“Makes sense,” Kai said.
“But he got his marching orders from someone else. He’s just a mercenary. The plan to trigger the Phoenix Protocol—that was masterminded by another party.”
“What about killing the phoenix? He could’ve been the target.”
I shook my head as I guided the SUV through the subdivision. “Deadwood said their plan was a success when he saw the Phoenix Protocol folder. Gotta be a plan to get the phoenix the hell off the island.”
Kai finished my theory. “So you’re thinking that Johns, Hall, and Williams are the ‘they’ in that statement.”
“We know Johns and Williams were knocking boots,” I said. “Don’t know how Hall plays into this.” I glanced at Kai from the corner of my eye, and offered in a searching voice, “The graveyard’s not that far . . .”
I eventually reached the undeveloped space that separated the suburbs from the city. A carnival lit up a dusty field outside my window, a Ferris wheel sitting dormant in the night. Aldric’s headquarters glowed in the horizon, his penthouse office still glowing like a beacon.
We rolled past Lionhawk Ink—closed, since Mick was dead, and his son was in jail.
“What do you think?” I asked, after the silence became unbearable.
“Remember what Aldric told us?” Kai was trying to steer me in a responsible direction.
I wasn’t having any of it. “Hall is the key to solving this thing. Legally.”
“Eden . . .”
The SUV bounced over a pothole as I eased off the gas. We’d either drive five miles an hour back to the villa, or he’d say yes.
Kai dug his broad shoulders into the leather seat as we inched along. But he knew stalling wouldn’t change my mind, so he finally said, “I have your back.”
I smiled and jammed on the accelerator.
With any luck, we’d have this case wrapped up before sunrise.
24
A tract of undeveloped jungle lay between the city and the graveyard. Even magical creatures maintained a comfortable berth from the departed. The asphalt turned to gravel before the road finally dead-ended at a rusted gate. Beyond the flaking bars sat a large, hilly clearing dotted by headstones.
A faded sign hanging off to the side read Pleasant Meadows.
That seemed like a stretch.
We exited the vehicle. Even the air seemed chillier out here. All the power of suggestion, but the mind’s hallucinations could be real enough.
The rusted gate was bolted shut with a new lock. I couldn’t pick it, and the chain was too thick to cut or shoot. Too bad the fence was only about eight feet high. This security was more about keeping the dead bodies in, rather than keeping live ones out.
“Search results suggest Hall’s been working as the undertaker for three years.” Kai scrolled through his phone. “Right around the time of that accident.”
“The news clipping say what this accident was?”
“Standard hit-and-run,” Kai said. “No, wait a second.”
“What?”
“Article suggests they had a suspect linked to Black Sea Holdings.”
“Aldric.” I tested the notches in the gate with my sneaker to make sure the rusted metal wouldn’t give way under my weight. “He must’ve been sending Hall a warning. Guess it didn’t stick.”
Kai offered me a boost, but I kicked at him like an ill-tempered rodeo horse. He wisely stepped back and let me do my thing.
My soles scraped against the rough metal as I narrowly cleared the row of dull spikes at the top.
He scaled the fence like a nimble cat and landed on the gravel beside me.
“The paralysis thing makes the money angle plausible,” Kai said. “Gets in trouble working for Aldric, the warlord sends him a message, and now Hall can’t pay the medical bills.”
“But why would Aldric tell us to leave some washed-up ex-employee alone?” I asked.
“You saw the lock on that facility, right? That’s high-grade security for a manufacturing plant.”
“Not the place a paralyzed guy could just break into,” I said. “You’re thinking he still works for Aldric.”
“Maybe he had a side business before,” Kai said. “Aldric gets pissed, sends a message. Hall has to retire, but still works for the warlord part-time. It’s not enough to pay the bills, so he starts up the side gig again. And now the vampire’s tying up loose ends.”
“Hall knows too much about something,” I said.
Kai nodded in agreement.
