Darkest Misery (13 page)

Tom groaned. “I still don't believe there's a leak within the Brotherhood, but I'll concede the possibility since I haven't had time to investigate. Just tell me how illegal are your plans?”

“The less you know, the happier you'll be. But I do need you to help. I need someone here to run interference for me. Let me know when Ulan and the other goblins leave since I'm guessing they can't be detained forever.” I hadn't thought of it before, but that was another reason not to bring Tom into my immediate plans.

He chewed on his lip, then raised his hands in surrender. “Fine. But only because I agree that we aren't getting far, and I can't risk you being killed by a goddamned goblin. You're safer outside the country. I'll get plane tickets. When will you be ready to go?”

“Tomorrow.” Once the goblins found out they'd been robbed, I wasn't sure France would be far enough away.

Chapter Eighteen

I didn't have much time. The goblins' lawyer was on his way, and Tom could only stall Ulan's release for so long. If Ulan and the others headed right to their hotel after leaving, I might not have enough time as it was.

Speaking of leaving, the Gryphons and satyrs were abandoning their meeting. But although they were filing out, Xander must have arrived. I could hear him telling Ingrid that he approved of Claudius's idea.

Go fly into a tree,
I thought, bypassing the room.

“There you are.” Lucen grabbed my arm and tugged me toward the doors. “He left already.”

My spike of fear must have been enough to inform him I'd been worried about Claudius seeing us. “Good. You need to stop challenging him, or you'll get in serious trouble.”

“Fuck him. He almost got you killed.”

“Technically that was the goblins.” Ugh, it pained me to take some of the blame off Claudius. “Never mind that. I do not want you getting killed or demoted or kicked out of Dezzi's domus, or whatever else might happen. Please. Yes, he's an asshole, but…” He was a damn powerful asshole as I'd learned only too well.

Lucen tightened his grip on my arm. “He's not invincible, Jess, and he doesn't get to come over here and threaten the people I love without repercussion.”

I slipped my sunglasses on, and we stepped outside. “You are badass and wonderful, and I understand you want to protect me, but you're not invincible either. And while if you got into a fight with Claudius, I'd root for you, no sane person would bet money on you. It's not a slight. He's older, more powerful, and he is definitely the biggest dick. Doesn't mean he has the biggest dick, but he can hurt you.”

Lucen scowled. The summer sun was high in spite of the hour, and he pulled a jacket on to cover his arms while we stood in the shade of the granite gryphons. “Yeah, well, Dezzi has ordered me not to attend the meeting tomorrow. Officially, I've been tasked with some menial duties for her and supervising The Lair's rebuilding.”

“Good. I'm not going to be at the meetings anymore either.”

“Why not? They seem like the safest place. No one's going to try to take you out when you're surrounded by Gryphons.”

I took off down the street, conscious of the time. “No one's going to take me out if they don't know where I am. I'm leaving, but first I'm on a mission.”

“Leaving? What mission?” His voice was heavy with wariness.

I filled Lucen in en route to my apartment. Not surprisingly, he insisted on coming along. Not just to the goblins' hotel, but also to France. I didn't have time for an argument, so I ignored the bit about France and agreed to take him with to the hotel. He'd likely be useful.

Everyone was on high alert when we reached my apartment, but no one was waiting to ambush me. I snatched one of my remaining containers of the glamour Lei had made for me, and Lucen met us with his car.

While he drove, I used the potent disguise spell to alter my appearance. It didn't need to be a great job, just something sufficiently capable of making me look not like myself. Alas, the glamour was keyed specifically to me, so it wouldn't work on Lucen or the guards. Instead, Lucen had grabbed a cheap, generic charm of his own, but since Gi and Melissa only had ones that hid their horns, I wanted to keep them out of sight in case things went badly.

They refused to play along.

“We already had one close call today,” Gi said. “We're not waiting in the car.”

Melissa inspected her knife in the backseat. “Dezzi will have our hides if something happens to you.”

“I'll have your hides,” Lucen growled. “Jess, you do realize you're putting a lot of trust in Gunthra.”

“It has occurred to me.”

He turned into the hotel's parking garage and removed his sunglasses. “This whole trip could be a trap. She could have more of her people waiting in the room to ambush you.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “She'd have to have expected the first attempt would fail. Once it did, and she discovered it did, the Gryphons arrested her. She wouldn't have had a chance to set this up.”

Lucen shut off the engine, shaking his head. “Let's hope not.”

“One thing at a time. We've got to get a keycard if this is going to work.”

“The keycard is easy. It's the rest that makes me nervous.”

