“So, you really think modern society will never shift enough to allow for the existence of a pedophile that isn’t considered evil?” Cora asked.
“In the same way there will never be someone who says they don’t like black people and isn’t racist. But there will always be someone who argues that they are different.”
By the look in their eyes—and vibrating pulse of the aura—I had exactly five minutes left in this session to get the information out of them before they walked out and never came back, disappearing completely from my practice. Barry confirmed that a moment later.
“I have to move my next appointment, Doctor Mederos. We’re going on a little vacation, get away from everything for a few days.”
“Oh? That sounds nice. Are we being smart about our location?”
“Of course.” Barry nodded. “It’s a friend’s estate. Secluded, quiet.”
“Somewhere interesting?”
“Just down in Delaware.”
Cora smiled and leaned into me. “We’re looking at buying a boat. It has such a fun name we couldn’t resist looking at it.” She giggled, totally overdoing this stupidity. “The Bigger Boat.”
I had to chuckle. “Does it come with Quinn and the Chief?”
“That’s what I said!” She giggled again. “He’s going to bring the boat by for us to check out.”
Barry smiled. “Being wealthy is awesome that we can get them to bring the boat to us. I’ve liked everything I’ve seen about it and I think we’ll probably buy it.”
I picked up my pen and scribbled a note on the paper. “You two are serious, if you’re talking about buying something together.”
They exchanged a look and it was not an innocent, sweet flirty one, and the aura flickered again.
It hit me like a brick. They were going to use the boat to transport the kids.
It took every ounce of my education and training and life lessons in sick shit people confessed to doing to not flick my eyes over to the camera that was mounted on the back of my computer screen. Just to make sure the microscopic little thing was there and working.
“We are serious,” Barry said.
Cora fluttered her eyes and smiled. “We are. He’s sweet. And I like everything about him. I’m more than willing to help him work with his issue, and we’re happy.”
I nodded, and sat back after dropping my pen on the desk again. “Excellent. Good. So, we’re canceling Friday’s appointment…would you like to keep next Tuesday’s?”
He glanced at Cora, and she gave him a quick nod, appropriate of nothing we had just said. It was her, let him think you’re coming back nod.
God, these trash humans were so fucking easy to read now that I knew what I was reading. Every single one of my patients now was going to have to pass a test.
“Yes,” Barry said. “I think we should be back by then.”
The black aura flashed so hard, the only way it would be more obvious he was lying was if a sign appeared above his head that said, “Liar.”
I scribbled the time and date down on the card and slid it over to them. “Cora, thank you for coming. I’m pleased to meet you and pleased you’re such a good influence on Barry. He deserves some happiness.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” She smiled and took the card and stood. “Let’s go?”
“Absolutely.” He smiled up at her and stood. I showed them to the office door, and then to the front door.
To add a convincing touch to the charade, they held hands while they walked to the car in the driveway. I clicked the door shut and heard shuffling behind me.
“I swear to God,” I screamed over my shoulder at the stairs, “if you come down those stairs before I say so, I will break all of your legs!”
Watching out the fully glass paneled storm door, the two of them climbed into the car they brought, and gave each other a quick kiss once they were buckled in. The black aura winked and danced around them, flagging me down that this was also a lie. It took Barry a long minute to back out of the driveway, adjusting the mirrors. He’d never driven that car until today, just based on that alone.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the cute little silver coupe disappeared down the street and out of sight. Closing the inner door, I counted to ten, and finally yelled up the all-clear.
An entire herd of elephants stomped down the stairs, followed by one very composed and occupied police detective.
“You didn’t get it!” Fischer said. “They’re never coming back!”
I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Lily who was just getting off the phone. “Got it?”
“Delaware Staties, FBI, and the fucking Coast Guard, baby.” Lily grinned. “We’ll have the address in about an hour, once the Vice Admiral gets back to me.”
“How do you know a Vice Admiral?” Fischer asked.
