Chapter 19
Hours of video droned on. Occasionally stealing glances at Angel made the day manageable, though frustrating.
I expected to find something, but if my variant extended to seeing weird shit recorded on video, the supernatural knew to avoid cameras.
The review of visitors to the store all seemed ordinary; nothing jumping out and no recorded confrontations that might elicit a return with deadly intent later.
The victim had been a therapist with a really long client list, which Angel told me would take time to comb through. Had any of the customers been clients? And why was he murdered in the bookstore? I had endless questions and not enough information yet.
“Do we have any other feed to review?” I asked Ezra. Something had shorted the feed before the incident, but if that was someone in particular entering or a rush of magic, I had no idea.
“No. We were hoping you’d see something before they cut out, but maybe your skill doesn’t translate to recorded video.”
“Maybe,” I agreed. “I’ll try watching it again.”
I returned to my desk to find a stack of books on the side of it.
The books were a mix of shifter facts, necromancer lore, and a detailed historical biography of the war.
Had someone passed by? Angel had a meeting with Sergeant Hanna.
Reviewing the backlog of cases, I understood how incredibly busy and understaffed we were. Would we ever catch a break?
“Okay, yeah, keep me updated,” Angel said as he entered our office and clicked off his phone. He glanced my way.
“Are these from you?” I asked him, holding up the top book.
He studied the title. “No. But Xavier probably dropped them off. I asked him to pick out a few books about the war for you.”
“Xavier?” Could it be the same Xavier that had wanted to take Ivan?
“Think of him as my roommate… sort of.”
“Are you lovers?” I demanded, as that’s immediately where my brain went. The hot, super mystical NHV with the energy of something out of a fantasy novel would have been a better match for Angel’s sexiness than me.
Angel snorted as he sat down at his desk. “Not a chance.”
“But you want me to come to your place later so you can cook for me, and you have a roommate?”
“I live in an old, converted mall,” Angel said.
“Xavier bought it shortly after the tear overtook it, and once it was all across the Veil, he renovated it into apartments. There’s a big movie room, a massive kitchen, and even a communal library, but I have my own private apartment with a kitchen.
It’s not big, but it’s my own space. If you spend more than five minutes moving around the building at all, you’ll run into Xavier. ”
“So, he’s a creepy landlord?” That made sense. Supernatural baddy in control.
Angel burst into laughter, falling back into his chair, howling as if it were the funniest thing he’d ever heard. I had to fight not to smile as his mirth made me want to laugh too. Was it really that ridiculous to wonder?
“Creepy… landlord…” Angel howled, tears leaking from his eyes as he gasped for air.
“Everything okay in here?” Wade popped his head in the doorway, gaze darting from Angel back to me.
Angel waved at him, still unable to form words.
“I don’t understand what’s so funny,” I said. “Do you know this Xavier person who renovated a mall across the Veil into apartments?”
“Yes,” Wade agreed. “Most of us live there.” He pointed at Ezra, who came up behind him, and himself. “He owns most of the block. Why is that funny?”
“Creepy landlord,” Angel gasped.
Wade tilted his head and repeated, “Creepy landlord?”
“Angel said if I spent more than five minutes at the mall I’d run into Xavier, and he’s your landlord, right?
That sounds sort of creepy, that he’s always just there.
Like, you’re getting your cereal in the morning and close the fridge door to find him standing there.
That would be creepy, right? Horror movie creepy.
” What about the pretty twins? Were they there, skulking around, too? Was it a shifter thing?
Wade’s eyes went wide and he met Angel’s gaze, who had his face buried in his elbow as he continued to laugh. “Well, you’re not wrong.”
“He’s shown up when I sat down for coffee in the communal kitchen,” Ezra added. “Makes me think more of one of those priests in a box waiting for you to confess. One look and you’re spilling whatever trauma of the week to him.”
“That doesn’t sound creepy to you?” What the hell? Who was this guy?
“I think Angel finds it funny because it’s a very accurate description for a man you’ve never met,” Wade offered. But I had met him. I was certain it had to be the same guy. My nope meter had been screaming in the red zone.
“I’m buying him a t-shirt,” Angel gasped, his laughter easing even as he wiped his eyes. “Creepy landlord.”
“I’ll design it,” Ezra offered, and headed back to his office.
Wade shook his head at us. “I want to be there when you give it to him. The expression on his face will be worth it.” He left our office as Angel’s chuckles trailed off.
