Chameleon (Supernaturals) (28 page)

Gabriel nodded. “There was also part of a logo still on the window of the office door behind the man.”

“Really? How’d you notice that? If I looked anywhere near the guy all I saw was him licking his own blood off his dagger.” I shivered.

“Do not feel bad, Danielle. I have had years of practice learning how to ignore the vision and focus on the details. This particular symbol was partly scraped away, but I can guess how it looked. It is a long shot, but if we start in the run-down part of the town we may be able to find the right building.”

“It might not be that hard. If you’re sure what you saw was a company logo we could probably find an Internet café and Google it.”

“Google it?” Gabriel asked.

“Okay I am not even going to try to explain the Internet to you right now. You’ll just have to trust me on this.”

Russ muttered something and then asked, “He doesn’t know what the Internet is?”

“Dude!”

Russ rolled his eyes. “You’re not the only one who can use a cloaking spell genius. I may not be able to hide you two freaks, but I can hide myself just fine.”

“Pity.” At Russ’s glare I dropped the argument. “Gabriel’s never had a computer or a TV and the phone in his apartment only dials the Supreme High Councilor. That man has kept him locked up in that tower like Rapunzel since he was six.”

“I know of television and computers,” Gabriel said. “I remember them from my childhood and have seen them in many visions. The Councilor said they would have a negative influence over me.”

Russ stared at Gabriel as if he’d just sprouted a second head. “You’re as brainwashed as she is, aren’t you? What do you do for fun?”

“The Councilor and I often take walks in the city, and I very much enjoy reading.”

“What a geek.”

“Be nice, Russ.”

“The consulate also has an excellent gymnasium,” Gabriel said. “I train with the guardians in self defense and I enjoy swimming.”

Well that would explain the yummy physique. I’d pay good money to watch Gabriel work up a sweat. “All this time, we had a pool and you didn’t tell me?” I asked.

“You were not well enough to go, but I was looking forward to taking you there.”

“How sweet.”

Russ clearly thought it was anything but. “Enough, Russ! Either be nice or shut up,” I snapped. “You’re giving me a headache.”

Russ went back to his brooding and I turned to Gabriel. “So the symbol you saw, what was it? What did it look like?”

“It was two letters that were sort of drawn together in one line—first an E and then a C. The E was higher and had stars or sparkles swirling around it.”

“Sparkles,” I said automatically. Somewhere in the back of my head bells went off. I closed my eyes and a vague image began to form. “Sparkles, not stars.”

“You know this symbol?” Gabriel asked in disbelief.

I shook my head. “No. I don’t know. I can’t remember it, but it sounds so familiar. Was there anything else to it?”

“I could tell each letter had a word written out, but the words were gone.”

“The letters E and C?”

Gabriel nodded and I could practically see the way they swirled together in one long flowing stroke—the E above the C. “Where do I know that from? It’s going to bug me.” I shook myself and tried again to think logically. “The good news is it shouldn’t be that hard to find. We can just look up manufacturers in Newark and find companies with those initials. I mean we’ll have to look back a few years because the building is obviously abandoned, so it might take a while but—”

“Enchanted Cosmetics.”

Gabriel and I both looked up at Russ startled. He was still frowning out the window.

“Huh?” I asked.

Gabriel was a little more polite. “You know of this symbol as well?”

Russ tried to ignore us but couldn’t do it. He sighed dramatically and then explained himself. “It sounds like the logo for Enchanted Cosmetics. As soon as we’re out of this tunnel and I get signal on my phone I can look it up for you.”

“Yes!” I shouted. “That’s it! I knew I’d seen it before. Thank you!”

Gabriel looked baffled. “You truly know this company?”

I snorted and Russ glared at me. “They were a cosmetics company based out of New Jersey,” he explained, striving for nonchalance. “Went out of business about two years ago when the company’s founder croaked.”

I laughed. “Russ was devastated. It was his favorite brand of make-up.”

“Face wash!” Russ snapped. I laughed again, even harder this time because Russ’s cheeks were turning bright pink. “Face wash is not make-up.”

“Maybe not. But tanning lotion, moisturizer and facial masks are close enough you girl.”

Russ flipped me off. “You’re just jealous of my silky-smooth skin. You know, it’s too bad for you they went out of business. They had a great frizz-control product.”

I had to admit that was funny when even Gabriel choked on a laugh.

I reached across the aisle to pinch Russ’s cheek. “You’re right, I do love your baby-soft skin.”

Russ grabbed hold of my wrist before I could pull my hand back and he yanked me across the aisle. “Sit with me,” he insisted. “I haven’t seen you for like five weeks.”

“Are you done having temper tantrums?”

It wouldn’t have mattered if he’d said no. I was already getting comfortable in the seat next to him because I missed him like crazy.

Five weeks is the second longest we’ve ever been separated. The first was the summer he went to New Jersey when he came into his powers, but the third longest was the day and a half I avoided him after Homecoming and even that had been hard. Russ and I don’t do apartness very well.

Across from us, Gabriel let out a breath, and that one soft exhale made the moment very awkward. At least it did for me. I couldn’t meet his eyes until he broke the silence. “Danielle, do you not find it quite the coincidence that of all the warehouses in the world you happened to have a vision about one you recognize?”

I frowned. “It is a little too convenient, isn’t it?”

“Not really.” Russ shrugged at both Gabriel’s and my questioning looks. “Every supernatural in the world who wasn’t raised human or locked in a tower like a freak knows about Enchanted Cosmetics. They were more popular than big hair in the 1980s.”

“The company is supernatural?” Gabriel asked.

“Well it wasn’t called
Enchanted Cosmetics
for nothing.” Russ’s tone suggested Gabriel was dumb. “Their products were literally enchanted.”

