Getting Familiar with Your Demon: That Old Black Magic, Book 4 (12 page)

Pricilla stepped behind him. Unnerving silence hovering in the air, he met his cousins’ apprehensive gazes. He wished with his entire being that the brave idiots hadn’t gotten involved in this. He’d meant it when he told Pricilla he didn’t give two shits what she did to him. But so help him, if the bitch hurt Cass or Nikki, he’d make it his mission in life to kill Pricilla, no matter what it took.

The realization that he’d go to such lengths for anyone other than himself was an odd one. So much so, he nearly forgot Pricilla’s intense observation. But then she strode in front of him and tossed Lucy at his feet. The weapon spun and clacked on the parquet flooring before coasting to a halt next to his boot.

“How did you do it?”

He decided playing dumb might not be a bad idea. “Do what?”

“You damn well know what I’m talking about,” Pricilla snarled. “Your seal is gone.”

“What? You’re shitting me.” Feigning shock, he patted his pockets. “Wonder where the devil it could have gotten to?”

Pricilla’s lips pinched into a tight, thin line. “Destroying a soul-collector seal is physically impossible. I demand to know how you managed it.”

Apparently good ole Pris didn’t have the same sources as Cass. Making a concentrated effort not to look at his cousins, he offered Pricilla another evasive shrug. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

Pricilla’s squinty-eyed glare probed at him. No doubt the bitch wished she could mentally will the answers from him. Shooting him one last angry stare, she pivoted and strode to the end table, where she picked up a knife resting by the roll of duct tape. Testing the tip with her index finger, Pricilla strolled to Cass and wedged the blade against her slender throat. Although Cass’s gaze didn’t waver in its ferocity, her chin trembled. Sam’s heart missed a beat.

Pricilla trailed one blood-red nail down Cass’s cheek. “It’d be a shame to carve up such a pretty face.”

Weary resignation settled with grim finality in Sam’s chest. If there was one thing he could count on, it was how bad this would backfire on him if he revealed too much to Pricilla. Even if he did tell her the truth, there was no guarantee Pris wouldn’t plunge that knife into Cass merely out of spite.

He met the challenge in Pricilla’s stare. Despite her bravado, there was a trace of something else in her expression. A greedy hunger she couldn’t entirely contain. An ulterior motive drove her interest in his seal breaking. His instincts had never failed him in the past. They sure as shit weren’t now. Mulling over his suspicions, he quickly devised a plan. If he threw out the right bait, Pricilla was bound to take a nibble. Make it enticing enough, and he, Cass and Nikki might walk out of this room alive. The key lay in convincing Pris of his reluctance over releasing the information. If she thought she had to drag it out of him, she’d be a thousand times more likely to believe his story and ultimately be left dangling on the hook.

Mentally preparing his bait, he sucked in a deep breath and spit the words free. “There was a witch.”

An unmistakable flare of excitement danced across Pricilla’s face before she hastily banked it and assumed a cool mask of indifference. “Continue.”

“We met at a bar.” Again, it was better to play dumb and not reveal any clues pointing to the fact he’d planned the whole thing. “One thing led to another, and we had a one-night stand.”

“You slept with her, and it broke your seal?”

“Who knows?” He said it with just the right amount of casualness to keep Pricilla wondering.

The blade eased a fraction from Cass’s neck. “The name of this witch?”

“Can’t rightly recall. She was too busy screaming mine for me to pay much attention to hers.”

Annoyance flickered over Pricilla’s features. “Fine. The bar where you met her then?”

He waited several beats before letting the lie slip easily from his tongue. “Tatums.”

Pricilla lifted the knife from Cass’s throat and fingered the blade, considering. “Although I’m not at all pleased with these turn of events, I’ve decided to give you a second chance, Samael. It cost me a good deal in the way of bribes and money to acquire your contract. Much as it pains me not to kill you, finding some future purpose for you is more expedient.” She tapped her chin with the tip of the knife blade. “This of course means we’ll have to compromise on a different means of staying in contact. A tracking cuff should suffice.”

Bloody fuck. He wasn’t fooled for a second about the real reason she wanted to keep him under constant tabs. Even knowing this was his best shot at walking out of the room in one piece, agreeing to her demands went down like a bitter pill. He’d just have to deal with the damn cuff or find a way to disable the thing without Pricilla finding out.

