Chapter 30
I finished the call with Roger on autopilot, then spun in a circle. “Where’s my bag? I need to talk to Michael and?—”
“Avi,” Sachie said gently and plucked the phone from my hands. “Sit down.”
I shook my head. “I can’t.”
Rukhsana, my informant, the person I’d started to think of as a friend, was a demon. No wonder I couldn’t determine whether she was Eishei Kodesh or what kind of magic she had.
No wonder she always came through with the intel I required.
She’d been playing me all this time.
“Fuuuuuuuck!!!!” I winged a cushion against the wall.
Sachie tugged me onto the sofa next to her. “Table your anger for a moment and talk me through this, because I missed the first part.”
“Roger dated Rukhsana, who’s a demon. Whether she insinuated herself into his life specifically to get intel on his client base or because she and Chandra required secure transport for their operation, I have no idea. She attacked Jared as a warning. That’s why he wasn’t actually injured.”
“Her initial plan might have been to kill Casey,” Sachie said, “but this worked out better. Jared’s still around to spew hate and do the heavy lifting keeping tensions high between Trads and Eishei Kodesh. The shedim version of ‘work smart, not hard.’” She slung her arm along the back of the sofa. “How does Troy fit into it?”
I buried my head in my hands with a moan. “I’m the fucking idiot who told her Troy had dangerous artifacts. God, I bought her worried act when she asked me after his death if they’d been demonic. She knew what they were the second I mentioned them.” I raised my stricken gaze to my friend. “I got Troy killed.”
“So Chandra didn’t share her insurance policy with her partner and Rukhsana wants those locks back?”
“It’s more than that,” I said. “The shedim who own the locks know that Chandra had a demon partner. They’re after her identity. The way Troy was murdered, the anger and force of the magic poured into him. Rukhsana tortured him to find out whether he, or Linda, or Mois had her glamored identity.”
“She’s a demon. Switch glamors. Disappear.”
“She needed money to hide herself so thoroughly that they’d never find her.” I sagged, overwhelmed by my stupidity. I’d agreed to give it to her.
Sachie snapped her fingers. “The brain.”
“What about it?”
“It’s the plus code location of all the locks.”
I slumped even more. “The ultimate insurance policy.”
“Could Rukhsana know it’s missing and that you stole it?”
“Missing, yes. That I took it?” I shrugged helplessly. My blood felt replaced by ice.
Sachie sent off a text.
“What are you doing?”
“Ezra needs to stay with you until we catch Rukhsana.”
I stood up, stuffing my panic into a tight box. “She can’t breach HQ so, for now, I’m safe. Let’s go upstairs to see Mich— ouf .”
Ezra had blurred out the stairwell door and into me, crushing me to his chest.
I hugged him back tightly. Sachie didn’t even make any snide comments about him getting through the portal, inside HQ, and down here in seconds.
My boyfriend finally released me. “Whatever guilt you’re torturing yourself with over Rukhsana, stop it right now.”
I gave a wavery laugh. “You don’t even know the full story.”
I’d pointed Rukhsana at Troy, and I’d have to live with his murder. I prayed I didn’t have to live with the deaths of Linda and Mois on my conscience as well.
“I don’t have to,” Ezra said. “I know you, and I’d bet everything I have that even now, some part of you still cares what happens to her.”
“No,” I lied miserably.
Sachie clapped her hands together. “Time to gather the troops, kids. Let’s take this to the director.”
It was after 9PM and Michael had left for the day, but upon hearing that Roger’s demon was Rukhsana, she came right back.
We were soon gathered in one of the large conference rooms on the fourth floor, along with Keira, Olivier, Silas, and Darsh, who took up position at the farthest point in the room from Silas.
Silas kept shooting glances at Darsh like he was a bomb on a ticking timer.
It wasn’t unwarranted. Darsh’s skin was brushed with purple under his eyes, his normally silky hair lay lankly against his skull, and his dark blue nail polish was chipped.
I peered at his hands. Was that blood crusting his nails?
He glared when he caught me staring and I looked away with a sigh.
Cécile, the leader of Vancouver’s Spook Squad, had also been invited, along with its final member, Nasir.
Sachie wasn’t on the case, but I was on Ezra’s watch, so she stayed downstairs until it was time to take me home.
Olivier leaned over. “Am I forgiven for being a dick? I truly am sorry.”
“We’re good.” I crossed my arms. “You’re lucky you have a very smart girlfriend who helped you fix things with that gift card.”
“No kidding.”
“It would have been so awkward if you’d had to wonder whether tonight was the night Cherry murdered you in your post-coital glow,” I added.
“Yeah.” Olivier nodded sagely. “That would have put a real damper on things.”
Keira and Olivier, to their credit, didn’t freak out being enclosed in a room with this many vampires, though I couldn’t tell if the chief constable was still disgusted by me and just putting a professional face on it.
