CHAPTER 19

Dan came back about an hour later. I’d already finished my shower and was in the kitchen brewing coffee for my husband when he rolls in minus a pharmacy bag. He probably left it in the car so Papa wouldn’t start questioning it.

He takes a seat at the table next to Cass and nods gratefully when I hand him a mug with coffee. Papa and Cass make their own and sit as well. Me, I’m just grateful for orange juice.

“Papa, did you find any spells?”

“Non, ma petite. You were free of magical signatures. They wouldn’t work in this house, regardless, but it’s always safer to look for them.”

“Good, because I need either you or Cass to explain to me how an Angel becomes a vampire.”

Papa spews coffee across the table.

“Wha’ did you say?” Cass asks, his own mug of coffee suspended midair.

“His name is Euriel, and he confirmed he was once an Angel, but he didn’t say if he was a Fallen Angel or simply fallen. He seemed surprised I knew the difference.”

Papa mops at the table with a linen napkin. I can see my grandmother wincing in my head because it’s going to stain the napkin.

“I have never heard of this happening.” He frowns. “I don’t even know where to start looking for answers.”

Cass pulls out his phone and dials a number, putting it on speakerphone.

“Why are you calling at this godawful hour, boy?”

“Good morning to you too, Mr. McGreggor.”

“Ain’t nothing good about it. Calling me even before I’ve had coffee.”

Cass takes a good sip of his own.

“I heard that!”

I love Eli’s pseudo-grandfather.

“I called because you’re de only Nephilim I know, and dis be a question about Angels.”

“What are they up to?”

“Good morning, Mr. McGreggor.”

“Is that Emma Crane?”

“In the voice, so to speak.”

“You go and start a war with Angels, girl?”

“Nope, but I met one who is now a vampire.”

“Euriel,” he spits out.

At least someone knows him.

“Yes. Do you know him?”

“I do. Not fondly either.”

“What can you tell me about him?”

“He’s my father.”

Now, that, none of us expected.

“What’s he done now?”

“You know he’s on the Council of Elders?”

“I was told some years back, yes.”

“He’s and a few other council members are here in Chicago. They took me hostage for a bit.”

“Are you okay?” His tone shifts from anger to concern faster than I can blink.

“They didn’t hurt me. They want me to track down a creature killing off vampires.”

“I say leave it be and let it slaughter the lot of them.”

“It’s not just killing vampires, though. It killed a shifter a few days ago.”

“And it killed an Elf this morning. That’s what took me so long to get back.”

“Elves are real?” Color me shocked.

Mr. McGreggor cackles. “Oh, lass, I forget how young you are. Yes, Elves are real, along with a whole host of non-lethal magical creatures. Where do you think Tolkien got his ideas?”

“He was an Elf?” Even Cass sounds shocked.

“No, he weren’t no Elf, but he knew one who told him all about the magical world that existed alongside humans back before the written word existed.”

“Huh.” Dan shakes his head. “We’re off topic. Tell us about Euriel. Is he a Fallen Angel or just fallen?”

“He fell. For my mother, supposedly, but that lasted all of a few weeks. He grew bitter and left. Next I heard, he’d gone and gotten himself mixed up in a war between the vamps and the shifters. He was turned.”

“When an Angel falls, their body becomes human, doesn’t it?”

“Aye, girl, it does. Their Grace still resides within them, however. What makes them an Angel is still there, just buried within their humanity and typically inaccessible for them.”

“So, if he was turned, what happened to his Grace?”

“It would either die or wake up and be infected with the darkness of the vampire curse. I don’t really know for certain. Euriel is the only Angel to be turned into a vampire that I’m aware of.”

“Have you ever heard of a creature that targets vampires specifically? Something so fast, they can’t escape it?”

“Shifters are the natural enemy of the vampires and the only creature I know who can counter their speed. They’re also immune to their mind control.”

“Not Babis. He has dominion over all animals, including shifters.”

“Babis is in town?” His voice goes soft and low.

“Yes, along with one who is called the Judge. And a woman, but I don’t know her name. She could have been sixteen or sixteen hundred years old.”

“The truth sayer. Her name is Madeline.”

“You know the Council?”

“Yes, I made it my business to know them when I found out Euriel had become a member. If he ever came after me, I needed to know my enemy and his closest allies.”

