“Rabbi?” Ari prompted. “I really want to contribute somehow.”
Don’t over act, golden boy.
“Good, Ari,” the rabbi said. “Agreed. If Ethan’s attack was a result of some deal, we need to know. Betrayals will not be tolerated.”
Hypocrite, thy name was Mandelbutt.
“Can I see Ethan’s body?” Kane said.
Rabbi Mandelbaum said something in Hebrew. “Ilya.”
Ilya jerked up his head at the rabbi’s sharp tone, blinking rapidly like he’d been momentarily disoriented. “What?”
“I’ll call the Chevra Kadisha representative,” Baruch said, picking up Ilya’s slack. “They’re performing the Tahara on Rabbi Wahl and handling the transport of Ethan’s body, but we can get Kane in before Ethan is sent home.”
Rabbi Wahl was being prepared for Jewish burial with the ritual washing and prayers, but Ethan’s burial would be handled once he was in Switzerland.
Rabbi M said he was staying here in Los Angeles until this situation was resolved. He demanded a quick update from Rohan on our current assignment and upon hearing that the charity event was tonight, his lip curled. “Have fun,” he sneered at me.
Ro took my hand, out of sight under the table. I thought it was for support until I felt something tickle me. He was drawing on me. A tiny rough sketch of a squirrel in goggles.
I snorted a laugh, doing my best to turn it into a cough.
The meeting broke up after that. The four Rasha the rabbi had brought ushered him out in tight formation, but Mandelbaum paused at the door.
“This was a tragedy and those responsible must pay.” Did he linger on me longer than the others? “Be’ezrat HaShem.”
I prodded my brother. “What did he say?”
Ari watched the rabbi leave. “God willing.”
14
The door slammed before the rest of us could go anywhere. Cisco leaned against it, arms crossed. “Why does the rabbi need bodyguards?”
“How did he even know it was witches that compelled Ethan?” Bastijn raked a hand through his curls. “The attack happened yesterday and we’d never had any issue with them before. I didn’t even know they existed until Danilo revealed his weird-ass tastes.”
Danilo stretched and grinned. “You just wish there were dude witches, man.”
“I’m good,” Bastijn said. “Anyway, what’s with the rabbi? A day later he shows up with bodyguards because they’re priority one?”
“You know something,” Cisco said to Ro. He sat back down at the table, studying each person in my group with a shrewd look. Then he cocked his fingers like a gun at me. “But I think you know more.”
He was one Rasha among eight, all shoulder-to-shoulder at a round table, like King Arthur and his knights. If that wasn’t a sign to go a-questing together, then I didn’t know what was.
“Give me your cell.” I held my hand out to Cisco, who drew his phone out of his pocket, but held on to it. I blasted the phone out of Cisco’s hand and it hit the ground, smoking.
All the L.A. Rasha froze, wearing identical “Oh shit, crazy chick” expressions of wide-eyes and slack-jaws.
I turned to Danilo. “Phone. Now.”
When he didn’t move, I blasted his chair–between his legs–with a single lightning strike.
Hand over his crotch, he jumped up so fast, his chair toppled over backward. He tossed me his cell.
Bastijn didn’t need to be asked. He slid his over immediately.
Scooping up Cisco’s phone, I took them all, opened the window, and tossed them outside. I slammed the window shut.
“Mandelbaum was working with a witch who had dark magic to unleash demons on the world and make the Brotherhood a big savior. She’s dead and he’s looking for her replacement. Ta da.” I threw jazz hands. “Pick a side.”
“Go big or go home?” Ro said to me.
“Playing coy was yesterday’s reality.”
Kane tilted his head, studying the other group. “No protests that he’d never do such a thing. Interesting.”
“Walk us through what you’ve learned,” Cisco said.
“And how you learned it,” Danilo said.
I’d told this story so many times, I could take it on the road as a one-woman show. Thing is, I’d never had to fudge a version that got me to the witches without Ari’s involvement. I was deep into a fascinating and totally plausible story about running into a coven on a full moon in Prague when Ari interrupted me and told them the truth about his induction.
