by Jenn Bennett
“Dinner sounds good,” I said. “But can we back up a moment? Because I think you should understand that I might’ve caused Yvonne’s concussion. I don’t know how much you know about what I am—”
“In regards to the mage thing, or the bartender thing?”
“Uh, the mage thing.”
“I know a little,” he said with a sly smile. He crossed his arms and nodded toward Lon. “He’s extremely protective of you. I suppose that’s no surprise.”
Lon grunted. I cleared my throat. God, we were so dysfunctional. “Well, anyway. I sort of used magick on her. That’s what caused the seizure. And probably the concussion.”
“I see. And on the bright side, should I assume that’s why her halo’s back to normal?”
Was Mick Hellfire? I tried to remember. I didn’t think he was, but surely he knew the story behind Lon’s dual-colored halo; if so, he also knew about Yvonne’s. “Yes,” I said simply.
“Don’t worry yourself,” Mick assured me. “I handled it. She’ll be fine. And your secret’s safe with me. Impressive, by the way.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
He slapped Lon on the shoulder with affection and a startling familiarity. “Go home to Jupe. Nothing you can do here. If Rose and Adella want to spend the night in her room, they’re welcome. But I gotta get back now. Duty calls.”
“Thanks,” Lon said.
“Don’t worry. I’m charging you double for making me save her. Joyce would have a cow if she knew Yvonne was anywhere near the hospital. It’s a miracle I never got caught in her web. I’d like to maintain my clean record.”
He hadn’t slept with Yvonne? I liked him more and more.
“If only I’d been so lucky,” Lon mumbled. “Go on, then. Heal the dead with your smile, or whatever the hell it is you do around here.”
Mick leaned toward me conspiratorially. “I don’t know what you see in this guy, but I’m damn grateful. Please don’t leave him. I’ll pay you.”
I laughed anxiously as he gave Lon a thumbs-up and walked away.
“What do you want to do?” I asked Lon.
“Get the hell out of here. I can’t handle hospitals. Let me go tell Rose.”
Of course he was overwhelmed with everyone’s miserable emotions. Why didn’t I realize that? I was so stuck in my own worries that I didn’t realize what kind of toll a place like this could have on his knack.
He reappeared a few minutes later and rushed me out the door, telling me that the Giovannis were staying with Yvonne tonight. Once we got a few yards away from the building, he visibly relaxed. I stopped him in the shadows between two parked cars. “What did you see earlier? What did I look like?”
His eyes searched mine. “You were . . . your skin was . . .” He paused, clicking his jaw to one side. “Your eyes were silver. Your halo was almost too bright to look at. It hurt my eyes. And I saw the tail.”
Ugh.
“I’ve never seen a tail like that on anything I’ve ever summoned,” I said in a small voice.
He didn’t comment. Didn’t have to. It was weird, and we both knew it. My mind leapt past the physical issues, to the reason we were here.
“Look, I’d lost control when you drove up and found us,” I said. “But I did what I thought was best at the time. Rose was right—you would’ve ended up in jail if I left it for you to handle. You didn’t see him, Lon. He was stumbling drunk, sick as a dog.” Angry tears pricked the backs of my eyelids. “She encouraged him to drink. Then she left him in the restaurant alone, when she should’ve been spending time with him. But the point is . . . the point is—”
He grabbed my face. Gold flecks from his halo glittered above his head. “You think I’m angry that you stepped up to defend Jupe? That you stopped me from hurting her or going to jail trying? Because, that would’ve been a real option. And sure, I’m upset about the situation. It was a stupid, ballsy thing for you to do.”
“I know, but—”
“But, I’m damn glad you did it. And I’m mostly upset because you’re going through something big, and I feel powerless to help you. All I can do is sit around in my library, combing through old books looking for a clue to whatever the hell is happening to you, and I’m coming up empty.”
