We both turn to look at him, and for once, the damn incubus makes sense.
“Two anointed having a child? You think that’s possible to happen by accident?” I ask Chaz.
“With the way this world works? I think it’s very possible. Coincidences are just fate’s twisted little toys for the most part. It would explain why Leah is definitely skilled, even though she doesn’t have the killer instinct she needs to survive. It would also explain the huge target Slade put on her back. If he pieced this together before us…”
“Fucking Slade,” I growl, wishing I had—
“Don’t get sidetracked, Angel. Buffy’s peeps are in town, and we need to deal with them before Slade.”
“Call me Angel one more time.”
Dice opens his mouth, and the smile in his eyes says he’s about to, when my eyes flash blue. His smile dies as he swallows his retort, and he backs away.
“You’re no fun since you became unpredictable,” he mumbles, pouting.
Turning away from them, I head outside, looking for Leah.
“So this is her family after all?” Chaz asks, following me out.
“Leah?” I call, confused when I don’t see her outside.
“Zee, answer me.”
“It’s a guy named… Vic… Um…” I put my head down, trying to remember. “Victor,” I say, snapping my fingers as the conversation comes back to me. “He and his redneck friends were hunting for…”
My words trail off as everything slowly falls into place. “Fuuuuck.” A groan follows the drawn out word, and my head falls back.
“So the rednecks weren’t hunting deer, I’m guessing,” Chaz says under his breath, crumpling the picture of Victor in his hands while tossing Leah’s picture to the side.
“Motherfucker! Damn it,” I growl, slamming my hands against the deck railing. “I’ve been so wrapped up in her that I didn’t even fucking consider that shit.”
“Dude, it’s not like any of us pieced it together. She never alluded to anything like that, and she was genuinely shocked by who she was. My question is… Why wouldn’t they tell her?”
My eyes dart back and forth at nothing as my mind works, and I curse again.
“Because her mother’s mind was too fragile to handle it. She broke and ended up i
n the mental institution. If her aunt genuinely cared about her, then she wouldn’t risk it with Leah. She’d shield her from the truth until she knew for sure that she was anointed and could handle it.”
I jerk the door open and stalk back in, while Chaz grabs the picture of Leah’s aunt again and goes back to the stack of photos. Dice comes downstairs with several other photographs, and a lot of Leah’s personal things that we had shipped out here through a friend of hers that lived in her apartment building.
“Did Leah give you those?” I ask him, but he shakes his head.
“We’re past the point of personal boundaries now that we know she’s tied to them,” he says unapologetically. “Maybe something in here can help us figure out where they’d take the children. Names would be great. We could run property searches.”
“I only know the one,” I tell him. “Leah!” I yell, growing impatient and irritated now.
“She’s not up there,” Thad says around a yawn as he walks down. “Roslyn and I are about to do a run and see if she can get a scent of anything. They couldn’t have gone too far. They’d want to stay somewhat local so we can ‘give in’ to their demands.”
“Leah!” I bark, completely ignoring Thad as I open and close every door after putting my head into each room.
Chaz circles back around, his eyebrows pinching closer together as he thinks.
“You don’t think she’d…”
He lets his words trail off, and I shake my head. “No. Hell no. She wouldn’t even know where to find them.”
“Unless she’s been working with them all along and was just gathering information,” Dice interjects. “Hashtag, bitches be crazy.”