Our timing was lucky. We got out of the car as a couple exited the hotel via the garage entrance. Hiding my grimace, I hung back initially while Lucen and the others approached the people.

I didn't like this part, but when Lucen suggested it, I had to admit it was the easiest method anyone had come up with. Besides, it wasn't like the people were in real danger. Lucen, Gi and Melissa would bowl the couple over with their magic while I rifled through the woman's purse and stole her keycard. When it was all over, the couple would be scared shitless by what happened, and yes, the woman would be a bit inconvenienced by the missing room key, but no one would get permanently damaged.

For a hastily thought-out plan, I'd done far worse.

Part one accomplished, we entered the hotel a few minutes later with me holding the stolen keycard and neither human any wiser about what they'd lost. They'd continue on their way to dinner, squirming with the aftereffects of lust and trembling with nerves.

“You sure you're the best person to do this?” Melissa asked.

We stopped at the lobby periphery. A group of flight attendants had arrived in their bright red uniforms, and the area around the front desk was crowded.

“If you do it, it'll be obvious to anyone nearby what's going on. They'll feel your power, and who knows what they'll do. If nothing else, you'll be memorable. If I do it, no one will know. Not even the person I'm using my gift on.”

Lucen nodded. “She's done this enough.”

Yup, I had, though the circumstances were usually different. Not so long ago, Steph had accused me of acting too pred-like for using my gift on innocent people. It hadn't been a fun conversation. Nor had the follow-up been when I'd finally admitted to her what I truly was.

Steph and I were good now, but I couldn't rid my mind of her voice as I crossed the lobby. Under the circumstances, I hoped she'd be willing to overlook this abuse of my power.

“Can I help you?” the desk clerk asked.

I smiled and pushed the stolen card toward her. “My room key doesn't seem to be working anymore.”

“We can rekey it, no problem. I just need your room number and ID for verification.”

“Room 452. Thanks.” As I exhaled, I channeled my power into my breath. Like a fog, I envisioned it slowly encompassing the clerk's body and binding her to me. My gut clenched, informing me the bond was solid.

Solid, yet weak. This was nothing like a true addict bond, but for the moment, she'd be highly suggestible.

The clerk's eyelids drooped under the weight of the spell, but her breath hitched in her throat. When she glanced up at me, she wet her lips, and I tasted her lust like a dense chocolate mousse. “Do you have ID?”

I pretended to root around in my bag, and I let my face fall. “I must have left my wallet in my room.” I bit my lip in what I hoped was a seductive way. “You can trust me. I'm a good girl.”

I threw every ounce of suggestive power I had into those sentences. I couldn't force the clerk to do something she didn't really want to do. All I could do was make her want to please me. Usually that was sufficient.

“I'm not supposed to…” Her face was a perfect apology, but her tone was wistful.

“Please.” I raised my finger to my lips, as if to say
our secret
.

Her cheeks turned pink. “All right, just this once.”

“I won't tell anyone, and neither should you.” There was another suggestion in there, one she'd probably want to heed even if I hadn't put any power into it.

“Absolutely not.” Her fingers grazed my hand as she gave me back the card.

Though I wanted to pull away, I let her touch me and reveled in the huge hit of lust the sensation provided her. When this was over, I wanted chocolate.

“You should forget about this if you can.” Taking the card—and my hand—back, I broke the connection between us. “Thanks so much.”

She blinked at me, slightly dazed. “Uh, you're welcome.”

As I left the desk, the chocolate I tasted turned to butterscotch confusion. If I was lucky, she wasn't sure what I was thanking her for.

Gi and Melissa split up, with Melissa staying in the lobby to watch for the goblins in case we ran out of time, and Gi accompanying Lucen and me to the room in case a threat was lurking. He insisted on being the one to open the door, and the men swept the room while I remained in the hallway, feeling superfluous.

“Clear?” I asked, unable to keep all traces of sarcasm from my tone. I mean, yes, I had been attacked by goblins earlier, but I didn't see this as a likely ambush for the reasons I'd already explained. Plus, I couldn't get over the feeling I was being babysat.

Gi tucked his gun back under his jacket. “Clear.”

I strode into the meticulously clean room. Maid service had already come through, but preds being preds, everything about the place was neat and tidy regardless. It was a large room, with two beds against the far wall and a partition wall separating them from the seating area. The drapes were open, spreading sunshine around the place.

Lucen unzipped one of the two suitcases. “Do we know what we're looking for?”

“No.” I grabbed an outer pocket zipper on the second suitcase. “Tom overheard them saying they brought information, and I'm assuming Gunthra didn't send me here on a wild-goose chase. If we can't find something obvious, then my guess is the information is electronic.”

