Chapter 49
While I’d been given the weekend to recover, Angel stuck to my side like glue, the questions piling up in my head.
He insisted on taking all of us back to my apartment—Ivan, Grandpa, and I—and got everyone situated before dragging me to the bedroom.
Ivan’s new room, painted and filled with furniture, allowed room for Grandpa to sleep on the couch.
Peanut Butter was beside himself with excitement, jumping from one lap to the next to snuggle with everyone, and I was exhausted, not wanting to visit or be the adultier adult. Angel understood.
He left the door cracked enough for my cat to come and go, and shoved me into pajamas while I swayed with exhaustion, too tired to focus and far too unfocused to do more than admire his defined shoulders and tattoos. His shoulder was the best place to rest my head.
“Rest,” he murmured, and I didn’t remember how he’d gotten me in bed and pulled the blanket up over us, but that was okay because I fell asleep that fast, knowing my family was safe in my house, and that Angel watched over me.
I startled awake sometime later, uncertain what had woken me, but Angel ran a soothing hand down my side as he quietly whispered into his phone.
“No sign of Cassidy?” He listened for a few seconds.
“His apartment is completely missing? How is that possible? No one can trace it across the Veil?” He listened again.
I perked up, trying to follow the conversation, but he had the volume too low for me to make out the other side. “What about the kid?”
Another minute passed with him making little noises of acknowledgement, but not saying much.
“Do we know what sort of changeling it is?” He finally asked, then listened a while longer. “I’m not loving that idea,” he admitted after a long minute. I had a feeling I knew what he wasn’t loving.
“They want me to talk to the changeling?” I whispered.
He glanced my way.
I sat up. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay,” he said. “You haven’t fully recovered.”
“But the changeling already spoke to me once, right? And I didn’t have to use my magic then, either.” The kid had been creepy and told me that something wanted me. Maybe the monster who had created the prison of otherworldly beings to suck dry? Was that this Erlik guy? I’d have to do some research.
“It’s three in the morning. It can wait,” Angel said.
But my mind was not going to let me rest again. I shuffled out of his touch and to my dresser to throw on clothes. Would Xavier send his goons to watch Ivan and Grandpa? I worried about leaving them alone at my place. What if something tore a hole in the Veil here because they were looking for me?
I tugged on jeans and sent a text to Xavier, not caring if I woke the guy. He’d promised to help me care for my brother, and I was going to use that. I was surprised when the text was returned a half second later. Did the guy never sleep?
Xavier: Sylas and Keanan are already watching your building. I’ll send them up.
Did those guys ever sleep? I sent back my thanks and turned to find Angel no longer on the phone but pulling on clothes, and realized that me leaving to talk to the kid meant him, too.
“Sorry,” I whispered, hating that I was keeping him from sleep he likely needed.
He stared at me a long minute before reaching up to touch my cheek, caressing it with his thumb before he pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. “Thank you,” he said, breathing softly against my face, his forehead pressed to mine.
“For what?” I asked, confused.
“For not suggesting you go without me.”
“Oh…” I hadn’t even thought for a second that I’d be meeting this creepy supernatural kid without him.
Would it still look like Jonah? “I sort of need you there,” I admitted.
“Emotionally. If that makes sense.” No one grounded me like he did.
And I’d never in my life met anyone who put themselves in my orbit and rotated around me like he did; ever aware and trying not to be suffocating, but hyper-vigilant—which took a lot of stress off my shoulders.
“It does make sense,” Angel said without needing an explanation.
We finished dressing as quietly as we could, and I left a note on the fridge.
If I hadn’t texted Xavier, opening my door to find the murder twins on my doorstep would have given me a heart attack.
But the pair just gave me a nod and entered the apartment as we left.
They’d make sure Ivan and Grandpa were safe, and that was important.
Angel and I arrived at headquarters in a lull of silence.
That Wade met us at the door didn’t surprise me.
He looked tired but resigned as we all made our way to the elevator and headed down to the holding cells.
The shift through the Veil barely twinged my radar.
Maybe because my magic was still recovering?
“None of the NHVs have had any luck at all?” Angel asked.
“No,” Wade said. “We were hoping to get him to shift to his natural form, but so far, he’s playing that he’s Jonah.”
“Do we know when the switch was made?” I asked. “Or if the parents knew?”
