“I looked as well,” Bastijn said. “I never found Zander’s laptop and his phone got destroyed in the attack.”
Mandelbaum must have confiscated the computer the second he got to Los Angeles.
“I did, however, find this.” I pulled two sheets of stapled paper out of my pocket, unfolded them, and smoothed out the crease. They smelled faintly of bong water.
Cisco peered over my shoulder. “A lease agreement. Who’s Millicent Daniels?”
“Millicent is Sienna’s birth mother. Someone went to the trouble of continuing a lease in a dead woman’s name. Probably Tessa, and now likely where Sienna has been hiding out.” I explained about Tessa and Sienna growing up in the same foster home. “I bet this was what Ferdinand wanted to give to Mandelbaum. We dodged a bullet.”
Cisco put his two fingers in his mouth and let out an ear-piercing whistle. “Heads up, people. We have an apartment to check out.”
“You can’t go,” I said. “It’s too dangerous.”
Danilo kissed each of his massive biceps. “Bring it.”
“I’m serious. You guys are no match for a witch with dark magic. Not to mention there could be deadly wards on this place that none of us can sense. Don’t underestimate Sienna. We need to be smart about this.”
“How?” Cisco said.
“Let me call in my friend. Dr. Gelman.”
“The one that helped induct Ari?” Bastijn crossed off the last area on the list of possible Sienna hideouts. “Can she be trusted on this?”
“I trust her with my life. She can check out the apartment with me and if need be, we’ll call in reinforcements.” I’d need the other witches here for my Lilith extraction anyway.
“You don’t mean us, do you?” Bastijn said.
“Nope. Ladies-only on this one.” Stepping outside for a bit of privacy, I quickly updated Esther on what we’d found.
She agreed that she should be there with me. Apparently, Rivka had gotten back from London with the vessel to contain Lilith, so Esther would bring that along. Afterwards, we’d meet with the other witches and we’d get Lilith out of me once and for all.
Oh… good. “When can you get here?”
“Hmmm.” I heard the clacking of a keyboard. “I can get a flight tomorrow afternoon. I don’t want to portal because I’ll need all my strength.”
“Fair enough. I’ll see you then. And, Esther?”
“Yes?”
“I’m really glad you’re coming. I miss you.”
“Sentimental nonsense,” she said. “You just saw me days ago.”
She totally missed me too.
20
The moment I stepped back inside, Cisco stuffed me into a chair next to Rohan. I sent Ro a questioning look and he shrugged.
Cisco opened the fridge. “Happy engagement!”
The L.A. contingent broke into hoots and whistles as he set a cake shaped like a semi-erect penis down in front of me.
Ari merely shook his head while Baruch looked profoundly disturbed.
“You people are children,” Baruch said.
“Tree Trunk, do the naughty edibles upset you?”
Baruch scowled at me and decamped into his bedroom.
“I mean, he’s not wrong to flee.” I grimaced at the cake.
It was a flesh-colored atrocity, complete with chocolate sprinkles on the balls for pubes. The words “To Have and To Hold” were written in icing script along the shaft.
“You really shouldn’t have,” Rohan said. The guys knew perfectly well that it was a fake engagement.
“I know.” Cisco looked smug. “That’s what makes me so great.”
“Putting the ejaculating in congratulating,” Danilo said.
Bastijn snickered. “Chevere.”
Danilo and Bastijn fist-bumped.
“Pucker up.” Cisco knelt down with his mouth close to the tip. “You’ll get a special surpriiiise,” he sang.
“Herpes?” I said.
Danilo laughed. “We should have had it rigged with those spicy cinnamon schnapps.”
“Gross.” Ari stood up. “I’m out. I can’t unsee my sister getting jizzed.”
“Fair point,” I said. “But I’m not planning on—whoa. Okay.”
Cisco had shoved Rohan’s chair directly in front of the blow hole. “No offense, kiddo, but you are not the photo opp that I ponied up big bucks for.”
