by Deanna Chase
I flipped the pages in my notebook until I got to the folded piece of paper I’d received as official correspondence from the Void. Seth Kilsen had last been heard from on April twenty-first. Not the twenty-fifth, the day indicated on the Asier research.
They’d lied.
The fucking bastards had lied. What else had they misrepresented? Had he been at fault for the death of the New Orleans official, or was that a lie too? I stood and started to pace. And the worst part was I couldn’t even blame Halston. She hadn’t been the director then. The revelation that my employer had been less than truthful shouldn’t have been a surprise. I was under no illusions when it came to what the Void was capable of doing. The higher-ups could be just as shady as Allcot and his Cryrique minions.
But to lie and disparage Seth’s reputation while keeping such vital information from me, their number one tracker, it was unforgiveable. Of course, I hadn’t actually been a tracker then. Seth’s disappearance had been the main catalyst for me even joining the Void. I’d wanted to clear the Kilsen name. Prove we were decent witches.
Still, someone in that building knew there was more than what they’d told me, and no one had bothered to fill me in. Something had happened to Seth when he infiltrated the group eight years ago. If the reports were true and the group only popped up every four years, then had I known about the sacrificial rituals four years ago, I’d have stopped at nothing to find the secret society, spare the fae sacrifices, and discover exactly what happened to my brother. With any luck, I’d have taken the society down in the process. Willow and Talisen would’ve never been targeted, never been abducted, and no one would be in danger of being ripped to shreds by some crazy cult of paranormals looking to have their souls saved.
Darkness filled me as anger took over, creeping into all the empty places of my heart, pushing out the sadness and the small thread of hope that I might still find Seth someday despite the years since his disappearance.
“Phoebe?” Dax’s deep voice filled the small office. I jerked my head up, startled to find my partner and Link in wolf form standing next to him. When had Link shifted?
“Where’d you come from?” I snapped and then grimaced when I heard my sharp tone. “Sorry, you just surprised me. I didn’t hear you or the alarm indicators.”
The safe house was a fortress, outfitted with cameras, audio, security alarms. There was even a small warning bell that was supposed to go off anytime someone made their way up the walk.
“They went off. I’m surprised you didn’t hear them,” Dax said, his eyebrows pinched together as he studied me. “What’s got you so wound up?”
I opened my mouth to explain, then closed it and shook my head. I wasn’t even sure where to start. Link moved across the room and nudged my leg, letting me know he was there if I needed him. How many times had I seen him do that with Willow? More than I could count.
Dax stood in the doorway of my office, so strong and solid and real. Something inside me broke, letting loose long-buried pain and fear. After the stress of the past twenty-four hours, I could no longer control my emotions. Shaking, I stood and walked over to him, placing my hands on his broad chest. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you right now.”
Without hesitation, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in close. “What happened?”
I let out a choked laugh. “My best friend has been kidnapped. What else is there to say?” My words were a cop-out, but I didn’t know how to talk about Seth. Not yet. Not until I knew more.
He tightened his hold on me and pressed a soft kiss to the top of my head. “Why do I have the feeling there’s something more going on?”
Dax knew me far too well. Certainly the disappearance of a best friend was enough to rattle anyone. But I was a tracker, an agent of the Void. I didn’t rattle easily. “There is, but I…” I didn’t know what else to say.
“I’m here,” he said, tightening his hold on me. “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it. Just like we’re going to find Willow and Talisen. One way or another, we’re going to find them.”
I pressed my face into his chest and prayed he was right. “Dax,” I said, pulling back to look him in the eye, determined to try to explain myself. But the tenderness I saw there took my breath away, and my words got clogged in my throat.
“What is it?” He brushed a lock of my dark hair out of my eyes and tucked it behind my ear. The gesture was so simple, so sweet, and so fucking normal it almost brought me to my knees.
