Laila thought for a moment. She’d been very close there for a second. She had almost believed that Zamiel could give her the one thing she wanted most and the cost would be worth any price. She liked to think that her common sense would have kicked in, even if Mebis hadn’t popped her into that shadow place, but she couldn’t be sure.
“What did you want?” Laila tossed the key to Finn who ferried it over to Cormac.
“To be the best hunter the world had ever seen.” He closed his eyes as a cough tore through him, his body shaking with pain.
“And look how well that worked out for you,” Laila couldn’t help noting.
“Yes, in the end it all amounted to nothing.” He sounded more tired than it was possible for a human to get. “Thank you for pointing it out.”
His gaze shifted from Laila’s face to someone else behind her. Laila turned and saw Kess, now back in human form, standing behind them and looking at Lukas without expression in her green-gold eyes. She was naked, and blood leaked down one side from a bullet wound, a shot that must have grazed her ribs.
“What now?” Lukas asked Kess. Laila watched for any emotion to betray what Kess was thinking, but the wereleopard had her emotions under tight control.
Sebastian walked up, barely making any sound. “I can make it so he feels no pain, if that is what you want,” he offered.
Kess’ brow furrowed in thought. She turned to Laila and said, “I’ll let you make this call, Laila. You lost more than anyone.”
Laila shifted her gaze back to the hunter. There was a part of her that wanted him to suffer, to think on what mayhem he unleashed when he had the idea to call forth the demon and bargain his soul for a deal. But there was another part—and this was the part that she thought Mebis would approve of—that just didn’t see the point. Make him suffer? Why? He had a demon waiting for him. Laila had no doubt that Zamiel had survived her attack. How could she do worse to him than that?
“Go ahead.” She pushed herself away from the hunter to make room for Sebastian.
The Keeper knelt down, hitting several pressure points with stiffened fingers. Laila heard the faint sigh that escaped from Lukas’ lips, she watched the slow relaxation of muscles no longer held tense in pain.
When he was finished, Sebastian leaned back and spoke softly in a language Laila didn’t recognize. She looked at him questioningly, but he simply held up a hand in a gesture for her to wait.
“I’ll take it from here,” a familiar voice said.
Zamiel reappeared at Lukas’ head. He looked none the worse for wear. He was wearing a different suit: a red one. He leaned down and gathered the hunter into his arms as if the young man weighed nothing. He paused before he turned and said, “See you around, Laila. Count on it.”
Laila smiled her most venomous smile. “Not if I see you first. Count on that, Zamiel.”
The demon didn’t reply; instead he disappeared just as suddenly as he had appeared.
“What did you say to him?” Laila asked, turning to the older Keeper.
“It’s an old saying. Those that would consort with demons should be careful they don’t join them. I guess no one ever told the boy that.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Kess had never been happier to be human again. She could have done without the nudity, but even that didn’t bother her after the horror that was the metal collar. She’d almost roared for joy when Cormac had finally unlocked it from around her neck, but quelled the impulse. There was still too much going on.
As soon as she was free of the weight of the collar, Kess transformed back into her human self. She twisted so she could see the bullet graze; it was bleeding but it wasn’t deep. It was just messy.
She was happy to let Laila make the call about what to do about Lukas. As bad as Kess might feel about Mebis, it in no way could compare to what Laila felt. If she needed her pound of flesh to get closure, Kess was happy to give it to her. Being drugged and hunted and shot certainly didn’t give her the right perspective for dealing with the hunter.
Something brushed against her bare back. Kess turned her head to find Cormac holding out his shirt to her. She shrugged into it gratefully. That solved the nudity problem at least. The shirt was long enough to hit the tops of her thighs, so it wasn’t completely decent, but it was better than nothing.
“You okay?” Cormac asked, his voice a low murmur in her ear.
She nodded. “As well as can be expected, I guess.” She was going to say more, but Zamiel decided it was time to pop back in.
