Angel Seduced

by Jaime Rush

“I see lots of pregnant women here,” he interrupted. “Surely one of them is ready to pop out a baby she has no plans to raise on her own?”

  Two men came out of their offices, drawn by Kasabian’s desperate and rude plea. The thinner of the two said, “You got this, Gemini?”

  The big, beefy Caido with a white trimmed goatee and mustache stalked toward Kasabian. “Your father just doesn’t give up, does he?”

  Now it was Kasabian’s turn to be startled.

  “You are Treylon’s son, aren’t you?” Gemini asked.

  How much did this guy know? Kasabian was going to have to tread carefully. “I am. How did you know?”

  “It was a guess. You look like him, and considering he’s been here bugging us so much lately, it wasn’t hard to put together.” Gemini came to a stop mere inches away. “So he’s sucked you into this whole”—he made finger quotes—“getting ready for the big, bad solar storm, huh?” He gestured for Kasabian to follow him outside, where they didn’t have the receptionist for an audience. “Does he know something we don’t, or is he just panicking like all those preppers? He seems to have the inside track on the storm, when it’s coming, how strong it’s going to be.”

  Kasabian decided to bluff. “He’s serious enough to be stockpiling kids. How many has he gotten from you?”

  Gemini shrugged. “I’m not sure exactly, maybe a dozen in the last few months. He’s made some special arrangement with my boss, borrowing them until the storm passes. Supposedly he’s using their essence to keep the Deus Vis even during the storm for his friends and family. Using it like the Essex, right? Son of a bitch has wiped us out.”

  He was talking about children as though they were merchandise. Kasabian swallowed back his outrage, and the implications of what he was saying. “The people who run this place are okay with him using them like that?” His shock and disgust was leaking through, and he could see that it was putting Gemini on guard by his closed expression. He tempered his voice when he asked, “Is that what you do here? Sell kids?”

  Gemini sounded almost robotic. “We don’t sell children. We find loving homes for them with Caidos who want a child. We give unwed mothers a safe place to have their baby.” There wasn’t a speck of concern or warmth, no indication that he cared at all what happened to the kids who were born here.

  “Yet, you let one man borrow a dozen so he can prepare for the solar storm?”

  “You’ll have to take that up with your father.” Gemini’s eyes narrowed. “How’d you get in here, anyway? All outside guests come through the office.”

  “I’m here to talk to a resident about her preteen son. This kid’s been at a youth center, and we’re trying to negotiate his…adoption. My father thinks getting older ones may work better, because there’s more availability.”

  Gemini’s mouth tightened. “You’re trying to work around our office?”

  “The kid’s not part of the Bend, so we aren’t violating any rules.” Whatever those might be.

  “And I say he is.”

  Kasabian felt Kye before he saw her. She came up beside him, Lyle at her side. “We should go.” Her wary gaze settled on Gemini.

  Gemini clamped his big hand on Lyle’s shoulder. “If he’s a resident’s son, he’s technically ours.”

  Kasabian gripped Gemini’s wrist and let the Shadow cross his eyes at the same moment he sent a magick jolt into Gemini’s skin. “He came in with us, and he leaves with us.”

  The man jerked back with a hiss. “What the fuck?”

  Kasabian anchored his hands on Lyle’s shoulders. “We’re leaving now.” He steered the boy toward the small parking lot, keeping his eye on Gemini.

  As soon as they were inside the car, Kasabian headed toward the gate. “Forgive me for not making introductions. That was Gemini, a cog in the Bend’s organization.”

  Kye rubbed her arms. “This place is more like the Bent. Something’s wrong here. Very wrong.”

  Lyle looked behind them where Gemini simply watched them leave. “Dude’s scary.”

  Kasabian watched their surroundings as he drove. No sign of movement or people gathering. He’d feel much better once they cleared the heavy iron gate. Except it wasn’t opening. His chest tightened. He’d brought Kye and Lyle to a potential prison. The guard in the gatehouse held out his hand in a Wait motion.

  Kasabian put the car into reverse, ready to ram it. He was so focused on the guard, the tap on the window made him jump. Gemini motioned for him to roll the window down. He did, ready for anything.

