Chapter 18
I didn’t press Silas for details of the Ashbishop’s death, but hopefully, it involved prolonged pain.
“Someone has co-opted his legend.” I stared out the front window, my lips pursed. “Any idea who?”
“Some of his vamp crew are still out there.” He swallowed. “I couldn’t bear it if one of those psychopaths found you. Please don’t keep digging into this.”
“I’ll back off.” I had absolutely no intention of doing so, but I’d tell Ezra, Sachie, and Darsh that we weren’t to discuss the Ashbishop with Silas. I didn’t want to distress him anymore.
Muffled sound came out of the headset and Silas started, pressing one side to his ear and angling the mic again. “Linda and Troy are going back to her place to await a shipment arriving in about an hour.” He tossed his equipment in the back seat and started the engine.
Traffic was heavy and we got across town with only seven minutes to spare until this shipment arrived, but we still took the time to creep through the grounds instead of barreling up the driveway.
Linda had inherited her mother’s house, a large property with lots of trees and multiple places to hide. I concealed myself in the branches of a gnarled oak where I could snap photos of the vehicle delivering this mystery shipment and keep eyes on Linda and Troy inside.
Silas hid underneath the living room window to eavesdrop on them.
Linda sat miserably on the sofa while Troy stuffed scrolls into fancy packaging shaped like large silver eggs. They weren’t speaking so there was nothing for Silas to overhear.
The box that was dropped off was about the size of a dishwasher. I informed Silas through our comms that it was delivered by a local courier company.
I shifted and rubbed my numb butt, leaning forward with a firm grip on the tree branch to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
Troy slit the top of the box with an X-Acto knife and began removing and unwrapping items from brown paper.
I frowned. Was that a hairbrush? Yes, yes, it was.
He handed it to Linda, who held it for a moment. Blotting her forehead with the back of one hand, she placed the brush in one of the fancy containers.
What the fuck con game was going on here?
“Silas,” I murmured into the comms. “Meet me in front.”
He cornered me before I hit the front stairs. “What are you up to?”
“Going in for better intel.” I shook out my hair to be messy and shoved my comms in my pocket, motioning for Silas to do the same. I grabbed my lipstick and applied it with a shaky hand. “Day drinking is a beautiful thing,” I said, and stumbled up the steps.
By the time I rang the bell four times, Silas stood beside me with his arm draped over my shoulder.
Linda blinked at us. She looked wan and her eyes were glazed. She’d already taken whatever strong drugs Troy procured for her. “Wh-what are you doing here?”
“We’ve come for a ride.” I giggled tipsily and nudged Silas. “I mean, not that kind of ride.”
“Now’s not a good time.” She tried to shut the door.
“But you invited us.” I pouted, lost my balance, and fell against the door, conveniently keeping her from closing it.
“Don’t worry, Jackie isn’t getting on a horse,” Silas boomed cheerfully. “She is, however, going to hydrate. Where’s your kitchen?” He swaggered forward.
Linda scrambled out of the way, leaving the two of us free to waltz on in. “Wait!”
Troy stepped into the hallway. “What do you think you’re?—”
“Ice guy!” I cried and flung my arms around him. “This is the Orange Flame with the best party trick that I told you about, remember, Si?”
“Yup. Down, babe.” Silas chortled, removing me from Troy while managing to move us all farther down the hallway.
“That’s enough,” Troy said firmly. He flexed his fingers.
I dragged in a pained wheeze, feeling like my lungs had just been branded with a hot poker.
In my head, Cherry blinked at me. Can I come out and play?
Give it a sec .
“Drop your magic before I break your fingers off,” Silas said pleasantly.
Troy didn’t need a second glance at Silas to judge whether or not he was joking. He released me from his magic, however, Silas’s skin went blotchy red.
The vamp paid it as much attention as a pesky mosquito flying around his head. He blurred down the corridor, Troy’s hand suddenly bent backward in my partner’s enormous grip. “That strain you feel is your distal radius,” Silas said. “It’s not my favorite bone to break but it makes a nice snap.”
Linda grabbed Silas’s arm.
He sighed and pinned her by the shoulder against the wall with his other hand. “Don’t mess with people’s emotions without consent, Linda. It’s not nice.”
White Flame. Thank you for the reminder, Silas. “Are we going to see horses or not?”
“I just need a sec, babe.” He bent Troy’s wrist back a hair more and the man whimpered. Huge red welts appeared on Silas’s skin, but he continued to ignore them. “My favorite bone is the hyoid. It’s the only one not connected to any other bone in your body, which I think is pretty cool. Just this V-shaped bone all on its lonesome at the base of your tongue. Think I can show you yours before you fry me?”
I almost laughed out loud. Instead, I left him intimidating Troy and skipped into the living room. “Oooh. Are you doing an unboxing video? I love those!”
Linda lurched into the room, her eyes wide. “I—we— Don’t!”
I unrolled a scroll from its packaging—silver eggs engraved with intricate runes that were absolute gibberish.
She snatched the paper away from me but not before I started laughing.
“Omigod!” I cried. “You’re totally faking people out. Silas! You gotta see this. There’s a whole story about this haunted mirror,” I said, waving the scroll, “but, like, look at it. It’s totally a dollar-store find.” I dropped onto the sofa, crossed my legs, and swung my foot back and forth. “Come on, spill.”
Silas, who’d set Troy next to Linda like he was a chess piece the vamp was playing, motioned for them to stay put. He touched his finger to the back of his tongue in warning before he turned away from the duo.
