze was scaring the hell out of me. “Is Devlin going with you?” I moved off his lap and tried to ignore the impressive evidence of his desire.
He was silent for a minute. I could feel his gaze on my back. But I refused to turn around. “No,” he said. “I won’t be long.” He reached over and squeezed my hand. “I’ll see you tonight?”
I nodded. “Be safe,” I said and got out of the car.
He winked as I shut the car door. After a brief hesitation, he drove away. It was getting really damn hard to resist Alek. Really damn hard.
After a quick shower, I stood in Alek’s room and surveyed my now—washed and folded—clothes. Rachel had done laundry. While I appreciated the gesture, it felt a little strange to let someone else wash my underwear. She even ironed my tank tops and shorts. I picked up my short, pale blue sundress. It was the closest garment I had to white. And it also said I didn’t care about modesty. So, just a subtle middle finger. Should work just fine.
My hair was a problem. No amount of gel was going to tame the wild curls sticking out all over my head. Well, the amount I had, anyway. A ponytail was out of the question. I didn’t have a headband, and I wasn’t wearing a hat. Wild and free, it was.
A knock on the front door sounded, and I stepped into the hall and rushed to answer it. Kara stood on the porch, her copy of The Wisdom of Boyd tucked under her arm, wearing a white dress.
“Seriously, Kara?”
She stepped inside and looked at my outfit. “I should be asking you the same thing.”
I shrugged. “It’s all I have.”
“I wish I could go,” Rachel said, coming into the room. “Better for me to watch your back.”
“I don’t think they will attack us,” I said, not completely sure. We all knew it could be a trap, and if it were, they would outnumber us. But sadly, it was a risk we had to take.
Devlin came in the room and handed me a switch blade. “Here. Leave the gun and keep this with you.”
“And where am I supposed to stick it?” I looked down at myself. When I glanced up, Devlin gave me a look so loaded, I thought he might have had a stroke. His eye twitched. Dammit. I’d pushed his buttons again. But how?
“I saw a fourteen-year-old girl take down a guy today with a knife just like that. You mean to tell me you don’t know what to do with a knife?” he asked, his eye now jumping. That wasn’t what I asked but apparently it was what he heard.
I got in his face. “We need to talk,” I said, and left the room, trusting he would follow. I stepped into the empty bedroom and waited. A few minutes later, the door slammed, and I tried not to flinch, then wheeled around and faced Devlin. “Why are you so angry with me?”
Devlin stared at me for a while, his gaze going slightly distant. Finally, he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. “I didn’t want you working with us.”
“Well, fuck. I can just—”
He lifted his hand. “Hear me out.” His eyes searched mine. “Please.”
It was the please that did it. Otherwise, I would have run out of there.
“I didn’t start that off right. So, I apologize.” I crossed my arms over my chest and waited. He blew out a frustrated breath and continued, “I’m sure you know by now I have trust issues. You were…” He trailed off and gave me a half smile. “Wild.” His eyes danced with laughter. I fought against the pull of that merriment. I knew what he was saying. But his revelation still stung a little. “But also damn observant. Rachel convinced me you would be a great addition to the team.” He shook his head and closed his eyes. “I’m rambling. I know.” He opened his eyes and stared at me. “Rachel was right. You are a good addition to the team. In more ways than one. But…”
My heart felt heavy in my chest. He was putting his cards on the table, and he didn’t know just how much I needed that right now.
“I’m afraid I can’t keep you safe,” he said finally. “No matter how much I want to. Seeing you out on that field.” He shook his head. “The entire team was distraught. Alek stopped talking and eating until you woke up. Hell, we had to force him to take a damn shower.” He stepped away, his movements jerky. “The one time we’ve fought together, and you ended up with your insides practically spread out all over the place.”
“Shit.” I moved toward him. “I’m sorry. I thought you were just…I don’t know.” I looked away. “Why don’t you stay in here instead of the living room?”
“Stop trying to change the subject.”
I nodded and turned back to him. “I don’t know what to say, Devlin. I’m trying.” I sat down heavily on the floor. My eyes brimmed with unshed tears. “This is not what I expected to be doing with my life. But at the same time, it’s what I should be doing.” I looked up at him. “If that makes sense.”
He stared down at me. “It does.” His gaze went distant. “I always wanted to work in law enforcement. Turns out, that’s not where I belonged either.” He crouched in front of me. “The thing is, we learn to adapt and improve. Your power… It worries me. And your stubbornness grates on my nerves. I will never give you another gun to use because you might shoot one of us. And so, that leaves the knife.”
