I nodded. “Greggor believes he’s being held in the original compound, located in southern Virginia.”
“That lines up with what we were thinking as well. Don’t mention the other stuff to Gillian. We’ll just tell him we have his location now and we can head out to go get him. In the meantime, we have to figure out what the warden knows somehow. He’s holding information back.”
With that, I agreed. “Greggor also told me that if I don’t compel people to forget they saw me that it’s possible for them to do a protection spell against my abilities. I’m sure that’s what Gillian did, because Greggor was able to. Maybe we can counter whatever block Gillian has against my persuasion. With Nixie’s full powers now and all of the knowledge you guys have, something should be possible to force him to talk.”
He stroked my arm. “You’re on to something, but we need more time to figure that out. The warden wants you to see him now. He sent Alex down here to get you while you were in the shower. I bought us a half-hour. As soon as the others are back, we’ll go.”
Jaxon had barely finished the last sentence when Mason burst through the door. He took two long strides toward us and yanked me from Jaxon’s lap. “Don’t ever make me mad at you again. You’re our family. We need to stick together.”
Since he was squeezing me so tight, all I could do was nod and murmur my apologies into his chest until he let go. When I was on two feet again, he tapped my nose. “We missed you, Siren.”
“I missed you guys, too.”
Spencer stepped in next, surprisingly giving me a hug, too. “You owe me a new coffee mug. Jaxon broke mine when he found out you were gone.”
I grinned. “I will gladly get you another one.”
Blake must have filled them in on their way back, and I was more than grateful. We couldn’t afford to have any tension within our group when we faced the warden.
“Ugh, stop it. You guys are making me nauseous. Seriously, just start thinking with your heads and realize what needs to be done next.” Nixie gagged for emphasis, and I laughed as she flew around the room, adding bright-colored paintings of a magical forest before finishing with a large cyclone of fairy dust.
Once it cleared, she was sitting in a treehouse style home that was probably three feet tall and two feet wide. She’d somehow built it into the corner wall opposite to my belongings and appeared right at home.
“Now, you fuckers need to show me where the warden keeps the magic blockers for new arrivals,” she demanded.
“You redecorate our room and then order us to show you shit without explaining why? Try again, Tinkerbell,” Mason replied.
Nixie zipped across the room, getting right in his face. “Listen, pretty boy. I’ve been a part of this world a hell of a lot longer than all of you combined. I’m here because of Cara, and if you care about her like you say, you’ll listen to what I want.”
They held each other’s stares for a minute longer before Mason finally conceded. “Okay, fine. What’s your plan?”
Nixie glided back to her house and sat on the tiny bench outside of it. “The warden is stealing powers from the prisoners. We need him to stop. There are people in here who can help us, so we’re going to play interference.”
Jaxon nodded. “I’ve always wondered if we could stop him from drawing off the others. But how do we accomplish that without allowing everyone access to their powers? We get away with it because the blockers don’t reach our room, and that’s great, but you need to remember that a majority of the people who are locked up deserve to be. How do you suppose we prevent those pieces of shit from gaining more power and abusing it?”
She huffed. “Do I really need to explain everything? We get the magic-blocker bracelets Cara was telling me about, modify them, and convince the warden they’re used for something else.”
She was a genius. “So, maybe we could have a certain group of people get themselves in trouble and slap one of those bracelets on them that we can tell the warden we’ll be hurting them in some way, but in reality, it will be blocking the bastard from stealing their magic?”
“Yes, precisely. So, I need access to the items he uses. Then I can fix them up while you convince the warden it’s a great plan to cause further abuse to the prisoners.”
Spencer headed toward his room and came back out with one of the mesh bag type bands that had been used on me when I was arrested. “This is the one we use on anyone who can project magic with their hands. Shifters, vamps, and others simply get power-blocking bands if necessary at time of capture. We can get you more while we’re gone to see the warden, but here’s a start.”
