The Quest (22 page)

“Looks like a big storm is coming.” Jonas stood next to me, his attention directed upward.

“I hope it waits until after you drop me off at work. I don’t want to walk in dripping wet.” I’d changed into my work clothes before leaving the house in case we ran out of time visiting the clan leader. A good move on my part considering it took twenty minutes to reach the home. By my estimate, it would take Jonas a good fifteen minutes to get me to the capital. That left us with a little less than an hour.

“I suggest we hurry up here if you plan to stay dry.”

Taking the cue, I headed for the shabby house with gray vinyl and dark green shutters. The heels of my boots clacked on the broken sidewalk. Patches of grass poked through the cracks while weeds lined up in a row along the edges of the sidewalk. Side by side, we walked up the paved driveway.

“Do you have a gun?” I asked as we stepped onto a smaller sidewalk.

“Don’t need one.”

Jonas might trust a warlock, but I didn’t. If anything happened, at least I had my dagger inside my boot.

We stepped onto the front porch and came to a halt in front of the door. Jonas reached to push the button on the side but stopped when the door suddenly opened. An old man with thinning white hair, a round face and thick lenses greeted us. For some reason, he reminded me of Zachary, the old man that relieved me at work every night.

“Come in, come in,” he said with his arm outstretched. “Walk straight into the kitchen. Turn right into the laundry room and you’ll see an open door. Take the stairs to the basement. I’ll be there in a minute,” the old man said.

Jonas went inside first, and I followed. We passed through a small living area filled with furniture and a mammoth amount of magazines stacked in piles on the floor near the television. The house smelled old with scents of mildew, paper and popcorn. Popcorn? When we reached the kitchen, I spotted an Uncle Willies Popcorn bag and empty bottles of Dr. Pepper on the counter near the microwave. Upon seeing the bottles, I again thought of Zachary.

Following the old man’s instructions, we walked into the laundry room. The open door was right in front of us. A light on the side of the wall lit up the stairwell. Looking down, the stairs appeared steeper than the ones at Boss’s house.

Boss appeared at the bottom of the steps. “Are you coming?” Impatience was evident in his tone.

Jones passed me, then descended the stairs. I followed him with my hand hovering above the rail. Falling down the staircase earlier at Boss’s house had left a bad memory. If possible, I wanted to avoid such an incident again.

The temperature dropped as I strolled down the steps. A strong scent of damp wood, paper and chemicals drifted in the air. Each wall had shelves with books filling each shelf. Two tall tables stood in the center of the room. A microscope, a small burner and a beaker containing a red fluid looking similar to blood sat on top of one table. Boss stopped at the other table, took a seat on a stool and faced the computer monitor.

“What’s going on?” Jonas asked as he strode toward Boss.

I stopped a few feet away and looked down. More stacks of papers and magazines leaned against shelves. Either this warlock was a pack rat or he had a fetish for literature in all forms.

“We’ll wait for Zander to return,” Boss said as he picked up a pen, then jotted something in a notebook.

Jonas redirected his attention toward me. As if he sensed my discomfort in the warlock’s home, Jonas offered me a warm smile. The small gesture helped ease my apprehension.

“Have you met this leader before?” I asked softly.

“No, we never have problems with warlocks. The most contact we have is over the telephone.”

The taps of shoes on the stairs captured our attention. The old man who’d answered the door carried a large bowl in his arm as he came down the steps. Looking closer at him, I noticed he had a curvature in his upper back. Zachary had a similar trait. Were the two men related?

He stepped between Jonas and me and placed the bowl on the table. “Popcorn? Or a drink? I have Dr. Pepper in the refrigerator.” He pointed to the farthest corner. Mountains of papers and magazines nearly hid a mini fridge.

“I’m fine, thank you,” I said.

He pushed the center of his glasses further up his nose. “A woman with manners is difficult to find these days.” A slight smile formed on his lips.

I held out my hand. “Shelley Baxter.”

He looked at my hand before he took it into his. “Zander Nolan, clan leader.”

As he shook my hand, an uneasy feeling moved slowly along my skin. I looked down, wondering if bugs had somehow landed on me.

