Page 10 of April's Fool (Northarbor Coven Book 2)
A New Hit
Damon
“How is this possible? I thought he was blacklisted?”
Parker seemed hesitant to answer. “This is… look, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell you this—“
“Well? Spit it out!” Taking my anger out on Parker was a bad idea. He was bigger than me and could put me on my ass if he tried. Even after losing a lot of muscle mass to the beta sickness. I softened my tone. “Sorry, this has just…”
“I get it. This has me freaked out. Can you… um, can you ask Cody if you can go stay with him for a bit? I’d feel better if you were with him and Toth.”
“Yeah, but you haven’t explained why.”
Red flags of anger striped his cheeks, his eyes flashed with his bird and I swear I saw talons, which was impossible, that only happened with alphas or maybe omegas with their children under threat. “Someone, I don’t know who, has overturned the blacklisting and instead, they put you on the list. You are persona non grata right now. They seem to have forgotten about my other aliases and access, because I can see shit, but not who has done this to you.”
Parker’s eyes were suspiciously bright, like tears would fall any second. He was afraid for me. “Damon, you need to go into hiding.” He held up a hand when I went to interrupt. “No. It isn’t safe. I’ll work on the case from here. Call in every favor I can. There are rumblings of dissatisfaction in the subgroups. No one gets why this is happening, but too much money is flowing for the rest of them to ignore. You’ve also—“
“Made enemies. Yeah, I know.”
It was a fact of life that a successful hitman will have made a list of enemies a mile long. Sure, I did what I could to mitigate the damage, yet there was always going to be someone jealous of how well I’d done for myself. I had resources that many other assassins could only dream of having. My team, or just Parker now, was the biggest thing that made me stand out. Too many of those people on that list only trusted people transactionally. They hired people for jobs and discarded them. They never gave them the whole story and never stayed in touch. These people didn’t have friends, loved ones. Life was killing and making cash.
“Will you please ask Cody if you can spend some time with him in the demon realm? No one can get to you there, and having you with both of them, and their magic, will give me peace of mind while I figure out who we need to kill.”
Damn, Parker was bloodthirsty as well as panicked. Rather than roll my eyes at how overprotective he was being, I gave it a thought. There were plenty of reasons why a vacation in the demon realm was a good idea.
First, I’d get to see Cody again. It had only been a couple of days, but I missed him. Second, well, it was the demon realm. I’d never dreamed of visiting there. Now I had an open invitation. Third, well, it would be a bonus if I got to see that demon who lingered in my thoughts.
“Fine, I’ll call him.” I paused midway, taking my cell out of my pocket. “Do cell phones work down there?”
Parker rolled his eyes at me. “It’s not down there,” he pointed to his feet. “It’s another dimension, dumbass, and Cody already told you his cell will work there because of the ambient magic.”
Right, I vaguely recalled the conversation with Cody where he told me that the demons used a lot of the same technology that we did, though theirs was powered with magic. Toth was going to check his cell for him and make sure that it could accept calls. I could text, except that would just lead to a lot of back and forth. Who had time for that?
Getting out of here and somewhere safe was the priority, not just for me. Parker needed to be out of the danger zone. If the others on the site hadn’t put the two of us together, and really, with our history, they should, then he would be better off away from me. Having two targets would also split their focus. Parker could hide better than me. If worse came to worst, he could shift and fly off.
The call lasted minutes. I felt bad because Cody clearly didn’t want me interrupting his honeymoon with his demon, yet his manners dictated he help me out.
Taking advantage of his kindness like that had a bolt of anger spearing through me towards Austin and Basil. I had no doubt that the witch was involved in this latest contract. He, and by extension, Austin, should have been blacklisted. Only the witch would have had the power and influence to overturn that ban.
Toth arrived to get me just minutes later. I’d barely had time to ram some clothes in a bag. I wanted to take some of my suits. I finally settled on two, though, really, they were too precious to be worn on a farm. Plus, I was aware that they often made me stand out when I should blend in. I imagined that most demons didn’t wander about in Saville Row. I argued with myself that we might venture out places and have to dress nicely. Mori owned fancy hotels, didn’t he?
While he glowered at me, I dashed around my bathroom and shouted orders at Parker. “Leave here straight after me. Get the packers to put our shit in storage. Do not take all my stuff with you. Leave it and focus on getting away from here.”
“Yes, boss,” Parker sassed, as he watched me scan my room for anything I absolutely needed. “Come here.”
I paused to stare at him. “Seriously?”
“You’re not going anywhere until I get a hug. I’m going to miss you. Who knows when this will be over?”
My hug was a little tighter. “Less of that in front of the demon.”
“I don’t think I care what you two are muttering about unless it will affect Cody,” he said, now sprawled on the couch and looking bored.
“It won’t be a problem because I’ll be in the demon realm with you guys, so I guess you don’t need to know.” Toth just glared at me. “Okay, so I don’t want Cody to know. So if asked, do you want to be honest and say I didn’t tell you, or do you want to lie to that sweet face because you don’t want to worry him?”
“The one where I don’t have to lie to my mate.” Toth glared at me for extra measure.
“Good answer.”
Cody welcomed me with open arms when we arrived through a portal to the farm where he and Toth lived. There was an honest to goodness castle that stood at the top of a hill. Below the castle were trees spanning for as far as I could see.
“Come on, I’ll show you to your room. It’s just over here,” Cody said after he had finished welcoming his mate home properly.
Really, I felt bad about intruding on their happiness just so I could have somewhere safe to stay while we worked out what the hell was going on.
“Is your dad here?” I hadn’t meant to ask. It just slipped out.
“No, but we really should invite him. He’ll be offended if he finds out you are here.” Cody wrung his hands. Fuck, I was making life difficult for him.
Toth glowered in the background. A demand for me to fix this. Right now!
“Well, if you invited him and his bodyguard, you would have someone that knows the demon realm on hand to show me around. I’m sure you and Toth are really busy with the orchard. Weren’t you going to do something with the shifters? ”
“Oh! That’s a great idea. The pack is coming tomorrow and I really wouldn’t want to leave you alone all day while we sort it.” Cody beamed at my slight manipulation and opened the door to my bedroom.
Toth said nothing as he followed, but his expression said less about murder, so I felt like I’d fixed things suitably.
Cody was just putting his phone away when I entered the room. “Mori will be here soon. He’s got to get my grandparents off his back first.” He sighed. “This is so wild to me. A week ago I knew nothing about my dad and now he’s begging to be in my life and I have a set of grandparents that are apparently desperate to see me!”
“You deserve it, sweetness. Mori clearly cares about you. Why wouldn’t his parents?”
“I know.” He blew out a breath. “It’s a lot to go from virtually no family, aside from you,” he just said it as a throwaway comment, but it landed square in my heart, “to having all these people wanting to know me. Obviously I’ll have to invite them to visit,” he must have caught Toth’s horrified expression, “or we can go visit them. Do a day trip somewhere. That would be better, right?”
I nodded while Toth hugged his mate and reassured him either plan was good. With a glance, I cataloged the room, all the points of entry and the best defensible position. Then I flopped down on the bed, utterly exhausted.
“We’ll let you get settled in, maybe have a nap before dinner. Mori and Gregoris will be here soon.”
“Thanks, sweetness.” I felt the day’s events catching up to me with an exhaustion I felt down to my bones.
“Damon?”
“Yeah?”
“You don’t have to tell me everything, but are you in trouble? Please be honest. I want to help if I can.”
“I am. You’re doing all you can, just by letting me stay here. If trouble comes this way, though, I’ll leave.”
“I’m glad you came here. Maybe it’s my turn to keep you safe.”
“Maybe it is.”