Ginger glanced over at him, her eyebrows raised. “No,” she shook her head, “I have no idea how we smell. I don’t have a sensitive nose—and thank goodness. I hate perfumes, so smelling things all the time would drive me crazy. Do all supernatural groups have their own distinct scents?”
Luke shrugged. “Most do. Shifters smell wild and earthy—though each group smells a little different. Like Raoul. He doesn’t smell like a wolf, he smells more like cat litter.” He took pleasure in watching Ginger chuckle at his joke. Raoul didn’t smell like litter, but be he did smell feline. “Vamps smell old and musty. Witches generally smell like the outside—cut grass and pollen. I’ve only scented sex demons a few times…and the first time I did I was much younger. But I do find it odd they smell so much like candy.”
“That is odd. Maybe it’s because we’re so dang sweet?” She smiled. “Do I smell like old jelly beans—whatever that smells like?”
That was a good question.
Ginger didn’t smell like anything he’d encountered before, and she certainly didn’t smell like the incubi he scented. There was no sickly sweet scent to her at all. She glanced up at him expectantly, awaiting his answer. “You…well…I guess I’d say you smelled like gardenias.”
Bubbled laugher erupted from her throat. “Gardenias?”
Luke shrugged. “It’s fairly strong, so I thought maybe I was getting it from a specific shampoo or perfume you used.”
“Ah, no,” she said. “Flowery scents are not for me. I mostly use unscented things when I can. Like I said, I hate perfumes or stinky smells of any kind.”
“Me, too. With my sensitive nose, it’s hard not to choke when I encounter someone covered in a synthetic smell.” They’d reached the tree. He had to admit it really was beautiful. The moss and lichen were bright green, covering the bark like a thick winter coat. Ginger had been right. The tree also seemed to be groomed. The branches were perfectly symmetrical, and no weeds or debris that plagued the other trees in the area were near the base.
“See there—” Ginger pointed “—that seems to be promising.” There was a little clearing of manicured grass beside the tree. “Let’s dig there. If I were in charge, that’s where I’d bury it.”
Without hesitation, Luke dropped to his knees. The stale candy smell lingered everywhere, but Damien hadn’t been here. If there were two emergency entrance kits, they’d be all set. Within moments, he hit something solid. “I’ve got it.”
Ginger clapped once. “I knew it!”
“I have to tell you,” Luke glanced up, grinning, “this is the strangest thing that’s happened to me in a long time. Without you here, I never would’ve been able to get in that cave.”
“I’m all about teamwork. This is exactly how I run my business. I hire the right people. Without you, I’d never have been able to track my brother here. My connections knew about the caves, but had no idea so many others did. Once I get back, this place will be well noted on my end, with all the potential little treasure spots marked with big Xs.”
Luke cleared away the rest of the dirt and pulled up an industrial box made of steel. It had a rolling combination lock embedded on the side. He stood the box on end and smashed his fist into the lock. The box lid sprang open. The lock disintegrated under the force of his blow.
He glanced up. “We’re in business.”
Ginger held her breath while Luke opened the box, carefully laying it on its bottom so the contents didn’t tumble out. It was just what she thought. It contained various spells in glass vials nestled inside thick foam. It was lucky Luke hadn’t broken any of them when he’d opened it with impressive force.
At once, she spotted what the witches called an injector, shaped like a turkey baster with a skinny tip. That installed a ward for a non-witch. “Pick up the top layer of spells very carefully. Don’t break any of the vials,” she told Luke. “I bet the wards are below, because I see the injector on top.” He gazed at her questioningly. “The injector is that big syringe thing next to the row of spells. If wards are below, there should be a plexor in there, too.”
“What’s a plexor?” Luke asked as he carefully lifted off the top layer of hard foam, which cradled the spells, and set it on the ground. Letting that drop would be a very bad thing indeed. “So many things I don’t know about witches,” he muttered, shaking his head.