“Very well,” he bit through clenched teeth. This time his reluctant acquiescence wasn’t merely for show.

Pricilla strode to the intercom affixed to the wall behind the end table and pressed the middle button. “Bring me one of the tracking cuffs from my office.”

For shit’s sake. How many damn people did she routinely keep an eye on that she required an entire stock of tracing gear in ready supply? Several seconds ticked by before the door opened and Pricilla’s goons trooped in. Sam received a death glare from the demon he’d opened a can of whoop ass on earlier. If he’d been in a better mood, he would have blown the dickhead a kiss. Instead, he got a pistol rammed against his skull by one thug while another locked the cuff onto his ankle. Meanwhile, the fourth goon crossed to where Pricilla was busy loosening the ropes binding Nikki’s arms and legs to the chair. Once freed, Nikki leapt to her feet and kneed the demon in the groin hard enough he yelped and grabbed his balls.

Nikki ripped off the strip of duct tape and bared her teeth at the thug. “That’s for eating my donuts, asshole.” After one last hot, wrathful glare, she hurried to Cass and released her from the restraints. Together, they rushed to Sam’s side and circled him in a united front of feisty girl power.

Pricilla eyed the Lassiter siblings with obvious disdain before narrowing her focus on him. “Let today be a lesson. There will be no crossing me, Samael. I’ve granted you a second chance to prove your obedience. Don’t squander it, because there will be no third.” She gave a dismissive wave to her four goons. “See them to the door.”

Sam stooped and swiped Lucy from the ground. Adjusting his T-shirt, he tucked her into his holster as he, Cass and Nikki were herded to the entry. Awarding a mocking salute to the thugs, he followed his cousins out into the blazing sun.

Nikki was uncharacteristically quiet during the walk to the car. All of the bluster and fierceness she’d displayed in the mansion had evaporated. It wasn’t until she huddled in the backseat that she finally broke her moody silence. “God, I’m sorry, you guys,” she said in a small voice. “I never should have stopped by Pop’s place. Talk about stupid.”

So that was how Pricilla’s goons had grabbed Nikki. No doubt the second it became clear he’d broken the familiar link, Pris had staked out the Lassiter household in the off chance she’d find him through his relatives. Unfortunately, she’d been right.

Cass swiveled in her seat, her expression worried. “Mom and Dad…?”

“Weren’t home, thankfully. If something had happened to them too, I would never have forgiven myself.”

He twisted the key in the ignition, and the GTO’s engine roared to life. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. The important thing is you and Cass are safe now.”

Another hefty silence filled the interior of the vehicle. Feeling the weight of Nikki’s gaze lasering into the back of his head, he glanced in the rearview mirror and met her incredulous stare. He frowned. “What?”

“Who are you, and what have you done with Sam?”

Cass clicked her seat belt in place. “I’ve got to side with Nik on this one. You’re acting…considerably reasonable.”

“I can be reasonable.”

Cass’s russet eyebrows winged upward.

“Okay, so I have my grumpy moments, damn it.” As a matter of fact, he felt a helluva one coming on now. He shifted into reverse and gunned it out of the drive before swinging in the direction of home.

It really chapped his ass that Pricilla would now know where he lived, thanks to the despised tracking cuff. He’d worked hard at maintaining a low profile, and therefore keeping that aspect of his life under wraps. It’d been bad enough the council could demand his presence whenever the mood struck. He damn well didn’t want them physically showing up on his doorstep. The possibility of that souring his gut, he shot a scowl in the direction of his ankle, where the cold glint of metal peeked from the leg of his jeans. Glancing sideways, he caught Cass’s contemplative gaze.

“It’s strange Pricilla settled for slapping that on you.”

“No, it’s not. She’s hoping I’ll lead her to Marabella.”

Cass remained thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, makes sense. But why do you suppose she’s interested in her?”

He shrugged and returned his attention to the road. “I’d say that’s the million-dollar question.”

The fidgeting beat of Cass drumming her fingers on the armrest filled the air. “We have to go talk to her—Marabella.”

He jerked his gaze to Cass. “Want to run that by me again?”

“We need to find out why Pricilla is interested in her.”

“Like hell we do.”

Cass sighed. “Sam, don’t be difficult. She might be our best shot at getting to the bottom of all this.”