“Thanks for being useful, tree boy. Now, you guys can leave while I concentrate.”
He glared at her but walked away as we all made our way out the door.
“I don’t like your fairy friend, Siren,” Spencer complained.
I shrugged. “You don’t have to like her. Just leave her alone and she’ll keep helping.”
“I like her. If only she was six feet tall instead of six inches…” Mason sighed, and I elbowed him.
“No fraternizing with my friends. I’ll kick your ass.”
Jaxon tugged me closer to his side and wrapped an arm around me.
“So, you get to hook up with mine, but I can’t with yours. Rude, Little Siren. Also, selfish.” Mason pouted, but I ignored him.
I had zero desire to talk about my potential sex life while we were outside of the lair. No, scratch that. I had zero desire to talk about it with anyone other than Jaxon. Ever.
When we arrived at Warden Gillian’s office, Spencer leaned over and whispered something to Jaxon, then took off as Mason spoke with Alex.
Nerves kicked in as I remembered what we were about to do. We needed to lie to the warden and convince him of all these things, yet my abilities didn’t work on him and the tyrant knew way more about the situation he’d thrown us into than we did. Unfortunately, we had no advantage and that made me nervous.
Blake leaned in and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Calm down, Siren. It’s going to be okay.”
A wave of peace crashed through my body, not strong enough to overpower my own thoughts, but enough to take the edge off.
“Thank you,” I whispered, and he smiled before stepping away.
The warden stepped out of his office and greeted us. “I thought I’d just be seeing Ms. Simmons today, but what a welcome surprise to have you all present. Come on in.”
My skin crawled just hearing his voice. Though, I managed to keep my face neutral and followed the others in. When we sat down, any friendly demeanor was gone as Gillian slammed his fist on the desk. “Listen, you delinquent pieces of shit that nobody wanted. I saved you. I gave you a purpose. Yet, you’ve failed at the one thing I needed most from you. Where is my son?”
“Listen, ass—” Jaxon covered my mouth as I fumed. Nobody talked to me or about my guys that way. I didn’t give a shit about any plans we’d made or who the warden was. I was going to kick his ass.
“What Cara means to say is we know where he is. He’s in Montana, up near Canada. Greggor was very helpful, and we’re prepared to leave first thing in the morning,” Jaxon said.
Like a damn psycho, Gillian calmed down and grinned. “Montana, you say? How do you know he’s right? That’s not exactly a known Luccovino area.”
The dude had some serious personality disorders.
“We don’t, but the taps we put in the warehouse have been unsuccessful in providing any information about Zeke. We can keep looking elsewhere if you’d like, but from the sounds of it, this is our best chance,” Jaxon answered in a way that put the warden in control of the situation.
What in the actual hell was going on? How had the plans changed so fast? Why weren’t we telling the warden where his son was? Wasn’t the whole point to get Zeke and gain our freedom?
Apparently, not any longer. I was so damn confused.
Chapter 11
The warden considered Jaxon’s words, but before he agreed with our sup
posed plans to head west to the middle of bum-fucked-Egypt, Mason decided it was a good time to implement Nixie’s plan.
“Also, in case you didn’t know, Cara has been working with the other prisoners in hopes of gaining their trust and getting information for you. She’s found out some interesting things you might want to know, and I’m sure she’s happy to share them if so.”
I was going to kill him. At no point was it discussed that I would be leading this part of the conversation. Asscracker.
Warden Gillian leaned forward, clearly interested. “Oh, really? I guess if you’re going to be a useless tracker, then the least you could be is a good spy. What did you hear?”
Choosing to ignore the fact he’d just insulted me, I began fidgeting in my chair and calmed my nerves as I remembered that I did my best thinking on my feet. “Well, a small group of them have found a loophole to your magic blockers around the prison. They can use their powers outside in the yard. I was going to recommend keeping bracelets on those prisoners before you have a riot on your hands.”
“Is that so? Who else have you told about this?” he asked.