Sure enough, there were wards on the bottom. They were made of a gel-like substance and housed in wooden cases. A non-witch would fill up the turkey baster and spread it on the thing that needed warding, while saying the words that were burned onto the top of the wood case. “There it is!” Ginger pointed. “It’s that rubber hammer that doctors use to check reflexes, except this one is not made of rubber. It’s made of some witchy material chock-full of whatever witches use to break wards. They are extremely rare and super expensive. Bring it out slowly.”
“Are you sure it’s going to work on the entrance?” Luke grasped the metal end and drew it out of the box.
“I’m not sure of anything,” she said as he handed her the plexor, “but my guess is my brother found another case identical to this one. If The Sumerians are smart, which I know they are, they would elect to use the same witch or witches to make up all their stash cases. That way, any incubi who arrive can find one. There are probably several more boxes hidden around here.” She gripped the small hammer. It was deceivingly light, the triangle head a deep purple. She knew better than to touch that part.
“We don’t have time to look for more boxes now, but I’m sure the SCC will send someone out here later to search.” Luke stood after putting the spells carefully back and shut the case. He had to bend it a bit to get it to shut. “We’re bringing this with us, right?”
“Ah, yeah,” Ginger said. “You have about three million dollars worth of spells and wards in there, so finders keepers and all that. Come on. I’m eager to get inside. We lost too much time to this.”
As they made their way back to the entrance, Luke asked, “How about we eat a little something before we go in? Once we’re in, it will be all business.”
Ginger knew Luke was saying that because he was concerned about her. They’d both had a bit of food before they’d started at dawn, but it’d been about four hours ago. Ginger had been getting progressively weaker as the morning wore on, but regular food wasn’t going to fix it. The zap she’d gotten from the shared sleep state with Luke was starting to wane. When she crashed, she was going to crash hard. She could sense it.
But it didn’t matter. The only thing she had to do now was to get to Damien. She was so close she could taste it. Whatever happened after that was out of her hands. There was nothing she could do about it anyway, so why worry? “We can eat something quickly,” she answered. “But let’s do it at the cave entrance. I have some granola bars in my backpack.”
“Yum. Granola bars fill me up like nothing else. They are a delicacy of nuts and grains.” Luke patted his stomach.
She chuckled at the wolf—all six-foot-four of him—and refrained from sighing as he flashed his dimpled grin. “I know granola bars are not ideal, but it’s all I have. I’ve watched you eat three dinners in one sitting, but this is going to have to do. You can’t blame me, though. You’re the one who ate all the cheese this morning.”
“Don’t forget the carrots. Roughage is always filling.”
When the boulder came into sight, Ginger slid her backpack off once again—this time with one hand. The other still held the precious plexor. “Here—” she tossed Luke the pack “—find what you need. I’m not hungry. Then we use this.” She shook the small, purple mallet. “It will probably make a loud sound, or do something that will alert Damien we’re here. So once I use it, we move quickly.”
Luke grunted while she watched him search in vain for something other than a granola bar. “I’m curious, how did your brother know which spell to use to move the boulder?” Luke gave up and pulled out three bars. “None of the spells were marked as far as I could see.�
��
“Witches usually color-code their spells for nitwits like us. You don’t have any experience needing to use them, but I do. Reds are the scary ones, like death and destruction. Greens are usually for healing in some capacity. Yellow is sickly, not sunshine—it means you’re going to break out with measles or a crappy rash. Purple usually means strength. So, if you held a gun to my head, I would choose purple.”
“What about blue?”
“Blue is cold, so freezing or sleeping. I have one in my pack that renders a supe unconscious, and it’s a very dark blue.”
Luke’s eyebrows rose. “Witches are smart. I don’t think I’ve ever given them enough credit.”
“I don’t know a ton of them personally, but Sofia is brilliant. If they’re anything like her, they’re at the top of the food chain, if you ask me.”
“Speaking of Sofia,” he interjected, “you know she and Diesel are both Collectors now? They were hired as a team.”
