Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell #1)(18)

“And you’ve stayed hidden all these years? Alone?”

“Assumed identities. Changed my look. Protected myself with magick.”

He blinked several times, then leaned forward, seeking a place to extinguish his cigarette.

“Here.” I wiggled out a ceramic plate from beneath a potted plant on the coffee table.

After he stubbed his out, I did the same, then waited nervously for him to say something. The ramifications of what I’d just done hit me like a slap in the face. What was wrong with me? I was smarter than this. And why him? It’s not like he was giving me warm and trusting vibes. There was a damn good possibility that I’d just made the biggest mistake of my life.

“Huh,” he finally said, as my anxiety and regret rose to heart-attack levels. “I knew Arcadia Bell couldn’t have been your real name.”

I looked up to find him grinning ear to ear. Oh, thank God. My head lolled against the sofa as relief fell like a cool, cleansing rain.

“My order lifted the Arcadia identity from a homeless woman in Seattle,” I explained.

“So you do belong to an organization? Your parents’ order—Ekklesia Eleusia, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I get them confused with that Luxe group.”

“Our main rivals. A common mistake.”

“Your parents were well respected before the killings,” he noted.

When they were first accused of the murders, none of the orders believed it, even if the media and the police did. My parents were minor celebrities who wrote and published several occult philosophy books and were vocal advocates of a united magical community.

Before I was born, they famously campaigned for an umbrella committee to be created that would consist of leaders from each order. This was like herding cats. Esoteric orders are historically secretive and uninterested in sharing their secrets or banding together for a greater cause. However, my parents often acted as interorder liaisons with some degree of success.

“Wasn’t it the Luxe group who blew the whistle on them?” Lon asked.

“Yep. After their leader was attacked, Luxe accused them. That’s when they were brought in for questioning and the whole media circus started. A couple days later, the leader of the Luxe Order led the police to the murder weapon used in the Black Lodge slayings—I’m sure you’ve heard about that in the news as well.”

He nodded, creasing his eyes as he studied me with greater intensity.

“When my parents’ fingerprints were found on it, the warrant for their arrest was issued. At that point, they were facing serious charges from the law and even bigger threats from Luxe. There was no way out—they had to run.”

“You too.”

“Me too,” I agreed, remembering the panic and fear, the sudden loss of my family. “I don’t know how Luxe got their fingerprints, but it was rigged evidence. It was a demon, not a knife, that did the dirty work.”

“The albino demon?”

I nodded.

“But they didn’t summon it?”

“No. We think it was either someone from the Luxe group who was trying to sabotage our order, or some outside independent magician trying to take over all the orders. It might sound ridiculous to an outsider, but you really wouldn’t believe the politics and power struggles that go on between the major occult organizations.”

“Oh, I believe it. Whenever people organize, there’s problems. That’s why I’m not a joiner. I keep to myself and mind my own business.”

That was true of most demons I knew. I smiled. “Except for the seminary stint?”

“That was self-serving.” A trace of smile showed as he crossed his arms over his chest. “So, the albino demon …”

“If I can find it, I can force it to tell me who committed the murders. My parents will be exonerated.”

“You need me to find it fast because the police are looking for your parents again?”

“Well, that doesn’t help matters, but it’s more because the Luxe Order has given my organization a mandate to turn over my parents—or me—in two weeks.”

His eyebrows shot up. “What would they do if you turned yourself in to them?”

“Kill me,” I said very seriously. “Eye for an eye, sins of the father, all that.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah.”

A cool breeze blew in from outside the window and fluttered a few stray hairs around my face. I pushed them away, and noticed that our beers hadn’t been touched in a while. Toying with a small tear in the knee of my jeans, I spoke again in a low voice.

“I bet you didn’t expect all this, huh?”

“This? No. I thought you might be some angry kid with a vendetta. Not this.”

“Well, I guess you can either help me, or you can rat me out to the feds and collect a handsome reward. It’s up to you.”

“Do you worry about people doing that? Turning you in?”

“No. There isn’t anyone who knows who I am.”

“No one?”

“A few people in my order, but they’re willingly under magical oath to keep quiet. Otherwise, no one. I guess you think I’m pretty stupid, spilling my guts to a complete stranger. I’m not even sure why I told you. I could have made something up like I usually do.”