Avenge (Malice #2)

by Amity Hope

  “Uh-huh.” His response was noncommittal.

  “We haven’t been very good at keeping in touch,” I admitted with a sigh. “But my mom thought it would be rude to pass through Crescent City without a hello.”

  “You didn’t think to call first?” he asked.

  I fidgeted. “I wasn’t real sure we would stop. But I decided I’d better or my mom will have a whole lot to say about it.”

  “Huh.” He eyed me up and down. “Your ma must not be real close with the Julenes.”

  I wasn’t sure where he was going with this but I decided it was best to agree. “She’s not. I think she was feeling bad, considering Everett is getting up there in age. That’s why she was so insistent that I stop.”

  “Well, they’re not around. Took off for Europe a few weeks back. They didn’t tell you that?”

  “They?” I parroted

  “That brother of his…what’s his name?” He crinkled his brow as he eyed me up. I got the impression that this was a test.

  “Are you talking about Uncle Calvin?” I hopefully offered.

  He nodded slowly, as if pleased with my answer. “Yeah. That would be him. He showed up maybe a month or so back. Stayed with Everett while the two of them got ready to take off on that big trip of theirs,” he explained. “You didn’t know they were leaving the country?”

  I shook my head and glanced back at the house. “No sir. Like I said, we’re not real close.”

  “Why don’t you tell me what you’re really doing here?” He leaned forward in his chair. “No one’s looked up that old coot in years, now he’s had two visitors in one day.”

  “Two?”

  He nodded. “Older lady. Wire thin. Grouchy as all get out. Seems odd to me you both show up the same day. Old Ev wasn’t exactly the type to get much company. Seems to me something must be going on.”

  I shrugged and tried to look perplexed. “I don’t know who that would be.”

  “Well it doesn’t matter. Like I said, those two are gone. Some young fellas are renting out the place.”

  “Oh, really?” I pressed. “Are they around? Maybe they’d have more information on my uncles. I’m sure my mom will ask. Do you know what they’re names are? Or where they are? When they’ll be back?”

  Renting out the house…That had been their cover story. I had wondered how they’d explain away the disappearance of their crotchety old bodies. This was how. They’d claimed an extended vacation so no one would miss them. Then they’d used the excuse that the house was rented out—with that information spread around before their disappearance—so no one would question the two new, much younger guys who were suddenly living there.

  “Tristan and Jude, I think that’s what they said. Those two come and go all day long,” he said with disapproval. “I saw them leave early this afternoon. Haven’t seen them come back yet. I’m sure they’ll be back eventually, but I couldn’t tell ya when. Couldn’t tell ya where they went, either.” He took another sip of lemonade.

  Tristan and Jude. Thanks to Hazel I knew that keeping the names of the person whose vessel you stole made things slightly less complicated. Jude and Tristan would’ve both had their IDs with them when Levi crashed into their lives. It would be a whole lot easier to slide into an existing identity than to create a new one.

  I tugged a hand through my hair, messing up the loose ringlets I had so carefully curled into the ends. I wanted to beg him for more information. My logical side told me it wouldn’t be worth it. He didn’t know where they’d gone. And why would he? It wasn’t as if they’d make a public announcement of it every time they left the house.

  I turned away from him and began eying up the other houses on the street. What were the chances any of them would know where two guys had gone?

  “Don’t bother. That lady that got her before you, she knocked on just about every door. Don’t think she got the answers she was looking for either. She didn’t look to happy when she left here.”

  That was something, at least. Lebeau didn’t have any more information than I did.

  “I can tell you this, though. She told me she’d be back shortly. She gave me a phone number and asked me to call if they came back before she did.”

  I spun back around. “Did she?”

  He nodded. “I gotta say, I think you’re both liars. Do you wanna tell me what’s really going on? Those two have become a nuisance to the neighborhood. This is a retirement community. Those two come and go all hours of the night.” He shook his head.

  My heart banged around in my chest, as if it wanted to get moving. My feet were in agreement. I edged toward the steps.

  “Okay. Well, thank you for your time,” I evaded.

