The hot water ran over my body, washing away the taint of what we’d done, along with my tears. I did not speak to anyone when Karl finally died, nor on the way home from the motel. We had left Karl there for someone else to find. I didn’t even say goodbye to Kara when she came in Alek’s room to try and console me. I heard her, of course, telling me it wasn’t our fault and that we couldn’t do anything about it. Funny, I didn’t feel that way at all.
Instead, I let the weight of it consume me. Like with Tribec weeks earlier, the sense of being lost and confused occupied every fiber of my being. Once again, we’d been given a bunch of puzzle pieces with no clear picture how they all fit together. And again, I was at the center of it.
I didn’t believe I was some fabled chosen one or any other such bullshit. But given the strangeness of my magick, maybe I was a key to something. Set had told me that I was ‘of the blood.’ It implied there was something significant about my magick. And if I weren’t so damn stubborn, I could ask my parents. Sadly, every single time I convinced myself just to get it over with, the pain of being lied to flooded back, making me dig my heels in even more.
The bathroom door opened, letting in a cool breeze. I didn’t move.
“Nicole,” Alek said, his voice soft.
“I don’t want to talk,” I mumbled.
The shower curtain whisked back. “Too bad,” he said.
While water pelted my skin, I turned and stared at him. He flinched at the heated look I gave him. “If you want to yell, go ahead. But I’m not going to let you stand in here and blame yourself.”
“Who says I’m blaming myself?” I asked, my voice cool.
“Your actions. If you blamed us”—he grabbed a towel off the rack and shut off the shower—“you would be in there yelling at us. Not standing in the shower having a pity party.”
“Fuck you!”
“Whenever you’re ready,” he said, the corner of his mouth turned up.
“I’m pissed and you’re flirting with me?” I grabbed the towel from him and wrapped it around myself. He stepped back, and I climbed out of the shower. Pissed or not, my stomach fluttered at the heat in his eyes and yes, the fact that he was flirting with me.
“I’m always going to do that,” Alek said, stepping closer. “I figure it might help take your mind off things.” He stared down at me.
“You are so damn sure of yourself.” As he should be, I thought, staring at him.
We had known each other for such a short time. Yet, Alek had done something no one since Steve had, make me want to be soft. Not a damsel in distress who needs to carry smelling salts soft, but the softness that comes from allowing another person to care for you. Alek did that. He pulled that buried craving out of me and put it on display. I desired him. I cared for him. I wanted to be with him.
He bent forward and kissed me on the cheek.
Every nerve ending in my body came alive. My heart fluttered in my chest and my eyes grew heavy with need and emotion. Desire rode me like a tidal wave coursing through my body as I strained toward him.
I turned and pressed my lips against his.
A long-buried emotion rushed up out of my core and stilled me. My lips remained pressed to his as I let the feeling overtake me. Whispered thoughts of love kept cycling through me, and I fought the desire to profess it.
Because it could not be real.
I moved closer, and he wrapped his arms around me. Only the pressure from his body kept my towel in place. His mouth moved hesitantly as he tilted his head, and his tongue slid across my bottom lip. I parted my lips—letting him in. The towel slipped a little, and I groaned as my hardened nipples rubbed against his t-shirt.
Alek picked me up and sat me on the edge of the sink, wedging between my legs. I wrapped my legs around him, and he cupped my butt, pulling me in closer. All hesitation went out the window. Grabbing a handful of his hair, I ravaged his mouth.
The desire to have someone inside of my mind, body, and soul left me raw and aching. I needed Alek. Past the sex. Past the friendship. I just needed him.
And it was that exact feeling that had me pulling away from him, putting a painful distance between us.
“We should stop,” I said, my voice ragged.
Alek’s chest heaved. He placed his forehead against mine. It would have been so easy to resume—to tear off his clothes and let him take me. I wanted him to. But I also wanted more. And I could not go there. Not now. Not while I was so damaged. I was likely to destroy whatever did build between us.
“You’re right,” he said finally, stepping away. “We have time.”
“Do we?”
He kissed me lightly on the lips. “I’m not going anywhere.” He grinned. “Well, except in the other room.” His gaze slid down me, heating my core once again. “If I stay in here, I might lose my mind.”
I smiled. “Thank you for taking my mind off everything.” I slid off the sink, belatedly realizing that my breasts were exposed. The hungry look in Alek’s eyes clued me in.
He made a guttural sound—that sent a thrill through me—and walked backward toward the door. “Devlin”—he cleared his throat—“wants to go over what we know.”
“Okay.” I continued to watch him as he stepped over the threshold and slowly closed the door behind him.
Danger and sex. One potent combination.
