by D. N. Hoxa
“I found out only when I got here. They were growing a plant called the Treasure of Saraph, and apparently, its berries had the power to grant immortality to mortal supernaturals.”
Jennings continued to write on his pad, his strange porcupine lying by his feet. Montgomery narrowed his brows.
“Here’s what I don’t understand. Why would someone try to sell you something you already have?”
“Because I have the money to buy it. It’s business, nothing more.”
“And who’s your acquaintance?”
“I knew him by the name Erik Williams.” That was one of the wizards who were now dead and probably burning in the fae room.
Montgomery nodded, then looked at his partner’s pad again. When he was satisfied, he turned to me.
“Then what happened?”
“When I got here, they had already set things in motion. There was a man who had tubes inserted in his veins, and he was giving away his blood to the plant. Ms. Montero was tied to a chair and held at gunpoint. They were going to use her to demonstrate that the fruit was the real deal before they killed her. The name of the witch who was growing it was Diane Devlin.”
That was the witch who’d broken out of the Shade prison, and as far as the agents knew, I had no way of knowing this.
“I don’t know where they got the seeds, but she used a lot of magic to grow that thing. It took her more than an hour.” They already knew that heavy magic was used. Everything I said, they could confirm with hard evidence. “But somebody else must have known about what was going on here because a group of other people—a vampire I’ve never met before and three wizards—attacked. They attacked me, too. We fought for a bit before the plant was set on fire—I don’t know by whom. I was busy fighting.”
Agent Montgomery raised a brow in suspicion but I pretended not to notice.
“The fire spread fast and they all started to run. I untied Ms. Montero because she was obviously there against her will, and we barely got out of there with our lives.”
I guess I could have gone without that last bit, but I couldn’t help myself.
“So what was the plan? Were you going to buy the fruits, Mr. Reed?” he asked with a smile. He was a big man, about six feet tall, with arms so muscled they looked deformed, and even the largest sized shirts were tight around his shoulders. He wasn’t the kind of guy who smiled often, and I could see why.
“Of course not. I’m a man of the law, Agent Montgomery.” I probably could have gone without this, too.
“So why didn’t you notify the Guild when you first got the call?”
“Like I said, I didn’t know what they were selling. It could have been nothing but a piece of art—perfectly legal.”
Montgomery sighed. He knew I was lying to him, but he didn’t know how yet.
“I understand, Mr. Reed. We’re going to have to take you back to the Protection Unit for an official statement, if you don’t mind. The soldiers here are going to keep digging. The good news is, the fire is out. Hopefully it didn’t cause too much damage.”
“Let’s get going then,” I said and stood up. One more detailed interrogation and I’d be free to go.
“One more thing before we go there,” Montgomery said. “Why me? Why did you call me?”
“Because I wanted someone who’s competent to deal with this case, Agent. I’ve heard all about your case with the rogue werewolves in Long Island.”
It had happened a couple of years ago, but the case had made Montgomery’s career. He’d discovered a group of rogue werewolves trafficking human women all over the country and shut down their entire operation with only a team of ten people. That wasn’t why I’d called him here, though. The whole point had been Sean Jennings, but Montgomery didn’t need to know that.
“I just wanted to make sure that if any of those seeds survived, they wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. For everyone’s sake.”
Montgomery liked that answer very much.
The Guild let me out of the Protection Unit just as the sun rose into the sky. Montgomery asked me to call him if I remembered anything else about seven times, then warned me not to leave the City until further notice.
When I got home, I found that Emanuel had wrapped the three berries of the Treasure of Saraph in aluminum foil. I analyzed them when I was all alone in my bedroom, after Moira made sure that I was fine and gave me hell for not calling her and the boys to help. If one put the berries in the same bowl as blueberries, nobody would be able to tell the difference because they didn’t smell unique at all. I’d seen a lot of strange things during the years, but nothing felt quite as dangerous as these little things. The power they held was hidden perfectly.