  Gemini was breathing heavily, obviously having run here. “If your father does know something about the storm, would you let me know?” He thrust his card at Kasabian. “With the news talking about it, and Treylon…well, it can make one a bit paranoid, if you know what I mean.”

  Relief swamped Kasabian as he took it, followed by anger. The guy wasn’t worried about all those kids he’d farmed out, but he sure was worried about his own ass. “Yeah, sure.”

  The gate opened, and it felt like ten minutes passed before it was wide enough to drive through. Everyone in the car collectively blew out a breath once they turned onto the road.

  “You’re right about this place being bent,” Kasabian said. “It’s definitely twisted. I think it’s a breeding farm that supplies kids for Caidos as their own personal Essex device. Most of the women there were Dragon or Crescent.”

  “What’s an Essex device?” Lyle asked.

  Kasabian met Lyle’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “You know how it’s uncomfortable to pick up Dragons’ and Deuces’ emotions? It gets worse once you hit puberty and you’re Awakened.”

  “That’s when I come into my full Caidoness, right? When Dragons can become all beastly and Deuces find out what their magick is. Cory’s been preparing all of the twelve-year-olds for that.”

  “Exactly. Then it will be a lot harder to be around other types of Crescents, and Mundanes as well. The Essex is a way to alleviate that pain temporarily.” He explained how it worked. “Caidos can’t take someone’s essence without their permission, but children don’t have to give permission. If a Caido adopts, say, a Dragon child, he can do the Essex with the child as often as he wants.” Kasabian didn’t say that it could drain that child to the point of death. Like the children who’d been rescued with him.

  Kye looked horrified. “And if that child was raised from birth with the Caido, he wouldn’t know any different. All those pregnant women are breeders…”

  “Like my mom.” Lyle’s face blanched. “So everything she said about wanting me in her life, me being with my half sibling…”

  “I’m sorry.” Kasabian had to tell Lyle the truth so he wouldn’t be ensnared by the rosy picture she was painting. “I know how it feels to be betrayed by the one person who should be doing everything in his or her power to protect you.”

  Kye gave Kasabian an empathetic look before turning to run her hand down Lyle’s arm. “The lure of money can be very strong. This is about her, not you or Jonathan.” She looked at Kasabian. “From the outside, her little house was unassuming. Inside, she had a high-end surround sound system, a huge television. Everything I saw was first class. And no sign of a nursery. I told her she’d have to set up a room for Lyle before he could come back. She would have to dismantle her elaborate gym in the second bedroom.”

  “I’m not going back to her.” Lyle’s cheeks were blotchy, his eyes puffy. “But I am going to get my half brother or sister out of there.”

  “And we will,” Kasabian said. “We’ll crack open that whole place. At the moment, we have more immediate concerns. Silva said this would be over in a day or two, meaning sometime tomorrow. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the solar storm effects are supposed to hit around the same time. Years ago, when I was in Treylon’s captivity, he didn’t have enough power to use the accumulated essences in whatever way he needed. Given the Crescent scientific theory that a major solar storm triggered the gods’ ability to become physical in the first pl
ace, I think Treylon is hoping this one will give him the boost he’ll need to pull off his scheme.”

  Kye chewed the tip of her finger. “Which means we don’t have much time.”

  A few minutes later, they pulled into Harbor. Kasabian and Kye escorted Lyle back to his empty room. Lyle just stood there, the strain clear on his face. All it took was for Kasabian to put his hand on the kid’s back, and he collapsed against him, sobbing. Kasabian had healed many a Crescent of heartbreak, had been torn in half by tears, but he’d never given physical comfort before.

  Kye came up behind Lyle and pressed her cheek against his bony shoulder. She whispered words of comfort. It made Kasabian realize he needed soothing, too. Lyle turned into Kye’s embrace, and she hugged him fully. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she held him.

  Lyle finally gained control over himself and stepped back. “That was so not cool,” he said in a thick voice, rubbing away his tears.

  Kye brushed his damp hair from his forehead. “You’ll be stronger for it, not weaker.”

  Lyle looked at her as though she’d caught him in Thrall. “I wish my mom were like you.”