Smart.

“If they just wanted you to deal with the threat, they wouldn’t have revealed themselves. What else did they want?”

“They wanted to know how I could age a vampire since I have no Necromancers in my lineage.”

He lets loose a whistle. “I hope you were smart enough to lie through your teeth.”

“Of course I was.”

“Madeline did not taste the lie on you, then?”

“I’m a born liar. She said she tasted no lies.”

“Or she lied.”

“True, but I guess we won’t know until we know.”

“Now, back to this creature. Have you seen it?”

“I did, but only through a ghost’s account of what happened to her. I drew it.”

“Eli said you could draw. Is there any way you can send this drawing to me?”

“I’ll text it to you now.” Dan pulls out his phone and starts swiping.

We all wait while he sends the text and for Mr. McGreggor to look at it. The line is silent for long minutes.

“This is…I’ve never seen anything like this in living history, and I’ve been alive for thousands of years. It makes me wonder…”

“Wonder?” Zeke prompts when he says nothing else.

“The Army’s Supernatural Containment Unit. They kidnap Supes to study them. I wonder if they found a way to take pieces of different species, splice the genes, and create something like this.”

“Would they do that? I mean, their purpose is to kill Supes, isn’t it? Why make one?” Cass is genuinely nonplussed.

“And if that means creating something they could control, then they’d do it. We lived here with them kidnapping us for a year. Trust me, boy, they’re capable of this.”

This puts a whole new spin on things.

“Do you think the creature might not be doing this of its own free will?”

“Considering what the Army is capable of, it’s entirely possible they are controlling it in some way, and it doesn’t have a choice.”

“Would it be worth trying to reason with it?” I ask, really not wanting to have to kill the poor thing if it’s not responsible for its own actions.

“I don’t know, girl. Trying might get you killed, and no matter what you do, it’s going to draw attention from the Army.”

“The Army will not touch my daughter.”

“Ezekiel, try as we might, we can’t protect our youngins from everything. I learned this with Ella. They took her from my home, a heavily warded home. You can’t be with Emma at all hours of the day and night. We do the best we can and pray for the rest.”

“Well said, Mr. McGreggor,” I cut in before Papa can get snippy. He’s disgruntled, and I don’t want him to take it out on Eli’s grandpa, who I adore. “All we can really do in the end is pray. If you can find any information about the creature with your contacts, I would appreciate it.”

“You got a plan on luring it out?”

“I do. Since it seems to be after vampires, a vampire is going to lure it out.”

“They’re not going to want to use one of their own as bait.”

“Oh, I know. I’m just not giving her a choice.”

“Her?”

“If the Master of the City wants to keep her rank, she’ll be out there right next to me. I’m going to make it a stipulation with the Council. And if she happens to get torn to shreds before I kill it…oh, well.”

“She really got on your bad side, didn’t she?”

“She had me kidnapped so the cops would be forced to allow the vamps to escape.”

He snorts. “Sounds about like them. Not all vampires are bad, though, just the majority of them. It’s rare to find one who has an ounce of decency.”

Like Aleric Rinaldi.

So far, the vampire has given me no cause to lump him in with the others, but vampires in general make me cautious. Even one who has proven he’s on my side. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully trust him, though. Not after what I went through. I understand what his kind is capable of.

“I’ll make some calls and see if I can find out anything about this creature. I need coffee first, though.”

“Mr. McGreggor, does the Hathaway Foundation’s database have what you know about the Council in the database?”

“Yes. I did leave out the part about my father. People are weird when it comes to knowing things like that. I’d rather not have the community lose trust in me.”

“I get that. No one here will let it get out.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

We all say our goodbyes and sit back. No one is particularly happy to know the Army might be the main culprit here. Until they took Ella around Thanksgiving, I’d never even clocked them as a threat.

“In your drawin’, de creature looked like a mishmash of a bunch of different t’ings. It would make sense if it was a hybrid created by de Army.”

Cass is not wrong.

“Do you think there’s anything human about the creature, or is it just a mishmash of creatures as Cass suggested? If there’s anything human in it, we might be able to reason with it.”