At my apartment, I'd also grabbed a spare USB key to download files if it came to that.

“Let's get started then.” Lucen flipped open the suitcase.

We worked in silence, methodically checking every pocket in every travel bag, and going through drawers and closets. Lucen even cracked the room safe, but it was empty. My phone went off with the arrival of a text as I opened the last possibility—the laptop bag.

Couldn't hold them any longer. Left 5 minutes ago.

I swore. “Tom just let me know they're out of Gryphon custody.”

“I'll check the bag, you boot it up,” Lucen said.

The goblins' laptop was old and heavy, which was rather surprising. Such powerful people should have been able to afford the best equipment. But then I remembered Gunthra's old-fashioned house and the few goblin-owned businesses I'd done soul-swapping deals with. Those goblins tended to keep their records on paper, as had the goblin we'd busted not long ago in the Marshall case.

Given how old these goblins were, maybe technology wasn't their thing. It gave me reason to hope their electronic security wasn't so good, but alas, once the damn device finally finished booting, it turned out to be password protected.

“Any ideas?” I asked.

Lucen was rifling through papers he'd found in the bag. “Not a clue. There's nothing here. It's only their flight and hotel information, and a three-day-old newspaper.”

“Damn it.”

“Just take the laptop.”

I tapped my fingers against the keyboard. “I was hoping to keep them in the dark about any theft until I was out of the country.”

“Given how clunky it is, I doubt they're the sort to regularly use it.” He pulled out a pocket knife and popped the screwdriver attachment. “Take the hard drive, and maybe they won't notice it's missing right away.”

I twirled the screwdriver between my fingers. Take the hard drive, it was.

Chapter Nineteen

We were back in the car and I was stripping away my disguise when Lucen returned the conversation to France. “Do you have your ticket yet? Where are we going?”

I ran a finger down the edge of the hard drive. Gi and Melissa did not need to hear us arguing. “Tom is getting the tickets, and I assume he knows where we're going. Gryphon World Headquarters is in Grenoble.”

“You always wanted to go to France, didn't you?”

I forced a smile. “Yeah, but not like this.”

Lucen mused a bit about Paris and various things French, and I refrained from explaining that he was not coming along. My anxiety must have been evident, but goodness knew I had a lot of reasons to be anxious. A brewing argument with Lucen over international travel was unlikely to be the first explanation either of my bodyguards jumped to.

Before leaving the hotel, I'd called Steph and explained I needed to talk to her in person. So her apartment was where Lucen drove me, and I insisted he drop me off.

“It's not that Steph wouldn't be thrilled to see a group of satyrs appear in her doorway, it's just that, well, she'd probably slam the door in your faces.”

Lucen rolled his eyes. “I thought the couple times Steph and I met, we got along great.”

“Meaning you didn't kill each other?”

“You set a low bar, little siren. If I recall, Steph shook my hand once, which was more than you were willing to do at the time.”

I stuffed the hard drive into my purse. “And now I sleep with you. Your point?”

He scratched his scruffy chin. “If I had one, it's lost because now I'm thinking about you in my bed.”

Grinning, I kissed his cheek. “You're adorable. Don't pick any fights with Claudius, the goblins or anyone else while I'm gone. Oh, and don't book your plane ticket yet. We'll discuss it when I get to your place. Okay?”

Lucen's eyes narrowed. “Why do I get the feeling this is not going to be a fun conversation?”

“Because you're a misery-sucking fool for spending time with me?” I opened the car door and hitched my bag over my shoulder.

“Watch her!” Lucen called to my guards as I headed toward the apartment building.

I waved as he drove away, then turned to Gi and Melissa. “I'm going to be a while.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Gi pointed to the fast food place across the street. “We'll be getting lunch. Call us if you need us.”

Promising I would, I buzzed Steph then entered the building. She met me at her door with a beer. I took it gratefully and followed her inside. Had it really been only two weeks since I'd last been here? Two weeks since she told me she didn't care that I was a satyr, and I told her the end of the world might be upon us? Something like emotional vertigo washed over me.

Steph turned down the music and pointed toward the bathroom. “Jim's here. It's going to be the three of us for dinner. He's in the shower.”

Translation: if there was anything I didn't want to say in front of him, this was the time.

“Right.” I took a swig of the beer and plopped the hard drive on her table. “The problem I told you about a couple weeks ago with the furies? This might have some information I need on it.”

