“I’ll make you forget about everything you saw here and everyone you met.” Sirius arched a brow towards Evander. “Including Evander. You won’t remember this conversation or any other you had with us.”
Cold fingers of dread trailed down my neck. Could he make me forget about what I saw? About Evander? If my legs hadn’t weakened, I would’ve stood up.
“Asia is in danger of being attacked by one of the most hungry incubi we’ve ever met,” Evander gritted out. “She’s entitled to receive the bureau’s protection.”
“No, she isn’t. She isn’t our priority.” Sirius stood up.
“We can’t leave her unprotected,” Evander rebuked. “The shadows marked her room. Bertie won’t stop chasing her until he takes her.”
“The Priority Protection Act—”
“The hell with that!” Evander roared, shooting up to his feet.
Sirius jabbed a finger at him. “You can’t ignore a directive that comes from the Prime Minister himself.”
As much as I appreciated Evander standing up for me—although I wasn’t sure what the conversation was about, and my brain was stuck on ‘scrub your memories’—I didn’t like when men discussed me as if I weren’t in the room. Besides, there was nothing more annoying than watching men arguing on who was more alpha than the other.
I stood up, ignoring the faint dizziness causing my head to spin.
The others rose as well, always the gentlemen.
“Listen, I don’t care about the bureau’s rules.” I grabbed the edge of the table to steady myself. “I just want to help my friend. How do you find an incubus’s lair? Why is it so difficult to find?”
Evander’s stance didn’t relax. His gaze was still trained on Sirius. “As an immortal creature, an incubus accumulates wealth across the centuries. Having no human needs, he can prosper beyond any mortal’s dream. As a result, incubi live in well-protected houses. In fact, they have many estates, and they don’t leave any trace of their presence or money transactions.”
“They’re like ghosts for the society,” Damon added. “They don’t have a bank account, identification papers, aren’t registered in any districts. They officially don’t exist. It’s like catching fog with your bare hands.”
“The bond between an incubus and his victims allow the victims to find the lair,” Evander said. “The victims know where to find their master. The problem is that they wouldn’t tell us because their addiction for the incubus brings them to protect him.”
Sighing, I rubbed the bridge of my nose. It was worse than I feared.
The heavy silence that dropped did nothing to soothe the throb in my head. The coffee and toast churned in my stomach. I plonked down the chair again.
“Of course,” Sirius said, “if you really want to help, there’s something you can do. You can—”
“That’s enough.” Evander snatched a jacket from the back of another chair and donned it with sharp movements. “Asia, I’m sorry to hurry you, but I need you to come with me.”
“Wait. I want to know what I can do to help.” I faced Sirius.
Jasper muttered something to Sirius.
“Yes, there’s something you can do,” Evander said, “and I’ll explain it if you come with me.” Evander held the door open, arm stretched towards the hallway.
Jasper nodded. “Go with Evander, Asia.”
Sirius’s lips were pressed into a grim line. “You don’t mean to carry on with your idea, do you?”
“Since you know the rules so well, you should remember that under the Victim Management Act, I’m entitled to offer my services to a chosen victim.” Evander’s tone was final.
“Captain?” Sirius’s knuckles pressed on the table.
If Jasper found Sirius’s complaint a nuisance, he didn’t show it. His handsome face remained straight and unfathomable. “Evander has my authorisation.”
I rose and curtsied again, aware of Sirius’s glare on me, and hurried to follow Evander before another argument started.
Thirteen
THE MOMENT THE door of the kitchen shut behind Evander and me, the tension knotting my stomach tightened. The conversation sank in and left me a shaky mess.
“Can Sirius make me forget about all this?” I asked, waving a hand. “About you?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “Yes, he can make you forget. Removing memories is Sirius’s speciality. That’s what he does when a civilian discovers about the bureau or is involved with the supernatural.”
I took his arm. “I don’t want to be scrubbed.”
His silence itched along my skin.