“Yes, you told me a few weeks ago. I’m so happy for her. This is what she wanted.”
“I also told you I gave Diesel our locale, right?”
Ginger nodded.
“Well, knowing my brother like I do, they’ve already started tracking us. So if things go south inside, I want you to know backup will be here soon. Las Vegas is only a few hours away.”
“I thought you said they’d wait until they heard from us before there was any action on their part?”
“That was originally the plan,” he agreed. “But once we got to the cabin, and there was no phone service for me to check in, I knew he’d come. No communication equals investigation. Plus, we’ve been on the road too long. The SCC is breathing down his neck. He told me last time Louie was agitated and wanted us in yesterday. Diesel’s going to make sure he does his job, because this was originally his baby. He was hired to find your brother, but found Mason instead.”
“But he was really hired to find me,” Ginger said. “Let’s not confuse things.”
“That’s true, but with The Sumerians’ organization coming to light, things changed for everyone, including the SCC. I’d bet money you’re no longer on the top of their short list.” Luke tore open two of the granola bars and started eating. He tried to offer her one, but she shook her head.
“I hope you’re right,” she said. “But just in case, I tasked Raoul with sending a crate of testimony over to the Blue Moon Casino when he left three weeks ago. It was going to take him a bit to round it all up, but it should be there by now. If Louie gets a chance to read it before I come in, my innocence should be fairly cut-and-dried. I have names, places, photos, and documentation to prove The Sumerians were behind everything I was accused of. I spent years of my life gathering and bartering for it. If it’s not enough, I don’t know what will be.”
“You know, you’ve never really told me about the time you spent with them.”
“Now’s not the time to go into it.” She dismissed his piqued interest. “But trust me, I worked my ass off gathering all the necessary pieces to clear my name. It’s all there. The only issue will be if the SCC doesn’t believe the evidence is real.”
“Oh, they’ll believe it’s real. When we tell them it’s real.” He grinned and popped the last bite into his mouth.
“How can you be so sure?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “I’ve never had good luck dealing with officials. Why do you think I run Dossier underground? It’s harder for the police to harass me when they can’t find me.”
“I know they’ll believe you, because you now have a team of supporters—Collectors—who will vouch for you. Sofia, Diesel, Neve, and Jake—who happens to be Louie’s nephew. Louie trusts Jake, and Jake trusts us. That’s how all this works.”
She shook her head and suppressed a smile. It felt strange to have people support her. She’d always had employees she valued, but she’d always been short on friends. “I hope you’re right. Now let’s get this entrance open. I’m eager to see my brother.”
“I’m all for heading in, but once we do, I need you to promise me one thing first.”
“What?”
“I get to lead.”
“Be my guest.” She spread her arms out in front of her, the plexor gripped tightly in her hand. “Once we use this—” she shook it in front of him “—the lead is all yours. But you have to make one promise to me, too.”
“And what’s that?”
“No matter what happens, you won’t kill Damien.”
Luke grumbled as he made his promise to Ginger. “Fine. I won’t kill your brother—if he doesn’t try to kill us first…or do something unspeakable,” he muttered. Ginger stood with her hands on her hips, the ward-breaker thing in her hand. She was waiting for him to say something she could agree with. He ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. You win. I won’t kill him. I’m giving you my word, but I want you to know I’m not expecting him to sit down and shoot the shit with us. He has nowhere else to run, so my guess is he’ll fight like a caged rat.”
“I’ll handle him,” she promised. “But I have something for you in case of an emergency.” She walked to where Luke had set her backpack, and unzipped it. She took out a small black box the size of a pack of cigarettes and handed it to him.
He lifted the lid. Inside was a small dart. The color of the spell was deep blue. Luke raised an eyebrow at her. “Is this the spell that knocks a supe out?”
“One and the same. It’s in dart form, so it’s very easy to use. If my brother…resists, instead of killing him, all you have to do is hit him with this and he’ll be out cold.”