I wove through the rain-worn headstones and dried bouquets as Kai’s boots crunched softly in the dying grass behind me. A few of the graves looked freshly exhumed, which struck me as odd. The gravestones stopped at the top of the hill, leaving us overlooking a small valley below.
A small cottage sat at the bottom, butting against the graveyard’s rusted fence. A candle flickered in the small home’s window.
Caw.
I spun around, hands shielding my eyes to defend against a sudden onslaught of crows. But no assault of feathered wings and talons rained down from the sky.
“That was an actual crow, Eden.” Kai pointed his gun toward a spindly tree.
Two beady eyes watched us with suspicion.
After taking a few breaths to regather my wits, I headed down the gentle incline toward the cottage. Wood smoke hung in the night air. The cottage was made from logs, straight out of the nineteenth century frontier. Whether it had been built then, or the throwback was a deliberate architectural choice was hard to say.
“Wait, Eden.” Kai hurried to catch up. “I’ll go first.”
“We’re just questioning him, right? Guy’s in a wheelchair.” A bold stance, perhaps, on an island filled with magical creatures. But Kai hadn’t mentioned anything about the undertaker also being a powerful wizard, so I was feeling confident enough.
“Something’s off.” The spear sigil on his arm emitted a soft blue light, its tip glowing.
I glanced around the yellowed grass and back at the gravestones dotting the hill like scattered teeth. Nothing caught my eye. “I’ll be fine.”
“All the same.” Kai double-checked his service weapon and took lead. We covered the last twenty feet in a deliberate, crouching walk. The candle cast a harsh glow against the lone window. Its glare made it impossible to see inside.
Kai rapped on the thick wood. Before he could announce his presence, the door creaked open.
No one stood in the dim shadows.
But I smelled one thing, clear as day.
Blood.
“Come out with your hands up,” Kai called into the flickering darkness.
“Gladly,” a familiar voice replied.
And out of the shadows—bloody and still very much alive—stepped Xavier Deadwood.
Holding a severed head.
25
“Put the head down.” Kai’s baritone was all grit and growl.
Deadwood tossed the severed head down—it made an unpleasant little plop on the hand-carved planks—and shrugged.
“I was hoping we’d see each other again.” He smiled at me, but I didn’t return the gesture. “You’ve reconsidered my offer?”
“Not for all the gold in the Federal Reserve,” I said. “Who’s the dead guy?”
“Ferdinand Hall was causing problems. Problems I was paid to solve.”
His salt-and-pepper hair was flecked with blood droplets, suggesting Hall’s demise had been messy. Instead of frothing like a feral beast, Deadwood was fully clothed and totally calm.
The Department of Supernatural Affairs had trained their rogue agent well.
“Problems for who?”
“I believe we have a mutual employer, Eden.” Deadwood smiled at me, like this gave us a common interest.
It didn’t.
Aldric had tied up a loose end rather decisively. And whatever Ferdinand Hall had known about the case—and the vampire’s plans—had vanished into the chilly night.
“So Aldric paid you to do
this.” The candlelight flickered over the grisly scene.
“I had to remove his head for reasons I’m sure you understand.” Deadwood kicked the head, and it rolled out of sight.
“The Phoenix Protocol,” I said. “What is it?”
His eyes danced with amusement in the candlelight. “I see you’ve discovered very little since we last spoke.”
“It wasn’t that long ago, asshole.”
“Perhaps we can help each other yet.” Deadwood reached into his jeans, and Kai fired a warning shot. The wolf’s shoulders stiffened, his languid ease disrupted. Then the easy smile returned as he held up a pack of smokes.
After lighting one, he blew a small ring of smoke out the door. “It’s funny what you miss the most. Turns out to be the things that kill you.”
“You should write that in a book.” I stepped up beside Kai.
No need to talk shit from a distance. I wasn’t scared.
Okay, maybe a little.
