Betrayed (14 page)

“Work slot machines, dine at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant, maybe catch a show at the Luxor.” He put his arm around my shoulders. “We’re going to Las Vegas, babe.”

Bran had already taken me to al those places. Stil , I smiled like I was interested.

“To meet with Bran’s informant, not to have fun,” Remy warned him. “Besides, Bran’s coming too. You may want to tone it down a bit.”

“I’m not scared of him.” Sykes bounced on the bal s of his feet like a boxer and punched the air.

“Just because he saw her first doesn’t mean he can keep her. He won’t always be her…her choice.

Right, Red?” he teased.

“Wrong,” I retorted.

“I can wait.” Sykes smirked. “So, what’s the big news?” He stopped goofing around and touched my hair.

I swatted at his hand. “Let’s wait for the others. They should be here any—”

Kim and Izzy teleported in right on cue. As usual, Kim looked stylish in designer navy blue sweat pants with matching jacket. I swear she must have a hair-Guardian or something. Not a single strand of her blonde hair was ever out of place.

Izzy must have just showered because her natural y curly black hair was a riotous wet mass around her head. She tried to pul it into a ponytail, groaned in frustration, and made a lumpy bun on top of her head. Everyone found a place to sit on the sectional L-shaped couch and focused on me.

Now that the time had arrived to tel them everything, I felt relieved. Almost. I could always count on the guys’ support. The girls were unpredictable.

***

Silence fil ed the room after I finished talking. I studied their faces, not that I needed to in order to know what they were feeling. Anger, frustration, and fear drifted to me, though I couldn’t tel who was feeling what.

“Dang, you downloaded images from Celeste’s head and I missed it,” Sykes griped.

“Is that al you got from what she just said?” Izzy snapped. “How about her human buddy is a medium and a spirit guide is one of us?”

“Or Valafar’s return,” Kim added, shuddering.

Sykes shrugged. “We knew
he
would return. It was just a question of when. Right, bro?” He turned to face his friend.

to face his friend.

Remy nodded, a frown creating folds on his forehead.

“As for the spirit guide, that’s not our problem.

Let the Cardinals find him or her. We know it’s not one of us, unless one of you is holding out. Is anyone working for the other side?” He studied Izzy. “Hey, Chocolate Delight?”

Izzy’s eyes widened. She cursed him out in words I’d never heard her use, picked up a pil ow from a gaming chair, and threw it at him.

Sykes ducked, his gaze shifting to Kim. “Yo, Goldie? It’s okay to confess. We’l stil love you.” Kim flung her hand in an imitation of a back hand slap and unleashed her ability to manipulate air. A gust shot past me. Sykes knew what was coming and tried to duck for the second time. The blast caught him and flung him backward. He went down. The middle section of the couch he had been sitting on went with him.

Izzy snapped her fingers and the incident reversed in slow motion then repeated again and again. She and Kim convulsed with laughter.

Covering my mouth, I tried to contain my amusement, but the look of horror on Sykes’ face was too funny. A giggle escaped me.

Remy’s lips twitched, but he managed to control himself. “That’s enough,” he said.

“You bitch-slapped me!” Sykes’ hand went to his flushed face. His right cheek was pinker. He glared at Kim.

“Do you want me to make it better?” Izzy offered.

“No! You reversed time on me.” Sykes went back to glaring at Kim. “What’s your problem? Why do you have to be such a kil joy al the time?” He got, walked round and pushed the section of the couch back into place with more force than necessary.

“You can’t blame me when you accused us of the worst betrayal,” Kim retorted.

“I was just having a little fun, Kim. Try it some time.” Sykes headed for the stairs.

This wasn’t what I had in mind when I decided to talk to these guys. We needed solutions, not people getting pissed at each other.

“Where are you going?” I asked Sykes.

“To get an ice pack,” he snarled. “When I get back, she had better apologize or she’l be sorry.

You too, Izzy.”

He had a right to be angry. We weren’t supposed to use our powers on each other. “Is he real y going to retaliate?” I asked Remy.

“Let him bring it on,” Kim muttered.

Remy blew out air. “Real y, Larson. You’re not better than he is. You both don’t know when to back down. You two need to straighten this out before we leave tonight.”

Kim made a face.