“We need to go.” Evander’s deep voice rumbled in the corridor.
“All right, but this conversation isn’t over, and I need to change.” I tugged at the dressing gown.
“I’ve provided a few clothes for you. You’ll find them in the dresser in your room.” He stopped in front of my door. “I’ll wait here.”
Not that I minded if he watched me change, but, alas, he wouldn’t accept.
I put a hand on the handle. “Thank you and—Where are we going?”
“I’ll explain everything in a moment.”
Curse him. I’d receive more answers from the statue of a Greek god. Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I entered the bedroom. I found a dark blue dress carefully folded in the dresser.
A pair of boots stood on the floor, their colour matching the gown’s brown underskirt. The bodice fitted my waist like a glove, but it was a bit tight on the chest, and the first buttons of the shirt left a couple of gaps. The top of my cleavage was visible, but I wouldn’t lose sleep for that. Too many things filled my mind, among the mind-scrubbing powers, incubi, and my best friend addicted to having sex with a creature.
The boots were soft and supple with a few inches heels, certainly not cheap. I swirled in front of the wall mirror. The skirt flowed around my legs light and fluffy, and its blue and brown folds flashed. A pale bruise marked my cheek where the incubus had slapped me. Jessica’s potion must’ve taken care of the bruise. But aside from that, the good night’s sleep had left my skin rosy and fresh. Not like Charlotte’s.
Evander was leaning against the wall when I exited the room. He raked a gaze over me, and maybe it was just me, but it seemed that his stare lingered on the poorly buttoned top of the shirt.
“Are the clothes of your liking?”
“I love the dress. It’s just a bit tight over here.” I patted the top of my breasts.
He averted his gaze, a soft blush colouring his cheeks. “I’ll provide different clothes then.”
“That won’t be necessary. I have plenty of clothes in my room.” I headed towards the foyer, but he called me.
“Wrong way.” He stretched out an arm towards the end of the corridor.
“I thought we were leaving the house.”
“Yes, but not from the front door.”
I frowned at the reinforced door closing the corridor. Evander unbolted it with a brass key, revealing a flight of dark stairs going down. Why wasn’t I surprised?
Yellow lights glared at me when we descended the stairs, but at least the air wasn’t stuffy.
“You aren’t going back to De Luna House,” Evander said, pausing in front of me.
“Excuse me?” I skidded to a halt in one of those wide corridors that connected the occult bureau’s entrances.
“It’s too dangerous. The incubus targeted you, and after last night, I’m afraid this chase has become personal for him. Nothing excites an incubus more than a chase. Incubi love playing cat and mouse with a prey. They can’t resist. It’s their main weakness.” Sadness and worry dripped from his words.
“What about Violet and Felicity and the other girls?”
A man ran along the pavement, and Evander paused to let him pass. “I think they’ll be safer if you aren’t with them. The incubus wants you. He won’t hurt them while he’s obsessed with you.”
&nbs
p; “But he might kill the girls to provoke me.”
He didn’t reply to that, and I didn’t like his silence.
I caught up with him and walked at his side when the corridor widened. “And where am I supposed to stay?”
“You’re going to apply for a room here in the bureau. There isn’t a safer place in London, aside from Jasper’s house.”
Shock stopped me in my tracks. Staying here, in this dark place without windows among people who could wipe my memories? I wasn’t exactly jumping with happiness at the occasion to spend more time here. “I’m not sure I like this idea.”
“I’m not sure you have a choice.” He cocked his head. “Here you’re safe. Out there? Not so much.”
All right. He had a deuced valid point. Still, it felt like I was a prisoner.
We kept turning and rounding corners to other endless corridors that led to other endless corridors. I’d be lost in a minute without a guide.
“How big is this place?” I tugged the collar of my shirt to release some of the heat.
