Chapter 5

Five

The following day…

Salem, Massachusetts

Gideon admired a perfectly round, unblemished ass facing him from his tattoo chair. Half-mermaid, half-nymph, Missandria epitomized Fae beauty. Her siren call had nearly tempted him once—he'd begged her to use it on him years before, simply so he could experience it and understand its allure. A wave of desire had washed over him, as well as a feeling of utter happiness and love. Had he been fully human, his cock would've been pussy-deep for sure.

The sensation had lasted for hours. He'd broken a vibrator that night. Squeezed it so tight that the inner mechanics jammed. He still blamed her for losing his favorite toy.

Gideon sat down and hovered over her butt, tattoo gun in hand. "Ready, Missy?"

"Gimme that sweet ink, babe."

Gideon chuckled. Missandria had sat in his chair many times already. She was covered in his art, a walking canvas. "Let's do this."

As was the case with most of her tattoos, she was getting a nature-inspired piece. A bumblebee intertwined with a powerful rune—Ingwaz, the rune of fertility and growth. He steadied his hand and began work on the outline. "You were pretty secretive when I asked you about the meaning of this one. Are you going to tell me?"

Missandria glanced over one shoulder, smiling. "Well… I suppose I could." She paused a moment, the sound of his tattoo gun filling his private studio. "So, I've met someone."

"Oh? Gimme the deets, girl!"

Missandria spun to face him. Thankfully he'd just lifted his gun off her skin. "Missy! You could've made a mess!"

"Sorry, sorry… I've just." She waved her hands around. "I can't tell my friends and family. They won't approve."

Near mishap immediately forgotten, he leaned closer to get the good gossip. "A normie?"

"Worse."

Gideon frowned. What would sirens and mermaids consider worse than human?

"He's… half-fairy…"

"Okay."

"And half… bumblebee."

Gideon stared at her as if she'd grown another head. "That's… that's possible? A fairy and an.. insect?"

"His Fae mother was a skilled shapeshifter and chose one warm spring morning to shift into the form of a bumblebee and dance among the meadow flowers. Suddenly a male knocks her to the ground, jumps on her thorax, mates her—then dies when he's done. She was horrified. Though, from the wistful look she got on her face when she retold that story, I don't know if it was horror or not, if you catch my drift, but you didn't hear that from me."

Gideon chuckled.

"After he died, she changed back into fairy form, returned to the castle, and thought nothing more of it… until she laid a whole brood clump of eggs."

"There's more than one of him?"

"Only two survived. My Aed and his twin brother Zephyr. Her father destroyed the eggs. Called them abominations. She was only able to sneak the one away before he was done. Luckily there were twins inside."

Gideon sat back a moment. "You mentioned a castle? Is his mother Fae royalty?"

"Yes… well, she was. Her father banished her when she refused to hand over that egg. Fortunately, she is the most beautiful fairy I've ever met, and a wealthy dwarf took her in." Missandria giggled. "She's a sylph, lean and long, and her partner is a short, stout, gruff mountain dwarf with this long-assed beard—but he's sweet to her and her boys, and treats them fairly, so that's all that really matters."

"And Aed?"

"He's…" Missandria's expression blossomed to one of adoration. Somehow, it made her all the more beautiful. "He makes me so happy, Gid. When I'm with him, all I feel is joy. He makes all my worries and problems seem so small and insignificant." Her smile faded. "And then we part, and I remember that my family would never accept him and it breaks my heart."

"Or maybe they will. He is the son of royalty, banished or not. The magical bloodline would be strong, even if he is half bee. That might tempt them to keep an open mind."

"Hopefully, but I don't like my chances. That's why I'm getting this tattoo. Ingwaz is for growth… and fertility. If I'm pregnant when I tell them, they'll have to accept him, right? They'd demand anyone else marry me straight away, so why not him? The banished Fae prince."

Gideon frowned. "He won't die after mating you, will he? Like his father?"

"If he was in bee form, maybe—but we can't. I can't shapeshift." Her face pinkened. "Though, we have played a bit while he was in that form."

