Chapter 19

" B ash owns Lure," I explained to Kierce. "We used to go there when Josie and Armie had a falling out."

"I don't own it," he chided me. "I run it. For the clan. Or I did."

"You're taking over here?" I heard my excitement for him. "Please tell me you'll deliver to the shop."

Armie drove out all the time, but it wasn't a big deal when he spent most of those nights with Josie.

"For you?" He flashed bright white teeth. "Anything."

"Then I'll push my luck and ask you to let us in to have a look around since you're already here."

"Not a problem." He rose with a jingle of keys. "I'm happy to help."

Kierce, who had watched our interaction with curiosity, made no move to intervene.

Until Bash reached for my hand with a playful grin, his people as tactile as shifters.

The whisper of his fingertips was all I felt before Kierce jolted him with a mild shock.

"Frankie only holds hands with me," Kierce told him. "I only hold hands with her."

"Is that right?" Bash shook out his arm. "I didn't know Frankie had a boyfriend."

"She doesn't have a boyfriend." Kierce scrunched up his forehead. "She has me."

A pleasant warmth swept through my chest, and my heart gave a happy twist.

"My mistake." Amusement gleamed in his eyes. "I meant no harm. She's an old friend. That's all."

"Friends hold hands?" He checked this fact with me. "Does that mean you and I are friends?"

"We are friends." I crossed to him, took his hand, and dragged him to Bash. "But we're also more than friends."

"Because I want to kiss you."

The warmth that had been so pleasant a moment before dialed up to a burn that scalded my face and throat. "Yes."

"Friends don't kiss."

"No." I flushed even harder. "Friends don't kiss."

"Customs of the living…confuse me." He aimed the words at Bash. "I apologize for my rudeness."

"We're all friends here," he said easily, while his eyes asked me a million questions.

"I would prefer not to hold your hand," Kierce informed him. "I don't want Frankie to feel as I just did."

Jealous. Kierce was jealous. I really shouldn't find that so adorable.

"I'll keep my hands to myself then." Bash chuckled. "Let me open up, and you can have your look."

The turn of the lock sent dread churning through my stomach, and I took a slow breath for courage.

Hard as I tried, I couldn't stop the pinch in my chest as I crossed the threshold into a gateway of memories I wished I could erase. One not guarded by any wards I could perceive.

Flipping on lights as he went, Bash illuminated the space then chose a table and sat, giving us free run of the place. He settled in to answering emails on his phone while Kierce and I began sweeping the main rooms. We found nothing to indicate someone had been holed up here, so we moved into the kitchen.

The walk-in freezer and fridges had been cleared out. I could only imagine how wonderful that would have smelled if the power had been off for more than a few days in this heat. As soon as I thought it, I called out, "Bash?"

"Yes?" He appeared in the doorway. "Did you find something?"

"Did you do this?" I opened one of the empty fridges. "Or have it done?"

"No." He rested his shoulder against the frame. "There was no food or alcohol in the whole place."

For the restaurant to close without notice, I imagine it caught more than his attention. "Looters?"

"That or the property owner donated it before it spoiled on him."

"The property owner? Armie owned the restaurant."

Faulty logic, I realized as soon as I heard myself, because Armie was a liar.

"He did own the building and the business, but he leased the property."

"That's who you paid." I rubbed my face. "I didn't stop to think about the logistics with Armie gone."

"You've had your hands full lately." Bash slid his gaze around the room, but Kierce had moved on while I hung back to question Bash. "You know what he is, right?"

"Kierce?" I shut the fridge and checked the last cabinet. "Yes."

"His reactions struck me as na?ve at first, but I've got a bead on him now."

"Okay." I wasn't sure, beyond lust, what incubi could sense. "Do I want to know?"

More than that, should I? Reading him was an invasion of his privacy. Bash couldn't help it. But I could.

"He's like a glacier. Cold and unyielding." The white film crept over his eyes as he reflected on Kierce. "At first, I thought he was shielded. That I couldn't read him. He was that empty." He blinked his vision clear. "Then you began explaining the physicality of relationships to him, and he thawed in slow degrees as his understanding grew. It was like…the polar ice caps melting." He wiped a thumb over his bottom lip. "The depth of his hunger is staggering. The more he learns, the more knowledge he craves."

Maybe I wasn't terrible at reading men after all. Not Kierce anyway. Hadn't I had the same thought?

"He hasn't spent much time around the living in…a while…and he's figuring things out as we go."

"Are you sure you want a being that immense fixated on you?"

"Immense?"

"There's more to him than what the eye can see, so much more, and I don't only mean his glamour."

"Can you see through it?" A surge of protectiveness rose in me. "His glamour?"

"No." His eyes widened. "He's shown you his true face?"

"Yes?"

