Warrior (Relentless #4)(211)

He nodded. “Makes sense. Let’s hope she is between glamours when we find her or we’ll never be able to recognize her.”

“No problem. I can see through his magic.”

What? I stared at Sara over my shoulder. “You can?”

“I can see through all glamours,” she said as if it was no big deal. “I thought you knew that.”

I turned my attention back to the road. “You forgot to share that piece of information with us.”

“She saw right through the glamour Orias had on his place in New Mexico,” Jordan told us. “The rest of us couldn’t see a thing, and we thought she was nuts when she said there was a building there.”

I shook my head, not sure why I was still surprised by her revelations.

“Sara, when we get home, we’re going to have a long talk about all the things you’ve forgotten to mention.”

She and Jordan shared a laugh. Chris snickered, and I gave him a pained look.

He held up his hands. “Don’t look at me. You’re the one who told Tristan it was okay for the two of them to stay together.”

Sara’s phone rang. She spoke to David for a minute then put him on speaker so the rest of us could hear their conversation.

“So here is what we found. In the last year, Adele has flown to Las Vegas twice by private charter. She stayed there for three days on one trip and five on another.”

“Maybe she just likes to gamble,” Jordan said.

“Maybe. What I do know is she didn’t stay at any of the big hotels during her trips, and she doesn’t strike me as a person who would charter a jet only to stay in a cheap hotel.”

“She’s not.” Sara replied. “Where do you think she stayed?”

“We think she has a residence there,” David said. “If anyone can find it, Kelvan can. You can’t hide much from him once he’s on your trail.”

Las Vegas? It made sense. The place was crawling with vampires and Mohiri. No one would think to look for Madeline there, as long as she stayed out of sight.

“How long do you think it will take?” Chris asked him.

“Oh yeah!” David hooted. “I think this is a new record for him.”

“He found something?” Sara asked breathlessly.

David typed something. “Adele owns a luxury condo in Las Vegas, overlooking the Strip. She bought it three years ago under the name Elizabeth Cummings.”

“What makes you think this woman and Adele are the same person?” I asked.

“Elizabeth Cummings is one of the identities Adele used before she took her current one,” he said. “Succubi have to create a new identity every few decades, especially if they are a businesswoman like Adele. She went by Elizabeth Cummings back in the forties.”

“How the hell did you find that?” Chris asked. “Even our records on her don’t go back that far.”

David chuckled. “Yours don’t, but demons have their own archives.”

I’d been impressed by Sara and her friends when they found Madeline in Vancouver, but this gave me a whole new level of respect for them. It wasn’t lost on me that we wouldn’t have found this information without the help of a demon Sara had befriended. No demon would have come forth and offered to help us otherwise.

Sara laughed. “You guys are scary sometimes, you know that? I’m really glad you’re on my side.”

“We decided it was more fun to use our power for good instead of evil,” he retorted.

Jordan leaned forward and grabbed the back of my seat.

“So, are we going to Vegas?”





Chapter 41





“Are you ready?”

Sara turned away from the tall glass building to look at me. “I’ve been ready for this for a long time.”

Her smile didn’t hide the uncertainty in her eyes, not that anyone could blame her for what she was feeling. In a few minutes, she was going to come face-to-face with the mother who’d abandoned her. She kept saying she only wanted to see Madeline to ask her about the Master, but I could feel her pain, even if she didn’t realize it was there.

I looked at Geoffrey over the hood of the SUV, and he nodded to let me know his team would take up watch outside. He’d met us at McCarren Airport to provide us with an escort and extra backup. Vegas was a dangerous place these days, and Sara wouldn’t be here at all if it was up to me. But she wanted to be the one to talk to Madeline, and God knew she’d earned that right.

We walk into the building’s marble lobby, followed closely by Chris and Jordan, with Elijah and Noah taking up the lead. Sara was quiet as we took the elevator up to the forty-second floor. I reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze when we got off the elevator and walked the short distance to Adele’s condo.

Sara and I stood in front of the door, and everyone else stayed a few yards away. I rang the doorbell, and we waited. After a minute, I knocked.

“Madeline, we’ve had our people watching this place, so we know you’re in there,” I called to her. “We just want to talk.”

When no one came to the door, Sara impatiently stepped in front of me.

“An hour of your time, and we’ll be out of your life forever. You owe me that much…Mom.”