I squeezed her hand. “I love you, too.”
She stuck her nose in the air, flinging back her jet black bobbed hair. “Don’t make me hear these things from other people next time.”
I flopped onto the couch. “I literally just got home and would have told you if Arkady hadn’t been in such a rush to spread the news.”
“Yeah, he’s worse than all my aunties.” She carefully tugged off my boots and I sighed in relief. While the ankle was slightly swollen, thankfully, it wasn’t sprained.
Pri had gone vegetarian for tonight’s order, which was fine by me, since our favorite Chinese place had a deep-fried salty spicy tofu that was to die for. Though you had to eat it when ordered, because it got soggy if reheated. In the interests of combatting food waste, I made sure there was never any left. She’d also gotten Szechuan green beans, veggie chow mein, and a couple orders of fried green onion pancakes.
After she’d set out kibble and water for the dog, she elevated my ankle, draped an ice pack over it, and heaped my plate high.
“You make an excellent nursemaid,” I said.
“Don’t get used to it,” she said, filling my glass very full of Merlot. “So, what happened?”
I filled my bestie in, starting with being summoned to the police station, the fact that Yevgeny had likely kidnapped Gavriella, and the magic inflicted on the dogs.
When Priya heard that, she cuddled Mrs. Hudson close. The puppy lapped up the affection. Great. I was going to have to pry the dog out of Priya’s cold dead hands when it was time for her to go. Oh well, that would be an easy and almost eagerly anticipated problem, given what was on my plate right now.
Licking my fingers clean of grease from the savory onion pancakes, I pulled A Study in Scarlet out of the lockbox. “Then I found this.”
“That’s cool that Gavriella was into Sherlock,” Priya said, snagging the last of the chow mein with her chopsticks, “but beyond the nice edition of the book, I’m not really sure why we care.”
“Coded message. Look inside.”
“Ah.” She opened it. “Any idea what it means?”
“Not even a little bit. That’s not the fun part. Flip to the last page.”
She did and frowned. “A sunflower?”
I took a rather large gulp of wine. Then another one. “I drew that in my dad’s book when I was six. This is Adam’s copy.”
“Holy shit,” she breathed.
I held my glass up in cheers. “Here’s to my father, still fucking up my life fifteen years after he abandoned me. L’chaim!” I drained the rest of the wine.
“What if Chariot wanted you to think Adam had given the book to Gavriella and it’s their way of drawing you in? They know death triggers the next Jezebel.”
“Yeah, but to all outward appearances, the first time Gavriella flatlined, there was no new Jezebel, and they may believe she ended the line. If they did manage to discover my identity in record time and bait that particular hook?” I ate a piece of tofu. “It’s even more imperative that I confront Adam.”
Priya topped my glass up. “Where do you even begin on a trail that cold?”
“Rafael.”
“Your stuffy British Jezebel Attendant. He sounds like a delight.” Priya wasn’t overly fond of the man who’d snatched me away to a grove in an alternate reality and thrown magic tests at me to prove my Jezebel worthiness. To think most best friends only had to disapprove of exes.
The fact that I’d nicknamed him Evil Wanker probably did little to endear him to her either. Still, Rafael had an impressive ability to acquire information and despite his prickly exterior, he was really useful. It was going to be interesting when she met him for the first time.
“Attendants are the keepers of all Jezebel knowledge,” I said. “They’ve documented us down to the tiniest details. Hopefully, he knows whether Gavriella and Dad actually made contact or if this is a trap.”
If it was the former, how did Dad find her? Why did he find her? And how was it connected to him warding up my magic? Even if he’d done all of it with the best of intentions to protect me, he’d denied me my magic heritage, making all these choices about my life without my consent. He’d also taken a Jezebel out of the fight. I would have had years of training and been better equipped to take on Chariot at full speed instead of playing catch-up. Had giving Chariot the edge been part of his intentions? Had he outed me now for the same reason?
I ran a finger around the rim of my glass, eyes downcast. What a mess.
The buzzer to the building’s front door sounded.
“You expecting anyone?” Priya said.
