Page 27 of Discord
“Let me do this,” Reyson said. “I need to learn demon magic if a war breaks out.”
Okay, great idea, mate, but we justdid nothave the time to experiment with that.
I should have remembered who he was. I should have remembered how fast he read those books when he was intent on picking his name. He was a fucking god... so all it took was him touching the bloody thing to figure out how it works.
That damned thing started crackling with evil, red magic as soon as Ripley got close. She barely stopped herself from running face-first into it. It gave off sparks when he touched it, but it didn’t blast him back or hurt him.
He stepped back and snapped his fingers. The sigil dissolved into dust and blew away.
“That’s better,” Reyson said, brushing imaginary dust off his hand. “The demon is small and a little puny. Grab him, Balthazar. I’ll carry the Hellhound.”
I didn’t have vampire strength, and I wasn’t a god, but I could help Gabriel get out of there. I wrapped my arm around his waist as we made our way out of that shit show.
Ripley grabbed the painting, and we made our way back to the SUV. Score one for the misfits! Let’s see Silvaria and Dorian do any more recruiting with zero proof.
19
Ripley
We got out of there just in time. After a point, getting to that storage yard was all isolated back roads. After taking a right by a diner, we didn’t see a single soul on the road with us. After we got Talvath and Bram into the SUV, I wasn’t risking any more of that nonsense. As soon as we were all inside the car, I threw up a cloaking spell so no one would see us until I wanted them to. It was a good thing I did, too, because we had barely gotten two miles away from that creepy place when the road leading to the storage yard was full of vehicles with tinted windows speeding towards it. None of us were talking. That was some shit, and we were in more trouble than we thought. Ravyn and Killian weren’t even singing now.
Balthazar broke the silence by pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. Who the fuck was he calling now?
“Hi, Kaine… yeah… I’ve got a hot mess for you. You might want to bring your best, I only broke the bad things this time.”
What the fuckity fuck? Why was Balthazar sending anyone there? The line of cars headed that way could have only been for us, and there were a lot of them. I was sure everyone in them was demon touched. Whoever Kaine was, he was going to get slaughtered.
“Yup, sure, I’ll text you the address. Oh… and you’re gonna want to bring the dragons and the shifters, because there’s going to be a fight waiting. You’ll need your best curse breakers, too. Everything in the shipping container I dealt with is taken care of, but you’ll probably want to search the rest of them. Bad vibes, man...seriouslybad vibes.”
Balthazar hung up and started texting. How could he bring down an army of dragons, shifters, and curse breakers with just one phone call?! I knew he had skills and secrets I’d only just begun to scratch the surface of, but what the fuck?
“What did you just do, Balthazar?” I demanded. “Who was that?”
“Before he got all famous and promoted for cracking that serial killer case, Kaine Dragovich busted me for breaking and entering. I convinced him to take a look inside the warehouse I was trying to break into. I was only eighteen at the time, but I still had my Liam Neeson skills. A family hired me to find this succubus heiress that had gone missing.
“Her warlock boyfriend who had been stalking her had totally kidnapped her after she broke up with him. The Paranormal Investigation Bureau was looking for her, too. I found her first. I just didn’t go the legal route.
“Kaine didn’t bust me. Thiscannotleave this SUV because I have a fucking reputation. Sometimes, I help the Paranormal Investigation Bureau when they run into a brick wall. That grumpy-ass dragonowesme, and we need help. Let Silvaria worry about the Paranormal Investigation Bureau coming after her about that horror show we just left. It means she’ll be less concerned about trying to get Talvath back, or coming for Reyson.”
“Shut the fuck up, Balthazar. Youdo nothave Kaine Dragovich on speed dial,” I said, turning around in my seat.
Everyone knew that dragon. When I was in high school, there was a pretty prolific serial killer that no one could profile. None of the victims had anything in common, except being supernatural. The killer never left a shred of evidence behind. The only reason anyone knew it was a serial killer was that all the victims had been killed with the same cursed knife.
It petrified everyone as the bodies kept stacking up, and no one knew who or what to look out for. Kaine was like a dog with a bone—he didn’t give up until he cracked the case and arrested the siren responsible for it.
Kaine Dragovich was a fucking hero, and Balthazar just had his number in his phone to reign down the astounding power of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau on all the nasty shit being stored there.
“You’re kind of fucking amazing, Balthazar. I hope you know that.”
“I agree,” Ravyn said. “I was dying to check out the other containers. Theyalwaysbring the old nasty stuff to the museum once they’ve cataloged it and arrested someone. And youhaveto show me how you do your eyeliner like that.”
“I know, right?” I said. “He’s already given me tips.”
“I can tell. Your eyeliner is totally on point today.”
Felix just exploded. I loved him to death, but he had his limits that cold only be stretched so far before he threw a tantrum. Killian seemed to be a lot more chill than Felix was. Felix wouldn’t be caught dead singing Tori Amos in the car with me. Killian was straight up trying to harmonize with my twin sister. Ravyn and I had totally different tastes in music. Felix hated both of our music.
“Why are you worried about your makeup right now? We need to focus on the shit we are in! Silvaria will get desperate once she finds out the Paranormal Investigation Bureau is involved and some of the library spirits are on her side. They could disable the warding and allow her to attack.”
