Alpha Unleashed (27 page)

“Who do you think he is?” Meredith whispered.

“I'm not sure.” Claudia glanced at Lucas. He looked like he might know something about it. “But their auras were very similar. White and almost rainbow, although Cosette's is a bit brighter.”

Lucas sighed. “It's not mine to tell her secrets. If you consider her a friend, you should be worrying more about that hand of hers.”

I
was
worried about it. An injury from a demon had almost killed Raphael. Cosette was acting like she could handle it, but she also acted like she could handle everything. This was one thing I was pretty sure even she shouldn't be messing with. Hopefully she'd let us look at it and see if we could find some spells to help her. “I don't know what's up with her, but I saw her friend in my vision.”

“You
what
?” Cosette's voice from the doorway was like ice.

Right. She just
had
to come back at the right time…

There wasn't much I could say to defend myself. “I'm sorry. At first I was worried you'd leave if you knew. But then, with everything else that happened, there just wasn't a good time to bring it up again.” I said the words, but they sounded like excuses, even to me. “We're going to need you in that church if we want to survive. I'm going to need you.”

Cosette glared, and I deserved every ounce of her anger.

“I am sorry,” I said again, hoping to reinforce the sentiment, but it didn't look like it was doing any good.

Her eyes narrowed at me. “I can't decide if I'm pissed or impressed.”

“Impressed?” How was that possible?

“You got what you wanted, right? Very fey of you.”

Is that a compliment?
I asked Dastien. It didn't feel like one.

Probably not.
His voice rumbled through the bond, a little amused.

“I'm the last person who can complain about keeping secrets.” Cosette sighed as she tugged her bag out of the pile of gear in the corner.

Claudia stood. “You're leaving?”

I said a silent thank you to her. I wanted to ask, but I'd already gotten enough of Cosette's wrath.

“For tonight.” She let out a slow breath. “Van needs more convincing, but I'm going to stay and fight, so odds are he'll stay and fight with me.”

I swallowed the ‘thank you' that I wanted to give. “We really appreciate your help.”

“Thank me by killing Luciana. That's the only way this is all worth it.” She slung her bag over her shoulder. Her normal humor came back as she took in the room with a smirk. “Also, I'll be sleeping in a feather bed that smells like jasmine. I think karma has done its work here.”

“Lucky,” Meredith murmured.

“We'll reinforce your wards before we go.” Cosette eased the door closed, but her voice carried through, way more chipper than it needed to be “Don't let the bedbugs give you hepatitis.”

Okay. Definitely not thanking her for that one.

“Well, that was awkward.” Chris locked the door chain behind them, although it hadn't done much to keep Van out.

“Do you think they're romantic?” Claudia asked. “Or just friends?”

“It may be more complicated than that,” Lucas said.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“We're in contact with our local fey in Peru. All I'll say is I've heard her name come up as a key player in the courts.” I paused to let that sink in, but at this point I was more shocked that she actually let someone call her Coco and live.

“We should call Michael again,” Donovan said. “Give him an update and check on the situation at the school.”

I nodded. We'd expressly avoided the news. The fight against Luciana was only hours away, and we needed to stay focused. Still it was tempting. Donovan had been checking in with Mr. Dawson throughout the day. Word was things weren't pretty on campus. They'd managed to keep the police from storming the gates, but getting anyone to believe that the video girl was actually a demon wasn't a cakewalk.

A moan from the TV broke the silence.

“Jaysus,” Donovan yelled. “Change the channel already.” He got up, dialing Mr. Dawson as he crossed into the adjoining room.

The laughter started off soft, and then we were hooting at the TV.

“They're definitely having sex now,” Adrian said, finally changing the channel.

“Just no more gagging noises. Please. I'm already worried how many showers it's going to take to get the ick of this place off me,” Claudia said.

As they kept bantering and flipping through the channels, I leaned against Dastien, resting my head on his shoulder.

You okay?
He asked.

Yeah. Tired, but okay. We have good friends.

He brushed my hair away from my forehead and placed a soft kiss there.
Yeah. We do.

As I closed my eyes, I knew that we'd find Luciana tomorrow. One way or another, all of this would come to an end. And after, if I was lucky enough to live through it all, I was going to have years with my friends. With Dastien.

That was motivation enough for me to keep going. To not give up.

I had too much to live for to lose it all now.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I'd hoped to hear from the witch by the morning, but when that didn't happen, we had to continue with our original plan. We all crammed into one SUV, and by the afternoon we'd realized what a mistake that was. There was nothing fun about a group of cranky supernaturals. Even thought our rental had three rows of seats, that still left two people squished in the trunk. Cosette hadn't returned with Van. For now, that was okay, because there was no way they could've fit, but I was starting to get worried.

It had taken forever to get moving this morning. Everyone wanted a shower, and with only two bathrooms, that took for freaking ever. Then all the Weres needed food. By the time we hit the road to start looking at churches, it was already past noon. Although we figured that was an advantage if we were going to be up against demons.

Still, with no Cosette and no luck finding the right church, the mood in the car was tense.

“There's another option two miles away,” I said. Dastien was driving, and I was sitting shotgun at the moment, but we'd been rotating seats at each stop. Although, it wasn't a very diplomatic seat rotation. It was more of a mad scramble—people crawling over each other trying to get a good spot. Slowest got the trunk. And no one was playing fair. I had to warn Chris and Meredith more than once to be careful with the witches. But Raphael had been in the same window seat after the past three churches and he looked pretty smug about it, so I was thinking magic was involved.

“If she's at the last one on our list, I'm going to freak out,” Meredith said as she leaned between the front seats. She blew a chunk of pink hair out of her face. “Are you getting any helpful feelings yet?”