  I didn’t listen to what else he had to say. I hurried to the big, blocky van and pulled open the door. Daphne had left the front seat open for me. I crawled inside.

  “We have to find them before Lebeau. She’s been here. She wasn’t able to get any information from the neighbors but she’s coming back. She could come back at any time. They’re going by Tristan and Jude.” My words spilled into the van.

  I glanced around at my friends. They were all seated in the back end. A map was resting on the floor between them. I recognized it as the map I’d duplicated. Someone must’ve taken it from my pocket. Next to it, remnants of something smoldered on a brass plate. I realized then that the unpleasant scent of burnt hair filled the van.

  “You did the locator spell,” I said.

  Caleb gave me a cocky grin and winked at me. “Sure did.”

  “Did it work?”

  His grin slipped into a scowl. “Of course it worked.”

  “We better get moving,” Riley asserted. “If they move on before we get there, we’ll be back to square one.”

  I didn’t argue. I slumped against the seat as Caleb clambered through the small opening that would let him climb into the driver’s seat.

  My heart was hammering. This was it. This was our one chance.

  And I owed it all to my friends.

  I, once again, had turned up nothing. I’d simply wasted our time by chatting up an old man. I shook the thought away. No time to dwell on it now.

  “Where are we headed?”

  “A place called Charlie’s,” Caleb said as he peeled away from the curb.

  I craned my head to scope out the streets surrounding the neighborhood. “I wonder where Lebeau went.”

  “Probably to get back-up,” Caleb said. He caught my distraught expression and shrugged. “Sorry. But I’m pretty sure I’m right. I’m just surprised she didn’t have back up with her. Then again, she seems like the kind of lady that’s pretty full of herself. So maybe it’s not a surprise at all.”

  “I shouldn’t be surprised that she’s one step ahead of us. She had to have traveled by portal too.”

  Caleb nodded his agreement. “I’m sure she did. I’m also sure that whoever created the portal for her was not Lamia.”

  I sliced a look his way. “She’s working with the Striga?”

  “Of course she is. She’s a power hungry wench. She’s probably bribing someone, if you ask me.”

  “You need to take a left up here,” Alex ordered.

  We drove in silence but it wasn’t long before we reached our destination.

  We pulled into a parking lot. A sign flashed Charlie’s at us in neon green.

  “Is this a bar?” Finola had peeled back the curtain in the back of the van to peer out the side window. “Can we get into a bar?”

  “It’s Charlie’s Bar and Grill. It’s a restaurant. It has food. We can go in to eat. Right?” Riley wondered.

  “I don’t see anything that’s stopping us,” Caleb agreed.

  “Okay,” I said, finally taking charge. “I think this is what we should do. I think we should spread out a bit. Fin and Alex, do you mind going in first? Get a table or something. Scope out the place, let us know if they’re in there. If they are, Daphne, Riley and I will come in.”

  If they w
eren’t…? I wasn’t going to go there.

  “Caleb—”

  He slapped the steering wheel. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll man the getaway van.”

  “You do that,” Daphne said as she smacked him on the shoulder.

  “I know we’ve gone over this before, but one more time,” Alex said. He stood hunched over. The ceiling of the van kept him from spreading to his full height. “Tristan is our priority here.”

  Riley let out a dejected sigh.

  “He has to be,” Alex emphasized. “It’s a tactical decision. First and foremost, whoever slid into Tristan’s body absorbed Tristan’s Strigan magic. It combined with his own. This person is going to be the most dangerous. Jude was Lamia with healing magic. He’ll still be dangerous because of the Striga who overtook his body, but I doubt he’ll be as powerful as Tristan. We need to contain Tristan as soon as possible.”

  I bit my lip. Alex wasn’t kidding. He was thinking completely from a tactical standpoint. Knock out the biggest threat first. I wanted to go after Tristan too. But I was definitely thinking with my heart, not my head.

  “Second,” Finola spoke up, “we all know that Lebeau seems biased against Tristan. I think because Jude is Lamia, she will do her best with him. If we can’t get him out of here, we’ll leave him for Lebeau. Especially if she’s just a step behind us.”

