Necromancist (Seven Forbidden Arts 6)

“Yeah.”

He cut the call. It was a surprise Boris hadn’t shown up after last night’s debacle. He’d kind of expected him. No doubt, the sick son of a bitch was biding his time. He checked his watch. It was time to face Alice’s daddy.

The alarm went off at seven. Alice yawned and flushed when she recalled Ivan’s earlier call. It had been her first long-distance orgasm. Despite her apprehension for what awaited, she grinned as she got ready for the day. After last night, Johnny didn’t expect her at the office until ten.

Half an hour later, she was baking blueberry muffins, not because she was hungry, but to occupy her hands. She made quick work of tidying the house. Ivan was supposed to meet her soon so they could talk to her dad. From the lounge window, she saw Donald parked on the curb. She prepared a flask of tea and carried it outside with a plate of warm muffins.

Donald rolled down the window when she approached. “Morning, Alice.”

She handed him the tray. “Breakfast.”

“Jeez.” He took a muffin and sniffed it. “You’re spoiling me.”

She threw a thumb over her shoulder. “Don’t you want to wait inside?”

“Thanks but…” he popped half a muffin in his mouth and hummed his approval, “…my place is here.”

A black SUV with darkened windows made its way around the corner and down the street. She wrapped her jersey around her waist, holding onto the edges.

“You okay?” Donald asked with a full mouth.

“Yes.” She barely glanced at him. She fixed her eyes on the vehicle that pulled up behind Donald’s car.

He, too, had noticed the SUV and was pulling his pistol from the holster.

She touched his shoulder through the window. “It’s all right.”

“Someone you know?”

“It’s my dad.”

Donald relaxed his grip on the gun.

Squaring her shoulders, she walked to the vehicle and stood waiting on the sidewalk. At the same time, a cab came down the road and stopped next to them. Ivan got out from the back, his gaze locked on the black vehicle. He seemed as tense as she was. They stood side by side, wordlessly waiting for the driver to exit.

A hulk of a man with long, white-streaked, black hair stepped out. What caught her attention wasn’t his rugged features as much as the shotgun under his leather coat. With a tight nod in their direction, he opened the back door.

Her father got out first. Her heart stopped and then started beating again with an old, familiar pain. As always, he was dressed in a white suit, sporting a waistcoat and a cravat. His brown hair was still thick and glossy, but a bit of gray had crept into the sides. It shocked her how well and happy he looked. She’d expected a broken man with slouched shoulders and a ghastly white skin, like the last time she’d seen him, but he was sun-bronzed and his cheeks had a healthy glow. His birthmark was less visible with his tan. There was a vitality and a new kind of self-assurance about him as he slowly straightened and offered her a smile.

Still getting over the shock of seeing him, she was confronted with two more women and men who piled from the back. She looked from one face to the next. They all looked too perfect to be human. One woman was Japanese, short with black eyes and hair, and the other was tall and muscled with aquamarine-colored eyes and a caramel skin. The first man had a blond braid and eerie yellowish eyes, while the second looked more normal with russet hair and intelligent blue eyes.

“Alice,” her dad said, ignoring Ivan for the moment.

She nodded. “Cain.”

“Let’s go inside where it’s safer.”

The people behind Cain were armed to the teeth. They shouldn’t stand on the sidewalk attracting attention, especially not with her nosy neighbors.

“I need a moment with my daughter alone, Mr. Kray,” Cain continued.

She pulled herself to her full height. “This concerns Ivan. Anything you have to say, you can say in front of him.”

“As your father, I—”

“You stopped being my father the day you walked out on me at my mother’s funeral.”

Ivan frowned.

Cain’s expression remained impersonal. “Fair enough.” He walked past her to the house, the people with him following.

Ivan grabbed her hand and said softly enough only for her to hear, “What do you mean he walked out on you?”

“You heard me. He left me when my mother died.”

She moved forward, but he jerked her back. “You haven’t seen him in all this time?”

“We’re not on speaking terms.”

His eyes softened. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“I better get back inside. My muffins are burning.”

Chapter 10

Many scenarios had played off in Ivan’s mind, but not Cain walking out on Alice after her mother had hanged herself. Barely containing his anger, he followed the group into the house. They made her small lounge seem like a jar overflowing with toads. To him, Cain would always be a venomous frog, his poison hidden beneath layers of color that were meant to deceive. His associates looked no different.