“Hard to say,” Papa says, rubbing his chin. “If it’s been coded to kill vampires, it might take out creatures that get in its way, be it humans or other Supes. That could explain the shifter and the Elf. Have there been any other Supes who have fallen victim to the creature?”

“No.” Dan shakes his head, and I can see how tired he is. “All victims outside of those two have been vampires. Your theory tracks.”

“Which means if Emma gets in its way, its first instinct could very well be to take out the threat and then kill the target.”

“We’ll deal with that tonight. We’ll do our research today and have a meeting tonight with either the Judge or Euriel about using Gloria to draw the creature out. I want Babis nowhere near me.”

“That vampire is concerning. I know Alecia Blackburne has a spell she created specifically to take down a vampire from the inside out. I might be able to persuade her to share it with you. At least you’d have one thing in your pocket in case Gloria decides to do something stupid.”

“It woan do a bit of good if de beast tear her t’roat out before she can say de spell.”

“Cass, how have you not learned that you don’t need to say a spell out loud for it to work? It’s the intent behind magic, not the actual words.”

“I doan deal in magic.”

“You do now, big brother.” I pat his cheek lightly. “I didn’t like using it either, but it does come in handy.”

“I doan t’ink I can use magic.”

“You can,” Dan says before anyone else has a chance to correct him. “Your mother was fallen. Magic is in your blood since you’re half Angel. As it is, you’d probably be better at it than me.”

He snorts. “My mot’er migh’ have been an Angel, but Emma’s mama, well, I t’ink she would be better suited to magic den me.”

“You might be right,” Papa concedes, “but the fact remains that you need to be aware that you can utilize magic. And before you start in on not using dark spells, there are just as many white magic ones out there that help and don’t harm.”

“I know dat.”

Look at them, arguing civilly without Cass looking like he wants to murder Papa. Things between them must have gotten better, and it makes me so happy.

“Okay, before we spiral down an argument about good and bad magic, let’s focus. Dan and I desperately need sleep. Papa, can you and Cass go to our apartment and bring us back some clean clothes, please? And our toothbrushes. I don’t want either of you going anywhere by yourself while the Council is in town.”

“We can do that, ma petite.”

“Thank you. I’m sending Dan to shower, so if you can go now, I’d appreciate it. I want to be ready to sleep when you get back.”

“Of course.” Zeke gets up and kisses the top of my head. “You eat, and your brother and I will be back soon.”

Dan walks them out, and I hear the door close. A moment later, it opens and closes again. Dan comes back carrying a large Walgreens bag.

“I got like eight of them since I wasn’t sure which one was the best.”

“Eight?”

He shrugs. “I’ve always heard they’re more accurate if you take them in the morning when you first wake up. I thought we could do one or two now and then another one in the morning.”

“You’ve had to buy one before?”

His face blanches. “God, no.”

“You sounded so knowledgeable.” I grin at his very uncomfortable expression. “Was there a past girlfriend who had a scare or something?”

He shakes his head emphatically. “No, but I remember when Amy was pregnant with Bran. Cam went on and on and on about the merits of which tests were the best. I drowned most of it out as I was a kid myself, but I was exceptionally careful to make sure I never got anyone pregnant.”

“Come on. Let’s go do this before Papa and Cass get back. I told Cass because I knew he wouldn’t freak, and I needed to ask about the blood.”

“What did he say?”

“It’s fine. He already had me drink some.”

Dan lets out a sigh. “Thank God. I didn’t want you anywhere near the vampires unprotected.”

Shaking my head, I take the bag from him and look through it as we head upstairs to a different room. There’s an attached bath, so while he gets in the shower, I pee on the little stick and set it on the counter to wait. The bag goes into the cabinet under the sink. Thankfully, I needed to pee, or we’d probably be here all night waiting for the urge to strike. I am not a person who can pee on demand.

I go back into the bedroom and realize I need to send a text to Gloria asking her to have the Judge call me as soon as possible about the creature and tonight’s plan to take it down. Normally, I’d want to do recon, but waiting is not the best option. More vampires will die, and the Council won’t be pleased. For all my bravado, I’m scared. I don’t want them here.

But my phone isn’t here. Dang it.

“Dan!”

“What?” he shouts back.

“Where’s my phone?”

The water shuts off, and he comes out with a towel wrapped around his lower half, water streaming from his wet hair.

