House of the Rising Sun (31 page)

G
iselle followed the man she knew as Dell, slipping into his house under cover of the masking spell she’d used. Despite being hidden that way, she’d uncharacteristically dressed in all black. Just in case she had to make a quick getaway and disappear into the night.

He paused once in the kitchen as he unpacked the takeout dinner he’d brought home. He stared in her direction like he’d heard something. She froze, pressing herself into a dark corner and praying to the goddess he wouldn’t look too closely. The masking spell wasn’t exactly a cloak of invisibility.

When he went back to his dinner, she exhaled the breath she’d been holding. Rice and beans with a greasy sausage and a side of fried okra. That would do nicely. He took a beer from the fridge and as he was about to carry his meal into the other room, she used a small spell to make the doorbell ring.

He put the food down and left to answer it. She flew into action, mixing the powder Father Ogun had sold her into his dinner. It disappeared into the red beans and rice without a trace.

“Damn kids,” he muttered as he returned. He picked up his food and his beer and headed for the living room, where he turned on the holovision and settled down to eat. She stayed in the kitchen where she could see him, but not too close. This wasn’t some underequipped human she was dealing with. Some fae could sense things and she didn’t know enough about this one to judge exactly what his abilities were.

Halfway through the basketball game, he got up for another beer. She prayed to the goddess that the alcohol would help her cause. After he finished his meal, she gave him another fifteen minutes, just to make sure the powder had taken hold.

Then she snuck into the living room and bent down from behind the sofa to whisper in his ear. “Scratch your head.”

He went very still and for a second, she thought he was going to turn and ask her what the hell she was doing in his house. Then his hand drifted into his hair and scratched.

She smiled. Father Ogun’s powder had been worth the price. She bent down again, this time with new instructions. “Get your tablet. You want to write a note.”

He stood and walked zombie-like down the hall and into a small office. They passed a stairway with a small curved landing at the top that overlooked the foyer. She made a note of that for later.

He went through the motions of unlocking the tablet. It came to life, the soft glow of the screen illuminating his blown-out pupils. He was well under the drug’s thrall. She leaned toward him, whispering what she needed him to type.

When he was done, she instructed him to leave the tablet open on his desk, then began filling his head with exactly what she needed him to do next.

“What on earth would make you get involved with that man, Livie?” Augustine stared at her in a way that made her feel small, but that feeling wasn’t really his doing. It was her own disgust with herself.

“I met him on a movie set. He was one of the moneymen, so everyone treated him like a king, but I was the only one of the actresses in the film that didn’t jump into his bed the second he looked at them.”

She sighed, remembering. “He had a way about him, a charm so thick it made seeing what lay beneath impossible. But it wasn’t the sweet talk and the gifts that got me, it was his ability to listen, the way he’d sit for hours asking me about myself and just acting as though my stories fed his soul in some kind of way.” She snorted, a bitter, disillusioned noise of self-deprecation. “I had no idea how true that was.”

Augie finally sat beside her. “What do you mean?”

She turned to him and took his hand, squeezing it hard because it was so good to be able to touch someone again and so good to have him near. Fear she hadn’t felt in years choked her. “Branzino has barely any human blood in him at all. When he goes out in public, he uses magic to pass as human.”

“Magic? What kind? Witchcraft?”

“I don’t know. Could be fae. Could be witch.”

“So the bulk of his bloodlines are raptor fae and raptors feed off emotion. And they read metal, right?”

She nodded. “They can touch or taste it or sometimes even sniff it and know where it’s been, what it’s for, how to manipulate it.” She took a long breath. “I’ve always figured that’s where Harlow got her skill with computers. All those little metal bits in there…” She shrugged.

Augustine’s hand burned hot in hers. “A raptor. Damn. I can’t believe it. That’s why he was such a good listener. He was feeding off you.” He sat back like he’d just realized something. “No wonder Harlow picks up on emotion the way she does. With your haerbinger senses and his raptor blood…” He whistled low. “I would have locked myself away from the world, too.
Sturka.
”

“
Sturka
, indeed.” She swallowed and clung to the easy lie. “He tried to take her from me when she was born. Claimed he could raise her better than I could. We finally came to an understanding and he agreed to leave her alone—”

“Livie, I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re not telling me the whole truth. You can’t make me believe you came to any kind of understanding with a man like that. If you got him to leave her alone, it was because you had leverage. What was it?”

Olivia’s heart sank into her stomach. She dropped Augustine’s hand and twined her fingers together. “I can’t,” she whispered. She had no desire to relive the horrors of the past.

“Livie…” Pain etched his face so deeply she realized it must be a reflection of her own. He spoke softly but with firm intent. “I might need to know this information to keep Harlow safe.”

She nodded, her eyes looking forward but seeing only the past. “Harlow… was a twin.”

Augustine stilled. “What? Was? Where is—”

The swell of emotion threatened to choke her. “Branzino is evil, Augie. He’s probably sold himself as some businessman, but he’s more than that. He’s a crime lord, a kingpin. They used to call him the Shark, but he killed the last man who said it to his face. You’ve got to protect Harlow from him.”

He interrupted her. “Nothing is going to happen to her, but you can’t just tell me she was a twin and move on.”