Steph grimaced. She'd changed out of her work clothes and, ironically, was wearing a T-shirt that said
Yes, I work in IT. No, I don't want to fix your computer.

“Your shirt goes great with those pajama pants.” I gave her my biggest please-don't-kill-me grin. The pants were covered in pictures of beer bottles.

Steph picked up the hard drive and waved it in front of my face. “You gave me those pants years ago.”

“I remember. Now I'm giving you a password-protected hard drive. Early birthday present?”

“I get to help you for my birthday? How sweet.”

I spread my arms. “When we save the world, you'll get some of the credit.”

It wasn't as funny as I'd intended. Steph froze, and I got a blast of her fear that tasted like the straight citric acid I'd once eaten on a dare. Foul, especially with the taste of my blueberry beer.

“This really has something to do with…” she glanced toward the bathroom, “…that?”

I exhaled heavily. “There could be information on the drive that would help us stop it. I stole it from a goblin's hotel room.”

Her laugh was one of dismay, and she set the drive down. “Your life has gotten way too exciting. I miss the times when our biggest adventures were tracking down potential rapists in sketchy corners of Chelsea so you could mug them for their souls. I mean, that was way more excitement than I needed in my life, but by comparison, it was like playing with puppies.”

“I didn't choose this.”

“Nobody ever does, do they?” Steph opened her oven and peeked inside. “I'll see what I can do. If I can't do, do you want me to take it to Ben?”

Ben was the hacker Steph had found for me several weeks ago when I needed someone to decrypt files we'd stolen from the Gryphons. He'd gotten the job done—barely—and so far the persuasion I'd used on him had kept his lips sealed about what he'd discovered. That was good to know. Once the goblins found out what I'd done today, they'd be pissed and set on vengeance. Although I was certain someone in Dezzi's domus could crack the encryption on their drive, I didn't want the goblins starting fights with the satyrs. The more I could insulate them, the better. Both for Lucen's sake, and potentially my own.

“Yeah, we can bring Ben in if needed. Thanks, Steph.”

She shut the oven, and a delicious-smelling wind rushed over my nose. “Don't thank me. I haven't accomplished anything yet, and you know—the way you said that has a certain deadly seriousness to it I don't like. Just keep up that tab of how many favors you owe me, and be sure you live long enough for me to collect.”

“I'm putting you in my will for my steel-toed boots.”

“Well, yeah, you'd better. But I don't want to inherit them until I'm at least eighty. 'Kay?”

I crossed my heart.

Jim joined us a few minutes later, and I spent the next couple hours with them, eating dinner and drinking beer and pretending I didn't have a long night ahead. Around eight thirty I left so they could destroy each other in whatever computer game they were currently playing, and I met my bodyguards in the parking lot.

“Back to Shadowtown?” Gi asked.

“Not yet. I've got another errand. Want to go dancing?”

Gi and Melissa did not, in fact, want to go dancing. They were okay, however, with getting to sit at a bar and having a beer.

Devon met us in the back of Purgatory, and while my bodyguards chilled in a private lounge where no one would look twice at them for not being dressed for the club, I prepared to put part two of my plan into play.

Devon flopped on one of the many sofas decorating his office above the dance floor. “You want me to what?”

“Find out what Claudius knows about the Vessels. Am I speaking English?”

“Not proper English,” he responded, cranking his British accent up about a hundred degrees. “Do you think he's going to tell me if I ask?”

I pulled my knees in, and my butt sank deeper into the soft leather. “I don't know. Does he dislike you as much as he seems to dislike Dezzi and Lucen?”

“Ah, so this is why you're asking me and not Lucen.”

“I figured Lucen was already in deep enough trouble without drawing Claudius's attention.”

“Yes. Yes, he is. Lucen needs to keep his mouth shut and stay below Claudius's notice.” Devon scowled. “Dezzi gives us a lot of leeway to speak our minds and do stupid things, but she's not typical. It's why we like her.”

I played with the fraying fabric on my jeans. “Kind of like how she didn't kill either of us when Lucen put me under your protection while I was hiding from the Gryphons?”

“Exactly. And we're used to that sort of freedom. Claudius…” Devon seemed to be searching for the word. “Claudius would not approve.”

“Obviously. He hates me.”

“He doesn't hate you. He thinks you're inferior and defective. There's a difference.”

“He's an asshole.”

“True, but a genetically perfect specimen of one.”

I rested my head against the sofa. “Back to my question—does he hate you too?”

“No, he seems to like me because I've been kissing his ass since he arrived.”

“Literally?” I shrugged when Devon narrowed his eyes at me. “Hey, with you guys, I figure it's a fair and reasonable question.”

