Page 53 of Grave Beginnings

“She does?”

“Yep. Not all of them are PG, but she has a ton of manga and manhua. Did she give you her number?”

“I don’t want to bother anyone.”

“Ivan,” I said, trying to keep the frustration out of my voice. He didn’t need that. “You’re not a bother. I want you to be happy. Read your comics. When you log into my wi-fi it will send a ping to my phone to approve you. Do you need a computer?” I hadn’t looked through his stuff.

“I have one… they found it.” He had one he wasn’t supposed to have. I got that without asking.

“Well, same thing. Just make sure you eat and get some rest. We’ll figure out the school thing this weekend if that works for you. In the meantime, consider yourself on vacation.”

Ivan exhaled on the other side of the line, letting out a long breath, then said, “K.”

“Call or text if you need me. As long as I’m not examining a body, I’ll do my best to answer.”

“Ew.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I’ve heard that a lot in my life. I’ll grab yousomething from the bakery. It all looks amazing. Do you have anything you don’t like?”

“Anything gross.”

“That’s broad. Mochi donut it is.”

“Donuts sound good.”

“Got it.” We said our goodbyes and I waited for him to ping the wi-fi, approved his access, and then stuffed my phone in my pocket, adding a couple more donuts to my tray. Wow, there was a lot of food.

“Your brother doing okay?” Angel asked.

“It’s his first day of freedom,” I said, remembering what it felt like to be out from under my parents’ rules and abuse. “He’s still finding his feet, trying to determine if it’s real or another cage.”

Angel paused, his gaze falling on me with a touch of sadness. “I’m glad he has you.”

“I turned out okay,” I proclaimed. “Hopefully, I don’t fuck the kid up too much.”

“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Angel said. He held up the tray. “Anything I missed?”

“It’s so much food.” But I couldn’t wait to taste it all. “I should get something for Nikki.”

“Who’s Nikki?”

“Best friend. She lives across the hall. I’ve known her since college. I attended a police academy right next to her art college.” I added a slice of mango cloud cake for her and followed Angel up toward the register.

“An unlikely pair,” Angel said.

“We have similar taste in music, books, and art. Or, at least, we do now. She introduced me to the whole world of anime after I caught a glimpse of her sketching outside the college one day while on a break from class. Got to talking, and boom, BFFs.”

“That’s great. Even more that you’re still close.” He hesitated a heartbeat. Two youngish women worked the counter, bagging up orders and ringing them through the register. They looked likepolar opposites; one very blond and tall enough to make me think of a Valkyrie from Norse folklore, and the other dark and goth, with black hair, pale skin, and blood-red lipstick. Both were beautiful women with curves and confidence, but the air around them rippled with a strange crackling of mixing smoke, some white and some black.

Angel nudged me. “Best behavior,” he said.

“Huh?”

He set our tray down on the counter and the blond woman picked it up, bagging each item. “Hello, Angel,” she said, her voice deep, but soothing.

“Who’s your friend?” The dark one asked, her gaze on my armband. Was she a demon? I silently cursed and wished again I could hide the band or tone down its brightness.

“This is Jude, my new partner at SED,” Angel said. “Jude, this is Gwen.” He motioned to the blonde. “And Lilith.” He nodded his head to the other woman. “They run the shop sometimes.”