“It’s all right. Nothing to be afraid of,” Zander said as the invisible critters worked their way up my arm.

“What’s going on?” Jonas said, peering over the warlock’s shoulder.

“I, uh…” The bizarre sensation spread up to my head. I twisted my neck, trying to ease the feeling.

“Relax,” Zander said.

While my skin twitched and insides started to tickle, I stared past Zander’s glasses. He had one brown eye and one green. His lips moved, but I didn’t hear anything except a small buzzing in my ear. Again, I shifted my head. The wisps and buzzes grew louder. Feeling as if bugs were swarming around and crawling on me, I swallowed hard and closed my eyes. The critters weren’t real, but my imagination tried to make me think they were. I clenched my teeth as the sound overpowered my eardrums. Then, as if my eardrums had burst, the painful noise disappeared.

Zander let go of my hand and I opened my eyes. “I’m sorry, I’ve never met anyone who took the potion. I wanted to see if it worked as well as I had read.”

I took in a deep breath, trying to calm my fast heart. “And?”

“Sorry, the books were right.”

As he moved to the other side of Boss, Jonas stepped closer to me. His gaze drifted to my hand. I shook it violently as if I’d burned it.

“You all right?” Jonas asked.

“Sure.” I held my hand up and studied it. Of course it looked unchanged. I flashed my palm to him. “See. Nothing.” But it sure felt like a million spiders had walked on me.

“Find anything new?” Zander asked Boss.

Boss slapped the pen on the paper. “Not a damn thing. Martin has encrypted every single file.”

“Martin?” I asked and came around Jonas. “The councilman?”

Boss faced me and gave a nod. “He has the ingredients that can counteract the potion you took.”

“You found a way to get my memories back?” The excitement in my tone was unmistakable.

“Zander read about a remedy in his youth. After he became clan leader, he studied the files in the council’s database. He recalled stumbling upon the concoction. I’ve spent the last four hours trying to find it and every fucking record is encrypted by Martin.”

My hope for getting back my memories deflated fast. I crossed my arms. “I’m not surprised. This Martin signed off on all of the meetings involving Project E. I have to say, I seriously lack credibility in the councilman.”

Boss’s brows drew together while the area around his eyes tightened. “Project E?”

“What is this project?” Zander asked.

I informed them about the documents I found and the information Tom and Jackson uncovered from their research regarding the project. After I mentioned Martin’s initials on every record of the meetings, a soft shade of pink appeared on Boss’s face. By the time I finished explaining the project, he looked ready to kill.

“Well, this is a new development,” Zander said, and he pushed his glasses up his nose again.

Boss stepped away from us and began pacing the room with his hands threaded in his hair. “I don’t fucking believe this. All this time he…”

Martin knew about my creation. He worked with Galluzzi. He hid everything from the other council members. Or did he?

Boss stopped and lowered his arms. His back faced us, and he balled his hands tightly at his sides. “Fuck!”

The loud curse caused me to flinch. Maybe he’d heard my thoughts. Sometimes I voiced them loudly in my head.

“Did you tell Martin anything about me?” I stepped closer to Boss, but kept a distance.

“No, but he will figure out what is going on soon enough.” He held his head at angle pointing down. “I’ve never felt so betrayed in all the years I have walked this Earth.”

Jonas took a few steps past me. “Were you logged in under your name?”

Boss turned his head slightly, but not enough for us to see his face. “No.”

“I logged into the system,” Zander said from behind us.

I took a step to the side. The old man stood in front of the monitor, typing.

“As far as the council is concerned, I was the one looking for information,” Zander said.

“Why does it matter who logged into the system?” I asked.

“Because it records every time the person logged in and clicks on a page, file or document,” Jonas replied.

“It looks better if a warlock is digging around in a warlock’s folders than a vampire.”

“Exactly.” He grinned.

Boss stepped closer to Jonas and me. The large centers of his eyes looked as black as coal. “Martin is smart. It won’t take him much time to figure out where you are since you’re registered in the demon database, and someone from Indianapolis just tried to access his files.”

My stomach knotted and I started to feel queasy. I had enough demons wanting me dead. I didn’t need to add a warlock to the list.

