Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
Erasmus
Two days later and Franklin was still waist deep in the six murdered girls we’d found.
He went in early, came home late, and tossed and turned most of the night.
When Franklin kissed me goodbye in the morning, he barely looked better than when I’d tucked him in the night before.
The case was taking up all his time, energy, and headspace, leaving little available for contemplations regarding Tenzen Huxley.
One foot propped on my porch swing, I used the other to push myself back and forth.
The creak of the springs was a constant, oddly soothing backdrop.
Chin resting on my bent knee, I stared across the street.
Sometimes I wished my view was of Mrs. Hart’s house instead.
Then again, I’d rather have a street between the neighbor who hated my guts than a simple fence.
Miss Pattycakes was out and about this morning. I’d heard her yipping at something or other, but she’d quieted quickly. Since I hadn’t heard Mrs. Hart’s door open and close again, I could only assume Miss Pattycakes was still patrolling her yard, looking for any unwelcome intruders.
If only it were that easy to spot the intruders invading my private sanctuary.
When you stopped and paid attention, shadows could be seen everywhere.
Even in the darkest of night, the barest hint of light allowed their presence.
I’d need an underground, sealed bunker with absolutely no light to avoid Tenzen’s shadows.
While that sounded like a warm and cozy burrow to a vampire, it sounded like torturous hell to me.
A young woman with her brown hair piled in a high ponytail jogged past, technology plugged into her ears as she trotted by, not a single glance spared my direction. While jogging didn’t really appeal to me, I envied her ease.
The truth was, I was bored. I’d significantly pared back on my caseload in an attempt not to make myself a bigger target…
or at least an easy one. I had no idea what Franklin thought he could do if Tenzen decided to do…
Fuck, it was so damn frustrating not being able to complete that sentence.
Part of me wondered if it truly mattered.
At this point, we didn’t even know if Pops’s silencing charms worked where Huxley was concerned.
Sitting here, all alone with nothing else to do allowed too much time for useless speculation.
All this constant thinking was doing was giving me an ulcer and raising my anxiety.
I blamed that increased anxiety for my over-the-top yelp and involuntary jump when my phone rang. “Get it together, Boone,” I berated myself before picking up my phone. My heartrate remained high when I saw the caller ID. “Agent Frost?” I answered.
“You can call me Phlox if you’d like,” the pixie/Pallas’s cat shifter answered.
Reaching into my pocket, I activated Pops’s silencing charm.
Phlox didn’t give me a chance to say anything else before he continued.
“Leon and I are taking a flight to Montgomery. We should land sometime after midnight. We’ll get a rental car, but then we’re heading your way.
Looks like it’s three to four hours to your house from the airport, which will put us at your place before dawn. ”
Eyes wide, I swallowed and stuttered, “O-okay.”
“I didn’t want to just show up knocking on your door before the sun rose.”
My mouth opened before slipping closed again. “I appreciate that.” My brain felt numb, as if it were on a thirty-second delay. Perhaps longer. Finally, I managed to ask, “And why are you on your way here? Have you learned something?”
“Not yet, but I plan on learning a whole shitload of things. Aurelia spoke with Peaches.”
My blood ran cold. “About Ajita?”
“Mm-hmm. Gotta say, I did not see that one coming.”
“I’m not sure why you would have.”
Phlox barked out a laugh. “True enough.” His laughter turned into a heavy sigh. “This has clusterfuck written all over it, and yet even knowing that, I think it’s our best option.”
I gripped the fabric over my pounding heart. “You think we should—”
“I think we should wait and discuss things in person.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t really sure that would be better but deferred to the pro.
I wasn’t certain how long Phlox had been an agent for the Magical Usage Council, but he had a lot more experience with covert operations than me.
Gaia, even referring to what was currently going on as a covert operation sounded ridiculous.
“See you in a few hours.” The line went silent, and I was left looking at a darkened phone screen.
Phlox hadn’t asked permission. I don’t know what I would have said if he had.
That wasn’t true; I would have told him to head this way if he thought that best. Chewing my bottom lip, I considered calling Franklin and letting him know.
My finger hovered over his contact information before I slid it away and lowered my phone to the seat beside me.
Franklin had enough on his mind without worrying about our incoming guests.
I’d tell him tonight when he dragged his ass home from work.
