Chapter 4
“O h, hell no!” Paige shouted, throwing her arms in the air before she spun to face Ronnie. “You’re not serious. Tell me you’re not serious.”
“Paige–” Ronnie said again, holding a palm toward her.
“OMG, you are serious! How can you be serious?”
“I never thought you’d turn to the dark side, Ronnie,” Dewey said from inside his carrier.
“I’m not turning to the dark side. Please sit down so I can explain.”
“I think I can clear this up,” Devon said as he sidled up to Paige and dumped his bag on the floor.
Paige wagged a finger at him. “You don’t get to talk.”
Ronnie shuffled a few papers around on her desk. “I did the best I could. On this short notice, and in this instance, Devon makes the most sense.”
“How could you think this? Why would that thought even occur to you? He just kidnapped me–”
“To protect you,” Devon interjected.
“And he’s BFFs with Drucinda–”
“Who is not a criminal, but a librarian,” Devon explained.
“And he has admittedly tried to stop me from doing my job, and to kill me.”
“Not anymore,” Devon said, with a shake of his head.
“I understand all of that, yes,” Ronnie said, with a slow nod. “But in this instance, he is our best resource.”
“I still fail to see how. We can’t trust him.”
“Well,” Dewey chimed in, “this time we probably can.”
“Dewey!” Paige exclaimed. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I am,” he answered. “If being on your side means retrieving a Bronze Ring from the Transylvanians without getting killed.”
“Yes, it does. But I can’t see how Devon helps us achieve that.”
“Devon–” Ronnie began.
“Day-walkers hate the Transylvanians. I’d rather assist any librarian in retrieving a Bronze Ring to stop the Transylvanians from getting it.”
“Oh, right, like I believe that. You mean so you can take it for yourself, because your goal is to stop me as a librarian from succeeding?”
“That’s my father’s goal. Not mine.”
“Well, now that you’ve said it, of course I believe you.”
“It would be nice if you did.”
Paige jabbed a finger at him as heat rose in her cheeks. “You’ve been feeding me a pack of lies since we met outside the library.”
“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t know I was in love with you then,” he said, his voice raised emphatically.
Ronnie’s eyes went wide, and she pulled her chin back to her chest.
“Oh, please,” Paige said, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms.
“Don’t ‘oh, please’ me,” Devon shot back. “I had to orchestrate a car crash just to talk to you.”
“Right, you loved me so much, you tried to kill me again so you could lock me in a tower and tell me you love me. Dewey, you were so right.”
Devon flung his arms out. “I didn’t–”
“ENOUGH!” Ronnie shouted, slamming a hand down on her desk.
All eyes turned to her. She fluttered her eyelashes as she sucked in a steadying breath. She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “If you two cannot figure out a way to get along, I will pass this case to Paris.”
“No!” Paige shouted. “You can’t do that! You may as well give the ring away to the enemy!”
“They are the next on the list. They will claim it.”
“Can’t we just find someone else to go with us? We can’t trust Devon.”
“I’m the most knowledgeable about Transylvanian vampires, and I’m pretty effective at defending against them. I can keep you alive and give you the best chance to retrieve the ring.”
Paige crossed her arms and tapped her foot against the floor. “How do I know you won’t take it for your dad?”
“I’m not going to take it for my dad.”
“And I should just take your word for it?”
He ran his fingers through his dark hair.
It sprang back into his face as he turned to face her.
“Yes. You should just take my word for it. I’m not going to hurt you or steal from you.
I just want to make sure nothing happens to you when you go after this artifact.
Look, Paige, these guys are dangerous. They will kill you in a heartbeat.
And I don’t want to see that happen. I think I’ve proved myself to you on a number of occasions. ”
Paige heaved a sigh and flicked her gaze to Ronnie. “And you trust him?”
“In this case, we have to. No one wants to defend against the Transylvanians more than the day-walkers. We’re on the same team this time.”
Paige fluttered her eyelashes and glanced down at Dewey’s carrier, which sat on the chair in front of her. “Dewey? What’s your vote?”
Dewey remained silent. Paige leaned closer, squinting through the mesh. “Dewey?”
“I’m thinking!” Dewey said.
Paige straightened, crossing her arms and drumming her fingers against her forearm. After a second, she leaned closer again. “Well?”
“Well, on one hand, he has an incredible knowledge of the Transylvanians. He also has the capability to defeat one in hand-to-hand combat should the event arise. Both these facts coupled with his burning hatred of that clan work to our advantage.”
“Thank you,” Devon said, with a bob of his head.
“On the other hand, he is not one hundred percent trustworthy, and he’s too handsome for his own good.”
