Chapter 15

Fifteen

Lucien and I didn't speak further on the drive out. I wondered if he was waiting for the opportune moment to say something, but after a few minutes of silence I started to get the idea there wouldn't be any opportune moments for us to speak candidly.

Not in the back of one of his father's cars.

Not with one of his father's men in the driver's seat.

We had left the mansion, sure, but Mason Diaboli's eyes and ears were everywhere. How was I supposed to talk to Lucien about my escape plans like that? Was there really even a chance I could escape? Mason was many things, but he wasn't stupid, and Lucien knew that better than anyone.

I was getting ahead of myself anyway. I didn't really know where I was heading, not exactly, anyway. I had never been to Beacon Hill before. I hadn't really gone too far out past the nightclub Lucien and I used to… visit. Honestly, I had barely been to the city at all. I wasn't sure what to expect.

Were we going to an actual temple, with catacombs and sarcophagi? Was the camp Lucien and I were supposed to set up a real camp, with tents, and a fire? Did the Recondites really flail themselves every night and walk around in red robes covered in magical runes?

I supposed I was about to find out.

The trees and the long, quiet roads gave way to denser, more trafficked streets. Eventually, buildings started to press around the car we were in. Every time we stopped at a light, people of all walks of life crossed in front of the car. Businesspeople going to work, others dressed in gym gear, children being dragged to school by their parents.

Cyclists.

Cabs.

Busses.

The Metro.

Boston was awake and alive in a way I had never seen it before. My visits to the city were always at night. Right now, the sun was out, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and my mind was being blown at every street corner and intersection.

I couldn't share my fascination with the way the real world looked with Lucien because he had seen it all before, and we probably weren't supposed to do any small-talk while we were on our mission, in case we angered his father.

So, I kept my wonder to myself and watched the city and its people roll by as we neared our destination. I had to admit, I hadn't expected the vehicle to pull up to one of the fanciest looking buildings on the block.

The driver put the car in park, then stepped out to walk around the vehicle and open our doors.

"Listen carefully," Lucien quickly said, "Do exactly as you're told, and say nothing in front of anyone who isn't me. Understood?"

My anxiety spiked again. "I… yeah," I nodded. "Got it."

Lucien's door opened. The driver held it while Lucien helped himself out. I followed, scooting across the car and stepping out onto the busy sidewalk. There were people everywhere, rushing past me like they had urgent places to be.

"This way, please," said the driver, who gestured toward the building's front door.

The revolving door was gold, the walls themselves were black marble. A short, red carpet extended a few feet away from the revolving door. Written above the canopy that hung over us were the words Hotel Excelsior, all in gold. Underneath the lettering were five stars.

This doesn't look like a camp site at all,I found myself musing as I followed Lucien through the hotel's front doors and into the main lobby. The lobby was huge, and filled with golden ornaments, decorative columns, and floral arrangements.

Several businessmen sitting on red, velvety looking couches talked about shares, and dollars over coffee. Across from them was a woman sitting at the end of a large, mahogany table typing away at her laptop with a great view of the street beyond the hotel's large, front windows.

This place screamed money, and while it made sense for a Diaboli to want to post his son up at the swankiest place in town, it also didn't make a lot of sense. Weren't we supposed to be surveilling a temple? I hadn't seen anything that looked remotely like a temple anywhere near here; there wasn't even a single church on this street.

I followed Lucien as he made his way to the reception desk. There were already two large, bruiser looking men waiting for him there. Each of them had a suitcase in hand. They handed one of the suitcases over to Lucien, as well as a keycard, then told him to head to the elevator on the other side of the lobby.

Again, quietly I followed, doing my best not to ask any stupid questions—or not to ask any questions whatsoever.

The four of us packed into the elevator, then rode it up all the way to the fourteenth floor. The ride up was quiet, and tense. All of us got off the elevator at the same time, which somehow made the tension ramp up for me. Together we went all the way to the other end of the hall, where a window overlooked the street below and several rooftops across from us.