“Wait, he didn’t tell us anything,” Lincoln said.
“Oh, boys.” Wren sighed. “So silly. They gave us everything. The name of the boat they are going to see in Delaware and that the captain is bringing it in for them. Which gives us exact coordinates on where the dock is at the estate they were talking about.”
I grinned. “And I’d put real money on that being Sansom’s place.”
“The car is going to be abandoned just about a mile down the road,” Lily said. “They’ll have their own vehicle stashed.” She looked at me. “Do you think they’ll drive straight there?”
“No,” I answered. “They’ll probably have…something they need to bring. Equipment, another kid. They’re really horrible people.”
“Noticed,” Lincoln said.
“You saw the black glowing shit?”
Fischer and Lincoln nodded, and Fischer went on, “Oh yeah. Even through the screen. There was no way to miss that. They were hard to look at when they first got here.”
“Had to shut off the Sin-O-Vision,” Lincoln grumbled.
Lily burst out laughing. “The what?”
“Well what the hell can I call it? Magical Evil Vision? Your Soul Is Naked Vision?”
Chuckling, I pulled Lincoln over to me by his belt loop, and dropped a quick kiss on his lips. “Sin-O-Vision?”
“Fuck off, the lot of you,” he stated. “My brilliance lies in numbers and money, not witty repartee. Sin-O-Vision is about as good as I get.”
Lily looked at her phone. “So, it’s going to take me a bit to get this task force rolling, but I think we can get down there in about twelve hours for a nice nighttime raid. Oh, shit, I didn’t see—did you give her the card, Bastian?”
I smiled. “Of course.”
Lily fist pumped. “Yes. Excellent. I’ll have my IT guy get on that before we even get going. We may well end up busting the Pipeline completely in the next forty-eight.”
Wren grabbed Lily’s arm. “I’m going with you on this.”
Lily hesitated. “Wren, this isn’t—”
“We’ll bring Miriam. She’s a guardian, so she’s going to guard. We need to be there. There are going to be dozens of fucked up kids at this compound and we can both help. Hell, I might even suggest bringing Paige. She has all kinds of contacts who can help us.”
“Paige stays here,” Lily said. “If we’re going to bust the Pipeline, we need her here to coordinate the shit in the city, with Fischer and Bastian.”
“What about me?” Lincoln was put out.
Lily stared at him. “You have to watch the kids. You have to guard the kids. That’s your job.” She looked between all of us. “With only Laxmi here, and Ellie half trained, there are going to be…things that are going to press their advantage and try to take those kids from you.”
Her soul-piercing black eyes landed on me. “They’ve already succeeded once in tearing the heart out of one of you. I was able to… Well. Not important right now—” She held up her hand to stop my questions. “Not right now, Bastian. I will tell you, but it’s too long to explain. Lincoln you have to stay with Laxmi, Ellie, and the twins.”
“And what am I
supposed to fight off a demon with? The cheese grater? A butter knife?”
“No.” She shook her head, and looked at her phone again. “Look, I’ve got a lot to do. I’ll be back with what you’ll need to help Laxmi with the kids. Let’s all meet at the mansion in about six hours. If I need anything or something goes wrong and is about to go down, I’ll call you. But I got about six hours to get all this shit done and it’s a lot of shit.”
Wren nodded. “Yes. Please. I’ll call Miriam and Laxmi and let them know what’s going on.” She glanced at the three of us standing there. “No one say anything to Ellie about this potentially being her brother’s rescue. It’s not that she doesn’t deserve to know. It’s that I don’t want her to be disappointed if we can’t find him.”
Fischer and Lincoln nodded and I grunted my ascent. She was right—Ellie would also want to go with her and that seemed like a really bad idea.
Grabbing the doorknob on the garage and pulling the door open, Lily pointed at me. “He’s only got a crash course in what’s going on. You need to fill him in on the details you have. Let’s all meet at the mansion in six hours.” She looked at her watch, and shook her head. “He might be able to calm down by then.”