  Bittersweet sadness filled Kye’s smile. “My mom’s no loving cup either. We get what we’re dealt. It’s our job to make the best of it.”

  Lyle gave her an imploring look. “Let me help with this. I need to help.”

  Kye’s smile was soft and regretful as she smoothed back his hair. “I know the feeling. But you’re only a child, and we can’t put you in danger.”

  Kasabian kept his hand on Lyle’s back. “I will let you help where it’s safe. You’ll have to trust me. I want to find him almost as much as you do.”

  Lyle nodded, his eyes still wet. “I trust you.”

  Those simple words made him smile. “Thank you.”

  After they headed out, Kasabian walked to the Lotus’s passenger side to open the car door for her.

  Kye paused before getting in. “I trust you, too.”

  She was close enough that he brushed a stray lock of hair from her forehead. “Now that’s a mistake, love.”

  Her mouth curved in a smile. “Mmm, it’s ‘love’ again.”

  The endearment had slipped out, despite his order not to use it on her. “It rolled off my tongue that first night we met.”

  “I figured you probably called every woman that.”

  He could lie and say he did. But she’d just said she trusted him, and so in the end, he admitted, “I’ve never called any woman ‘love.’” He leaned against the roof of the car, facing her. “Don’t look at me like maybe, just maybe, I’m not so bad because I let some kid cry all over me. I’m not good, Kye. I used you, made you lose your abilities, and I want to possess you despite all of that. And that’s not even the Shadow part of me. Don’t ever trust me, Kye.”

  Chapter 13

  Sarai had been getting terrible feelings about Kye all morning. She’d been trying to call her for just as long. On the third try, Kye answered.

  “Thank gods! Have you been ignoring my calls?” Sarai had to tamp down her ire.

  “No, of course not.” Sarai could hear her friend’s genuine contriteness. “I’ve just been, well, caught up in something.”

  “Something called Kasabian?”

  “We’re involved in a…project.”

  Sarai leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “Oh, is that what they’re calling it nowadays?”

  “It’s serious. I don’t want to drag you into this any more than you are. Excuse me for a moment,” Kye told someone and then a moment later said, “Look, Sarai—”

  “I’ve been worried about you. Remember that forecast I got when you first met him? Well, I’m getting more. But I need to ask you something first, and I’m not being nosy. Did the first part of my forecast come true?”

  Silence for a few moments. “You mean the good and hot and sexy part?” she asked at last.

  “Yes. I need confirmation that I’m accurate. Because frankly, I’m a bit confused.”

  Another moment of silence. “Yes. It was all of that, Sarai, and don’t lecture me.”

  Sarai closed her mouth on what would have been just that. She was concerned for her friend, for so many reasons. Kye had always been the levelheaded one. While Sarai fell in love willy-nilly, Kye was the voice of reason. To throw away her abilities, her sanity, to chase Kasabian and some project wasn’t like her. She’d heard that Caidos could hold others in Thrall, and that had to be what Kye was under.

  Kye broke into her thoughts. “I know it’s hard for you to trust my judgment when it feels like I’ve gone off the deep end. I’m asking you to anyway. What are you seeing? No matter how crazy it sounds, I need to know. Maybe it could help.”

  Sarai didn’t trust her judgment, but she would tell her what she knew. “Are you dealing with any Dragons right now? Because I’m seeing some dark Dragon energy.”

  “Sort of. Go on.”

  “I still see you in a very bad place, and whatever’s going on there is tearing your heart out. I keep getting the phrase ‘sleeping with the enemy.’ Does any of that mean something to you? Particularly the ‘sleeping with’ part?”

  “Kasabian is not the enemy, and I’m certainly not sleeping with anyone else. That expression can mean working with the enemy, too.”

  Sarai mulled that over. “Something about that phrase resonates. Yeah, working with the enemy will move things forward. That’s what I’m getting, though I’m not sure what it means. What in the hell are you two up to?”

  “I have to go, hon. Thank you. For the information and for your confidence in me. Let me know if you get anything else. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  Sarai sank down on her couch. Her best friend was sliding down a very slippery slope. Sarai needed to call in reinforcements if she was going to save her from whatever was at the bottom.

