Chapter 8

The effects from Sire’s Spark had almost worn off, thank fuck. I’d half feared they were permanent, so I was decidedly cheerful.

“You know a hitman though.” Maud waved her phone at me. “I don’t have the Crimson Prince’s number, but you must.”

So much for my good mood. “That’s not—no—did you miss the part where I was in debt to him? We weren’t drinking buddies.”

Besides, one did not just ask the assassin one may have pined over to kill someone after they’d sided with one’s estranged parent in a misguided attempt to keep one safe. I’m certain that any etiquette books written on the topic would be clear on that point.

“Please.” She scoffed. “That was all an act to get you into the Copper Hell.”

I crossed my arms. “When did you figure that out?”

“Calm down. You were very believable at the time.” That didn’t sound patronizing or anything.

“Believable enough that you didn’t see me coming,” I said. “And the answer is still no. Ezra and I concluded our business. Over. Done. Fini.” I brushed my hands together. “Nor do I condone assassinating humans,” I added.

After a pause.

The important part was that I clarified my moral stance and Maud understood that my refusal came from my ethics, not because I never intended to speak to my ex again. “If Ezra was the only reason why you came to me?—”

She sighed. “It’s not. You’re the only one I trust.”

I got a mushy warmth in my chest. Maud came to me, not as an operative, but because she trusted me.

Yeah, dummy, she knows you’re her sister . In my head, Cherry Bomb shot me puppy-dog eyes. Tell her .

It never occurred to me that wanting to have a sibling or close friend who was a half shedim wasn’t just a human Aviva desire. My demon side craved the connection as well.

After we catch the blackmailer , I assured Cherry.

“I won’t tell Sach and Darsh you’re a half shedim,” I said to Maud, “just that someone is blackmailing you to that effect. You’re a public person in a competitive field and the mere rumor of that could ruin your life. Or make you a target. People’s prejudices work in our favor here.” I patted her shoulder. “I’ll get you safely out of this, but I can’t do it on my own.”

“Because you’re drunk,” Maud said. But there was no heat in her words, and she mustered up a faint smile.

“Because it could be dangerous, and I trust those two with my life.”

“All right,” she said. “Hit me with your brilliance.”

Maud left shortly after I outlined my plan. After checking that the coast was clear, I escorted her to the exit in the venue’s bustling kitchen, watching until she’d disappeared into the shadows in the vast gardens.

Striding past sous-chefs chopping veggies at warp speed, stirring boiling pots, and plating hors d’oeuvres, I returned along the service hallway and through the door to the rest of the venue.

Sach and I almost bumped into each other just inside the atrium.

“Just the person I?—”

She grabbed my arm. “Silas was arrested by Maccabees in Tokyo.”

“ What?! What the fuck is wrong with everyone tonight?”

My friend frantically motioned for me to lower my voice.

The party was in full swing, and no one paid us any attention. Still, I cranked down the volume on my incredulity. “On what charge?”

“Corruption. Using his position to benefit the vampire Mafias.”

“That is trumped-up bullshit,” I said in a hard voice, my fists clenched at my sides.

“I know. They’re trying to get to the Crimson Prince through him.” Sachie raked her hands through her hair, her expression tight with frustration. “Michael wandered past me on her phone, mentioning Silas, so I followed to hear what was up.”

“And?”

“She took the call in one of the rooms for privacy, but conveniently left the door open.”

Typical Michael tactics. Plausible deniability. I motioned for Sachie to get to the important part.

“I don’t know what proof Director Abe gave Michael, but he was asking about our involvement,” Sach said. “Michael said none of her agents were corrupt, and given how she’d built her career on rooting that out, was he implying she’d gotten stupid or just plain lazy? Either way, she’d be happy to come to Tokyo and discuss it, because she took her reputation very seriously.”

I’m not going to Sector A. I’m not going to Sector A . I surreptitiously wiped my sweaty palms on the sides of my dress. “What about the investigation?”

“As far as I can gather, Silas manipulated us into bringing him on this case to control the flow of information and get any insider intel to take back to the vamps. The Authority wants the investigation terminated.”

“She’s not doing it, is she?” I said urgently.

“Please. She very frostily reminded Director Abe that we had a copycat demon responsible for multiple deaths, including that of a Maccabee.” Sach dropped into a bang-on impression of my mother. “‘I tasked the pair with learning everything possible about this shedim, including whether vampire mobs are now pairing with demons to produce deadly drugs. However, if you wish to tell Edward’s family that his murder isn’t worth investigating, Yuto, I’ll give you his wife’s number.’”

Go Mom.

Some of the tension ebbed from my shoulders. Michael hadn’t allowed Sach to hear the call because she was pissed off, but because she didn’t want to blindside us with her necessary next step of detaining us for questioning.

