The phoenix rose into the sky, beating its fiery wings against the wind, coating the horizon with an orange and red glow. A woman rode on its back, her feet planted, digging into the bird’s powerful muscles. Her pitch-black eyes stared across the land. Gold hair trailed behind her as she screamed, signaling for her sisters to rise. On the ground, I stared up at her in awe. And when she passed over me, I reached for her. I wanted to ride the phoenix. I wanted to feel its heat on my skin. Her head turned toward me. I saw my reflection in her dark eyes.
‘You are of my blood,’ she whispered in my mind.
Fire engulfed me.
A knock on the door jolted me out of the dream. Sweat coated my skin and my heart pounded rapidly against my chest. The bed shifted as Alek got up. I cracked open my eyes and watched him walk to the door. Mind fuzzy, I tried to concentrate on what Devlin was saying, but the blood roaring in my ears rendered me temporarily deaf.
Alek shut the door and came back over to the bed. He sat down next to me and rested his hand on my hip. The weight of it on my skin—the rough texture of his fingers made my body strum with need. It seemed as if we had now settled into a natural intimacy. Each of us reaching out to the other on impulse. Like we’d been together for years. As far as I was concerned, his hand belonged on my hip. And I belonged in his bed.
“You’re sweating.” His fingers trailed along my thigh. “Nightmare?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and shook my head, unable to do more than that. The emotions were still riding me. I didn’t believe in visions or portents or any other such things. But right now, with the dream still playing in my mind, I wondered if maybe it had been some sort of sign. Or some long-buried memory had surfaced and was trying to give me a clue.
“What time is it?” I asked, barely a whisper. My throat burned with dryness. Had I been crying out in my sleep?
“Just after eight. Devlin wants us to go over what happened yesterday.”
I licked my dry lips. “Can you all do that without me?”
He smiled and dug his fingers softly into my hip, giving me a little shake. “Come on. I’ll get the coffee going and coax Jonah into making breakfast.”
I turned and laid on my back. “Okay. Give me fifteen minutes.”
Alek kissed me on my cheek. “I’ll give you ten.”
I groaned and covered my face with his pillow. At the first whiff of his enticing scent, my hormones jumped up and started pacing the room.
Now that we’d taken the next step in our relationship, self-doubt had reared its ugly head. Could this work between us? I’d never been in a relationship before. Casual sex was more my speed. All this caring and concern was new to me. And I just knew I was going to fuck up eventually.
The bathroom door opened, and I removed the pillow from my face. Alek emerged, dressed, with his hair tied back. “Get up, Nicole.”
“That breakfast better be good,” I said, pushing up from the bed.
He laughed and walked out the room.
The bathroom mirror didn’t lie, no matter how much I wished it was really a funhouse mirror. The reflection in that unforgiving glass showed me just what no sleep really looked like: skin sallow and sunken in, eyes filmy, and hair so out of control, it looked as if it was trying to run away. Makeup might work, but I didn’t own enough to make a decent-sized dent in my appearance.
I’d visited a make-up counter once in my entire life. I’d gone there after losing yet another job because I couldn’t think before I spoke. The woman behind the counter had gone through what she called a skin assessment, and by the end of that torturous hour, twelve products were lined up on the counter. When she gave me the total, I gave her the finger and walked away.
Remembering that day now, I realized that I had gone there hoping to change. Only, I believed that changing my appearance would somehow change who I was inside.
I should have bought the damn products. At least I would have been able to use them to hide the obvious signs of exhaustion covering my face.
After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I stared at my wild hair, willing it to tame itself. I was completely out of gel now and would have to pick some up soon. But with the way things were going, I doubted I’d get the chance.
The dried sweat had left a sticky residue on my skin. Fuck it. They would have to wait a little longer for me to get myself together. There was no way I was going out there smelling. I climbed in the shower and let the cool water run over me. It drummed against my back, and my mind went back to the dream.
Like most of my dreams, once I was awake, I had a hard time recalling all the details. But one thing I did remember was me standing in our old yard on the bayou in New Orleans, reaching up toward the woman riding a phoenix. What did it mean? Was it something I witnessed, or something I conjured from my conversations with both Logan and Esmeralda? She’d said the women were all hunted for their power. Sadly, she wasn’t able to give us more information. I knew who I could ask—the one person who might know what it all meant.