Gideon sat back. "Played?"

"He's small… and can fit in small places," she whispered with a grin.

"Ooooh,"Gideon said, eyes wide, wishing he'd never asked. He didn't want to know what small places her bee had gotten into, so he waved a hand. "We'd best get your tattoo finished so you can get that baby you want."

Missandria flipped back to her belly, kicking her feet up. "Let's go. Help me get knocked up, Gid!"

Before Gideon could put gun to flesh again, his door whipped opened. Cassius dipped his head inside.

"Can I steal you away for a second?"

"Sure," Gideon said, turning off his gun. "Missy, I'll be just a minute."

"No problem, babe," she said, immediately pulling out her cell phone.

Gideon rose, flipping his hair over one shoulder, and sauntered out. When he arrived in the hallway, Cassius shut the door. He wore a stern look that worried Gideon. "What's up?"

"The demons…" Cassius scrubbed a hand over his face. "One of them nearly escaped."

"What!?I thought your cage was impenetrable?"

"We stopped him and closed the breech," Cassius murmured. He opened his palm and showed a hunk of stone. "This was embedded in the dirt inside the cell. The demons were apparently able to wedge it out. I think whatever this is… it repelled our magic. Left a hole in the magical field. They've been digging. Must've been working on the hole this whole time, little by little. Hadyn fell asleep on watch and when I walked in, one of them was shoving himself into an impossibly tiny hole they shouldn't have fit through. Fortunately for us all, the tunnel wasn't big enough yet. We've got it sealed up and the enchantment strengthened now. All demons accounted for."

Gideon lifted the chunk of stone from Cassius' palm. "There's an aura of old, strong magic. Why didn't someone pick up on it sooner?"

Cassius shook his head. "I don't know. We were all exhausted from the fight. Maybe we were too weak."

"It's been weeks since then. No one's felt it in all that time?"

Cassius lifted it from Gideon's open palm. "Maybe it wasn't ready to be found yet." He frowned, wrapping his fingers tightly around the item and closing his eyes a couple of seconds. "Enchanted objects have a mind of their own sometimes."

From the expression on his face, Gideon sensed Cassius knew more but wasn't sharing. "What do you think it is?"

Cassius eyed him, silent. "I don't know. I don't sense evil… yet… I don't know. I'm going to clean it up and see what's underneath the stone encasing it. From the looks of it, it's been down there a very long time." He sighed. "My biggest concern is that hole may have allowed Hell to determine where their missing demons are. It could lead to an attack."

"Thisis why I didn't want them here in the first place," Gideon growled.

"I know, but where would we have taken them otherwise?"

Gideon didn't have an answer for that and from the look on Cassius' face, he knew that. Instead of admitting defeat, he changed the subject. "Has Quill or Atlas found any leads on a banishment spell? Otherwise, what do we do? The only choice seems to be to kill them."

"I don't want to send them back to Hell. They'll just come right back and start anew."

"If we can't leave them here and we can't send them there, our options are limited, Cas."

"My thoughts exactly," Cassius said. "Which is why I wanted to talk to you. Do you think it's possible to wipe a demon's memory clean?"

Gideon's eyes widened. "I've never attempted it, but how would that help?"

"You wipe their memories and plant their human host's memories on top. Eli is working on imbuing crystals that will amplify your magic and make it harder for the spell to be broken. Then we release them into the wild."

"We'd just let them go?"

"The sooner we can get them out of here, the better. What better than to hide them in plain sight? Imprisoned inside the humans they possessed, hidden from Hell." Cassius grinned. "Instead of them trapping the human, we're giving them a taste of their own medicine and have the human trap them."

Gideon wasn't so sure that was a better plan.

"I'll use a tracking spell like I did with Doyle. Anything out of the ordinary happens, I'll immediately know, and I can portal there in seconds." Cassius cocked his head. "It's the only thing I could come up with that gets them away from our home yet keeps them trapped. If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears."