“I suggest you break off your contact with the council for the time being,” Zander said. “If Martin contacts me, I can stall him. But if he shows up…”

“I don’t expect you to withhold information,” Boss said in calmer tone.

The old man reached for the bowl on the table and grabbed a handful of popcorn. “Consider this, if you can prove his involvement with her memory loss, the council can force Martin to supply you with the antidote.” He shoved the fluffy kernels into his mouth.

“They will have to make him pay reparations,” Jonas said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m willing to bet they will expel him from the council too.”

After hearing Jonas’s words, I gained a clear understanding of why Martin might want to shut me up. The council would reprimand him, and he’d lose his high and mighty spot. While I wanted the formula to the potion to bring my memories back, I didn’t want to die for it. Since I had survived the last six weeks without out my past memories, I felt certain I could go on without them.

Zander continued to munch on the popcorn. The warlock clan leader amazed me the way he acted so calm and casual.

I shifted my gaze to Boss. “Do you think Martin will stop in Indy for a visit?”

He tucked his hands into the front pockets of his dark pants. “With the Arturo missing, he may have to remain at the council’s headquarters in Europe.”

Maybe I’d catch a break this time if Martin stayed in Europe. Maybe Boss would too.

Crazy thoughts popped into my head. What if Martin had someone get rid of the vampire councilman? What if Martin planned to destroy Boss? He had offered Boss the councilman position or to lead the investigation for Arturo. Did he have secret plans for Boss? I didn’t know this warlock councilman, nor had I ever met him that I remembered, but instinct warned me the man couldn’t be trusted.

“I’m glad you declined filling in for Arturo,” I said.

“He asked you to replace the vampire councilman?” Jonas asked in higher than normal tone.

“Temporarily,” Boss replied. “I said I wasn’t interested. And then he offered me to take the lead in Arturo’s investigation.”

“He could’ve been trying to set you up,” I said.

“Mm…” Zander mumbled. “I’ve never heard of an investigator taking over for a councilman, even if it was only temporary.”

Boss’s gaze darted to Zander.

“Is he right about that?” I asked. Since Boss had survived fourteen hundred years, wouldn’t he know more about replacements than a warlock would?

“Shit.” Boss lowered his gaze as he shook his head. “I should’ve picked up on that.”

Was Boss losing his investigative touch? The minor oversight could’ve cost him his life. Rushing out of the house before dawn could’ve seriously injured him too. He could withstand some daylight, but the rays would’ve injured him. Why would he put himself at risk? Why couldn’t he wait until the next night?

“Why did you leave this morning to come here?” I asked, holding my arms across my chest.

Boss lifted his eyes. “I had sent Zander a message earlier in the night, asking if he knew of any remedy to bring back memories. His response came after we arrived at the house. I had to see him and find out if we could make the potion.”

The stirring in my belly returned as I began to realize my suspicion was accurate. “You couldn’t call him or wait to see him the next night?”

“I didn’t want to wait. If he had a way to bring your memories back, I wanted to know about it. I wanted you–”

I held a hand up in a stopping motion and took a step to his side. “You risked time in the sun for me.”

“My choice, Shelley.” His tone held a hint of irritation.

“Yeah, well that is two times you put your life at risk for me. Two times too many. I understand you want to help and protect me, but…”

“But what?” he asked.

I don’t want you to get hurt. I think you are losing focus on our task, which is to find evidence to convict Galluzzi.

He shook his head. “Incredible. I do something that might bring your memories back and you complain that I’m not focusing on Galluzzi’s investigation. Excuse me for wanting to help
you
.”

A sudden rush within my veins raised my body temperature so fast I thought I’d stepped into a sauna. Wanting to help me was one thing, which I appreciated, but we had higher priorities. Why the hell couldn’t he have waited to look into getting my memories back? Didn’t he want to concentrate on the investigation above all else?

Grinding my teeth, I took a step back. Venting my frustration wouldn’t solve anything. Maybe it was time I put distance between Jonas and Boss so we could each focus on Galluzzi’s investigation. We had a deadline to meet if we were going to succeed in convicting her. I needed all the help I could get and all attention solely on getting evidence. Anything else would have to wait. But how could I make them understand?