She closed the door behind herself as she entered the garage.
“He who?” I asked. “He me?”
Wren pursed her lips. “Come on up to the kitchen. You’re going to need a drink for the rest of this.”
The original beer was sitting in front of me, half gone. I blinked a few times, and shook my head, then grabbed the warmish beer and chugged it.
Wren, Fischer, and Lincoln were sitting around the table with me, waiting for me to say something. I cocked my head and stared at Wren.
“I don’t see the family resemblance,” I finally murmured.
Lincoln choked on his beer, and Fischer threw his head back laughing. Wren just shook her head. “You’re going to go with that?”
I stuttered, then gestured vaguely into space. What the hell was I supposed to say. Sin-O-Vision was fucking accurate. One of the Seven Cardinal sins, in a human incarnation, I was able to see people’s sins on their skin.
They had started to explain all this to me the night before, but I was too strung out on endorphins. Somehow Wren knew I’d only gotten part of what they told me, but decided it was enough to keep me working, to get most of the story out of Barry and the bitch whose name wasn’t really Cora.
But this…what they had just dished up? Blew my damn mind. Demons? Elysian Fields? Tartarus? Angels? Lilith! Friggin’ Lilith, Adam’s first wife from Jewish lore, was a police detective in the Philadelphia Police Department.
But Lilith wasn’t the Lilith that the stories talked about. She was the wife of… Wren’s twin brother.
Couldn’t say it yet. Wasn’t going to say it.
Everything was tumbling around in my head. I ran my hands up the sides of my face and stopped at my temples, applying a little pressure. “Baby Jeebus, what in the name of farm animals is going on?”
Fischer laughed. “You were definitely a good father, because that’s not would I have said there.”
I put it more succinctly with my middle finger.
“There you go.”
“Maybe he’ll rub off on us since we don’t actually want to teach the twins how to swear like sailors on shore leave,” Wren said.
“You just want him to rub off on you,” Fischer whispered.
I jerked my head up and watched Wren go bright red. Fischer smirked and grabbed her hand. He tossed a look at me and somehow, I knew he wanted me to grab their hands as well.
Mine, and Lincoln’s, met in the middle and we covered over their joined hands.
…the warmth of the fires were even present this deep into the castle, supplemented by the small fire in the hearth of the room. There was no need for blankets, or clothing of any sort.
The four of them were wrapped around each other in a tangle of limbs, panting with a fine sheen of sweat glowing in the low fire light. There were other people in the castle, but beyond the doors of the room. The door on the far wall led to everyone else. The door next to the fireplace led to another room, more beds, more people—but those were familiar and welcome, and sound asleep.
Fischer rose from the pile of bodies and kissed Wren’s forehead. “You do wear us out, love.”
“You love to be worn such, Aergian.”
He stretched and moved from the bed. “As such, I have duties, my love. I leave you in excellent, if exhausted, company.”
Bastian rolled and grinned at Fischer. “She’s safe with us, Lord Aergian. Even if we are half awake.”
“No one will touch her,” Lincoln grumbled and adjusted himself. “Not while we draw breath.”
“And great snores,” Wren teased.
“Such brave and alert companions, my lady.” Fischer laughed. He bent and kissed her quickly on the lips. “To your keeping, sa imitti.”
“By your leave, asaredu.” Lincoln nodded, and his attention notched up a hundred fold, even though he was still face down naked in the bed.
The door closed a moment later and Wren rolled over to find Lincoln and Bastian kissing and fondling each other.
“You know Aergian doesn’t care if you tangle your male bits with each other,” she said.
“It feels disrespectful to do that,” Bastian hissed as Lincoln licked his way down his body. “Especially when the three of us can enjoy you.”
Wren shook her head, then leaned on her side and watched the two men as they kissed each other with passion. She smiled, and didn’t interrupt. She found her own breast and teased her nipple watching them.