  “But Tristan is Striga,” Caleb said, his tone harsh. “And I, for one, don’t trust The Council with a Strigan life. Yeah. If it comes down to just getting one of them out, make sure it’s Tristan. The Council can go after Jude. And they will. But I don’t honestly believe that Lebeau will have Tristan’s best interest at heart if she gets to him first.”

  “Remember,” Riley started, “no magic use! Not unless it’s absolutely necessary. We don’t want to put them on the defensive. If that happens, we lose our only advantage.”

  “We’ll use the first round of potions inside of Charlie’s. The first dose should make them compliant. Compliant enough to convince them to come outside and to drink the next dose,” Finola explained. “The second dose of the potion was brewed a little longer. It’s a much stronger version. It will knock them out completely so we can do what we need to do.”

  “Let’s get moving,” Alex said.

  The backdoor of the van creaked open. Alex hopped out and then lifted Fin to the ground.

  “Keep your phone on,” Finola ordered. “And your fingers crossed.”

  Alex swung the door shut.

  “Does anyone else feel as if they are about to vomit?” Riley asked.

  “Why?” Caleb asked. “Just because you know you’re going to do something Lebeau doesn’t want you to do?”

  “No, because this is our best chance at this,” I guessed. “And if any one of us messes it up, we might not get the chance again.”

  “That would be why,” Riley confirmed.

  “Positive energy people!” Daphne exclaimed. She pulled in a deep breath. “Okay. To be honest, I’m kind of freaking out myself. We’re going in there after two Striga. While that doesn’t freak me out nearly as much as it would’ve a few days ago—before I found out about the two of you—it still freaks me out. I mean, these guys have multiple layers of magical power!”

  “You’ll be fine,” Caleb assured her. “Contrary to common belief, Striga don’t walk around wreaking havoc. We are capable of proper behavior. If these guys made it to old age, it’s because they know how to lay low. They aren’t about to wage an attack on anyone in a public place. You’ll be perfectly safe.”

  She quirked an eyebrow at him.

  “Mostly safe,” he said with a shrug. “Just don’t do anything to tip them off, and you’ll be fine.”

  She nodded somberly. “Thanks for the pep talk. I feel better now.”

  I watched as Finola and Alex disappeared into the building.

  Riley and Daphne were crouched down, both vying for space in between the front two seats. When the door whooshed closed behind Alex, Riley gave my shoulder a squeeze.

  “Thank you for working the spell,” I said to Caleb. “I’m glad you got started on it while I was wasting my time with the neighbor guy.”

  “No problem. We could tell that you were getting pretty agitated. When you started scoping out the neighborhood it was pretty clear that you weren’t getting any information,” Caleb explained. “We wanted to have something to go on by the time you got back to the van.”

  “For the record,” Riley said, “you were not wasting time on the neighbor guy. If you hadn’t talked to him we wouldn’t know Lebeau was already here. So I would say it was time well spent.”

  “Damn right it was,” Caleb agreed.

  The buzzing of a cell phone made me jump in my seat. “Whose is that?” I asked. I frantically squirmed around, looking for mine.

  “It’s mine,” Daphne said. She plucked it out of the tiny purse she carried.

  Riley and I shared a look as Daphne seemed to move in slow motion. She read the incoming text.

  “And…?” I demanded.

  She looked up at me, an enormous grin spreading across her face. “They’re here. They’re both here. Alex and Fin just got a table. The guys are playing pool.”

  That’s all I needed to hear. I pushed the protesting van door open, ignored the grating sound it made, and headed to the door that led into Charlie’s.

  Chapter 13

  Daphne pushed open the door to Charlie’s as if she owned the place. Riley and I followed a single footstep behind. I scanned the place the moment I was inside. To my left was a row of booths. Finola’s gaze met mine just briefly. Then she returned to her task of pretending to be interested in the menu. Two tables in the center had patrons. To the right was a mini-arcade. Pinball machines, foosball, darts…and a pool table.

