Chapter Sixteen #2
Laz, Schwartz, and George all nodded sagely.
“I’m here. Did I miss anything?” a voice said behind Kierse.
She found a bombshell walking into their midst. Lyra Anderson was an Upper East Side vampire princess.
The daughter of the First Vampire War leaders Beckham Anderson and Reyna Carpenter, she should have been the last person involved with their heists.
Yet she’d figured out what they were doing and insinuated herself in the last one.
She was also tall, dark-haired, and utterly gorgeous, her body willowy, her skin so pale as to be translucent, and her expressions so disarming that it was hard to look at her sometimes.
She was without a doubt Kierse’s type. They’d tried to use that to their advantage, and she was still pretty sure Lyra would be up for joining her and Graves if they were into it.
“You’re right on time,” Laz told her.
“Excellent. Where’s my T-shirt?”
Gen pulled one out of a bag and handed it to her. “I hope it’s your size.”
“Looks perfect. I’m serious about the Anne Boleyn shirt, though.” Lyra winked at Kierse as she passed. “Hey, Kierse.”
“Lyra.”
“Um…I invited other people. Hope that’s okay,” Gen said as Ethan entered the room.
“Hey, I chose the side of evil at the end,” the Druid said as he stepped into the monster’s lair.
“Ha. Ha. You’re so funny,” Kierse said.
“Is it all right if I join as well?” a second voice said as Niamh stood outside the library. “The front door wards let me pass but not here…”
“Come in,” Graves said from where he poured himself a drink, looking up at Niamh like a particularly violent thunderstorm had crashed through the room.
She stepped inside. “Thanks.”
Niamh and Graves had a storied past. Kierse was pretty sure they still hated each other most of the time. Especially since Niamh had been involved in the binding ceremony with Lorcan, but she had made the right call in the end. And it was easier to work with the Druids with Niamh on the Oak Throne.
Gen grasped Kierse’s hand and drew her down onto the sofa.
She pulled out her sketch pad as everyone else settled into their seats.
Laz and Schwartz sat on either side of Lyra across the room.
Walter was in his seat with his computer set up.
Ethan and Niamh took seats opposite Graves.
While George moved away from the guys to lean back against the bookshelves.
Graves carried his scotch in a crystal glass with him to the table at the center of his Holly Library. He set the glass down with a heavy thunk.
“Let’s begin. I’ll start by addressing the elephant in the room. This is the first meeting without Nate as part of our group,” Graves said solemnly.
The room went silent at the words. A horrible ache settled in Kierse’s bones at the thought.
Tears came to her eyes, and she brushed them aside.
She missed Nate. The easy humor, the way he knew what to say to make her laugh, how certain she was that she could come back to him without explanation.
It was too hard to think about him being gone forever, and he wouldn’t get to see what he and Maura had worked so hard to create.
“Nate and I didn’t always see eye to eye on everything,” Graves continued, “but he is missed, and what happened was a tragedy. One that I still intend to correct.”
“Hear, hear!” Laz cried.
Schwartz lifted his drink, and then they were all lifting their hands to the circle in memoriam of their fallen friend. Kierse wished she had a drink to dull the pain a little more.
“As Laz so eloquently put in the Heist Group Chat,” Graves deadpanned before whispering under his breath, “I can’t believe I even said that out loud—the details are incoming. Shall you explain yourself?”
Laz laughed as he rose to his feet. “I can’t believe I got you to say it.
Epic.” He gestured to Schwartz as he turned serious.
“Schwartz and I have been on assignment investigating female warlocks with the ability to locate other magical users. Kierse gave us information that a female warlock was using those abilities to locate the Fae and relay that to the Fae Killer to perpetuate part of the genocide against her people.”
“And through the female warlock,” Schwartz said, “we hope to be able to finally locate the Fae Killer.”
Gen squeezed Kierse’s hand while Kierse held her breath in anticipation.
The Fae Killer had destroyed her entire race. He’d had help from an unknown woman with the ability to track magical users. She’d tracked Kierse’s parents to their apartment in New York City and led the Fae Killer there.
They’d died because of this woman.
Kierse had been orphaned because of her.
And they were one step closer to catching her.
“We got a tip on a magic user and followed it to Vegas. Apparently, there’s an internal security figure at the Bellagio who is known for being able to catch anyone who cheats.
Schwartz located a person who admitted it was a warlock who could see magic.
” Laz pointed at Walter, who turned around a computer monitor to splash up a photograph of a young woman.
“This is our suspect, Dallas Llewellyn,” Schwartz said.
Kierse leaned forward to take in the features of the woman.
She was pale and lightly freckled with dark hair shaved short on the sides with bangs falling forward into her misty, dark-gray eyes.