"Frankie." He straightened and checked to ensure we were still alone. "I've seen a lot of obsession in my line of work. Sex has a way of muddying even the clearest waters. I'm not saying Kierce is fixated or that he will become that way, but to awaken that depth of emotion in a person who doesn't understand how to interpret or control it, one with that much power at his disposal…" He raked his fingers through his hair. "If there's a power imbalance in a relationship, and the person on the lower end of the scale wants out, they might find they require assistance breaking off things."

"You say that like you've got experience relocating people," I joked, but it fell flat. "You're serious."

"Incubi and succubae can become addicted to specific donors. It's our nature to hunt and feast on them, to finish what we start. But it's dangerous to feed to completion where you live. Too many bodies would get us run out of town, and we would be forced to abandon our investments. Our clan is too large for an evacuation that size without casualties." He lifted a shoulder then let it fall. "I monitor relationships with clients that toe the line of true intimacy. Anyone requiring assistance to disappear receives it at no cost. So, yes. I have the experience. I can make you vanish if you need to one day."

"I'll keep that in mind." I meant it too. "Assuming you can bundle Matty and Josie into a package deal."

"Of course." He got a call and checked the ID. "I need to take this."

As he walked away, I reflected on his reading of Kierce and questioned whether I was in over my head. It was impossible not to draw parallels between him and me and Josie and Armie. I saw how that ended. In death. Luckily, not ours.

"I found something." Kierce stuck his head around the corner. "The half bath in the office is a false front. I sense a ward behind the wall, but there's no clear means of accessing the space."

"I have an idea." I hated to leave him, but we required specific help. "Can you wait here with Bash?"

"Yes." He hesitated. "Should you go alone?"

"It's just to Bonaventure and back."

"All right." I could tell that didn't make him any happier. "I'll continue my examination."

"See you in ten." I rushed out of the kitchen to find Bash. "Keep an eye on Kierce for me."

Outside, I jogged to the wagon and drove as fast as I dared to the cemetery. I hopped the fence, ran past the nightly promenade, made my excuses as I blew past friends, and kept going, enjoying the burn in my thighs until I reached the Heaven's gate monument then spun a slow circle.

"Alyse? Farah?" I walked to the bluff overlooking the river. "We need to talk."

Farah appeared with her hands tucked under her armpits and a shivering outline that telegraphed fear.

"Ian hurt Little, didn't he?" Her chest rose and fell in panicked breaths she no longer required. "How bad is it? Did he kick her out? Will you take me to her? Can you help her?"

"Farah." I lifted my hands, palms out. "It's okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Little was fine the last time I saw her." I let my arms drop. "I'm not here about her. I came to ask you for a favor."

"Oh." Her head fell back on her neck. "Thank God."

"We've got a lead on Audrey, but I need a spirit to scout through walls for me."

"I owe you big." She pulled herself together. "Of course I'll help."

"I'll fill you in on the way." I palmed my keys. "I promised Kierce I would be right back."

"Okay." She drifted over to me, determination in her movements. "Let's go."

With both of us focusing on her efforts to stay present, I loaded her into the wagon and made the trip to the restaurant in record time. I found Bash where I had left him, still on his phone. I caught his frown as I led Farah to the office where Kierce swept a hand down the wall wearing a look of concentration.

"I'm back." I was sure he heard me come in, but still. "I brought Farah."

"Hello, Mr. Kierce." She crept forward. "What are you searching for?"

"There's a ward." He stepped aside so as not to crowd her. "Can you sense it?"

"I've never felt one." Palm to drywall, she pressed her hand in a few inches. "Should it tingle?"

"Spirits experience magic differently." I sidled up to Kierce. "Can you push through it?"

A line bisected her brows as she worked to get her hand close enough to touch the magical barrier.

"Ouch." She jumped back, slinging her wrist. "That hurt like a mother—" She bit her lip. "A lot."

"Maybe Collins got confused about which part of the building kept him out?" I twisted the faucet on the pedestal sink, but Kierce was right. It didn't squeeze out so much as a drop of water. The toilet, which he had examined, held only a dry tank and bowl. "Maybe this was where he couldn't follow."

As ragged as he had run himself searching for Audrey, even he knew his mind was slipping.

"That would mean someone who knew about this place brought her here."

"Armie was friendly with everyone." I thought about it. "But he wasn't really friends with anyone but us."

"He would have hidden his people from you," Kierce said, "to avoid exposing himself."

"You mean acolytes." A shiver lifted the hair down my arms. "Do you think he has local worshippers?"

"Whatever game he was playing with you, he would have been running more schemes. He wasn't feeding on you or your family, not yet, so he would have been feasting on the misery he inflicted on others. After embedding himself in your community, he would have secured followers next."

"I'm not so sure he wasn't feeding on us. On Josie anyway." I read his confusion. "They got together, and it was good. Then they imploded, and it got ugly. But the breakups never lasted longer than a few days or maybe a week. They couldn't stay away from each other." The possibility made me wish I could burn him out of existence all over again. "Could he have been inflicting small hurts on her to satisfy those parts of him?"