  My breath caught in my throat. Jude was standing at an angle that allowed me a good look at his face. His dark hair was trimmed shorter than I’d ever seen it. His dark brown eyes were usually soft and warm. As he glanced around Charlie’s, I thought he looked cold and calculating. Or maybe that was just my imagination.

  Tristan had his back to me but I would recognize him anywhere. His blond hair still rested in loose, floppy curls around his head. He wasn’t slouching now, not the way he used to. His new posture seemed to add several inches to his already impressive height.

  “Is that him?” Riley asked.

  “Yeah,” I said as my insides twisted and tangled. “That’s him.”

  “It’s uncanny,” Riley said as she edged in between Daphne and me, “that even now, when he’s inhabited by someone else, he still has no fashion sense.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Daphne said as she eyed him up, her gaze brushing over him more thoroughly than I would like. “I think he looks pretty hot.”

  “He’s wearing leather pants!” Riley, again, needed to point out the obvious.

  Tight leather pants, at that.

  Daphne tilted her head to the side, a contemplative look on her face. “Are those orthopedic sneakers?”

  Riley snickered. “Looks like Everett didn’t have the presence of mind to update his shoe collection.”

  “No matter,” Daphne said. “The rest of him looks absolutely luscious.”

  “You do realize that inside that luscious body is nothing but a dirty old man, right?” I demanded. It was easy to come to that conclusion. No self-respecting old man would be caught dead dressed neck to ankle in leather.

  “He’s a hot dirty old man,” Daphne said with a grin.

  I let out a sigh of frustration.

  “She’s kind of right,” Riley said. She smirked as she caressed Tristan with her eyes.

  “Stop it!” I hissed. “Both of you! Stop looking at him like that! We need to focus!”

  “Grab a table,” the guy behind the bar hollered. “Someone will be with you in a moment.”

  “Sure thing!” Daphne cooed.

  I took the lead, heading to the table closest to the pool table.
<
br />   “I just had a brilliant idea!” Daphne said as she shoved past me.

  Riley and I shared a quick, concerned glance. We didn’t need a brilliant idea. We already had a plan. The plan was to go in, flirt, pour a potion in a drink…get the guys alone...It was a good plan.

  Daphne apparently felt the desire to hurry things alone.

  “Tristan?!” she exclaimed.

  Riley sucked in a surprised gasp.

  This was not the plan.

  Tristan—who was not Tristan—turned to face her.

  She threw her arms around him. He stumbled back a step. Riley and I froze in place. Tristan shared a confused look with Jude over Daphne’s head. Jude shrugged and made a face that clearly said Just go with it.

  “Tristan Johnson,” Daphne proclaimed again. She stood back and put her hands on her hips. She made a show of looking him over from head to toe. “Just look at you! Damn boy, what a difference a few years make! You look…” She fanned herself theatrically.

  He grinned as though he’d just won the lottery.

  “I’ll be damned, she’s going to pull this off,” Riley murmured.

  “Oh my goodness,” Daphne said demurely. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember me. Daphne? I was visiting Granite Falls a few years ago? My cousin Xavier had a party on the beach? You and me? I mean…I know you’d had a lot to drink. But I had hoped I was a little more memorable than that.” Her lip popped out in an irresistible pout.

  “Daphne! Right! No, you’re pretty unforgettable,” he agreed.

  I glanced over my shoulder. Alex and Finola were staring at Daphne and Tristan. Alex’s mouth was set in a grim line. Finola’s was hanging slightly open. Both of their menus were completely forgotten.

  Riley was right. Daphne was going to pull this off. She’d conjured that story out of nothing and Tristan was completely falling for it. Better yet, it gave us an immediate in. There was no tiptoeing around trying to get to know them.

  As far as Tristan was concerned, Daphne had been a brief fling. A fun one, at that.

  “So, hey,” Jude said as he moseyed on over to Tristan and Daphne. “Are you going to introduce us to your friends?” He was speaking to Daphne but his eyes floated over me, then Riley, then me again.