No one seemed to care, though Bastijn looked intrigued.
Kane shifted his chair closer to Ari’s.
“Fine,” I said to the group at large. “I met Dr. Gelman because of the induction.” I included Sienna in the story though I kept my witch status, Lilith, and Ilya’s memory wipe out of it. They seemed trustworthy, but I was holding off on those details until I had absolutely no doubts about them.
“So we’re looking for Sienna,” Cisco said.
“You can try,” Kane said. “Most likely won’t find her until she wants to be found.”
“Ferdinand Alves,” Bastijn said. “Guy shows up out of nowhere and is treated like a V.I.P. He was a part of all this, wasn’t he?”
The L.A. Rasha told us about Rabbi Wahl assigning Zander to work with Ferdinand on some classified gig a couple months ago. Cisco had heard Zander and Ferdinand arguing about something, though he only heard the raised voices, not the topic. They’d subsequently disappeared for a few days, and when they got back, Zander stayed stoned-to-the-point-of-catatonic for a week.
He’d also had deep scratches all over his hands that he’d refused to explain.
I stopped pacing. “When was this?”
Cisco turned to Bastijn. “What night did you get back from Caracas? It was then.”
“June twentieth,” Bastijn said.
“That’s around when Ferdinand died,” Rohan said. “Shedim killed him.”
“Shedim controlled by Sienna,” I said.
Danilo cursed. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” Ro replied. “I was there. Ferdinand was trying to kill me. Though we didn’t know about Sienna until later.”
“Well, fuck,” Cisco said.
I drummed my fingers on the table. “The timing of the fight also fits for when Tessa died.”
“Ferdinand’s wife,” Ari clarified for the others. “And the witch with dark magic that Mandelbaum was using.”
I’d taken a snap of the photo Ro had found of Tessa and Ferdinand at his apartment and put it on my burner phone, along with one of Sienna. I passed the cell to the men.
Danilo whistled. “I saw her once. Pegged her for a witch in about three seconds.”
Bastijn took the phone from him. “You think they killed Tessa?”
“No. Dark magic killed Tessa,” I said. “It’s not a sustainable hobby. But there’s some connection with the timeframe of the fight that we’re missing.”
“Rabbi Wahl?” Cisco said. “Not-so-innocent bystander?”
“Seems likely,” Rohan said.
There was a loud crack. Baruch held a chunk of the wooden conference table in his hands and was glaring at it. “This runs too deep into the heart of the Brotherhood.”
“So let’s find out where everyone’s loyalties lay,” Ari said.
“Quietly.” Baruch pinned the L.A. Rasha with his steely blue gaze. “Find out how far Rabbi Mandelbaum and his friends’ tentacles stretch. Contact those you trust. Rohan, can we commandeer my bungalow to set up a war room?”
Rohan nodded.
War room. I swallowed. Then I broached the unpopular topic still unresolved. “Why Ethan?”
Danilo stood up with a scowl. “This again?”
“If Sienna didn’t care about using an innocent person, why not just make him into a magic bomb and take everyone out? This was a precise strike. None of the staff were hurt and the Rasha that tried to stop him weren’t hurt because of Sienna. They got hurt in the fight. That means Sienna didn’t
want them hurt.”
I was starting to sound like a broken record, but the distinction was important. It would be too easy to paint Sienna as an archvillain, see her in terms of black-and-white absolutes. That would be to our peril.
“You didn’t know him,” Bastijn said.
“No, I didn’t. My thinking isn’t clouded by personal sentiment, either.” I’d effectively split us back into us and them and I wasn’t sure which group Rohan fell into.
“It all must be considered,” Baruch said.
Before I could lay out a plan, Ro cut me off. “Get burners. No Brotherhood cells anywhere near you when you’re discussing this assignment.”
Cisco stood up, cracking his knuckles. “Love a good dose of paranoia.”
Danilo jabbed a finger at me as he strolled past. “Stirred shit up.” He looked pleased to have a fight on his hands.
Bastijn clapped Ari on the shoulder. “Good to see you again, chamo.”
