Chapter 32
Chapter
Thirty-Two
By the time I made it back into the passenger seat of my SUV, Diaz had already headed for the lot’s exit, leaving a spray of gravel behind him.
I honestly wasn’t sure if he’d take my suggestion and leak the information about the necromancer or not. He had to weigh a lot of possible outcomes—and figure out how to do it without anyone knowing it was him. When all this mess was said and done, the man still needed and wanted his job.
Matthias’s gaze went to my bandaged hand. “You’re bleeding again.”
“Yup.” I sighed, stuck Diaz’s document folder under my seat, and leaned back against the headrest. My fingers throbbed and tingled with residual magic. “Welcome to the reality of working as a mage PI. The phrase blood, sweat, and tears has never been more accurate.”
“I’ve seen all those from you in the past twenty-four hours.” He rested his massive hand on the gearshift but didn’t use it. “You have a healing spell?”
Aargh . It was like having another Sean or Malcolm around. “Yes,” I said, in a tone that was definitely not peevish .
Under his amber gaze, I unfastened a low-level spell from my bracelet and used it. This one took about thirty seconds and left me only mildly nauseated.
Once that was done and I stuck the used crystal in my pocket, he shifted into gear and drove toward the lot’s exit. “You said you needed supplies for tonight’s ritual,” he said. “Where are we going now?”
Well, here we go , I thought. “Merrum Manor,” I said aloud. “You know how to get there?”
“Yes.” His tone couldn’t have been more neutral, but shifter magic sizzled on my skin.
“We’ll talk on the way,” I said.
My promise did not appear to lessen his tension whatsoever.
The trip to Merrum Manor from Fields Park took more than a half-hour. As Matthias drove, I told him what I’d figured out while talking to Diaz. I also texted the information about the two spirits to Carly.
When I told Matthias I’d suggested Diaz leak the information about the necromancer, he turned thoughtful. “I think that’s a sound strategy,” he said finally. “It’s a gamble, and no doubt the repercussions will be far-reaching, but I suspect you’re right about the necromancer craving fear and attention. If they don’t get it, they’ll escalate sharply again, and with two spirits under their control, the consequences might be catastrophic.”
“That was my thought. Diaz said he’d let me know what he decides and give us warning.”
“Good.” He flicked a glance at me. “And now, we’re going to the residence of Moses Murphy for ritual supplies because…?”
“It’s a complicated situation,” I said. “And there’s far more going on than I can tell you right now. But the short version is that I am going there to pick up some crystals containing spirits to use as sources of power during tonight’s ritual.”
If he was surprised or dismayed that I planned to use ghosts for their magic and power, he didn’t let on. “Is this where you went for dinner a few nights ago?”
I suddenly had the feeling keeping anything from Matthias would prove exceedingly difficult—especially since I was unwilling to lie to him. “Yes.”
“You asked me to go with you instead of Malcolm this time. Why?”
The tummy ache I’d had since the moment I’d asked Moses about getting these crystal intensified sharply. Not because of Matthias’s question per se, but because of the weight on my shoulders.
Part of me had wanted to go to Merrum Manor without telling Malcolm what I planned to do, because if I failed to free Liam but he didn’t know I’d tried, I wouldn’t break his heart today. But I’d only considered it for about two seconds before I realized there was no way I could do this without telling him the truth.
When I’d pulled Malcolm aside to tell him my plan, his reaction had been hope, worry, anger, gratitude, fear, and back to hope again, all in about four seconds.
“I told you I’d try to get Liam back for you,” I’d said as he flitted around the office. “I’m sorry it’s taken so long. This is the first and best chance I’ve had.”
Almost too overcome for words, he’d extracted a promise from me to keep Matthias and myself safe above all else, then retreated to the basement workshop to stay busy until we returned with either good news or bad.
“Alice?” Matthias prompted, bringing me back to the present. “If you can’t tell me, I understand, but?—”
“No, I’m going to tell you.” I squared my shoulders. “You’re with me on this mission today for two main reasons. First, you’re intimidating as hell and I don’t want anyone to fuck with us.”
