Page 37 of Deadly Reckoning (Broken Ashes #7)

Neith

I had absolutely no idea what day it was today, so it’s probably a good job that they’ve both cancelled, because there was absolutely no way that I was going to remember to turn up until one of them texted me asking me where I was. My phone buzzes again.

Navy: We definitely are, don’t worry. I’ve got to go. Neith, be careful, I’m getting lots of confusing as fuck snippets from you.

Me: Always.

Navy: Oh, and it’s Thursday today.

Chuckling quietly, I type back a thank-you message telling her she’s awesome.

I know Neera will pick up the messages when she gets back from her date with Kahru, small world. Putting my phone away, I tune back into the conversation.

“Are we still heading for Sully’s?” Doc asks.

“Oh shit, yeah, I forgot about that,” Coen says as he checks his watch. “It’s still early enough. We should still be able to avoid everyone, including the staff.”

“Yeah, we need to, or we may not get the chance. We have no idea what Dimitri is going to tell us tomorrow, we could end up knee deep in the case and not be able to talk to Sully,” Reed adds.

“Agreed,” I say.

Doc’s magic fills the air, and I grin when I feel us arrive in the usual spot.

“I’m assuming from Neith’s smile that we’re here,” Griff guesses with a smile.

“Yep,” I reply proudly, popping the ‘p’ because it's fun and it scratches an itch in my brain.

“Let's go and tell a volatile troll that someone close to him is working with the scum of the supernatural world, that is responsible for starting a realm-wide war, shutting down one of the most important realms in the universe, and entrapping his mate in another realm as well,” River says rather bluntly.

“When you put it like that, any confidence that I had that this was going to go well instantly evaporates,” Doc murmurs as we all get out of the van in our usual alleyway by Sully’s bar.

River shrugs, “I don’t think this is going to go well.”

“It depends,” I say as we head toward the door. “If he’s picked up on the same thing that I have, then he’s not going to be surprised.”

None of the guys look very convinced, and to be honest, I have absolutely no idea how this is going to go. There is a small part of me that’s absolutely terrified that he’s going to accuse me of lying and stirring trouble, tell me that he never wants to see me again, and kick me out.

Deep down, I know that’s unlikely, and actually even the thought is making the Voices scoff at me like I’m being ridiculous, so I guess that should be kind of reassuring?

“Neith!” Sully greets me in his usual happy way, as he bounds over to me and pulls me into a big hug.

“Hey, Sully,” I grin.

He lets go and steps back, “Come on. I have a feeling that this conversation would be best had under the extra protective wards in my office.”

“Good call,” Griff nods, his expression serious.

As soon as the door shuts behind us in Sully’s office, I open my mouth to start talking, but Ransom interrupts me.

“One second, I want to make sure that no one can hear us,” he says as the familiar golden bubble encapsulates the room.

Sully’s eyebrows rise, “This is serious. What’s going on?”

I don’t want to drag this out, and I’m unreasonably nervous about telling him, so I launch straight into the explanation with no warm-up.

“It’s about Murray,” I start.

Sully sighs heavily and takes a seat, “I’ve had a feeling something has been off with her for a while now. What do you know?”

My body immediately floods with relief, oh thank fuck for that. It makes this whole conversation so much easier now that I know that he already suspects something is going on.

I launch into the explanation of how we found Merrikh, what he told us about Murray, and our suspicions about what it could mean.

When I’m done, we all just sit there and wait for Sully’s reaction.

“When we left Trieneliea, she was the one who struggled the most. While I never thought that she would do something like this, I’m also not surprised that she seems to have lost her way.

” He mutters before continuing in a stronger voice, “She’s incredibly strong.

Who knows how many supernaturals and humans she’s helped to hurt, or has hurt herself? She needs to be brought in.”

“Agreed. That’s what we plan on doing. We need to question her, find out who else she has sold her services to, and why she’s done what she’s done,” Reed replies.

“We need your help to locate her,” Griff adds, somewhat cautiously.

There is a difference between knowing that one of your long-time friends is dodgy and needs to be brought in for questioning, and actually being involved in bringing them in.

Most people in this situation find that part of it difficult, and tend to still hold some loyalty to the offending person, regardless of what they’ve done.

Sully sighs and nods, “I can do that. I don’t want to be involved in bringing her in or anything like that. I will simply get you the location, and then the rest is up to you.” He pauses, “I’m not sure that I can keep a level head if I were to face her.”

