Mind Sweeper (32 page)

“Once Joe disembarked, I watched, but they did not follow him. They must have been confused by the smell of blood scattered throughout the train.”

“I got a text from Misha while I was waiting. He’s moved Doc and Watson out of the facility.”

Jean Luc preened and then gave me a quick pat. “You could be a criminal mastermind if you let yourself, Kyle.”

“I’ll stick with the job I have for the time being. In my bag is the book, Jean Luc. Why don’t you check it out while I get us to the safe house.”

The safe house was a place Misha’s demon clan used in times of crisis. According to Misha, it could not be linked to anyone in the clan, but was always kept available. I was pretty sure when Misha had asked Boris if he could use the place, he neglected to tell his father the person they were protecting was the one who’d shot his son. Misha was a forgiving demon, but Boris did not strike me as having the same inclinations.

The house was a nondescript two-story in a middle-class neighborhood. When we turned into the driveway, the garage door opened and I drove inside. We got out and went through the door into a large kitchen, where Misha waited for us. “I saw you coming. Everything went okay?”

“Yep, the vamps are on their way to Columbus,” I said. “Where’s Doc?”

“She left. Don’t worry, they won’t find her. If a succubus doesn’t want to be found, she won’t be.”

I walked over and sat down next to Watson. “How’re you doing?”

“Good, I guess.”

Jean Luc placed the book on the table in front of Watson. “This book contains descriptions of the five demon clans missing from the first book. There is also information in here about vampires and shifters.”

“How did Cowell find out about them?” I asked Watson.

He shrugged. “I guess once you know demons exist, you are more open to seeing the supernatural things around you. Ever since the Turkey dig, Father Cowell, Jonathan, and I have kept in touch. Father spent the last few years researching demons. He felt if we knew more about them, it would help us deal with them. Jonathan and I took a more pragmatic approach. I wanted to know how to kill them, so he helped me with that part of the research. After shooting Hampton in the chest and then watching him walk away, I knew we had to find a better way to defend ourselves.”

“What about the writing in the beginning?” Jean Luc asked. “This is the same as in the other book, and I cannot translate it.”

Watson shook his head. “You wouldn’t be able to translate it, anyway. Father worked on it himself for years. He said only a man of God could translate it. That the angels protected it. He always said he wished he could have Father Brown work on it.”

“Why?” Dalton asked.

“Brown is a linguist. Father Cowell said if anyone could figure it out, he could.”

I rubbed my temples with my fingertips, trying to stop the headache threatening to pounce. “I still don’t understand why Hampton decided to go after Cowell and Jonathan now.”

Misha sat down at the table next to an open laptop. “I think I found the answer. The two names you sent me—the students who had been on the dig?—are both dead. They died under mysterious circumstances in the past year. One in Pennsylvania and the other in Milwaukee.”

“But they weren’t part of this!” Watson protested.

Misha continued. “Hear me out. I don’t think Hampton knew which of the people on the dig were involved. You told us Cowell said a prayer to make Hampton and the Pavel demon forget you were in the tent. But it doesn’t mean they forgot why they were there in the first place—to get this key.

“If the artifact Hampton and the Pavel got from Cowell was not the real key, they would need to start over. They might have recently come to the conclusion someone at the dig took the real key. I don’t think Hampton zeroed in on Cowell and Jonathan specifically. I think he was systematically going through the list of dig participants to find out who had taken the key.”

Watson scowled. “Shit. Now what?”

“We stop this any way we can,” I said.

“Do you have a plan, Kyle?” Dalton asked.

“I think it’s time for me to go to church.”

Chapter 34

I looked cautiously up at the painted ceiling filled with cherubs. I had been inside the church for a while now and had not been smote yet…or was the word smited? Or smitten? Dalton and I waited in the back vestibule while parishioners filed past Father Brown on their way out.

When the crowd dispersed, he motioned for us to follow him into the back. “Do you have news regarding David?”

“We found something David was working on which needs translation. I understand you are a linguist and might be able to help us with it.”

“Yes. Do you have it with you?”

I handed him the copy Jean Luc had made of both the excerpt and Cowell’s translations.

“Is this related to his murder?”

“We believe so, yes. But we’ve been unable to interpret it. David translated some of it, so we thought it might be a type of ancient religious dialect.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you. And Father, would you please keep this to yourself for the time being?”

He nodded. I could tell he wanted to ask more, but resisted. I hoped to spare him from the truth if I could.

We drove to the office, since Misha didn’t want us coming to the safe house any more than necessary, in case we picked up another tail. Dalton dropped me off out front and went to park. Since it was Sunday, the office was officially closed, but Jean Luc was in the back room working on his laptop when I unlocked the door.

“How did it go?” he asked.

“Father Brown is going to work on the translation for us.”

“Did you tell him the truth?”

“No, I’ll tell him only if necessary. For all he knows, he’s translating some type of apocalyptic religious text.”

Jean Luc closed his laptop. “That makes sense.”

I stood for a second, trying to decide how to broach the question which had been bugging me since yesterday.

Before I said anything, he quirked his head to the side and looked at me quizzically. “Is something wrong?”

I sat down across from him. “Nothing. With everything that’s happened with Watson, we haven’t had time to talk.”

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Last night, how did you know we were in trouble?”

Jean Luc hesitated, as if choosing his words carefully. “When a vampire bites a human, there are sometimes different outcomes. We often will form a connection with the human we bite. With you, I could feel you were in trouble.”