He gave me a quick smile. No doubt he knew I’d deliberately referenced his comment from the other morning about putting on bulk to dissuade others from messing with him. “And the second reason?” he asked.
I took a deep breath and told him about Liam.
Matthias’s reaction to the story was utterly predictable: anger and resolve. “We’ll get him back for Malcolm if it’s at all possible,” he stated, in the tone I’d come to realize signified a vow. “Short of endangering you, of course.”
“I don’t mind a bit of danger,” I reminded him. “I live to play with certain kinds of fire, remember?”
“Moses Murphy is the kind of fire I would expect you to avoid, given you’re not anything close to the simple mid-level mage you claim to be.” He pondered that for a minute, then said, “This man is the danger to you that my wolf had sensed before.”
He didn’t phrase it as a question, but I answered anyway. “He and his organization are a huge threat to a lot of people. Our pack is no exception. At the moment, he and I have an agreement that keeps me and those around me in less immediate danger than we could be.”
“But by no means safe.”
“Not even remotely. It’s a détente, and a precarious one.” After a beat, I added, “Watch out in particular for two of Murphy’s lieutenants, Nora Keegan and Carter Kade. If we cross paths with either of them, they’re likely to try to goad one or both of us into a confrontation, though they go about it in very different ways. Just pretend you’re a duck and let whatever they say roll right off your beak.”
“I…” He cleared his throat. “I don’t think that’s quite the right metaphor.”
I waved my hand. “Beside the point. Just don’t let them get your hackles up. They’re not worth it. They’re the walking dead. Murphy will kill them both someday. It’s only a matter of time.”
When we pulled up to the outer gate, it rolled open for us to drive into the small courtyard between the gates. The wards had been opened for us to pass. Once we’d crossed the gate, a guard in uniform pointed for us to back into a spot next to a familiar black SUV. O’Neil stood at attention in front of it, waiting to take us to the manor.
“Go ahead,” I said at Matthias’s glance. “They wouldn’t lower the wards on the second gate for anyone. We have to ride through in one of their vehicles.”
“I do not like this.” His manner and tone had switched abruptly to the cold formality he’d had while associated with the Court. I decided to call it Matthias’s bodyguard mode.
“Me neither, but it’s part of the deal.” I put my hand on his where it rested on the gearshift and turned my head so no one could read my lips. “I will tell you this: none of these wards or walls will keep us in if it comes to that.”
Matthias parked as directed and we got out. “Hello, Ms. Worth,” O’Neil said, opening the front passenger door of her vehicle for me.
No fight over putting me in the back seat. I couldn’t decide if that was a win for me or for Moses.
Matthias towered over O’Neil while she shut my door, standing just out of reach while still using his bulk to send the message of why he’d come with me. He climbed in behind me as O’Neil went around to the driver’s seat. As soon as he shut his door, she pulled forward and turned the SUV to face the inner gate, which rolled open as the retractable barricades slid down into the ground.
The wards on the inner gate scraped across my skin like a dull-edged razor as we crossed. Matthias rumbled until we were through and on our way up the long driveway to the manor.
If Matthias hadn’t liked riding in one of Moses’s vehicles, he liked us pulling into the garage and the door rolling closed behind us even less, judging by the prickling of shifter magic. O’Neil kept one eye on him at all times as we got out and followed her into the manor.
Instead of leading us toward the east end of the house, where the dining room and conservatory were, O’Neil took us to the north wing and a small but well-warded workshop that seemed to be a shared space rather than single mage’s work area. Most of the magic I sensed felt like traces of wards in various states of construction. Maybe this workshop was a kind of classroom where mages honed their ward-building skills.
It didn’t surprise me that Moses hadn’t allowed us into his most secure workshop area, but it did worry me. Malcolm had reported Liam was in a crystal kept at the other end of the manor.
“Take your time,” O’Neil said at the door to the workshop. “When you’re ready to leave, press the button near the door.”
