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My brows pinched together at Alec's statement. “For me?”
The blonde hunter seemed reluctant to give me the note but nevertheless handed it over. “Based on the note, we think this all was conspired to get to you.”
I made a rude noise in the back of my throat. “And that’s the only reason why you and the council even bothered to include me.” I didn’t make it a question. I knew how they worked. I’d been one of them before. Nobody knew anything they didn’t want them to know without the council or the director's approval.
I didn’t look at the note immediately, watching Alec and that mask of his. “Were you always like this?”
“Like what?”
I waved a hand at his stiff posture, the proverbial stick up his ass. “Insincere.”
A crack, just a tiny one broke through his mask. It allowed me to see how much my dad's disappearance actually affected him.
I huffed a laugh. “Damn, you actually give a fuck.” Before he could correct me, I sped on. “I'd have thought you'd want my dad gone. You become director and could run the guild exactly how you wanted to.”
Alec's face flickered with a mixture of pain and rage. “Is that how you see me? That I only care about myself and being in charge?”
“Don't you?” I murmured, finally glancing down at the note in my hand. The words on the paper were handwritten with an ink pen, the kind that required an ink well, but it was the swoopy letters and the familiar way the note was written that had my heart beat racing.
“I didn't tell on you because I wanted to be the head of the guild, Adara,” Alec continued, not realizing my discomfort. “I was only thinking about— Hey, where are you going?”
I shook my head and pushed past him, the note still clutched in my hand.
“Adara?” Alec raced after me, his hand latching onto my arm. “Would you stop and talk to me? What's wrong? You know who the letter is from, don't you?”
I ripped my arm from his grasp and shoved the note at him. “This. This is why you don't just kill whoever you want without thinking about whether they deserve it or not.”
Alec took the note, glancing over its contents before handing it back to me. “You're going to have to be a bit more specific. ‘I'll meet you in the moonlight,’ doesn't say shit to me.”
I scoffed. “Of course, it doesn’t, because it's not meant for you.” I didn’t elaborate even though he looked even more confused. Turning on my heel, I stomped out of the office and into the hallway, but before I could make it to my bike, my phone went off.
Pulling it from my pocket, I glanced down at the caller ID. It was Mary's assistant, Trisha.
“Hey, Trish,” I said as I answered the phone, my eyes sliding to Alec coming up on my left side. I held a finger up to him which earn me a glower. Pursing my lips, I flipped him off before giving him my back.
“Adara, my best buddy! Old pal!” Trisha's chipper voice sang through the phone.
When Mary had hired the barely legal ex-felon, I’d been skeptical. Mary had a hard enough time figuring out what was right and wrong as an angel living among humans. I didn’t want her getting into her head that it was okay to bend the rules like her assistant did. However, I’d come to find out the little punk goth hacker was just bored and needed a bit of direction. What better way to keep her out of trouble than by keeping Mary out of it?
At least that had been the plan. It almost seemed like Mary was the one getting her in trouble, not the other way around. If Mary had stuck to investigating cheating spouses and missing cats, then everything would have been peachy, but since my bestie had her own set of vendettas to deal with, she had dragged Trisha into all kinds of trouble.
“Oh no, I know that tone. What do you want now?” I wrapped one arm under my other, cupping my elbow with my hand. “I’m in the middle of something right now.”
“It's about Mary.” The tone of her voice made me pause.
“What about her? I thought she was still hunting down that lead?” Alec tapped his foot impatiently, moving into my peripherals. Waving him away, I bent my head closer to the phone. “Hasn't she found a way back in yet?”
“No.” Trisha sighed. “And I’m worried about her. That last tip was a dead end, and now she's out all night, barely eating or sleeping. I know she's not human, but she needs to take care of herself or she won't be any use to anyone, let alone be strong enough to get into Hell.”
Mary was on a quest to get into Hell to get both Michael's blade and her current boyfriend back from a nasty demon lord, but getting into Hell was just about as hard as it was to get out of it. Even demons were only able to escape it in spirit form, and it took a lot of time and energy to do so.
You'd think with Heaven being the goal, Hell would be begging for people to walk right in. Not so much.
“Well, what do you want me to do about it?” I sighed and rubbed a hand over my face. “I don't know anything else.”
Trisha blew a hard breath through her lips. “Can't you ask your dad or something? See if they have any connections that we could ask a favor of?”
I peeked over at Alec who had begun to talk to another hunter, a buzz cut redhead I knew went by the name of Bolts. My lips twisted, my stomach rolling at the idea of asking for a favor.
Turning completely toward Alec, who glanced my way, I muttered into the phone, “Let me get back to you.” I hung up and walked the short distance to them. “I’ll find my dad, but I need you to do me a favor.”
Alec looked surprised by my request. Bolts didn't.
“Aye, I told ya she'd be a tough cookie.” He laughed at Alec. “Good to have you back, Adara.” Bolts flicked his nose with his thumb, the scar running jagged over his mouth and cheek making his smile seem more like a grimace.
I gave him a polite nod before focusing on Alec. “I need you to find someone who can get an angel into Hell.”
Alec's brows furrowed and Bolts snorted. “Why the hell would anyone, let alone an angel, want to go there?”
“That's my business.” I didn’t move my eyes from Alec's face. “Do we have a deal?”
A muscle in Alec's jaw ticked. “Fine. Who has the director?”
I let out a small laugh. “You let me worry about that. You just be ready when I call.”