"There's nowhere else we could lock them up? Another coven farther away?"

"And put that coven at risk? Even if I agreed to that, which I wouldn't, they'd be fools to say yes."

Gideon glowered. "What if we found a necromancer? We can exorcise the humans and have the necromancer bind the demons to an object somehow."

"Demons aren't ghosts. They have no soul. A necromancer wouldn't be able to contain them. Even if they could, necromancy is forbidden by the Council, as you well know."

"Sometimes you have to cross a line for a good reason, Cas. And we have those get out of jail cards in our back pockets."

"I know," Cassius murmured, his voice low. "But only as a last option and we have an alternative that could work."

Gideon stared at Cassius, frustrated that he couldn't find a better solution. "Then I guess we try your plan."

Cassius smiled wryly. "Only if you believe yourself capable and it's not going to harm you."

"I won't know until I try. My main concern is time. If they're recently made Hellspawn, they'd likely be simple, but if they're ancient, with eons of memories… it might be harder." He sighed. "But I'm willing to give it a try." Gideon shook his head, every possible scenario running through his brain like flashes of light. "I'd need magical battery backup. You and/or Luca to help charge me if I grow weak."

"Of course we'd be there to support you. We can have the whole coven on standby, if needed."

"No, I don't want a crowd," Gideon said. "I don't know what kind of shape I'll be in after an attempt."

"You'd rather save face than allow them to see you weakened?"

Gideon glared up at Cassius.

"You've spent your life being underestimated, so you fear showing weakness. I've seen it time and time again, Gid. You're not weak. You're one of the strongest here."

"I didn't ask for a therapy sesh, Cas."

"This coven is your family. We're all on standby or we're not doing it." Cassius leaned down a bit. "We love and respect you. If doing this wipes you out, it's not weakness. It's you being strong. For us."

Gideon met Cassius' gaze and saw love shining there. He knew Cassius was being his usual protective dad self, but after a life of being small, he hated feeling small. Showing weakness made him feel small. "Fine."

Cassius grinned, but it slowly ebbed. "I know this won't be easy. I'll have Betty reschedule your appointments for a week so you can focus your energy. Can you be ready to make the attempt in a day or two?"

"Why don't we do it tonight? Missy is my last client of the day."

Cassius frowned. "Don't you want time to prepare?"

"The longer I wait, the more I'll overthink it. Best strike while the idea is hot. Plus, if we might have demons breathing down our necks, time is of the essence."

"True," but it was clear Cassius wasn't completely on board.

Gideon crooked his head toward the door. "Missy's getting a very small tattoo. I shouldn't be more than two hours. Probably less. While I'm wrapping up here, we need a safe location, wards over the walls, ceiling, and floor to prevent the demon from hurting anyone, and a heavy, iron chair to truss the beast to. Can you manage all that in a couple of hours?"

"Done, done, and done. Anything else?"

Another, better plan?Gideon shook his head. "I can't think of anything else right now."

Cassius smiled warmly. "See you in a couple of hours."

Gideon nodded, already regretting agreeing. He took a deep breath as he watched Cassius' retreating back before returning to his client.

Missandria was taking selfies on his chair, her smile radiant. She glanced over when she heard him enter and grinned, but it faltered. "You okay, Gid?"

"Heavy news. That's all. It'll be okay." He forced a smile. "Let's get you your bee."

Missandria flipped again, butt to the heavens. "Prick me, Gid!"

Gideon shook his head, happy he'd be distracted by her antics for a while. He focused on her joy instead of what lay ahead.

After a long dayat the office wading through the items from the crime scene and preliminary data—and a bunch of bureaucratic nonsense—Esau was very ready to go home. Calls from both sides of the custody battle were incoming every hour, their need for constant updates interrupting progress all while demanding they rush the results. It was a clusterfuck, and he was ready to throw up his hands and be done with it all. As soon as he crossed into his and Joaquin's neighborhood, his shoulders loosened, and he breathed a bit easier.