I opened my hand and stared at the knife—encased in black metal. “I’ll need to learn how to use it.” It felt pretty good in my hand—almost like it belonged.
“I’ll train you.”
I shoved it down between my breasts.
“Looks like you found a place to stick it.”
I laughed. Devlin making jokes was such a rarity. “I don’t want to flash you, so you’ll have to help me up.”
He extended his hand, and I grabbed it. “It’s too late for that.”
“Oh, well.” I gave him a teasing grin. “Lady-like was never in my vocabulary.”
I started for the door, then stopped. He had put his cards on the table. I needed to give him something. “I’m scared, too, Devlin.” I turned and looked at him. “When Gerald accused us of having the Ark, it was the first time someone had ever rendered me speechless. Like I couldn’t form a single thought or question if my life depended on it.”
“Wish I could have seen it.”
“Ah, two jokes in a row. What will the others think, Boss Man?”
He smiled and moved forward. “I know the burden I have placed on you. That, too, keeps me up at night.” He glanced around the room. “I can’t sleep in here because the minute I relax—the minute I let my guard down—that’s when I know they’ll come for us.” He dipped his head toward the wall that connected to the living room. “Out there, I can see it coming. Stop it before it reaches any of my people.”
I placed my hand on his arm. “I give you my word. I will fight like crazy to make sure no harm comes to any of you. Ever. I will not be a burden to you.”
He nodded. I took a minute to collect myself, then followed him out of the room.
Everyone had moved to the war room. When we walked in, Kara and Jonah jerked their attention away from each other and looked at us. How cute. They were giving each other heated glances.
“What did we miss?” I asked, smiling at Kara. She refused to look at me.
“Jonah and Kara want to sleep together. The room has filled up with their lustful pheromones,” Rachel said, staring at us. She shrugged. “We all went over what we could find. It’s not much, Dev. And I still think it’s a trap.”
Humor danced in Jonah’s eyes while Kara turned red.
And I didn’t know which part of what she just said to react to first. Okay, I did. But that wouldn’t be productive. Instead, I focused on the mission. Mission. Like we were going to battle. Damn. Now that I’d put it out there, things were bound to devolve into madness. And of course, the first thought that popped into my head just had to be, ‘Would I end up having to twist someone’s titties?’ Maybe I should have focused on Jonah and Kara’s desire to sleep with each other.
Jonah cleared his throat. “Gavina will try to break you down,” he said. “Try to get in your head and use any emotional weakness you have.” He looked at me. “You’re in a fragile state right now; she will be able to sense it.” He lifted a hand when I opened my mouth. “You can also use it to your advantage. Tell her some things but leave out the most important information.”
“So, feed them a line of bullshit,” I said. “And I’m not fragile.” All eyes focused on me. I flipped them off and continued, “What do you suggest I say?” I left off the sarcastic remark hovering on the tip of my tongue.
Jonah stared at me. “What part of fragile state bothered you the most?”
Okay, maybe I had let my tone slip. I pulled in a calming breath. Perhaps I was in a fragile, hostile state. “So, tell them a mean bastard left me, but don’t tell them he was a serial killer and I want to kill him.”
Devlin nodded. “Exactly. You okay to do this?”
I stared at him. “Not really. But we all have to do our part. My part is to walk into a women’s empowerment group and hope they don’t convince me to join the movement.” I patted my chest. “I have a secret weapon, though. So, we should be good.”
“You’re planning on flashing them?” Kara struggled to keep from laughing. “You think that might work?”
“Oh, fuck you. Devlin gave me a knife, and it was the only place I could stick it.” I turned away from them. “Shit. I’ll just shut up now.” I started for the front room and ignored the laughter that followed me.
I stepped into the warm air and waited. A few seconds later, Kara came out, smile still plastered on her face, and put her arm around me. “Have I told you lately just how much I love and appreciate you?”
I swiveled my head toward her. “I will cut you with my new knife.”
“Dev said I should go and wait outside for you,” Rachel said, walking out onto the porch. “I don’t trust them. Might need to go in and fight.” The light in her eyes, and the superhero belt clutched in her hands, screamed she hoped she would get to go inside and start a fight.
“I need one of those,” I said, dipping my head toward her belt.
She smiled. “I’ll make you one.”
She stepped off the porch, and we followed. Damn. Well, I guess she was coming with us. Now, all I had to worry about was keeping her from coming inside. ’Cause if she did, the night would definitely dissolve into madness, and everyone would end up dead.
Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea.