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“Well then, shall we go get some coffee? I know a Starbucks near here that’s still open. ”
“Don’t you want me to talk to your members, like the others?” I peeked over my shoulder, as he steered me back to the door.
“My associates can handle the job. Please, allow me to persuade you to join our little group? I sense a great deal of promise in you, and I like to welcome our most appealing newcomers personally. ”
Halcon aimed me for the doors, and as we approached them, I realized the Tregarts had formed a semicircle behind me. There was no real way for me to get free. Halcon and his men had set up a spiderweb and I was caught smack in the middle, with them creeping in from all sides.
Remember, this is your trap, not his. You aren’t in danger. Not yet. But you can’t let on you’re nervous or they’ll become suspicious. This is supposed to be something you want.
As I gave myself a mental pep talk, we entered the hall, and Halcon turned me to the left. He kept up a steady patter of conversation as we moved swiftly down the hall, and I realized he was talking so fast there was no way I could get a word in edgewise. He was bulldozing me—or he thought he was—and I tried to control my nerves as he pushed open the side door and we exited the building.
We were on the side of the Community Center now, and I hoped that Shade was nearby and following. We were in the shadows, after all, so he might be. Praying that was the case, I feigned interest as Halcon continued to praise the Network for all the good it did its members and for its goals in the future, which sounded like a bunch of vague promises to me.
Meanwhile, I could feel the continuous probing from the spirit seal and I knew I was going to have to let down my shields some more or he’d be alerted.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked, breaking into the one-sided conversation.
“I want you to meet someone,” Halcon said. “I want you to meet the founder of our organization. He’s always in need of people who have a great deal of psychic power, and my dear, you have more than most anybody I’ve met, except for a few others of your heritage. ”
Gulakah. He was taking me to Gulakah.
“Your leader—he’s not here tonight?” I deliberately stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk, giving Halcon a chance to rest his hand on my elbow. It also gave Shade a chance to catch up with us, if he was following.
“No, he keeps to himself. He’s…he’s not quite like the rest of the mortals. ”
“Oh, he’s one of the Supe Community or Fae?” I forced my voice lighter than I felt and also did my best to remain clueless, at least in Halcon’s eyes.
“Not exactly. Wait till you meet him. He doesn’t go out much—he’s very…sensitive to the energy of others and of the city. He stays in seclusion. I hope you don’t mind a little ride. ”
He was practically dancing. I wondered if he got brownie points for bringing in members who were psychically strong. Or did Gulakah just promise to let him live, providing he brought him enough fodder?
I still hadn’t seen Faerman’s wife…but as we headed into the parking lot, I wondered if she, too, had been the recipient of Halcon’s unwavering attention. The seal could easily have charmed her, considering she wouldn’t have recognized it for what it was.
At that moment, I noticed we were heading toward an SUV…and it was parked right near my Lexus.
I let out my breath in a long, slow stream. The others had to see us from here. Relaxing, I allowed Halcon to help me into the front passenger seat. He hopped into the driver’s seat, the Tregarts slid into the back, and we were off. As we pulled onto the street, I sidled my gaze to the mirror on my side and was relieved to see Morio’s SUV pull out on the street behind us. He was hanging back, but he definitely had us spotted. I focused on Halcon and listened as he continued to prattle on.
The Tregarts had remained silent throughout the entire evening. I decided that it would be only natural to say something to them. I turned around, breaking in when Halcon fell silent during a left turn.
“You’re all members, too? How did you get involved?”
The three men looked startled, and one nervously glanced at the back of Halcon’s head. Finally the second one cleared his throat.
“We’ve been friends of Halcon for quite a while. After a lot of hashing out things, he convinced us to come work for him. Best job security ever. ” He gave me a short nod.
“I see…so you’ve been in the network for a long time?”
Halcon broke in. “They’ve been with me since near the beginning, my dear. They watch my back. ” And with that, he began talking again, and I turned back around. Another side glance told me that Morio was still back there.