“Yet you still insist you’re straight,” Bastijn said, musingly.
Rohan rolled out his shoulders. “When you guys are lying awake at night lonely and depressed because you will never find anyone whose mouth is a marvel like mine, don’t come crying to me.”
“A marvel, huh?” I said.
He winked at me.
“That’s the spirit.” Cisco got his phone ready.
“Wait.” I got out my phone, too.
“So predictable.” Rohan bent over and opened his mouth.
Cisco hit the little pump. The cream stuttered out like penile dribble. “Huh.”
He pumped it again. Nothing.
Once more with feeling.
The pump rumbled.
Rohan ducked.
The cream jetted out over Rohan’s head, hitting Danilo in the stomach.
Bastijn hooted. “I knew you liked it messy, chamo.”
Danilo didn’t miss a beat. He swiped his finger through the cream and licked it off with relish.
Then Rohan one-upped him and did the same.
Cisco pretended to wipe tears from his eyes. “I can die happy.”
I checked the burst of photos I’d taken. “Me too.”
“Had I known we were having this kind of party, I’d have come back sooner.” Kane lounged in the doorway.
I was hit with three unassailable facts. First, Kane was drunk, swaying on his feet and reeking of booze.
“Fucking hell,” Ari said, having left the bedroom at the sound of Kane’s voice.
Second, Kane was dressed in all-black. No fashion nightmare, just pure badassery. Had the apocalypse started?
Ari examined Kane with a similarly wary look.
And third, from his messy hair, post-coital glow, and oh yeah, the giant hickey on his neck, he was freshly fucked.
“What did you find out?” Baruch strode out of his room.
Kane blinked because he’d just seen Ari come out of there as well. He grabbed an unopened bottle of beer from the table, twisted off the cap, then dropped into a chair and plunked his feet on the table.
“Raise your hand if you knew Ethan was part of the swinger community.” No one did. “Did none of you ever see the tattoo on his inner thigh? Male symbol with two female symbols?”
“Oh,” Ari said.
“Really? You’re the one that gets it?” Kane chugged some beer.
“Wasn’t looking at his thigh,” Danilo said.
“Is that why you wanted to see the tattoos?” I said.
“Tattoos and scars can tell you a lot about a person. If you know to look.” He shot a scathing glance at everyone.
“How is poking around in the man’s private life relevant?” Cisco said.
“Kane.” Baruch took his beer away. Kane swiped for it, but Baruch held it out of reach. “You’ve had enough.”
“I trolled the local scene,” Kane drawled. “Your boy had some interesting tastes.” Danilo bristled at him, but Kane just rolled his eyes. “Calm down. I’m hardly one to judge.”
“No kidding,” Ari said.
“Heard that,” Kane sang. “I found Ethan’s preferred hangout and that he’d gone to play there the night before the attack, then I charmed the security footage out of the bouncer and–” At Ari’s snort, Kane raised his eyebrows. “You want me to continue or not?”
“By all means,” Ari said.
Kane tipped back onto two legs of the chair. “The footage isn’t monitored and luckily, I got it before it reset and was recorded over. Guess who brushed past Ethan on the street when the club let out that night? One touch and bam. Sienna.”
“Not enough for you?” Kane thunked his chair back onto the floor. “Then how about this? For the past couple of years until about four months ago, your boy was making himself a nice little witchy side income to the tune of two grand a month.”
Baruch wrote everything Kane said under Ethan’s photo.
“Doing what?” Rohan said.
“No clue? But whatever it was, he was doing it for Tessa.”
“You’re lying,” Cisco said.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, hot stuff, but I’d have to give a shit about your friend to lie. Plus, I traced the deposits back.” Kane rose and bowed sloppily. “You’re welcome.”
He swaggered out of the room back to the bungalow he’d snagged for himself. Or was exiled to.
“Pendejo,” Bastijn said.
Baruch watched him go. “Has he seen his father lately?”
“Yup.” Ari followed Kane, with me hot on his heels.