Troy swallowed, all color draining from his face. Linda was probably scared but she just rocked a glazed zombie expression.
Silas moved slowly between the box with all the items, the silver egg packaging, and a number of scrolls that had yet to be tied up. He touched a cheap gold bracelet and shivered violently, dropping the jewelry.
I jumped to my feet, both Cherry and I on full alert. “Si? Sweetheart?”
“Sorry,” Linda whispered.
“Why are you apologizing?” Troy growled. “They broke in here and?—”
Silas absently shushed Troy and crouched down so he was eye level with Linda. “You’re infusing your magic into these everyday inanimate objects, aren’t you?”
She dug her fingers into the throw cushion on her lap.
“Wild! Like fear? That’s why you shivered, Si?” I couldn’t stop the barrage of “likes” and “totallys.” Jackie turned into an ’80s valley girl when she was drunk. Which did seem to be pretty often these days.
Silas nodded. “Your talents are weak on people but on objects?” He whistled. “Who writes the fake histories?” He pointed at Troy. “You?”
Troy glared defiantly at him.
I locked my frustration down tight. Serious as the crime was, I didn’t give a shit about selling fake possessed artifacts. It was a second-rate fraud and not worthy of the matchmakers. Linda wasn’t one of those masterminds, just a nepo baby with an illegal side hustle.
I’d gambled everything on this stakeout and lost.
Troy was telling Silas if he thought he was going to muscle in on the action, he could think again.
“I don’t want in.” Silas nodded approvingly at Linda. “I want you to rep my art collection.”
She stood up with a cautious smile. “Really?”
Enjoy your good fortune for the next ten seconds until I arrest you .
“Really.” Silas rubbed his thumb and first two fingers together in the universal gesture of cash. “I want someone willing to go the distance and get me everything.”
His acting was hardly subtle but he wasn’t treading the boards. We were in a tense standoff, and from the way Linda prattled on about potential collectors, it had done its job.
At least these artifacts would be off the streets. Trying to be happy with that consolation prize, I stood up and stilled.
A metal case was tucked between the sofa and one of the side tables. What did we have here?
Noticing my pause, Silas pulled out magic-nulling cuffs. “By the power vested in me as a Maccabee, I’m placing you under arrest.”
Troy swore and jumped to his feet.
I set the case on the sofa, my back to everyone, and clicked the locks open.
The spike of excitement that Cherry sent through me made my knees buckle. I hit the carpet, burning up and sweating, the colors in the room so painfully bright I swear they burned my retinas.
Silas was trying to cuff Linda while grappling with Troy. My discomfort wasn’t the Orange Flame’s doing.
I stared dully at the still-closed case, my heart in my throat. It was as if I’d touched my blood to Sire’s Spark and was detecting a shedim, except that crystal was locked up tight in my safe, and neither Troy nor Linda had the shifting shadows in the backs of their skulls marking them as half shedim.
I reached for the lid with a hand covered in frosted green scaley armor. My panic over revealing myself was nothing compared to what I’d find inside.
Something heavy behind me thudded and cracked.
Linda screamed.
I didn’t care, all my attention on the two silver love locks featuring initials engraved in hearts. Nestled in velvet padding, the locks were also wrapped in real runes of black and purple magic.
The more the runes pulsed like tentacles full of blood, the more the pressure in my brain grew, almost bowing me double. Sweat dripped onto the carpet.
I sucked in a ragged breath, yelling in my head at Cherry to stand down because my gut said she was making this harder on me.
These weren’t empty prison cells like the one I’d taken from the drug bust.
There were shedim imprisoned inside .
The evil leeching out of them reached inside me like insects burrowing under my skin, all tiny feet and mandibles pricking me.
I vomited onto the carpet, the sound drawing everyone’s attention.
“Aviva.” Silas’s voice was strangled. He had a cut on one cheek and a white-knuckled grip on the chain between Linda’s cuffs. “Your eyes.”
Dizzy, I rubbed a hand over them, my pulse spiking in fear that Cherry was now on display.
This isn’t on me , she whispered.
My fully human fingers came away stained with blood. I gasped.
“What is that?” Silas frowned at the metal case. He stepped over the wreckage of a chair and then over Troy, who was sprawled on the ground, his arm bent at an angle that under any other circumstance, would have nauseated me.
Linda mewled.
Troy swung a panicked glance at the locks, then jumped to his feet and shot his uninjured hand toward me in a sharp motion.
Ice crackled over me, but the more I tried to shake it off, the faster it built, until I couldn’t move, and my teeth couldn’t even chatter at the cold that penetrated down to the marrow of my bones.
I dimly heard a roar, my lungs burning from lack of oxygen. My vision wavered, my consciousness failing. Save me .
You wanted to be human , Cherry whimpered. I can’t do anything now .
The light filtering through the ice grew narrower and narrower then?—
CRACK!!
I pitched forward, shivering like I’d never be warm again.
Silas was jumping out the busted pictured window, its shards winking in the carpet fibers, and Troy was nowhere to be seen.
Linda was crying.
I glanced at the sofa, where the case with the love locks should have been—and wasn’t—and shivered again. I wanted to scream and beat my fists on the ground. I had my connection to the matchmakers, but Troy had fled with two shedim prisons, and if he had a way to release a couple of furious demons and turn them on Silas?
Even Silas wouldn’t survive that.