Black Wings, Gray Skies (Black Hat Bureau 4)

“The teacher’s remains were found on the boat we took to Fort Sumter,” I told her. “We were viewing the site of the fourth abduction when a cry went up from the crew. Her skin was found in the bathroom.”

“Who is Marah now?” Asa jingled his pocket. “We need to know how to find her.”

“I don’t know if she’s taken a new avatar.” Jilo jerked her head up to glare at him. “Threaten me all you want, daemon, but I’m already sticking my neck out to help this much.”

Before this escalated, I drew Jilo’s sharp gaze to me. “What did you want to show us?”

“There’s a tunnel accessible through the Thurman family mausoleum.” She rested a hand on the bars. “Originally, it was used by pirates to smuggle liquor into the city. Now it’s a stronghold for those who are willing to follow Marah’s example and attempt to create offspring.”

Given my unease the past few days, I had to wonder if more boo hags than Jilo had been tailing us, watching us, weighing the threat we posed to them and their plans for a rebirth of the species.

“You want us to clean house.” Clay beat me to it. “You’ll give up the problem that brought us here, but you want her acolytes wiped out to avoid a repeat visit from us.”

“They haven’t fractured themselves yet.” Jilo wiped her nose with a tiny paw. “But they will, as soon as they work up the nerve. They view it as their duty. Preservation of the species. But it’s a death sentence. For all of us.”

“Are they guilty of any crimes?”

“They hunt humans, if that’s what you mean, but they’re not unthinking killers.” She slouched. “They will be, though. One day. If they go through with it. Hunger will rob them of their sanity. They will feast to grow strong enough to survive, and leave a trail of bodies in their wake. And we can’t stop them. Boo hags can’t kill one another.”

Asa beat me to the problem, no doubt because he had been turning it over in his head for days.

“You have no way to distract them until dawn,” he said, “without falling into the trap yourself.”

The phrase mutually assured destruction came to mind, since a handful of coins scattered on the pavement would do as much to Marah, and her offspring, as it would to Jilo.

“No one wants to end up a martyr,” she lamented. “There’s no glory in death.”

“We’ll discuss what you’ve told us.” I soaked up Asa’s warmth. “But we’ll need a plan before we barge in.”

The smart thing to do was familiarize ourselves with the terrain, and I had an idea of how to do that.

We said our good nights to Jilo much earlier than expected and meandered back to our rental.

Up in the suite I shared with Colby, I woke her and set her in front of her laptop. Annoyed to have missed the good stuff—her words, not mine—I asked her to dig up blueprints for the cemetery.

The originals might not be available online, but there was a good chance ghost hunting enthusiasts had mapped it for their own communities. Those would be marked with paranormal hotspots, which might help us pinpoint any other areas the boo hags were hanging around in, in addition to the Thurman family mausoleum.

Humans got it wrong most of the time, but sometimes they got it right to an alarming degree.

“One hour of work,” I instructed Colby. “Then it’s game time.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Already, she was distracted by the hunt. For a moth, she had serious killer instincts.

And the lovely people at Witchy Ways would get a taste of it soon enough.

The guys were lounging in their suite, so I joined them to discuss the drama that had fallen in our laps.

“We got played.” I sat with one thigh on each guy’s leg and wiggled until they scooted over to make room for me. “Jilo has a hit list and seems to think we’re hired guns.”

“To be fair,” Asa said, curving a possessive arm around my middle to draw me closer, “we are.”

Grumbling to avoid having to agree with him, which made him laugh, I curled against his side.

“Reminds me of that movie,” Clay said, “where police from the future go back in time to kill their worst criminals before they commit their crimes.”

“They kill innocent people because of the damage they might one day do?” I frowned. “That’s grim.”