Damn, his accent was hot. I cut a sideways look at Kane, who scowled at them. That’s right, son. Man up and appreciate my brother.
“You too, Bastijn.” The tips of Ari’s ears were pink but there was no awkwardness, so while they’d totally slept together, it was quite a while ago.
“Hussy,” I whispered to my brother.
“What a touching reunion,” Kane said.
“It is.” Ari exchanged a warm smile with Bastijn.
Bastijn smirked at Kane and left.
I poked Kane with a pen, since he still wasn’t touch-safe. “You’re an idiot.”
“For what?” Kane said.
“Put your razor-sharp mind to it for five minutes and see if you can puzzle it out.”
Ro checked the hallway. “Sorry for cutting you off, Nava. They weren’t going to listen. I’m having trouble believing it of Ethan and I know you’re probably right.”
“He wasn’t working with Ferdinand,” I said, “because the others would have noticed. Maybe some side job via Rabbi Wahl or reporting directly to Mandelbaum?”
“Follow the money,” Ari said.
“You think that applies here?” I said.
He shrugged. “Dad always says in nine out of ten cases if you follow the money, you get motive.”
“I can do that,” Kane said.
“Ace, you’ll cross check the timeline to whatever Kane finds out?”
“On it.”
“Last thing,” I said. “I need to search Mandelbaum’s room.”
“Why?” Ari asked.
Ugh. Did I really want to go into the details? My brother did not need to know about my clogged toilet situation.
“Long story,” I said.
“Rohan lost his magic,” Baruch said. “Nava made a deal with Lilith, yes, that Lilith, who is alive thanks to dark magic, to get it back. Now she’s trapped inside Nava and if we don’t trade one of Mandelbaum’s tzitzit to a demon for an artifact to remove her, your sister will die in a month.”
“Okay. Maybe not that long,” I said.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Shadows slithered around Ari’s body like snakes. I could taste the charcoal. “Why didn’t you tell me she was trapped in you?”
“I didn’t want to upset you.”
Ari went apoplectic.
Kane went to put his hand on Ari’s shoulder and stopped himself, his skin still faintly purple. “Freak out later, help your sister now.”
“Did you know?” Ari demanded.
“No, calm down.” Kane said, then arched an eyebrow at me. “But we’ll be having words about this secret-keeping of yours, babyslay.”
“Good. All our secrets can come out at once, then.” I looked pointedly from him to my brother.
Kane jutted out his chin with a huff. “Curiosity killed the cat.”
Ari was struggling to get his magic under control. It filled more of the room, careening wildly.
“Shut it down, Ari. She’ll get through this,” Baruch said.
“You can’t promise that!” Whoa. Ari was snapping at his idol.
“Esther is working on it,” I said. “I’ll be okay, I swear, but right now, I need your help.”
He drew his magic shadows into himself with visible effort. “Everyone is too paranoid right now. Wait until later to search.”
“Now’s the perfect time. Mandelbaum is busy. Distracted.”
“He’s got bodyguards,” my brother shot back.
“All of whom probably have special instructions where you’re concerned,” Kane said.
“Tell me what you really think,” I said.
“Sure.” Ari said. “Not now. No.”
“Great. I’m gonna take that as a ‘go for it.’”
“Nee.”
“One month, Ari. How about I don’t put this off?”
He flinched like I’d hit him. “I’m telling Mom and Dad.”
“Before or after I’m dead?”
Ari glared at me.
“Go,” Rohan said. “We have your back.”
I portalled upstairs. All was silent as I crept to the deluxe guest suite where Mandelbaum was staying. The door was wide open and the room was empty.
It had to be a trap.
I searched all of his drawers with a cutthroat efficiency. Jackpot. I slid a tzitzit into my pocket.
“Not now, Baruch,” Mandelbaum said, his footsteps drawing closer. At Baruch’s protests he said he’d meet him downstairs in five. “Oskar, with me.”
I might never get an eavesdropping opportunity like this again. I wriggled under the rabbi’s bed. It was not badass and super spy. It was me crammed in with the box spring digging into my sweaty back, nervously straining to hear every sound, while getting too intimate with the dust bunnies tickling my nose.