My mother.
But I had a feeling she wouldn’t tell me. She’d kept her secrets this long; secrets that were now impacting my life. Could that be enough to convince her to share?
I toweled off and slipped on a pair of shorts and a tank top. When wet, my hair was manageable, so I was able to pull it back and secure it at the nape of my neck. Of course, by the time it dried, it would look like a demented afro puff, but I’d have to worry about that later.
Stepping out of the room, I inhaled the delectable scents of fried onions and potatoes. The foods of the gods, as far as I was concerned. I followed the smell down the hall and stopped just before entering the kitchen.
Marta stood at the whiteboard, taping pictures of different depictions of phoenix birds to the cleared surface. All the other information had been shifted over and was now overlapping. At this rate, we’d have to start tacking things to the wall. I was somewhat in awe of her ability to fit into the team so quickly. Maybe she should have become a detective like she’d wanted to. She had the mind for it. I did too if I really thought about it. But our approaches were vastly different. While Marta organized and looked at information in a strategic way, I took to peppering people with questions and trying to find the missing pieces. Looking at the world as one great, big, confusing puzzle.
As if sensing me, she turned and made eye contact. Her mouth morphing into a sympathetic frown. “You look beat,” she said.
“Exactly how I feel. How are the kids?”
She looked away, busying herself with more printouts. “They are managing.” The tone in her voice wasn’t convincing. It was filled with more hope than reassurance.
I went over and put my arm around her. She tensed, her shoulders rising as if she were preparing herself for an attack. I hated that. Leaning in, I whispered, “Did you call the counselor?”
She turned toward me, melancholy in her eyes. “Yes, they have an appointment next Tuesday. Will you come?”
I nodded. “Of course, I will.” I squeezed her to me. I wished Marta would take more time to heal, but I wasn’t going to suggest it again. Besides, everyone had their own way of coping with the shit life threw at them. Maybe she was right, and this was exactly what she needed to be doing to get past the pain.
Rachel studied me as I drank my third cup of coffee. And like the first, the caffeine had yet to put a dent in my fatigue. At this point, I was just pounding the liquid back for the fun of it.
“What?” I asked Rachel and set my useless coffee down so I could finish the eggs and fried potatoes Jonah had made. If I didn’t crave Alek so much, I might have asked the man to marry me. Of course, I’d have to get rid of Kara first.
“Probably shouldn’t drink any more coffee. Your magick looks overcharged.”
I paused, the fork halfway to my mouth. “What?” How the hell can you overcharge magick?
“You’re glowing more.” She said it so matter-of-factly, I was having a hard time closing my mouth.
“I didn’t know magick could be overcharged.” I set my fork down and stared at her, willing her to help me understand. She sipped her coffee like she had all the time in the world.
“It can’t. You’re just really strange, Nicole.”
I’m strange. How is she so calm? Sweat broke out on my brow as I looked between her and my coffee mug. “Then how do you know it’s been overcharged?”
She looked down as if ashamed. “Your magick is different. I’ve been keeping an eye on it since…” She trailed off, then looked up quickly. “We still best girlfriends, right?”
Creepiness aside, I understood why she was concerned. I was still trying to figure out my magick, too.
“Yes. We’re still best girlfriends,” I said finally. I smiled to reassure her and took a bite of my now-cold potatoes.
“Okay, team, let’s get this over with,” Devlin said, walking into the kitchen.
I slammed my fork down and opened my mouth to scream, only to stop when I got a good look at the grimace on Devlin’s face as well as the bruise on his chin. He looked like I felt. Dark circles surrounded his eyes. His hair, normally smoothed into place, stuck out on the sides. His clothes were wrinkled like they had never been ironed before, and his face looked as if he’d lost some weight. Our conversation on Monday came rushing back. He’d been worried something like this would happen to me—that I would end up in a situation and he couldn’t keep me safe. He’d been awake when Alek and I came home this morning, and while he hadn’t said anything, his eyes had conveyed that worry and frustration. I’d just been too tired to really think about it.
