Master Juggler (Untraceable Succubus Book 3) Page 22

  “I’m sorry I ever triggered any of this and scared you,” Aidan whispered against my temple. “I’m so sorry, darling.”

  I nodded, glad he got it now at least, but ready to let it go.

  Dylan helped me stand, and they cleaned me up, clearly wanting to ask about the blood that had washed off my shoulders but leaving it be.

  When we were done, I wrapped a towel around me, tossing two back to them.

  “So this is another house corporate owns?” Dylan asked as he glanced around. “And it’s still all the owner’s stuff?” He waited until I nodded. “Which corporate now owns how?”

  “How do you expect her to answer?” Aidan chuckled. “You told me they got that owner to sell ‘as is,’ I’m sure they did this too, and people don’t pay better attention to the fine print that it can include everything inside.”

  I tapped my nose and pointed to him as I went to the bag Mason had packed for me. I smiled as I pulled out a plastic shopping bag with a note from Kiera.

  We always do and you will this time too. Love, Kiera.

  I let out a shaky breath and nodded. Yeah, we always kept moving and got better, and I would this time too. It was our mantra when I was on these type of cases or shit was just too much in our lives.

  I opened the bag and saw a sleeveless tennis dress. I frowned but then realized she was trying to improve upon all my cotton casual dresses or hoodies. It had a built in bra, as my girls were too big to just leave completely free for long, but I hated real clothes when I wasn’t undercover.

  And this had skorts so I wasn’t just flashing everyone all the time. I didn’t really care, but it could be distracting, and that slowed things down which upset me when I was the cause.

  If that circular logic made any real sense.

  “Can I have this drawer since you’re going to be here for a while handling all of this?” Dylan asked, tapping the huge and expensive dresser with mirror.

  I studied him a few moments and slowly nodded, giving Aidan a look that I knew he would ask next. He got the same answer before having to ask, which clearly shocked him from his reaction. I shrugged and left. I couldn’t always be such a pain in the ass.

  Maybe?

  “Here’s the recording for the date you and Bain can watch later so you’re both up to speed,” Natalia told me as she handed me a slim disk drive. It was standard when someone glamoured as us to provide cover or an alibi that they wore a camera with audio so we could make sure we knew what happened. One of the demons on security would also have been on an earpiece with them.

  Hey, people found you at the strangest places, and that happened for our covers as well. It was the standard play after someone went as one of my covers and had no idea when a mark came over to her. I handled it later that I didn’t want the person with me to know much, but it could have unraveled the whole case, and we might be perfect… But we did learn from our mistakes.

  I nodded my thanks to her and set it on the desk. I crawled under it to check everything was brought over and hooked back up the way I’d had it just to be safe. I wasn’t surprised to see it was as they were always careful, knowing the towers and my gear cost as much as a pricy sports car.

  Mason was still working on his, probably having helped done mine first, so I hooked the coven leader’s tower into my system. I hit the power and threw up my wet hair, ready to get into it.

  I was really, really ready to end this and dole out some more justice, get the demons their vengeance and hope for something better. Restitution wouldn’t fix everything—certainly not what they’d been through emotionally—but it would be a good fucking start to putting their lives back together.

  “One of the guys who didn’t do or know enough to get dead told us where they stashed everything of the demons,” Kyle told me. “It’s a few storage units registered under a dummy corp. They cleaned out their apartments and detangled them from their lives so no one asked questions.”

  I nodded and pulled up the speaking program as my throat was too raw. “At least it wasn’t all tossed out like too many do when people go missing.”

  “Yeah. They’re all at the safe house in Bilbao, Spain on the water. Kiera said that might help and we have a full detail there to protect them.”

  I nodded. That was a good play.

  “For your throat,” Dylan muttered as he set down a mug of mint tea. “I put in a lot of honey. Do you want lemon too?”

  I shook my head and unlocked my systems now that they were loaded. “Thanks. Printer?”

  “You’re welcome,” Dylan chuckled, getting the program would be how I talked for a bit.

  “Printer’s ready,” someone called over.

  “I’ve got the list of who you handle and who Elijah took right to corporate into custody,” Kyle told me.

  I pulled the full coven registration off the leader’s computer, and for the next several minutes we crossed names off. It left us with a dozen to round up and interrogate. I printed pictures and the basics from the files, Kyle moving to coordinate picking them up as someone taped all the images up on the boards so we had the visuals.

  The tea hurt and helped my throat. It was too raw for the heat, but it was healing it. I knew Dylan would want me to feed to heal but didn’t push it since we didn’t have the time.

  And it wasn’t like I was going to feed on any of them.

  Relief filled me when I found the files for the “club” including all the members, their payment information, and a lot of everything I could do some serious damage with. Nice.

  I flagged Kyle and showed him, smiling evilly when he did. Yeah, we’d have some fun getting them for sure. I started printing everything they had.

  “What do you want me to handle first?” Mason asked, and I glanced over to see his system was up and running.

  I transferred the files for the club onto a drive and handed it to him, using the program to talk again. “I need deep dives on these people. We’re going for them, but we’re also going to lay waste to their lives.”