“Understood,” I nod.

Sully frowns, “I should be able to get you her location within an hour or so, if that.”

“Thank you,” Evander says. “Would you like to be kept updated?”

Sully shrugs, “I’d like to know why.”

“Fair enough. When we know, you’ll know,” Van replies.

“How much does she know about our situation?” Coen asks. “Specifically, Neith.”

“Well, as you know, most will have forgotten that you were in the Choosing by now. Unfortunately, Murray is not one of the people who would have forgotten, so she knows that you were a part of it and that you are the team who won,” Sully starts.

“As far as everything else goes, she knows the minimum. I stopped sharing details about you a long time ago, and so did Earnie and the others. She knows who your parents are, though, obviously.”

“Which is highly prized information,” Griff frowns. His arms crossed over his chest.

Sully nods, “Yes.”

“She could sell that information to a number of incredibly dangerous people, and Neith would have a huge target on her back,” Coen growls.

“Yes, she would,” Sully agrees, with a dark frown. “Neith’s parents were not only the king and queen, but they were both incredibly strong and incredibly rare supernaturals. Anyone is going to assume that Neith is as well and therefore want to control her, or worse.”

“We need to get to Murray before she can sell the information to someone, and we have to deal with that as well,” Raiden says, his leg bouncing with his anxiety at the thought. “I really don’t fucking like this.”

“None of us do,” Doc replies. “Murray has moved further up our to-do list, agreed?”

“Agreed,” we all chime together.

Sully smiles, “Let me make some calls, and as soon as I know, I’ll send you a message with her location.”

“Thank you, Sully,” I say gratefully as we all stand.

“No problem. Oh, Raiden, I’m getting closer to locating that Reaper Elder who should be able to help you with your wings and everything else. He doesn’t make it easy, which is how he’s stayed hidden for so long,” Sully says.

“I had completely forgotten about that,” Raiden says. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t thank me yet, I haven’t found him,” Sully replies.

“Still, thank you,” Raiden repeats.

Sully nods and picks up his phone, “Alright, let me get on with this.”

I grin at his blunt dismissal and wave as he puts the phone to his ear, and we all head out the door.

“Well, that went a lot better than I thought it would,” Evander says as we walk back to the van.

“Yeah, it did,” I reply.

I’m about to say something else when the Voices rise in warning, and I pause as I look around, my magic sparking just under the surface.

“What’s wrong?” Reed asks.

“We’re being watched,” I say. The threat is big enough that I call Asael to me. My anxiety immediately settles when I have him in my hands.

The guys don’t question me, they immediately go on high alert, readying their magic and their weapons.

“Let’s carry on moving and get to the van,” Doc suggests, his eyes on our surroundings. “We haven’t got long until more people will be around heading to Sully’s. We need to be away from here before that happens.”

We all move forward, and I keep Asael in my hand and at my side, just in case I need to use him. I’m not putting him away, not when I felt the need to call on him in the first place.

As we turn into the alleyway where the van is parked, the air fizzles with magic moments before a supernatural I don’t recognize appears in front of me.

Asael is already pointing straight at his heart, and within moments of his appearance, he has the various weapons of the guys pointed at him, as everyone slowly moves to surround him.

“What do you want?” Doc demands.

The guy's gaze doesn’t move away from me. It’s unnerving, and there’s something unnatural about it, although I can’t put my finger on what it is.

His head jerks to the side, “I have a message for Neith.”

“From who?” Coen demands.

“Him,” the guy replies.

I narrow my eyes, “Casimir?”

The guy's shoulders shrug in the same jerky way that he moved his head, and unease settles in my stomach.

“I think he’s being controlled,” Ransom mutters as he studies the guy closer.

Raiden nods, as the guy just stands there frozen and stares unblinkingly at me, “It’s a different kind of control than what we have seen before, but I agree that it appears to be that way.”

“Maybe he can only answer certain questions then?” Coen suggests. “There were questions that I couldn’t answer either.”

“Good point, but what’s the right question?” River asks.

Griff studies the guy, “What’s your name?”

“I have a message for Neith,” the guy says again, completely ignoring the question that Griff asks.

“Well, I guess that answers that then,” Ransom frowns.

Doc asks, “What’s the message?”