She nodded. “Early on in our courtship, such as it was, I jokingly read Branzino’s palm. I did a stupid, stupid thing.” Her breath came out in a ragged sigh, shredded like her insides. “It showed that his firstborn child was going to be the death of him and I told him.”

“Why would you do that?”

“I didn’t know how dangerous he was then and he already had a son. And obviously, that child’s birth hadn’t caused anything to happen to him.” She covered her face with her hands, wishing she could change time.

“Okay, so if he had a kid already…”

She dropped her hands. There was no turning back now.
“That child was his nephew. He’d adopted the boy when Branzino’s brother was killed in a car accident.” She wrapped her arms around herself and began to rock slowly. The powdery soft scent of their little heads filled her senses with memories both beautiful and heart-wrenching.

Augustine pressed her gently. “And when Harlow was born? What happened?”

“Harlow was second. Ava Mae was first.” She closed her eyes, trying not to see those sweet innocent faces and failing. “I did everything I could to keep him away. To protect my girls.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “None of it mattered. I was away on a night shoot. He killed one of my security guards and broke into the house, killed the nanny I’d hired.” She sobbed. The black-and-white video played in her head like a nightmare. “He smothered her in her crib.”

Augustine’s face froze in a mask of repulsed shock. “Are you saying he killed Harlow’s twin because you predicted she would be the death of him?”

She nodded, her throat too thick with sorrow to speak.

“How do you know all this?”

She swallowed down enough of the pain to let the words out. “Security footage. He even looked up at the camera at one point, to make a point of how much he didn’t care that he was being filmed.” Another, smaller sob. Then her sorrow turned to anger. “He thought he was protecting himself from the police. But I knew a human prison meant nothing to him. So I told him if he ever came near Harlow, ever touched her, ever let her know he was her father, I would send that footage to every Prime in every Haven city I knew of.”

She turned to look at Augustine. “I threatened him with the Claustrum, because that’s exactly where he’d be sent for killing his own child.”

“I should kill him right now.” Augustine’s anger was almost palpable. “Why didn’t you send the footage anyway?”

“I was afraid. I thought he’d send his thugs to kill Harlow if I did that.” Her voice came out thin and pathetic. “I wanted to. I should have.”

Augustine nodded. “I understand regrets.”

“Thank you.” She breathed out. There was some solace in revealing the great burdens of your life. “There’s nothing he won’t do for money or power. If you can’t kill him, you’ve got to keep Harlow away from him. You’ve got to protect Harlow from him.”

“I will. I promise.” He nodded. “Does Harlow know any of this?”

“No, and I don’t want her to.”

“Maybe she should.”

“She already hates me. Imagine if she knew I let her sister be murdered?” Olivia put her head in her hands. “I only did what I thought was best.”

“She doesn’t hate you. And you didn’t let Ava Mae get murdered. That’s all on Branzino.” Augie’s arm wrapped her shoulders and his head came in to touch hers. “This can all be worked out. You’re here and I can teach her how to access this plane and then—”

“No.” Olivia sat up abruptly. “Harlow hates being fae. Can you imagine what seeing this place would do to her? I don’t want her here. Give me some time to figure this out, see what I’m capable of. Maybe I’ll be able to cross back over with some practice.”

He gave her a curious look. “As what? A ghost?”

“It would still be better than her seeing me here.” She grabbed his hand again. “Promise me you won’t say a word about what I told you. And not a word about me being here, either. Not until I can better control whatever this new form is.”

“Livie—”

“Promise me. I have to do this when I’m strong enough.”

He sighed. “I promise, but only for a little while longer. You have to tell her soon.”

She stared deep into his eyes. “I will. Now go home and make sure Cuthridge takes care of Harlow’s fine, but if Branzino comes around, you use the information I gave you. Cuthridge can give you access to my safety-deposit box. You’ll find copies of the footage there. Understand?”

“Understand.” Augustine flipped his mirror open, the move keeping him from looking her in the eyes when he answered her. “I
am
going to tell Fenton about Branzino being a raptor. That could be vital in our investigation.” He sighed. “You should know we think—Harlow and I—that he might be involved in letting the vampires into the city. And until I have reason to believe differently, I’m pursuing that angle.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he was.” She forced herself not to read anything into his lack of eye contact, because as long as she was trapped in the fae plane, there was nothing she could do about it.

Unless she found a way to bring Branzino here and kill him herself.

Out of the corner of her eye, Harlow saw the bedroom door swing open and a familiar horned fae walk in. She ignored him, preferring the fantasy of Zauron to the reality of Augustine. He
liked
her. What was she supposed to do with that? How was she supposed to feel? Liking him back meant… what? That he was her boyfriend? Did people even do that anymore? Her head was a mess. Just like her heart.

He waved his hands to get her attention.

She held up a finger to indicate he should wait, then finished killing the basilisk on her screen and signed off. She pulled the earpiece out and sighed. “If you’re here to yell at me about following you again, I get it. It’s dangerous. Don’t do it. Message received.”

The way he looked at her made her feel like he was taking inventory of a very sad store. “That’s not why I’m here, but before I say anything else, you need to know that what happened between Dulcinea and I was a one-time thing and it happened when we were teenagers. Years ago.”