“If I do, I'll let you know.” I wished I had a better way to get us there, but I'd been so focused on the people in my vision, I hadn't been paying that much attention to the decorating. I knew the church we wanted was adobe and had stained glass windows, but beyond that, I had no clue. “Why don't you pick the next one?” I handed the map to her. We'd circled all the possibilities in red marker. Only three circles were left.

So at least this was almost over.

Still, every time we got to a church, our energy level amped up. When it was a bust, we all flagged. It was like a never-ending adrenaline roller coaster.

I just hoped we found Luciana before dark.

Meredith picked the next church and we were off. It took about ten minutes driving north of the city. We followed a few winding dirt roads until we ended up at a weed-choked parking lot. The church was run-down and slowly being swallowed up by desert foliage.

The adobe was right, but I didn't see any windows. It had small bell tower and ornately carved wooden doors. One had an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and other was the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Whoever made them was an amazing artist. They'd made the wood come to life.

But as I took in the building, I knew something was off. “It's not the one from my vision, but…” There was a funny feel in the air. Almost a compulsion to run away. It reminded me of the wards on the compound, although it wasn't nearly as strong. “Does anyone else feel that?”

“Yes.” Claudia rubbed her arms. “It's warded.”

At least I wasn't imagining it.

“I don't want to go in there. Not even a little bit,” Shane said.

“It's just a little magic,” Raphael said. “Maybe the local coven uses this spot. If you guys want to stay here, I'll check it out.” He hopped out of the car before anyone could stop him.

I shared a look with Dastien.
Should we follow him?

Better not let him go alone,
Dastien said. Claudia was already on his heels anyway.

Guess we're going too, then
. I grabbed my messenger bag of potions and followed after them. I still didn't feel right about this, but we had to at least check it out.

Raphael was almost to the door when the clouds shifted. For a second, the sun flashed and a blinding beam of light reflected off something on the front stoop.

I squinted at the spot. Faint and barely visible, a silver line arced out from under the doorway, embedded in the floorboards. I would never have noticed it if not for the change in light.

But why would there be a silver arc in the floor?

My chest tightened. He couldn't touch it.

“Wait!” I raced to Raphael, yanking him back just before his foot stepped over the line. “Wait.”

“What?” Raphael pulled free from my grip. “We have to check inside.”

“It's a trap. Look at the silver line. If that's part of a circle and we cross it, who knows what could happen.”

“Where?” Claudia asked.

“Just tilt your head.” I pointed to the spot.

“You're right.” Claudia's eyes widened and she gripped Raphael's shoulder.

The Weres had caught up to us, but still stood back.

“What does that mean?” Meredith asked. “Is this the right church or not?”

“This isn't where she opens the gate to hell, but there's something else here.” I stared at the door. Doing a spell to make it open wouldn't have been that hard, but I was worried any magic would set off the wards. “We need to go in. There's something about this place…” The wind shifted, and I lost my train of thought for a second. “Do you smell that?”

“Sulfur?” Claudia asked.

“That.” Chris leaned in a little closer and then shook his head. “And death. There are bodies in there.”

“I knew those wards felt familiar. They're Luciana's.” Claudia tugged on the end of her braid.

“Do you think she's still here?” Meredith asked.

“No,” Claudia said. “I don't think she'd stick around after killing again.”

Shit. Now we really needed to go inside. But crossing the wards would signal Luciana we were here, and if we broke the circle, we could release a demon or anything else she might've left to surprise us. A total double whammy of a trap, but I wouldn't expect anything less from Luciana at this point. “Any suggestions how to do this?”

Light flashed and a few of us jumped as Cosette and Van appeared. They held hands, but Cosette pulled away as soon as the light was gone. Van didn't exactly scowl, but he didn't look happy about it either.

“Good morning, friends.” Cosette smiled, too coy for her own good. She wore skinny jeans and a flowy white top that hung off her shoulder. Her hair shone in clean, glossy curls. I wrinkled my nose at her. She actually smelled like jasmine. How unfair was that?

“Where the hell did you come from?” Chris asked.

“I second that,” Meredith said.

She shrugged. “My magic's restricted. Van's isn't.”

Not exactly an explanation, but it was as good as we were getting out of her. She nudged Van, who took a step forward. “I didn't mean to interrupt you all so rudely last night. You may call me Van. I'll be your ally as long as Cosette is.”

Cosette rolled her eyes. “By that, he means he looks forward to fighting with us.”

“That's great,” Chris said, his voice rasping a little, “but I'm still stuck on where the hell did you come from?”

“We were nearby, watching.” Cosette gave a vague wave. “We didn't feel the need to ride on your roof rack.”

No one could blame her for that. She'd showed when we needed her and that was all that mattered.

I turned back to the wooden doors. The carved handles were works of art on their own. I hated that Luciana had turned such a pretty place—a sanctuary—into something evil, but the scent of demon and death, combined with the slimy feel of her wards, couldn't be ignored.

“Can you guys just beam us in, or whatever it is you do?” I asked Van.

“That wouldn't be wise.” He narrowed his silver eyes at the door. “However we cross the line, it will release what's being bound. Better to go through the door and fight it face-to-face.”

That made sense. It sucked, but it made sense. “So, what now? We just can't leave a demon in there waiting for someone to stumble in and let it free. And if Luciana has killed again…” It didn't feel right leaving bodies here. The last thing we needed her to do was use them to make more demon-zombies like Daniel.

“I'll check the perimeter,” Donovan said. “Might be there's a window we can peek through and see what we're really up against.” He tromped through the shrubs, disappearing from view.

Van went the other way, apparently wanting to check things out on his own, and the rest of us stepped back from the wards.

I moved closer to Cosette. “You okay?”

She shrugged. “Things could be worse.”

That wasn't an answer, but at least she didn't seem hurt or pissed. I had more questions about to bubble free.