King's Gambit (20 page)

“A vegetable?”

I waved it off. “Like, lettuce or something.”

“I’m eating the rest of the bacon.”

“Hey!”

“Hello?” a woman said. “Queen’s Hotel, how may I help you?”

“Yes, hello, I need to reach the guest in room 28B.”

“Who is this?”

“His…Um, Morgan.”

“Please hold.”

I tapped a finger against the counter, watching as Alex unashamedly ate my bacon. He was looking right at me, one brow raised in challenge. I flipped him off before reaching towards the plate, which he lifted above his head. “Mature.”

“Hello? Ma’am?”

“Yes?” I said, glaring at the smug hunter in my kitchen. “I can set you on fire,” I mouthed.

“We’re sorry, but the man in room 28B is not taking calls at the moment.”

“Did he say that? Did you tell him who I am?”

“I did. He said he has company over and that he would call you later.”

“Company? Did you get a look at them? Was it a woman?”
Could it be…?

There was a pause, and when the woman spoke again, she sounded uncomfortable. Shit, no wonder – I probably sounded like some worried wife. “Um, I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t disclose a guest’s personal business.”

Running a hand through my hair, I tried to think of a plausible excuse to get her to open up. “Look, I’m not trying to get you in trouble or anything. He’s my brother, and our parents are worried sick. He just got into NYU, thinks he’s all grown up.”

“I…see. He didn’t seem that young…” Holy crap, I can’t believe this is working. “For what it’s worth, ma’am, he’s not with a woman. That might be why he didn’t let your parents know.”

“This is not a conversation I thought I’d be having tonight,” I said under my breath. “Um, can you describe the man in question? Does he have wavy red hair, grey eyes…?”

“N-no, ma’am,” she said. “He had short brown hair. His eyes were blue.”

“Okay, thanks. Good night.” When she hung up, I told Alex what she had said.

“So, are we going?” he asked, licking the last few crumbs of bacon from his fingertips. Bastard.

“Okay, ‘we’ are not going anywhere. No matter how much of my bacon you eat.” I giggled. “That sounded dirty.”

“Mature.”

“Not even close,” I said, still giggling.

“Laugh it up,” he said. “That really was the last of the bacon.”

My smile fell. “You are a jerk.” I swiveled my stool away from him and propped my chin up on one hand. “Who has brown hair and blue eyes?”

“You want a list?”

“On one hand, they could be evil like Lucas. If so, I should go in and karate chop their heads off. On the other hand, the lady could be right and he could just be a boyfriend. In which case, I do not want to walk in on them. Unless the other guy is really hot.”

“Didn’t you say this Noah guy looks exactly like your mother?”

I pursed my lips. “That is…scarring.”

Alex opened the freezer and frowned. “The pizza might be a good idea. I don’t want to wait for anything to defrost.”

“
You
don’t want to wait, bacon thief?” I ran a nail down my cheek. “I need a manicure soon. Oh, cousin Silas.”

“Your cousin Silas gives you manicures?” He reached for my phone. “Why am I not surprised to see four different restaurants on speed dial?”

“Because you’re jaded. And no, I meant Silas is the only one who comes to mind with brown hair and blue eyes. But I doubt he’s the one visiting Noah.”

“He’s doesn’t live here?”

“New Orleans,” I said. “I have made a decision, by the way.”

“Going to potentially walk in on your mom clone in bed–”

“No.”
I batted him with my mini claws. No wonder Rowan did this; it was fun. I don’t think I did it right, though, because all he did was laugh before wincing. Karma, jerk. “I feel bad now. Thanks.”

Alex grabbed my hands and kissed my knuckles. “So, movie and pizza night?”

I nodded. Noah could wait. He seemed willing to help. It could’ve been an act, though I didn’t think it was. Call it a gut feeling. Besides, if he was with an evil accomplice or something, the last thing I wanted to do was start a fight in a high rise. Who knows how many people would get caught in the crossfire, or worse, a literal fire? No, I should go anyway. I’m perfectly capable of– He gave me a mirror, though. That meant he had plans to contact me. Why push it now? Hadn’t I gone through enough crap these past few days? Surely this can wait? Unable to reassure myself either way, I decided I would call again in a few hours – before the sun rose so I would have enough time to visit him.

“We’re regular muggles for now,” I said, “but I may have to go out later.”

“Without me?”

“Definitely. You’re on sick leave. I’ll tie you to the bed if I have to.”

“You don’t have a frame.”

I summoned a flame in my hand and waggled my eyebrows. “I’m magic.”

“True.” He grinned. “I guess I have to do what you tell me.”

“Promises, promises.” I gave him a quick kiss. “Can you order while I shower? Double–”

“Half double pepperoni, half anchovies. I remember.”

“Yes.” I wrinkled my nose. “I still can’t believe you would dare mar my precious baby with dead fish.”

“As opposed to living fish?”

I threw up my arms. “This is the price I pay for love.”

The deliveryman was leaving as I came down the stairs, all fresh faced and rosy cheeked. Sucks for him. I was in my underwear. Actually, he may have gotten off lucky. Maybe. Nah. A couple more crunches in the morning wouldn’t kill me, but I looked okay.

It didn’t take long for us to curl up on the couch and start watching TV while Alex ignored the way I scrunched up my face every time he ate an anchovy. How does such a good cook have the weirdest taste? I mean, it’s been months and I’m still trying to get used to him not using cream in his coffee.

“See, I just don’t get it,” I said, chomping down on a slice of pizza. There was an anchovy on it, and I peered at it like it was insulting me. “There is a Satan fish on my baby.”

