Blood Magic by Laken Cane
Chapter Twenty-Six
Max adored Zach, but Joe watched the new guy with narrow-eyed suspicion, and not all of it because he might have been a little jealous. Joe hadn’t been wrong—Max was a brat. He flirted shamelessly with Zach, though Zach appeared completely oblivious.
I stood for a few seconds watching them, Joe with his hulking, glaring threat, Max smiling and just slightly obnoxious, and Zach, blank-faced and full of pain.
I needed more female friends.
Max was happy to take Zach shopping. I gave him a credit card and strict instructions on what to buy—cell phone, clothes, boots, a cot, earbuds—and I also told him not to leave Zach alone, to watch him constantly, and when I was in the middle of warning him that Zach had some PTSD and how best to deal with that, Max rolled his eyes, grabbed the card, and turned to leave my office.
“I’ll try not to get us both killed,” he said.
I hoped he’d try hard.
I grabbed my car keys. “Hey Joe. Want to drive to Alexandria with me?”
He tossed his magazine away and hurried to the door. “More than you can imagine.”
We met Lucy and a man coming in as we were leaving. He looked vaguely familiar, and then I remembered I’d met him when I’d brought donuts to work and he’d asked me to communicate with a loved one. He’d told me he went into Lucy’s bakery often. I guess he hadn’t been lying.
“Kait,” Lucy cried, exuberant as always. “I’d like to introduce you to Ray Christian, my new friend.”
Ray grinned and stuck his hand out. “We’ve met.”
“Oh?” Lucy asked, looking from Ray to me.
“I wanted to hire her to contact a dead loved one,” he explained. “She refused to fake her abilities and wouldn’t take my money.”
“Of course not,” Lucy said, slipping her arm through his. “Kait isn’t a charlatan. Where are you two headed?”
“We have something to check out in Alexandria,” I told her. “I’ll see you at home tonight.”
She winked. “Maybe.”
We parted at our cars and I hesitated before I climbed into mine, watching Ray Christian. He laughed at something Lucy said, then opened her car door for her. He gave me a wave as he jogged around to get into the passenger side of her car.
“Everything okay?” Joe asked.
“Yes, just trying to get a feel for Mr. Christian,” I said. “I don’t get a bad vibe from him.”
“You want me to drive?”
“No.” I got in and started the car. “I hope Max and Zach will make out okay.”
He glared. “If Max has anything to say about it, they’ll probably make out for half the night. Where’d you find him?”
“He’s a friend of a friend,” I told him, pulling out onto the street. “He’s having a bad time of things and I’m just looking out for him.”
“He’s homeless?”
I hesitated. “Yes.”
“Is he—”
“Joe,” I interrupted, but gently. “It’s not my story to tell.”
He nodded, then sighed. “At least Lucy seems happy enough.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “You shouldn’t worry about Max and Zach.”
“No?”
“Absolutely not.”
He crossed his arms and was silent for about two minutes. “What are we doing in Alexandria? Going to see the vampires, I take it—but they’ll be sleeping.”
“Axton has humans in place to handle the day stuff. I’m going to find out if Brenda Ferguson is dead. If she is, someone is going to tell me where they stashed her. If she’s not, I’m bringing her back to her husband.”
“I doubt they left her enough of her mind to care.”
“Still. I’m bringing her home, one way or the other.”
“Six people were in the office today before noon,” he informed me. “Max made appointments for them all—two of them tonight at seven.”
“Dammit,” I said, glancing at the clock. It was four p.m. “There’s time.” But most likely, I was going to be late. “Text Max and tell him to try to make it back to the office before seven. And tell him I might be late.”
I wasn’t really worried. As Joe had said, the vampires were asleep. A few human guards didn’t scare me. Then I remembered the card the reps had given me when they’d shown up at my house. Maybe later I’d call it and see who answered and what he could possibly do for me.
Two human guards were outside Axton’s house, pretending to do yard work. They were decorating the place up for Halloween, placing pumpkins and ghosts and bales of straw, and it was…weird. Just weird.
Joe snickered as we walked up the stone path toward the front door. “Seriously?”
“My thoughts exactly,” I said. “But they do what they’re supposed to do.”
As we reached the door, one of the men dropped a giant pumpkin and strode toward us. “Mr. Axton isn’t receiving visitors.”
“Mr. Axton,” I said dryly, “Is dead to the world right now—literally. I want to talk to Jennifer. Axton’s…assistant.”
“Wait here.” He turned from me, took a few steps away, and spoke into his watch. As he was distracted, I figured I’d try the door, and was honestly shocked when it opened.
Joe and I were inside and halfway across the echoing room before the guard figured out that we’d gone on without him, but it didn’t matter. Jennifer hurried toward us, the new bruises around her eyes standing out vividly on a face that was paler than usual.
I held up a palm as she beckoned for two very large, very grim men. “I’m not here to cause trouble, Jennifer. No need for the muscle.”
“What do you want,” she said, her voice clipped and angry.
“I want Brenda Ferguson. Don’t lie to me and say you don’t know where she is. I’m not leaving here without her, and I promise you, I can take out your guards.” I grinned. “No matter how big they are.”
“Oh yes,” she spat, “I’ve heard all about you. Follow me.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, falling into step beside her. I kept my head up, my hand on my blade, and my stare probing the corners and searching the shadows. There was danger here, even if the vampires were asleep.
“To get the useless human you came for.”
I traded surprised looks with Joe. “Axton ordered her turned over to me?”
“He said when you came by today, to give you the human you were after. And he left a message for you.”
My body tensed and my anger began to swirl. “Awesome. Let’s hear it.”
“It’s not something I can say,” she teased, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
Jennifer the “assistant” was a very angry woman. “I’m not playing your games,” I told her. “What the fuck does Axton want me to know?”
“He didn’t tell me. But,” she added, before I could open my mouth, “I believe he simply wants you to know that it’s not over. That you shouldn’t get too comfortable. And that…” She shoved open a door and waved me inside. “You will soon understand his power. You should be afraid of the master, Ms. Silver.”
I refused to step through the doorway and finally, her smile still on her bruised face, she went into the room and kept walking. She didn’t turn to see if I followed, and after a few seconds, I pulled my blade and followed her, Joe at my back.
“Don’t worry,” she called back over her shoulder. “We know you’re the council’s whore. We’re not going to physically harm you. Not right now.”
“I’m not worried,” I said. “Just cautious.”
“Oh no,” she laughed. “That ship sailed when you drove to Alexandria the first time.”
She wasn’t wrong. And I wished I’d left Joe in the car or back at the office. He was human and, by vampire and wolf standards, quite delicate. He didn’t belong here amongst the vampires, whether they slept or not.
He didn’t look scared as he strode through the empty room at my side, down a hallway, and up a long, curved stairway. “How,” he muttered, “does this house look like it’s maybe a couple thousand square feet on the outside but a fucking castle inside?”
“It’s glamoured,” I told him, and then, at his blank look, I added, “They’ve spelled it to look like a regular house on the exterior.”
“Magic,” he said. “That’s fucked up.”
I didn’t really care about the house. I was worried about what Jennifer was leading us into—what “message” Axton wanted to show me. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good.
I was right.