I shoved my chair closer to the table with a grating scrape while Michael did the introductions.
Cécile frowned. “Chief Constable Davis, why are you here?” the Québecois vampire asked.
“Be patient and all will become clear,” Michael answered. She nodded at me. “Take it from the drug bust.”
Everyone in the room had pieces of this case, and while some had the full story, I started with the drug lab and the imprisoned Bratwurst Demon who’d killed herself.
I took everyone through finding the matchmaker, Chandra Nichols, though I still edited out my presence at the murder.
Admitting the discovery of the love lock prison cells was my find and not the Authority’s barely got any reaction from Cécile or Nasir, though I could tell they were still puzzled about Keira and Olivier being present.
They both got “aha” expressions once the story turned to Casey and how Chandra’s ex-husband, Mois, was one of Jared’s donors.
I took a moment to drink some water because I was parched.
Ezra squeezed my hand under the table.
I launched into the phony artifacts that Linda and Troy were manufacturing, the discovery of the metal case, Troy’s escape and subsequent murder via orange flame magic, and Mois and Linda’s proposed trade with the shedim for their safety in exchange for the two locks.
“That’s not going to happen, right?” Nasir looked to Michael for confirmation.
“No. That case is to be secured at all costs,” she said.
“This is all very exciting,” Darsh drawled, “but why this emergency meeting? We already had our marching orders about the handover tomorrow.”
Glad as I was that he was participating, he lingered at the edge of our group, shoulders curved inward. Across the room, Silas traced patterns in the carpet with the toe of his shoe, his chin tucked to his chest.
I uncapped my water bottle but didn’t drink from it. “The shedim we’ll face tomorrow are part of the bigger group who first corrupted the magic in our rings. The ones who ensured Maccabees sent demons into the cells for them to use. But I expect Chandra’s shedim partner to blindside us as well.”
“Did you identify that demon?” Keira said.
“Linda has no idea who it was,” I said, “but new information has come to light.” I dropped the entire ugly story on them, including who Rukhsana was to me and that I’d told her about Troy and the dangerous artifacts.
I’d led her to Troy.
I was the reason he was dead.
“I don’t ascribe to the ‘guns don’t kill people’ beliefs,” Olivier said, “and I don’t believe this either. A demon murdered Abelman. End of story.”
Everyone save for Darsh and Silas (who were stuck in their silent beef with each other) weighed in on my side, which made me sad. Not for myself, but for the two of them.
“Roger Henderson provided us with some other information,” Michael said. At my puzzled look, she explained that the operatives who brought him to the safe house asked him some questions on her behalf. “He gave Rukhsana the security setup for the Supernatural: Debunked exhibit. She’d heard about the shedim magic on Sire’s Spark and had a buyer lined up for it. But someone else had the same idea and beat her to the punch. To add insult to injury, they killed the thief they’d hired, planted the name of one of Rukhsana’s crew on him, and bandied it about town that she was responsible.”
“Turning our officers’ attention on her,” Olivier said with a scowl. “And wasting our time.”
“Rukhsana allegedly murdered both the thief and his boss in payback,” Michael said.
I’d been so blithely trusting in my own abilities to unmask the bad guys that I hadn’t seen Rukhsana coming.
And Ezra didn’t see Alastair , Cherry pointed out.
Maybe it wasn’t some moral failing, simply human nature to want to believe that someone we’d grown fond of was exactly as they appeared.
Self-recrimination was pointless. I’d learn from this and move forward.
“How do we know that Rukhsana didn’t switch sides to save herself and is in league with the shedim coming to the meeting tomorrow?” Keira said.
“Rukhsana doesn’t like other demons.” I pulled up the photo she’d given me and passed my phone around. “She had some encounter with them in the past that literally left scars that didn’t heal.”
“That’s some dark shit to defy her healing abilities,” Ezra said.
“She freed demons for Chandra to sell to Eishei Kodesh criminals as payback for her injuries?” Nasir said.
“Yes.”
Though I didn’t believe her retribution stopped there. Rukhsana craved vengeance, but she needed more power to protect herself. What better way than having the locations of all the shedim prisons? However, bringing up the brain now would just muddy everyone’s focus.
“I’m going to pretend to be the shedim who worked with Chandra,” I said. “My guess is that the other demons are eager to learn Rukhsana’s identity.”
“You’ll say you’re her?” Olivier asked.
“Not outright. I’ll stall until she shows up.” I gestured at all the vampires. “Once I get a confession, you all move in.”
“You’re sure she’ll come?” Darsh said.
“I’ll make certain of it.”
Silas glanced at Cécile and Nasir. “Is pretending to be a shedim a good idea, Avi?” he said carefully.
“It’s the best way to keep the situation inside under control,” Ezra said.
I gaped at him.
