Page 13 of Curses & Keys (Curses & Gods #1)

MATHIAS

T ucked into an alley off of Main Street, the Trick Unicorn Pub is Gatlin’s pick tonight.

Brick walls, black booths, a wooden bar with an astounding array of beers on tap, and pictures of Ireland’s green hills on the walls.

Lively, but surprisingly, it’s not too packed tonight.

I slide into a booth at the back and order one of the beers on tap.

It’s not as if I’m going to drink it, but we’re in a human bar, and it would seem odd not to at least order something.

Gatlin settles into the chair in front of me, lips curled into a snarl, then signals for a beer.

Since that’s his usual countenance, I don’t take it personally.

The server comes by and drops off his drink, foam dripping down the sides of the glass.

I immediately slide a napkin across the table.

His eyes flick to mine, but after spending the last two hundred years on the same team, he knows I can’t abide a mess and wipes off the glass.

Hawthorne slides into the chair beside me. Once he places his order, I bring them up to date on the latest. “Cameras are installed in her condo. Jamison checked them before he left for Connecticut.”

I lean in a bit closer. “Dr. Kline’s assistant, Sia, is dead.

Humans. We’re not entirely sure if their target was the mysterious ‘key,’ but they’re definitely part of the same group that attacked me at the museum.

Same tactical gear.” Anger flares at the thought of the humans who attacked me, killing another supernatural, but I tamp it down.

No one needs to see death tonight. “Basilisk is investigating both her and Kline’s recent activity. They’ll report up to us.”

Basilisk is one of our top security teams, and they take their job seriously. If there’s something to find, they’ll ferret it out.

Hawthorne and Gatlin grab a menu while I continue.

“Jamison is now in London, overseeing the auction. Once the pieces are in the council’s vault, he’ll head back here.

In the meantime, we’re splitting our residences.

” I slide a piece of paper and a set of keys across the table to Gatlin.

“That’s the address of the apartment you’ll share with Jamison. ”

If anything, his scowl deepens. “I don’t like it when we split up. Less secure.”

Gatlin’s expertise is security. He’s a natural-born leader, an expert battle strategist, and, with his size, he easily inspires both confidence and fear.

“Phaedra’s met three members of our team. It would look suspicious if we all lived together,” I remind him. “Besides, there’s only a small population of supernaturals in the area, and we don’t want to call attention to ourselves.”

He raises an imperious eyebrow. “I understand the why, but I don’t have to like it.”

Our server comes by and takes their order. When she looks at me, I shake my head. “I’ve already eaten, thank you.” I might have to pretend to drink this beer, but I refuse to order food I won’t eat.

After she leaves, another thing pops into my head.

“There was quite a bit of chatter on the boards today. Someone is looking for information on a key,” I say softly, giving them a pointed stare.

“I tried to follow the IP address, but it went into a public network, and I lost it. I’ll continue to monitor the situation. ”

Hawthorne leans back in his chair, and the server sets down his order. “Thank you.” He flashes her a smile that makes her pause.

Before she can return his smile or, heaven forbid, start flirting, I take off my glasses and compel her to leave. “You’re too busy to talk, and when you walk away, you’ll forget him.”

Instead of getting irritated, Hawthorne nods his appreciation.

A vague smile appears in her glassy eyes, and she slides an unsure glance down at the dish in her hands.

Gatlin huffs and takes his food from her, then glares at me. “Next time, wait until I have my food.” Gold eyes narrow, and he tilts his head. “How did you know I met Phaedra? I didn’t think we had cameras at the gym yet.”

“The gym has plenty of cameras,” I coolly inform him. “I simply tapped into them. Good catch, by the way.”

His scowl deepens.

An alert pops up on my phone and I tap on it to open the app. The cameras I installed show Phaedra walking in the door of her condo. When she’s safe inside, I close the app and turn my attention back to them.

After taking a few bites, Hawthorne sets down his fork. “Jamison didn’t need to be at the university today. I had it covered.” There’s a troubled expression on his face.

I can only guess at the answer. “You’ll have to ask him to explain.

He did drop by the apartment before he left, but he didn’t say anything about it.

He was distracted. By her. His reaction to her feels more personal than a simple introduction at the event.

I don’t know if he’s met her before or if it’s something else, but he’s acting out of character. ”

Hawthorne frowns and stirs the food around on his plate. “I see.” He darts a glance at Gatlin. “What did you think of her?”

Gatlin lifts a meaty shoulder. “Attractive. Unique scent. Friends with the panther who owns the gym, but I can’t tell if Phaedra’s a shifter or not.

