Authors: A. E. Jones
I groaned and flopped back onto the bed. “Have you heard anything about Thomas Wilson? What about Charles Hilliard?”
“Hilliard? That’s a new one. No, those names don’t mean anything to me, but I have heard some other news.”
I propped myself up on my elbow. Marie was preening.
“What is it?”
“I
accidentally
overheard something the other day. There’s some rumbling upstairs about some prophecy not going as planned.”
I stood up. “What prophecy?”
“They didn’t elaborate, but I’m thinking it has to do with the Key. I mean, how many Armageddon-like prophecies could be happening on a given day?”
“Armageddon?” My stomach twisted.
Marie’s eyes narrowed in on me. “You look a little pale. You might want to sit down.”
“What else did you hear?” I demanded.
“I think the Key helps maintain the balance of power. It’s why the angels got a little overprotective when the vampire was after it.”
“A little overprotective? They chopped off his head!”
“Tomato, tomahto. You need to be careful, Kyle. Right now, I don’t think they know where the Key is, and it’s making them very nervous.”
They weren’t the only ones.
* * *
I glanced down at the half-eaten burger and fries in front of me. I should have been hungry, but my stomach had been doing somersaults ever since Marie’s visit. We sat in my room finishing our fast food dinner while Jean Luc perched in front of the laptop, reviewing the information Misha had emailed.
Jason crumpled up his food wrappers and tossed them into the garbage can. “What did Misha send us?”
Jean Luc looked up. “Schematics of the casino.”
“Does it look well fortified?” Griffin asked.
“It has ten floors with a penthouse suite. Every room is a suite and very expensive. The security is also top notch, with the very latest in technology.”
“Isn’t it a little premature to be planning an invasion already?” I asked.
Griffin turned to me. “We need to understand everything about this place.”
“What about the people?” I argued. “Wouldn’t we get more out of them?”
Jean Luc typed on the keyboard. “Misha sent a list of casino employees. We might be able to use them.” He stood and walked toward the door. “I am going to retrieve the laptop charger from my room.”
I wrapped my food and threw it away as well. “How are we going to get close to the staff without camping out in the casino?”
The laptop beeped, signaling a new email. Jason walked over and sat down. “We’ll have to watch them and figure out the best time to approach them outside of work.” He clicked on the keyboard. “Mish may have hit pay dirt. He’s found a guy for us to talk to. He’s a sociology professor who has been observing The Casino.”
“How did Misha find him?” Griffin asked.
“He’s written some mumbo-jumbo reports that were published in a sociology magazine about leaders and group loyalty. He cited The Casino as a test case in his article.”
“Does he live around here?” I asked.
“Yeah, he lives in town. Dr. Charles Hilliard.”
I jerked at the name, the air leaving my lungs as if someone punched me in the chest. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. A male face flashed in my brain. Hazel eyes with red hair and beard. He had dirt streaks across his cheek.
“What’s wrong?” Jason asked.
I gasped and blinked rapidly, and Griffin reached for me as I slipped from the chair. My back arched, and I started to shake. My vision blurred for a moment.
I blinked again, and Griffin was holding me, Jason’s voice floating above my head.
“Shit, she’s seizing!”
“Get Jean Luc!” Griffin yelled.
Color bleached away, and the world went white.
* * *
A voice permeated the emptiness surrounding me, soft and melodic. Words of encouragement, peppered with French terms of affection. The tightness in my muscles receded, and I was able to breathe freely again. I slipped into a deep sleep.
I woke, cocooned in warmth. I was lying in a bed at the motel. I moved, and a band of heat tightened around my stomach and back. It took a few seconds to realize an arm was wrapped around me and I was tucked against a hard chest.
I tensed. “Griffin?”
“Yes, sweet. I’m here.”
“What happened?”
“What do you remember?”
I thought for a second. “Jason was telling us about some professor, and then everything went hazy.”
“You had a seizure.”
Which made no sense. “Where’s Jean Luc? He was talking to me.”
“They’re in the room next door. You’ve been asleep for hours. You heard Jean Luc earlier when he used his thrall to stop you from seizing. Jason didn’t want to leave you until Jean Luc threatened to remove him bodily.
“Jason and I wanted to take you to a hospital, but Jean Luc said we shouldn’t. He sensed something supernatural in your subconscious. Is it your gift? Jean Luc mentioned it sometimes takes a toll on your body.”
“It’s not my gift.”
“What is it then?”
Fear trickled down my spinal column. Charles Hilliard. The Key. I didn’t want Griffin to know what was happening. Hell, I didn’t want to believe what was happening. “Why did you stay with me?”
He was silent for a couple of beats. “I couldn’t leave you. I know it’s presumptuous of me, and if you were feeling better and I said this, you would deck me, but I need to protect you. It’s ingrained in me.”
“You’re right. Remind me to hurt you later.” I yawned and snuggled against his chest.
He kissed the top of my head. “Sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”
Chapter 40
I felt like a specimen under a microscope. Three anxious males watched me as I sat in bed and sipped my orange juice. On the tray in front of me were the remnants of an omelet and toast.
Jason sat on the bed next to mine, drinking coffee. He pointed to the bit of egg on my plate. “Eat that last bite; you need protein.”
“How do you feel,
ma petite
?” Jean Luc asked from his seat at the foot of my bed.
“Good.” I was actually feeling much better. I’d slept the entire night for the first time in weeks, and the food did hit the spot.
Griffin stood across the room. For some reason he was keeping his distance this morning. “Are you ready to tell us what happened?”
I took a breath. How much to tell?