In a blur, Devon's hands snaked out, and he yanked me over to him. I half landed on his lap and struggled to retain my balance. Those hands grabbed me by the hips and held me in place.

Sitting nose to nose with him, I had no choice but to gaze into his blue eyes. “I need to stay away from Claudius, and I can't ask Lucen to do this. I'm afraid Claudius might…”

“Kill him?” Devon sighed. “So am I. But Claudius isn't going to open up to me. I'm suspect because I'm here.”

“Are you sure?” I loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top of his shirt. “You can be very charming.”

“You only admit these things when you want something from me.”

“But I am admitting them. Still counts.” I batted my eyelashes, which earned me a derisive snort. “Look, I even have a plan for you and all that charm. You can tell Claudius you don't approve of Dezzi defending Lucen or something to that effect. Make him think there's dissension in the ranks. That you're an ally of his. You'll be his spy to keep Lucen in line.”

Devon took my hands and placed them on my legs. “I could do this, and if Claudius finds out I'm playing him or that I sent you the information he shared, Lucen won't be the only one of us on his shitlist. So, with that in mind, do you still think I should do this for you and your half-baked plan?”

I snatched his tie again, only this time I yanked it tight. “No, I think you should—and will—do this because you're not an idiot. You don't want to be standing around jerking off when the apocalypse is coming.”

Devon took a deep breath once I let go of the tie and he could breathe again. “Fine, but you're going to owe me.”

“Seriously?”

“Three favors.”

I tried to get up, but he pulled me back down by my waistband. He was grinning, and the scent of his clove pheromones was stronger. I fought to maintain my annoyance, but damn. That mischievous expression of his was disarming. The lust he'd been stirring up since he tugged me on top of him was overpowering my better sense. My breaths quickened.

Responding to my mood, Devon slid his fingers against my bare hips, and I tensed further. “One, for asking me to risk my ass for you. Two, for choking me with my tie. And three, for taking offense when I said you owed me.”

“You're a jerk.”

“I'd be offended if you meant that. But since you don't, you can pay off one of those favors now.”

I shivered as he slid his hands across my skin and unfastened my jeans button.

It ended up being two favors by my estimation, but who cared?

Lucen was stewing when I got to his apartment. His posture and the aura of darkness that hung around him reminded me of Sweetpea, who was pacing about in his cage. I half-expected Lucen to snort smoke along with his pet dragon any moment.

In a normal relationship, he'd be stewing because I'd been screwing his best friend for the past hour, and I—in turn—would be feeling guilty about it. But I wasn't allowed a normal relationship.

No, Lucen was stewing because he'd started realizing I didn't intend for him to come to France with me, and the guilt I felt was due to discussing the situation and how best to argue my case with Devon.

He was hunched over his laptop in the living room. “I'm going with you, and that's all there is to this discussion.”

“No, you're not, but I'm fine not discussing it any further.”

“Jess.”

“No.”

“I'm not kidding. The goblins tried to kill you today. The furies are… Well, fuck-all knows what the furies might want with you, but they did abduct you in Phoenix. For sin's sake, you are in danger, and if you think for a moment I'm about to let you prance off to another continent without me, you've failed to consider—”

I pressed my mouth to his and pushed him back on the sofa with my body. Strong arms pulled me against his chest, and his hands groped at my hair. In spite of my mood, my day or what I'd gotten up to with Devon, a needy moan escaped my throat.

Part of me knew this was my fault. I'd tried to derail him, and he'd turned the tables and was derailing me instead. Oh, it wasn't that I didn't crave his touch normally, but I could sense he was blasting me with his power too, undoubtedly believing he could seduce me into agreeing with him. Or, failing that, convince me I couldn't live without him.

Such was the curse and the blessing of having a relationship with a satyr. Er, satyrs. Their magic left them constantly needing sex, and the same magic made anyone with them receptive to the idea. Never mind if she might not be able to walk normally the next day.

Lucen pulled back when he had me pinned to the cushions, and I gasped for air. “I'm coming.”

“Yes, eventually, but not to France.”

“Funny.”

Just as it had been hard to stay annoyed at Devon when he was holding me, it was hard to remain focused while Lucen was pressed against me. The intensity in his eyes was alarming in a too-sexy manner, and the way his chest rose and fell against mine was making me far more interested in wicked ideas than the issue at hand.

I pried my fingers open and released his shirt. “You can't risk going with me. Claudius is not pleased with you for rushing to my defense or threatening him.”

“All the more reason I should come with you. It puts an entire ocean between me and Claudius.”