We barged into Kane’s bungalow as he was pulling his shirt over his head. He sniffed it, then pitched it from the living room into the bedroom. “Ever heard of knocking?”
“Your dad is a dick,” Ari said. “Get the fuck over it. We need to act like a team, not have you parade around like a giant asshole.”
“That’s not you, Kane,” I said.
He crossed his arms, his eyes blazing. “You should both mind your own business.”
“You are my business, idiot,” I said, “because you’re my friend. I get that your relationship with your dad is tough.”
“Don’t try and psychoanalyze me, babyslay. It’s not your strong suit. Stick to stirring shit up and screwing your boyfriend.” He notched his chin up.
“Put your chin away. If anything goes wrong, I’m not spending this time fighting with you.”
“Fuck you. You don’t get to play your death card. Nothing is going to happen.”
I spread my arms wide. “Anything could happen. Ethan walked in and took out a Rasha and a rabbi. This is a whole new gameboard.”
Kane scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. Bring it in.”
I hugged him.
Ari tsked me. “You always were a soft touch.”
Kane stepped away from me. “Why don’t you take your judgy face and go somewhere else? I don’t know what you want from me, but I have a funeral to get ready for.” He headed into the bedroom.
“You know exactly what I want from you,” Ari said. “A relationship.”
I snapped my mouth shut.
Kane froze in the doorway. Then laughed. “No. You definitely didn’t want that.”
Ari grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to turn around. “Don’t tell me what I want. After our mission in Osoyoos? Didn’t you want more of that closeness?”
Kane knocked his hand off. “Don’t confuse pity with intimacy.”
“Last chance,” my brother said. “Keep playing the same script or stop letting your dad’s opinion win. The ball’s in your court. But this is it, then I’m done.”
Ari spun around and walked out.
Kane inhaled sharply like he’d been punched in the gut, before he stomped into the bedroom and slammed the door.
I tapped my index finger against my lip looking between the opposite directions they’d taken, then I strolled into Kane’s bedroom without knocking.
He grabbed his unbuckled pants before they slid off his waist. “You didn’t bring ice cream or booze so, sorry, not discussing your brother.”
“This isn’t about Ari. We’re at go big or go home, Kane, and I need to know if you can go big with me without imploding because of your dad.”
“Hey, I was the one who solved what Ethan was up to.”
“Mazel tov.” I pointed at the hickey on his neck. “And you managed to do it with a massive fuck-you to your team members. Way to go.”
Kane rolled his eyes. “Spare me the dramatics.”
“Takes one to know one. I mastered the art of keeping people at arm’s length and you know what?”
“You found true love and realized the error of your ways?”
“No. I got tired. Living down to people’s expectations is exhausting.” I planted my hands on my hips. “I always thought your poison magic was because you were toxic in relationships, but that’s not it at all.”
His mouth curled in a sneer. “Do tell.”
“You hate yourself.”
Kane flinched and shoved past me.
I jumped in front of his bathroom door, practically hip-checking him in his angry stride.
“I don’t know what number your father did on you, but Kane?” I clasped his shoulders, forcing him to look at me.
His breath came in harsh pants and his nostrils flared.
“You are a good man. And you’re allowed to be happy.”
He struck my hands off him, his skin turning purple and my eyes stinging from the bitter stench of salt.
Still, I grabbed his wrists, ignoring his poison corroding my skin, needing him to hear me through the wild-eyed panic on his face.
“I know how bad it sucks to have people always think the worst of you. It took me way too long to figure out that I didn’t have to be that kind of person, that I could be someone else. Because fuck those haters. Why should the people who want you to suffer have a say in your life? They’re not worth destroying yourself over. You’re allowed to be happy,” I repeated in a gentle voice.
His expression went scarily blank. “You might want to wash off.”
I turned my palms up; they were covered in raw angry blisters that prevented me from fully opening my hands.
Kane brushed past me and locked the bathroom door with a click.
I ran for the kitchen sink to rinse off, hoping my healing kicked in soon, then went looking for my brother.
