by J. C. Diem
“What should I do with this?” I asked, indicating the folder. “Spencer wants it back when we’re done with it.”
“You’re Jonah’s friend,” Quin told me. “Read the file and you can decide how much to tell him about his past.”
She was placing a lot of trust in me and I appreciated it. She knew me well enough to know I’d never do anything to hurt Jonah. He’d quickly become my best friend and I only wanted to help him.
It was a two-hour drive back to our base and I spent the first hour of it reading. Just as Spencer had warned me, Jonah’s story was tragic. Even if Quin had researched the deaths herself, it would have been hard to find the story. He went by Jonah, but that was actually his middle name. His first name was Percy, which was fairly old-fashioned. I didn’t blame him for using his middle name instead.
Records hadn’t been particularly thorough back in the seventies, but Von Hades had managed to find the story in the local paper. Percy Jonah Gable had been twenty when he’d died. The pretty blonde girl with the blue eyes that he remembered was Mary-Sue, his fiancé. They’d had a party at our mansion to celebrate their engagement. Back in the seventies, the mansion had been hired out for parties and weddings.
Their friends and close family members had come to the party. There were photos of the happy young couple dancing included in the file. Jonah had worn his powder blue suit and Mary-Sue had worn a pretty white dress. They’d been deliriously happy, but one man wore a sour expression. Bill, Jonah’s best friend, was in nearly every photo. In some of them, he glared at Jonah in something very close to hatred.
I barely needed to read the rest of the file to figure out what had happened. Bill had also been in love with Mary-Sue. The two men had climbed the stairs to the balcony overlooking the foyer to make a speech. Jonah had leaned against the railing and it had given way. He’d fallen head-first and had broken his neck when he’d landed. Photos of the bannister showed signs of tampering. Someone had sawn almost all the way through the wood, but no one had ever been charged for the crime.
To add to the tragedy, Mary-Sue had eventually married Bill, unknowing that he was most likely behind her fiancé’s death. A note had been added to the file a couple of years ago that her husband had died. She was all alone now, as was Jonah. Neither of them knew what had really happened that night.
Sniffing back tears, I closed the file and willed myself not to cry. “That sucks,” I said and it came out sounding slightly strangled. “Jonah was murdered by his best friend.”
Connor turned to face me. “Did his friend go to prison?”
“No. Bill got away with it and married Jonah’s fiancé.”
“That is despicable,” Mirra said in disgust. “What sort of man would do that to his best friend?”
“One who was in love with his girl, I assume,” Quin said. She met my eyes in the rearview mirror. “Are you going to tell Jonah about this?”
Musing about it, I needed more information. “I’d like to speak to his fiancé first. She lives a couple of hours away from our base.”
“You and Connor can visit her tomorrow,” she decided. It would be Sunday tomorrow, so hopefully Mary-Sue would be home. “It’s up to you how you’re going to broach the subject,” she added.
As a hunter, I was adept at bending the truth when I needed to. It was a skill we all learned after a while. I was sure I’d be able to come up with something suitable.
We stopped at a café for lunch when we were close to our base. Mirra drew stares, as always. I came to the realization that her constant bedazzlement was actually a bonus to us. The rest of us were practically invisible with her around. Her magic befuddled everyone who laid eyes on her who was close enough to fall beneath her spell. Luckily, people driving their cars weren’t as affected. They had to be within twenty feet or so to really lose their concentration. At least that was when she’d banked her abilities. If she were to let her power loose, everyone in the small town would probably be drawn to her.
“You act like a cloaking shield for us,” I said, pausing before taking another bite of my sandwich.
Mirra halted preening for her audience of salivating men long enough to give me an affronted stare. “What are you talking about?”
“When you’re with us, we’re all but invisible,” I said. “We can go unnoticed while you bedazzle everyone in sight.”
“You’re right,” Quin confirmed. “We often use Mirra as a distraction.”
“This bracelet seems to negate her abilities,” Connor said, taking it out of his pocket and putting it on the table.
Mirra was disgruntled that she could no longer affect him when he wore it. “I bet it would not stand up to my full power,” she boasted.
“Don’t even think about it,” Quin warned her. “You’re not going to unleash your abilities in the middle of a town.”
Sulking, the siren’s bottom lip pooched out. “I wouldn’t have hurt anyone,” she pouted.
“You need to think before you act,” our boss told her. “Actions sometimes have unintended consequences.” She pointed at two cars that were driving towards each other. “What do you think would have happened to the drivers if you’d let your power out?”
“They would have crashed their vehicles,” Mirra said with a heavy sigh and bowed her head. “You are right, Quin. I did not think of the consequences.”
“Your pride is your weakness,” Connor pointed out. “You’re so used to making men fall at your feet that you can’t stand the thought of someone not succumbing to you.”
Tears shimmered in Mirra’s dark eyes. It was the first signs of vulnerability that I’d seen in her. She stubbornly refused to let them fall and rose gracefully to her feet. “If you will excuse me, I need to visit the ladies’ room.”
While I wasn’t the siren’s biggest fan, I didn’t like seeing people being ganged up on like that. “Was that necessary?” I asked in a low voice when she was gone.