“He did go too far this time, Remy. Didn’t he?” Izzy looked at me for confirmation.

But before I could respond, I felt a familiar gentle tap on my psi fol owed by
where are you?

It was Bran.

At Remy and Sykes’
, I responded.
We’re
downstairs.

I’m on my way.

Within seconds, Bran’s voice mingled with Sykes’ upstairs. The others were stil busy arguing about the fight and didn’t realize he was inside the house until he came downstairs.

“Hey,” Bran said, nodding at Kim and Izzy, before turning to Remy. “What happened to your boy’s face?”

“He had a little accident,” Remy responded with a straight face.

Kim and Izzy snickered, but they moved to create room, so Bran could sit by me.

How’s Gavyn?
I asked.

Same.
He leaned back, arm sliding around me.

Celeste?
I asked, sinking against him.

She scolded him, cried, then read to him. If I
hadn’t insisted, she would have stayed there the
entire night. She wants to visit him every evening.

Is everything okay here?

Yeah.
I sighed.
Just the usual in-fighting.

Sykes returned with a bag of unopened frozen peas pressed to his cheek. He sat on a side bench by the TV, his back to the wal , and glowered.

You okay?
I asked him.

I’m cool, but I plan to milk their guilt. Look at
their faces.

Sure enough, waves of remorse trickled to me, but I doubted they came from Kim. She was incapable of feeling sorry. Probably Izzy for the part she played.

she played.

You did go too far,
I added.

Just trying to lighten the mood,
Sykes said.

You’ll have to apologize.

Hell no!
He made a face.

You know I hate the tension, Sykes. Do it for
me. Please?

“Okay, enough with the private conversation,” Remy said, his gaze bouncing between Sykes and me. “We need suggestions on how to find this medium. Anyone?”

No one spoke. Remy sighed. “How about we invite al of Lil’s friends over for dinner and monitor their psi energies as we play mind games with Valafar?”

I shook my head. “Mind games? We’re talking about a nature-bender. You can’t play games with him.”

“Oh yes, we can. You cal him, tel him you want to talk then hang up and turn the phone off or remove the battery. He would be forced to use his medium. Then you use your ability to see psi energies to locate the medium.” Remy looked at the others. “What do you guys think?”

No one spoke. Sykes stil glowered. Izzy glanced at him, then away. Kim ignored him.

“I think it’s a bril iant idea,” Bran said. “But a party would be better and less suspicious. And Lil shouldn’t do the cal ing. One of you…one of us should. Valafar claims to be concerned about her safety, so let’s use that against him.” His arm slid from around me, and he leaned forward. “We tel him he needs to talk to her because, uh, she’s in trouble with the High Council or something. While he’s using the medium, she can monitor the psychic link and trace it to the medium like Remy suggested. We might even identify the guide as wel . Chances are she or he must link with the medium for his guiding mojo to work. This way, we identify the medium and nab the traitor.”

Remy and Bran grinned, so pleased with themselves I hated to burst their bubble.

“Guys, there’s only one problem with your plan. We have no means of contacting Valafar. He used a restricted number.” I sighed, frustrated that we had only one solution. “Until I find the presents Valafar claims to have sent, we can’t do anything.”

“Then let’s find the damn presents,” Remy said. “Your grandfather probably received them.”

“No, he didn’t. I already searched the house and found nothing. He confirmed it. In fact, he said Valafar lied about sending me anything.” My shoulders slumped in defeat.

“What if a neighbor signed for them and forgot to bring them to your place?” Izzy chipped in.

“We sign for each other al the time around here.

Your neighbor on the right is Cardinal J and on the left is Kim’s uncle and aunt.” She looked at Kim.

Kim shrugged. “I can ask my aunt and uncle, but I doubt they signed for something and forgot to deliver it.”

Izzy turned to Bran. “I heard you and your sister are staying with Cardinal Janel e until your brother recovers.”

Bran nodded.

“So you can search her place,” Izzy suggested.

Bran gave her a brief smile. “No.”

The firm way he said it threw Izzy off, and she became quiet. I agreed with him, though he could have at least tried to explain. He could be so cut and dry sometimes.

“Why not?” Izzy retorted, finding her voice.

“Because it’s not cool, Izzy,” he said it slowly.