I hid them in my closet, tucking them in my armor for safekeeping until I decided on where to keep the one I’d taken for myself. I don’t know why. Maybe, like Yutain, I wanted to make sure that the seed survived. Maybe Helen had gotten to me more than I liked to admit to myself.
Either way, the berry I had promised to Yutain would be delivered, and Helen would get her wish, too. She just wouldn’t know it until later.
Time crawled by as if on purpose. I don’t remember many days that had lasted as long as this one or any other time I’d been this impatient for the night. I kept picturing her face, covered in mud and blood, her golden eyes fully alive as she looked at me. It’s not about the reason, Mister Vampire. It’s about the principle. That’s exactly what I’d said to her when I told her about my chase of Mason, the vampire of the Uprising—whom I had yet to find.
I laughed at the memory. Trying to send her back would have been useless, so I hadn’t tried. And I’d liked it. I’d liked her walking by my side, her arm in mine, even in the suffocating darkness of the labyrinth. With her, death didn’t quite feel like death.
When night finally fell, I was showered, dressed, and waiting in the living room with Moira and Zane. Nikola and Helen would be here any minute now.
“Why do I need to say that I made that soup again?” Moira asked.
“Because he won’t be able to refuse it.”
“Yes, but why don’t you want him to refuse it?”
“I have my reasons, my deranged elf. It’s nothing dangerous, I assure you.”
I’d ordered the soup because Moira didn’t really know how to cook, and any time Emanuel tried it, it ended up a disaster. In the soup, I’d put the juice of one berry. Nikola had known Moira since she was a little girl, and he was very fond of her. I expected Helen to be angry with me and to not want to stay long enough for him to eat, but if Moira said she made it for him, he would never say no.
Helen was more than angry at me—she was furious. When they came into the penthouse, she could barely look me in the eyes, but Nikola was already a changed man. His eyes shone and he was smiling. He even stood straighter somehow.
I wondered if Sinea had that effect on me, the way Helen’s presence had on Nikola. I felt it, but I didn’t know if I looked any different when she was there.
“You and I are not friends,” were Helen’s first words.
“She doesn’t mean that,” said Nikola when he shook my hand.
“No, I do. If calling you a friend turns you into an enemy, we are not tied together by any label,” Helen said.
“Fair enough. Whatever you say,” I said to Helen with a smile. There would be no point in trying to talk sense into her. She’d see for herself—if the berry even did what it was supposed to do.
“Don’t mind her, Damian. You’ve been a great help,” Nikola said.
“Huge help,” Helen muttered and looked around the room. “Who else is here?”
“A friend of Moira’s,” I explained. She could hear the heartbeat of Charlie—the witch Moira was hiding in her room. Helen just raised a brow.
“I wanted to come by and thank you in person. I am in your debt,” Nikola continued.
“Nonsense. We’re even,” I said, and waved toward the counter where Moira was setting up a plate of tomato soup. “Please, join us.
”
“Oh, I’m afraid—”
“I made this especially for you, Uncle Nikola,” Moira said, batting her lashes innocently. “Will you please try it?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Helen cried. “Soup? You made him soup?”
“Yes. I’ve been learning how to cook and I thought Uncle Nikola would appreciate it.”
I widened my eyes at Moira. She practically screamed the words at Helen.
“Well, now, I can’t say no to that face, can I? Of course I’ll try your soup. I’d be honored, Moira,” Nikola said, and he let go of Helen’s hand to go sit by the counter.
“Care for some wine?” I asked Helen.
“Fuck off,” she said and followed after Nikola.
I held back a laugh.
Nikola hated the soup. We could all tell by the look on his face, but he did eat it all. Moira made it a point to look at him, silver eyes wide with hope, until the very last bite.
“Thank you, Moira. It was delicious. Really,” Nikola said, eagerly returning the plate. I watched him for a second, even though I had no idea what to expect. Would his wrinkles disappear? Would his grey hair turn blond?