“Just Deacon. He said he would get blockers on them today once Cara could point them all out. She didn’t know all of their names,” Jaxon answered before I could.
“Very well, but it still doesn’t change the fact I need my son back. You’re not off the hook for your failures, and I think you need a little more motivation.” The sneer that graced the warden’s face made my blood boil, even more so because Jaxon still had his hand on me to keep me from acting out.
The room was tense as we waited for Gillian to continue, and he was clearly enjoying the torment as his sneer turned to a smirk. Finally, he pulled a file from the top drawer and grabbed a few pictures to place on the desk.
The arms of Mason’s chair snapped as soon as he saw them, and Blake threw off a tsunami of rage. The pictures included a couple in their forties walking down the street and an older man with white hair, sitting on the porch of a cabin in the snow.
From their reactions, I could only assume Mason and Blake knew these people, and my heart was breaking for them.
“Your family may not give a shit about you anymore, but you clearly still care about them. Bring me my son within the next five days or say your goodbyes now, because they’ll be paying for your failures. Now, get out of my office and don’t come back until you have my son with you,” the warden sneered.
We could beat him, right there on the spot with the four of us. We could kill the warden, but instead, Jaxon picked me up and drug me out of the room. Though not before the warden got one last blow in.
“Oh, and Cara? I told you not to get too close. If they fail, or you try to run, there will be nowhere in this world I can’t find you.”
Mason slammed the door shut before I could give my reply, and I punched him in the chest as I glared at him and Jaxon. “Why the hell don’t we just kill him and end this nightmare?”
“Room. Now,” Jaxon responded.
I led the way back to the lair. I had no desire to wait any longer to find out why the hell we couldn’t wipe that bastard’s smug face from the world. Gillian didn’t deserve to live any longer. We needed to end him.
Nixie was inside her new house when I slammed open the door, and she raced toward me. “What happened?”
“I have no damn clue. Ask them.” I nodded toward the guys, then realized at some point on our walk back, Spencer had rejoined us.
“Flower, calm down. We’re going to explain,” Jaxon said and reached for me, but I backed away.
“Then do it before I really lose my shit, because it’s taking every ounce of control I have right now not to let loose the rage and magic building within me.”
He sighed and took a seat while I continued my pacing with Nixie on my shoulder. “Listen, I sensed more dark magic on the warden when we entered the room. He was covered in the same heavy shit we encountered at the warehouse in Chicago. He’s working for the Luccovinos, more than we already thought if I’m right, and I don’t think he wants his son back because he gives shit about him. I think he wants him dead.”
Damn it. How twisted was this situation going to get?
Jaxon continued, “So, I threw him off the trail, and while he’ll be sending people west because he doesn’t trust us, we will head southeast and follow Greggor’s intel. Spencer already spoke with Deacon and filled him in on Nixie’s plan. He will get the bands on the people we trust, but Gillian really screwed us when he threatened our families. We’re going to have to split up. Two of us go make sure they’re okay and the rest of us head to Virginia.”
My head was about to explode. “I still don’t understand why we can’t just kill the fucker and then do all of that?”
“Because we don’t know with absolute certainty what Gillian’s role is with the Luccovinos. They are too big for us to beat on our own. We need to know that, by eliminating the warden, we won’t be signing our own death warrants. Zeke is important in finding that out. Gillian wouldn’t want him back so bad otherwise. Plus, we might be able to use the warden to make a deal with the vamps.”
Nixie’s wing brushed against my neck as she paced along my shoulder like I was also doing within the small room. “Why not go straight to the Luccovinos? Bypass all the bullshit.”
“Because they think we’re loyal to the warden. If he fucked up and we walk into the devil’s nest, we’ll be seen as threatening and they’ll try to kill us before we can even say our piece,” Mason answered.
I threw my hands in the air. “Someone, please break it down in layman’s terms what we’re doing to get out of this damn mess.”