“I… Shit.” All reason fled. I reached up, buried my hand in his thick dark hair, and pulled him down as I pressed up on my toes. Our lips met, and all the stress, worry, and fear swirling inside me numbed. All I knew was Dax and his hot lips on my mine, giving me this one moment of reprieve, a place to lose myself among the chaos.
“Jesus, Phoebe,” Dax said with a growl as he backed me up against the wall. “You taste so dammed good.”
I hooked one leg around his hips and ground into him, craving every inch of his long lean body. I’d been starving for him over the past two months and I hadn’t even known it.
He responded by slipping his hand down to my hip, then my thigh, before moving it up to cup my ass. I let out a soft sigh of pleasure and deepened the kiss, completely lost in his woodsy scent. He smelled faintly of cypress and earth and what could only be described as sunshine. Intoxicating.
Dax tore his mouth away from mine and moved his lips to my neck, nipping and scraping his teeth over my skin while his thumb teased one of my nipples though my thin T-shirt. “Christ, I want you so bad right now.”
I let my head fall to the side, giving him easier access to my neck and said, “Yes, now.”
Without hesitation, he picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he started to head toward the bedroom in the back. He’d just kicked open the bedroom door when I finally heard the low buzz of the security alert followed by the crash of the front door as it flew open and banged into the hallway wall. Link’s sharp bark filled the tiny house, adding to the chaos.
Before I could even untangle myself from Dax, Allcot was there right behind Dax, Link standing calmly beside him as if Allcot were some sort of wolf whisperer.
Traitor, I thought.
Allcot’s deep green eyes glinted at me. “Interesting. I guess this is what you meant when you said you needed to ‘talk to Marrok.’”
Dax and I sprang apart. He stepped in front of me, shielding me from the vampire as if he’d already torn my clothes off. “How the fuck did you find this place?”
Allcot gave Dax an impatient smile. “I know everything that goes on in this town. Did you two really think I didn’t know where your hideouts are? Or how to penetrate them?”
“Dammit, Allcot!” I straightened my T-shirt and stepped out from behind Dax, my body suddenly cold from the loss of his heat. “What the hell do you think you’re doing just barging in here? I said I’d meet you back at your mansion.”
“Meet him?” Dax asked, his eyebrows pinched in confusion. “I thought he was locked up at the Void.”
“I let him out,” I said, pressing two fingers to my temple. “We’re combining forces to find Willow, Tal, and Pandora.”
“What?” Dax said, his voice almost a growl. “Did you forget the part about vampires abducting your best friend?”
Allcot took a step forward and bared his fangs at my partner. “Are you saying my people took the fae couple?”
“Didn’t they?” Dax shot back, his muscles bulging as if he was on the verge of turning into a wolf. “It’s the perfect crime. Stage a fake abduction of your consort, take the fae, and pretend you know nothing about it. Then you have the fairy under your thumb and you can run tests on her, turn all your crew into daywalkers, and never have to worry about a rival getting ahold of her.”
“Nice story, wolf. But if I wanted Rhoswen under my thumb, it would’ve happened a long time ago. You should try looking a little closer to home for answers.”
“What the fuck
are you talking about?” Dax demanded.
“Ask Nova Bandu,” Allcot said, a chill in his tone.
“You’re full of shit.” Dax took another step forward, but I put my hand out, pressing my palm to his chest.
“No, Dax. We don’t have time for this.”
His dark eyes blazed with fury as he stared down at me. “We had all the time in the world five minutes ago before your favorite vampire walked in, didn’t we, Kilsen?”
“Favorite vampire…?” Using all the pent-up frustration still strumming through me, I shoved him, sending him stumbling through the threshold of the bedroom door. “What the fuck, Marrok? Jesus. That was uncalled for.”
“So was releasing the vampire who tried to kill me.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Please don’t do this now, Dax. We have work to do.”
“Not with Allcot,” he said through clenched teeth.
“I don’t have time for this bullshit.” Allcot turned on his heel and headed back toward the front door.