I shook my head at her. “I have to pee anyway. I’ll get it.” My ankle had numbed out some, bringing down the ache to a tolerable level, but I still half-shuffled into the foyer. I pushed the intercom button. “Yes?”
“It’s Levi.”
How had he even—I dropped my head against the wall. Miles. Of course. My body just wanted to sleep and I couldn’t handle an angry Levi reaming me out tonight. I pushed the button again. “It’s been a really long day, and—”
“Miles told me about the book. I wanted to check if you were all right.”
I briefly closed my eyes. Not that sex was on offer, but the two of us ended up there more often than not, and I wasn’t up to it tonight. I was up to a non-sexual form of comfort from Levi even less. The more our relationship developed, the more complicated it became.
But he had come all this way. And as weird and new as it felt, we were friends now. You didn’t just send a friend away like that. “Come on up.”
“You want me to leave?” Priya called from the kitchen, once I got out of the bathroom. She was washing dinner plates.
I limped to the freezer and got a fresh ice pack. “No. I want you to crack into Gavriella’s phone. It’s in the lockbox.”
“Ooh.” She rinsed off a plate and placed it in the drying rack.
I grabbed another wineglass as Levi knocked on the door. “It’s open,” I called out, making my way into the living room and resettling myself on the sofa with the ice pack.
“Hey.” Levi smiled as he entered the room. The Head of House Pacifica may have been smart and kind—not to mention ruthless when it came to protecting his magic community—but he was also irritatingly attractive, with olive skin over the long lines of a soccer player’s physique and a sharp jawline softened by lush lips that one gossip columnist had deemed “the eighth wonder of the world.”
Reluctantly, I conceded they weren’t wrong. Memories of those lips still made me squirm.
He lay his hand on my cheek. “How are you holding up?”
Leaning into his palm for a precious second, I tamped down on the burst of warmth that rolled through me at the sound of that low, smoky voice. “You know me. Queen of Dealing with Shit. Which falls short of my goal of Queen of the Universe, but at least I have some form of royal status.”
Levi didn’t match my patently false grin. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. I’ve hit my quota on brain space for my father’s possible motives tonight and have progressed to the much more pleasurable, wine drinking portion of the evening. You’re welcome to join me.”
“Sounds good.” Levi dropped into the armchair next to me, his legs extended carelessly, and a lock of inky black hair falling into his face.
It was outside office hours so he was no longer in locked-down mode. His hair was cut slightly longer on the top than the sides, and usually slicked back from his face in a classic side part that emphasized the slash of his cheekbones. Now, it loosely framed his face. I curled my hands into my palms so I didn’t wrap a lock around my finger and pull him close.
Levi sighed happily and settled himself against the cushions. He sported a bulky green sweater and dark jeans instead of his customary exquisitely tailored suit. I appreciated a man in a good suit but this unbuttoned version of Levi, the one who wasn’t hiding himself, made my pulse kick up.
“How was y
our day?” I blurted out. “Um, drink wine.” I hurriedly poured him a glass and thrust it into his hand so fast that it almost splashed over the rim.
“Filled with tedious zoning meetings.” He gave me a quiet smile. A simple acknowledgment of two people enjoying each other’s company. “Thanks for asking,” he added.
Oh my God, was Levi blushing? He covered it by taking a sip of wine.
Priya entered. “Hiya, boss.”
“Hiya yourself.”
Priya pulled the Android out of the lockbox on the coffee table, getting comfortable in one of the other chairs. “Did you hear they found Gavriella’s phone?” She pressed a sequence of buttons on the Android. “I’m bypassing the password.”
“Yeah, Miles updated me on that and a few other things,” Levi said. “Look at that. You did get a dog.” He held out his hand for Mrs. Hudson to sniff, but she eyed him warily from the other side of the room.
I smirked. Meet the only female other than myself who’s resistant to your charms. Then I remembered how fast he’d stripped me naked a few nights ago and amended that sentence.
“The dog is just visiting,” I said.
Levi made a kissing noise at her and Mrs. Hudson waddled slowly but surely closer. Seriously?
He let the pug boop his finger, his glass of wine balanced on the arm rest.