One of the men who had met us downstairs opened the door to room 1409, and I realized, there were only two keycards total. For a moment I stared at him, hoping to all the Gods he wasn't about to tell me to go inside with him.

"This is us," said Lucien, who unlocked the door to room 1410.

Relief filled me as I saw both Diaboli men move into the room opposite ours. My anxiety spiked again as I came to the sudden, horrifying realization that I was about to have to share a room with Lucien Diaboli. I didn't know which outcome I preferred.

My anxiety fell away as soon as I entered the room, though. I was greeted with a fresh, lavender scent and a gorgeous suite. The suite was perfectly conditioned, the décor was lush without being over the top, there was a huge television, a desk, wide windows, and a bed.

A bed.

One bed.

Shit, shit, shit.

My anxiety returned, and I didn't appreciate the roller-coaster. There were no couches in here, and no extra beds, only an armchair next to the desk. The bed was huge, it looked comfortable as all hell, and it was covered in pillows, but there was only one of them.

And we were going to be here for a few days.

"Okay," I said, once the door closed, "We need to talk about?—"

Without warning, Lucien wrapped his hand around my mouth. He brought his other hand up and pressed a finger to his lips. I stood there, my heart hammering inside of my chest, Lucien's musky cologne filling my nostrils.

He scanned the bedroom door, then waited… and waited. A moment later, he brought his lips to my ear, and whispered. "We need to be quiet," he said.

Swallowing hard, I nodded.

"I'm going to let you go, but you need to listen first."

Again, I nodded, only it took a moment because the warmth of his breath against my ear had left me feeling a little lightheaded in all the right—and wrong—ways.

"Don't think for a moment my father doesn't have this place monitored," he said. "I'm going to need to scan for cameras and listening devices. He wouldn't have been stupid enough to rig this place with magic. In a moment, one of those guys is going to come in here with equipment for us to set up, then he's going to leave. Keep playing along like you've been doing so far, you're doing great. It'll just be a little longer. Can you do that for me?"

What the hell is he doing to me?

I nodded again.

True to his word, Lucien released me and backed away. I had questions for him, so many questions, but my mind was racing, and my blood was pumping. Instead of speaking, I tried to loosen up and shake off the rush of emotions I was feeling. I headed over to one of the windows and looked outside.

From up here I could see all the way up and down the length of the block. Some of the buildings on it were taller than the one I was on, but most of them weren't. I saw the cars on the street below, window-cleaners on their carts hanging off the sides of buildings and steam venting from some of the nearby rooftops.

Where the hell is the temple?

That was the thought wedged in my mind when one of the men across from us knocked on the door. Lucien opened it, let the man in, and followed him as he brought another suitcase into the room for us. He placed the suitcase on the bed and opened it without saying a word. Inside there were cameras, tripods, telescopes. I saw small drones, charging platforms, cables; the kind of surveillance equipment I had only ever seen people use in movies.

"That'll be all," Lucien said. A moment later, the man who had come in with the suitcase left us alone. He scanned the room again, then looked at me and placed a finger to his lips. "Let me show you how to set all this up," he said. "Our target is across the street."

"Across the street?" I asked, turning around and looking out the window again. The building across from us was plain, and boring; not at all like any of the temples I had ever seen in movies. "That thing?"

"That's it," said Lucien. "The crown is in there, somewhere. We'll try to find it from out here. If we can't, we'll use this equipment to figure out the best way in and out."

I couldn't believe it.

I was here, in the city, with Boston at my fingertips… but I had just moved from one prison to another. Sure, this one had less demons in it, and that made for an upgrade, absolutely, but it was still a prison.

"Alright," I said. "Show me how this stuff all works, and I'll make myself useful."

Lucien walked up to me, his reflection becoming visible in the window in front of me. I looked at him through it, eyes locked. He nodded, lightly, and without saying a word, he turned around and began to comb the room, quietly, looking for surveillance equipment that we couldn't see.

All I could think about was how we were about to spend the next few days in this room.

Together.

Alone.

I didn't want to… feel… things, but we had too much physical history, and it was starting to bubble up again. I needed to squash that, and fast. My life literally depended on it.