Two sets of feet entered and the door closed.
“Well?” Mandelbaum said.
“You were right,” said a male voice with a German accent. “He was tight with Ethan.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I shimmied as far forward on my belly as I could without being seen, but it only got me a view of their legs.
“I don’t trust him,” the rabbi said. “He’s acting cagey, disobeying orders. I warned him to sever that relationship.”
Ro. I pressed my palms into the carpet to smother the sparks flying off them.
“You want to keep an eye on him for a bit longer?” Oskar asked.
“No,” Mandelbaum said. My heart stuttered a dozen times. “He’s run out of chances.”
I reached for the hem of the blanket to move it out of the way and stop them, when Oskar said, “Too bad. Ilya was a good guy. But you’re right. Every time I checked in with him about whether he’d found out what Ferdinand planned to give us the night he died, he claimed to forget.”
“Something happened on his trip up north,” the rabbi said. “Something changed.”
My stomach dropped into my toes with a queasy lurch. The memory wipe. Ilya was no innocent but he didn’t deserve to die because of my actions. I portalled out, landing behind the reception desk.
I ran toward my friends.
“Ilya. Find him.” I clutched Baruch’s arm. “Please.”
Had I anything personal of his, I’d have done a location spell.
“Why?” Kane said.
This was it. The last moment that my friends and family ever looked at me without disgust.
“I memory wiped him meeting me, but I guess I screwed up and Mandelbaum thinks he’s gone off-book and ordered him killed.”
They sprung into action. We scoured the building, but he and the German were gone and I had my first human death on my conscience. Too bad, it wouldn’t be my last.
15
The last thing I wanted to do was doll up and attend Zack’s charity event, but I couldn’t back out. Not after all my posts of the past couple of days, each one more self-satisfied and entitled than the last, shoving this relationship in everyone’s face, and setting the stage for first contact with Hybris.
I’d tr
ied calling Baskerville but it went straight to voicemail. I put the tzitzit in my underwear drawer, then moved it to my T-shirt drawer because, nope, too weird.
Since I had to look my part for the evening’s festivities, I channeled my impending nervous breakdown into a total destruction of Billie’s fine unpacking.
“I have nothing to wear!”
“The mound on the bed suggests otherwise.”
I rounded on Rohan with a feral snarl.
“But you’re right. Also perfect the way you are.”
“Say it.” I jabbed him in the chest. “I killed Ilya. I’m a monster.”
“You didn’t kill Ilya.”
Demons disappeared when we killed them. Humans didn’t. I may not have had the firsthand visual of Ilya’s lifeless eyes like I did with Ethan, but I could picture his dead body all too easily.
Actually, what I couldn’t stop picturing was that damn bright pink pastry box that Mischa had brought for the two of them. They’d had their final birthday together and for the rest of his life, his twin would manifest as a phantom ache, a deep-seated loneliness Mischa would never be able to escape.
Stories liked to toss around the old “it takes a monster to stop a monster” trope. It sounded so guns-blazing and sexy. So very “I’m gonna be the biggest badass on the block.” The truth was that becoming a monster wasn’t a grand jump into darkness, but a small step sideways: walking past a homeless person asking for change, ignoring the food bank appeals while standing in line for your second latte of the day.
The scary thing about becoming a monster was that we all had the potential in us, and with Lilith trapped inside me, I had it more than most. If I needed to keep using her magic to help our side I would, but I was going to fight tooth and nail to keep my humanity.
Thing was, had it already changed how Rohan saw me?
“Everyone was too focused on finding Ilya to say anything, but it’s you and me now.” I laughed bitterly. “Don’t hold back.”
Rohan pushed my pile of dresses aside and sat down on the bed. He patted the mattress beside him, but I shook my head, rooted to my spot, my arms wrapped around myself.
“Six months ago, I would have agreed with you. You practiced magic on a fellow Rasha, magic that you didn’t have a handle on, and as a result, he’s dead or whatever they’ve done to him.”
The Unlikeable Demon Hunter: Fall Page 15