Babs closed her eyes. “Maggie came to my office to complain about the clique calling her names and left it in one of the guest chairs. I stuffed it in a box and waited for her to return for it. I guess we both forgot about it.”
That matched everything he found. “Maggie complained about the Fate Clique?”
She nodded.
“And what did you do?” Bodhi clenched and unclenched his hands, looming over the headmistress.
“I talked to them and their parents. It’s all I could do. These parents are powerful.”
Bodhi slammed a fist into his other hand. Demas was surprised, but pleased he was holding it together.
“All right, we need to talk to Marigold Sprigg next.”
Babs Barnabus walked to her desk and picked up the receiver of her new desk phone. She punched a four-digit number in and turned away from Demas and Bodhi, the cord twined around her back.
“Good Morning, Ms. Sprigg.”
Demas stabbed the speakerphone button. Startled, Babs whirled around. Unfortunately for her, she spun in the wrong direction. Now she was tangled and neatly wound up by the phone cord.
“Hello? Which Ms. Sprigg are you looking for? Marigold’s in the shower.”
“Oh, Giselle. Will you tell your sister to come to my office immediately, please?”
“Why?” Giselle asked.
“It’s not really your business, but members of the tracker team are here to ask her a few questions.”
Demas was pissed that he hadn’t given the headmistress some direction. Namely to not tell people they were here to question them. He disconnected the call.
“Did you hear me, Giselle? Hello? Giselle?” She looked down to see Demas’ finger still holding down the disconnect switch. “Why did you hang up? I don’t understand.”
“It’s my fault. I should have told you not to tell anyone we were here. I wanted the element of surprise.”
“I’m so sorry, Professor.” Babs turned the wrong way again, trying to get untangled but making it worse.
Demas grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her the opposite direction a couple of times. She looked up at him with something akin to hero worship for untangling her. It made him uncomfortable so he patted one shoulder and walked away. He wanted to smack the smirk right off Bodhi’s face.
About three-quarters of an hour later, Lennon Sidhe strolled in, wearing what Demas was positive was lingerie—a sheer black robe that pretended to cover a lavender silk teddy. A joke as far as cover-ups go. Behind her were four other members of the Fate Clique, three of whom were already fully made up and wearing what looked like cheap knockoffs of their leader’s outfit. He assumed the one that looked nervous was Marigold, and the fourth was her sister Giselle; they bore a striking resemblance to each other, although Giselle wore more conservative in her clothing.
Lennon slinked across the room and hopped up on the headmistress’ desk, crossing her legs in a femme fatale pose. She ran one long amethyst encrusted fingernail down Demas’ arm. “When my father hears that you interrupted my beauty sleep, he will have your job. You’re handsome though, so I’m sure you can find work as a male stripper. Can you dance?”
“Lennon Sidhe, let me officially introduce myself. My name is Professor Demas Batavian, the director of the Monster Squad. I’m appointed by the council and I work for the family that funds this university, so good luck with your threat. I imagine you’re used to having people cower, and you’ve never had to follow through.”
Lennon passed a withering glance at the headmistress.
“First of all,” Demas continued, “I didn’t ask for you yet. Secondly, you couldn’t have lost that much sleep. Your nightgown is wrinkled,” Demas continued.
Bodhi snorted, but tried to cover it with a cough. If looks could incinerate, he would have been ash by now.
Both men stumbled when a wave of sexual energy hit them. Bodhi appeared to recover immediately. Demas clenched his jaw so tight, he thought he might crack his teeth. To counteract it, he just pictured Evie in his mind and the effect evaporated.
“I have a list of students who didn’t check in with Eleutian yesterday. Are one of you Farrah Dean?” A platinum blonde with large breasts raised her manicured, claw-like black nails. Demas knew Evie would give him the stink eye if she knew how he was referring to this one in his head. What was he supposed to do when she wore a silver knit dress with a lavender corset that shoved her chest in his face?