“This door will not be locked when we are inside,” Matthias rumbled. “No wards either.”
“No lock, no wards,” O’Neil assured us. “The button activates a notification that you want to leave. I’ll ensure our path to the garage is clear and then open the door. My employer prefers your visit to be free from distractions and anything you might consider a potential threat.”
I had no doubt she was parroting Moses’s exact words there—to the point I almost heard what she said in his voice. Did Moses not want me seen visiting today? Or what was his real motive for almost sneaking me in and out? Damn it, did everything have to be a game with him?
“Sounds good,” I said. I reached for the doorknob, only for Matthias to beat me to it and open the door. He looked inside, gave me a nod, and stepped over the threshold first.
When he was satisfied the room was safe, I entered. O’Neil shut the door quietly behind me.
The room had the standard features of a mage’s workshop, from three concentric circle inlaid into the floor to work tables and cabinets—all made of wood, the kind of building material usually safest around magic—and no decorations. The only item on the wall was a control panel near the door that had the Request Exit button O’Neil had mentioned plus several others, including two large red and orange toggles for emergencies.
Working with magic wasn’t all that different from working with explosives. One wrong move could do a lot of damage. My grandfather’s cabal headquarters near Baltimore lost an entire wing when I was a teenager because of an accident involving dangerous magic and an idiot who opened a door to a workshop without ensuring the mage inside wasn’t working on something volatile. A dozen people died in the explosion.
On the work tables were nearly two dozen crystals, laid out neatly in wooden saucers. My heart pounded.
“What do you want me to do?” Matthias asked. “Guard the door?”
“I think we’re safe enough in here.” I bit my lip. “Just stay next to me, okay?”
He didn’t ask why. Maybe he didn’t need to.
Please let Liam be in one of these , I thought. Please let me bring him home to Malcolm .
Nothing to do but look for him.
I wondered if Moses was watching. I didn’t see any cameras, but I had to assume he was. So whether I found Liam or not, I couldn’t let on that I had any mission here but what I’d told him.
With Matthias close by providing protection and comfort, I studied the crystals very slowly, one at a time. I held my hand over each to make sure it contained a spirit and not a trick or trap, and then I picked up the crystal and lowered my shields to get a clear sense of the amount of power and kind of magic of the spirit it contained.
The ghosts were aware in their crystals—aware of being used and reused for seemingly eons by Moses’s mages for their power and energy. An endless cycle of regaining their power, then being drained for spellwork and magic almost to the point they’d cease to exist, and then another cycle of regeneration and depletion. Again and again and again, until they finally went wraith and could no longer be used and then a blood mage would discorporate them, allowing them to pass on to whatever waited for us beyond this realm of existence. It wasn’t a fate I’d wish on my worst enemy—except maybe Moses himself.
I hated every moment of this terrible task. Each of these spirits was a person just like Malcolm. In fact, any one of these spirits could have been Malcolm if Moses had ever managed to trap him. That was a big reason I’d been so angry when Malcolm snuck around the manor a few nights ago while I talked with Moses.
Even worse, the sorcerer Mira? had used Malcolm for power in this same way, and had used my stolen magic and memories too. The trauma of that had given us nightmares and made this kind of work doubly unpleasant.
I couldn’t help my harsh breaths or the tears that stung my eyes and threatened to spill down my cheeks. I held them back because Moses was watching and probably listening too, and because my tears would upset Matthias’s wolf. I’d save them for when I was alone later with Sean.
I wanted to take all the ghosts with me and release them to freedom, or discorporate them so they could have peace, but I doubted Moses would let me take all twenty. He might want me to stay alive, but I’d have a hard time convincing him I needed the combined power of twenty spirits. Every one of the crystals I’d handled so far contained a strong mage ghost, each worth almost as much as a diamond the same size.
Twenty ghosts. Twenty souls in torment. Twenty more reasons to hate Moses and the mages who worked for him by choice.
In the fifteenth crystal, I found Liam.
