Page 63 of The Wickedness of Man

“That was only a kiss, dearest,” I said. “Albeit one that would enhance your desire—but nothing more.”

“What about whatever you did to me?” Caleb demanded. “I can’t remember Friday night, then I suddenly got a mysterious case of beer?—”

“Listen, all I gave you in those beers was a little… liquid enhancement, to ensure you were a bit more on your game for the following day—that’s all. Either way, the feelings you have for Magda—I didn’t give you those. If there was no compatibility between you two, aka, had you not liked one another, you wouldn’t have come charging in to save her. The attraction you feel for each other has nothing to do with me, andthatI can assure you of.”

The two of them exchanged looks, then looked down at the floor.

“Magda,” I continued, “I’ve been trying to piece a few things together, all right? Now, your parents worked for Acolyte Seminary, correct?”

She nodded.

“Which,” I continued, “was also where Caleb has been a ward of the school’s shadow cult since he was a child. Have you ever been allowed to set foot in the university?”

Magda thought back; frowned. “No… only a building on the far side of the campus—the health clinic. My father refused to let me go anywhere else closer to the school.”

“And Caleb.” I turned to him. Have you ever been allowedoutsideof the university grounds without an escort—I mean past the gates?”

“Sure, I’ve—” He paused, then shook his head. “No. If I was leaving on a mission, I was always with my team. If I went anywhere to party or even to shop, someone like Jax or Harry or one of the other guys was always with me.”

“Until now. When you were picked to be put onto a reconnaissance team to monitor me,” I said. “Am I also correct in assuming that?”

Caleb froze and went white as a sheet. “They said you’ve never taken their bait before, but you did with me. Why?”

I sighed. There was awful defeat in knowing the archdiocese had guessed my hand, manipulated me into playing it anyway, and then gotten closer to capturing me than ever before.

“Because I got overly confident. I’ve been successfully outmaneuvering them for so long that I let my guard down. I spotted you from day one, convinced they’d made a mistake, because surely they wouldn’t let a cambion as powerful as you within a five-mile radius of me. When your team assaulted the building, I assumed it was Magda they were after, but I think they were there for you as well.”

Caleb

“Me?” I said with derision. “If they’d wanted me, they’ve had me—for goddamn near my whole life. Those bastards remind me frequently how much of my life they own.”

“Then why did they only put you within reach of menow? This is not the first time I’ve been within spitting range of the university—or the first time other agents have attempted to capture me in recent history. Yet this time, they left a powerful incubus at my doorstepjustas I’m about to make contact with a cambion on the brink of starvation? A cambion, I might add, who has been strictly controlled her entire life and required anenormoussupply of energy to awaken her demonic nature and save her from dying? When I sent you from the building, I stayed to draw them away, but the larger team left almost immediately; only a small detail remained following me. That’s because it wasn’tmethey were after.” She pointed to Magda, then back to me. “It was the two of you.”

I felt something like panic invading from Magda and had to stifle my urge to comfort her. Was Carmilla right? Jax had confessed that he’d known about me being a cambion… but Harry seemed pretty set on getting to Carmilla. He hadn’t even given one shit about my report of a civilian being in trouble.

“No, we’re missing something here. I wish I didn’t have the know-how about that place that I do, but…”

I looked over at Magda on the bed, afraid to admit the truth, but she studied me with soft, concerned eyes, no doubt feeling the anguish this was causing me.

“You seem to know an awful lot about the organization—even that my last name was Knight, the name given to those of us adopted by the Church. Now, I’ve played a lot of mind games with demons over the years, and I’m only listening to you now this much because what you said backs up what some of what Jax told me… But I’ve been trapped in this organization because I’m good at one thing, and one thing only, and that’s killing the people they tell me to kill.”

Magda’s eyes widened, but she didn’t look away from me.

“If they set this all up... there’s a good possibility that they plan to use me exactly for that.”

“Caleb,” Magda said, looking as if she might cry again, “if that’s what they plan to use you for… then is that what they need me for too?”

“We don’t know anything yet,” Carmilla interrupted. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“The special investigator didn’t know a thing about Magda. He didn’t even care that I’d seen another woman there. He was only interested in you?—”

“There are always secrets and plans in motion,” Carmilla said dismissively. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from dealing with the organization over the years, it’s that whatever you think is true probably isn’t.”

I had to give her that one. Nothing there was what it seemed; ever. Unless it was pain. That was always real, unfortunately.

“We will have time to puzzle this out later,” she continued. “For now, we have to get somewhere safe—somewhere they won’t be able to track us.”

“Where?” asked Magda. She’d slipped back into her leggings and was facing away from us as she pulled her bra and tank top on underneath my dress shirt, but then paused for a long moment as if she’d frozen. “If these people are as powerful as you two say, then running from them won’t keep us safe for long, will it? If they’ve really been planning for Caleb and me to meet under such specific circumstances, then…”

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