“Okay, so you must be Gwen Gwyllion,” Demas said, turning to the strawberry blonde. She smirked. “Now, if you all would like to take a seat in the office next door, I’ll start with Marigold and work my way around to each of you.” They flounced off to the assistant headmistress’s office. Lennon had her phone to her ear.
“I want to stay with my sister,” Giselle, the tinier of the two Spriggs said.
“I don’t need you, Giselle.” Marigold looked at Lennon like she was expecting praise for not needing anyone. Lennon never turned around.
“In this case, it might be better if your sister is here,” Bodhi said.
“Have a seat, Marigold. We found your fingerprint on one of the many threats that Maggie Howl received during her three months here. Can you explain that?”
“Marigold! Please tell me you didn’t try to get in the clique by doing their dirty work.” Giselle cried.
“Shut up, Giselle! They asked me to join.”
“Did they ask you to do anything illegal to join their group, Marigold?” Demas asked.
“W-why would you ask that?” Marigold paled.
“You do understand that we are basically the Supernatural police force and we have access to all records in the system.”
“It wasn’t my fault!” Marigold cried.
“What did you do now, Marigold?” Giselle asked, bitterness evident in her voice.
“I was out of tampons, okay Giselle. You know the scholarship allowance doesn’t cover everything we need. They took me to a drugstore and said they would take care of everything. I went around picking things out and throwing them in my basket. What I didn’t know is they slipped duplicates in my tote bag when I wasn’t looking. I headed up to check-out and they all walked out leaving me there. I set the basket on the floor and followed them. They arrested me for shoplifting.” Marigold’s face reddened as she looked at the floor.
“Marigold, why would you want to be in a group that does something like that?” Giselle shouted.
Demas looked at Bodhi. He nodded in return.
“Come sit over here with me, Giselle. Let’s give Demas a chance to get some answers. You can discuss your questions with your sister later.” Bodhi tugged her over by the windows.
“My sister doesn’t get me. I just wanted to be part of a group, feel a part of something,” Marigold whispered.
“Does that mean you had a part in those threats to Maggie?” Demas asked gently.
“No, I swear. They make me get paper for them all the time. I’m in the gopher stage of acceptance. Low man, —I mean woman—on the totem pole. I fetch all manner of things for the others.” Marigold crossed her heart, like it made her statement more honest.
“All right, that’s enough for now. I will say, Marigold, you might want to think about your choices before you’re blamed for something worse. You two can go,” Demas said.
Demas interviewed the others, if you could call it that. They just shrugged their shoulders at every question until he asked about the threats found with FC on them. Farrah and Gwen started shaking, while Lennon pointed out that anyone could have printed that on there. Unfortunately, she was correct. He sent them on their way.
“Well, boss, look at it this way: at least you don’t need to get your stripper pole out of storage,” Bodhi snarked.
18
Midnight Witch
I woke early and practically jumped from bed in time to see the sun make its appearance. Shoving open the window and taking a deep breath of fresh air, I reveled in the gorgeous view of t
he Saint Lawrence Seaway. The sunrise always lifted my spirits.
I showered quickly. At least Grimm waking me had stopped the dream, or nightmare really. I had slept soundly after he left. I was sure Demas and Bodhi would try to leave me behind today, so I had decided on my course of action last night.
After rooting through my clothes, I pulled on jeans, a long-sleeved tee, hoodie, and boots—all in black, of course. I was mourning. That, or I was watching a little too much Jessica Jones on Netflix. I sobered, truly mourning my friend, but I needed to get things done so if I used gallows humor in my own mind, then so be it.
When I rounded into the kitchen, I found it empty—odd, considering six men lived in this place and there was bacon sizzling on the stove. I made a beeline for the fridge, fingers crossed we had cream. I hated milk in my coffee. I peeked inside: half a bottle of orange juice, milk, three bottles of beer, a jar of hot sauce, and cream. Hallelujah!
“Sleep well?”
I screeched and whirled around. “Zephyr. Holy moly, you scared me! I need a coffee.”
He ran his fingers through my hair from behind, tucking the front strands behind my right ear and kissed the side of my neck.
