Page 24 of The Devil's Embrace

“Blood,” he replied without flinching. “Whatever is happening tonight, the main event has something to do with bloodshed. That could mean anything really.”

“Because you’ve attended lots of these things and it’s always something different?”

“Do I sense a hint of accusation in your tone, Detective?”

“Just doing my job.”

“I wasn’t aware investigating me was a part of that.”

“I’m here to solve a case. Everyone is a suspect.” Calix sighed and smoothed out his clothing, now fully dressed. “Don’t take it personally.”

“Your boss doesn’t seem to think I need to be looked into. He trusted me to bring you here, after all.”

“Bruce isn’t my boss,” he reminded.

Aodhan sighed and seemed a bit annoyed. “If you must know, I saved the life of one of the club members. In return, he invited me in. I’ve only ever gone to a single party and realized it wasn’t my thing. But I can’t tell you who the patient was—I took an oath—and the reason I never blew the contact and kept in touch was for this exact reason. I’ve known Bruce for a couple of years now. He’s a good man. Works hard. I told him if he ever needed to infiltrate the club, I would lend a hand. Which is what I’m doing now, with you.”

That added up, and really, if Bruce wasn’t pushing for a name from Aodhan, Cal didn’t really have a right to insist. Hewas an outsider here. It didn’t matter that he was born and grew up on Emergence. He’d never belonged and he never would.

Let Bruce and the rest of the people who did worry about their own damn home.

Hell, Cal was the only idiot still running around trying to find his.

Aodhan had brought them to the outskirts of the city where it’d been mostly trees outside the windows for a while. Now, he pulled up to a gated mansion, stopping for a moment. He must have been identified because a second later, the gate started to open for them.

“There’s a box in the back,” he said. “Can you grab it?”

Cal did as he was told, resting the box on his lap before pulling off the lid. Two golden masks with swirls of vines painted light green and blooms of pink and white flowers decorated them.

“Put one on,” Aodhan instructed as he pulled the car around a massive fountain. Masked men dressed in black were waiting for them at the bottom of a set of sandy steps that led up to wide open double doors.

The mansion was huge, but Calix didn’t have the luxury to take the outside of it in, quickly settling the clear strings of one of the masks over his head before handing the other to Aodhan.

“Thank you.” He donned his as well and then paused with his hand on the door handle. “Remember, we’re meant to be anonymous here. No one else will be using real names either, so don’t call me by mine or refer to me by occupation.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Doctor,” Calix drawled, “but your eyes are kind of a dead giveaway.”

“Would you like me to pluck them out then?” he asked without skipping a beat. “Are you into that sort of thing, Detective?”

“I am not.”

He hummed. “Pity. Just stick close by me and try not to speak unless absolutely necessary.”

“Wait.” Cal grabbed onto his sleeve before he could step out of the car. “You still haven’t explained what we’re looking for here.”

“That’s the problem with last minute planning, we don’t really know.”

“So, eavesdrop and hope someone is discussing all the bloody murders they’ve recently committed?” Calix clicked his tongue, filling his next words with sarcasm. “Sounds simple enough. Bet we’ll be out of here within an hour, tops. Care to make a wager?”

“Games are more my little brother’s thing,” Aodhan joked back. “Come on, Detective. We’re already late.”

They weren’t the only guests still arriving, but the trickle of people into the mansion was decidedly small, not allowing Cal many faces—or, masked ones, as it were—to log before they were ushered through a vast foyer and into a side room equally as massive.

He let out a low breath and leaned in closer to Aodhan as the two of them moved toward a long table out of the way of the doors. “This place is huge.”

“Don’t gawk,” he said. “The people invited to these sorts of things are used to this kind of wealth.”

“That your cute way of saying my orphan is showing?” Calix snorted at his own comment, and when he didn’t get a response, turned his head to catch Aodhan staring at him through the holes cut out of his mask. “What?”

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