Her nostrils flared as anger poured through her. “You wouldn’t dare harm me.”

I smiled, catlike. “I would dare many things, Nicole. I have faced down many kinds of monsters—human, vampire, demon, and much, much worse than you. If you make another move against him—if you do anything other than finish out this testing completely aboveboard—you’d better run, and you’d better run fast. Because there’s no place in this world you can hide that I won’t find you.”

There was a flare of anger in her eyes, but I matched it with magic of my own. I wasn’t afraid of her. There was nothing she could do to me, because I’d face death again before letting her harm him.

But she wasn’t done yet.

“Consider the possibility, Merit, that you and your House and its Master are better off in your own small kingdom.”

“Is that a threat?”

Something flashed in her eyes—deep and haunting and very, very old.

“You think winning is all he’ll need to do, child? That holding the throne shields him? You saw what they did to Darius. He won’t be invincible, or immune. He’ll be targeted. Let that comfort you in your bed tonight.”

We stared at each other until Ethan stepped back into the doorway, his cautious magic filling the room. “Ladies. Is there a problem?”

“No,” Nicole said, stepping back and brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “We were quite finished.”

“Iain would like to speak with you before he leaves.”

She nodded, walked to the door with the bearing of a queen. I’d be damned if I’d ever bow down to her.

“Sentinel?”

I looked back at Ethan, found his forehead pinched in concern, shook my head. “Just clearing the air. She is a piece of work.”

He watched me for a moment, as if gauging what she might have told me, and my reaction to it.

I patted his chest. “We’re fine,” I assured him. “And I reiterate: Go kick her ass back to Georgia.”

So I could start to worry about what would happen if he actually won . . .

* * *

Ethan went upstairs to dress, to don more comfortable clothes for the challenge. I was heading to the Ops Room for our final check-in when my phone rang.

“It’s Catcher,” he said. “Just FYI, we talked to the manager at the Magic Shoppe, asked for records about the Fletcher tarot deck sale. They’re locked away, and he can’t get to them until tomorrow. They use a big document-storage facility, so you have to wait until they’re delivered.”

“Thanks for the update. I assume you’ve filled in the CPD?”

“I filled in Chuck, and he filled in the CPD.”

“Any sign of Mitzy Burrows?”

“Still nothing,” Catcher said. “They’re looking, and they’ve got eyes on the store. There are too many connections to ignore there. But they still don’t have anything that ties to employees other than Mitzy.”

“How’s Arthur doing?”

“Coping, I think. They’re going to release Brett’s body tomorrow, so the family can start to get some closure.”

“Good. That’s good.”

“Listen, I’ve heard through the grapevine that phys testing is today.”

“It is. At midnight.” I checked the hallway clock, found we were nearly there.

“How is he?”

“Managing. Amit’s here, and they had a good warm-up session. He’s as ready as he’s going to get.”

“You don’t sound confident.”

“I’m confident in him. I’m less than confident in the GP, or his competitor. She’s as conniving as they come. Malik’s the only witness we can have. Apparently the GP has very particular rules about the involvement of others during testing.”

Catcher’s chuckle sounded sneaky. “That tenet may apply to the House, but it doesn’t apply to me. If you can find out the location, we could roll the van to a spot nearby like we did with Darius, just in case.”

Relief swamped me, and I was damned glad Kowalcyzk had come to her senses and given them a van. “I love you guys.”

“Don’t get gushy. Just keep your head on straight. You and Ethan have friends and allies, Merit. And it’s times like this when we rally.”

That made me feel incrementally better. If I couldn’t be there, at least having the Ombuddies nearby would help. I decided not to tell Luc, or anyone else, about the idea. In case Lakshmi caught wind of the plan, plausible deniability seemed the best course of action.

“Hey, before you go, has Mallory found out anything else about the obelisk?”

“No, shit, but that reminds me.” I heard the sound of paper shuffling. “Chuck called, said you’d asked your father about some financial information.”

“I did. I was looking for the accounts into which the stolen money was transferred. They’re Swiss accounts, so I thought my dad could get there quicker, considering his connections. Why?”

“I guess your dad got an answer, asked your grandfather to pass it along.”

That hit me harder than it should have. I’d readily admit I didn’t take much time for my family, but my father couldn’t even deign to call or text me back? He had to work through my grandfather?

Nothing to do about it now, I told myself. Get the job done, and have a cathartic cry about family later. “What did you get?”

“I guess he was able to find a name for one of the accounts? The smaller one, he said. The registered beneficiary is Ronald Weatherby.”

We’d theorized the smaller account was for an accomplice, someone who got a piece of the larger seven-million-dollar take. But the name didn’t ring any bells. I guess it would have been too much to ask for the account to have been registered to Edmund, Danica, or Dierks in their own names.

“Listen,” Catcher said, “I’ve got to run. The nymphs are peddling Moroccan leftovers without a license, and I need to intervene there. Let me know about the phys testing.”

I promised I would, put the phone away, and walked back to Ethan’s office. He was back, this time in jeans and a smoky green T-shirt that intensified the color of his eyes. He sat with Amit and Malik in the conversation area, an open bottle of blood in his hands.

His eyes flashed with alarm when I walked in, but I settled him down with a hand. “It’s about Darius. The smaller Swiss account is registered to Ronald Weatherby. Does that ring any bells for anyone?”

Tags: Chloe Neill Chicagoland Vampires Vampires
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