While everyone else paid attention to Laila and Zamiel’s verbal sparring, Kess chose to focus her attention on Finn. She had been worried about him over the last few weeks. She’d never seen him so listless and snappish. His concern for Laila had overridden everything else in his life, and it only got worse the less she was in contact with him. Finn still looked tense, but he didn’t look as on edge as he had been lately. Kess wondered how long it would last; Laila seemed designed to get herself involved in the worst kind of trouble.
Next she watched Sebastian. Kess had no idea what he thought about all of this, or even what he was going to do about it. The Keeper had only been sent to retrieve Laila, but Kess had to wonder what he would report back to his brethren about all of this hunter business. Mebis had made it clear once he’d gotten the Miami appointment that Kess and her council were still on the chopping block. If they were found wanting, the Keepers would remove them and put someone more to their liking in place.
Right now, Sebastian looked relaxed. He watched the proceedings carefully, with that same neutral expression on his face. It made him almost impossible to read.
Kess heard Laila’s final threat to the demon and wondered what that was all about. There seemed to be more there than Laila was interested in explaining, but Kess planned to get it out of her. If that demon was something that could come back to haunt them in future, Kess wanted to know about it.
She blinked and the demon was gone, taking Lukas with him. Cormac shook his head. “Mind telling me what that was all about?”
Kess shrugged. “I’m not sure myself. But I have a feeling that Laila has all of the answers.”
“Wonder if she’ll feel like sharing.” He looked at Finn as he said this.
She followed his gaze. “I think she owes an explanation to one of us, at least.”
Sebastian finished speaking with Laila, then stepped over to where Kess and Cormac waited. “I suggest we all regroup someplace a little less open. I’m sure you and Laila have quite the story to tell me.”
“Looks that way.” Cormac put his arm around her. “You sure you feel okay?”
“Oh sure. Being drugged, forced to assume leopard form, catnapped, hunted through a swamp, and then shot at is how I usually choose to spend every spare Friday night.” Kess smiled ruefully. She still felt a little unsteady and her mouth was parched, but she assumed that was the aftereffects of the drug wearing off.
Cormac grinned at her, holding her close, but mindful of the graze on her side. “And here I thought you were bored without me.”
Kess was grateful for his support, leaning against him tiredly. Now that the threat of the were-hunter was resolved, she felt she could relax. She didn’t feel like she had a target painted right between her eyes anymore. But there was one more thing she felt she had to address before they left the swamp. Kess gave Cormac a light kiss on the cheek and then moved away from him. She walked to where Laila and Finn were standing.
They didn’t seem to be saying much to each other, the silence hanging awkwardly between them. Now was as good a time as any. Finn looked up as she stepped closer. Kess gave him a significant look, but said nothing until Laila turned to face her.
“You got the hunter,” Kess said quietly. “Still want to have a go at me? We’ve got the time and we’re in the right place.”
Finn glared at her. Kess ignored him. If Laila wanted to punish her for Mebis’ death, well, there was no time like the present. She stared at
the young werejackal, trying to project calm. All she felt was tired.
Laila put her hands on hips, surveying Kess. Kess didn’t move, didn’t blink. It was up to Laila now. She’d already gone around for weeks wondering when the final blow would come with Lukas; she didn’t want to continue that with Laila. If the werejackal wanted to come after her, she might as well do it right now.
“My brother always liked you more than I did,” Laila said after several long moments. Her eyes flicked to Finn, who wore a massive frown. Suddenly she winked at him. “He was a better judge of character than I was.”
She held out her hand to Kess. Kess stared at it, almost as if she didn’t know what to do with it. Finn jibed, “It’s a hand, not a snake, Kess.”
Laila smirked. “You gonna take it, or are you just going to stare at it?”
Kess grabbed Laila’s hand in a firm grip. “Last time I’m going to make this offer,” she said with a smile.
Laila looked like she was thinking about it for a second. Then she squeezed Kess’ hand hard. Kess kept her face blank, knowing this was some kind of Laila test. Finally Laila eased up on Kess’ hand, and said, “Nah. You wouldn’t be much of a challenge anyway.” She smiled at Kess. This time it was a genuine one.