She didn’t smell like one.” He grimaces as if the bare-bones description annoys him, which it probably does.

He doesn’t like anomalies. “Maybe she’s been around humans too long, but she doesn’t exhibit the mannerisms of a supernatural.

She fell off the indoor rock wall tonight from a pretty good height.

While she recovered pretty quickly, she acted like the fall was normal for her. It was…odd.”

Hawthorne nods in agreement, then turns to me and chuckles. “You’re the only one she hasn’t met. Any first impressions.”

Olive skin, raven-hair, and bright blue eyes spring to mind. “Nothing worth noting.” Although she did find the locket with my daughter’s picture in it. She’s an enigma, but purely from a professional perspective. There’s no need to get personal.

After paying the check, we say goodbye to Gatlin. “Tell me if the apartment lacks anything, and I’ll take care of it.”

With a gruff agreement, he heads in the opposite direction from us.

When we step out of the elevator, Hawthorne glances at her door. “Is she home?”

Having checked my phone periodically throughout the night, I nod. “She’s already asleep.”

Hawthorne heads out the next morning for the university, and I watch Phaedra leave five minutes later.

With London hours ahead of us, the auction finished early this morning.

Jamison sent a text to let me know it went well, and he’ll likely return in two days.

After I send him an update, I sit down with a warm cup of O-positive and start the methodical process of searching the chat boards for updates while I simultaneously run a background search on our woman of mystery.

Once we knew it was a key, I created a program to continuously search for mentions of keys in black market chat rooms. If someone wants to sell something valuable, this is where the deal gets done.

I hit the jackpot and found the original post pretty quickly, but it was already inactive by the time I saw it.

I kept the program running just in case something new popped up.

And it did. Yesterday, a user named CursedGreek started asking about a key. In response to their request, I sent them the link to the archived post. When they sent me payment for the information, I knew they were serious, and I’ve been trying to trace them ever since.

The software pings, and I see CursedGreek is online, but they’re gone seconds later. I wait for them to join again, but after thirty minutes of no activity, I reset the software to autopilot and work on finalizing the transfer of auction funds from the council to a holding account.

They still haven’t named the new vampire leader, but only because they’re fighting it out.

Literally to the death. The last thing a new leader wants to do is leave a potential usurper alive.

As one of the most powerful vampires, I should care about the election, but they destroyed my loyalty years ago, and now they can all burn in hell together.

The phone rings. Hawthorne.

“We were supposed to meet after class to work on a project, but she canceled. Did she return to the condo?” Hawthorne asks when I answer.

I hear the sounds of students calling out to each other in the background. “Hold on.” With a click, I bring up the monitors in her condo, then the garage. “She’s not here. Let me conference in Gatlin.”

“Gatlin,” he answers in a bored tone.

“It’s me and Hawthorne,” I inform him. “Have you seen Phaedra?”

He pauses, and I hear him say something to someone in the background. “Sorry, had to move away from prying ears. She’s not at the gym.”

“Is her friend there? The shifter?” I ask impatiently.

“Unfortunately,” he replies with an irritated sigh.

I remind myself to ask him about that comment later. “Hawthorne, when did she text you?”

“A little after noon,” he replies. “I’m heading to the condo.” His breathing increases as he hurries down the loud hall.

“Let me see if I can track her phone,” I tell them, navigating to the site. “Cell towers report her last known location as…the university. Are you sure she isn’t there?”

Hawthorne stops. “Yes, I used a spell. I’ve checked her office, the loading dock, library, teacher lounges, classrooms. Basically, the whole damn building. My magic says she isn’t here. I wouldn’t have called you without checking.” Irritation bleeds into his usually calm voice.

“Let’s regroup here. See you in ten.” Hanging up, I bring up the campus CCTV system and pinpoint the six cameras associated with the entrances and exits around campus.

Then I start methodically rewinding them to noon so I can watch all the vehicles leaving between twelve and one o’clock.

The first two cameras yield nothing. On the third, I spot her black Mercedes leaving at five past two. She’s definitely not on campus.

The door opens, and Hawthorne and Gatlin walk in. “Did you find her?”

I swivel around in my chair. “She left campus. East Entrance. Five minutes after she texted you. Unfortunately, she took the highway, and I lost her.” I look at Hawthorne. “Didn’t you put a tracker on her car?”

He holds up his phone to show me the dot blinking on the map. “I did. It’s still in the parking lot.”

“She removed it,” I insert, suspicion rising at her evasion tactics. “I’ll call Jamison.”