I’d promised him I could take care of myself, and I wouldn’t put the team in danger. Sadly, I’d gone back on my word, despite it not being my fault. I mouthed, “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head and walked over to me. Leaning down, he whispered, “This was not your fault. We have been two steps behind Logan from the start. If anyone is to blame, it’s me. I should have known you’d want to help Alek. And I should have been there to watch both your backs.” He lifted my chin. “Understand?”
“Yes, Boss Man.”
“Now, finish your breakfast and meet us in the other room.”
“You mean the war room,” I said, then shoved the rest of my food in my mouth.
He chuckled and walked out the kitchen. At least I’d made him laugh. That was something.
I followed him out of the kitchen and sat at my station next to Alek. Marta walked over and handed me a pen and notepad. It was then I realized what had been missing for a while now while we were running around, chasing our asses.
I had, for most of my life, kept journals. It was a way of dealing with all the thoughts I constantly had on loop inside my mind. It was also a way for me to keep track of events, because deep down, I knew I’d forgotten parts of my past. Of course, they came roaring back when the block on my magick and memories had been removed, but I still should have been writing stuff down. If I had been keeping notes, maybe I would have figured out what was going on a few days ago.
After Devlin told everyone about their time in jail, he signaled to Alek.
“We were able to restore Theresa’s mind,” Alek said. “She told us about Logan coming to her house. She remembered him clearly, but not what happened after she invited him in. He contacted her before us and said he had information about Emilia’s death. I asked her about the ice cream truck, since I believe that is how Logan is getting around undetected, and she did remember seeing one outside her house.” He paused. “She also said she was in contact with a female who claimed to have trained with you all. She said the woman refused to identify herself, but said she would be in touch again with proof Ronald killed Emilia and the Stewarts covered it up.” He dipped his head toward the note he tacked to the board. “She also gave me the name of another former employee. Edward Foster.”
The female employee had to be Veronica Lockwood. She was the only other woman who had been in our training class.
“Did she have any other information? Maybe tell you about the insurance bills we found.” Devlin asked. I could hear the frustration in his voice.
“Only that she had been contacted by the Stewarts’ attorneys and that they had made threats of suing her for harassment and defamation. And she said Emilia gave her the bills for safe keeping.”
Devlin nodded and took a sip of his coffee. “Nicole,” he said, prompting me.
“Logan…” I paused, thinking of how to approach the strange encounter we had. “He was so concerned about my inability to figure things out. I think it even frustrated him a little.”
“That is strange,” Marta said. “But anyone who knows you would think you’re not noticing something is…off?” She sat back and tapped her pen against her lips, her gaze distant. Finally, she looked up and noticed everyone was staring at her, waiting. “Sorry, just thinking aloud.”
“No,” Devlin said. “We need that. And I agree.” He glanced over at me, and our eyes locked. “It is off. Go on, Nicole.”
“Okay, so that means he knows me. Aside from his past connection with Kara, which she confirmed, I don’t see how. I mean, it’s not like they stayed in contact.” I harrumphed. “He did have the audacity to ask me to say hello to her. Fucking crazy bastard.” I stood up and started to pace as I took them through what we learned from Esmeralda, along with Logan’s insistence that I learn about the phoenix myth.
“Fuck,” Devlin said. “More avenues to follow.”
My phone dinged, and I looked down at the display. Juliette. “Well, damn,” I said. “As if we didn’t have enough shit to deal with, looks like Juliette wants to meet with me at three.”
“Did she say why?” Alek asked, leaning over to look at my phone.
“Maybe she wants to give us a few more clues to follow.” I thrust my hand at the whiteboard. “It’s not like we have enough or anything.” I sounded a bit hysterical, but no one said anything.
Devlin squeezed the bridge of his noise. “Rachel,” he said, his voice strained. He was barely holding it together.
Jonah pulled the projector screen down.
Rachel tapped a few keys on her laptop, and the photograph I found of the five women and one man appeared on the screen.