“Do you have a basement I’m unaware of?” Franklin asked.
Gaia, he looked even more exhausted than last night.
Regardless, Franklin listened to my news, blinked a couple of times while he remained silent for thirty, maybe forty seconds, and then got down to practicalities.
“We could always put some dark sheets over the windows in the spare bedroom. Do you have something like that, or do I need to head out to the store?” Franklin was already reaching for his car keys.
“I’ve got some dark green sheets that should work.
I bought them and then didn’t like the color.
They’re shoved somewhere in the back of the linen closet.
” I reached for Franklin’s wrists and tugged him into the living room, pushing him onto the couch.
“You need to sit down before you fall down.” I sat beside him, one knee tucked up under me as I faced Franklin.
“I love you, honey boo, but this one-foot-in-the-grave look isn’t doing you any favors. ”
Franklin’s thirty-second delay was still active, and it took him that long to offer up a grunt…or maybe it was an aborted version of a laugh. Honestly, I wasn’t sure. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m just concerned, and now we’ve got guests coming and—” Franklin shushed me with a finger pressed against my lips.
“Doesn’t sound like Agent Frost gave you much choice in the matter.”
“No, but I didn’t really argue either. I was kind of stuck in some type of weird fugue state.” My lips twisted with thought. “It was weird.”
“Did you call your pops and let him know?”
“I texted him an abbreviated version.” Gaia bless Franklin. He never questioned the need to keep Pops in the loop.
“What did he have to say?”
“Not much. It’s difficult to get emotion out of texts, but I get the feeling Pops is concerned but also a little eager.
He’s just as frustrated as the rest of us.
The waiting is…” Saying waiting was killing me seemed a bit over dramatic, and yet that’s how I felt.
In a way, it was taking little bits and pieces at a time, stealing away my sense of safety.
“And your momma?”
I leaned against the back of the couch, one fisted hand supporting my head. “I texted Momma too. She told me to let her know if we needed anything. She’s also excited about Phlox being a pixie and a Pallas’s cat shifter. I think it will be difficult keeping the woman out of our house.”
Franklin’s chuckle rumbled through his chest. “Is it rude to ask Phlox to shift while he’s here?”
I shrugged, unsure of shifter etiquette. “I’m not sure.”
“Hmm… I wonder if Aurelia has seen Agent Frost’s shifted form. When you first told me what he shifts into, I did some digging into Pallas’s cats. They’re cute and fluffy but far from tame.”
“You think that’s the next pet Aurelia will want?”
“As dangerous as a Pallas’s cat is, I think it would still be better than a scuttlebutt. I haven’t seen one, but if your description is even halfway accurate, a scuttlebutt is not something I want in Aurelia’s possession.”
“Agreed. I—”
“The two of you are exceedingly boring.”
I whipped my head around only to find Aurelia standing between the kitchen entrance and living room. I had no idea how long she’d been standing there and hoped she hadn’t heard our discussion about scuttlebutts.
Franklin eased his head against the couch, his bloodshot eyes fixated on the ceiling as he whispered, “If only that were true.”
Clearing my throat, I motioned Aurelia forward and into our magical bubble of hopeful silence. “How are you?” I asked, earning me a quizzical stare.
“You have never asked that before.”
I was taken aback. “I haven’t? Really?” I tried recalling our past conversations, and while I couldn’t remember all of them, I had a disturbing feeling Aurelia was right. “Momma would be very disappointed in me.”
“I do not understand why. I am djinn. I am the same today as I was a millennia ago.”
“Physically,” Franklin chimed in, his gaze still stuck on the ceiling. “I doubt that’s true emotionally.”
Aurelia cocked her head to the side, keeping her silence as she considered that statement. “Perhaps you are correct, human.” Aurelia didn’t say Franklin’s species with any type of malice.
“That’ll be a first today,” Franklin mumbled, nearly too soft for me to hear. I laid my hand on his thigh and squeezed. Franklin wrapped his fingers around mine.
Aurelia stepped closer as she rounded the couch, sitting on the coffee table she’d apparently become so fond of. When she remained silent, I asked, “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”
Aurelia’s eyebrows rose. “You find my company pleasurable?”
I shrugged. “I don’t find it offensive.” Pleasurable might have been a stretch.