He gave me a tight smile. “I don’t have to like it to appreciate the sense of it.”
Michael opened her briefcase by her feet, pulled out a small round silver amulet on a chain, and tossed it across the table to me. “This will help sell the disguise. It’ll stop your heartbeat from being detected.”
Some demons did have heartbeats, but a lot didn’t. Likely because they didn’t have hearts.
I slung the necklace over my head. It was to my advantage to appear not to have a heartbeat: I wouldn’t read as human, nor could anyone use it to detect my fear or anxiety. “Thank you.”
Michael and Keira went over a few more details before the meeting ended.
Cécile and Nasir hurried off to return to staking out the gallery.
Keira had put human operatives out there for the duration of the meeting, and both commanders were antsy to get the vamps back on the job in case the shedim made an early surprise appearance.
I tried to speak with Silas and Darsh, but they avoided me and left separately. Darsh added a “Not now, Aviva” in a back-the-fuck-off voice for good measure.
“Whatever is going on,” Michael said quietly, coming up next to me, “they’re professional enough to put it aside for the duration of this operation.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” I said.
“I know. Just like I know you’ve got this, Operative Fleischer.” Then she hugged me, which was weird but wonderful.
Keira was next in line. “I’m sorrier than you can know for my horrible reaction when you shared your truth with me. You’re an excellent Maccabee and I’m proud to work with you.” She held out her hand.
I shook it. “Thank you.”
“Let’s do this,” she said and joined Michael in the hallway.
Ezra’s phone rang. He checked the screen and said he had to take it.
I said I’d get Sach and meet him in the lobby.
One of the elevators was in service to move some office furniture and the other one was packed, so I took the stairs down to the Spook Squad.
I opened the door, which the vamps kept well-oiled because they liked to try to sneak up on each other.
“Going on a tear through a vamp gang last night was a foolish and unnecessary risk,” Silas said from the conference room at the far end of the basement. His body language was relaxed, his hands spread wide.
I froze, the door ajar a crack.
“Don’t treat me like I’m a feral dog.” Darsh wasn’t visible from my vantage point, but his hissed comments traveled clearly across the space. “And do not tell me how to do my job.”
Sachie obviously wasn’t down here. I should leave them to their privacy.
I stayed put, one hand on the heartbeat-blocking amulet around my neck. If Darsh was acting out and could compromise our operation in any way, I needed to know.
Silas rubbed his brow. “Leaving vamp parts strewn around, not even killing them? I surely missed that part of the Maccabee training.”
“I was sending a message,” Darsh said.
“You’re not being careful.”
“How’d being careful work out for you? At least I’m stopping monsters.”
“You’re trying to provoke me,” Silas said. “This isn’t about us.”
“I’m not going to compromise any mission and certainly not because of you. That’s all you need to know.”
I was about to close the door and leave, believing that while Darsh was still angry, he’d step up to the plate as always.
Silas punched the wall.
I jumped a foot, feeling the reverberations from way over here in the stairwell.
“Stop acting like you have nothing to lose!” The force of Silas’s temper made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It wasn’t even directed at me, but it edged out all the oxygen down here.
“I don’t have anything to lose.” Darsh’s words weren’t flung out. They were delivered with surgical precision. “You made sure of that. Twice.”
My fingers tightened on the doorknob.
Silas shoved him. “You have yourself, asshole! Patrin wouldn’t want you to use his death as an excuse to destroy yourself.”
“You have no idea what Patrin would want.”
“If he loved you half as much as I do, then yeah. I sure as shit do. You think I don’t understand crushing guilt or death wishes? Fuck you, Darsh.” Silas turned away. “Hate me all you want, but go live your best life out of spite.”
There was silence for a moment, then Darsh gave a broken laugh. “Why did you have to push and push and force your way in? I didn’t want it and I sure as fuck don’t want it now.”
Silas’s exhale made his shoulders sag. He walked toward the conference room door, but Darsh grabbed his shoulder and spun the much larger vampire around.
I leaned forward, both my friends now in view.
“Don’t.” Darsh lifted his hand off Silas’s shoulder and scrubbed it over his face. “I don’t know how to do this.”
“Because of Patrin.”
Darsh looked up at the ceiling. “When you told me about the Ashbishop, I wanted to hate you so badly, but you know what my first emotion was?”
Silas shook his head.
“Terror, because even knowing you played a part in my little brother’s death didn’t change how I felt about you.” His voice cracked and he slid down the doorframe until he hit the floor, knees drawn to his chest like a child. “What does that say about honoring Patrin’s memory? What does that say about me ?”
Silas crouched down beside him. “That you’re a man who loves deeply and forever.”
Darsh lunged at Silas in a hug, his head pressed to the other vamp’s chest and his shoulders heaving in silent sobs.
Silas murmured something.
I strained forward to hear better but caught myself. What was I doing? After easing the door shut, I fled up the stairs.