“I—”
“And in the middle of all this, you have to deal with my baggage. I’m ashamed of it. And it worries me. Because I know you could be seeing some nice human with no crazy ex-wife, no hyper kid. Someone who won’t be a senior citizen when you’re still in your prime.”
“You know I don’t care about that.”
Hands tightened around my jaw. His look was so intense it almost frightened me. “Do you understand how lucky I am that you put up with all this bullshit? How fucking grateful I am? How much I love you?”
I stilled. His eyes widened. He hadn’t meant to say it. He was as surprised as I was. A low, deep shudder worked its way through my chest. My throat made a small, broken noise when I inhaled. I could barely get words out. “What did you just say?”
His eyes became unfocused. He blinked several times in rapid succession, then exhaled heavily, as if he was giving in, making peace with the idea. His gaze lifted and returned to mine. “I said I love you.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?” I grabbed his hands and pulled them away from my cheeks.
He let out a strained laugh and nodded. “Very sure.”
I didn’t have to say it back; he knew my feelings better than I did. But to hear it from him? It was like I’d just been given an endless supply of cool water and, until I drank a sip, hadn’t realized I’d been wasting away in a desert, dying of thirst.
My head dropped against him, falling into the space in the center of his chest where his breastbone dipped. A space that almost felt like it was made just for me. Where I could feel his heart beating. His arms wound around my back. He pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head. And for a long moment, only the two of us existed, and nothing else mattered.
He loved me. How wonderful was that?
I wanted to stay like that, wrapped in his arms, feeling safe and good. But then I remembered the vial in my pocket.
I pulled away to look at Lon. “I need to tell you something important. When Yvonne left Jupe alone in the restaurant, it was because she wanted to be alone with some Hellfire guy named Evan—”
Lon’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Evan Johnson?”
“I don’t know. Jupe said you hate him.”
“Definitely Evan Johnson.”
I pulled the red vial out of my pocket. “She was buying this from him.”
A rare look of surprise crossed Lon’s face. He took it from me and studied it. “Is this . . .”
“Don’t know if it’s fake or real, but yeah. She admitted that’s what she was buying.”
“Evan’s the dealer?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Christ. He’s Hellfire. Just a regular club member— not an officer, and not all that active in the club.”
“Maybe he’s Telly’s original source. Do you know where the guy lives?”
“Yes, I know.” Lon nodded and pocketed the vial. “Guess you and I will be paying Evan a little visit.”
• • •
My biggest worry about confronting Evan Johnson was that he’d be wielding some juiced-up knack, but Lon informed me that Evan didn’t have one. It was one reason why Lon suspected the guy had never been a regular attendee of the Hellfire Club’s monthly Succubi and Drugs parties at the Hellfire caves. “Hellfire members without any special gifts tend to be ignored,” Lon explained. “They’re outsiders.”
Like I needed another reason to hate that stupid club.
Evan’s house was a few blocks from the hospital. It was almost midnight, but I reasoned since Jupe had overheard Yvonne telling the guy she’d stop by his place later, he’d still be up.
We rang the doorbell. When the door swung open, we found
ourselves staring down the barrel of shotgun.
“Lon Butler?”
The gun lowered to reveal a dark haired, paunchy man who looked to be a little older than Lon. He might’ve been handsome, but his T-shirt and boxers weren’t flattering, and his eyes looked tired and panicked. A wary gaze flicked my way, then over our shoulders. “You alone?”
“Nice to see you, too, Evan,” Lon said, then slugged him in the face.
Evan hollered as he staggered backward, dropping the shotgun to block his face.
This was not part of our plan.
“What the hell?” Evan managed to spit out as he stumbled and collided into a wall.
Lon shook out his hand. “That’s for getting my kid drunk.”
Evan pulled his hand away from his face and stared down at the blood covering his fingers. Lon had got him good, all right. And as he stalked Evan down the hallway, he began transmutating.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Evan shouted, holding up his hands in surrender. “It was Yvonne who encouraged it, I swear. And I wasn’t trying to put the moves on her, or anything.” He made a pained noise. “Jesus, Butler—I think you broke my nose. Please stop. I can’t . . . just, please.”