Everyone sat on chairs, looking both defeated and confused. I took a seat near Rachel and let out a heavy sigh. She pushed a mug of coffee toward me. The extra jolt of energy would help for what I was sure was going to be a long night of us circling the myriad of information we had and adding the new player to the mix. We had completely forgotten to investigate why Xavier had a void in is aura. Now, that oversight had come back to bite us in the ass.
I took a sip of my coffee. Fuck.
Devlin got up and went to the whiteboard. I studied the man as he stared at the information covering its surface. Hands on his hips, Devlin looked like he wore the weight of the universe on his shoulders. He moved Xavier’s high school senior picture to the center of the board. Dressed in a white shirt, he wore a smirk on his face, as if the world were a mere joke. Given Karl’s devotion to the teenager, I had to wonder just what kind of power the nineteen-year-old had that would seduce a grown man into joining him in what sounded like a quest straight out of a video game.
“How does he fit?” Devlin asked us.
I set my coffee on the table and stood. I needed to move. I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d run into his type before. Both in high school and my adult life. Cocky and full of themselves, believing the world should sit up and take notice. I would put Ronald in that category, except his brand of crazy was different, and most men who walked around preening with their chests poked out weren’t all that successful. However, Xavier did have one thing in common with Ronald.
They both despised their family.
“I would say he’s like Ronald, wanting to break free of his family,” I said eventually. “At church, he acted as if everything going on around him was beneath him. Not worth his time or energy. His smile was almost mocking. Like he viewed the parishioners as idiots or sheep. And there was tension between him and his mother.” I turned and looked at everyone. “After my protective mark repelled Gavina’s intrusion, The Daughters of the Vine and his siblings all rushed to her aid. Xavier took the time to find me in the crowd and smile.”
Devlin nodded and took a sip of his own coffee. Noting the bags under his eyes, I checked my phone for the time. Damn. It was after two in the morning. Damn. Looked like we’d be up all night. Especially after drinking Rachel’s coffee.
“Did Karl’s ramblings make sense to you?” Devlin asked Jonah.
Jonah laced his fingers behind his head, leaned back, and stared at the picture of Xavier. “No. The part about Legos has some truth in it. But not completely. To sum it up, demons are the byproduct of faith magick gone wrong. When a group of faith mages decide to bring a god into existence, the understanding is that it would only be temporary. If the ritual is done correctly, they create one and then release the energy once the god’s task is done. If the ritual is done wrong, or the energy is not released, then a demon is created.”
“What kind of tasks?” I asked, remembering Jonah’s story.
“Usually, to solidify a certain religious belief. Some people have a hard time having faith in what they can’t see. Once they set eyes on the god of their religion, it restores their faith. This was a more common practice hundreds of years ago. Today, not much is needed to convince someone to believe in something.” He paused. “Aside from that, gods can be created to aid in battle.” He turned to me. “That is faith’s battle magick. We can create a god to fight.”
“Like the Naqada did when they made the Old Ones,” I said.
He nodded, then glanced back at Xavier’s picture. “I’m having a hard time with everything else Karl said. It was almost as if he were feeding us some made up bullshit.”
“I thought the same thing,” I said.
“So, who killed him?” Rachel asked. She looked at Alek. “Mind mage? I smelled cherries in the room. Nicole said Set smelled like cherries before.”
“It wasn’t Set,” I said before Alek could answer.
“A mind mage that powerful…” He trailed off. “It could be done. But it would leave the person in a sickly state. So, if it was a mind mage, he would have to have someone else working with him. He wouldn’t be functional after not only breaking Karl’s mind but killing him as well.”
“You said Karl wasn’t fighting him,” I said.
He shook his head. “No. He was definitely enthralled with the person who was killing him.”
Goosebumps broke out on my arms. There was someone else working against us. Just how many damn enemies did we have? “How do you kill a demon?” I asked Jonah.
“Kill the faith mage who brought him into existence. If the demon has managed to slip the bonds of the one who created it and amassed enough people to believe in it, then only the absence of faith will destroy it. Demons need faith to keep them alive. Once people stop believing in them, they die.”
I glanced at his chest. He dipped his head, acknowledging my concern. The only way to kill the demon in Jonah was for him to die. Damn.
“We table it for now,” Devlin said, and picked up the slim black and gold book on the Naqada culture that Luisah had given us. “Somehow, this plays into it as well.”
Jonah took the book from him and flipped through it. I had studied that book when Luisah first showed it to me. It gave details about the battle the Old Ones were created to fight in.
Alek took the book from Jonah. “What if it’s not the book itself?” he asked, studying the front. “What if it’s the author? Besides Luisah, this person would know about Naqada and the Old Ones. Maybe, by giving us this book, she’s telling us to contact him.”