“As big as London, more or less.” Evander gestured in the general direction of the corridor. “The royal occult bureau has been active for centuries. Some of these passageways are ancient, and every bureau’s director expanded the structure and added new sections and underground buildings. Centuries ago, the bureau decided to tell the people the truth, that there were witches and succubi, and vampires—”
“Vampires?” My boots screeched on the smooth floor when I stopped in my tracks. “You must be bloody joking.”
“I’m afraid not.” Not a muscle in his face twitched. “After the bureau told the truth, people panicked. Witches, innocent ones, were hunted and burned alive. The occult agents had to start a mass memory wiping to keep things under control, and after that sad episode, the bureau decided to never reveal the truth again. Secrecy is essential to keep harmless Unnaturals safe.”
“Unnaturals?”
“That’s how we call the creatures.”
Lord, the more I knew about this new reality, the more my heart pounded. Vampires. I touched my neck. “Does every agent have a memory wiping power?”
“Only a few. Sirius and Damon can cleanse memories. Jasper can send someone to sleep with his touch.”
“And what’s your power? Climbing walls?”
“More or less.” He smirked. Curse him.
We stopped at a door with a plaque reading, ‘Administration and Permits Request.’ A message under the plaque added: For enquires about the anti-vampire kit and anti-siren kit, please visit the Health and Safety Department.
Oh. My. God. Whatever this anti-vampire kit was, I wanted one. The world was better when I had to worry only about drunk men and pocket thieves.
The office was just like any other office in London aside from the lack of dirt and a crowd of shouting people. A gleaming wooden desk took up most of the room, and the marble floor was so polished my silhouette mirrored in it. The poster hanging on the wall, warning about a group of imps loose in the city, broke the illusion of being in a normal office. The blue creature with pointed ears and fangs in the poster didn’t seem particularly vicious, not compared to the incubus, that is.
Evander rang the bell on the counter, and a male clerk came out from a door at the end of the room. With his thinning grey hair and small stature, he could pass for a physician or a librarian. A tag on his chest showed the name Milford.
“Agent Lynch.” He adjusted his glasses. “What can I do for you?”
Evander clasped his hands on the front in that posture of authoritative confidence he used when he was about to give an order. I knew something about that.
“I’m here to request a permit to stay in the bureau for Miss Asia Quicksilver, civilian,” he said.
I stepped forward and took a dip. “Good morning.”
“Good morning, miss.” Mr Milford opened a logbook and scribbled something on it. “What’s the reason?”
As Evander recapped how the incubus had attacked us, a cold shiver chilled me. If I’d known what I was fighting, that I was sparring against an incubus, I would’ve probably fainted.
Milford nodded. “Wait here, please, while I check Miss Quicksilver’s credentials.” He disappeared through the back door.
I moved closer to Evander. “Aside from giving me a room here, what are you planning to do?”
His gaze dipped again to my cleavage. Only for a moment. “It seems that the incubus uses always the same carriage and the same noxus. If he hired the brougham, I might find a lead. If he bought it, there has to be someone who sold it to him. Meanwhile, I’m sure the captain will find something about a pleasure house with a boar.”
It wasn’t much of a plan, but before I could say anything, the clerk returned, flustered and stiff.
“Agent Lynch,” he said, straightening a document and pushing his glasses over his thin nose. “There seems to be an impediment of sort.”
“What impediment?” Evander towered over the man from across the counter.
“Well, it appears that Miss Quicksilver is . . .” More fiddling with his glasses. “That her, er, profession isn’t listed in the Priority Protection Act.”
Again that Act thing. I frowned. “What does it mean? Sirius mentioned the protection act too.”
Evander’s neck tensed.
Milford did his best to avoid looking at me. “Miss, it means that since you’re a, ahem, er, a—”
“Whore,” I said to put him out of his misery.
He gave a nod, and a flush reddened his cheeks. “Well, the bureau doesn’t think its agents and resources should be employed to protect a woman who, er, does your job. The Priority Protection Act gives precedence to other professionals.”