“Says the woman eating her ‘baby.’” Alex snorted and peeled the anchovy off, popping it into his mouth as I watched in horror. “What don’t you get? They’re telling her to trust her instincts about whether or not to turn this guy for the CIA.”

“Exactly. Every time, they tell her ‘Oh, you’ve got great instincts blah, blah, blah.’ And every time, she does stupid shit. Every. Single. Time. The only reason she’s still alive is because it’s a TV show. She doesn’t have good instincts – children have better instincts than her. Hell, Lily has better instincts, and I have trouble sleeping at night thinking about her living alone.”

“She’s not that bad.”

“She makes my brain hurt.”

“I’m telling her you said that.”

“I wasn’t talking about Lily.” I elbowed him gently. “I have had my share of people twisting my words around tonight. Keep it up and I’ll… This is the part where I’d threaten to eat your half of the pizza, but we both know that’s not going to happen. Oh, great, now she’s talking about how her life revolves around being an agent. There–” I cut off and chugged my complimentary Pepsi. “I hate TV.”

“Turn it off, then.” He reached for the remote, and I smacked his hand away with a cry of protest. He laughed around the pizza in his mouth.
Choke on it, you jerk.
“It’s not like you can’t relate. Isn’t this job your whole life?”

I kept drinking and tried to ignore the pang of sadness his words brought forward. With what I hoped was a casual shrug, I asked, “How about you?”

“I like to think the world could go on without me.”

“That’s kind of morbid.” The sucking sound echoed as I drank in air. “Do you want the other can of Pepsi?”

“Go for it.”

“No soda, no booze…What
do
you drink? Besides Franken-coffee?”

“Blood.”

“I’d pour this on you, but I don’t want to waste it.” I took a few sips before speaking again. “Do you ever want to quit? Just run off and live on an island somewhere?”

“I don’t really like tropical weather.”

“You’re from California.”

“And sick of the heat, to be honest.”

“My love of Pepsi is quickly being overwhelmed by my frustration.”

I groaned as Alex kissed my cheek. Yes, I happen to enjoy acting like a child.

“I’m not sure. I love protecting people and saving lives, but the fighting and killing… That part I could do without. Honestly, it weighs on me,” he finished with a heavy sigh.

I paused the show but held onto my soda, chewing on the straw. “Do you regret the killing?”

“No. Yes. No. You’re a bad influence.” He sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. “I prefer to resolve situations without killing anyone. Usually. My temper can get the better of me.”

“No kidding,” I said around my straw, thinking back to Dovesport.

“But–” he squeezed me “–there are prisons for a reason. Even God didn’t destroy all the angels that rebelled against Him, he just locked them up in Hell. It’d be nice to end a job without being covered in gore for once.”

“Not all our jobs end like that.”

“Most of them do.”

“…Fair point. I understand how you feel.”

“You do? I was starting to think I was crazy – everyone in the Order seems to find it weird that the killing bothers me.”

My fingertips pressed dimples into the Pepsi can. “Well, I don’t know if it doesn’t
bother
them, but as callous as it might sound, I don’t mind killing if it’s part of the job. Like, I’m not going to go off and wholesale slaughter people; when I kill someone, it’s either because they’re guilty or they’re trying to kill me. I don’t regret taking out someone who is a danger to others. A purposeful danger – someone who hurts others intentionally. People can break out of prison, but the dead don’t rise.”

“Usually, at least,” he said. “I understand where you’re coming from, but…”

I swung a leg over so I was straddling Alex and gave him a tight hug. “I know. For me, it feels like it’s never enough. Take out one bad guy and five more pop up in his place. Like Lucas. We stopped him from opening the Spire, but he’s still out there, and even if we kill him, there’s going to be another. And another.”

His muscles relaxed underneath me. “You ever feel like we’re way too young for this crap?”

I burst out laughing, the sensation strange after all this time. “Wanna blow this joint and get a room?”

“If you can find a motel room capable of hiding us from the rest of the world–”

“Motel? I was thinking a penthouse or a seaside villa.”

Alex ran his fingers through my hair and pulled my head back so I was looking into his eyes. “Could you really let it go, though? Leave all these questions about your mother in the air?”

I pressed my forehead to his. “No, I couldn’t. I want to say that once I get those answers I could let go, that I could let the other hunters handle all the evil in this world, but I don’t know. I don’t think it’s possible. Lady Cassandra always said retiring from field duty was the hardest thing she ever had to do.”

“Guess we’re stuck,” he said, twirling a strand of my hair.

I kissed his wrist, pressing his hand against my cheek. “‘Till death do us part.”

Alex’s free hand slid down my back, hooking into the band of my underwear. I ducked forward and our lips met. His tongue traced my lower lip before slipping into my mouth. I moaned, pressing our bodies closer together and tangling my fingers in his hair. With his hand liberated, he pushed up my bra, reaching to cup my breast.

Then, I ruined it by opening my eyes.

“It’s glowing,” I muttered mid-kiss.

Alex let out a moan and nodded.

“The mirror.”

He gave me another nod before pausing his ministrations and pulling back with a confused look. “Wait, what?”

“The mirror Noah gave me.” Very,
very
reluctantly, I pried myself away and went to grab the mirror. It was warm in my palm, the deep grooves casting a ghostly pale blue light against my skin.

“…Morgan?”

“Noah?” I frowned at the opaque glass. If a mage wanted, they could obscure their face from the mirror, which I thought was unfair, since a non-magical person couldn’t do that, but I digress. Then again, did I really want to look at another mom clone?

“Where are you? Are you safe?”

A quick scan of my loft told me there wasn’t anything overtly malicious around. Alex looked at me strangely, and when I asked if he sensed anything, he shook his head. “Why do you ask?”

“There was a fire at Marcus Castinus’ penthouse.”

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