“That’s what I figured as well.” I sighed. “She showed me this book when I first asked questions about Tribec Insurance. I thought she was pointing out the Old Ones and the battle. After all, I did ask about the Gerzean culture. But apparently, she was giving me another clue that I completely overlooked. I never even once considered contacting the author.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Devlin said, tone softening. “We’re on the right track now.”
I nodded. I should have remembered Luisah never said anything outright, only put the information in front of me so I could figure it out.
Rachel opened her laptop and typed in Professor Shukuma. “He’s not at Morehouse University anymore,” she said, turning the laptop toward us. “He retired last year and moved to Tulare.”
Interesting—especially since he’d done so much research on the Old Ones. For him to move to a place where at least four of them resided couldn’t be a coincidence.
Devlin rubbed his hand down his face. “Jonah, you and Nicole go visit him tomorrow. Rachel, when Marta shows up, have her search social media and do a deep dive on Xavier. You stay on trying to locate any women who were a part of Daughters of the Vine. Alek and I will work on the lead Rachel found today and go talk with Emilia’s friend Theresa.”
I must have missed something. Last I heard, we didn’t have any new leads on the nurse from Tribec that Ronald had killed. The one he left for me to find on his houseboat. “How did you find one of Emilia’s friends?” They must have been doing research about Ronald behind my back.
I wanted to be upset they didn’t include me, but I understood their reasoning. Besides, I was keeping things from them as well. I still hadn’t worked up the courage to show them the letters he sent me. Maybe I should. That way, we could work on it together. No one was going to rob me of my revenge.
“I found her online,” Rachel said hesitantly. She must have sensed how this news was affecting me. “She posted about Emilia’s murder and how the police aren’t doing anything.”
Of course, they weren’t. Like the Sinclairs, the Stewart family probably had connections in high places. And her murder couldn’t be tied to them, anyway. Someone had moved her dead body away from Ronald’s boat and left in an alley behind a bar in Brunswood. Only a few blocks from my apartment. Definitely a message for me.
Alek stood up and stretched. “Logan?”
Devlin sighed. “Aside from the game he played, leading us around trying to find him, he hasn’t attacked us. So, until he shows his hand again, we have nothing to go on. He’s connected to this somehow. We just have to figure out how.”
Telling everyone goodnight, Rachel grabbed her computer and left the room. Jonah followed soon after. I sat there, thinking about not just the case, but the fact that I was going to climb into bed with Alek. After our encounter in the bathroom, I didn’t think that was such a good idea.
Alek hesitated for a minute as if he were waiting for me to make the first move. I kept my gaze focused on the whiteboard. When he finally left the room, I turned to Devlin. “I’m surprised you’re letting Marta get so involved so quickly. You made me jump through a few hoops before you trusted me.” I hate that I sounded bitter because I really didn’t feel that way. Not really. I was grateful to him for letting Marta be a part of the team. I’d told him as much.
He harrumphed. “Marta reminds me of my Aunt Daisy. Both of them seem forged on grit and determination. I can respect that.”
“I have grit and determination!” I protested.
He laughed. “Nicole, I don’t doubt it. But you also have a bad attitude and no respect for authority.” He walked over and extended his hand to help me up. “I also respect the hell out of that. My hesitation with you came from not knowing just where you fit in with the Stewart family. Your involvement with Ronald was an issue.”
“He was using me,” I said, my voice small.
“We didn’t know that at first.” He pulled me into a hug.
“Oh, god,” I mumbled into his chest. “Things must be terrible if you’re giving me another hug, Boss Man.”
His chest shook with laughter, and he pulled away, staring down at me. “Get some rest. I need you at your best tomorrow.”
I stepped back and saluted him. “Yes, Boss Man!”
“Smartass,” he mumbled, and made his way to the front, only to pause before leaving the room completely. “Where did you learn Tribec Insurance was hiring?”
I thought about the question for a minute. “It was right after getting fired from the shoe store,” I said. “I was on my way to Jordin’s and stopped at the convenience store along the way. It’s the one near my apartment. They had an ad for Tribec sitting on the counter.”
“Did you stop at that store often?” he asked, his face growing pensive, as if he were trying to figure something out.
“Yes,” I said and hesitated. “You think someone set that ad there for me?” While I did believe someone was manipulating the situations I found myself in, I couldn’t imagine how they would assume I would pick up an ad for a job they couldn’t possibly know I was looking for.
Unless they were watching me.
“I’m thinking about your idea of a mastermind behind all this…” He rubbed the back of his head. “For someone to steer you toward Tribec Insurance, they would have to know you were looking for a job.”
“Or just figure out my pattern,” I said. Devlin had found the one small connection that led to my mastermind theory, and it terrified the hell out of me. Yes, I had thought I was at the center of it, but I never once figured out how they could have pointed me toward Tribec until now. They knew my pattern.
“The question is, why? Why focus on you specifically?”
“I guess we’ll find out.”