“They only started taking Nefesh a few months before I showed up.”
Chariot initially had been abducting Mundane kids as well, to test out giving them magic abilities. When that didn’t work, they gave up that pursuit, and by the time Yevgeny Petrov used all-ages parties to lure kids in, Chariot was only kidnapping Nefesh.
“Do you remember the name of the Church behind it?”
Meryem laughed. “Nah. We called it His Divine Spit. Something like that.” A bell rang on her side of the phone. “Gotta go.”
“Thanks.” I tossed the cell on my desk. “Get this. The shelter used to be Mundane only, but it had a policy change a few months ago.”
Priya slammed the file folder onto the desk. “Right around the time these Nefesh kids started going missing?”
“It wasn’t a bad plan. Those kids are pretty transient. Get this one youth shelter that stands out from the rest, funnel Nefesh kids through there who no one is going to be looking for, and give Yevgeny the heads-up on which ones to target. The million-dollar question is whether Jackson knew this was happening. If he did, he was an accessory to Chariot ripping away their magic. That’s heinous.”
“It’s also in line with Jackson’s ideology,” Priya said.
His Divine Spit—or as it was actually called, His Divine Spirit—had no website or other common social media profiles, but it did have a Yelp presence with a handful of reviews. People had to give their opinion on everything: annoying as fuck as a cultural tendency, but handy in my line of work. There were a few positive ones, but I jumped to the negative assessments. The most generous one called them “a lunatic Doomsday cult,” followed closely by “an evangelical pimple on the backside of God’s beautiful earth.” My favorite was the most succinct: “hardcore.”
I called their number, only to reach a voice mail listing the time of the Sunday service. True believers were welcome. I was Jewish, with magic bestowed upon me by the much-despised Bride of Yahweh. It would be a miracle if I didn’t burst into flames when I crossed the church’s threshold. I marked the service time down in my calendar, but there was no harm in casing the joint beforehand.
The church was located about ninety minutes outside Vancouver in the Fraser Valley, an area known as “the Bible belt.” I pulled into the lot next to a roofing truck and found ladders resting up against the modest clapboard building. Workers lay a blue plastic membrane over the front half of the roof, while others nailed down new tiles in neat rows along the back section.
The foreman didn’t know much about the congregation and neither the Pastor nor his secretary were around. That made it ideal to break in and snoop, but I couldn’t risk getting caught by one of the roofers. Any answers would have to wait until the Sunday service.
Priya guilted me hard when I arrived home to visit Gavriella’s grave with her. “Come on, Ash. This is important to Rafael and would show support when he’s really hurting. The cemetery isn’t open much longer because it’s Shabbat tonight, so it will be a quick visit.”
I’d built this visit up as some kind of harbinger of my own mortality, but I could put away this childish superstition and pay my respects. “Fine. I’ll go.”
Priya and I had just put Mrs. Hudson on Moriarty’s back seat when my phone rang with an unfamiliar number.
“Hello?”
“Ash?” The woman on the other end was whispering. “It’s Nicola.”
I held up a hand for Priya to wait a moment. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you find the bamah?” Her anxiety spiked down the line. “I think Isaac knows where it is.”
Fuck. “Yes. Didn’t Levi tell you?”
“I am not speaking to my son any longer.” Her voice was firmer, louder.
Yes, she was. I’d been there for the reconciliation, so Isaac must have been in earshot.
“When can we meet?” she whispered.
Extracting Nicola was a top priority, but it couldn’t be done in haste. If all went well, Arkady was retrieving the amulet as we spoke. Fingers crossed that he wouldn’t be too late. Meantime, Levi and I could meet and formulate a plan for Nicola’s safety, including how to make sure she wasn’t fleeing with the clothes on her back and an angry and dangerous husband on her heels.
“This weekend, I promise. Meantime, are you safe? Cough if you’re not.”
There was silence. Okay.
“It’s better if Levi contacts you,” I said, “so answer his calls.”
“Yes. Grazie.”
“Don’t mention it.” I frowned at the phone when she disconnected.