Wow. First Tony feeding me based on my moods, and now this. “Will you always be able to sense me?”

“To some extent, but it will probably fade over time. Last night was extremely powerful, but I had just fed from you.”

“Anything else I should be worried about?”

“I do not think so. We are fine,
ma petite
?”

I grasped his hand. “Don’t worry, I’m not regretting it. Have we heard from Misha?”

Jean Luc chuckled. “Yes, apparently Jason is a TV junkie.”

I shuddered in mock fear. “Dear God, no.”

“Yes. Misha is in heaven. They talked about
The A-Team
until midnight.”

“I’m speechless.”

“Just be happy we were spared.”

I checked my phone. It had been fifteen minutes since Dalton had dropped me off. “I wonder where Dalton is?”

“Maybe he went to get some food for you both?”

“Maybe.” I called his number, but the call didn’t connect. That was the third time it had happened. For some reason, this time I wasn’t going to ignore it. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

I ran down the stairwell, and stopped at the level leading out to the parking garage. Dalton’s car was parked outside the door, but I didn’t see him anywhere. I opened the door and could hear low voices. Walking slowly across the concrete floor, I tried not to make a sound, since the garage was relatively empty.

When I got closer, I could tell the lower voice was Dalton’s, but there was also a feminine voice I could barely make out. Jesus, was he talking to Lauren on his speakerphone?

I came around the corner. Dalton was alone and he wasn’t speaking into his cell or any type of earpiece. He jerked as he noticed me walking toward him. I paused when I smelled the slightly sweet scent of flowery perfume—roses—in the air.

I whipped my head from side to side. “What the hell is going on? Who else is out here?”

“No one is here.”

“Bull. I just heard you talking to someone.”

“I’m alone, Kyle.”

I closed my fist to stop myself from slapping his lying face. “I can smell that perfume again.”

“You’re imagining things.”

“Don’t insult my intelligence. Damn it! Tell me now.”

He blew out a heavy breath. “It was my grandmother.”

I couldn’t have heard him right. “Your grandmother? I thought your grandmother is dead.”

“She is.”

I tried to count to ten before I spoke to calm myself down, but the numbers jumbled in my head. “What the hell is going on, Dalton?”

“My grandmother has been visiting me.”

I blinked in confusion. “Explain.”

“The night before I first met you, an angel came to me and said I was being called upon to fight evil. I thought the whole thing was a freaky dream until you started telling me about angels cutting off vampire’s heads. Then the dream didn’t seem so freaky anymore.”

My heart slowed down and seemed to stop. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“At first I didn’t know what to say. You weren’t exactly welcoming me with open arms at the time, so I wasn’t about to confess angels were talking to me. I doubted it myself.”

I was still having trouble following him. “How does your grandmother fit into all this?”

“After that first visit, she came to me and told me she had been sent by the angels. She asked me how the case was going.”

“When was this?”

“The first time was the afternoon you went to see Griffin.”

“When I couldn’t reach you on your phone?” What the hell? Was she blocking his calls or something?

“Yes.”

“And she came to you the night in Chicago?”

“Yes.”

My heart jump-started itself. “Okay. Again, why didn’t you tell me?”

“She said if I told anyone what was happening I would put them in danger. I wasn’t going to risk your safety.”

I stared at him in shock. “So you would rather I think you were a cheating SOB?”

“If it keeps you safe, yes.”

Lord,
if
he was telling the truth, he was a selfless idiot. “And just now?”

“She wanted to know what we’d learned from Watson.”

I threw my arms up in the air. “Why do they need to ask? Don’t they already know what is happening? They
are
angels.”

“They don’t know everything at all times.”

“Says your dead grandmother. How do you know she is really who she says she is? She could be a shape-shifting demon, for all we know, working for Sebastian or the Pavels. You may have given information to our enemies.”

He shook his head emphatically. “No, she knows things only my grandmother would know. I questioned her thoroughly when she first came to me.”

“Well, if she has a direct line with the angels, then why aren’t they helping us? They could translate the mystery writings for us. Hell, they could be putting the hammer down on Sebastian.”

“I asked the same question. They aren’t supposed to interfere.”

“Interfere?” I rolled my eyes. “Interfere?!? They chopped off Hampton’s head. How is that not interfering?”

“They can’t help us directly with fighting Sebastian or the Pavels.”

“It’s official. We’re living in Hypocrite Land.”

Dalton took a step toward me. “I’m sorry, Kyle. Please believe me.”

“I do believe you, because the story is too crazy not to believe.” But I didn’t feel any better. Pressure built behind my eyes.

“I had no choice,” he argued.

“No, actually, you could have told me the truth.”

“Not if it risked your safety.”

And just like that, I realized what family drama I had fallen into. “You are not your father, Dalton. And I am not your mother.”

He jerked back a step as if I had slapped him. “I didn’t want to hurt you,” he answered, his voice coming out low and rough.

“But you did, Galahad. So I’m going to need some time to digest it all.”

Jean Luc’s voice sounded behind me. “Kyle, are you okay?”

Great. Another overprotective male. I was practically tripping over them. “I’m fine, Jean Luc. Dalton was telling me about the conversation he just had with his dead grandmother. Let him fill you in. I’m going to the hotel down the street for a drink.”

I walked a block before crossing the street to enter the hotel. I marched into the bar and sat. Before the bartender could place a menu in front of me, I ordered a Great Lakes Dortmunder and started slugging it. Several other people were drinking their lunch as well. I slowed down the imbibing. I wanted to relax, not pass out.