There was something missing in her look.
Like when someone ate goblin fruit and all they could think about was their next fix until it consumed them.
“That can’t be right,” Graves said. “You didn’t say it was Dallas.”
Laz shrugged. “We only just got confirmation from one of Schwartz’s security contacts that she can see people with magic.”
“Fuck,” Graves said, leaning back onto the table and taking another long drink.
“What?” Kierse asked. “You know her?”
“She’s one of Kingston’s apprentices.”
“Oh,” she whispered.
“And that’s not her magic,” Graves added, dropping the empty glass onto the table. “She’s a telepath.”
“Like you?” Gen asked hesitantly.
“No,” he said gruffly. “Not like me at all. She heard other people’s voices in her head at a young age with no ability to differentiate them or pick and choose.
It was a constant cacophony in her mind and affected her deeply.
Sometime after I moved to New York, she was admitted to a women’s home in Wales before Kingston found her and realized what she was. ”
Kierse frowned. “A women’s home?”
“A psych ward,” Niamh said through gritted teeth, “is what he means.”
“Oh no,” Gen whispered.
“How terrible,” Kierse said.
“It was common at the time. An atrocious practice,” Graves agreed.
“And Kingston trained her?” Kierse asked.
“Well, I told him he either had to train her or kill her,” Graves said bluntly.
“That’s so you, Graves,” Niamh growled. “As if there’s no third option.”
He shrugged. “At the time, I didn’t see one. We didn’t know about mental health the way we do now, and her magic was likely to kill her if she went untrained.”
“More common than you know,” Niamh said. “Magic is volatile.”
Graves nodded his head. “He told me he helped her quiet her mind for the telepathy and sent her on her way.”
“Why would Kingston lie about something like that?” Kierse asked.
“That’s a question,” Graves said.
“So we go find out,” Laz said. “We have the team back together.”
Graves slid his hands into his pockets, which meant business. “All right. I’ll bite. You think we should move on her now?”
“Why not?” Laz asked. “That’s why we came. We had the in.”
“Schwartz, you’re comfortable joining the security unit?” Graves asked.
Schwartz saluted. “Already in.”
“Walter, I’ll need you to break into their security system.”
“Sure thing,” Walter said, typing away at his computer.
“Laz, we’ll need a blueprint for the building and what obstacles we’re going to come up against.”
“Done,” Laz said.
“Kierse and I will be the assault team,” Graves said, his eyes flickering to her. “We’re the only ones who can keep people out of our heads.”
With her absorption up, she should be able to keep anyone out of her head. Except Lorcan, of course.
“I don’t think it’d be a good idea for me to leave the city,” Niamh said. “The Druids have been unsettled in the last three months. We’ve had a slew of…defections.”
Niamh and Graves exchanged a weighted look.
“As fun as this all sounds, my priority is here.”
“Agreed,” Graves said slowly. “We do not want to leave the Oak Throne undefended. That would likely be a mistake.”
Because then Lorcan would have free access to the throne. After what he had said to her at the sushi shop, he first and foremost wanted to get his people and his throne back. She was the easiest object of interest in the otherwise larger picture related to the Druids.
“Then Gen and Ethan will be backup.”
Ethan perked up. “I’m part of the team now?”
Gen elbowed Kierse. “Told you we’d get to go on the next vacation.”
Kierse laughed. Sure, a heist in Las Vegas for a rogue warlock and the accomplice to her parents’ deaths, the perfect vacation.
“And me?” Lyra asked, drumming her fingers against her leg.
“Do you know the head of the MGM vampire syndicate? I know he has a storied past with your family.”
“To put it mildly,” she said, flashing her fangs. “After what he did to my mother…”
“Will he meet with you?”
“Well, yes, we’re in a truce but…”
“Then set it up. We’ll need the distraction.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why?” Kierse asked her.
Kierse had never seen Lyra look uncomfortable in all the time she’d known her. She couldn’t blush, but Kierse was pretty sure she would have.
“His son hates me,” Lyra said with a shrug.
“Then fix it,” Graves said.
Lyra opened her mouth as if she were going to object but then carefully closed it. “Sure. I’ll just work on that, then, I guess.”
Kierse wondered what exactly that meant. Why he would hate Lyra and how difficult it would be to mend.
“That’s our distraction.” Graves nodded at his team, clearly pleased at how quickly it had all come together. “Get your affairs together. We’ll leave in the morning.”
“I’ve always wanted to go to Vegas,” Ethan said dreamily. “Can I bring Corey? He’d love it.”
“It’s not actually a vacation,” Gen said, tossing her pencil at him.
Graves put his hand over his eyes. “This is going to be a long flight.”