Lon’s horns were out now. I pulled the front door shut so no one would walk in on us.
As I did, Lon cornered Evan against the wall. “I don’t really give a shit what Yvonne does, but I could have you arrested. My boy is at home sick. And on top of that, you’re selling Yvonne this?” He pulled the red vial from his pocket and shoved it in front of Evan’s face.
Evan made a sobbing noise. “Get that out of here! I gave it to Yvonne—I don’t want any part of it anymore. Please!”
Lon stared at Evan for several moments, reading his thoughts. “What the—” Lon flinched. His head swiveled toward an open arch that led into a living room. “Jesus!”
I peeked around the corner, desperate to see what Lon saw. The living room was torn apart like someone had searched it: drawers pulled out, cushions removed, furniture broken.
And sprawled on the carpet was a teenage boy with a bullet between his eyes.
Telly.
I glanced at Evan. “You killed him?’
“I found him like this,” Evan argued. “Lon, you’ve got to believe me. Isn’t that how your knack works? Can’t you tell? I wouldn’t kill my own stepson.”
“Hold on,” I said. “Telly’s your stepson?”
“His mother and I are separated,” Evan mumbled, slumping against the wall as he looked down at the body. “He’s been nothing but trouble since the day I met him. But now this . . .”
“He originally stole the bionic elixir from you?” I said, remembering Telly’s words from the camp under the bridge.
Evan looked surprised. “You know what it does?”
“Your kid nearly killed us with his knack after using it. He robbed my bar in Morella. He’s killed other people.”
“Oh, God. That elixir . . . I wish I’d never laid eyes on it.”
I glanced at Lon. Go on, I encouraged without speaking. Use your transmutated knack and get him to talk to you. If he resists, I’ll bind him.
Lon clamped a hand around Evan’s shoulder, causing the man to jump. “We need to know everything about the elixir, and you want to tell us.” He’d tapped down his anger and now sounded patient and coaxing. “Why don’t you start from the beginning, yeah?”
Whether or not Evan knew about Lon’s latent persuasive abilities, he didn’t resist. “It started at Thanksgiving. I’d just signed the separation papers. I hadn’t been to a meeting down at the Hellfire caves in months, but I didn’t have anything else to do. I somehow ended up in one of the Succubi rooms with David and whatever woman he was attempting to seduce that night.”
I stilled. “David Merrimoth?”
“Yeah. He normally wouldn’t give me the time of day, but we were all loaded, you know. Anyway, that’s where I first heard it mentioned. He was telling us about this rare elixir that amped up your knack. I didn’t see any that night. It was just a story, and I probably wouldn’t have thought about it again.”
“Keep going,” Lon encouraged. “When did you hear about it again?”
“Before we left the Succubus cavern, Merrimoth invited us to a party at his house. A private party—we were the only Hellfire members invited.” Evan wiped away blood trickling from his nose. “He’d never even spoken to me before that night. I felt like the luckiest guy in the world. But when I showed up for the party, he couldn’t remember my name. He thought I was from the catering company. It was humiliating. I was going to leave, but he was showing off, making it snow inside his house. When he wasn’t looking, I sneaked upstairs and looked around. Found the elixir stash in his closet. Ten vials. I took five.”
“Out of revenge?” I asked.
“Not really. I thought if the elixir could do that for Merrimoth, maybe it could help me. Everyone in my family has knacks—I’m the only one without one. I thought maybe if I took the elixir, it would bring out something in me.”
“Did it?” Lon asked.