“Is there something outside that’s catching your interest?” Halcon asked, turning right.
I shook my head. “No, just looking out the window. You said we were going to Starbucks?” We’d already passed two of the drive-through coffee shops. I knew it had been a ruse, but I needed to keep up appearances, and Morning Glory would have been concerned. My persona wasn’t stupid, just naïve.
Halcon reached down and my door lock clicked. “I’m afraid that we don’t have time to stop for coffee now, my dear. I promised our leader that I’d be back at a certain time, and when I called him from the Community Center to tell him about you, he was positively thrilled. He wants to meet you. He’ll be especially interested in the fact that you somehow can resist my gentle…persuasion, Morning Glory. ” His voice shifted from friendly to cool. “If that is your name. ”
My stomach lurched. First, Halcon hadn’t called anybody at the center. And second, he might not know who I was, but he knew something was up. I wanted to glance in the mirror again, reassure myself that Morio and the others were still behind me, but that wasn’t a good idea. I forced myself to keep my eyes on the road in front of us.
“What do you mean? What are you talking about? I am Morning Glory. I hope you don’t think I’ve been rude. I just…I don’t know you, and riding with four strange men in a car—I thought we were just going to Starbucks. ” I allowed a tinge of hysteria to enter my voice. Maybe if he thought I was worried he was a pervert, he’d calm down.
Halcon peeked into the rearview mirror; he was looking at the Tregarts, but I couldn’t see what was on their faces and I didn’t want to turn around. After a moment, he let out a long sigh.
“I promise: I have no sexual interest in you. I just want you to meet the man who started the Aleksais Psychic Network because I think he’ll have a great use for you. ” Once again, he glanced in the rear mirror at his bodyguards. “Neither are my men a danger to you. If you truly want coffee, we’ll pull through the next Starbucks, but Morning Glory, once you meet Gulakah—our leader—I guarantee you, caffeine will be the last thing on your mind. ”
I let a beat go by, then another, before saying, “All right. I’m okay. I just…it’s hard for me to trust. I’ve been hurt too many times in the past. I tend to get bristly…” I was hoping that he’d buy the explanation.
He didn’t say anything for a few minutes, then gave me a short nod. “Yeah, I’ve met a number of women with that issue. ” For a moment, he almost sounded empathetic, but I reminded myself that not only was the man wearing a spirit seal, but he was working for one of Shadow Wing’s henchmen, he was responsible for tearing people away from their homes, and most likely, he had been in on ordering them to turn themselves over to the eggs as demon fodder.
“I can wait on the coffee. ” I relaxed back into my seat.
Another ten minutes and we turned left onto a heavily wooded road. My internal compass told me we were in the vicinity of our stomping grounds—the Belles-Faire District.
The car slowed as we turned left yet again. A bright yellow Dead End sign was posted at the corner. I sat up, looking around. There weren’t any houses along the parklike spread of grass and trees. It was then that I noticed the entire street was fe
nced. This was one estate. One huge, freaking estate. And near the end, a gated drive opened up as Halcon held up his phone and said, “Open. ”
So the place was wired, and probably heavily. We pulled through the wide iron gates as they swung open and into a long circular drive, which curved around in front of a four-story mansion.
Cripes, this joint must have cost a fortune, even for as run-down and gothic as it looked. There were lights on inside, in a spotty pattern, and bodyguards at the door. By their size and bulk, I guessed they were also Tregarts.
Damn. Gulakah was living right inside the city, and somehow he’d managed to escape our prying eyes. My guess, by the humming ring of magic that permeated the place, was that this entire building and any other structures were under the protection of a cloaking spell, as well as whatever secrecy that technology could provide.
Halcon pulled up to the sidewalk, to where two of the bodyguards were waiting. One moved around to open his door, while another opened mine. I let the demon help me out of the car, again impressed that Tregarts could clean up so well to suit-and-tie standards.