Luke shut the lid and put the box in the front pocket of his jeans. He knew keeping Damien alive was the right thing to do, but he disliked Ginger’s brother immensely and was wary of engaging him when the demon felt backed into a corner. If the incubus tried to kill either one of them, Luke would be scot-free to defend himself by ending the bastard’s life, but he had to admit—the SCC would want Damien taken alive. Since this was Luke’s first official job, he would try to do his best to comply.
Even if his instinct was to take the asshole down.
Another reason to keep him alive wasn’t lost on Luke, either. If he wanted to, Damien could corroborate Ginger’s innocence. And if he didn’t want to, Luke knew a few ways to convince him. He cracked his knuckles absentmindedly as Ginger cleared her throat. He glanced over at her.
“Are you ready?” she asked as she turned and walked purposefully to the front of the massive boulder.
He followed closely behind. “Is your plan to just bang that thing on the rock?”
She tossed a look over her shoulder. “Yes. Why? Do you have a better one?”
“Nope, just checking. Do you have to utter any words to make it work?”
Ginger brought the mallet up to inspect it. “I don’t see anything marked on it, and there weren’t any specifications in the case. I’m assuming, since there’s just one of these, it will break all the wards that came in the spellboxes. I guess we’ll just have to try it and see.”
Luke sidled up to her. “I’m going to stand behind you. If there’s a blast, I’ll take the brunt if we’re tossed backward.”
She nodded, accepting his help with no issue. Luke smiled inwardly. He loved that there was never any pushback with her when things made sense. She used her brain first, and it was sexy as hell.
“All right, let’s do this,” she said.
Luke got as close as he could get without physically touching her. He didn’t want to freak her out. He took in a deep breath, letting his eyelids slide shut as the gardenia scent washed over him. Now that he knew it was her essence, and not a shampoo or perfume, it pleased him she smelled so wonderful. He’d never met another person who smelled like flowers. “I’m ready,” he said.
“One, two…three.” She banged the head of the mallet against the boulder.
Nothing happened for a few beats, and then the huge blast came.
The sonic boom tossed them backward. Ginger’s body
struck his chest, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her, focusing on cushioning her from behind. He murmured, “I got this” into her ear a millisecond before they hit the ground.
His back hit into the dirt, snapping his spine, but he held onto Ginger with a sure grip, his arms locked around her. All the breath rocketed out of his lungs, and they both lay there unmoving for a few seconds, trying to recover.
“Are you okay?” Ginger asked, panting.
“Yes and no.” Luke gritted his teeth as his back and multiple ribs began to mend themselves back together. Ginger wiggled, trying to rise, but his fingers were intertwined across her abdomen and he couldn’t feel them to let go. “Ginger,” he said as another pain shot through his body, “I need you…to stay still for a minute or two, if you could—ahh—”
She stilled instantly, detecting the pain in his voice. “What is it?” she stammered. “What happened?”
“It’s just—” he winced, closing his eyes “—my spine. I’ll be fine in a second or two.” He locked his jaws to keep from calling out as he healed. “Shifters have a great—” as the discs fused back together, lightning popped behind his eyelids like fireworks going off in his mind “—healing capacity, but it still…hurts like hell.” He hadn’t had an injury this bad since his early twenties, when he’d been dumb enough to test his limits on all things recreational.
“I’m so sorry,” she said quietly. “I’ll stay completely still. Just let me know when you’re done.”
“Did you get hurt?” he managed to ask.
“I’m fine. Just lost my breath for a second. There was no real damage. Nothing broke apart or exploded. It was just a huge displacement of air.”
They stayed locked together for another minute without speaking.
As Luke’s pain ebbed, he began to feel something brand new. Ginger’s energy flowed into him, giving him a nice charge. He closed his eyes and took it in, luxuriating in the tingles. “Thank you,” he mumbled. “That feels nice.”
Sin City Collectors Boxed Set: Aces Wild, Ante Up, All in Page 28