“Wait!” I called and ran after him. “Why did you come here? I thought we were meeting at your mansion.”
He stepped through the front door but paused and glanced back at me. “I have a lead that can’t wait.” Allcot stared over my shoulder, his eyes narrowed in a glare, and I knew that Dax had followed me. “You’re either with me or you’re with him.”
“Give me just a few minutes. I need to grab my weapons.” There’d been no thought process, no weighing the risks, no second-guessing. Wherever Allcot was headed, I was going with him.
“Two minutes,” Allcot said. “I’ll be in the car.”
“Phoebe, no,” Dax said from behind me. “Don’t do this. The Crimson Valley pack is out in full force looking for Willow and Tal. We don’t need Eadric Allcot and whatever strings come with his help.”
“Link, wait here,” I ordered, and the wolf obediently sat next to the open front door. “Good boy,” I said as I turned and ran back to my desk. “Do they know anything about the redheaded vampire?”
“No.”
“Or the shifters that took Pandora?”
“They don’t think shifters took her,” he said. “They think it’s a rival hive.”
I scoffed. “Right. Because some other group of vampires would actually be crazy enough to take Allcot’s lover? He’d annihilate them and the entire vampire community would back him up.”
“We’re talking about monsters who kill people for their blood, Phoebe. They don’t have a conscience.”
I shoved the files I’d been researching into a messenger bag and reached into the desk for yet another spelled dagger. “You don’t really believe that, do you? That all vampires are monsters?”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
I shook my head. “You know that’s what a lot of people think about shifters, right?”
“I know what they think. But I also know that shifters are loyal to humans. Do you have any idea what Bandu’s entire mission is here in New Orleans?” He didn’t give me a chance to reply before he continued. “Bandu has turned the pack into keepers of the city.”
“What does that mean, ‘keepers of the city’?” I asked, frowning at him.
“Protectors, Phoebe. They’re out there right now combing the city for Willow and Talisen, and they won’t hesitate to interfere if a vampire steps out of line. People might think we’re monsters, but soon they’ll realize we’re the only thing standing between them and a lifetime of being persecuted by vampires.”
I gaped at him. “Dax, don’t you realize that’s what the Arcane is for, the reason we work for the Void?”
“And don’t you see it’s not working?” he shot back, pulling his phone out of his pocket. After tapping the screen a few times, he shoved the device at me. “See all these photos? They’re of vampire victims. The ones we couldn’t save.”
I took a step back, eyeing him wearily. “Dax, I know there’s a vampire problem. There’s a shifter problem too. But taking sides right now isn’t going to help us get Willow back. I need to go. Allcot—”
“No! You can’t go with him. Can’t you see it’s all a setup? Didn’t you hear what I said to him?”
I’d heard. The problem was I didn’t believe it. Allcot wasn’t pretending to be crazed about Pandora’s disappearance. That fear in his eyes, it had been real. The reason I knew that was because Allcot was a cocky bastard, and in all the years I’d known him, I’d never seen him look desperate. And that’s what I’d witnessed this morning. “I’m going, Dax. I have to.”
“Phoe—”
“No! Listen, there’s a sacrificial ritual that is happening in two days and involves the draining of fae blood. It’s carried out during an event called Asier and is supposed to save supernatural souls, vampires and shifters alike. Or at least that’s what they seem to think. That’s what Willow overheard.”
Confusion flashed in his dark eyes. “Draining of fae blood?”
“That’s right. That’s why they have Willow. So when I say I don’t have time for this, I mean it. I’m going with Allcot. I’ll be in touch.”
Dax was far from convinced, and he shook his head, anger rolling off him in waves. “This is a mistake, Phoebe. He’s dangerous. If you walk out that door, I can’t be your backup on this. I can’t protect you.”
Frustration coiled tightly in my gut. “I don’t have a choice.”