Neither happened.
“If you’re done being polite now, we need to get going.” Helen practically dragged Nikola off the chair.
“Honey, be patient,” he said under his breath.
“I am! I came all the way here, didn’t I?”
I wondered if she’d be so irritated still if she knew what Nikola had just drank.
“And your little friend? Where is she?” Helen suddenly asked.
She meant Sinea. “Home.”
“Montero, isn’t it? Who’s her father?”
I narrowed my brows. “I don’t think she knows. Why?”
Her dark eyes gleamed. “She used a spell I haven’t seen in over a hundred years. Who taught her?”
I smiled. “I’m afraid I don’t know.”
She grinned, but it only made her look more pissed off. “You’re an ass. Let’s go, Nikola.”
“For the love of—” Nikola started, but I cut him off with a laugh.
“That’s okay, my friend. I understand you need to be on your way. It’s been a pleasure seeing you again.”
Nikola hugged me, thanked me for helping him, and assured me that he was in my debt again. Helen refused to even look at me until the elevator doors slid closed and the car took them down.
“Poor Nikola,” Zane mumbled. “If I had to spend just a day with Helen, I’d lose my damn mind.”
“Yeah, she’s really something,” Moira said. “Am I done now? Can I go?”
I smiled. “Sure. Knock yourself out.” It was apparently Charlie’s birthday tomorrow, and she wanted to celebrate with her at midnight. And, as she’d informed me earlier, she still had a shitload of things to prepare until then.
I left the penthouse as soon as Helen and Nikola got in their car and drove away.
The small flower shop at the corner of a very busy street was far away from Sinea’s apartment, but they sold the best jasmine I’d found in the City, so it was worth the run. It was a little past eight, and I was on my way to see her now, as excited as a little boy. I didn’t find Yutain at the pier, and there were people on it and on the boats berthed to it, but I left the berry in his yacht. He would know where I hid it. The wind—and my scent—would tell him. I’d thought about waiting for him, but I’d decided against it. I had a date to get to.
The flowers in my hand smelled heavenly. They reminded me of her, and I wanted them to remind her of me, too. I’d have to walk a bit slower now that I’d gotten them because I didn’t want to ruin them, but just as I passed the first block, my phone vibrated.
Thinking it was Sinea, I pulled it out of my pocket with a smile on my face, but it was only Ryan Asher—the assistant of the Guild. I’d asked him the night before to keep an eye on Montgomery’s report, and he was probably calling about that.
“Hello, Ryan.”
“Mr. D, sorry to bother ya,” he said in a rush. “Am I interrupting anything? No?”
“Not at all. What do you have?”
“Not much. Just found out you’re being tailed, Mr. D,” he said. I stopped walking. “I saw the report by accident when I was looking for the other one you told me to find.”
“Does it say why?” I asked Ryan and looked around me. Whoever was following me, I couldn’t smell them or see them, which meant they were keeping a very good distance. Werewolf or vampire.
“It says the Committee believes you’re going to lead them to someone they’re looking for, someone they’ve labeled A. P. I don’t know whose initials they are, but I can do a search for some names if you want.”
If my heart had worked, it would have stopped beating in that second.
Because that wasn’t a name. Those initials stood for Alpha Prime.
“Mr. D?”
The voice pulled me violently from my trance. I cleared my throat.
“That won’t be necessary, Ryan. Thank you for calling me.”
“No problem, Mr. D. Call me if you need me.” He hung up the phone.
I was still frozen in the middle of the street.
They knew. The Guild knew. Every drop of blood in my veins had turned to stone.
But it didn’t matter, did it? They didn’t know that it was Sinea; otherwise they wouldn’t have bothered to spy on me. And that was fine.
I could take her away. Whoever they had put after me, I could find them, take them out, and disappear. We would go some place where even the Guild couldn’t find us. I could keep her safe. As long as she was mine, I wouldn’t need anything else.
