What a week it’s been.
CHAPTER TEN
I waited patiently for Evelyn to re-read my written report. She’d already read it once, but I had come into her office while she had been going through it a second time, and she hadn’t said anything besides “Come in,” after I knocked. It had only been a minute or two since I sat down, but time seemed to elongate, and stretch, and I had started bouncing my knee.
“It all looks pretty unbelievable, doesn’t it?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the page.
“I know,” I said, “I can hardly wrap my own head around it sometimes, but I don’t have a choice.”
She gave me her attention, now. “I haven’t received a call today, which means there’s a good chance no one’s died in a way that might suggest the jester had either reached someone before you interfered or had been able to reach someone after.”
“So, you actually do believe it?”
“I believe you aren’t lying on your report. Why would you? You also have three people who, while they weren’t in the Twilight with you, can confirm just about everything else—the scepter, the Circus, even the shared dream.”
My cheeks flushed. “I thought it would be important to mention that since it relates to the story.”
“I noticed a lack of detail relating to that part.”
“Do you really need all the details?”
“Probably not.” She looked at the page again, then looked up at me. “Andi, you’ve done some really good work on your first case. I honestly didn’t know they’d be related to what was going on, but fate seems to have smiled on you.”
“It seems to do that a lot when it wants to. Other times I don’t consider myself quite so lucky.”
“The important thing is, you found out what it was causing the deaths of those people, and you’ve found a way to stop it from happening. What about the Circus?”
“What about it?”
“You wrote in your report that your friend, Lucia, she’s still alive, she’s part of the Circus, and she’s displayed magic abilities.”
I nodded. “From what I could see, yes.”
“As long as she’s working for them, or with them, then she’s part of the problem and she has to be brought in just as much as the rest of them. We don’t know what the Circus is doing but considering they’re the ones who even knew anything about the Death Jester we have to hold them responsible and accountable, not just for the deaths of the people who have already died at the jester’s hands, but for those who could still die while it’s at large.”
“I understand.”
“Good. Again, this is really great work. I knew I was right to trust you with a big case. I guess that means you’re ready for your second.”
“Second? Already?”
“This is your job now, Andi, you work for the DPA.”
I was about to protest. Last night had left me exhausted, and there was still the jester and the Circus to deal with, but she was about to give me yet another case to solve? I knew the department was understaffed, but—
“—I want you to find the Circus and put a stop to whatever they’re doing,” Evelyn said.
A smile swept across my face. I nodded. “I’ll get right on that.”
Evelyn returned the smile, then plucked something up from behind a stack of papers and handed it to me. “You’ll need this.”
It was a leather wallet, small and black. I flipped it open. Inside was my badge, my identity card, and a signed order from the attorney general granting me the same powers as any other member of the DPA. The leather wallet came with a clip that I could strap to a belt, a pocket, or even just my waistband. I attached it to the hem of my jeans and turned my eyes up at my new boss.
“Thank you,” I said.
She nodded, then stretched her hand out over her desk. “Welcome to the DPA, special agent Daniels.”
I took her hand and shook it, then saw myself out of her office. The guys were all waiting for me around my desk. When Eli saw me, he started waving his thumb, his face suggesting he was waiting for me to tell him how it went. I flashed my hip at them and pulled my badge open, showing them my credentials. All three of them gave me a soft round of applause as I approached.
“It’s probably the best picture of me anyone’s taken in a while,” I said, approaching, “Remind me to thank Mikey on the way out.”
“How do you feel?” Damon asked.
“Tired. I think I’ve slept four hours in the last thirty-six. I need a stiff drink and a good sleep, in that order.”
“Let’s get you back to my place and we can do that,” Eli said.
“I’m not staying at my own place tonight?”
“Do you want to?”
I shrugged. “I just thought you’d be sick of having me by now.”
Eli glanced at Damon and Logan, and the three exchanged one of their secret looks. “Are you kidding?” Eli said, “Having a woman around the house is not only keeping us on our toes, but also your presence there is making Logan pick up after himself. I’m pretty sure the house would have been wrecked by now had you not been around.”
Eli wrapped an arm around me as we walking toward the elevator, “Let’s go, agent Daniels.”
“It’s special agent Daniels to the likes of you.”
Eli, Damon, Logan, and I walked out of the building together, not forgetting to thank Mikey for doing a sterling job with the picture that would now be on my badge for the foreseeable future. Overall, we were feeling good, and I didn’t want to burst that bubble for anyone, but there was a truth hidden beneath the happiness, a dark truth.
The four of us had just entered seriously dangerous territory, and I wasn’t just talking about the Death Jester and the Circus. Until that dream, I had never even considered the possibility that I might one day develop feelings one of them, let alone all three of them. But I had.
We reached the car, and I stepped into the front passenger seat. Eli moved around to the driver’s seat, Logan and Damon sat in the back. Just as I buckled myself in, I felt Damon lean his head in beside mine. I caught his expression in the side mirror, and immediately my cheeks flushed hot with blood. It was a sleepy, suggestive expression—bedroom eyes—is the term.
“So,” he said, “About that dream of yours…”
TO BE CONTINUED…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tansey is an up and coming author of Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy novels with a REVERSE HAREM twist. If your kind of books have magic, danger, strong, powerful females, and more hot guys than you could sink your teeth into in one sitting, then you've come to the right place!
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Also by Tansey Morgan
The Last Serpent
Serpent’s Touch, #1
Serpent’s Desire, #2
Serpent’s Kiss, #3
Serpent’s Bite, #4
Serpent’s Hold, #5
Serpent’s Revenge, #6
The Last Serpent, #7
The Labyrinth Queen
The Labyrinth Queen, #1
The Harlequin’s Harem
Twisted Fate, #1
Harlequin Dreams, #2
Twilight Warrior, #3
HARLEQUIN DREAMS
The Harlequin’s Harem
Book Two
Copyright © 2018 by Tansey Morgan & LJ Sampere
Visit: www.tanseymorgan.com
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