Page 75 of The Paranormal Investigation Bureau
“It’s not just that,” I said. “Right now, she needs protection, and we all bring something different to the table. She needs to find out what Santiago Suarez looks like. We need to be focusing on that. We need to show her we can work as a team, and that she’ll have this massive support system if she stays.”
Arden cocked an eyebrow at me.
“That’s pretty mature of you.”
“It’s been known to happen.”
“What kind of girl talk are they getting up to, anyway?” Nicolai asked.
“Nyx likes to gossip. She’s not going to let someone go until she’s fully questioned them to her satisfaction. But, honestly, if she weren’t a ballet dancer, she’d be a pretty decent agent at the bureau with Beyla. You might think you aren’t going to tell her something, but you’re always mistaken.”
“It’s true,” Bevan said.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. I was glad she was here, because all three of us had news on the Santiago Suarez front. I’d struck out, but Nicolai might have a huge lead.
I couldn’t wait to tell her.
Chapter19
Beyla
Iappeared to be late for dinner, even if my cellphone said I was here right on time. I wasn’t expecting Nyx to kick Arden out and demand all the details about last night like that. She claimed I owed her for being loud and poking Mrs. Garcia. I wasn’t planning on telling her, but she got it out of me, anyway. I decided I probably needed her help with Marsden. I had no idea an asexual banshee could outmaneuver a horny Unseelie, but I had a pretty good idea it would work.
The guys seemed to have worked through some shit while I was spilling the intimate details of my sex life to Nyx. They looked to be getting along much better. Arden was sitting between Bevan and me, and the two kept brushing hands. I was guessing Arden finally told him, and he was okay with it.
“This food is excellent,” I groaned.
“It really is,” Nyx said. “If I had known you were such a wonderful cook, I wouldn’t have screamed in your face.”
“I’d pay to watch you shriek at him again,” Nicolai said. “The look on his face was priceless. He’sneverbeen shut down like that before.”
“Shut up, Nicolai,” Merlin muttered.
“It’s water under the bridge,” Nyx said. “We need to be focusing on the big problem. If this ballet doesn’t kill you, then Bellatrix sure will. She’s deranged, and hitting the cocaine even harder now.”
“She had to find another source after Julian,” I said. “There’s no telling what’s in the shit she’s buying now. She said she couldn’t meet with Marsden tonight. That could mean a few different things… she could be up to something, or she could be trying to score.”
“I got close to her pendant. It’s a genuine evil eye that seems well made and expensive, like what an actual witch would wear for protection. It didn’t look like something she bought from a scammer.”
“A witch making an evil eye pendent of that caliber wouldn’t have given that to her and lied about it,” I said.
“Fill in the blanks for the non-witches in the room,” Nyx said.
“That sounds like Bevan’s crystal shit,” Nicolai said.
“Kind of,” I said. “It’s a protective charm. Several cultures have them. Even humans have adapted them in various forms. Depending on who made it, and how, it’s supposed to provide protection from bad things. I wear mine when I’m communing with spirits and don’t want a dangerous one coming at me.
“There’s a scam that’s been going on for a long time. They are being mass produced very cheaply and sold with promises that they’ll do things they can’t. In this case, it can be dangerous. If an evil person is wearing a genuine pendant, and intending to do harm, then when a supernatural person fights back, it protects against evil. But, unfortunately, things go wrong for the person wearing it. So, if Bevan and I were to try and use magic against her again, it could be unstable, and people could get hurt.”
Nicolai just shrugged like it was no big deal.
“I have skills other than being able to pull off that manypirouettesand my amazing jumps. I could swipe it from her neck when we’re dancing together without her even knowing.”
Merlin punched him in the arm.
“Give her the news about your shady uncle. I called my dad, Beyla. I tried to use his political connections to get Santiago Suarez’s refugee file. And, well, he can’t get it without ruining his career, but I got some info. He would have been given a new name and identity when he got to the states, and been encouraged to keep a low profile… but he didn’t.
“The government wouldn’t have helped him clean up the mess the last time this ballet happened. They would only have stepped in if he contacted his handler and told them he thought the Unseelie were coming for him. Then they would have moved him, given him a new name, and told him to keep a low profile, again. They wouldn’t have pressured anyone not to publish his photo anywhere, so apparently there are photos of him out there. We just need to do the legwork.”