We’d have the freedom to continue our investigation, but to discover what brought those charges about, we’d have to maintain an image that was beyond reproach.

What a pain in the ass.

“I take it you got out of there before she finished the call,” I said.

“Obviously,” Sachie said. “Since I’m not detained.”

I checked the time on my phone. An hour and twenty minutes until Maud’s meeting with her blackmailer. “How long do you think we can push showing ourselves?”

“Not longer than tomorrow afternoon, and we’d be using one hell of a party hangover excuse. Still, that’s enough time to break Silas out. He might be currently in a cell, but they seem pretty determined to make these charges stick, and when they do, they’ll stake him.”

Vamps, even ones who were operatives, didn’t make it to Sector A.

I rose onto tiptoe looking for my mother. “Then he has to be free before Michael pulls us in to formally question us.”

She was to our right, so Sach and I went left, taking a roundabout route to the main exit.

Sachie veered us out of the path of a venue employee balancing eight dirty plates. “Those stupid questioning sessions can last hours.”

I shook away the offer of another prosecco from the server who stepped into our escape path, though it took all my willpower to not swing by the latkes bar to load up on my way out. I’d been looking forward to those all day. “How will we free Silas? It’ll take too long to fly to Tokyo, and even if we get there before anything…bad happens, it’s not like we can waltz in and unlock his cell. Not as the unlucky duo who were his last contacts.”

“A compromised twosome? That sounds juicy.”

I screamed, jumping at Darsh’s sudden appearance.

“Don’t worry.” He slung an arm over our shoulders. “I forgive you for inviting the puppy to town.”

Mitigating Darsh’s reaction to the other vamp’s imprisonment was crucial. It wasn’t simply because it was Silas in danger: Darsh despised injustice for anyone.

A couple years back, a Trad couple who owned the local dry cleaners in Darsh’s hood asked him if he had any leads on apartments. They were being evicted by the landlord, who intended to move his daughter into the apartment.

This was perfectly legal, but our city’s rental market was low on inventory. The couple wasn’t sure that the daughter part was true, or whether the landlord intended to boot them and get more rent from the next poor sap.

Darsh took it upon himself to learn the truth. It took a few months, but he procured photographic evidence that the new tenant wasn’t the daughter, instigated a lawsuit against the landlord under a breach of tenancy law, and got them a cash settlement.

It was really nice of him, other than the fact that he threw himself into learning rental law and staking the place out to the point of calling in sick and stepping on the toes of the Trad cops to make things right for this family. He ended up on thin ice with Michael, and given how much leeway she tended to allow Darsh, that was saying something.

Silas’s predicament was so much worse. Darsh would freak out if we told him, but standing here at this critical juncture, where I should have lied my way out of this conversation, my mind blanked.

“It’s our upstairs neighbors,” Sachie said. “Their shower leaked into ours during sex stuff. Just got the call and have to get home.” She stepped out of Darsh’s hold.

He reeled her back in. “Your mastery of your heart rate is better when you lie now, but not quite there yet. What’s going on?”

“We need to get out of here,” I insisted, scanning for Michael.

“I’ll help, then you’ll talk.” He sagged between us like he was drunk. “Gap in the crowd. Two o’clock. Gets you directly to the exit.”

We “supported” him through the sliding doors onto the sidewalk in front of the venue, where Sachie filled him in on Silas.

Darsh punched a lamppost, denting it.

“We’re going to break him out,” I said. Maybe Darsh could handle this after all. He was mad, for sure, but he wasn’t flying off the handle as much as I’d thought. “Obviously. We’re not just going to let this happen.”

“Silas will fight you,” Darsh snapped. “For all that he’s the size of a small pyramid, he has the street smarts of a plastic bag. I bet he’s sitting peacefully in a cell trusting that justice will prevail.”

“His street smarts are fine,” I said, “and I like that he believes in justice, not violence.”

Darsh’s shoulders slumped. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “So do I, puiul meu.”

I blinked at that admission.

“But not when it’s a false hope that will get him killed,” he said.

“That’s why we need someone who can get to Japan faster than any of us,” Sachie said. “Someone who might have leverage on the Maccabees from all their own intel gathering for our organization.” She fidgeted with her phone, her gaze downcast, then grimaced. “I’m the last person to encourage you to reach out, but we need him.”

I threw my head back and screamed, startling an owl in a nearby tree, who hooted loudly back. In the last two months, I’d resisted one drunken, and roughly forty-seven stone-cold sober impulses to call Ezra. He was the one who left. Again. He could contact me.

Besides, I got what I wanted from him and even received a lovely parting gift in the form of my sweater.

I checked the time again. An hour and ten minutes before the meet-up with Maud. I couldn’t abandon either my sister or Silas. I swore again.