I recognized his magic immediately, since I’d used some of it once to help Malcolm. His crystal buzzed on my palm, surprisingly strong—more so than most of the spirits I’d sensed so far. Probably because before Moses captured him he’d been tethered to the nexus of power near the manor and had resided within its walls for a hundred years.
I’d feared finding him reduced to erratic wisps and surges of power, meaning he’d gone wraith, but instead he felt strong and steady. I had no way to know for certain until I let him out, but I had more hope now than ever before.
My heart leapt into my throat, but I made sure not to react except to nod as if I thought his power and magic would work with mine and then set the crystal aside with the others I planned to take.
When I finished, I had chosen twelve crystals. A little more than half. Trying to walk out with all of them wouldn’t fly, but twelve seemed reasonable. That was two circles of six. The numbers made sense for both mage and witch rituals.
I transferred the crystals to the small zippered pocket inside my cross-body bag. Walking out of this room and leaving the other eight behind hurt my heart, but I had done what I could do for the twelve in my bag. I’d have to live with that.
Matthias put his hand on my upper back. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” I made sure my voice was strong, even while my stomach churned. We weren’t out of this yet. I wouldn’t even be able to take a deep breath until we were in my SUV and well away from the manor.
At the door, Matthias pushed the button to request departure.
“One moment, please,” O’Neil said through the intercom.
We waited. My heartbeat pounded in my ears.
The door swung open about a minute later. “We’re cleared to leave,” O’Neil said, stepping aside.
Matthias went into the hallway first, then motioned me to follow.
The walk back to the garage entrance seemed to take four times longer than the walk in. I watched O’Neil’s body language for any indication that something might be up—that Moses planned to spring a trap—but saw nothing to make me suspicious. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling it had been too easy.
Don’t jinx yourself , I scolded myself. Nothing about this has been “easy.” You’re just used to disaster striking. Maybe this time it’ll be different.
We came around the last corner with O’Neil in front and Matthias at my back.
Carter Kade, Moses’s former head lieutenant, stood in the hallway between us and the door to the garage. So much for a clear passage .
Tall, blond, and muscular, he seemed to have put on even more bulk since I’d last laid eyes on him. He’d held Arkady prisoner as part of Moses’s ploy to get me to meet with him in person at a neutral club called Luciano’s. Arkady had knocked him out cold with one punch in retaliation for groping her. That memory at least was pleasant, unlike all the rest of my encounters with Kade. Several months ago, he’d shot Ben full of silver bullets, nearly killing him. I’d managed to save Ben’s life, but not by much.
Kade had no idea I was really Ava Murphy. Back in Baltimore, for nearly ten years, my torture sessions had aroused him. He couldn’t touch me then because I was off-limits, but he never hid how much he enjoyed watching me scream and bleed, even in front of Moses. Kade’s enjoyment of torturing women in particular had only grown in the interim, from what I’d heard. His sadism and loyalty had made him Moses’s favorite lieutenant until Nora Keegan came along.
He’d expressed interest in me every time we’d crossed paths, but I felt certain Moses had told him I wasn’t to be touched. Judging by the way he looked me over, though, his interest hadn’t waned.
O’Neil’s expression indicated she liked his appearance in the hallway even less than I did. Interesting. She’d stopped us at least fifteen feet from him. She probably knew his reputation as well as I did.
“This path was cleared on Mr. Murphy’s orders,” she said. She carefully kept her tone neutral and not confrontational, since Kade held a much higher rank, but I detected a note of suspicion.
“Did anyone ask you a question?” Kade’s cold gaze moved from me to O’Neil in a clear attempt to stare her down. “Senior staff are exempt from those orders.”
To her credit, O’Neil kept her chin up and spine straight. “You might not have seen the code issued, sir, but this clear passage is designated Level One. I apologize, but I have to ask you to vacate this hallway until we’ve passed through.”
Kade’s expression darkened and he took a step forward. Behind me, Matthias growled low. Shifter magic prickled on my skin .