A waste container on the sidewalk smelled of sushi, not three feet away from me. My legs took me to it, and I looked inside, as if hoping to find an answer.
But I didn’t need to find anything because I already knew.
I could take Sinea away, and the Guild would never find us, but I couldn’t do that to her. She deserved a life. She’d sacrificed so much to keep one secret away from everyone, even her family and friends. It was my fault that another secret had been added to it. I’d already taken enough—I couldn’t rob her of her freedom, too.
Because she’d say yes. She wouldn’t even think about it. If I went to her right now and told her the truth, there would be no stopping her. She’d convince me that it was okay, that she wanted to be with me, and nothing else mattered. It would be very easy to do. For her, I was willing to abandon logic and defy anyone.
I let go of the flowers and they fell in the container.
It wasn’t about what I wanted or needed this time, not like it had been before. It was about what she needed—and she needed a life. Even if we ran now and she was okay with it for a while, eventually she wouldn’t be. She’d be away from her brother, her friends, her job—everything she’d worked so hard for until now. The best I could do was not give her a choice—at least until this was over.
I turned around and ran back to the penthouse, feeling as if I was being suffocated, which was ridiculous. I was a vampire. I didn’t need air. I hadn’t in three hundred years.
What I needed was Sinea. I wanted her more than I wanted to live, and I usually got what I wanted. The plan was perfectly clear in my mind by the time the elevator doors opened.
The whole team was in the living room, hanging up colorful balloons on the curtains, and a huge happy birthday sign on the front wall. Charlie was there, too, and as soon as I entered the room, she stepped back behind Emanuel.
The team were surprised to see me because I’d already told them I would be out. I’d planned to be out late.
“Is everything okay?” John asked.
“Yes, everything’s fine.” The world had just caught fire all around me, that’s all. “What are you doing?”
“Decorating the place. We’re having a birthday party, remember?” Moira said, coming close to me. “What happened?”
“Nothing. Nice colors,” I said, just to keep myse
lf talking. The urge to scream was harder to swallow than I expected.
“It’s a double celebration,” said Emanuel. “Charlie here has agreed to work with us starting tomorrow. You know, when she’s legally an adult. It’s just an internship at first, but still.” Charlie blushed bright scarlet behind him.
I nodded. “Congratulations. That’s great news.” They all stared at me, waiting. I must have looked exactly as I felt. “It looks like you’re all doing fine without me,” I said to my team. “I need to leave the City for a while—I’m not sure how long. But I’ll be back.”
The next second, they all surrounded me, except the witch, who stayed behind.
“What? What do you mean leave? Go where?”
“Do what?”
“What for?”
“Is somebody in trouble?”
The questions kept coming before I even said a single word.
“Nobody’s in trouble—I just need to be away for a little while, that’s all. No need for concern.”
None of them believed me.
“Then we can come with,” Moira offered, but I shook my head. I wasn’t dragging them in my mess, too.
“No, it has to be just me. Trust me, deranged elf. I’ll be fine.” I even tried to smile, but I don’t think I managed.
They had more questions about me—mentioning names I’d almost forgotten myself, of people who’d helped us through the years. They were convinced that somebody was in trouble and they’d called for me, and I let them think it. As long as it kept them from the truth, it would do no harm.
Eventually, they let me go to my bedroom and pack my things. Agent Montgomery had warned me about leaving the City. I’d thought it was ridiculous then—where would I go when Sinea lived here?—but now, I wasn’t laughing.
Moira came after me. She found me in the closet and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back.
“I’m sorry, Moira. I wouldn’t go if I didn’t have to, but if you need me, I’ll be here.”
“I know,” she whispered in my ear and let go of me. “I know—I’m just not used to you being gone, that’s all.”
“You’ll be fine. You’ve got a girl to hang out with when the boys piss you off now.”