It was clear enough. I was the scum of society, and taxpayers didn’t want to waste their precious money on me. If a Fallen Woman died, it wasn’t a big problem. Probably good riddance even. But if the daughter of Lord This or That was in danger, it was worth saving her life. Same old, same old. I wasn’t surprised. The above-the-ground bureaucracy rejected me. Why shouldn’t the under-the-ground one too?
“But,” Evander said with a tone as sweet as a sharp blade in the dark, “under the Victim Management Act, I can reinforce my decision to keep a person threatened by a supernatural creature of danger level five.”
Milford held up a hand. “Yes, but—”
“Asia has been targeted by an incubus,” Evander continued. “Incubi are level five creatures.”
I hoped level five was the top because I couldn’t imagine how dangerous a level ten creature could be.
A tartan kerchief was produced from Milford’s pocket. He wiped his forehead. “Agent Lynch, unfortunately the Protection Act overrules the Victim Act. Paragraph one, section two.” He tapped a finger on a document. “I’m afraid I can’t give a room to Miss Quicksilver here.”
“So, Asia is expendable.” Evander’s nostrils flared.
Milford patted his forehead again, looking like a grandfather who had been told he had to babysit his twelve grandchildren alone. “I wouldn’t put it that way.”
“Put it as you like, but that’s the core of the Priority Protection Act.” Sheer anger radiated from Evander.
My shoulders stooped. Yes, a moment ago, I’d complained about the dullness and suffocating atmosphere of the place, but being told I wasn’t good enough for the society to be protected hurt. I doubted the bureau would give a toss about Charlotte then or any other girl at De Luna House. Now the silence that had lingered in Evander’s kitchen acquired another meaning. The other agents hadn’t wanted to tell me there was no hope to find my friend because the bureau considered her expendable, too.
I was on my own. As usual.
A noise like a groan came from Evander. He thumped a fist on the counter. “I can accommodate her as my guest in my house and have extended the benefits I have to her. All I need is a guest card and a key that allows Asia to enter the bureau
in case of emergency.”
I whipped my head towards him. Would he do that for me?
“I can certainly give her a pass, but good gracious, sir!” Milford lowered the kerchief. “Sir, think about Miss Quicksilver’s reput—” He coughed in his closed fist. “Yes, I guess that solution would be acceptable.”
Fourteen
HAD I THOUGHT that sharing Evander’s apartment with him would mean to see him often? Yes. And I’d been very wrong.
The bedroom he’d given me was bigger than mine in De Luna house, and after drawing open the ridiculous heavy curtains, the sense of suffocation diminished. But I barely saw Evander. He’d arranged my guest permit and with a ‘don’t leave the house and don’t worry’ had left. I hadn’t seen him the whole day, and worry was twisting deep within me.
Also, staying here with nothing to do was boring. Without my books, the other girls of the house, and my freedom, my head was about to explode from worry and boredom. Besides, the stupid hearth refused to light on my command no matter how many times I said ‘fire.’ Maybe the ability to light the fire with one word was Evander’s power.
The books he had in the shelves of his small sitting rooms weren’t of my taste. Historical treaties, the life of this or that politicians, and scientific essays. The man didn’t understand what a fun read was. The only passable book I found was Don Quixote, but even that proved to be the description of endless battles.
Sprawled on the couch, I yawned as I turned another page.
The door of the apartment cracked open, and I jumped off the couch, heart thumping in anticipation.
Evander entered the room. He removed his jacket and threw it on an armchair.
“Welcome back.” The folds of my gown flapped around me.
Always prim, he gazed away although nothing could be seen of my body aside from a small triangle of skin on my collarbone.
“Thank you.” He took out a gun from the holster under his jacket and stored it inside a cabinet.
“Do guns work on incubi?” I asked, pressing the book against my chest.
“Bullets slow them down, and if I shot the heart, I might kill them. But every creature is different. Our researchers created different types of guns and bullets for different creatures.” He put a brown parcel on the drum table next to the armchair. “How was your day?”
The Royal Occult Bureau Page 12