“The world couldn’t handle my memoirs.” Deadwood burned down a quarter of the cigarette in a single drag. A thick cloud lingered in the doorway when he exhaled. The former DSA agent didn’t cough. Impressive party trick. Or a good way to fast-track the cancer acquisition process.
“Step out with your hands raised,” Kai said.
“Have you considered my offer?” Deadwood flicked the cigarette in the same direction where he’d kicked the head. “It’s just one little soul.”
“Not for sale.”
“Everyone is for sale.” That smile again. Deadwood eyes had a slightly unhinged sheen. “I’ve done some digging on you.”
“Good for you,” I said through gritted teeth.
“You’re in quite the little predicament, bound to that warlord for eternity.” He lit up another cigarette. Death had made him into a real nicotine fiend. “But a god’s soul can break a soul-binding agreement.”
I kept my expression blank, even though that was big news.
I’d just discovered how to get free of Aldric.
Too bad there weren’t many gods offering up their souls as sacrifice.
“Anya wasn’t a god,” I said. “Why’d you kill her?”
“Money.”
“But Hall was on your side,” I said.
“I got a better offer from another party.” Deadwood wiped a few droplets of blood off his nose. “The guardian’s soul would be more than enough to shatter your agreement.”
I didn’t believe him, although part of me wanted to.
“And where does that leave you, after the soul dissolves into little pieces?”
“Don’t worry about me, Eden.”
I stared at him in the flickering light. It came together, and I laughed. “You can’t leave either. You’re bound to Lucille.”
“No.”
“Me using up the soul would kind of ruin your escape plans.” I smirked at him. “I’m starting to think, the minute I bring you that soul, I might end up as headless as old Ferdinand did.”
Deadwood’s throat tightened. I’d caught him in the lie. “You will give me that bitch’s soul.”
“Pass,” I said.
His eyes gleamed. “Remember my little note?”
I clenched my fist. “Don’t threaten my sister.”
“I shall vanish into the wind once the soul is mine.”
“You can vanish into a fucking jail cell,” I said, looking over at Kai. “Can we cuff him, now?”
In the unseen interior of the cottage, a cauldron belched. Deadwood slowly took the cigarette away from his lips and grinned.
“You’re looking for the wrong man, you know.”
“Bullshit. You jabbed Anya with the needle, she killed you with a rock. Then she jumped to protect the phoenix. Oh, and your associates dumped your body so that it wouldn’t come back to—”
It clicked, then. How his body had gotten back to the Golden Rabbit.
That confirmed that Thomas Johns and Samantha Williams were the masterminds of this operation. They’d been watching him on the steppes and had dragged him away to avoid detection.
It had almost worked.
Until he’d come back from the dead.
“Yes, you realize, now.” The cigarette glowed in his fingertips. “I’m just a hired gun, as was Mr. Hall. Just business.”
“You’re still under arrest,” Kai said, stepping into the doorway. “Get down on the floor.”
“Make up your mind,” Xavier said, smiling manically. “First you want me outside. Now you want me to stay in here.” He shrugged. “May I suggest a third option?”
“What’s that?”
“You run.” With a lightning fast flick of the wrist, he tossed the cigarette over his shoulder.
The cauldron’s hiss changed tenor, and smoke began pumping around Deadwood, carrying a gunpowder aroma.
Kai fired, but the werewolf disappeared into the gray swirl, laughing. The agent lunged forward, but I grabbed him by the arm.
Then we began to run, getting a quarter up the hill before a fireball erupted into the night sky.
We tumbled to the ground, ash and chunks of flaming debris raining around us.
When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left of the cottage.
And there was no sign of Xavier Deadwood.
26
Dawn peeked through the sky as we rode away from the graveyard. The interior of Kai’s SUV smelled like we’d spent the night at a beachside firepit. A quick search of the wreckage had failed to produce Deadwood’s body—although we did have the pleasure of finding the charred and headless Hall.
As I pulled into the service road, I wondered if Deadwood might have killed himself.
