Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(12)

At the last minute, she whipped the dagger up in both hands and stabbed him in the forehead.

Putrid yellow dust swirled, then disintegrated, confirmation he hadn’t killed a human. If he had, she’d have been able to capture his essence in her fist before it disappeared.

Crud. No evidence. She had to get the other demon.

“Couldn’t you wait until I got here?” an angry male voice yelled from the alley.

She rolled over and pushed up to her knees to find Tzader running toward her. He had on a T-shirt, jeans and boots that were all so dark she’d never have seen him with normal vision.

Dusting off her jeans, she stood. “No, I couldn’t wait.”

“What’s the point of saving your butt in Utah if you’re going to put it at risk every time we turn our backs?”

“Can we not have this argument again?” She would forever be appreciative to Tzader and Quinn for saving her life and guarding her secret, but they were like two overprotective brothers at times.

Most of the time.

“This was just a Cresyl, and a whacked one at that.”

One of Tzader’s eyebrows rose in question. He crossed his arms. “So you fell down on the ground to even the odds?”

Rather than admit she’d made a tactical error no trained warrior should by underestimating her opponent, she shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“What was the rush?”

She told him about the body at the morgue. “I didn’t find out who sent the demon and I can’t prove that any Alterant—including me—is innocent of killing that human until I get that second Cresyl.”

Another Alterant surfacing wouldn’t draw the attention away from her either. In fact, it created more problems. Things had been quiet for a long time, but two months ago a new Alterant had shifted and attacked humans. Evalle had been brought into VIPER once again and questioned extensively about her ability to prevent involuntary shifting. In reality, Sen—the top dog at VIPER—had been trying to catch her in a lie so that he could put her in protective custody.

Protective? Yeah, right.

Tzader sent his gaze up at the sky that was lightening by the minute. “You’re running out of time.”

“I realize that. Now that you’re back, we can split up and search.” She started walking toward Peters.

He fell into step beside her. “I can’t go hunting yet. I came back to meet someone who has a lead on the Belador traitor.” They had yet to identify the bastard who’d betrayed them.

Two years … Two friggin’ years and they weren’t a bit closer than they’d been while shackled in the cave. Meanwhile a traitor was moving undetected in their ranks, and who knew who else he’d killed and betrayed.

“That’s great.” She’d wondered many a night if they’d ever find out who’d betrayed them in Utah. Whoever it was, they were resourceful and smart.

“It would be great if I didn’t have to worry about you out here on your own chasing demons. Give me an hour to make this meeting and we’ll go together.”

Was he nuts? She looked up at the pale night sky again. “Don’t have an hour. Clock’s ticking and I can handle a Cresyl demon. If VIPER gets word of this first, you know what they’ll do to me. Sen has zero tolerance for anything with my name on it.” She stopped at the corner, her hand automatically at rest on the dagger handle.

“I doubt he’ll hear about the killing before Monday. We’ll find the other demon first.”

“What if we don’t, Z? What if he does find out before Monday?”

Tzader looked away, bitter worry clouding his gaze. “Then I’ll make sure Brina knows. She’ll be there for you.”

Yeah, right. She’d sooner trust a cottonmouth not to bite her in the woods.

Evalle didn’t consider Brina as supportive and benevolent as Tzader did, not when it came to Alterants. Brina was the counterpart to Sen, since they were both in liaison positions, but with one difference. Whereas Brina was an advocate when acting as liaison between Beladors and their goddess Macha, Sen was strictly a conduit between VIPER agents and the Tribunal.

Sen enforced Tribunal decisions. No advocacy.

Especially not where Evalle was concerned.

Macha and her Beladors had to abide by Tribunal decree. To go against it would turn all Beladors into enemies of the VIPER coalition. They would all be marked as outlaws and ordered for execution. If that happened, Evalle’s tribe would battle on all fronts, not just with predatory nonhumans and other powerful beings.

She shuddered at that thought. “Brina would never speak up for me.”

“Have a little faith in her. She will intervene if I tell her you didn’t shift and kill a human.”

And Evalle was supposed to trust in that? She could feel the prison door already closing on her.

She clenched the handle of her dagger. “I might show faith in Brina if she’d ever shown some in me without you asking for it first. Regardless, she can’t stop the suspension. If I don’t find proof of what really did the killing, I am screwed. You know what VIPER will do if I don’t find the flaming demon to prove otherwise.” She held up her hand when Tzader’s eyes thinned to his look of lecture mode. “Neither of us has time for this argument, and I’m not walking into VIPER without something in hand to prove my innocence. Call me after your meeting and we’ll team up.”