Baleful Betrayal (38 page)

"I like sneaking up on you." She sat down next to me and snuggled against my shoulder. "I guess we have a new zip code now."

"Yeah." I managed a wry chuckle. "Wonder where we register to vote."

"My father thinks we'll be here until we can gain access to another Alabaster Arch." Elyssa sighed. "That means fighting the Brightlings."

"Whatever it takes, we have to do it fast, though." I felt my knuckles crack as my fists clenched with frustration. "Ivy is all alone in Eden."

"Maybe not," Elyssa said. "She's powerful enough to escape danger, and she still has Stacey and Ryland to go to."

My hopes lifted slightly. "She is a handful."

"She'll blast anyone who tries to hurt her." Elyssa patted my arm. "I know she's young, but she can more than take care of herself."

"Ivy's naiveté is what worries me," I said. "What if she's gullible enough to be led around?"

"No way," Elyssa said certainly. "That girl doesn't trust many people in this world, and for good reason. After all, she had Daelissa as a mentor."

"In other words, we should be more concerned about the people of Eden than Ivy."

Elyssa smiled. "I really think so, babe."

"Well, I feel a little better." I rested my face in my hands and groaned. "Can you help me find a good pizza joint now?"

She laughed and trailed off into a sigh. "I think Nightliss would be happy."

My eyes stung. "Sad too, considering the state of her nation."

"We have a long row to hoe, but I'm looking forward to it."

I took in the vista of the unbroken towers in the distance and saw lights glowing in some of the windows as the sunlight faded to dusk. With the crystoid plaguing the city gone, this place could once more come to life. While I could never bring my sweet friend, Nightliss, back from the grave, I could work hard to bring back her nation from the brink of destruction. It looked like we'd have to work hard and fast so we could rescue Eden from my little sister.

Ivy, I hope you're okay.

Squeezing Elyssa's hand, I kissed her cheek and pressed my forehead against hers.

Victus and Serena might feel safe and smug, but a reckoning was coming. It might be a month or a year from now, but one day, I'd find a way home, and they would regret it.

Today we had a nation to rebuild, and a world to unite.

###

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Demonicus Chapter 1

The last person I expected to see after a nice, relaxing vacation was George Walker.

I nearly dropped my purse at the sight of my enigmatic handler for the Custodians. "What's wrong?" My heart skipped a beat.

"Apologies for catching you so soon after your return, but we need your help, Miss Glass." He motioned toward a sleek black sedan. "If you don't mind, the situation is rather urgent."

Tyler wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "I don't know how you do business in the Custodians, George, but a text or a phone call would have been nice."

"I tried to reach her, but never received a response." George seemed to take no offense to Tyler's stern tone.

"It's okay." I took out my mobile and looked at it. "I put my phone on airplane mode and forgot to switch back to normal."

"What's the emergency?" Tyler asked.

George regarded him calmly. "That's for Miss Glass to know."

Tyler shrugged. "Then tell her. I promise I won't listen."

I held up my hands. "Let us put our luggage away and we'll come, George." I pointed toward his car. "Please go wait there, and I'll be down shortly."

George nodded and walked to the car.

On the way up the elevator, Tyler cornered me with a kiss. "We're not home ten seconds and you're already off on another adventure."

"Indeed." Despite all the intimate time we'd spent on holiday, I could hardly get enough of this lovely man. The thought of taking off on a Custodian mission without him left me feeling empty. "I want you to come."

"
Moi
?" A corner of his mouth lifted into a lopsided grin. "Whatever will your handler say?"

I pecked a kiss on his lips. "Absolutely nothing, if he knows what's good for him."

George raised an eyebrow when the two of us approached his car.

"We're both coming," I said.

George glanced at Tyler. "Mr. Rock isn't a Custodian."

A tall man emerged from the passenger side of the car and narrowed his eyes at Tyler. Mr. Sticks didn't say a word, but it was more than obvious how he felt about me bringing a playdate.

"Does he talk?" Tyler bobbed his head toward Sticks. I had, of course, told Tyler all about the people I'd met during my work with the Custodians, including the ever-silent Mr. Sticks.

George smiled pleasantly. "He
communicates
if that's what you're asking." He turned to me. "I suppose Mr. Rock may ride along. Are you ready, Miss Glass?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Let's go."

Tyler ran his eyes across the sedan. "What kind of car is this?"

"A custom model," George answered.

Mr. Sticks held open the rear door and motioned me inside. I slid across the seat so Tyler could climb in beside me. The smell of new leather pleased my nose. Once Tyler was seated, George climbed into the driver seat.

Tyler leaned forward. "Who makes your custom models?"

George touched a handle on the steering column. Soundlessly, the car accelerated toward the exit. "This is the latest out of Science Academy."

"Science Academy?"

Mr. Sticks glared over his shoulder at Tyler.

"You really must attend an orientation soon," George said. "It would answer many of your basic questions."

I pulled Tyler next to me. "Let the man drive." My stomach fluttered with anxiety. Since saving Tyler from the Exorcists nearly three months earlier, I hadn't been on any missions for the Custodians. Tyler and I had taken a long overseas vacation to make sure he was safe and to give my sanity a chance to recover.

He ran a hand across the leather and looked around the car, obviously wanting to talk more about it, but finally relaxed and slung an arm over my shoulders. "Sorry, Em. I've just never seen anything like this."

"Boys and their toys." I tried to give him a serious look, but couldn't stop from smiling at his enthusiasm. "I didn't realize demons were into automobiles."

He squeezed me tight. "I acquired the taste from one of my previous hosts."

This turned Sticks's glare toward us once more.

"Perhaps it's best if you don't discuss Mr. Rock's true nature right now," George said amicably. "Mr. Sticks is a stickler when it comes to the rules and is none too happy that I promised to let Mr. Rock be."