“Dragomert told him what you can do. You’re the missing piece for his hybrids.”

Then, with no hesitation at all, he pushes himself forward impaling himself on Asael, and killing himself instantly.

I pull Asael free as the body drops to the floor.

“Dragomert?” Evander asks, studying me closely.

Ice fills my veins, but this is important, and he’s dead.

“The fucker who kept me in the cells,” I reply, my voice void of any emotion.

“Fuck,” Coen curses.

I shake myself, now is not the time to go numb. “To be honest, it doesn’t surprise me at all that Casimir and Dragomert know each other, they’re both that vile, it makes sense.”

“Does he mean he knows about the dying and coming back?” Raiden asks, and I’m somewhat pleased that he’s asked me bluntly rather than tiptoeing around the subject.

I nod sharply once. “Yes. That’s the only thing that he could mean.”

“You died before what happened with HID?” Doc asks, anger and horror in his expression.

I nod, “Yes.”

The words that come out of Evander’s mouth next have me wanting to kiss him stupid.

“Alright. Let’s call this into Ty, so he can send a team to come and deal with the body,” he suggests, and successfully switches everyone into work mode. He pulls out his phone and sends a quick message to Ty.

“I’ll grab the cordon tape out of the van, at least it won’t look like we’re the ones who are criminals if we tape this area off,” Reed says. “Everyone has their badges on them, right?”

I raise my hand, “I don’t.”

He smiles, “That’s okay, everyone else does, and you’re with us.”

“Rookie move, Love,” Coen teases.

“I am a rookie,” I retort and stick my tongue out at him, making him laugh.

I’m strangely okay with this new development.

“Are you okay?” Ransom asks, studying me closely.

All of the other guys stop what they’re doing in order to hear my response.

“For the moment, yes, I am,” I reply. “Actually, it’s kind of good news, at least we know why he’s after me now, and it’s not the other, more complicated reason,” I say, being careful not to say too much in case someone is listening.

We’ve already technically given away a lot with the whole me dying thing, so I really hope that no one is listening.

Although, according to the dead guy, Casimir already knows that I’m capable of that, so I guess it doesn’t really make that much difference.

“I think this might be worse,” Griff says. “With the other thing, he probably would have just used you as a bargaining chip. With this, he’s going to want to . . .”

He pauses, he doesn’t continue his sentence, but I know what he’s going to say.

“I know,” I reply. “But he’s not going to get his hands on me.”

The Voices stir in agreement, and I am actually feeling pretty settled and confident in that statement.

Not only do I know that the guys, and several other people, wouldn’t let him anywhere near me, but I am not helpless, I haven’t been helpless for a really long fucking time, and I will do whatever it fucking takes to survive.

“No, he’s not,” Coen snarls.

“The team will be here in five minutes,” Evander says as he looks up from his phone.

“You should probably move the van, or we’re going to be stuck here until they’ve finished processing the scene. We’re already going to have to stick around for longer than I’d like to fill them in on what happened,” Ransom says to Doc.

Doc nods, “Shit, yeah. I’ll put it in another alley.”

He puts his hand on the van instead of getting inside, and then they both disappear.

“That is always so much more impressive when you watch it happen, rather than experience it,” Reed mutters. He glances at me, “Come here.”

I don’t even ask why, I just send Asael home, step over the dead guy, and move to Reed’s side.

I do briefly question how easy it was for him to order me to do something when usually I hate doing as I’m told, but that thought is completely obliterated as he pulls me into his side, his fingers gently holding my chin as he tilts my face up so my gaze can meet his.

“I promise that he will not get his hands on you,” he tells me sincerely, his power swells, growing stronger than I have felt before, and he adds, “you’re not alone, and we won’t let anything happen to you.”

There’s sounds of agreement from the other guys as Reed pulls in his power and locks it down again, since we’re about to have company, and then bends to kiss me.

“Guys, agents approaching,” Doc says with a smile in his voice as we pull apart. He must have gotten back while Reed and I were otherwise engaged.

Reed doesn’t let me get far, and his hand stays locked around mine. I’m grateful.

“Hey, guys,” one of the agents greets with a smile.

“Greg, how’s it going?” Ransom asks.

“Not too bad,” Greg replies, while the other agents with him move toward the body. “What happened?”

Evander takes over the conversation and explains what’s going on and what happened.