Aurelia’s facial features softened. It was so minuscule as to almost be invisible, and yet it was there all the same. She stared at me, those Caribbean blue eyes deeply boring into mine, as if she could discern the sincerity of my words. Having nothing to hide, I let her look her fill.
She blinked and eased into her seated position. “I spoke with Peaches, and I believe he then felt the need to discuss the situation with the other pixie.”
“Phlox,” I supplied.
“That is the one.”
Before Aurelia could say more, my curiosity got the better of me and I asked, “Have you seen Phlox’s shifted form?”
“I have. It is most unique.”
I didn’t miss the covetous gleam in Aurelia’s eyes. “I’m guessing Peaches said no to that one too.”
For lack of a better word, Aurelia pouted.
“Peaches claims Pallas’s cats are wild creatures and do not accept captivity well.
” Any hint of displeasure vanished. “I would not submit such a creature to an environment they do not enjoy. I am not like the masters.” The last words were said with a level of hatred I didn’t think Aurelia would ever lose. Honestly, I wasn’t certain she should.
“That’s very responsible of you,” Franklin said.
“It is no less than any living, sentient creature deserves.”
There was absolutely no arguing that point. In some ways, Aurelia was like a child, or at least her observations were childlike. She saw the world in black and white. Aurelia had a moral code. It wasn’t what most of us would agree with, but it was there all the same, and she adhered to it.
“The pixie shifter desires to be present when Ajita is contacted,” Aurelia stated, eliminating any previous warm and fuzzy feelings circulating through my brain.
I sucked in a harsh breath. “Then you found her? She’s still living?”
“Of course she is still alive. Djinn are exceedingly difficult to kill.” Aurelia’s gaze was piercing when she looked at me. “I had only wondered if she was resting. Doing so is at Ajita’s discretion.” A note of bitterness surrounded that statement.
Sitting up straighter, Franklin squeezed my fingers before asking, “Did you make contact with her?”
“No.”
“Does she know you’re looking for her?” I asked.
“Most likely.” Aurelia didn’t sound the least bit disturbed by those brief words. “Ajita would not be threatened by my presence.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that. Right or wrong, I thought of Aurelia as my djinn. “I know djinn are difficult to kill, but are you placing yourself in danger? Could Ajita harm you?”
Aurelia slowly blinked, her eyes larger and rounder than typical. “You are concerned?”
“I am.” Those words weren’t the least bit false.
“Why?” Aurelia sounded genuinely curious.
Franklin’s fingers tightened, squeezing mine almost to the point of discomfort.
“I like to think we’re friends, Aurelia.” Strange friends with a staggering power imbalance. “I would not desire harm on any of my friends, especially if it is on my behalf,” I said.
Straightening, Aurelia blankly stared, her expression a mask of unreadable stoicism. “You are a strange creature, Erasmus Boone.” With those parting words, Aurelia was gone.
“Did you break her?” Franklin bemusedly asked.
“I’m not entirely certain. I hope not.”
“You know your pops thinks you’re nuts where Aurelia is concerned, right?”
“Yeah, I know.” I meant to lean back into the couch but wound up landing on Franklin’s outstretched arm. “But I meant what I said.”
“I know you did.” Franklin’s lips pressed against my forehead. “I wouldn’t have you any other way. And just for the record, I’d be upset if something happened to Aurelia too. I even think I’d be more upset than relieved. I guess that makes me nuts too.”
“Then I guess we’ll be nutty together.” I grinned, staring into Franklin’s laughing eyes, the wear and tear of the last few days briefly dissipating.
“There’s no one I’d rather be nutty together with than you.”
Slapping Franklin on the thigh, I stood and reached out a hand, helping pull him from the lull of the couch.
“Let’s get you showered, fed, and put to bed before this conversation goes off the rails more than it already has.
I’ll dig out the sheets and tack them over the windows in the guest bedroom while you’re cleaning up. ”
Franklin’s back and neck alarmingly cracked when he stood and stretched.
His gait was stiff, and he appeared to be favoring his right leg.
I made a mental note to make sure Franklin activated one of Pops’s pain charms tonight.
He’d argue and tell me we should keep them for something more alarming, but I didn’t like seeing him in pain.
Besides, I pretty much had a never-ending supply.
It was one of the many perks of having Warlock Nikodemus Holland as my Pops.