“Well, we don’t keep it in the fridge, silly.” He unhooked a cup and shoved it in place. “Your favorite pod is already in there.”
I pressed the lever because, well, coffee was the nectar of the gods, and turned to look at him. He was preoccupied with plating. A few seconds later, my cup full of coffee and cream, I sat at the table blowing, sipping and staring.
A plate appeared in front of me. French-toast sprinkled with powdered sugar and drenched in syrup. Yum! My bacon was barely visible in a sea of maple, just the way I liked it.
“You look tired, Evie.”
“Way to ruin the moment, Z.”
“Hey, I fixed your favorite! I figured you wouldn’t get much sleep—”
“And you know I eat high calorie food for energy when that happens. Thanks, Zephyr.”
“You’re welcome.”
I ate my food, savoring the syrup covered bacon last when I realized I’d made a mistake.
“Shit, where’s Demas?”
“He and Bodhi already left for the school. Why?”
“Of course they did. I forgot about the audio recorder last night. I think I left it on the table, like an idiot.”
“Rookie mistake, Evie. No big deal. Bodhi saw it and gave it to me last night. You know we’ve always got you covered.” Zephyr winked.
“Thanks, but how is Demas ever going to take me seriously as a member of the unit when I do something like that?”
“You think we haven’t made mistakes? I drank the evidence once—no it wasn’t blood. Don’t ask! And I still don’t think Bodhi’s forgiven himself for when you were kidnapped. It happens.”
“That wasn’t his fault!”
“Exactly my point.”
I nodded. “Well, did you find anything on the recorder?”
“Not yet. I suspect it uploaded automatically to the cloud. The problem is which one. I tried to break into her account but gave up around two. I’m going back to it now.”
“Can I watch? What you do on computers is over my head, but I wouldn’t mind picking up a new skill.”
“Sure, it can be like a study group.” He smirked.
“Good idea! I’ll just do these dishes, then meet you at the lab.”
I knew the dishes would buy me a little time. I picked up the syrup to put it away. Now that my eyes were open from my caffeine infusion, the inside of the fridge turned my stomach: sticky sauce was smeared on the shelves and there were moldy chunks of something-or-other that was maybe bread but possibly cheese, judging by the reek of it. The boys were great about cooking but regular housekeeping was not their forte. Well, no time for anything other than the dishes right now.
I jammed the stopper in the sink and turned the water on. Zephyr watched me, so I kept up my domestic duty, squeezing the soap until he finally headed outside. Maybe he suspected what I was up to. While the water filled, I ran to my room and gathered a few items and shoved them in my backpack. Back in the kitchen, I added a few bottles of water and a couple of granola bars to my pack. The sink was nearly full, so I quickly rinsed the dishes in the other side, turned the taps off and threw the dishes in the soapy water. I stood there but turned in a circle. I thought I had everything I might need. Crap! I’d forgotten about the master key I’d need to get in Maggie’s room again. I wasn’t worried about Eleutian’s wards. I was sure I could draw an invisibility sigil to get through them. Of course, my sigil wouldn’t really make me invisible, but it would as far as magic was concerned. Speaking of Eleutian, I hadn’t seen him or Colten yet this morning.
I jogged down the hall to Demas’ office to search for the key. Before starting my search, I took a quick peek out the window to make sure Zephyr wasn’t on his way back to the house. He wasn’t, but the gargoyle on top of one of the outbuildings caught my eye. Strange that I’d never noticed it before. Oh well, no time for that now. I needed to find that key. It was a long shot that Demas left it behind, but I had to make sure.
I was rummaging through the paperwork on his desk when it dawned on me that his desk was a mess, which was very unlike him. Either he was still having trouble dealing with this case or someone else had been here before me and, frankly, had done a horrible job.
Not finding the key on top of the desk, I began searching the drawers one by one. I pulled open the top right drawer and found a note that said: Nice try, Midnight.
Dammit.
