Dav moves to the center of his room and does something entirely unexpected.
He actually bows to Chloe.
“Mother Chloe,” Dav says in his gravelly voice. “I welcome you and your coven to the city. If you should ever need our services, we are only a phone call away.”
Chloe’s eyes quickly jump to me, asking what the hell she should do. When I only smile, she takes a deep breath and stands from her chair.
“Thank you for your gracious welcome,” she says. “If you ever need us, we’re here for your pack as well.”
“I truly appreciate it,” Dav says, then he turns to me. “Congratulations, Asher. I’ve learned as much as I could about what it means to find a soulmarked, though I doubt I learned enough to fully grasp the concept.”
Smiling outwardly, I can only internally wince. I highly doubt he knows much more than whispers and conjecture, but that he seems to care is a good sign for our partnership.
“Thank you,” I say.
After nodding his head, Dav tilts his head to the side, cracking his neck, and grins. “Ready for business?”
“Absolutely.” I nod for him to follow me.
Heading into the dining room, I show him the maps and information we’ve gathered so far. It probably wouldn’t hurt to take him down to the basement, where our command room is, but better safe than sorry.
“My men think Nikolaos is located somewhere within a two-mile radius of here,” I say, and point towards the northwest portion of the city. “I, however, doubt he’s there, but it’s the best location we’ve got so far.”
Looking at the map on the table, Dav frowns at the location I’m pointing at. “He won’t be on the outskirts, or too much further up. That area is all forest and countryside.”
“That was my thought, as well. It would be far too easy to spot them bringing dinner in through the roads. His coven, from what I can gather, has lost a few men over the last two days. He’s down to twelve non-nomadic guys,” I say, and sit down on the edge of the table.
“The pack he’s allied with is about twenty-two strong, but I’d say only fifteen of them have the stomach for outright violence.” Pushing his finger down on the map, Dav marks a small warehouse district. “This is owned by the church, I doubt he’d be there.”
My hand goes to mark off the location on the map at first, but the second my fingers touch the pen I stop in midair.
“Do you know when it was bought?” I ask.
“That was in my father’s time, about forty years ago? He worked for a sheet metal operation out of there.” Dav shrugs. “One day the church bought up a big section of the buildings and kicked them out. Wasn’t much charity or goodwill for the people they put out of work.”
“I can imagine not. Any idea what they did with the buildings?”
“Mostly repurposed or shutdown. I know they ran a book press out of my dad’s building for a long while. Pretty sure they were printing off apocalyptic type stuff. Lots of where will your soul go, be saved, type of books.”
Chloe moves around the table, looking at the spot we’re talking about. “The church runs a homeless shelter close to there… And I think one of the priests lives around that area. He has a sprawling estate outside the industrial zone…”
Dav looks between us. “Either way, it’s doesn’t have enough warm bodies to fill your missing coven. I’m betting it’s further down here.”
He points to the lower section of our circled area. “Couple of strip malls, a few middle-class subdivisions, and a mall there. All of which can handle a few missing people here and there. Especially because it has quick access to the freeway. They can easily pop into the city for a quick bite to eat.”
Matthias comes into the room, laughing at that, and I start to chuckle as well.
Dav raises his hands. “I know, lame jokes aside though, it’s a good area.”
More of my sons trickle in from different parts of the house to check in with us, and I’m reassured when Dav doesn’t flinch. He’s good with us being around him, and good with us outnumbering him.
It bodes well for us in the future if he’s not easily startled by us.
Raphael moves into the room and shakes hands with Dav. Then he comes to stand beside me. “I need to talk to you soon.”
Looking at Raphael, I nod. As I’m about to turn away, I notice something is clearly off with him. His eyes are fucked up. One pupil is the size of a pinprick and the other eyes is almost completely black. He’s swaying just enough that if he were human, I’d think he was slightly drunk.
“Raph?” I ask, turning fully to face him.