Halcon hurried around to my side and took my arm. “Welcome to the home of the Aleksais Psychic Network. Come, let’s hurry before it rains again. ”
It was only now that I noticed the weather—it had stopped raining and the moon was peeking out from behind a heavy cloud cover. I held on to the thought that tomorrow night, on Beltane, she would be full and I’d be out running with the Hunt.
As Halcon escorted me up the stairs, I caught a sound in a nearby bush. It was just a whisper—so faint that nobody else picked it up—but I knew that sound. I recognized it on an internal, gut level, and I could feel the connection through the Soul Symbiont ritual. It was Morio, in his fox form, slipping through the bushes.
Relieved, knowing that I wasn’t alone, I focused on the steps as Halcon escorted me in to meet Gulakah.
The mansion was old, and unlike most of the mansions that I’d been in, the central staircase wasn’t built of spacious marble, but instead of polished wood. The ceiling towered four flights above me. The main foyer was open to the very top of the building, and as I turned, I could see that the stairs continued on both sides from the second floor on up.
There was an odd scent in the air. Some sort of incense, but I couldn’t quite place it. Halcon noticed me looking around, and he smiled.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
I nodded. That, he had right. The place was a showstopper, and if this had been any other time, any other situation, I’d have gone over to the intricate wallpaper and studied it, and rubbed my hand over the burnished wood of the railing, wondering at the smoothness.
“Come. We need to go downstairs. My master awaits. ”
That was the first time Halcon had used the term master, and the way he said it told me that when he was out and about, Halcon was good at putting on a mask. But Gulakah scared the hell out of him, and here that fear showed.
We headed toward a door to the side of the stairs, and I realized we were going down to a basement. Just how freaking huge was this place?
“I’m…a little claustrophobic. ” I didn’t want to go down there without knowing I had an exit close at hand. Basements weren’t on my list of best places to escape from, and chances were it would be hard as hell to get out of there once that door closed behind me.
“Nonsense. Everything will be fine. ” Halcon opened the door just as a loud slam came from behind us. We whirled around to see that the front door had swung open, but there was no one in sight.
Halcon paled. “Hell. Not another one,” he muttered under his breath.
“Another what?” I asked.
“Never mind. Wait here. ” He moved toward the door, cautiously, and I realized he really was afraid.
At that moment the lights flickered and died, plunging us into darkness. A lot of shouting went on, and I thought about trying to maneuver my way out the front door, but we had to make sure this was where Gulakah was. Indecision kept me frozen, and then a light touch on my shoulder made me jump. I kept my mouth shut as a low voice whispered in my ear.
“Go downstairs with him. You won’t be alone. When you’re there, I’ll give you the word and you hit the Lord of Ghosts with that rune. We’ll be right behind you. He’s there, I scoped it out. ”
Shade! I let out a long breath and gave a short nod, and then the lights came back on. Halcon was examining the front door suspiciously, but then he shook his head and moved back to my side.
“I should warn you, we have a few ghosts around here. But they won’t hurt you. Come on, let’s go. ” He motioned for me to follow him, and, confident now that I knew Shade was around, I did.
We descended the stairs, winding down at least two floors’ worth, to finally reach a large, spacious floor deep beneath the house. The ceilings were at least fifteen feet high, which accounted for the number of stairs, and the chamber into which we stepped was nearly as large as the entire first floor of the mansion.
Pillars and beams—no doubt load-bearing—were spaced evenly through the room. Toward the back, I spied a large throne, or perhaps it was just a massive chair, but it was huge, with a door beyond it. Four women were sitting around the base of the chair, and one I recognized from the picture that Faerman had given us. It was his wife, Syringa. They were harnessed, unable to go farther than their tethers, and they all looked afraid and exhausted.
As Halcon pushed me from behind, toward the throne, I realized that I’d just become Gulakah’s fifth…wife? Handmaiden? Whatever he was using them for. It took everything I had for me to force myself not to run. The sight of the tethers and harnesses were flashing me back to the chains Hyto had used to restrain me. Playful bondage with Smoky and his hair? Not a problem. The real thing with a megalomaniac who was also a god? No, thank you!