“Yes,” Quin replied in a crisp tone. “Connor is right, Mirra’s arrogance can be dangerous. She is used to having power over most other species. It galls her to know there are some beings who aren’t affected by her allure.”
“Her pride is stinging right now, but she’ll bounce back,” Connor added. “One thing Mirra doesn’t lack is self-confidence.”
“Even without her power, she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” I said with a hint of sourness.
“Few can match a siren’s beauty,” Quin agreed. “The others of her kind that I’ve met are all as arrogant as Mirra. It runs in their genes.”
While I was attractive enough, I was glad I didn’t have her unnatural gorgeousness. Having men falling at my feet didn’t appeal to me. My gaze flicked to Connor and I resolutely looked away. He was the only man I’d met lately who I wanted to show interest in me, but he was out of bounds. He’d made that very clear and I wasn’t about to embarrass myself by letting him know how attracted I was to him.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
I didn’t like keeping such a big secret from Jonah, but I opted to keep quiet about the information Spencer had given me about him. The others agreed not to discuss it until after Connor and I had talked to Mary-Sue. I just hoped she would agree to speak to us.
Speaking of Jonah, he was waiting for us in the garage when the door rolled up. He was almost dancing from foot to foot with impatience. He barely let me climb out before he began to barrage me with questions. “How did the mission go? What sort of creatures did you deal with? Are they dead? Was anyone hurt?”
I held up a hand to stop him and his babbling cut off. “The mission went well. They were some sort of aquatic things no one has ever seen before. We killed them all and none of us were hurt.”
The rest of the team filed inside, carrying their gear and leaving me to fill the ghost in on what he’d missed. “Tell me everything,” Jonah demanded, walking through the wall so he could stay at my side as I headed deeper into the house.
I gave him all the
details, leaving little out. It was embarrassing telling him that Connor had clung to me to stave off Mirra’s power. Jonah smirked and shook his finger at me as if it had been my fault. “Don’t let him fall for you, Ari,” he warned me. “No good can come from a shifter and a vampire falling in love.”
“Love?” I snorted. “Lust would be more like it.” I spoke in a whisper so Connor hopefully wouldn’t hear me. “He was just using me as a shield.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” he said wisely. He spoke at a normal volume since I was the only one who could hear him. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you when you’re not aware of it.”
“Really?” I was intrigued despite knowing it was a bad idea to hold onto any hope that my fantasies of getting naked with Connor could come true. “How does he look at me?”
“Like you’re the siren and Mirra is the invisible one.”
“Ha, ha,” I said sourly, figuring he was making fun of me. “Very funny.”
“I’m serious,” he replied, looking uncharacteristically somber. “I think he has feelings for you, but he just doesn’t want to admit it.”
“I’m not his type.”
“I know. You’re nothing like Lilly at all, from what I’ve heard. But he’s definitely interested in you and not in a ‘friends only’ kind of way.” He waggled his eyebrows meaningfully.
“What’s Lilly like?” I asked, unable to stop myself.
“She’s a true shapeshifter, like Connor. I’ve never met her, so I don’t know what she looks like. I overheard Connor say she’s from Scotland, so I guess they have a lot in common.”
Knowing she was just like Connor made me hate her even more. “I wonder why she was fired from the team?” She and Connor must have had a fight and had broken up.
“I have no idea what she did wrong,” he said with a shrug. “Why did it take you guys so long to return if your mission ended yesterday afternoon?”
I had to tread carefully now. “We stayed at a bed n’ breakfast overnight and visited the Master Archivist this morning.”
He brightened and made himself comfortable on my bed. “What’s Spencer like?”
I said the first words that popped into my head. “Powerful and dangerous.”
His expression became shrewd. “Why do you say that?”
“It’s just the impression I got. He’s not human, but Quin doesn’t know what he is. She said he’s really old, but he looks like he’s in his early forties. He’s handsome and distinguished and the suit he was wearing looked like it was tailor made.”
“You don’t like him,” Jonah said with certainty, picking up on my uneasy tone.
“Something seemed off about him, but I don’t know what it was.”
“Did he have any information on the strange creatures that are popping up in the States?”
“Not really. Hunters have reported them and there are more than we’d realized. Mirra said the things we hunted yesterday were magical, but he had no idea why. He hadn’t even researched to see if any of the others displayed any magical abilities.”
His brow furrowed in confusion. “He’s the Master Archivist. Research should be his main focus.”
“I was surprised, too,” I admitted. “He asked me a few questions about the differences between myself and other vampires, then we left.” I omitted the conversation we’d shared about Jonah. “Did you miss us while we were gone?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Yeah,” he admitted and plucked uselessly at the blanket with insubstantial fingers. “I’m always lonely. Or I was until you came along.”
“Well, I’m back now and you don’t have to be lonely anymore.”
“Until you go out on your next mission,” he said morosely. “Then I’ll be stuck here, haunting an empty mansion again. There’s not even any other ghosts for me to talk to.”
“I wonder why you’re the only ghost here if other people have died in this place?”
“I have no idea. I might be a spirit, but I’m not an expert on apparitions.”