“Are you fucking nuts?” The prospect of laying eyes on Marabella again literally made his stomach clench. Unfortunately, it also made his dick stir with fond remembrance of their incredible night together. Desperation like a caged beast inside him, he latched onto the most obvious deterrent against agreeing to Cass’s asinine suggestion. “We’d be leading Pris straight to her. Not the slickest move ever.”

“That’s why we’re going to jury-rig your tracker.” Cass leaned forward and snatched her laptop from the floor. She flipped open the screen and booted up the system. “I was working out a plan earlier. I’m willing to bet that unit on your leg houses the same GPS software used in a pair of reaper cuffs. It’s a simple matter of switching the chip in your cuff with the one in Nikki’s. As long as Nik’s cuffs stay put in your house, Pricilla will be none the wiser.”

“Hey, that’s pretty smart.” Some of the misery had lifted from Nikki’s voice. “Assuming it’ll work, of course.”

“I’m ninety-nine percent certain it will.” Cass swung an arm behind her seat. “Let me see ’em.”

A metallic clank announced Nikki was in the process of removing her cuffs. A moment later the rear seat creaked as she scooted forward and passed the cuffs to her sister. Cass inspected the device and gave a considering hum. “Any chance either of you have something I could use to open the hardware dock?”

“Yeah, I keep a toolbox in the trunk.”

Cass pumped her fist in victory. “Awesome. Since we don’t have much time, why don’t you pull into the lot of that grocery store over there?”

He glanced toward where she was pointing to and dutifully swung the vehicle in that direction. After pulling into a spot bordered by a nice view-blocking RV, he climbed from the GTO and popped the trunk. While Cass rummaged in the toolbox, he kept a wary eye on the cars entering the parking lot. “I can damn well guarantee you Pris’s goons will have my house staked out within the hour. How the hell do you propose we sneak by them to go anywhere?”

“Easy. Nik’s teleport bracelet.”

“Uh, that’ll be a problem,” Nikki called through the open window. “I don’t have it. Pricilla does. Or at least I assume so. All I know is it was gone when I came to after her paid morons knocked me out.”

Cass swore beneath her breath. Twitching her nose, she pocketed the tiny screwdriver and needle-nose pliers she’d filched from the toolbox. “Okay, we’ll improvise for now. I’ll get the chips switched out, and Nik can drive back to your house while you and I hop a cab over to Marabella’s.”

He narrowed his eyes at Cass. “Your sister is not driving my car.”

She grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the open passenger door. “She’ll take good care of it, I promise. Now sit.”

Slightly nauseated at the idea of Nikki behind the wheel of the Orange Bullet, he slumped onto the seat. While Cass unscrewed the hinge covering the hardware dock on Nikki’s reaper cuffs, he tried to block out horrific images of his car bursting into flames or wrapped around a telephone pole.

Giving a cluck of her tongue, Cass propped the device on the dash and hunkered next to his leg. “Safe to say your cuff’s been triggered with an alarm that’ll notify Pricilla if we even attempt to remove it. Hopefully I can reach the software without having to go that route.” She felt around on the underside of the metal lip and grinned. “Yes! This will be easy as pie.”

“Speaking of pie, I’m starved,” Nikki grumbled from the backseat. “That Hulk Hogan lookalike back at Pricilla’s ate our breakfast.”

“So we gathered.” Rolling her eyes, Cass pried open the latch on his cuff. She tapped his ankle. “Straighten your leg.” He complied with her request, and with the steady-fingered precision of a brain surgeon, she carefully removed the chip with the pliers. In less time than it took Nikki to lodge another complaint about being hungry, Cass switched both chips and screwed everything back into place. “Okay, now all that’s left is to pull up the Sat-link and make sure everything is hunky dory.”

He checked the clock on the dash. “Make it fast. We’ve already wasted five minutes.”

“And there’s the Sam we all know and love.” Chortling, Nikki climbed over the center console and plopped into the driver’s seat. She gripped the wheel and made obnoxious squealing noises as she pretended to buck around in the seat.

Where was the damn Maalox when he needed it? Ignoring the acid churning in his gut, he returned his scrutiny to Cass. “You about done tinkering with that thing?”

“Yep. Everything looks great.” Cass shot a look toward Nikki. “No detouring. Straight home to Sam’s, and make sure you take the cuffs in with you.”

“Yes, boss.” Nikki gunned the engine and grinned. “Ooh mama. Listen to that baby purr.”

His knees wobbled. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”