  Hayden was about to drop from exhaustion. For hours, he’d been staking out the estate where he thought the Hummer was registered. It wasn’t the same place where he’d found Kasabian being beaten. That would have been too easy.

  The gate opened, and the black Hummer pulled out. Suddenly Hayden wasn’t tired anymore. Was Jonathan inside? The windows were too dark to see anyone, but he thought he saw a head that was shorter than the rest in the backseat. He waited for several heartbeats and followed.

  Fifteen minutes later, the Hummer pulled into the secured garage of the White Tower, an exclusive and secure high-rise with residences above the ground-level shops. The estate had been impossible to Leap into because of a barrier—the Tower would be even harder.

  Kasabian had just updated him on their visit to the Bend. Or the Bent, as he heard Kye call it in the background.

  The place had always given him the creeps, and he never knew why. Now he did. That boy who’d been sold and used, who still lived deep inside him, must have sensed that something wasn’t right. Once they were finished with Treylon’s operation, he was going to shut down that disgusting madness.

  He called Kasabian and reported, “The Hummer finally left. I’m not sure if Jonathan was inside, but I have a feeling he was. I followed it to the White Tower.”

  Kasabian took a second to digest that. “Where the Elders are rumored to live.” The elite group of the oldest Caidos. “Which makes sense, since at least one Concilium member is obviously involved in my father’s scheme. The one who arranged for Jonathan to be taken from Guard custody. Find Jonathan and we find that person.”

  Hayden leaned forward and scanned the side of the building that rose up some twenty-five stories. “Exactly what I was thinking. Other than the small issue of getting inside the most secure building in Miami. I was part of a team that responded when a Caido took a woman hostage here. Even then I had to be double cleared.”

  “Come on, you’re super Vega man. Are you saying that getting in is going to be a problem for you?”

  Smart-ass. “I’ll just scale the outside and bust into one of the windows.”

  �
�I have an easier way to get us in.”

  “The super-secret password?”

  “Yeah. Muse.”

  Hayden curled his fingers over the bottom of the steering wheel. “Come again?”

  “You’ve heard of Muses?”

  “Only that they’re a small group of female Caidos with that geisha mystique. From what I’ve heard, they’re basically high-priced call girls who only service the Elders.”

  Kasabian made some kind of grunting sound. “They’re not call girls.”

  “Sounds like they’re just taking advantage of being a rare female and making men pay for it. Which makes them call girls.”

  The Caido male who snagged a female Caido could manage to have a marriage, even a sex life, because Caidos couldn’t sense each other’s feelings. On top of that, they suppressed their emotions, so they felt no true desire and thus no pain. It ended up being more of a partnership, a way to perpetuate the small population of Caidos.

  “They’ve been revered and protected by Caido Elders since the beginning of our kind,” Kasabian said. “They are treated like goddesses. If she sees a non-Elder as a client, he usually showers her with gifts. Men go to them to be inspired. They’re like the Greek muses. And they live in the Tower.”

  “And this helps us how? Because I don’t know about you, but I don’t have any Muses in my phone directory.”

  “I do.”

  Hayden slapped the wheel now. “You’ve been getting it on with some sex goddess, and you never told me?”

  “We haven’t been getting it on. Mallory and I kept running into each other at a coffee shop. We became friends, and she confided about the Muse thing. Before that, I thought they were high-priced call girls, too.”

  “Hey, if she can help us get to that kid, I’ll kiss her feet.”

  “All right, I’ll set up an introduction. Foot fetish then. Call you right back.”

  “I hope you’re kidding,” Hayden said, but Kasabian had already hung up. He sat back in the seat and released an impatient breath. Now that he’d potentially located Jonathan, it was hard to stay still and wait. A Muse would get him in. Figured. He didn’t have anything against Muses morally. Well, maybe he did. He remembered the Crescent men who came to his mother’s run-down apartment and paid for the novelty of fucking an angel. There were Caido men, too. She’d told him that the pressures of being one of the few females had messed her up. She never knew if a man wanted her for her or because she was Caido. So she sold herself and kept the boundaries clear. And her bank account full.