"He's really a very nice demon," I told Sticks. "Once you get to know him."

The man shook his head and faced forward.

George pulled into traffic, drove a couple of blocks, and turned into a blind alley I'd seen him use before. Excitement replaced the anxiety. Before I'd discovered the true nature of my work for the Custodians, George had always blindfolded me before we traveled anywhere. Considering how quickly we made it across town, I knew there must be something special about the cars they used.

I wasn't disappointed.

At the press of a button, the outside of the car blurred and faded until it matched our surroundings. George pulled a lever and the car lifted from the ground, rising quickly until we were above the city. I gasped.

Tyler's hand tightened on mine. "I think I'm in love," he said.

The early morning sun hovered behind the Atlanta skyline, dividing the city into shadows crisscrossed with corridors of light. My sense of wonderment fled, replaced with worry gnawing at my insides. I didn't know what prompted this abrupt shift in my emotions.
I haven't been on a mission for a while. It's probably just nerves.

"How much do one of these cars cost?" Tyler asked.

George pressed the accelerator and steered the car until the brass compass in the dash pointed north. "They're for official use only, I'm afraid."

"Damn." Tyler braced his elbows on the front seats and peered out of the window, much to the obvious chagrin of Mr. Sticks.

I contented myself to look out to the side as buildings flashed past beneath us. We soon reached a single story office building and circled overhead. A pattern of black lines across the flat roof caught my attention. They resembled burn marks, though they appeared too neat and precise to have been made by a fire. "George, what are we investigating?"

He brought the car in for a landing in a loading zone behind the building. "We received a tip that this place was being used as a cover for illegal vampire operations. We'll pose as customers and go inside while you use your special abilities to sense the truth."

A wave of heat washed across my skin from the direction of the building. I swallowed hard and nodded. "What if they catch on?"

"I have a team on standby." He looked back and smiled. "I don't anticipate any trouble. If you confirm there are vampires, we'll have to be sure they're up to illegal activities before we can raid them."

Tyler's arm tightened around my shoulders. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

I melted into his reassuring embrace and just as quickly stiffened when I remembered there were others present.
Don't act like a frightened ninny!

George drove the car to the front of the building and pulled into a parking space between two other cars. The warm sensation followed us the entire way, though nobody but me seemed to notice it.

Tyler slid out of the backseat. I followed and stood in the parking lot next to him. It was plain to see through the glass windows that the building lobby was empty. The sign above the door read,
Tri-Cross Blood Donations
.

Tyler chuckled. "Well, if this isn't the perfect place to run illegal vampire operations, I don't know what is."

"Technically, vampires running a blood bank isn't illegal," George said. "In fact, since vampires aren't supposed to feed directly on noms, something like this is a necessity."

I grimaced. "How awful. They're taking vital blood from normals who might need a transfusion someday."

Sticks didn't frown, which probably meant he agreed with me.

George looked at me. "Do you feel anything, Miss Glass?"

I closed my eyes and opened my senses. I sensed the low simmer of Tyler's presence, and glimpsed the brilliant white energy at the cores of Mr. Sticks and George. The radiating heat from the building intensified. I usually enjoyed warmth, but this sensation brought me no comfort. Instead, it sent chills skittering down my back.

"I don't feel vampiric auras from here," I said. "Just an odd warm feeling."

George nodded. "Let's go inside."

The moment he opened the door, a blast of rancid air hit us in the face. I staggered back, coughing and hacking and spitting. It smelled as though someone had left a truckload of eggs in the hot sun. The only one of us who didn't seem adversely affected was Tyler.

His forehead pinched and his green eyes looked deeply troubled. "This isn't good."

George pressed a handkerchief over his nose. "It's brimstone, isn't it?"

Tyler nodded. "This is the most concentrated I've ever smelled it on the mortal plane."

Mr. Sticks retrieved something from the car trunk and returned with small scraps of cloth. He placed one over his nose. The cloth spread over his nose and mouth and stuck there. George took a scrap and did the same thing. I followed his example. The moment the silky material masked my nostrils, the odor vanished.

Tyler took a scrap but stuck it in his back pocket. "I don't need it."

George raised an eyebrow. "Such high doses of brimstone fumes could harm your lungs, despite your demon soul."

"And it's such a foul odor," I added.

He gave me a hurt look. "I think it smells good." Even so, he put on the mask.

Mr. Sticks and George led the way. George stepped into an empty office in the first hallway. Scattered papers lay on the floor next to the desk. I picked up one of the papers.

I skimmed through it. "This is a shipping order to relocate blood from Los Angeles to Atlanta."

George took the document. "Interesting. This much blood would feed an army of vampires."

Sticks gave him a knowing look.

"An army?" Tyler folded his arms. "Is there something you haven't told us?"

George shook his head. "Suspicions, nothing more." He nodded toward the door. "We should continue."

After the other two men left the office, Tyler took me aside. "I get the feeling he still isn't telling you everything."

"You may be right." I sighed. "It's probably because we haven't taken that orientation yet."

He snorted. "Doubtful." We followed the others.

In the next office, coffee-stained documents littered a desk and the floor. A toppled chair, a broken mobile phone, a trace of blood—each office bore some trace of a struggle or a quick departure.

"Anything yet?" George asked me.

"I'll be sure to let you know the moment I sense anything besides this awful heat." The deeper into the building we went, the stronger the stifling heat pressed against my senses. I was tempted to dampen my sensitivity, but didn't want to miss any vital clues.

We found the body of a young man in the break room, his head tilted at a horrific angle, face terribly bruised.

George knelt next to him and ran a finger along the spine. "Neck's broken."

"Perhaps you could tell me something I didn't know the moment I saw it." I drew in a shuddering breath and took calming breaths.