Devon screwed up his face. “What? Why would my looks have anything to do with this? And why are they in the con column?”
“Shut up, Devon,” Paige said, with a roll of her eyes. “So what’s the verdict, Dewey?”
“Mmmmmmm,” Dewey murmured, “okay. Despite his smoldering good looks, and his less-than-trustworthiness, we’ll go with it.”
Ronnie offered him a curt nod. “Okay. Paige, you good?”
Paige set her jaw, flicking her narrowed eyes to Devon. Her nostrils flared as she blew out a sigh. “Fine.”
She reached for her bag as Devon stooped to grab it. Their fingers touched, and an electric current shot through her body. She collapsed against the chair, grabbing the back to stay upright.
She glared at him. “This should go well.”
“Oh, that reminds me.” Devon dug into his pocket and pulled out a sparkling pink gem. “This will stop the shock every time we touch.”
He dangled it in the air at her, grinning. “You can put it on your charm bracelet.”
“Put it on the desk. I’m not taking the chance our fingers touch when I grab it.”
“Sure,” he said, laying it on the edge.
Paige snatched it as Ronnie rose and skirted the oversized furniture piece to help her add it to one of the links on her bracelet.
“That’s just a temporary fix. I can cure you, but it’d take too much time, and we need to get going.”
“There you go,” Ronnie said, with a pat on Paige’s hand.
“Thanks.”
“Try it out,” Devon said with a smile, holding his hand out toward her.
Paige wrinkled her nose and stared down at it. She batted at it, pulling her hand away quickly in case it didn’t work. She tried again, quickly pulling her hand back before she clamped down on her third pass.
She eyed the little pink gem with a grin. “Ha! It works!”
“Told you I’d fix it,” Devon said, wrapping his fingers around hers and squeezing.
Paige tugged her hand free. “Okay, that’s enough experimenting. We need to get going.”
Ronnie held a hand up, tugging her glasses from her face and letting them dangle from the chain around her neck. “Actually, can I have a minute with you, Paige?”
“Sure, yeah,” Paige said, with a nod.
“I’ll wait for you outside,” Devon said, grabbing both his bag and Paige’s before tugging Dewey’s carrier onto his shoulder.
The carrier wiggled at his side. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing, hot stuff? Put me down.”
“Give us a minute, Dewey, please?” Ronnie asked.
“Seriously?” Dewey asked.
“I wanted to speak to Paige alone. Sorry. It’s nothing personal,” Ronnie said, with a wince.
“Yeah, okay, sure,” Dewey said, his snarky tone unmistakable. “Send me out with the scoundrel with the smoldering good looks.”
“You’ll be fine, Dewey,” Ronnie called as Devon lumbered with the three bags to the door.
“Watch it, Romeo. I’m bouncing all over the place here,” Dewey snapped.
“Sorry, buddy,” Devon answered, grasping hold of the strap to steady the carrier.
“I have a name. It’s Dewey. Use it, dimples.”
“I have a name, too, you know, and it’s not–” Devon’s voice cut off as he swung the door shut behind him.
“Wow,” Paige said, poking at her glasses, “better be quick before those two kill each other.”
Ronnie rose and skirted the desk, offering Paige a tight-lipped smile as she studied her. “I just want to be sure you’re okay.”
“Oh, I’m fine. I was just shocked. But you gotta do what you gotta do, right?” Paige chuckled nervously, bumping the bottom rim of her glasses again.
“No, you don’t. If you are uncomfortable with this, you don’t have to do it. We can pass on this.”
“And let Drucinda win? No way! We’re vying for Best Library Team again. We want to bring another trophy home for you.” She plastered a grin on her face and bounced on her toes.
“Paige, the BLT award is phenomenal, and I’d love to win again, but not at the expense of putting you through something you don’t want to live through. The relationship with Devon is complicated. And if you feel even in the slightest bit uncomfortable–”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Paige said, slicing a hand through the air. “There is no relationship with Devon. There’s a history of some stuff that happened. But there’s no relationship between us.”
“That’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean to imply anything was going on–”
“Good, because it’s not.”
Ronnie bobbed her head up and down. “But the history is complicated.”
“And I’ll deal with it. If he’s the best person for the job and gives us the best chance of completing our mission, I’ll deal with it. It’s not like we don’t get along at all, and he’s helped us in the past.”
Ronnie pressed her lips together and cocked her head. “You’re an inspiration, Paige. You’ve got the same sense of duty your mother had.”
Paige lifted her chin, holding back the emotion brewing inside of her. “Thank you.”
“Now, get out there and bring back that ring!”
“We’re all over it!” Paige said, with a grin. She spun on her heel and strode from the room, beaming from the compliment she’d received.