Hunter Moon (The Moon Series) (21 page)

“I’m her boyfriend,” Finn added helpfully. Cormac wanted to smack him upside the head but thought now was not the best time.

Kess nodded like Finn was a special needs kid she was humoring, then continued. “We would really like to help you as to Laila’s whereabouts, but we don’t know ourselves. She’s become pretty erratic since the death of her brother. But we’ll be happy to help you find her in any way we can.”

“Hey!” Finn said, whipping his head around. Cormac glared at him, and Finn subsided into a pout.

“Anyway,” Kess said, “That’s all we’ve got on Laila.” She dropped her other foot to the floor, absently rubbing at a tender spot on her leg.

Sebastian was quiet a moment, as if weighing her words. Then, very quietly, he answered, “Bullshit.”

Kess didn’t even blink. Her smile became just a fraction of an inch wider though. Cormac wondered what she was up to, but he’d possibly never wanted to kiss her more than he did right then. “Pardon?” Kess said.

“You have no idea where Laila is?” Sebastian gestured at Finn. “Even her own boyfriend doesn’t know? Forgive me, but I call bullshit on that.”

Kess pushed herself to her feet, wobbling only a little. “Call whatever you like on it. It’s the truth. We don’t know where Laila is staying.”

“And you don’t have any way of getting in touch with her?” He shook his head in disbelief.

“Oh, we can leave her messages all day long,” Kess clarified. “That doesn’t mean that she actually picks up. Or even that she has that phone number anymore.” She smiled sweetly. “And with someone hunting weres in my city, I thought I’d focus on the larger threat.”

Sebastian stared at her, unfolding his arms and stepping forward to loom over Kess in a dominance move. Kess stared back, a bored expression on her face. Cormac grinned—it was the same expression he’d seen on the faces of housecats. He wondered if Sebastian recognized it as well.

Finally, the werejackal looked away with a rueful grin. “Seems I may have underestimated you.”

Kess said nothing, just continued to stare at him without expression. After a few moments, she spoke. “As I said, I’m happy to help where I can, but the hunter has to be my first priority. However, if you need anything, do not hesitate to let me know.”

Clearly she was dismissing him. Sebastian was smart enough to know it, and he inclined his head in Kess’ direction. “I’ll be in touch. Count on it.” Cormac opened the library door in preparation of his exit. “I’ll see myself out.”

“Like hell,” Cormac muttered under his breath, then followed the Anubis Knight out of the room.

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When Cormac returned from seeing Sebastian out—which included watching the man leave, then doing several perimeter sweeps—Kess was moving a bit more easily around the room. She and Finn seemed to be in the midst of an argument. They stopped when he entered.

“Well, that was fun,” Finn said drily.

“Mind telling me exactly what happened in that parking garage?” Cormac tried to keep the anger from his voice, and he thought he was mostly successful.

Kess didn’t seem to agree, if the look she gave him was any indication. “He came up behind me, I threw a punch at his head, he did something weird to my pressure points and then I couldn’t move.” She ran a hand through her long, dark hair, pulling it back in a ponytail and securing it with the elastic band she always wore around her wrist lately. “He only told me who he was after I started yelling for help.”

“What are we going to do about Laila?” Finn interrupted.

Cormac bit back a snarl. He wasn’t done talking about Kess and her run-in with Sebastian, but Finn had neatly derailed the topic. Kess had already turned to answer.

“Exactly what I said we’d do.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “We don’t know where Laila is staying, we know she’s not answering her messages from us. And she’s not been in contact with you, Finn, in well over a week. We’ve given Sebastian all of the information that we have. The rest is up to him.”

Finn glowered. “We’re not even going to warn her?”

Cormac spoke up. “She probably already knows.”

Kess nodded. “Why do you think she hasn’t been in contact with us? She had to at least suspect that Keepers might send someone to retrieve her, even if she had our permission to stay in town. Rather than make us complicit, she’s trying to keep us out of it as much as possible.”

Finn looked thoughtful. Cormac went over and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Of all people, you know that Laila can take care of herself.”

“I don’t have to like it,” his cousin muttered. “I mean, who knows what this Sebastian guy is capable of.” When Kess raised her hand, Finn grouched, “You know what I mean.”

“I do.” Kess smiled slightly. “This just pushes us to find and deal with Lukas quickly. Then Laila can leave with Sebastian before she gets into any more trouble.” Her eyes went distant for a minute, then she frowned.

Cormac knew that look. “You just thought of something.”

Kess nodded slowly. “We need to find Lukas quickly because of Sebastian. He’s probably going to figure out that if he finds Lukas, he’ll find Laila.”

“So our timetable just got moved up.” Cormac tried to keep the worry from his voice.

“How though?” Finn spread his hands. “We’re letting Lukas call the shots, so he’s controlling our timing.”

“Then we’ve got to make him speed it up,” Cormac said, an idea running through his head. He hadn’t worked out everything yet, but he thought he had a way to make the hunter jump. “He wants Kess right?” At everyone’s nod, he grinned. “What if we force him to act? Give him an opportunity he has no choice but to take?”

“Oh goody,” Kess said. “I adore being bait.” But she smiled when she said it.

Cormac walked over to her, tucking Kess beneath his arm. He held her close, inhaling the unique sent that was all her. The sunshine scent of her was stronger, as if being in Miami had baked the sun further into her bones. It was intoxicating to him. He felt her snuggle against him and realized how much he missed the feel of her in his arms.

“You’re going to have to start making preparations to leave town,” he whispered in her ear.

“Are you spiriting me away on a romantic vacation?” she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

“Mmmm hmmmm,” he answered. “Right after we try and get him to kill you.”