Nah. He was in the wind. A werewolf who once worked for the Department of Supernatural Affairs had a few tricks up his sleeve to escape jail time.
“Why do you think Aldric silenced Hall?” Kai asked as the SUV came to a stop.
“Something to do with that waterfront facility.” If I had to guess, it seemed like Aldric was unrelated to the murder—just merely using the ensuing chaos to some mysterious advantage.
I suppressed a yawn as I stepped out of the car. Almost getting blown up had made sleep appealing. We wouldn’t be chasing any more leads this morning.
Deadwood was gone.
Samantha Williams had probably packed up shop along with her boyfriend, Thomas Johns.
Ferdinand Hall was nothing but a charred corpse.
And Tamara Marquez’s last known address was an empty field.
The ominous decree from the Phoenix Protocol played in my tired brain.
The entire territory will burn, should the situation grow unmanageable.
That didn’t mean we were fresh out of leads.
Hopefully I could get Rayna to spill on Tamara Marquez—since Khan’s illegal bug had revealed that she knew Cross’s ex. Maybe I could shake something loose from my sister, too, if I relayed her life was in imminent danger.
If those avenues didn’t pan out, I could always dig into Aldric. He had to know plenty about this mess. But I shuddered at what his help might cost me.
Better to leave that road untraveled.
I leaned against the side of the SUV. “Did you see those freshly dug-up graves?”
Kai nodded. “What are you thinking?”
“Maybe Deadwood’s not the only one rising from a dirt nap.” I cracked my knuckles. “That’s gotta be why Johns and Samantha went to all this trouble.”
“They wanted to bring someone back?” Kai looked at the sky. “Maybe.”
“All right, here’s my theory.” I started pacing beneath the banana tree. “Hall’s an undertaker, right? Works in the body business, just like Edgar.”
“You’re thinking that he’d have a copy of the Phoenix Protocol, too.”
“Exactly. Dead bodies start coming back to life, the people who deal with the dead bodies need to have a contingency plan.”
“But who? Johns and Williams had no living relatives listed in thei
r files.”
“Look again.”
First, Kai checked his service weapon. Then he pulled out his phone and began walking toward the beach.
Guess he was staying over.
I didn’t protest. I just followed him. Having him close was more than welcome.
The villa appeared on the hazy dawn horizon.
“Anything?”
“Nope.” He stopped, and I almost ran into him. “Wait. Look at this.”
I took the phone and glanced at Johns’s rap sheet. Shoplifting, five years back.
“Okay, so what?”
Kai flipped to the other rap sheet, which belonged to Samantha Williams. “Check out the dates.”
“You think they lived together in that house?” I asked. “No photos, no nothing. Almost like—”
“They’d been removed.” Kai nodded. “Too painful to keep around.”
“So their relationship falls apart, Johns leaves, gets a shitty house in the slums. Crosses paths with Hall somehow—bar, restaurant, down at the beach—and they get to talking. Learns about the Phoenix Protocol, and the wheels start spinning. Brings it to his old flame, and they set the plan in motion to kill a guardian.”
“But who’d be worth torching the island to bring back?” Kai asked.
We glanced at each other.
The fact that we were both on the same page meant the theory was at least plausible.
But one essential element was missing.
Who.
My stomach turned at the possibilities. Family members were one thing.
Dangerous creatures were another.
I unlocked the door, still trying to piece it together. But my tired mind was rebelling.
Kai stopped me—gently—as I tried to walk inside. Then he took lead, sweeping his pistol over the kitchen. I waited as he checked the living room and upstairs.
As he came down the glass staircase, he yelled, “All clear.”
Too bad I was already on the couch.
He shook his head. “Should’ve known.”
“I’m not a good listener, remember?”
I didn’t protest when he tucked me in on the couch and then kept watch over the bay window in the living room, like a two-hundred-twenty-pound sentinel.
Soul Fire (The Eden Hunter Trilogy Book 2) Page 11