Rachel got up. “I spent most of the night scanning the information Nicole found in Selena Peterson’s journal into the computer. Marta helped me find all of their names this morning.” She smiled at Marta. “You do good work.”
“Thank you,” Marta said, as a grin spread across her face .
Rachel pointed at the first girl on the right. “This is Monica Sinclair at age nineteen. Yes, from that Sinclair family,” she said when I gave her a questioning look. “She was the first one to join the cult. She brought her friend Rhonda Hamilton with her. Only, Rhonda ran away after staying there only a week.”
“How were you able to find that out?” I asked.
She went to her desk and picked up the journal. “Selena kept detailed records.”
Why would Logan want me to find this?
Rachel pointed at the next girl. “Gavina, age eighteen, and Helena Stewart, age sixteen, joined a month later. Helena is Gerald’s baby sister.”
Something tickled the back of my mind, like a thought was trying to form.
“Selena Peterson, age nineteen,” Rachel said. “She joined four months later, and Bianca Smith, aged seventeen, was the last to join. She brought her friend Terra Long with her. Terra was one of the girls found dead when they raided the cult.
“A copy of this picture was found among Selena Peterson’s things when her brother Anthony found her in the bathtub, dead. She had committed suicide.” Rachel clicked on the next image. “He also found this suicide note.”
“What?” I asked. When had she found this out?
The note was written on pink stationary with striations of a brownish substance in the corners. As if someone had bled on the page and tried to wipe it away. The ink had been smeared, probably from water or moisture. So only a few words could be made out: ‘I’m sorry,’ and, ‘He wanted us to sacrifice ourselves.’
“Where did you find this?” I asked.
“When I scanned the photo in, I did an image search and found a forum online that still talks about the cult. Latoya Bailey, the sister of a reporter who was killed, is writing a book on the events that took place at His Holy Seed. She started the site. When I contacted her this morning, she agreed to send me this much. The rest, we have to pay for.”
“Did you get any sleep?” I asked, feeling suddenly like I wasn’t pulling my weight.
“No. But I don’t always sleep.” She turned away and clicked on another image. “This article was going to run in the paper two days after Selena Peterson was found. Only, the editor squashed the story and fired the reporter. The reporter was found dead two weeks later. Before that, he’d sent his sister this along with his notes.”
“Does she know who asked the editor to squash the story?” I asked.
“Selena’s parents did. And a few months later, they opened the Peterson School for Troubled Girl’s in Alice.”
Her own damn parents didn’t want the truth to come out. What the hell kind of parents did that? How much money did it take to forget your daughter’s death? To let the person responsible go free? I rubbed my chest at the sudden influx of shock and sadness that overcame me. My mother buried an axe in the back of my attacker when I was six years old and buried his body in our yard. Selena’s parents took money from the people who drove her daughter to take her own life. Un-fucking-believable.
We all sat in silence for a while, staring at Selena’s suicide note. Why did Lemuel Oren want them to sacrifice themselves? And if Gavina had managed to escape such a nightmare, why would she start a cult and lure broken women in so she could absorb their magick? If I didn’t want to kill her before, I definitely did now. She knew firsthand what kind of damage cults could cause and instead of being a force for good, she had decided to inflict the same pain on innocent girls.
Devlin finally spoke. “Alek and I will visit Edward Foster and see what he knows about Tribec. Nicole, we need to figure out what part Juliette plays in all this. Her calling you out of the blue doesn’t make sense.” He rubbed his head, making his hair stick out further. Glancing at the whiteboard, he said, “So many leads going nowhere. It’s as if we’re being led around for a reason.”
“Like pieces on a chess board,” I said.
His face darkened. “I don’t like it. Despite Andrew’s notes, we can’t tie Gavina or Boyd Young to blood magick.” He gave Jonah a quick glance, then looked at me. “Determine today if they are in fact practicing blood magick. Be your usual self and end this charade with them. We need to concentrate on the families that are using blood magick.”
“My usual self?” I asked. He gave me a look that screamed, use-your-head. “Oh, blunt.”
“Jonah, I want you to go with Nicole to meet Juliette. See if you can get anything out of her that Nicole might miss.”