Ari was sitting out by the pool.
I kicked off my shoes, and sat down next to him, dipping my feet in the cool water. “Does super bitch always make an appearance after he sees his family?”
Ari swung his foot back and forth, watching the ripples. “It can take weeks for the toxic cycle to run its course. Kane’s mom died when he was young, and when Mr. Hashimoto remarried and had Ren he got the son he’d always wanted. A manly sports kid, unlike his gay, computer-loving older son.”
“But Kane was destined to be Rasha and he’s a great hunter. That’s got to count.”
“Being Rasha was his one redeeming quality, but his father kept on about how his Rasha ancestor’s genes had been passed to the wrong child.”
“I hate him.”
“You don’t know the half of it. It’s why Kane’s so rigid about people betraying him. One strike and you’re dead to him.” Ari kicked up a spray of water. “He’s so fucking hard on himself and everyone who gives a damn.”
I put my head on his shoulder. “Whatever happened in Osoyoos, it’s why you got that lion tattoo, right?”
“Sometimes I hate having a twin,” he said, resting his head on top of mine.
He didn’t elaborate and I didn’t push. Ari and I would always be close, always have that twin connection, but we both had other people who were our number ones now. As it should be. Or rather, as it could be if Ari and Kane worked things out.
“It’s all good,” he said. “I’m fine. Better than fine.”
“Strong like the lion for whom you’re named.”
Ari roared lamely and we both snickered.
I was about to pat his arm but my palm still hurt a bit from the poison, even though the blisters were shrinking.
“Don’t give up on him. If Ro hadn’t patiently knocked down all my issues one-by-one, we wouldn’t be where we are.” I trailed my fingers through the water in slow ripples.
“Yeah, but Ro had issues of his own.”
I flicked water at him. “You have issues.”
“Name one.”
“Don’t you get my yearl
y email listing of your many faults?”
“I tend to delete anything from you.”
“That explains a lot. All kidding aside, ask him again. Kane’s hurting right now. Don’t let your pride screw up your long-term happiness. You two are good together.”
“Kane needs to come down a few notches on the douchebag scale before I’m willing to have that conversation.” He knocked his shoulder against mine. “When did you get mature and shit?”
“Our last birthday. It was like boom! I am a sage Zen mistress. A deep well of wisdom.”
“With such a lack of ego,” Ro said from behind us. He pulled his car keys out of his pocket, twirling them around his finger. “Wanna go for a ride?”
“Rawr. Lead on, baby.”
Rohan laughed. “In my car for an errand, but we’ll come back to that.”
“Nope.” Ari scrambled out of the pool. “I’m having dick cake flashbacks.”
He jogged off, leaving a trail of wet footprints.
Rohan and I drove down out of the hills and past a stretch of low-slung houses that bumped up against an overpass. Yes, Los Angeles had a glitzy side to her, but she also had parts that were more “tired morning after.” Like she’d woken up and staggered outside in her now-wrinkled party clothes, her make-up smeared and her hair tangled, blinking blearily into the sunshine and wishing once more for night to make her glitter.
I kicked off my demure navy sandals and propped my bare feet up on the dashboard, my back pressed against the sun-warmed leather seats and a cool breeze rolling over me from the window.
“How did Ethan know Tessa? Even if he dated a witch like Danilo had, Tessa was older and they wouldn’t have traveled in the same circles. And I doubt he used her consultancy services.”
Ro shifted gears, his bicep flexing with the motion. “Could DSI have subcontracted out to her and he met her on a job?”
“Not unless you subcontract out for feng shui. She was a de-clutter and positive energy specialist.”
A truck rumbled past, its bed stuffed with rainbow-colored, star-shaped piñatas. Their tassels blew in the wind, leaving multicolored tracers in their wake.
Tracers? I was neither drunk nor high. I rubbed my eyes and the world darkened, like a total solar eclipse. I rubbed them again and this time, the world went black.
I gripped the sides of my seat.
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