“Yes, you do.” He strode over to me and placed his hands on my cheeks, his determined expression staring down at me. “Choose, Phoebe. You’re either with Allcot on this or you’re with me. It can’t be both.”
I blinked up at him. “Are you being serious right now? You want me to choose between working with you or Allcot?”
“That’s what I’m saying,” he said, softening his tone as his eyes pleaded with me to see reason. “He can’t be trusted. You must see that. Choose, Phoebe. Say you’ll stay with me. We’ll find Willow together. With the help of the Crimson Valley pack, I know—”
“I’m sorry, Dax,” I said, words thick with regret. “I choose Allcot.”
12
Dax stared at the door, unable to process what had just happened. Had he really demanded Phoebe choose between him and Allcot? Jesus, what a fucking idiot he was. Of course she’d chosen the vampire. He was powerful with plenty of connections and Dax had just behaved like a controlling ass, not the type of person Phoebe Kilsen was willing to suffer.
The shifter stormed back to the desk where his partner had been working when he’d arrived. He glanced around, searching for any clues, anything that would give him more insight into what she’d learned at the Void. All he found was a leather-bound book that appeared to be filled with handwritten notes about an old case and a single piece of paper that had fallen to the floor. He picked it up, noting the name at the top—Carter Voelkel. After a quick scan, he realized it was a dossier on the redheaded vampire Phoebe had tangled with the night before.
He wasn’t sure how the old case fit into the current one, but he did know that whatever Phoebe had been working on when he’d arrived had haunted her. He wasn’t so arrogant as to think that she’d suddenly decided today was the day she wanted to climb back into bed with him. Something had spooked her, and she’d dealt with it by trying to lose herself in a fleeting moment of passion.
After tucking the dossier and the notebook into his pocket, he texted Phoebe a short apology, then went to fix the damaged front door, cursing the vampire the entire time. An hour later, he locked up and checked his phone. No response from Phoebe.
“Fuck.” He ground his teeth together and sent Bandu a message. He needed to know if the shifter leader knew anything about Asier.
“What’s the lead? Where are we headed?” I asked Allcot. We were in his car, Link in the back seat as we headed south out of town.
Allcot’s cool demeanor was a sharp contrast to my shaky limbs. I was still upset from my altercation with Dax. How had we gone from almost tearing each other’s clothes off to my wal
king out on him? It was inconceivable that he’d forced me to make a choice. He worked with a shifter pack I didn’t fully trust, and yet I’d never laid a guilt trip on him for his association. Willow was far too important to put personal feelings on the line. I’d work with the devil himself if it meant finding Willow before anyone harmed her.
“River Road. Nicola did her own tracing spell on Pandora,” he said.
“And it worked?” I asked, turning to give him my full attention. Tracing spells were rarely successful when they involved vampires. Witches had a hard time connecting with their distinct energy. However, Nicola and Pandora were half sisters, so that would give Nicola an edge while working the spell.
“Yes and no.” He sped up, his impatience obvious in his jerky movements. “Nicola couldn’t connect with her mentally, but she did see an image of her in a house—a house I recognized.”
“That’s… fortuitous,” I said.
His lips curved into a ghost of a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Sometimes being a century old pays off in ways one wouldn’t expect.”
It was strange to hear him refer to himself as being a hundred years old. My research had told me he’d been turned when he was only twenty-two. Only, the vampire didn’t look a day over seventeen. If it hadn’t been for his enormous ego and commanding presence, he could’ve ended up one of those vampires doomed to repeat high school for eternity. Instead, he was the head of the most powerful vampire organization in the country, perhaps the world.
“River Road, huh? I assume that means one of the old plantations then?”
He nodded.
“That doesn’t seem a little careless to you?” I asked, trying to figure out why anyone would hide a notorious vampire in a house on a road that was heavily traveled by tourists. River Road was home to a dozen plantations that were open to the public for tours. “I assume this one is a private residence?”