Sachie peered at me. “Is that a yes?”

“How’s this? You call him and I won’t throw your phone into traffic.”

“Good enough.”

I turned to Darsh. “Can you go back in and cover for us? Distract Michael.”

“Say I saw you go thataway when you went thisaway?” Darsh mustered up a ghost of a smile. “The band doesn’t get to stay together for this gig?”

“No,” I said gently, “because the lead singer is liable to trash the venue. Besides, you know Ezra, he’s a solo act.”

Darsh swore under his breath.

“Ezra will do anything to secure Silas’s release,” Sachie said. “That’s his best friend.”

Her words were for Darsh, who reluctantly nodded, but they hit me in the gut, because my idiot ex had an overdeveloped sense of responsibility for the people he cared about. Partnering up with Delacroix to secure my safety was dangerous enough, but at least my demon daddy was getting something out of the deal.

Michael had insisted the Authority was determining their next action depending on what Ezra did, but apparently their patience was limited. By imprisoning Silas, they’d ensured Ezra had no choice. They’d played a hand that allowed them to pounce. There’d be no mercy.

The Maccabees were gunning for Ezra, and we were asking him to willingly step into the line of fire.

“Tell me the second anything changes,” Darsh said. “For better or worse.” When we promised, he staggered back inside.

Sachie and I left the botanical garden and hit the deserted grounds of the high school across the street to call Ezra, but the oh-so-busy Prime didn’t answer. Not Sach’s call or her 911 text.

My cell rang and my heart skipped a beat, but it was Michael. I showed Sach the screen, letting the call go to voice mail. It was happening already. I hadn’t expected Michael to have to reach out to us until at least after the party. Not a good sign.

She powered down her own cell for when Michael inevitably tried her next. “Avi?”

“I know.” I took a deep breath and called Ezra, so my number showed up on his screen.

Except he rang me first. “If Sachie is going to 911 me, tell her to keep her damn phone on,” he growled.

Unable to tell if his terseness stemmed from concern or annoyance, I tightened my grip on the phone. No, I’m not bleeding out in an emergency, thanks so much for asking about my well-being . I steeled my shoulders. This was about Silas, not me.

From the way Ezra cursed me out after I told him about Silas’s arrest, had I been in another explosion, my ex would have stepped over me this time and gone about his day.

“What are you really after?” Ezra said.

“Stopping any other fuck-ups like that bust,” I said, putting him on speaker.

Was he sitting in Calista’s former office, staring out at the vast expanse of sea? The megayacht housing the Copper Hell wasn’t trackable, but both times I’d been on it, it had been night. I looked up at the sky. Were we looking at the same stars?

I stomped any wistful nonsense to dust.

“Investigating the various Mafias in light of that shouldn’t have landed Silas in hot water,” Ezra said. “Did you tell him anything else?”

“No, but if we had, it’s not like any of his devices are tracked or monitored,” I said. “Silas wouldn’t let anyone get the jump on him.”

Sach held up a fist. “Paranoia for the win.”

Ezra chuckled. “Right? Hi, Sachie. Sorry you had to hear Aviva and me sniping at each other.”

“Better than other stuff I’ve overheard the two of you engaged in,” she said sweetly.

How big was Ezra’s bed on the yacht? King-size or?—

“Silas’s search into vamp mobs triggered some kind of alarm,” I said tightly. “Making you as much to blame for this as we are, Cardoso.”

“Do tell,” he said in a cold voice.

“The Maccabees seized on the perfect excuse to use Silas to get to you. You know, his best friend who defected to play with demons.”

“The Maccabees and I are in a détente.”

Détente , my ass .

“Drop the snarky face, Aviva,” Ezra said.

“This isn’t a video call,” I snapped. “I’m the picture of professionalism right now, you presumptuous jerk. And you’re either na?ve or willfully deluded about your status with the Maccabees.”

“The Authority is pretending I don’t exist so long as I don’t cause trouble,” he said. “Which I haven’t.”

“Right,” I said. “I’m sure you’ve been a model of good behavior.”

His dark laugh shivered through me.

I wrapped my free arm around myself because my nipples were hard. It was cold. I didn’t have a jacket.

Sach shoved my shoulder. “Get your head in the game,” she hissed. “Prioritize rescuing Silas.”

“Besides, I might not be their prey, but bait,” Ezra said, giving no indication he’d heard that. “Imprisoning Silas wouldn’t get any mob boss’s attention, but I’m the Crimson Prince and the son of another former operative with far too much power, who’d be forced to respond. This one play accomplishes a lot.” Was that honestly admiration in his voice?

I was rendered speechless, my mouth hanging open, shaking my head like it would knock sense into him.

“Can you get Silas out or not?” Sachie said to Ezra.

“Yes.”