I didn’t want to give up because it could be a ploy. Except, if they suspected that I was searching, Demas wouldn’t have left the key in his desk. I ran across the hall to his bedroom. I knew it was unlikely he had left it behind, but I was desperate. I performed a lightning-fast search of his closet and drawers. I gave a last look around the room; his bed sat unmade. One last shot, I reached for the pillow closest to me and shook it upside down. Nothing. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I finished what I started. I expected nothing when I shook the last pillow and that’s exactly what I got.
I went back across the hall and stood in the doorway to take in his office. A wolf statue sat on his desk—his mom’s. Of course! I carefully shook it. It jingled. After pulling the stopper out of the bottom, I shook it again and a key dropped into my hand. I returned the statue intact and ran to the kitchen, wiping my sweaty brow on my arm.
The clock showed twenty minutes had passed since Zephyr left. I needed to hurry! I dropped the key to the bottom of my backpack and ran to the sink. The only thing this house was missing was a dishwasher. Of course, I had to remember the lack of one was what had afforded me the chance to search. I’d campaign for one if I got busted. I scrubbed and rinsed the dishes in five minutes flat. It was all in the soaking.
“What took so long, Evie?” Zephyr asked as soon as I walked through the door of the lab.
“Well, did you look at the mess you made? You let the egg dry on the dipping pan.”
“Oh, ugh, sorry.”
“No worries. I wouldn’t have complained if not for your comment on my punctuality. We do need a housekeeper though, preferably with cooking skills to save us time. Anyway, what’s up?”
“We’re just all a little worried about you. You keep losing family and friends and now you seem to be holding it all in.”
“Didn’t I reach the required number of tears yesterday? Because I’m not sure I have any left.”
Zephyr walked over to me and cupped my cheek. “Hey, it’s because we love you that we worry.”
Closing my eyes, I said, “I know. It’s just easier to focus on the work.”
Zephyr kissed my forehead. “And I’ve already been working with an agency to get us a housekeeper. I have an appointment this afternoon with a Ms. Lane. With any luck, she can move in tomorrow.”
He raised my chin with his thumb, wrapping his fingers around one side of my throat.
I op
ened my eyes and stared into Zephyr’s warm, deep brown eyes. If it weren’t for the gold flecks, I wouldn’t be able to discern iris from pupil. He leaned forward and kissed me, gently at first, and I started to relax into the kiss, a sigh escaping. Zephyr took advantage and plunged his tongue in my mouth, his hand still on my throat locking my head in place. He tilted his head, giving his tongue better access to reach and duel with my own. I started to feel dizzy. Zephyr noticed the change and released my lips.
“Breathe, Evie,” he murmured.
I took a deep breath, enjoying his scent. I opened my eyes again, now there wasn’t a distinction between iris and pupil, evidence of a turned on male.
“Where’s Colten and Eleutian?” I asked.
“Huh, that’s not the first thing I expected after such a hot kiss. Colten left around the same time as Demas and Bodhi and I think Eleutian went back to New Orleans with Grimm.”
I nodded. “So, we’re alone?”
“On second thought, I love your questions. We. Are. Very. Much. Alone.”
Before I could respond, he wrapped his arms around me and threw me on the table. His hand stroked my throat. Vampires and throats. It’s a thing. He grabbed my leg and wrapped it around his hip. I followed suit with my other leg, locking my ankles behind his back. I moaned at the feel of his erection. He bent over and started where he’d left off with the kiss, our tongues twining while he pressed against me. I felt his hand slide under my tee.
“Stop!”
“What?” Zephyr leaned back.
“Too many clothes,” I panted out.
Zephyr didn’t respond, but he stripped his shirt off over his head. I admired his café-au-lait skin, his chest and abs cut like marble. I watched as he laid his shirt out on the table next to me. He then picked me up and set me on my feet. He pulled the sleeves of my hoodie down until I could pull my arms out. It was tossed to the far end of the table. Z knelt and pulled my boots off. I decided to help, so I unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans.
“Put your hands on my shoulders.”
Sticks & Stones Spell Werewolf Bones: A Why Choose Academy Romance Page 10