“You,” Kade spat, “don’t ask me to vacate anything, O’Neil. Do you want another demotion? Or would you like a position under me? ”
O’Neil stood her ground, but she flinched at the clear implication. “No, sir, I wouldn’t want a demotion,” she said, carefully sidestepping his threat to have her transferred to his command. “But I am under strict orders from Mr. Murphy to escort these guests from the manor without allowing anyone to have contact with them.”
She isn’t your ally or your friend , I told myself. What happens to her isn’t your problem. Except I wasn’t wired to be that cold. I never had been, even when necessity forced me to pretend.
By standing up to Kade, O’Neil had walked into a minefield. So I tossed a grenade straight at him.
“We don’t have time for this,” I said, my voice flat. “We need to leave. You don’t like being told what hallway to be in, take it up with your boss. O’Neil is following his orders.”
“You’ve always got a smart mouth, Alice.” Kade advanced on me, his face twisted in the mean look I recognized because I’d seen it back in Baltimore. It meant he was about to hurt someone. “Every time I see you, you’ve got something to say. You feel big and brave when you’ve got your pet wolves with you. But someday you’ll be by yourself, little girl. And then I’ll put something in your mouth that’ll shut you up.”
At that threat, I expected Matthias to step forward or say something, but he didn’t. I’d warned him about Kade and he’d listened to the warning. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t reduce Kade’s number of attached limbs to zero given the opportunity. He’d have to wait his turn, though. Sean had already called dibs if I didn’t kill Kade first.
“We’re on a schedule,” I said, injecting both boredom and impatience into my tone. “We’re here on business and we don’t have time for interference, which is probably why this passage was supposed to be cleared. So scat.”
Kade’s eyes narrowed as if he was trying to figure out why I wasn’t scared of him or his threats. Everyone else always was, except probably Nora. My defiance had to be both infuriating and puzzling.
Maybe this confrontation had silver lining. If he started thinking too much, maybe Moses would let me kill him.
Hmm. Maybe Malcolm was right and I did like to play with fire.
Finally, Kade smiled in a way that made me itch between my shoulder blades, put his back to the wall, and made a grand sweeping gesture. “Then by all means, don’t let me keep you.”
He clearly had no intention of obeying the directive to depart, so O’Neil had to decide whether to ask him again to leave the hallway or walk us past him. After a beat, she chose the latter and led us on toward the garage.
Kade’s eyes stayed locked on me as we approached. I didn’t really fear that he’d figure out I was Ava, but he definitely wanted to know what kind of deal Moses and I had that allowed me apparent carte blanche to come and go from the manor with O’Neil as my designated bodyguard. I doubted many others had that privilege.
I might think he couldn’t lay a finger on me, but my instincts told me to be cautious. Matthias also kept a wary eye on him until we’d reached the garage door.
In the end, Kade stayed where he was with his back to the wall until we’d gone out to the garage and O’Neil shut the door behind us. She let out a breath loudly enough for me to hear it.
Now that the immediate danger was past, I didn’t understand what had just happened. Kade had openly defied Moses’s order to clear the hallway. Why? To see me? To try to goad one of us into an altercation? To see how O’Neil would react? Were we being tested somehow? And if so, why, and by whom?
Matthias had his Vamp Court poker face on, but I could tell he had the same questions.
Our drive from the manor to the gate was ominously silent. O’Neil took us through the inner gate into the courtyard and backed in next to my SUV.
When we got out of the vehicle, I asked O’Neil, “What was that about? ”
“I don’t know, Ms. Worth,” she said, her expression grim. She started to say something else, then changed her mind.
I wondered if she was worried about what might happen when she returned to the manor, if Kade might try to harm her. I wondered too, but there wasn’t much I could do about it either way. She worked for Moses. Her life was in his hands. I’d managed to get him to assign her as my bodyguard when he became dissatisfied with her performance as one of his personal guards, but ultimately her fate wasn’t in my control. And like it or not—and I didn’t —what Moses had said the other night was still true: I couldn’t trust her.