Jean Luc clucked at me. “Tell us the complete truth,
mon ami
.”
“Last summer, my powers began changing. When I erased Trina’s memories, I absorbed them somehow. And now I have flashbacks, too.”
Jean Luc nodded. “When you were having those nosebleeds?”
“Yes.” I paused to take another sip of juice.
“Why did you not tell us what was happening?” Jean Luc prompted.
“At first I thought I was going crazy. The memories were so vivid it was as if I had experienced them myself. It took a while before I realized I was reliving Trina’s abduction.”
Jason protested, “You shouldn’t have gone through it alone.”
“I didn’t.” I swallowed and looked at Griffin. “I told Dalton.”
Griffin’s gaze tightened on my face.
Jean Luc stood and walked around my bed. “That was months ago. Why have you not told us since then?”
I hesitated as the internal war I had been fighting for months continued to rage in my brain. It was time to tell them the truth. “Because when I erased Dalton’s memory, I absorbed it as well.”
Jason’s eyes widened. “Shit. The Key.”
Griffin finally spoke. “What are you talking about?”
And here’s where it got sticky. No one outside our group knew about the true nature of the Key.
Jean Luc turned to Griffin. “There were a few important points Nicholas left out of his report to the Full Council last year. As you know, Sebastian was after the Key, and tortured Lieutenant Dalton for its whereabouts. But what you do not know is we believe the Key is not a physical thing. Instead it is absorbed into the person who can free it from its receptacle. Joe was the one to free it.”
Griffin’s eyes widened. “Joe
is
the Key?”
“Was,” I answered, “until I erased his memory. Since then I have been having flashes.”
“Like what?” Jason asked.
“I’ve experienced Sebastian torturing Dalton. I’ve also been seeing names in my head which I have no connection to, and I can read Latin and interpret other kinds of things.”
Jean Luc nodded. “The symbol for the casino. You knew what it meant right away.”
“Yes.”
Jean Luc’s eyes filled with concern. “You said you were experiencing Dalton’s torture. Do you mean you can see it happening?”
I looked down at the tray on my lap. “I can feel it, too.”
Jason cursed next to me, and Jean Luc grasped my hand. “What happened last night?”
“I’m not sure. Charles Hilliard is one of the names I’ve been seeing in my head. When Jason said it out loud, my brain went haywire. I felt like someone punched me in the chest.”
“Has that ever happened before?” Jean Luc persisted.
“Not exactly. I…have had some other episodes with names, but not this bad.” I looked up at Griffin. He was so still I wasn’t sure he was breathing.
An uncomfortable silence invaded the room, and I set the tray aside and sat up further as if preparing for battle. None was forthcoming. I fidgeted for a moment, and then filled the void with words. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. But don’t you see? After Dalton almost died last year, I wouldn’t risk anyone else until I had a better idea of what was going on.”
“And do you?” Griffin asked softly.
“Do I what?”
“Have a better idea of what’s going on?” He stepped closer to the bed. “Did keeping this to yourself really help you?”
I didn’t answer him. “We’ve wasted enough time today. I’m going to go clean up and then we can talk to Hilliard.”
“No,” Griffin answered.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re not going anywhere near Hilliard.”
I opened my mouth to protest and he plowed on.
“You had a seizure last night at the sound of just his name. We have no idea what could happen if you meet him face-to-face.”
I looked to Jason. He nodded in agreement. My only chance was getting Jean Luc on my side. “I’m fine. I think I need to meet him. Why else would his name be in my head?”
“Maybe as a warning?” Jason countered.
“A warning of what? He’s a sociology professor, for God’s sake.” I watched their faces and could tell I hadn’t convinced them. “Maybe it’s fate? Why else would I already know his name and he is the exact person who might be able to help?”
I stared into Jean Luc’s eyes. “What if I promise to stick close to Jean Luc? If it looks like something is going to go south, he’ll sense it and get me out of there. I’m okay now, honest.”
Jean Luc studied me another moment before turning to the rest of them. “I don’t sense anything right now that might harm her. I can watch her while you and Jason lead the questioning of Hilliard.”
Griffin’s jaw rippled before he replied. “She’s your responsibility.” He walked over to the door and left without looking back.
Jean Luc pulled me into his arms gently and held me for a moment before letting go. “I’ll leave you to get ready.”
Jason puffed out a breath and walked toward the door as well. “Misha’s going to kick your ass when he finds out about this, and I don’t even want to think about what Doc is going to do.”
I was going to have to eat crow, but for the first time in months, I felt lighter. I walked into the bathroom and stripped. Once in the shower, the warm water sluicing over my body helped release the remaining tension about the meeting. The tightness in my chest was gone, and I took a deep, clean breath for the first time in what felt like months. I didn’t even mind the steam wafting through the bathroom as I stepped out of the tub.
I turned and watched as words appeared on the steam-covered mirror, the slight smell of roses cluing me in to the identity behind the invisible finger leaving the message.
Told you so
.
I sighed deeply. “And you were right, Marie.”
* * *
Jean Luc parked in front of Hilliard’s ranch house. He turned to me. “Are you certain about this?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” I opened the door and stepped out. Griffin and Jason took the lead up the sidewalk, and I hung back, waiting for Jean Luc. His reassuring hand squeezed mine, and we stepped forward. Jason rang the doorbell, and within seconds, a man answered.
I gasped in surprise. He was the face I had seen last night, except he was older. His bright red hair and beard was now interspersed with gray, toning it down substantially. Griffin whipped his head around to check on me, and I gave him a confirming nod.
He turned back to face Hilliard. “Dr. Hilliard?”