  “I can’t take you in pain, goddess,” he rasped, moving his hand to my throat. I felt cool and then warm, the sensations switching every few seconds over the next minute.

  And then my throat didn’t hurt anymore. “Wow.”

  “Healing isn’t my best skill, but I can do a bit of this and that,” he said under his breath.

  “Thanks, I didn’t have time to feed.” I turned my head and gave him a soft kiss.

  He picked back up the drive and promised he’d handle it.

  Good.

  I spent the next half hour cleaning out accounts from the confirmed involved we’d already handled. I threw it all into one account that would be where we put everything for the fifteen lust demons. The more that was in there, the more we got before anyone tried to intercede, I felt a morsel of tension ease.

  “We have a problem,” Kyle told me as he leaned in. “One of the members is on the bird shifter council.”

  “Too fucking bad,” I chuckled darkly. “Tell Elijah and he’ll gladly portal to the person and drag them off.” I shook my head when he opened his mouth to argue. “Give it to Elijah. He’ll get the right everything and handle it. We’ve done this before.”

  His eyes flashed shock. “Yeah, but that was one of ours and a German citizen.”

  “They’re still ours, and he’ll handle it.”

  “Nice.” He nodded he had it and walked off.

  “What else do you need?” Kiera asked as she swung by next. She shook her head when I went to tell her just to go to bed. “We’re heading out, but other teams are coming for a little while that just had their clubs close as well.”

  I thought about that a moment and nodded. “Any who we rescued who could check on the safe house and talk to the victims. Even if the place is nice and we’ve got security, they have to be scared.”

  “Natalia already asked a few to go share energy from buffets that were on tonight.”

  I thought what else might help and glanced up
at her. “Kyle knows where the coven stored all their stuff after abducting them. Would that help? Would having those teams help bring it to the safe house help them, or should they go raid residences of those we took care of who were involved?”

  She frowned. “I would think getting their stuff back, right?”

  I shrugged. “I didn’t really have any to get back, and I wasn’t held as long as them.”

  “Yeah, that wasn’t what you saved me from either,” she muttered, sighing as she pushed her hair over her shoulder. “I think we do a bit of both. Get some of the stuff so they see there is stuff, and we also pick a place to clear out that you think someone will try for first. We tell them we’re doing it and the reparations are theirs to help them once we know it’s safe.”

  I nodded. “That’s a good fucking plan.” I printed something out and handed it to her with a smirk. “That’s what’s already in the account for them. I cleaned out all the club and leadership of the coven accounts.”

  “Holy fuck, that’s a lot of money,” she chuckled. She leaned in and kissed my cheek. “You keep working your magic. I’ll ask people if they have any clothes they want to donate.”

  I snorted. “Take the portal to the coven house and clean it out. Let them take the clothes off the people who hurt them.”

  She frowned. “I don’t think that’s healthy now that they’re dead and they’re getting vengeance. That sounds more like a weight to carry.”

  “Good point.” I shook my head after a moment. “Don’t give them hand me downs like that’s all they’re worth though. We can do better than that. Send a few of the dancers to do a bit of shopping. At least soft cotton lounge clothes while they heal.”

  “Perfect,” she agreed. “Oh, and I talked to that new assistant manager in LA who gave your name to that woman, Jade, you met. She now gets that everything is a bit more confidential and there are consequences to giving names, as someone had to get it for that hit and everything. I talked to Natalia, and we agreed a reminder is needed across all clubs that we never name names or tell even family corporate stuff.”

  “Good, yeah, it sounds like overkill, but they should know why given we saved a lot of them from horrible situations.”

  “She wasn’t one of them, so it’s a good reason to make sure we’re all on the same page.” She waited until I nodded. “I called Evan to let him and Owen know you were fine, and Owen was in the background ranting that Evan got to see your apartment. I think I’m offended, as I’ve never even seen it, never been invited.”

  I snickered. “Oh, and I’ve been invited to yours? Don’t you dare count the one time I was there dragging your drunk ass through a portal.”

  She winced. “That’s not unfair.”

  “We go somewhere else when we have the time. We party somewhere tropical or whatever. If we had time to have dinner parties or Netflix weekends, I probably would have invited you at least once.”

  “Well, Owen’s not happy,” she warned with amusement dancing in her eyes.

  “Then he has to get better at invading my dreams like Evan,” I said under my breath, nodding when her eyes went wide. “He’s not stepped foot in my apartment. It was a dream, and apparently you can have sex in dreams.”

  “That’s hot.”

  “It was,” I agreed, giving her a wink before turning back to my work and leaving her to arrange all we’d decided so she could crash. It wasn’t like she wouldn’t be back, as she tended to swing by any home base during assignments just to check on me.

  “Elijah’s setting up in the study here so he’s on location and we’re not doing all of this at corporate just in case,” Kyle informed me about a half an hour later. “We got half of the coven members, and Elijah is asking they go to ISLE and let them handle this after we get the specific questions answered that we need.”

  “I’m fine with that,” I agreed. “If any were involved, I need the names so I can destroy them too.”

  “Of course.”