Blast it.
This whole thing felt like some kind of manipulation, but I didn’t know what kind or why it had happened—at least not yet.
As soon as Matthias and I had settled into my SUV and he’d started the engine, the outer gate rolled open. We pulled through the gate and onto the road, leaving O’Neil standing next to her vehicle. The gate began rolling closed again the moment our rear bumper cleared the opening.
A mile later, with Merrum Manor finally out of sight, I let out a sigh of relief and dropped my bag on the floor at my feet. “We made it.”
Matthias shook his head. “I’ll agree with you when we’re back at the house and you’re behind your wards.”
“Fair enough.” I bent to look in my bag for sunglasses and noticed a large brown envelope tucked in next to the document folder that Diaz had given me.
“Stop the car,” I said.
Matthias immediately hit the brakes and pulled to the shoulder. “What is it?”
I pointed to the envelope. “That was not there when we arrived at the manor.”
With a snarl, he picked up the envelope and gave it a deep sniff. “No scent,” he said, his voice half growl. “I don’t smell anyone unfamiliar in this vehicle either. Whoever got in and left this, they used some kind of spells to mask their scent.” He handled the envelope carefully. “It feels like paper.”
The last envelope full of paper I’d gotten was the Court indictments.
Gingerly, I took the envelope from Matthias. By all appearances, it was a generic, mass-produced document envelope with a self-adhesive flap—no fancy wax seal, nothing written on the outside. When I held it up to the sunlight, I saw the shadow of paper inside. Maybe about thirty pages or so. What the hell?
I tore it open, peeked inside, and sucked in a breath.
“What is it?” Matthias demanded.
I didn’t know what to say.
Sean had asked me the other night if I trusted Matthias, and I did. But in this moment I truly didn’t know how he might react to what I held in my hand. He wouldn’t hurt me—of that I was sure—but other than that, this could go a lot of different ways.
Not to mention, how the hell was I supposed to explain how this item had ended up in our vehicle without lying or divulging the real nature of my relationship to Moses?
I still suspected the encounter with Kade was some kind of test, and now I thought this might be another. I didn’t like games and tests were juvenile. But I’d talk to Moses about that later. For now, I had a highly agitated beta werewolf to deal with.
“Matthias,” I said carefully. “We’ll talk about what’s in this envelope when we get back to the house. Until then, I need you to take my word that it’s not anything dangerous. Let’s just drive.”
“That is not very reassuring.” His eyes glowed bright amber. “Someone broke into this vehicle without our knowledge and left an item you’re worried about describing to me.”
“I know.” I touched his arm. “Please trust me and drive us home. Malcolm needs to know if Liam is all right, and then you and I will talk about what’s in the envelope, I promise.”
Reluctantly, he eased back onto the road and resumed the drive, but his tension blazed on my skin. I couldn’t blame him. And I cared about him deeply—enough to feel sick that he was agitated. But I also knew we needed to be at home with Sean when I told him what I had, because he’d need his alpha and our counsel.
In fact, he might need more than that.
I sent a quick text message to Arkady asking if she could come to the house right away.
Her reply came back almost instantly. RKD: I’m about done with this invoice and report for the insurance fraud client. One hour?
Me: Perfect.
RKD: Give me a clue what this is about so I know what weapons to bring.
After a beat, I responded. Me: I need your brain and your ability to reason with Matthias.
RKD: Oh boy. I’ll bring my brain. No promises.
I also texted Sean to let him know what I’d gotten from Moses and that I’d asked Arkady to come over for the discussion with Matthias. He said he was in a video meeting with a client and after that one with Maclin Security staff but he’d be done in about an hour.
I thought about angrily texting Moses, but changed my mind. This needed to be a phone call, or better yet, a face-to-face conversation. So I stuck my phone in the cupholder and drank some lukewarm coffee instead.
Matthias growled as he drove.
Damn it, Moses , I thought, scowling out the window. What the hell are you up to?