Priya leaned against the hood of the car. “You think her situation has escalated?”
“Hers or mine.” I sent Levi a quick text about the call and how retrieving the Kiss of Death had gone to code red urgent.
He responded when we were on the road, so Priya read the text for me. Since the Transporter had been severely depleted by our Australia mission, Levi had sent Arkady on the jet, along with three other operatives as back-up.
“He what?” I slammed on the brakes at a red light.
Priya chuckled. “Levi said that they only know it’s a retrieval mission, not what the item in question is, so calm down.”
“I’m always calm.”
“Uh-huh. Apparently the team went dark once they landed and the earliest they’ll be back is tomorrow.”
My fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “I should have gone with them.”
“You were following up on Olivia’s insurance policy and there’s still the pressing matter of Rafael.” Priya switched the radio station from hard rock to top forty, tapping her foot along with the fast beat.
“Not to mention stopping dear old Granddad from blackmailing my mother.”
“See? A full calendar.”
We hit the turn-off for the Jewish cemetery. There was little traffic on the winding road up to the gates and plenty of parking next to the small funeral chapel. Low gravestones dotted the large property and neat hedges were interspersed along the rows of graves, none of which had flowers.
Flowers weren’t part of the Jewish tradition, though a number of them had small rocks on the headstones. I’d heard a lot of different explanations for why we did this, but I liked the one that my Zaide—Talia’s dad—had shared with me. We placed a modest stone on our loved one’s grave to tell them that even though they were gone, the impact that they had on us was everlasting. It was certainly true of me and Gavriella.
Mrs. Hudson cocked her head at us, sitting obediently on the ground and waiting for direction.
“Do you mind if we go see my grandparents first?” I said.
“Not at all.” Priya followed me to a back corner where Talia’s parents were buried, hanging back with the puppy to give me some privacy.
I hadn’t been here in years, but I didn’t feel guilty about it. I had my memories of them, and these graves held no emotional connection. Still, I knelt down and kissed my fingertips, pressing them to the headstones that were flush with the lawn, before laying a small rock on each. “Hi, Bubbe. Hi, Zaide.”
What would they have made of me being a Jezebel? Horrified? Happy that I found some link to my Jewish heritage, even if it was this?
“Guess what? I actually dated a Jewish guy.” For all of five minutes, but why disturb their peace? “You remember Levi, right? It’s over now, but you always despaired that I’d never date inside the tribe, so there’s that.”
I glanced over at one of the few other visitors here tonight: an old woman seated on a bench, chatting away happily to whomever she’d come to visit. Funny, I felt like a fool standing here talking to empty air. “Anyway, Mom’s… Mom.”
I could hear my Bubbe laughing at the answer that I’d given her so many times. “Hey. Priya’s here.” I motioned her over to say hello.
“Hi Chava, Saul.” She ruffled my hair. “Your grandkid remains a pain in the ass, but she mostly grew up okay, so don’t worry about her.”
I turned away to dab at the moistu
re in my eyes. Stupid pollen. “We have to visit someone else before the place closes, so I’m going to say bye now. I love you both.”
We headed across the cement roads that crisscrossed the cemetery, Priya marking off under her breath whatever landmarks Rafael had given her as guides. “Crooked tree, directly east of the hand washing fountain…” She slowed down, peering at each headstone. “Chaikin, Abelman, Zlotnik… here it is.”
Priya stopped next to an unmarked grave close to the parking lot. Gavriella wouldn’t get a headstone until Yahrzeit, the one year anniversary of her passing.
A cloud passed in front of the sun and the temperature dipped. I rolled down the sleeves of my hoodie, looking around for anyone suspicious. All was normal; I forced my paranoia down.
Priya and I placed rocks on the grass, avoiding stepping on Gavriella’s neighbor’s head, since the graves were really close together in this section. Priya conveyed a short message from Rafael about how sorry he was that he couldn’t be here himself and that Gavriella shouldn’t worry, Ash and he had things in hand.
I snorted at that whopper, watching Mrs. Hudson chase a butterfly in circles.