  Aidan was my next interruption. He hugged me and pressed his lips against my ear. “The council knows. I just got a text saying there’s an emergency meeting in less than an hour.”

  I glanced up at him, not hiding my anger. “And how would they all get together? Who’s doing their portals?”

  He kissed my forehead, not taking offense to the accusation. “Video conference like normal unless it’s a quarterly all included meeting, but a lot of them live near the council estate so they just have to drive in. It’s us younger ones that aren’t involved full time but are junior members because of our age that video conference in.”

  “Sorry.”

  “I understand. You have a valid reason to not be happy with vampires at the moment.”

  “No, as all of them aren’t bad,” I admitted, pursing my lips so he chuckled and kissed me. “What are you going to tell them?”

  “The truth,” he sighed, shaking his head when I flinched. “There’s no point in lying to them, as some would know and it would risk my position. That doesn’t mean I will tell them everything, but I have to tell them the coven was trying to trap me and I fell into your investigation. I would suggest you, as Sloan Chen, and Elijah come with me and we go there.”

  “You want us to go into the lion’s den?” I asked, not hiding my shock. “With ancients and the most powerful vamps around. Are you like nuts?”

  “No, it’s smart,” Elijah said from behind us. “It shows we’re not prey and we’re not scared of them anymore. And Aidan plans to make Sloan Chen his lover, as Bain has Cara and Dylan has Jasmine.”

  Aidan winced. “I was working up to that, yes, but not for the council or to push you yet, but yes. I want you in my life too, darling, and while I care not for society’s harsh judgments, we both know if Dylan is officially with Jasmine, it would look bad for all three of us if I was too.”

  “Well, good thing I have so many covers,” I drawled. “I’ll go in as Sloan, but I’m not agreeing to go official, as we’re not yet. I need to trust you better, Aidan.”

  “I have no desire to rush you at all or push as long as you don’t shut me out. I got a drawer where you’re staying at home base, and that’s a very nice step for me.” He gave me a slower, more intense kiss. “Work your magic, and let’s go start some trouble.”

  “You’re just trying for a blow job.”

  “Great, now I’m going to go there hard,” he sighed against my lips. “You are too much sometimes.”

  “It’s part of my charm,” I purred. I glanced over at Elijah. “Time to bring out the big guns?”

  “Yeah, it’s time. We started this, and now it’s time to show some of our cards before people become stupid and think they have a chance at doing something about what we’ve done.”

  “There’s more to your company and all of this than I know?” Aidan asked, and I fixed how I was sitting so I was focused back on my systems.

  “What information are we giving them?” I asked Elijah.

  “So that’s a ‘fuck yes.’” Dylan sighed. “So many layers and secrets. It’s like those Russian dolls, but there’s never one in the center.”

  “I’m sorry I’m such a pain, but I don’t believe I know all your secrets either,” I grumbled, feeling like that wasn’t really fair. They were also overly nosey because most people didn’t just hand over a full resume, bio, and corporate secrets if they were dating.

  Or they were stupid if they did.

  Elijah, Natalia, and I went over what we should share with Aidan throwing in what the council would value most. He knew we weren’t going in to be friends and I’d misbehave—since he wasn’t an idiot—but his insight on what they would want most was helpful, as we also weren’t their enemies.

  Well, as long as they were willing to get their shit together.

  As long as they were ready to get on board with demons no longer being acceptable victims or their abuse being a footnote to sweep under any rug. I wasn’t hopeful, but I knew we had the stronger side, and they hadn’t survi
ved that long by being stupid.

  18

  This time as my Sloan cover I wore baggy black cargo pants, sneakers, a long sleeved, fitted, swirled pastel shirt with a black shirt over it, and another messy braid. I had my tablet, messenger bag with my ridiculous laptop, and mini projector with several storage disks. Aidan looked seriously amused that I was going so far to play the part.

  Hey, I was MVP spy for a reason. No one had ever busted me on being multiple covers before Director Stevens… Or Aidan, but he cheated with being able to see who I really was through the glamour, so that didn’t count.

  There wasn’t security this time like with ISLE, which was stupid, but then again, the power coming from what I assumed was the main meeting room was astounding. I mean really astounding.

  And a bit terrifying. I would be hanging near Elijah for sure.

  “Oh boy,” Aidan whispered when more ancient demons arrived. He sighed and led the way, understanding we weren’t going to spill the beans until we were with the scary ancient vampires.

  “Aidan, we didn’t expect you besides over video conference,” a very, very old vampire greeted, glancing behind him. “And with guests.”

  “Yes, I understand that, but given they have information on the situation in LA—”

  “You mean they are the situation that attacked a coven,” someone snapped. “This is why everyone did what they could to prevent demons organizing as we would immediately have this chaos.”

  I moved before Elijah could stop me, setting my projector in the middle of the room to face their outer presentation wall. The room had two huge curved tables that acted as seated rows and behind them were TVs and webcams to loop in the remote councilmembers.

  In the center were a few tables where I would guess people set up or were grilled, at which was where I switched on the projector and let the first slideshow play with images I’d pulled off the coven’s surveillance.