Evan shook his head. “I took a whole bottle. Nothing happened. My wife came over to get some things from the attic and caught me with it, so I told her what it was. Telly was with her. He must’ve overheard us arguing, because the following night he broke into my house and stole three bottles. Next thing I know, I’m hearing about all these crazy knacks being used to commit crimes in Morella. I knew it was Telly. He’s been in and out of juvie. Runs away from his mom’s house for days at a time. Kicked out of school twice.” He stared at Telly’s body, a look of pity on his face. “Stupid kid. If he would’ve just minded his own business . . .”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “If Telly stole it from you, and we heard him talking about going straight to the source to steal it, he couldn’t have been talking about Merrimoth. He’s dead.”
“No,” Evan said softly. “Merrimoth wasn’t the source.”
Lon groaned. He was seeing the answers inside Evan’s head before the man could get them out. And the way Lon looked at me, I knew it wasn’t good.
I looked at Evan. “Who’s the source?”
The question hung between us for a moment before he answered. “Dare.”
My world shrank. Hair on my arms stood on end. “Dare? How?”
Evan swallowed. “Merrimoth claimed Dare had some magician cook it up a few years ago. Merrimoth had the idea to stop administering the Transmutation Spell to new initiates of the Body.”
The transmutated higher-ups in the Hellfire Club formed the Body. Only thirteen seats, and Lon held one of them. At least he used to. He hadn’t been active in the club for years, and hadn’t attended a monthly full moon “meeting” since he took me along several months back. I don’t think either of us knew where he stood in the club now that I’d told Dare to screw himself.
Evan’s thin, rough voice sounded even wearier than he looked. “It was a way to be transmutated in public. No horns, you know.” He glanced at Lon’s, shrugging. “Merrimoth was complaining that Dare hoarded it, and it wasn’t fair, because it was Merrimoth’s idea. They’ve been on the outs since Dare punished him for . . .” Evan’s attention turned to me, realization widening his eyes. “You’re the girl who broke the summoning circles in the caves. The reason Merrimoth got punished.”
And the one who killed Merrimoth when he was jumping off the second-floor balcony of his house into the ocean, but I didn’t volunteer this information.
“Don’t worry about her,” Lon said.
“Sure, sure,” Evan mumbled. “Anyway, Merrimoth took it from Dare. He made it sound like Dare was clueless about the theft, but I guess Dare eventually caught on when he heard about stuff on the news with the robberies. When I heard, I knew Telly had been selling it. I tried to get it back, but he ran away again. Told his mother that a black car had been following him.”
Black car. Oh . . . fuck. I looked at Lon. Dare’s been trailing me.
Evan tou
ched his nose and winced. “Once I found out Dare was looking for the elixir, I just wanted to get rid of it. So when I saw Yvonne was in town, I thought, well—she lives in Florida, and she’d take it with her. Get it out of Dare’s territory, you know.”
“Why didn’t you just throw it away?” I said.
Evan scratched his arm, avoiding Lon’s gaze.
“Because he wanted to sleep with Yvonne,” Lon answered.
“I’m sorry, man. You don’t understand what it’s like to be in that club and watch everyone else having fun. Everyone else making friends. Everyone else getting the good jobs. I’m a nobody. Useless. No family. Separated. I’m almost fifty, and all I do is crunch numbers in a cube all day. I just wanted to be part of everything, just once.”
We all sat in silence for a long moment.
“If Dare had Telly killed, he’ll kill you, too,” I said.
“Don’t you think I know that? I was packing when you showed up. I thought Dare had sent you here. I need to get out of town. Please, I’m begging—let me get out of here.”
“What about Telly’s body?” Lon said. “You’re just going to leave him?”
“I was going to call my wife after I left.”
“You have any more elixir hidden?”
Evan shook his head. “Telly stole the rest. All I had was what I gave Yvonne.”
Lon threw Yvonne’s vial of elixir on the floor and crushed the glass beneath his foot. Red liquid seeped into the pale carpet. “It’s not right to leave the boy like this,” he said.
“Police will be able to tell the bullet didn’t come from your gun,” I added.
“I know, but what am I supposed to do? Tell them Dare’s behind it? Who are they going to believe? I have no evidence. I don’t stand a chance against him.”