“Maybe I can do some research on phantoms,” I mused. “There might be a spell or something that can enable others to see and speak to you.”
“You’d do that?” he asked, eyes widening at the prospect.
“Sure. Spencer asked a witch to perform a spell on a bracelet that blocks Mirra’s abilities from affecting him. It’s possible there’s a spell out there that could help us.”
He held his hand up to stop me. “Wait a minute. What’s this bracelet? You never mentioned that.”
“I forgot,” I said sheepishly. “He put it on when Mirra’s boobs kept distracting him.” We both sniggered at that. “As soon as he put it on, he could focus again, mostly anyway.”
“I bet Connor would kill to get a hold of that bracelet.”
“He didn’t have to. Spencer gave it to him.”
Jonah’s surprise was almost comical. “That was nice of him.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” I said almost unhappily. Von Hades didn’t strike me as a particularly nice person despite his genial façade. “He said it was just a prototype and that he’d get the witch to make him another one.”
Jonah’s expression became speculative. “How did Mirra take Connor not being affected by her?”
“Not well,” I replied wryly and he nodded in understanding. “I think she was on the brink of unleashing her full power on him when we stopped for lunch and he wasn’t even wearing the bracelet. Quin stopped her, thankfully.”
Jonah shook his head. “Sirens are used to being admired by all men. I bet it stung her ego knowing she won’t be able to get him to notice her when he puts it on.”
“You know the team so well,” I said in admiration.
“I’ve been spying on them for an entire decade,” he reminded me. “It’s hard not to learn everyone’s deepest, darkest secrets.”
“We need to get you a bell to wear around your neck,” I said uneasily. He was my friend, but I wouldn’t put it past him to spy on me when I didn’t know it.
He read my expression and looked sad. “I would never betray you, Ari,” he said and put his hand on mine. For a moment, I felt coldness touch my skin before he took his hand away. “You’re the only friend I’ve had in decades.”
“Sorry,” I said, blinking away sudden tears. “I know you wouldn’t spy on me.” Not on purpose anyway. With his ability to drift through the mansion at will, there was no telling what he might see, or hear when we didn’t know he was there.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Quin had decided to let us sleep in on Sundays, so I lazed in bed for a couple of extra hours. I was pretending to sleep, just in case Jonah checked in on me. In reality, I was plotting what I was going to say to Mary-Sue.
When I finally rose, I dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and a jacket. It was getting colder as fall progressed, so I chose a warmer jacket this time. Out of habit, I belted my holster into place. The Ruger was a comfortingly familiar weight against my hip.
Jonah sat at the kitchen table, waiting for me to arrive. We chatted as I cooked an unhealthy breakfast of ultra-crispy bacon and runny eggs. Quin had resigned herself to the fact that I occasionally needed fatty food to keep me happy. On Sundays, I could sleep as long as I liked and eat whatever I wanted. In return, I tried to act more like an adult and less like a teenager. So far, it was working out well. It was also a sign that she was thinking I’d be in her team long-term.
Connor appeared in the kitchen when I finished eating and had cleaned up the mess I’d made. He flicked his eyes around, silently asking me if we were alone. I surreptitiously shifted my eyes to where Jonah was standing. Connor couldn’t see the spirit, but he now knew we couldn’t talk freely. “Quin needs me to get some supplies,” he said. “She wants you to come with me.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “Do I need to bring anything?”
“Nope. Just yourself.”
Jonah’s face fell that I was leaving him again. “Hurry back,” he said forlornly.
“We will,” I told him, but I knew it would be a few hours at least. Mary-Sue lived two hours away from here. This wasn’t going to be a quick trip.
I grabbed my backpack full of weapons from my room out of habit, then followed Connor to the garage. He surprised me by stopping at my car. “We might as well take your hunk of junk,” he said and tossed me the keys that he’d taken from the dresser in my room. “The engine will probably seize up if you don’t take it for a run every now and then.”
I grinned in anticipation of being able to drive again. I was used to being independent and it grated on me that I couldn’t leave the grounds without permission. After learning the team was being hunted by mysterious assassins, I understood the necessity for staying under the radar. Still, I missed the freedom of being able to take off whenever I liked to visit my friends.
Quin had taken the folder Spencer had given me yesterday to read through it herself. It was now sitting on my seat. I flicked through it, found Mary-Sue’s address and plugged it into the GPS. I tossed the folder on the backseat, then Connor took a device out of his pocket and triggered the garage door. I waited impatiently for it to roll out of the way, then drove out of the mansion.
Unwilling to be lectured about not speeding excessively, I made sure to stick to the limit. While my car looked old and decrepit, it was in good working order. The cops had no reason to pull me over and we made it to Mary-Sue’s house without any delays.
“What are you going to say to her?” Connor asked when I pulled over next to a neat little house. It was white with blue trim and had an immaculate lawn.
“I’m going to pretend to be a student researching the mansion’s history for a paper.” I reached over to the backseat and grabbed the file. I took a few of the papers out that were a bit too in-depth for a college student to have had access to. Next, I searched the glovebox for a notepad and pen. Most students these days would carry a laptop for research, but I hadn’t bothered to bring mine with me.