“Blade has it.”

“Why does Blade have my phone?”

“Bricker called him when he saw the vampire come into the shop. Blade came by and saw them loading you and RJ up. He went inside and took your and RJ’s phones and then called me. I had him take the batteries out so the GPS wouldn’t show up. The police didn’t need your phone, and I made sure they wouldn’t get it. I can call him to bring it over.”

“No, I’ll get it after we take care of this. I don’t want my phone in the hands of the vampires either.” It’s nice to know my very stern Officer Dan isn’t always the proper cop. He understands when things could be detrimental to the health of victims.

“LT wants a sit-down interview with you. I told him not tonight, that you were too exhausted. He expects you at the station first thing in the morning.”

I really hate having to deal with police.

“Fine.”

He plops down on the bed beside me. “You good, Squirt?”

“No, but I will be once this thing is taken care of and we go home.”

“If we are pregnant, we need to be around our family.”

“We?” I tease. “I’m the one whose body gets overtaken by a Squishy.”

“Squishy?”

“I remember in school, when we saw a fetus in the early stages in our biology book, it looked like one of those squishy little stress balls. I guess I started calling it Squishy when I was at the house.”

“Squishy.” He tries it out and laughs. “It’s as good as anything else.”

I look toward the bathroom. “Think time’s up? I don’t have a watch.”

He gets up and walks into the bathroom and returns carrying the little stick.

“Well?”

“It has two pink lines. What does that mean?”

“It means Squishy is real. I just don’t understand how.”

He comes back over to the bed and lies down beside me, looking as shocked and awed as I feel.

“Well, I can tell you how it happened.”

“Don’t be snarky. We’re just so careful, and I take my shot on time. It’s next to impossible to get pregnant.”

“Well, I guess Fate decided to laugh at us and our precautions. No birth control is one hundred percent. Not even your shot.”

“I took the shot a few weeks ago. Do you think it might hurt the baby?”

Dan starts counting in his head. “Wait, weren’t you late getting to the doctor’s to take that?”

“By two weeks… Crap, that’s how it happened. If I hadn’t had to do an emergency trip to the UK, Squishy wouldn’t be here.”

“We are not ready for this.”

“Is anyone ever ready for this?”

He shrugs. “We’re going home as soon as this creature is dealt with. You need to be around your family, who will protect you and Squishy with their lives. My God,” he whispers, suddenly horrified.

“What?”

“What if…what if someone tries to steal him?”

“Him, is it? You’ll give her a complex.”

“I…then what do I say to not give it a complex either way?”

“Just say Squishy.”

His hand comes to rest against my stomach. “Don’t you worry, Squishy. I don’t care if you’re a boy or a girl. We’ll keep you safe.”

“Papa is going to freak.”

“I think he’s going to have his own hands full when your new sister arrives in a few weeks.”

“You seriously think he isn’t going to be a rabid dog when he finds out?”

Dan sighs. “Honestly, I’m good with it. The only person I trust to protect you like I do is your father. And Silas. That demon will go to the ends of the Earth to keep you out of harm’s way.”

“I’m not good with it.”

Dan rubs my stomach. “You have to be, Mattie Louise. It’s not just you and me anymore. There’s a little piece of us growing in here. We have to think about Squishy now.”

I’m already thinking of Squishy. I’ve been running scenarios of how to deal with the creature without it getting near me or my baby. Odds aren’t good.

We hear Cass shout from downstairs.

“I’ll go get our clothes, and then we’re going to sleep. I do need to contact Gloria to have the Judge call me. I think he’s in charge, and if I want Gloria to be my bait, I think the only way to do that is through him.”

“I have her number. You get our clothes, I’ll text her.”

“Make sure you specify to have him call your phone so she can’t say she had him call me and it’s not her fault I didn’t have my phone. When, in actuality, it is all her fault.”

Dan laughs and goes back to the bathroom while I head downstairs.

Yawning, I pat my stomach. “Don’t worry, Squishy, I’ll figure this out. You just sleep while your mama and papa take care of everything else.”

I really need to sleep.

I’ll deal with all the emotions swirling around after we take care of the creature. The best way to protect Squishy is to shove it all down and do what needs to be done.

Which is what I always do.