Kess smiled back. “Just keep telling yourself that,” she teased.
“Ladies?” Sebastian called, gesturing to the path. “I hate to interrupt your touching moment, but perhaps we can move this along?”
“He’s so pushy,” Laila whispered, letting go of Kess’ hand.
“Tell you what,” Kess began. “You tell him that and I’ll watch while he makes it so you can’t move.”
“Come on,” Finn interrupted, taking hold of Laila’s hand.
Kess looked away from the turmoil in his eyes. He and Laila had a lot to talk about. Kess hoped that Cormac’s cousin didn’t come out the worse for it.
* * * * *
They all reconvened at Kess’ house. Rafe ordered pizza for them as soon as they got inside. Kess’ stomach had declared scorched earth warfare on her backbone and she needed food, especially after the changes. She went to get cleaned up and dressed.
Rafe was waiting for her outside her door. “It’ll be here in thirty minutes,” he told her. She smiled at him.
Kess led everyone into the living room and waited for them to get situated. She noticed that Finn and Laila sat on the same sofa, but with space between them. She wondered if Laila noticed. Finn certainly did from the unhappy look on his face. Sebastian took a club chair. Rafe perched on another chair. Kess settled herself on the smaller sofa, her hip next to Cormac’s.
“What now?” Finn asked, not looking at anyone in particular.
Sebastian was the one to answer. “Now you tell me what was really going on here. Starting with that Zamiel character.” He speared Laila with a look. Kess was suddenly glad she wasn’t the focus of the Keeper’s gaze.
“He’s a demon,” Laila said, as if that explained everything. Finn elbowed her. She glared at him, rubbing her side. “Fine,” she gritted, clearly unhappy about sharing her information. “I knew something was up with him when I snuck into the hunter’s condo the first time. I ran across him again and figured out he was a demon. So I talked to Master Toshi—he’s my instructor—because I thought he might be able to tell me what kind of demon Zamiel was. I had figured out he was one of the deal making demons already. I wanted to know what kind of entity I was dealing with.”
“Why didn’t you call the Order?” Sebastian asked, his voice stern. “We might have been able to help with identifying him.”
Laila didn’t say anything, just stared at Sebastian as if he were simple. Kess fought back a grin. She couldn’t decide if she liked seeing Sebastian brought down a notch—he had paralyzed her after all—or if she was hoping he’d get tired of Laila’s sass and work his muscle mojo on her. Either option would be enjoyable from where she was sitting.
“Do you really want me to answer that?” Laila finally said.
Kess could swear she saw Sebastian hide a smile, but she couldn’t be sure. “We’ll table it for now,” the Keeper replied. “Continue.”
“Once I knew what I was dealing with, I figured it was better to keep a much lower profile. Kess and I made plans for me to go off the radar so that I could better track the hunter’s movements.”
Kess watched as four sets of eyes swiveled in her direction. Sebastian looked curious, Finn looked betrayed, and Rafe sported surprise. Cormac’s expression was more interesting: he wore a look of approval. Kess met each gaze with a placid one of her own.
Finn spoke first, and when he did, it wasn’t with what Kess expected. “Excuse me? You and Laila planned all of this? What the hell, Kess?” He sounded more hurt than angry.
“We were trying to keep Laila a secret from Lukas. She was our ace in the hole. If Lukas knew he was the hunted and not the hunter, I was afraid he’d run and then we’d never catch him again. So we decided it was better if there was no contact with her.”
“I don’t remember being a part of any decision making,” Finn said coldly.
Kess knew Finn was angry, but she’d never seen him this way before. “We didn’t know if Lukas had eyes on the house or if he was tracking us somehow. He might have even tapped phones—I had no idea how he even knew about me being a were! I couldn’t afford the risk of tipping him off. Laila got it set up and we communicated through disposable cell phones when we needed to.”