“They knew,” Wade said. “Something about being promised a cure.”
“It’s not a disease, it’s hereditary,” I said, mad for Jonah’s sake. “When the changeling spoke to me, it said the woman at the daycare had been murdered because she saw him. What about the bookstore guy? Related, or not?”
“Related,” Wade agreed. “Jonah’s therapist.”
“Did he see it too?” I wondered.
“We’re waiting on the subpoena for his notes,” Angel said. “It could take a while, since he was murdered, but it looks like one of the Thayersons planted the spell book, which may have drawn something across the Veil with some sort of mark on the therapist.”
“That’s brutal.”
Both of them nodded.
“Like, first degree murder brutal,” I said. “I hope the real Jonah is safe.”
“He’s with an aunt,” Wade said. “But CPS will be checking in on him regularly.”
We entered the first security door, and I flinched when Galen’s hulking form materialized on the other side, his arms crossed, his gaze a silent challenge.
Wade and Angel breezed past him like he was part of the furniture, signing in without a word.
I forced myself to follow their lead, though the weight of Galen’s stare prickled against my back.
The tired part of my magic tuned in to him, and I realized in that moment what it was.
He was made of death magic, which meant my power was drawn to him.
Scary.
Kerry stood outside the cell. She glanced back at us. The door hissed open, and Victor stepped out, his usual, immaculate appearance frayed at the edges; hair disheveled, shadows beneath his eyes, a slump to his shoulders. How much sleep did vampires need? I didn’t think he was getting enough.
“Still not talking?” Angel asked.
Victor sighed. “Not a word. Hasn’t moved since we locked him in.”
I peered past him into the cell. The changeling, still wearing Jonah’s face, sat cross-legged on the metal cot, head tilted back, staring at the ceiling. I followed his gaze with my own. A camera lens glinted in the dim light.
“How secure are these cells?” I asked. “And the tech?”
Kerry smiled at me and flexed her muscles. “We’re on guard, but that camera’s warded against a god.” So, they’d noticed his fixation. “These walls will hold most things for a few days. If he’s stronger than we think, we’ll drag him across the Veil. But changelings usually aren’t that strong.”
I shot Victor a pointed look until he sighed and stepped aside. “Don’t get dead. Your mate will kill me.”
“Truth,” Angel said as he followed me into the cell. The door clanged shut, sealing us inside. Angel lounged against it—arms folded, sexy lean down to a science—while I stopped just out of reach of the changeling.
“Hi, Jonah,” I said, keeping my tone light, as if I were talking to the real kid. “Or should I call you something else?”
The changeling’s lips curled, smirk unnaturally wide and horrifying. “Names have power.” His voice was rough, like gravel underfoot. “Jude. Jude Alexander Holt.” Apparently, he had no problem talking to me.
I doubted my name held any real power. “What do you want me to call you?”
“Doesn’t matter.” His eyes flicked to me, cold and mocking. “I won’t be here long.”
A chill skittered down my spine. Was that confidence, or a threat? “You said he was looking for me. Did you mean Erlik?”
The changeling recoiled with a hiss. Like saying the name could summon the monster.
“What was that place across the Veil?” I pressed.
“A pantry,” he said, bored.
“So, everyone was a snack?”
He shrugged, eyes snapping back to focus on the camera above.
“And Cassidy? The cop. Did he help the Thayersons switch you and Jonah?”
The changeling’s grin turned vicious. “He failed. He’ll pay for that.”
“How?” Had they planned to take the whole building? Or was there something worse? “How did he fail?” I clarified. Because this shadow king hadn’t crossed the Veil yet, or was I missing something else?
“He wanted you.” The changeling leaned forward, teeth suddenly looking a lot less human and very sharp. “Should’ve handed you over months ago, but he hid you. Stupid. You would’ve been more than a snack, Jude Alexander Holt.”
The way he said my whole name made me shudder. “What am I, then?”
“Hmm,” the creature hummed as though unwilling to answer.
“How do you know my name, anyway?”
“We know everything about you, Jude Alexander Holt. He’s coming for you.”
Great. “And how do I stop him?”
“You can’t.” A dry, humorless laugh escaped him, then twisted into a cackle that scraped against my nerves. His body shuddered, bones cracking like snapping twigs. The illusion of Jonah’s face melted away, skin splitting like wet paper, revealing a dark, skeletal creature beneath.