“I can go alone,” I said without thinking. Of course, he wouldn’t want me to go alone, especially not after what happened last night.
“Not going to happen,” he said, his voice firm.
“Juliette is harmless. Unless she is going to puppy dog-eye me to death. I can take her.”
“I’m still not letting you go alone. Logan could be the reason she’s calling you now. He just kidnapped you last night. You. Are Not. Going. Alone,” he gritted out.
We glared at each other, and the room fell silent around us. I knew he was worried. Hell, I was, too. But we needed a solid lead so we could stop chasing our tails. And to do that, we needed to get some straight answers out of the key players involved. Besides, Logan had kidnapped me last night. So why would he send Juliette after me now? No, she contacted me for another reason. I doubted she would be willing to share if Jonah was with me.
“Compromise?” I asked, extending an olive branch.
“I’m listening.”
“Jonah comes, but he waits outside to give me a chance to talk with her alone.”
“Sounds fair,” Jonah said.
“Thank you,” I mouthed. He dipped his head in acknowledgement.
Devlin turned to him. “First sign of trouble, handle it.”
Jonah nodded, including Alek in the look. I glanced over at him. His eyes were trained on me. I could read the storm in those blue depths; he, too, wanted to cover me in bubble wrap to keep me safe and secure.
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “I’m not some delicate flower, for fuck’s sake. And I will have my knife with me.”
His eyes went to my chest where I kept my knife. I gave him a half smile.
“That leaves Xavier,” Devlin said and looked at Marta.
“His social media didn’t mention anything about blood magick. Just a bunch of teenage fantasies and lewd comments about girls,” she said, her chair swiveling as she looked down at her laptop.
“Jonah,” Devlin said. “Check out Boyd and Xavier’s place when you and Nicole finish with Juliette.” He got up. “Fuck!” he yelled, making me flinch. I had never seen him like this before. Rachel got up and placed her hand on his chest. Green light filled the room as she hummed a soothing melody.
Alek leaned over and whispered, “Healing magick.”
I nodded, keeping my eyes trained on Devlin and Rachel. Bit by bit, his face smoothed out, and the vein on the side of his neck ceased jumping erratically. He placed a hand over her hers. “Thanks, Rach.”
She squeezed his hand and nodded. “I got you Dev.”
“Sorry about that, team,” he said.
“Not a problem, Dev,” Jonah said. “We’re all right there with you.”
“I’m so damn tempted to just put a bullet in all their heads,” he said, and gave a humorless chuckle. “Okay. Anyone have any questions?”
“I can work on the phoenix lead,” Marta offered.
“I might have a lead on that,” I said before Devlin could respond. I took them through my dream last night. “Let me ask my mother first.”
Devlin nodded as he looked at the projector screen. “Marta, can you compile dossiers on the other women who escaped the cult? I need an assessment on where we should concentrate our efforts next.” He paused. “We’ve been working off Andrew’s notes. That has to end now. We need to do our own investigation into these families. I don’t want any more surprises.”
We all murmured in agreement.
“I’ll also rearrange the boards,” Marta said.
Devlin turned to her. “Thanks, Marta. I don’t know what we’d do without you here.”
She smiled at him. “Probably shoot everyone.”
He laughed. “Yeah, probably.” He glanced at his watch. “Everyone, check in at noon.” He looked at me. “Nicole, keep us in the loop if you decide to follow another lead besides your mother. I want someone to be aware of your whereabouts at all times.” He looked at the rest of the team. “That goes for everyone. Until we can neutralize the threats, seen and unseen, we need to keep in constant contact.”
“Yes, Boss Man.”
“I can add tracking apps to our phones, Dev,” Rachel said. “I can track everyone on my laptop.”
Devlin handed her his phone and gave us all a pointed look. Well, I would have argued, but it wasn’t a good idea, especially after what happened to me last night.
After Alek gave me a kiss, I fixed myself another useless cup of coffee and sat down at my computer. to review what Marta had found on Xavier’s social media. It was busy work. But I needed the distraction and to kill some time before I went to see my mother.
Devlin was right. We should just put a bullet in everyone’s head.