Priya elbowed me. “Say something.”
“I…” A torrent of words rushed up to clog my throat and my grip on the leash slackened. Mrs. Hudson bolted, running away as fast as her chubby legs would take her, the leash trailing on the ground.
I dashed after her, passing an old man sitting on a bench by the hand washing station.
Dressed casually in slacks and a blazer, he wore a dark hat on his white hair, while his hands rested on top of a wooden cane. He stepped on the leash, effectively trapping my dog, who landed on her rump with a startled yip.
“You should keep better hold on your animal.” His voice had a trace of an Eastern European accent, sending me straight back to my teen years and the sound of my Zaide and his friends arguing in a mix of English, Russian, and Yiddish over card games. “This is a sacred ground, not a park.”
Mrs. Hudson hadn’t been hurt, but what an asshole. I bent down and tugged on the leash until he lifted his foot.
I curled the leather around my fist and picked up my puppy, cradling her close. “No harm done.”
“No?” His eyes spat hate before he wrestled it down under a bland expression. “Keep a better eye on him next time.”
Unsettled by his reaction, I didn’t bother to correct his gendered assumption.
Priya caught up to us, throwing a wide smile at the stranger. “We’re sorry. Still training her.”
That smile had gotten us out of parking tickets, being grounded, and on one very memorable Vegas trip, resulted in an upgrade to first class. It radiated out towards the old man.
He rose stiffly, shot me one last penetrating look, and knocked Priya aside with his cane to push past us.
Unhurt but upset, my friend gaped, her brows creased at his behavior.
Thrusting Mrs. Hudson into Pri’s arms, I followed him to a car parked near mine. “The puppy didn’t know any better. You do. You didn’t need to treat my friend like that.”
“T’as du front de me parler comme ça.” He shut the door and drove off.
I didn’t need to speak French to recognize an insult. My eyes widened and I scrambled for my phone to snap a photo of the license plate.
“What a grump,” Priya said. “Are we going back to Gavriella?”
I zoomed in on the picture and swore faintly at the sticker on the back bumper. “It was a rental.”
“So?”
I swallowed, trying to find my voice. How did I know this with such clarity? I didn’t, but some things just made too much sense not to see. “I think that was my grandfather.”
Chapter 21
On the Go car rentals had three branches in Metro Vancouver and a handy central database with lax security. Priya had a name for the man from the cemetery before we’d finished breakfast on Saturday morning, along with the hotel he’d written down as his residence while in town.
The message to Talia had been delivered last Thursday with a deadline of tomorrow, June fourteenth. I’d faced worse. If Nathan was here, it implied that he’d come seeking a front row seat to her resignation.
The video wasn’t conclusive proof of my magic. However, proof or not, it would be ammunition for Talia’s enemies. The Nefesh police might decide to take an interest as well. Should that dickhead Staff Sergeant Novak push his way into every aspect of my life, he could complicate my Jezebel duties immensely. Or worse, find himself in Chariot’s crosshairs.
“David Wise.” I snorted at my grandfather’s potential alias. “You’ve got to be kidding. A king, he’s not.” I stifled a yawn, having spent the night stewing over all the things I wanted to say to him. But, hey, insomnia kept the nightmares away.
If this David was actually Nathan, he’d used me to blackmail my mother, and then snuck into my city and spied on me. Trying to see this from his point of view didn’t summon up any sympathy, because he and my grandmother could have had us in their lives if they hadn’t been so fanatical. They had no one to blame for driving Dad away but themselves.
If Adam hadn’t been estranged from them, would he have gotten lured into Isaac’s schemes? I’d never know. One thing I was sure of: if this was Nathan, there’d be no reasoning with him. His venom toward me yesterday had made that abundantly clear. Eh. Freaking him out was more fun anyway.
Priya had to get to work at House Pacifica, so I drove her, parting ways in the elevator when she got off on the sixth floor. Mrs. Hudson and I continued up to the seventh, strolling through the mostly empty Executive area.
“It’s Saturday. You are allowed to have a life,” I said.