Pulling the lockbox close, I scooped out the top layer of photos. After Gavriella had taken on her new identity, she’d had to shove all traces of her old life as Gracie Green into a lockbox hidden under a floor. “She never got to share her true past with friends or a lover. If she’d even had those. What an incredibly lonely life. You think all Jezebels keep themselves apart?”
“No,” Priya said firmly. “I’m looking at one with a lot of people in her life and that isn’t going to change.”
But relationships changed all the time. Look at ours. Yes, Priya’s kidnapping had just happened, but what if my naturally extroverted friend locked herself into this place of fear? It was my fault it had happened. What if we couldn’t find our way through this? What if we continued on in this place of being held at arm’s length until one of us broke, blew up at the other, and moved out?
I smiled absently as if in agreement, studying a picture of a young Gavriella laughing on a swing, being pushed by an older woman who must have been the grandmother who’d raised her. “Do you think her grandmother knew?”
Levi leaned over to study the photo. “You could ask your Attendant.”
“Yeah,” I said, not sure I wanted the answer. I was already hiding this side of me from my mother. Would I have to do the same if I fell in love? I’d always prided myself on living truthfully. How could I have a long-term relationship if I had to lie to my partner every day? What if I decided to have kids in the very, very far future? Being pregnant as a Jezebel felt reckless.
I wistfully sorted through photos of Gavriella’s awkward teen years.
“Maybe tonight isn’t the best night to go through those,” Priya said.
“What’s the dog’s name?” Levi said. Mrs. Hudson had allowed him to scratch her ears.
“Mrs. Hudson,” Priya said in a tone of unholy glee.
Levi threw back his head and laughed, his blue eyes dancing. The husky sound shivered down my spine. He was the devil. “Hope you like your new roommate, Pri. I believed Miles when he said that Ash didn’t intend to keep the puppy, but Mrs. Hudson? You’re not going anywhere, are you, girl?”
I picked her up and put her in my lap.
“Ash can’t keep a cactus alive. Mrs. Hudson is going to be mine.” Priya burst into evil cackles.
Then she and Levi fist-bumped. Fabulous. This day could not get worse. Or so I thought.
Chapter 4
I stacked the dirty dishes with a loud clatter. “If you are both finished disparaging my very capable nurturing skills—”
“Nurturing? Nice spin doctoring,” Levi said.
I gasped. “It’s empirical truth and we must all get onboard.”
“Ta da.” Priya held up the unlocked screen. “I’ll poke around, see what I find.”
“Good job, Adler.” I applauded her. “You, on the other hand,” I said to Levi, “can go find another minion to annoy.”
“Before I go,” Levi said. “You need to hear this.” Setting down his drink, he stretched out his neck, rolled his shoulders, and cracked his knuckles.
“Any time now,” I said.
“It’s important to do this right.” He exhaled quickly a couple of times like a boxer psyching himself up for his bout, then chanted loudly and far too enthusiastically. “We’ve got ruach, yes we do. We’ve got ruach, how about you?” Levi pointed at me.
My mouth was open. What strange reality had I tumbled into where the Head of House Pacific was repeating our teenage camp cheer in my living room? “Did you sustain a head injury recently?”
“Finish the chant,” he said.
“We’ve got ruach, spirit through and through,” I said in a monotone. “We’re Camp Ruach, there for me, I’m there for you.” I threw the lamest jazz hands ever. “Put that online, Pri, and I’ll kill you.”
“Too late,” she said cheerfully, waggling her own phone. “Levi’s part already scored me 100 likes. Besides, I didn’t film you to protect your anonymity.”
I sighed. “What a waste of my spectacular Broadway moves.”
Priya tossed her phone onto the coffee table, resuming her search through Gavriella’s Android.
“Okay, now that we’ve gone through that call and response exercise, do you want to tell me why we’re doing our old camp cheer?” I said.
Levi leaned forward and the scent of his oaky amber scotch and chocolate magic that I was unfairly attuned to overpowered the lingering smell of Chinese food.