Spencer stood with his laptop in hand. Apparently, he’d already been at work putting all of our rambling together. “Gunner and Yeti are going to check on their families and give them a warning. Whether they choose to listen is up to them. All we can do is try to protect them. Hawk, Siren, Nixie, and I will head toward Virginia. We will take surveillance and pinpoint Zeke’s location. Hopefully, by the time we’ve done that, Gunner and Yeti will be back.”
Blake shook his head. “I don’t like splitting up. It doesn’t feel right.”
“I agree, Brother, but we don’t really have much of a choice,” Jaxon said before a knock sounded on our door.
Mason opened it and Deacon stepped in. “The warden told me you have a list of prisoners I’m supposed to monitor with these and that you’ll be pointing out the rest of them you supposedly don’t know.” He held a bag of bracelets up. “I’m positive he doesn’t believe you, but the chance of not trusting your word and having shit go sideways was greater than the effort it would take to prove you’re lying. You guys sure you know what you’re doing?”
My head shook, because I wasn’t sure at all. There were too many variables, but the others all said “yes” in unison.
Nixie flew over to Deacon, scaring the shit out of him. Apparently, he hadn’t been aware I had a friend. “Put those on the table and I’ll have them ready in just a few minutes,” she said.
Deacon complied as Jaxon stalked toward me, roughly placing both hands on my shoulders. “Flower, you need to snap the hell out of whatever is going on in that head of yours. We need you to be focused and ready to do whatever it takes at a moment’s notice. If you can’t commit to that, we’re leaving you here with Deacon.”
My eyes focused on his, glaring and pissed the hell off. Apparently, our little hook-up hadn’t changed his personality much.
“If you assholes would quit changing shit every five seconds, it would make that task a hell of a lot easier. And if you think for one damn second you’re leaving me behind, you can kiss my white ass.” My finger pressed into his chest, backing him up with a shock of magic. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
He smirked, clearly pleased he’d riled me up. “There’s the fire you were missing. Keep that spark and you can come.”
As he walked back to Mason and Blake, who were already making
plans to take off, I went to my corner and searched through the stuff I had bought on our various shopping trips while bringing prisoners in over the last month.
The only really badass outfit I had was already worn this week and not washed yet, so I tried to piece together something that would scream “don’t fuck with me or I’ll cut your balls off”, but ended up throwing everything on the floor.
“Do you want help?” Nixie asked, flying around my head.
“Did you already finish with the bracelets?”
“Of course I did. That was child’s play once I knew what I wanted,” she replied confidently.
“Okay then. Can you create clothes from thin air for anyone other than yourself?”
She rolled her eyes. “There isn’t anything I can’t do now that I have both wings. Go in Jaxon’s room and I’ll fix you right up.”
“Just don’t make me look like a hooker and we’re good to go.” I laughed, then hoped I hadn’t just given her any ideas.
Once I closed the door, she threw what felt like a whole bag of fairy dust on me, and I began choking, but that didn’t stop her. Her tiny little body began to glow, and she circled around me, beginning with my head and working her way down to my feet.
A cloud followed Nixie as she continued, so I couldn’t see what she’d come up with, but then she was floating before me with a smug smile on her face and wiping her hands together. “Perfect. Now take a look.” She snapped her fingers and nodded to the door.
When I turned around, there was a mirror hanging up that hadn’t been there before, but all thoughts of questioning just how far her abilities went were lost to me as I took in my appearance.
My golden locks were placed in a high ponytail, and my honey eyes were enhanced by dark makeup and eyeliner, though it was my outfit that really took me by surprise. I was wearing a two-piece bodysuit made from some sort of supple black leather.
The top had buckles up the middle, and I thought of all the ways that could be a bad thing but dismissed it as I took in the pants. There were pockets and straps for knives and handcuffs that would definitely come in handy at some point, but my favorite part was how easy everything was to move in. It was almost as if I was naked, which was the best thing ever.
Capture (Elite Supernatural Trackers Book 2) Page 8