They were all hers, and they would all defend her, but that didn’t stop a little, or a lot, of bed play…
Lincoln launched himself out of his chair and grabbed me by my shirt, jerking me to him. He covered my mouth with his, and plundered me with his tongue.
Fuck, it felt amazing to kiss him.
Wren
“Shit, that’s hot,” I murmured into Fischer’s ear. “You sure you don’t want a piece of that?”
“Pass,” he said. “I’ll admit that’s hot, and I don’t even mind the swords crossing but getting in the middle of a dickwich? Nah. Not my thing.” He cocked his head and looked at them. “But that is fucking hot.”
I looked at him. “Do you mind if I get in the middle of this dickwich?”
“Wren, baby, we’re all yours all the time. But don’t think I’m missing out on this.” He leaned in close. “And don’t think I’m not going to invite myself in.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Mm. So Lust?”
He nodded slowly. “Oh, totally Lust. I’m feeling it over here.”
Glancing across the table where Lincoln and Bastian were wrestling with each other for dominance in the kiss, I grinned and called to them, “Gentlemen. There are beds upstairs.”
Lincoln pulled back. “She’s right. There’s a king.”
“I know,” Bastian said.
“Go,” I said. “Upstairs. No clothes in the bed.”
A moment later, the two of them were gone, racing up the stairs. Fischer chuckled and grabbed my hand. We followed up the stairs at a more leisurely pace, and I could hear the two of them basically wrestling in the bedroom.
“You’re collecting quite the harem, little bird.”
“I never imagined I’d be this person…three men in my bed? I never imagined.” I giggled. “But I hoped.”
Fischer laughed, pulled me to a stop, and kissed me hard. He cupped my cheek with his hand. “Seems appropriate that Lust would be here. I don’t know what the big picture is, but you’ve got more sins to find. I don’t think that any of us intended this to happen, ever, but I also don’t think that any of us object to it. I don’t.” He leaned in close. “You’re mine to protect, and we’re yours to keep balanced.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, and kissed him hard. “Last one naked has to do the dishes.”
I ran up th
e stairs with him laughing behind me. I stripped out of my clothes as I went, leaving a trail.
“I don’t know why you’re running,” Fischer called. “Neither of them are naked!”
I burst into the room and he was right. Neither Bastian nor Lincoln were naked. I pulled up short though at the insanely erotic activity that was going on at the end of our bed.
Bastian had shoved Lincoln over the end of the bed, Lincoln’s pants and boxers around his ankles, and Bastian’s face shoved between the globes of his ass. Linc was swearing and squirming.
“I owe you,” Bastian growled, “and I always pay my debts.”
Climbing onto the bed in what remained of my own clothes—panties and bra—I spread out across the mattress and leaned in to kiss Lincoln. “Let him, Linc. You’ve been without a man’s mouth on you for years. And I know you like it.”
Lincoln breathed out, letting a long hngggg out of the center of his chest. “He shouldn’t be this good at rimming me. He’s never been with a man before.”
I kissed him slow and deep. “As if women don’t enjoy that? He’s only doing what he would like to have done. Enjoy.”
He wrapped his hand around mine. “He’s too good. I’m going to die.”
“What a wonderful way to go. Rimmed to death by Lust. I’ll put it on your tombstone.”
Bastian lifted his head from behind Lincoln to smirk at me. “I’ve been hiding all of this away for years. I’ve got time to make up for, and this ass here is going to help me do that.”
“God, yes, please shut up and get back to it,” Lincoln growled.
I leaned forward again and kissed Linc as Fischer walked in, his arms full of clothes. He draped them all neatly on the chair and grinned as he sank down on the bed next to me. He was in nothing but a pair of boxer briefs.
“This is also a very hot scene to walk into,” he whispered, somehow managing to steal the kiss away from Lincoln. “I can taste him on your lips, little bird.”
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