“It’s not just a cheer. It’s a sacred bond. ‘There for me, I’m there for you.’ This new complication with your father is awful, but you’re not alone. Just like Sherlock wasn’t.”
I made a raspberry at his earnest BS. Wow, these painkillers with the third glass of wine really made me floaty. “Levi, I appreciate it. I really do. But I also know where I stand. And if you were a true Sherlock fan you’d know that the only person going over the Reichenbach Falls to rid the world of evil will be me.”
“God you’re stubborn.” Levi took a fortifying drink. “I didn’t want to do this, but you’re making me pull out the big guns.”
Priya’s eyes widened. “You brought Talia?”
Levi shuddered. “God no. Ash’s mother wants to legislate me out of existence. I try not to get within ten feet of that woman. No offense.”
I shrugged. “None taken. What’s the big guns?”
Levi pulled off his sweater and my eyes practically bugged out. Under it, he wore our old blue camp T-shirt with the words “Camp Ruach” emblazoned in silver. This shirt had fit a much shorter, skinnier Levi. Now it was stretched tight across his torso and the discrepancy between the exquisiteness of his ripped body and the innocent camp shirt brought on a dull pounding in my temples.
“You’re ruining my childhood,” I groused.
Priya leaned forward to ogle a strip of olive skin between his hem and his jeans. “Feel free to ruin mine.”
I tossed a pillow at her, but my drugged-up aim was way off. It landed with a dull splat far short of its intended target.
“There are situations that as a Jezebel, only you can deal with,” Levi said, “but the fallout from Adam’s schemes doesn’t have to be one of them, okay?”
He’d come by my house wearing a ridiculously too-small shirt in order to boost my spirits because he’d heard about my dad being involved. Because he knew I’d be mad and sad or just having a lot of feelings to sort out.
Because he wanted to make me laugh.
Other than Priya, how many people would go to those lengths for me?
I nodded slowly in response to him, trying to keep gravity mostly non-floaty, and said the words in my heart. “I can’t believe you kep
t that shirt all these years.”
“It was part of some stuff that Mom had me come pick up the other week.” Levi shifted his weight like he couldn’t get comfortable, then forced himself to relax back against the chair cushions. That was totally unlike his usual self, but maybe that shirt was really too tight to move comfortably in after all.
Mrs. Hudson jumped off my lap and ran to him like she wanted to comfort him.
He absently patted her head. “So. Good job with the Weaver. I didn’t thank you yet, but I’m glad we learned who was behind the security breach. Each piece of intel is that much more illuminating. Who knows, maybe the magic on the dogs will even tie back to Chariot and not just have been a venture the Petrovs were engaged in.”
I’d known Levi for fifteen years. Most of them as nemeses, about a month as hook-ups, and maybe a week as friends. None of those versions of him involved the verbal diarrhea he now spewed.
Having examined all the photos, I flipped them over one by one to see if any had writing on the back. “Mrs. Hudson, do not cavort with him. He’s clearly stalling because he has something unpleasant he intends to dump on me.”
He tugged on his shirt. “Speaking of camp, I, uh—”
“Levi.” I motioned for him to get to the point.
“Mayan came to see me a couple weeks ago,” he said.
I cut him off with an exaggerated groan.
Priya made a face at the screen. “Gavriella spent way too much time playing Solitaire.” That was depressing. “Who’s Mayan?”
“My ex,” Levi said.
“An embodiment of evil.” I made a stabbing motion. “Quite the talent really, since she doesn’t even have magic.”
“She’s not that bad,” Levi said.
“No, she’s worse.” Even though he hadn’t dated her until they were both in their twenties, Mayan had gone to the same Jewish summer camp as Levi, Miles, and myself, all through our teen years. She’d elevated belittling me into an art form. Every summer had brought a new crop of rumors about my freak status—usually involving some form of Satan worshipping, because that never got old—cruel pranks, and on one memorable occasion, an accusation of theft, that only dumb luck and a witness willing to confirm my whereabouts had gotten me acquitted of.
Shadows & Surrender: A Snarky Urban Fantasy Detective Series (The Jezebel Files Book 3) Page 4