"He would have craved a taste of his eventual payoff," he said without any particular inflection.

Though he left it at that, I had no trouble filling in the blanks, and I hoped I dreamed of Armie tonight. I would love to wrap my hands around his throat for a change.

Shifting forward, ready to restart the search, Kierce stepped on one of the toilet anchor bolts.

A soft pop and then a hiss drew our attention to the section of wall across from the pedestal sink.

A section three feet wide and six feet tall slid aside, revealing a metal door with an inset handle.

"A secret door?" Farah gawked at the big reveal. "Who was this guy?"

During the time I had known him, I had never suspected secrets like these. "I have no idea."

"What was that noise?" Bash, who must have been coming to check on us, ducked his head in the room then cursed under his breath. "The realtor neglected to mention this particular amenity." He had his phone in hand in an instant. Or maybe he had never put it away. As the point of contact for the clan's myriad business interests, he kept it glued to his ear except when he was on the clock at Lure, where the thumping bass made private conversation impossible. "Any idea where it leads?"

"None whatsoever." I checked with Kierce. "How do we get past the ward?"

"The door itself is clear." Farah had squinched her eyes and tried it for us. "You can open it."

"He must have insulated it." Kierce tipped his head. "To prevent his patrons from sensing it."

"He was playing a dangerous game, given the caliber of his clientele." Bash exhaled. "I must report this."

When he backed out, Kierce stepped forward, slotted his fingers into the handle, and pulled without any hesitation. I wasn't sure if he trusted Farah or if he was that unafraid of pitting himself against Armie. An unwelcome flashback to Kierce, bleeding out and pierced with bone, flooded my memory, a reminder he could be hurt. That Armie was a threat, whether Kierce viewed him as such or not.

The door opened to reveal a box as large as a backyard storage building squatting inside of an otherwise empty room. The sides of the box were smooth and black, and energy radiated from the metal when we got closer. This, whatever this was, held Armie's secret. The rest of the space he had used as a buffer to prevent customers or employees from getting curious about it.

"What do you think it is?" Farah tucked herself close to me. "Do you think Audrey could be in there?"

"Without knowing what it is, I can't say one way or the other." I circled it, searching for a way in, but Kierce stepped up and punched his fist through the metal before I could flinch. "For the love of?—"

Magic blasted through the room, knocking me into the wall and Farah right through it.

Kierce, however, stood firm as he wrenched his hand back, and the low-level hum in the room slid away.

Wobbly from the percussive blast, I decided to lean against the wall for a while longer.

"A heads-up would have been nice." I massaged away the ache. "Sheesh. That really rang my bell."

Bash appeared as I tipped my head against the wall, spotted me, and edged past Kierce to reach me.

"What was that?" He gripped my shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"Kierce broke the ward." I let him hold me steady. "The blowback caught me off-guard."

A static crackle lifted the hairs on my nape, and I peered around Bash to find Kierce staring at us through eyes gone electric. An alien creature, perhaps the vastness Bash had warned me of, peered out of his eyes for the span of a heartbeat before a somber gray, as foggy as graveyard mist, rolled across them.

"Frankie," he whispered, foreign magic clinging to his voice.

"I'm good." I extricated myself from Bash, unsure what I was seeing. "You okay there?"

"We tripped an alarm." He blinked away the distance in his gaze. "I had no time to warn you. I had to act or risk the repercussions." Muscle flickered in his jaw. "I don't think you would have survived them."

"Ah." I rubbed the base of my skull. "That explains it."

Smoke billowed from the cube, proving it was disarmed, for which I was grateful.

Kierce turned his back on it, ignoring the contents, and stopped with his shoes bumping mine.

"I would never harm you on purpose." He searched my face. "I apologize for my carelessness."

Over his shoulder, I watched as white flickered across Bash's vision in cool bursts.

"I would rather be alive with a headache than dead with a warning any day of the week."

"Guys?" Farah drew our attention to the cube. "What is all this?"

After patting Kierce's chest, I slipped around him to investigate. "You've got to be kidding me."

Monitors glowed softly, each screen showing a different area from within the restaurant.

But that wasn't what caught my eye and held it. No. That would be the feeds revealing three very familiar apartments. From the inside. As well as a shot of the exterior of The Body Shop.

Knees weak, I sank onto the floor, watching as the screens flickered to even more angles.

"All this time." I trembled, not with fear but with rage. "He was watching us."

Our friendship had afforded him the access and opportunity. He must have laughed when I asked him to recommend a contractor to wire cameras for the exterior of The Body Shop when he had covered it in them. Unless he viewed that moment as his chance to embed himself deeper, but I got the sick feeling he had already been peeking through our windows by then.

How much had he seen? Had he bugged the apartments too? How long had he been spying on us?

And how was I ever going to tell Josie?