“You mean they made magical make-up?” I asked. “How does that work?”

“How old do you think my dad is?”

“About the same as my parents. Forty, forty-one, maybe,” I guessed.

“Fifty-seven.”

“He is not!”

Russ grinned. “Age-defying skin cream.”

“No kidding. Well, I never thought I’d say this, but for once I am truly grateful for the Devereaux family vanity.”

“I am not vain.”

“Ha!”

Gabriel asked another question before Russ and I could start bickering. “Do you perchance know where the warehouse is?”

“Yeah!” I said. “That summer you and your dad left, you came to New Jersey right? You had to have stopped by while you were in town.” I snorted again. “You know, to buy your junk in bulk or something.”

“I do know where the warehouse is, but not because I had to buy my junk in bulk.” Russ rolled his eyes, but he smiled and dropped his arm around my shoulders. “I probably should have though, as much as you stole my lotion.”

I laughed. “It was for your own good. No guy should have hands as soft as yours were.”

“Were?” Russ argued and slipped his free hand into mine to prove his point. It worked. His hands were softer than silk.

“I still use my lotion. I just had to start hiding it from you after the company went under because I couldn’t get as much of it anymore.”

“How do you still get it at all?”

Russ shrugged. “Same reason I know where the warehouse is. Remember the girl I told you about, who I stayed with when dad brought me to New Jersey that summer?

“The witch with the capital B?” Of course I remembered. Even now, married to Gabriel, I still felt instant jealousy at the idea of Russ spending the summer with another girl.

Russ nodded. “Clara. Her mom, Simone, ran Enchanted Cosmetics with her sister. Clara’s aunt still makes some of the stuff and sells it out of her house to pay the bills.

“Anyway, my knowing them personally doesn’t matter. Everyone knows of them. The dude in your vision probably chose that warehouse because the building is warded. There’s nothing like supernatural security. If someone wanted to be up to no good, then an abandoned, supernaturally-shielded building in ghetto Jersey would be the perfect place.”

“Makes sense to me,” I agreed.

Gabriel frowned. “I suppose I too can see your logic. Except for the part where you believe your family knowing the owner personally does not matter.”

Something in Gabriel’s voice made Russ’s foul mood come back and I really couldn’t blame him. Gabriel didn’t sound antagonistic, but he was definitely upset about something.

“You got a problem with that?” Russ asked.

Gabriel wasn’t at all bothered by Russ’s hostility. In fact, he matched it with that same fierce confidence he’d shown the council. “I have a problem with the fact that the council—the
entire
council—does not trust your father. Danielle,” he addressed me directly, “I do not know the history Alexander Devereaux has with the council—I had never heard the name until the night you arrived at the consulate—but I do know that the council was very, very upset to learn that you grew up under his influence. I believe it was your connection to him that drove the Supreme High Councilor to break your bonds the way he did.”

“So what if the council doesn’t like my dad?” Russ asked.

“I find it very interesting that he is so mysteriously disliked by the council and also has a personal connection to the very building Danielle is having visions about.”

“That’s because you’re a moron who doesn’t know a damn thing about anything except for the lies the Councilor feeds you.”

“The Councilor is not a liar.”

“And my dad’s not evil. But I’ll tell you one thing. Simone Laroche was a total slut. Between her and her skankalicious daughter, every supernatural in America probably had a personal connection to that warehouse.”

“Russ,” I said gently. I didn’t want to get in his face because I couldn’t blame him for being mad. Even I was kind of upset that Gabriel didn’t like Alex. He’d never even met the guy. “You’re going to have to be more specific. Words like slut and skankalicious are probably not in Gabriel’s vocabulary.”

“Sorry. I don’t exactly know the Shakespearian translations.”

“Simone Laroche?” Gabriel was wearing a giant frown, but I don’t think he was worried about Russ’s use of slang. “This would be a very powerful witch who passed away a couple years ago?”

“Let me guess. You have a personal connection to her too?”

Gabriel shook his head, looking more distressed than I’d seen him in a while. “Not I, the Councilor. I believe this woman was a close friend of his. He was very upset when she died. After the funeral he told me much of her.”

“Well, well, well. How very interesting that the douche bag who likes to torture innocent girls, and knows everything about you and how your power works, also has a close and personal connection to the building Dani is having funky dreams about.”

“Oh, would you guys both just stop?” I groaned. “None of that matters right now anyway. The only thing that does matter is that we get there before it’s too late.” A thought occurred to me then and I looked at Gabriel in a panic. “What if we get there and he’s already….”

I couldn’t say it. The thought was too horrific. Russ was silent. Then Gabriel replied, “We will do whatever we can, Danielle, but I must be honest with you. There have been visions in the past that we did not stop in time. It is rare, but it has happened.”

. . . . .

When I exited the train in Newark I was exhausted, my head ached and I felt restless and anxious. I chalked it up to the fact that I hadn’t slept much, failed to eat breakfast before we left and was worried sick that I would be too late to stop someone from draining a newborn baby of all its blood.

“The cravings are bothering you,” Gabriel said while we waited for Russ to double check the address of the Enchanted Cosmetics warehouse on his phone.

“I’m all right.”

“Danielle.” Gabriel’s voice was stern. “I can clearly see that you are not all right. Not that long ago you collapsed after one emotional outburst. You have used so much of your energy holding such a powerful spell for the last forty-five minutes. You must rest.”

I had no choice but to admit my defeat. “You’re right. I won’t be able to hold this spell much longer. I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

“I can help with that.” Russ grabbed my hand with a very smug smile on his face. “We only have to make it to the warehouse which is just over a mile. Once we’re inside the wards will hide us and you can let go of the spell.”