Veronica didn’t even pause her typing. “He has a meeting.”
I smiled sunnily at her. “The only good thing about meetings is how reschedulable they are.”
“You’re not pulling him away to play spy or whatever it is you do.”
I went around the back of her desk.
“You can’t threaten me,” she said, her hands up.
“If I wanted to hurt you, you’d never see it coming. I need Levi for half an hour and look who would require babysitting in the meantime.” I nudged the puppy with my foot and she looked up with an adorable openness.
Veronica stared down at the pug, her expression going from soft to stony and… soft. Heh. Got her. “Half an hour or I swear I’ll have you arrested for disturbing the peace.”
I shoved the doggy bag of supplies at her, pulling Pinky out and tossing it onto the ground where Mrs. Hudson immediately began humping it. Veronica’s face went squelchy in disgust.
Today was shaping up to be a beautiful day.
I knocked on Levi’s door. “Guess who’s here to light up your life?”
“Caitlin?” He spun his desk chair around from its normal placement facing the window and blinked at me. “Oh. Hi.”
“Was that your ten o’clock, Leviticus? A booty call?” I’d run into Dr. Caitlin Ryan, a brilliant and beautiful woman, once when she’d been on a date with Levi. I leaned against his doorframe, unable to keep from staring at his desk, imagining him bending her over it late at night. He’d grip her waist, his skin hot on hers, and his body bowed to press his lips to the back of her neck. Then he’d thrust inside her roughly, pausing for a second for them to savor this connection, before slowly rolling his hips, sending shivers tumbling down to her toes.
I bit my lip.
A wicked grin slid across his face. “My ten o’clock was with my Head of Security and I’m not his type.” He was doing a very poor job of holding back his laughter.
“Asshole. You knew it was me.”
“Of course I did. You can put away the daggers now.”
I scowled down at the weapons I seemed to be white-knuckling. “The day is young and I like to keep my options open.”
His piratical smirk widened as he craned his neck to peer out to the reception area. “How did you get in here? Did you kill Veronica?�
�
“No.” I made the blades vanish and shut his office door. “I’m saving that for a special occasion. Thank me. I got you out of a very boring meeting to do fun illusion things.”
Levi tapped his pen against his thigh. “That’s quite the assumption.”
“That your meeting with Miles would be a yawn-fest? Nope. I’m speaking from experience.”
“That I’d be doing fun illusion things.”
“You get to Houdini me up as my dad to intimidate my grandfather to quit blackmailing my mom. He’s forcing her to resign from the party under the allegation that she’s been harboring a Rogue kid.” I threw jazz hands.
Levi stroked his chin. “Hmmm. Illusion you to look like your murdered father to browbeat and probably traumatize an old man into not striking a blow at an enemy of mine. I’m going along with this plan that holds absolutely no appeal for me, why?”
“Did you miss the Rogue part? He has video.”
“Yes, and from what I’ve heard, it doesn’t really show anything other than you assaulting me. Which, if we’re being honest, is par for the course for you.”
“Must you know everything?” When that earned me another grin, I flipped him off. “I’ll buy you a donut.” I tried not to gag at the thought, remembering Theresa’s head and how I’d thought her blood was jelly. I was never eating another one, but I wouldn’t ruin them for him.
Levi stalked toward me. “No deal.”
“No deal on the jelly? Do I even know you anymore?” I backed up all of one inch since I hadn’t moved and hit the door. Talk about poor space management on my part. “Name your price.”
In a feat of incredible control, I did not look at his full lips even once. The oaky amber scotch and chocolate scent of his magic shivered inside me and I pressed my hands flat behind me on the wood.
He was going to ban me from the angel feather and then I’d have to argue with him into getting my way. Because I would get my way on this; Rafael’s life was at stake.
Levi leaned an elbow against the doorframe, his bicep flexing. Arguing might not be so bad. “Destroy the amulet,” he said.
Revenge & Rapture: A Snarky Urban Fantasy Detective Series (The Jezebel Files Book 4) Page 20