“It was my idea, Finn,” Laila said, looking at her boyfriend closely. “I wasn’t going to lose this guy. So if you’re going to be mad at someone, I’m the one you’re looking for.”
“There’s plenty to go around,” he muttered, but everyone in the room could hear him, Kess was sure of that.
Laila rolled her eyes. Yeah, somehow Kess didn’t think Laila and Finn would be seeing eye to eye on this anytime soon. Laila continued, “We used a method of phone drops similar to what we do in the Keepers. And it worked like a charm. I was able to track Lukas without him knowing. I found his stand in the swamp, I knew his comings and goings. I was in the swamp waiting before he ever left with Kess.”
“What about Zamiel?” Sebastian asked. “Weren’t you concerned he would inform the hunter of your presence?”
“At first, sure,” she answered with a mild shrug. “When he caught me in the trophy room, I thought for sure he was going to rat me out to his boss. But then he didn’t and the next time I ran into him, he seemed even less pleased to be in Lukas’ company than usual. I figured he was just keeping me a secret to get back at the dickhead who summoned him.” She looked down briefly. “It wasn’t until later that I figured out Zamiel was really the one in charge. I think Lukas knew it at the end too.”
“That demon was a little more interested in you than just as a way to screw over some guy who pulled him out hell.” Finn’s face was set in a massive frown. It was Olympic quality frowning, with the furrowed brow and everything. Kess was seriously impressed. “I heard what he said to you back there in the swamp.”
“So he liked what he saw, big deal.” Laila glossed right over that. Kess wondered how comfortable she really was with the demon’s attention. Had they finally found the one thing that unnerved the young Keeper? For that alone, Zamiel might be worth keeping around. She’d never tell that to anyone in this room though.
“Look, for whatever reason, he didn’t tell Lukas about me. I was able to watch Lukas from the roof of a building across the way from his condo. There were times that I swear Zamiel knew I was there. But he never said anything to Lukas. When Lukas saw me in the swamp tonight—it was the first time he even knew I existed.”
“So Zamiel did us a solid?” Rafe asked, confused.
“I think Zamiel did himself a solid,” Cormac corrected. “He was on a timetable, remember? He was going to get Lukas’ soul one way or the other. We just made it a lot more likely to happen in a timely manner.”
“Yeah, if Zamiel had wanted Lukas to last lon
ger, he could have told him about Laila,” Kess added.
“What was he saying to you out there?” Finn asked, his voice pitched low so the question—and whether she wanted to answer it—were left up to her.
Laila shook her head, making Kess wonder what she was thinking. What had he said to her? Something tempting, obviously. She got up, feeling like she needed to move. She began to pace.
“He had some interesting things to say,” was all Laila would admit to. Finn looked at her carefully, like he was afraid to find out what went on.
“For a second there, I thought you were going to come after me,” he said in a voice that tried for casual but broke Kess’ heart with the feeling underneath it.
Laila looked down at her hands for a moment. Everyone stared at her. Finally, she looked back up and said, “He tried to make me an offer. Obviously, I didn’t take him up on it.”
Kess wanted to ask what the offer had been, but figured it was none of her business. If Laila wanted to share, that was entirely up to her. Hopefully she’d talk to Finn when all of this debriefing was finished.
Rafe navigated the breach. “So back to the plan you two cooked up.” He looked significantly at Kess.
She spoke up again, this time to Sebastian. “When you showed up, we knew we were running out of time. Rafe, Cormac, Finn, and I put our heads together and decided to make Lukas move his timetable up. I called Laila and left her the information when I was out running errands without the guys.
“We weren’t sure exactly how Lukas managed to hunt weres, especially if he was only interested in killing them when they were in animal form. So a lot of what we had planned had to be pretty fluid.” Kess looked at Sebastian. “He had a drug that forced the transformation. Have you or your Order ever heard of something like that?”
Sebastian thought for a moment. “Not that I recall, but that doesn’t mean someone in our order hasn’t heard of it. I can look into it.” He paused. “Or it may have been something that the demon created for this hunter based on the contract between them.”
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