“You say the sweetest things.” Kess leaned up and kissed him.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Laila dodged the herds of people flying into and out of Miami International Airport, looking for a quiet place to try and call Master Toshi. She’d given her master a few days to do some digging on Zamiel, reining in her natural impatience to give him the time he needed. She tucked the SIM card back into her phone and powered it up, eyes alert for signs of pursuit.

She chose MIA for the ability to blend in. Laila was wary now, especially since she’d already used the phone once. Her parents or the Keepers could be tracking her mobile and now that it was on and traceable, she might not have much time. Another reason she chose MIA: a lot of exits. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but she was hedging her bets.

Laila dialed the number for Master Toshi’s studio. He picked up after only two rings. He must have been sitting at his desk, waiting for her phone call. “Hello, Master Toshi.”

“Laila. How are you doing?” His voice was calm and serene. He didn’t sound hurried or harried, just peaceful.

Laila knew she would never sound like that. She wasn’t even interested in trying. “Things are okay.” She waited a beat then asked what she was really wanting to know. “Did you find out anything?”

She heard the kitsune huff, making a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. “Yes.”

It took her a few seconds to realize the fox spirit wanted her to prompt him. She tried not to roll her eyes, especially since Master Toshi would probably know if she did it and deliver some kind of telephonic slap to the head. “And?”

“Zamiel is indeed a demonic entity. He is most famous for making deals. The tale I told you of has a grain of truth in it. ”

“What kind of deals?” Laila was having a hard time reconciling this information in her head. Who would want to make a deal with the devil? “And what does it cost them?”

“Zamiel doesn’t limit himself—he’ll make any kind of deal so long as there is something in it for him.” Toshi’s voice took on a disapproving tone. “But there is something else you should be wary of…”

Laila broke in, wanting to ask her question before they got too far off-topic. “What’s usually in it for him? How do these people pay?”

Toshi sighed wearily, as if this very conversation tired him. “With their lives. And their souls.”

Laila nodded. Sounded about right. What would a demon need with gold or jewels or stocks anyway? She began to walk again, losing herself in a large group of people heading toward baggage claim. “You said there’s something else I need to worry about?”

Her master’s voice was tense with warning. “Zamiel is a collector, Laila. He likes to find interesting things—people—and make them his own. He is not above being ruthless to secure the object in question, even if it is a person.” There was a pause on the other end of the line, then Toshi spoke once more. “Has he expressed anything like interest in you? Does he seem curious about you?”

Laila saw that the crowd was thinning, dispersing to the various baggage conveyors to wait on their luggage. She needed to move again, and to cut this short. They would have traced her signal by now; a retrieval team could very well be on its way to her at this moment.

With a distracted air, she answered him. “No, not especially.” She wouldn’t tell Toshi that Zamiel knew her name, and she definitely wasn’t going to tell him he offered his services to her. No sense in worrying the kitsune when there was nothing he could do about it. She’d be careful of Zamiel now that she knew what he was up to.

“I’ve got to go, Master Toshi. Thank you for the information.” She began to hurry toward the cab stands just outside of the baggage claim area.

“Do not forget, Laila. This Zamiel is famed in lore for his bullets. They never miss. But he always controls the last one. If he decides to aim for you….”

“He won’t.” Laila couldn’t say how she knew that for sure, but she knew that Zamiel wouldn’t use one of his precious bullets on her. “But Lukas controls where all of the other bullets go, right? That’s the deal?”

“Yes.” Master Toshi breathed in, letting it out slowly. Finally he said, “Be careful, Laila. You are a bright student. I look forward to continuing our lessons.”

She stopped dead and stared at her phone. Was that a compliment? Laila shook her head as if clearing water from her ears. She couldn’t have heard that right. Master Toshi had always praised Mebis to the heavens; he reserved his criticisms for her. What was going on with him?

“I’ll be careful.” She hung up the phone, removed the SIM card and powered it down, then removed the battery just to be sure. When it was back in her pocket, Laila scooted outside to grab a cab.

Once she was safely inside, she tried to make sense of everything Toshi had said to her. So this Lukas Jaegar had made a deal somehow. It wasn’t surprising and it would certainly explain how he was able to hunt weres if he were operating under the auspice of an infernal deal. Laila debated about calling on Zamiel, to try and pick his brain of what exactly Lukas Jaegar had requested and how, but Toshi’s admonition came back to her.

The demon did seem to find her fascinating. The thought made her skin go clammy. She had no intention of winding up in some demon’s trophy case. Laila knew she should be very careful around Zamiel. Especially if she planned to kill him.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Kess got to the café about ten minutes early. She could have sworn she saw Sebastian pass by, and had to fight down a grin. Laila was out there somewhere, possibly very close by, but Sebastian hadn’t caught her yet. If he thought that Kess was going to lead him to the rogue werejackal, he truly didn’t understand the interpersonal dynamics at play. Good.

She was meeting Lukas for a cup of coffee. It was mid-morning and the café was on a busy street, so Kess wasn’t worried he’d be able to do anything to her, and she certainly had no plans to go full-on-leopard right in the middle of downtown Miami. She was safe enough here. This little excursion was designed to put phase one of Cormac’s plan into play.

Kess ordered a cup of tea and sat with her back to the wall, facing the door. It gave her a broad field of vision with the added bonus that no one could sneak up behind her. With two werejackal assassins running around and one demented werebeast hunter, Kess thought that it didn’t hurt to be careful. She took a tentative sip of her tea, added more honey, then settled in to wait.

Lukas walked through the door right on time. Kess idly wondered how he managed that; did he wait around outside until his watch read the appointed time? Was he just naturally punctual? Did he have some supernatural timekeeping ability? Nothing would surprise her at this point.