He pulled into their driveway and tossed the SUV into park. He scanned his surroundings, checking for threats—always on watch—but saw none. As he strode toward the front door, it swung open. Joaquin leaned on the doorframe, his glowing silver eyes sparkling with anger.

"You didn't text to say you were on the way."

"Sorry," Esau said. He leaned in and pressed his lips to his mate's. "I was ready to get the fuck home. Jumped in and floored it. It's been a shit day."

After Esau passed and tossed his keys into the bowl by the door, Joaquin shut the door.

Joaquin smiled. "Wanna grab a quick bite, gear up, and head to Barrio Logan? I'm feeling stabby tonight. And you can vent some hostility."

Esau stretched, utterly exhausted. The years of fighting were wearing him thin. Work all day, hunt all night. Add a big case at work on top of that and his head was swimming. He'd been almost glad the AirTag had been tossed. Almost, but not quite. "How about a break?"

Joaquin gripped both sides of his face and pressed a kiss to his lips. "You gave me a target and then don't want me to go kill that target?"

"We lost the target last night."

Joaquin grinned broadly. "I did some digging. Staked out the local CBP office this morning and lucked out. I followed him to Starbucks and overheard him talking on his cell. He's got some meet-up tonight in Chicano Park."

"Joaquin?" Esau sighed. "That close, he might've sensed you were a shifter. It could be a trap."

"You forget that stalking my prey is what I do best. He had no idea I was there."

There was no fighting it when Joaquin got himself wound up. They were going to Chicano Park. He pinched his nose, squeezing his eyes closed a second. "Yeah, sure. Give me a minute, ‘k?"

Joaquin frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Esau murmured before disappearing into the bathroom. After emptying his bladder, he washed his hands and face. Lifting his gaze to his reflection, he noted the dark circles and the new lines around his mouth and eyes forming.

Something has to give…

Esau didn't know how to tell Joaquin. He needed a break, or he was the one who was going to end up broken.

Joaquin would never understand. The vengeance in his heart hadn't yet been sated. Years ago, their shared hatred of demons had burned in unison, but for Esau, the constant fighting had worn him down. Why he'd bothered tagging the vehicle, he wasn't sure, only that it would make Joaquin happy to have another demon to focus on.

And he'd do anything for Joaquin.

When he opened the bathroom door, Joaquin was on the other side of it, face blank.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing,"he fibbed.

"I know it's not nothing. I can see it in your eyes."

"It was a long day is all. CBP is still fighting with the Sheriff's Department about custody of the case, and I was dragged into it all day. They want the results now yet keep getting in our way."

"Maybe we stay in tonight," Joaquin murmured.

Yes… please.He took a deep breath and said the exact opposite of what he wanted. "No… there's a meeting tonight, we might get good intel on what they're planning. It could give us a leg up. We don't want to waste an opportunity like that."

Joaquin searched his face, concern in his eyes.

"But… surveillance only, okay? We stay as far away from it as possible and no fighting. I'm exhausted, and I'm in no condition for combat."

Joaquin cupped Esau's cheek. "I forget sometimes that you're human and don't rebound as quickly as I do. Have I pushed you too hard?"

"No," Esau lied. He knew he should've told the truth, but he didn't want Joaquin to think his heart was no longer in it. It wasn't, but he feared speaking the truth. "I'm just frustrated. The more we kill… the more that come. It's never-ending, Keeno." He ran a hand through his hair. "We've been at this years now… and there's no end in sight." He saw Joaquin's shoulders slump. "But tonight could potentially give us the means to strike a larger blow. I'm all for putting a big wrench in their plans. We just need to find out what those are."

Joaquin was silent a moment, contemplative. "Are you sure?"

Esau nodded. "If I was done, would I have tagged that vehicle?"

Joaquin stared, silent. He forced a smile and nodded. "Okay. No fighting tonight. We go, we listen, and we hang back."

"What's for dinner?" Esau asked, changing the subject. "We need to eat fast if you want to make the trip to the park."

Joaquin's slow smile warmed the cold within.