“Fuck me, I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in years,” Angel said as he dabbed his eyes with a tissue.
I did a little fake drum riff on the top of my desk, ending with an air cymbal strike. “I’m here all week,” I said, letting the humor ease the mood I’d been in as I flipped through the first book. Would any of these tell me who the fuck that guy was?
“Creepy landlord…” Angel said.
“Roommate doesn’t really fit if you have your own apartment.”
“He feels more like a mother hen most days.”
“Is that good or bad? My grandpa feels that way sometimes, even though he can’t really do much to take care of me anymore.” I shrugged. “Other than listen and offer hugs. He hovers.”
“Xavier is seen as the leader of our area across the Veil. A reasonable leader,” Angel said. “Mostly,” he amended. “He can be a bit of an asshole. But a well-meaning one.”
I thought about that for a few minutes, then finally decided to ask. “Does he happen to be super tall, with silver hair and stormy eyes? All big and muscly, with two pretty boy goons following him around?”
Angel’s eyes widened. “You’ve met?”
“NHVs who wanted my brother,” I said.
“That makes sense. Xavier’s got his number on file with most police departments in the state to retrieve shifters. It’s a way to keep our kind out of police custody where things might go wrong.”
“Wrong how? I was a cop.” Was he implying we’d randomly lock up shifters for the hell of it? No one wanted that kind of paperwork.
“It doesn’t happen often,” Angel said with a sigh.
“Runs two ways. Shifter injures a cop trying to protect themselves—and we all know how cops take personal injury like it’s a death threat requiring instant annihilation—or they rough up a shifter too much for fun.
It’s better that Xavier takes care of the shifter. ”
“That’s not the mob sort of take care of, right? Since you said he’s a leader of some kind.”
“Only to those who skirt the rules,” Angel said. “If a shifter is on a rampage, killing people for the hell of it or something, he handles it. It’s not always cake and warm pets to be a shifter. I wouldn’t want his job.”
“So, he’s like your alpha?”
“Alphas aren’t a thing outside of romance novels,” Angel said. “You know that wolf study was proven wrong, right? The guy who did the original study spent his entire life trying to get press for how wrong he was.”
“Yeah, but humans run that way,” I pointed out.
“That’s because humans are assholes,” Angel said.
I put my hand on my chest. “Human.” Then pointed at him. “Human.”
“Not according to a lot of people. And if it makes you happy, think of it as people are assholes. Human and otherwise. But no, Xavier is not an alpha with a capital A, like the romance novels make alphas out to be. But he can be both savior and villain. It’s best to stay on his good side.”
“Are there a lot of leaders on the other side?”
“It’s broken up by districts. Xavier’s is fairly small, but one of the safest.”
“Is he going to be mad about you bringing me into his district?”
“No, it won’t bother him. Whether or not he gives us peace is a mystery. I mentioned to him that I was making you dinner, so he knows you’ll be there. His advice is often unrequested and cryptic. Does he realize you are the guy who took the new shifter from him? I don’t know.”
I stared at Angel, debating if I wanted to know or not. “What did he tell you today?”
“The dead are rising.”
“Are you shitting me?”
“Nope. Told you, he’s cryptic.”
“Do I need to worry about putting the dead to rest or something? Is that an SV ability? ‘Cause you might want to contact another SV.”
“Merrill can’t do it even if we needed that. His power is about as strong as listening to a seashell makes people think they hear the ocean,” Angel said. He pulled a box out of a bag from the bakery.
“Is there chocolate? I could use some chocolate. Should I worry about Merrill?”
Angel handed over a slice of chocolate cloud cake I didn’t remember choosing, but I didn’t hesitate to try it.
“Fuck, this cake is so good. Which one are you eating?”
Angel got up and brought his box over to my desk, offering me a forkful of his cake. Usually, I had a little squick about eating food other people had touched—trauma—but I reached for the bite anyway. He shook his head. “Open up.”
I snorted and opened my mouth. When he fed me the cake, I licked the fork, gaze on him, and watched him shift his weight on my desk as if his pants had suddenly become tight.
Maybe we really could have a chance as something.
I couldn’t recall ever having a guy as openly turned on by me as I was by him.
Too soon, sure—sooner than I’d ever experienced before—but he wasn’t using my attraction against me, and I sort of liked the attention.
I offered him a bite of my cake in exchange, and hoped the evening might lead to a better understanding of where we both stood.