My screen showed an hour until go time. There was enough time to get to the blackmail location and Ezra would rescue Silas. I could hang up.

“You can’t leave the yacht and go yourself,” I blurted out. “It’s too dangerous.”

Ezra paused before answering, “I’ll keep myself safe.” He said it carefully, like my words were a trap, instead of concern, however reluctant, for his continued well-being.

He shouldn’t have to keep himself safe while freeing his best friend. That was the trouble with Ezra, his first instinct wasn’t ever to have someone watch his six.

My relationship with my ex was either a twisted mess or a non-entity, but either way, fears of Maccabee retaliation against him woke me up nights. He’d killed the only other Prime in existence when he was supposed to be rescuing her. It was at Delacroix’s command, but Ezra refused to say he was forced into doing it, and the Maccabees refused to see that he’d done them a favor by taking Calista off the gameboard, since her vengeance for being kidnapped wouldn’t have been pretty.

All of which made my worries about the idiot’s continued existence very real, even though he’d betrayed my trust by joining Team Demon and assuming I wanted his protection instead of discussing it with me.

It wasn’t just my position he’d jeopardized with the Maccabees either. By going rogue on our last case and murdering Calista, he’d undermined Darsh’s leadership and even Sach had been thrown under the bus politically. Other Maccabees had avoided her to an extent that hadn’t happened since her desire to work with the Spook Squad had first become public.

Ezra had a lot to answer for, and the thought of him mostly inspired a low-simmering rage in me these days, but however misguided his actions, how would he ever get it through his thick skull that he didn’t always have to ride to the rescue by himself, given Sachie and I had asked him to do exactly that?

“I’m coming with you,” I said.

“It’s too dangerous,” he retorted.

“No, it’s too dangerous for you to do this solo. If the Authority gets their hands on you, you’ll vanish without a trace or they’ll make up some story about you succumbing to madness and taking your own life. Like they did with Calista.”

“Calista was at an advanced age where that lie was believable. It isn’t with me,” he said.

I actually shook the phone. It was a poor substitute for his neck. If he wouldn’t take care of himself, I’d appeal to reason. “You being caught doesn’t help Silas.”

There was a pause. “Silas,” Ezra said. “Right. Well, I need a few hours to put some things into place and?—”

“We don’t know how long Silas has already been sitting in that cell, but they won’t hold him there much longer,” Sachie said. “Maybe half a day tops.”

“I’m well aware of the danger my best friend is in, Sachie,” Ezra said coldly.

“Sorry.”

“We have one chance to get him out.” He’d softened his tone. “Rushing will do more harm than good.”

“You’re right.” She took a deep breath. “We need to be smart about this.”

“Silas is still an operative,” Ezra assured us. “If they are waiting for me to show up, then that’s precisely what keeps him safe from being staked. That said, I don’t want him languishing in some cell. Both of you meet me here at the Copper Hell in three hours.”

“I might be a bit late,” I said.

Sach raised an eyebrow.

“So sorry,” Ezra said with a silkiness Darsh would approve of, “I didn’t realize your social calendar was so full tonight.”

I had to help Maud, and I’d have said as much, but he didn’t need to make it sound like I was complaining about missing my favorite television show for this. “I’ve got an assignation I just can’t miss.”

He laughed. It wasn’t dark or sensual. It was stupid and annoying. “Be at the Copper Hell in three hours. On the dot.”

So much for any home turf advantage at our reunion.

My ex, my demon daddy, a dangerous clientele, and my weapon-happy bestie all on the same seafaring vessel sought after by the most lethal police force in the world. Fantastic.

“Give us your word we’ll have safe passage,” I said. “That includes keeping Sach and me from any Delacroix encounters.”

“I would never let either of you be harmed.” Ezra’s voice had softened, like he was hurt.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t also playing some other game. Prime Playboy, Crimson Prince, Lord of the Copper Hell, friend, ex—many things could be true at the same time with Ezra. “Your word,” I repeated.

“I give you my word neither of you will be harmed. But Aviva? Don’t be late and make me come looking for you.”

“How high-handed of you, Count von Cardoso. I’d say Delacroix’s imperiousness was rubbing off on you, but I suspect that’s a big reason why he brought you on as partner in the first place.”

“Don’t forget my good looks and incredible charm.”

“Not ringing any bells,” I said, and hung up.

Sach flagged down a passing taxi with its light on. “Let’s get home, get changed, and make a just-in-case game plan.”

Michael had left three more messages that I had no desire to listen to.

Now totally sober, I powered down my phone. “I really do have something else to take care of. That wasn’t just me pissing Ezra off. We need to get home, grab my car, and go somewhere before the Hell.” I opened the back door to the cab. “Up for stopping a little blackmail first?”

Sachie grinned—a two-dimple smile. “Always.”