Izzy’s eyes flashed as though she wanted to say something scathing. Our gazes connected, and I shook my head.
Please, let it go.

She hesitated.
Fine, but he’s pushing it with
his arrogance,
Izzy warned.

I sighed with relief. In-fighting bugged me.

Worse, Bran was under enough stress with his brother’s condition without these guys giving him a hard time. I tried to count reasons why Aunt Janel e could have signed for the presents and kept them from me. She hated Valafar, knew I burned the dress he sent me seven months ago and didn’t want anything to do with him. Or she might have done it to protect me.

“Not cool? What kind of half-baked explanation was that?” Sykes’ angry voice drew my attention.

I should have known the peace wouldn’t last.

Annoyance zipped through Bran and spil ed into my psyche. He sat up and sent Sykes a contemptuous look.

“I’m not sneaking around her house after

“I’m not sneaking around her house after she’s been kind enough to offer my family a place to stay. It’s rude.” Bran spoke scornful y.

Sykes threw his icepack of frozen peas on the table and glared at Bran. “Rude? The only way to identify the medium is to contact Valafar. To do that, we need to find the presents. How about you put your sanctimonious attitude aside and think of Lil’s friend and the fact that we have a traitor here in the val ey.” Bran looked as though he wanted to leap across the space and slug Sykes. “I’m not going to dignify your rant with a response, Sykes. However, I do have another idea. We pay the shipping company a visit and find the name of the person who signed for the package. We might even get lucky and get a description from the driver. Beats sneaking around people’s homes, doesn’t it?” A triumphant look settled on his face as he and Sykes glared each other.

The tension in the room shot up.

There was no denying Bran’s idea was better, but he didn’t need to gloat.

“I have a much better idea,” I added, hoping to ease the testosterone overload. “I’l ask Aunt Janel e if she signed for them. If she says no, then Bran and I can pay UPS a visit. Last time Valafar sent me a present, he used UPS.” I narrowed my eyes at Bran.
Be nice.

He grinned.
He’s a moron.

I elbowed Bran. Hard. He sucked in air, his groan exaggerated.

“Looks like we have a plan,” Kim said in a bored voice. “Can we leave and get ready for Vegas now?”

Izzy jumped to her feet. “We’l stop by a restaurant for dinner afterwards, right?”

“Try and stop me. I’m starved.” Kim stood.

“Whoa, ladies,” Bran interrupted them.

“Zedekiah has become very unpredictable. I told Haziel I can handle him alone, so you guys don’t need to go.”

Silence fol owed his announcement, then everyone rounded on him, talking al at once.

“After what happened in Seattle today, you need us glued to your side,” Sykes threw in the dig loudly and smirked when Bran cut him a frosty look.

“Bran, until Haziel withdraws the orders he gave us, we’re coming,” Remy rushed in to ease the tension brewing al over again.

Anger rippled through Bran and rol ed into me. “Fine. Let’s talk to him.”

I sighed when they teleported. Somehow, the evening wasn’t going as I hoped.

“Whatever their decision, we’re eating in Vegas tonight,” Izzy vowed before she and Kim teleported too.

With just the two of us left, Sykes and I stared at each other.

“Wel ?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I think the evening went wel .”

“You’re the queen of irony.” He lay on the bench and stared at the ceiling, one hand covering his face. “Get out of here, Red. In the mood I’m in, I won’t be responsible for what I might do or say next.” He sounded so sad. I didn’t know what to say to make him happy, so I got up and headed home.

***

By the time we teleported to Las Vegas, we were al business. That was one thing about my group. No matter how often we squabbled, when it came to demon business, we were united. Haziel supported Remy, but Bran got to run the show. Bran wasn’t happy with the decision to let us go with him.

His attitude bugged me a little, but I kept it to myself.

We landed in the living room of a female Civilian Guardian at a gated golf course community in the heart of Vegas.

Using a Civilian’s home as our point of entry was normal as long as we fol owed the protocol—we notified her in advance of our arrival, just in case she wasn’t going to be home or had visitors, asked for a rental vehicle, not the Civilian’s, and didn’t leave witnesses behind who might question how we got inside a secured compound, which meant glamouring the security guards at the gate so they didn’t remember us.