Sach was the first one I ran into back in the lobby. “You okay?”
I nodded, too overwrought to speak.
Olivier, Ezra, Sachie, and I all crowded into her car for the ride back to our place. This was the first time the guys had been together outside of a work context, and they got along fabulously, comparing their favorite surfing spots.
I let their conversation wash over me, and Sach didn’t say much while she drove, but when we got out of the car in the condo’s parking garage, she pulled me aside.
“I’m not sure I like them bonding,” she said.
Olivier and I had dated briefly. Ezra had not enjoyed learning that. The two of them bonding was the best outcome imaginable. “You’d like bloodshed better?”
Sach perked up for a minute, then heaved a sigh. “No.”
Despite it seeming all double-datey, none of us were in the mood to hang out. Olivier and Sach headed into her bedroom with a subdued “See you in the morning.”
Ezra and I didn’t speak much while we got ready for bed either. I didn’t feel like rehashing what we were up against with the shedim, Rukhsana, or Alastair. I just wanted to fall asleep in my boyfriend’s arms, and pretend, for one night, that all was right with the world.
My phone beeped with a notification.
Ezra folded back the covers and slid into bed. “What’s up?”
I blushed and mumbled, “Nothing.”
He curled his fingers over my hips. “Must I deploy tickle torture?”
I shoved his hands away, grabbed my phone, and showed him the screen. “I set up notifications about those dumb photos of you and Irene, okay?”
“Why?”
“To tease you? Some perverse urge to know what people were saying?”
He chuckled, scanned a few comments, then placed the phone on my bedside table, out of my reach.
I poked his side. “What’s with the sudden carefully neutral expression?”
“Nothing.”
I motioned for him to hand over my phone. When he didn’t comply, I raised my eyebrows. “Do you want me imagining what you’re hiding when the reality can’t be half as bad?”
He gave me the phone. “These people don’t matter.”
The initial swell of online love had turned to online hate—all aimed at Irene.
Even the ones who weren’t bad-mouthing her had reduced her to nothing more than Ezra’s latest girlfriend, completely dismissing her many accomplishments as a ballet dancer. The rest of the comments were akin to a pack of wolves ripping their prey apart.
I swallowed down the taste of bile.
This time, when Ezra took away my phone, I didn’t protest. “I’ll reach out to some people,” he said, “and get this scrubbed. As much as possible.”
“This is what I’ll face, won’t I? When we go public.”
“Then let’s not.”
“That’s hardly realistic.”
He assumed a haughty expression. “I hid being a Maccabee spy from the world for four years. Trust me, sweetheart, I can hide this. And I will. I’ll do anything to keep you from being hurt.”
I notched up my chin. “What if I want to tell everyone you’re mine ? My world. My heart. My home.”
He raised his hands. “Far be it from me to stop you.”
I curled into his side and laced our fingers together. “Whatever the future holds, we’ll weather it together, okay?”
He kissed my head. “Okay.”
Morning came far too soon.
I dressed silently, attempting to remain in the moment and not spiral into dark thoughts, but it didn’t help that Ezra sat there tensely watching my every move. I placed my Maccabee ring on my dresser and headed off to breakfast.
Sach had coffee ready and enough bacon, eggs, and pancakes to feed a small army. She hovered over me with a metal spatula that she tightened her grip on whenever I paused eating.
I stared pointedly at Olivier, who stood up and wrestled the implement away from her.
“It’s just another day at the office,” Ezra said with a completely unnatural hearty cheer.
“Stop it.” I wiped my mouth and stood up. “It’ll all be fine. Now quit unnerving me.” I left the room to put the final piece of my plan into motion.
I grabbed my phone off my bedside table and pulled up Rukhsana’s number.
I’d be facing down shedim soon and responsible for Mois’s and Linda’s lives, yet it was this call that made my hands shake.
In fury.
I was positive I was going to blow it and tip Rukhsana off that the jig was up. The universe cut me a break, though, and the call went to voice mail. “I found Mois,” I said in a low, harried tone. “It’s bad, Rukhsana. He’s meeting with shedim in about half an hour and I don’t know that I can get him out of this.” I took a deep breath for effect. “But you can get somewhere safe. I haven’t forgotten our deal, and you’ll have your money today, but I can’t get that photo of your scars out of my head. Take your crew and make sure you’re clear of this.”
It was an utter crock of shit.
I wasn’t sending her people—sending Jordy—away with a shedim. I’d announced at the meeting yesterday that they were to be protected, and Darsh volunteered to round them up. Cécile would tail Rukhsana, so we had a heads-up of her arrival at the Lions Gallery.
Rukhsana had always taken care of her people, however she was a demon, and that could turn on a dime. Jordy was sweet and smart and no match for Rukhsana.
I hadn’t been either. That changed now.