Death Wish (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #5)(75)

“I’m supposed to meet Jez and Brogan at The Wicked Kiss in an hour. We need to do a locator spell to find the FPA. Apparently, they move their base a lot.”

Arys nodded, frowning at the ketchup-stained sponge in the sink. “They have a base in each major city. They keep it small enough to move often but big enough to serve their purpose.”

“Then let’s go. I’m eager to see the life I could have led.”

It was still early. The Wicked Kiss was nearly empty when we arrived, just the staff, but Shaz was absent. I wasn’t expecting to see him, as we had yet to face one another, but it had to happen. Still, I just wasn’t ready.

After failing to find a good quiet space where Brogan could concentrate and have room to make a salt circle, we settled on the ladies’ washroom. Jez perched on the counter, watching Brogan pour the circle. I leaned against the door, ensuring nobody entered until we were done.

“You’ve got something of Kale’s, right?” Brogan asked, getting comfortable inside the circle.

“I hope this counts. He gave it to me for my birthday, but it was his mother’s.” I passed her the cross, feeling anxious when it left my fingers.

“Perfect.”

Jez pulled a tube of lipstick out of her purse and began to apply it to her already fire engine red lips. “Hey, Alexa. Tell me again what the hell you’re thinking taking Arys in on a rescue mission for Kale.”

“What can I say? It’s complicated. Arys doesn’t want me to do this, but he understands why I need to.”

She shook her head of golden hair. “Poor Kale. I wonder what they’ve been doing to him. I’m almost afraid to find out. I don’t trust the government. Monsters. Worse than we could ever be.”

I made a face, sick at the thought of the hell Kale could be going through at my sister’s hand. “I’m sure I’m not one of his favorite people right now. He wanted me to let Shya kill him. He told me that he wanted to die that night.”

I could still see his face in my mind, the resentment in his eyes as he threw himself away from me before tearing out of the graveyard.

Jez turned from the mirror to face me directly. Surprise shone in her deep green eyes. “Did he really expect you to make the choice to kill him? He can’t possibly think you would. You two have this crazy, star-crossed lover thing going on. It’s kind of beautiful really.”

“Beautiful?” The word felt wrong. All wrong. “It feels like a sin.”

“That’s because it’s tragic. Your love isn’t meant to be, yet it still exists. So, a part of you always yearns for it.” Jez pinned me with a gaze filled with the pain of one who knows. “What makes it beautiful is that it’s strong enough to survive the fact that it’s wrong.”

I stared at her intently, searching her for the source of such profound pain. We’d all loved and lost before, but she’d never mentioned anything so soul-breakingly painful.

“You sound like someone who knows.”

In a blink, she buried the pain I’d seen, going on as if it had never been there. “We’ll go spring him out of the pen. It’ll be fine.”

Brogan watched our exchange with a sympathetic frown. “Love’s a real bitch, isn’t it? The last man I fell for, I mean really fell hard for, was married. I didn’t know until eight months into the relationship. He’d been leading a double life. Boy was he lucky I’m a white witch.”

“Men, women, vampire, human,” Jez muttered sourly. “It doesn’t matter. Someone lies, cheats or generally f**ks up, even when it’s meant to be. Love is a sadistic bitch.”

“So does that mean you’re not seeing Zoey anymore?” I steered the conversation in a lighter direction with a wink and a knowing smile.

Her demeanor changed immediately. Smiling coyly, she fluttered her long lashes. “Oh, I’m definitely seeing her. Seeing a lot of her.” She blew a kiss at me through the mirror.

Brogan let out a low whistle, and I laughed. I wanted nothing more than for those I loved to be happy. Still, I couldn’t help but worry a bit; Zoey was a lunatic. Although, I might hardly be the right person to throw around words meaning crazy.

We fell quiet when Brogan indicated she was ready. Her earthy energy rose up to warm me. It had a soothing quality that reminded me of Lena. I held my breath while watching her do the spell. What was I going to do if this didn’t work?

Eyes closed and brow creased, Brogan whispered Latin words I couldn’t understand. A gentle breeze swept through the room, lifting her blonde hair but touching neither Jez nor me. The cross lay before her, untouched. It began to glow with a faint light.

All at once, both the wind and the light vanished. Brogan’s eyes opened and she nodded. “I can feel him but it’s difficult. It’s been masked. I used the cross as an amulet by channeling the energy I was picking up. We should be able to use it as a tracker of sorts.”

“Damn,” Jez whistled. “Impressive, Brogan.”

“Thanks. It was nothing big though.” Despite her genuine modesty, the young witch beamed.

She held the cross out to me, and I accepted it gratefully. It hummed with energy, Brogan’s and if I concentrated hard, Kale’s, too. The cross was linked to him now. Fascinating.

“Well,” Jez hopped off the counter and gave her golden locks a toss. “Let’s go give the government hell.”