Authors: Linda Lamberson
“And how do you suggest we change the future?”
“I don’t know—open ourselves up to new ideas, to the unexpected. But one thing I do know is that we can’t quit trying to figure it out.”
“And if we don’t succeed?”
“Hey, if we’re going to do this, you need to have a little more faith.” He stood up and offered me his hand. “Now,” he said as he helped me up, “weren’t you heading off somewhere to go get a Journal?”
“Yeah.” I wiped under each eye with my fingers.
“Seems like the perfect place to begin searching for something
unexpected
to me.”
I nodded and smiled weakly.
Wanting to leave nothing to chance, I searched through Tartuf’s office to try to find another hidden gem that might provide some additional information than what was just written in the Journal—I hoped to find a cheat sheet telling me exactly how to stop the conversion ritual from happening. Tartuf had quite the collection, and even narrowing my search to only his journals made finding the answers I wanted no easy task. I tore through the volumes with unparalleled speed and determination, but there was nothing else on the Servants.
There were books about shape shifters, soul eaters (complete with recipes—yuck!), soul hoarders, demons embodying the seven deadly sins, demons that specialized in manipulating the four major elements found on Earth, and others that could manipulate the weather, wreaking havoc by creating natural disasters. There was information on reapers, Death Dealers, fallen angels, succubus and incubus demons, vampires, leviathans, imps, hellhounds, harpies, sirens, warlocks, and a variety of half-demons, such as Moon Mercenaries. I even saw a handful of notes about black magic, voodoo, ancient tribal rituals, possession, and exorcisms, as well as your run-of-the-mill spirits—poltergeists and other angry or mischievous phantasms. The list went on and on.
There were also volumes of journals on the hierarchical structure common to most demonic clans. For example, Warriors fought on behalf of the clan while Henchmen protected certain higher-up clan members. Guards watched over imprisoned souls, whereas Persecutors tortured them. Retrievers, Messengers and Slaves sat on the lowest rungs of the demon totem pole—but still, there was nothing about Servants.
After I’d searched most of his office, I looked at my watch. It was pushing nine-thirty at night in Chicago. I had to get back to Quinn. I unlocked the secret panel under Tartuf’s desk and grabbed the Journal. I had to trust that everything I needed to tip the scales in favor of Quinn’s survival was written inside.
I quickly wrote a note to Tartuf, apologizing for borrowing the Journal and telling him I’d return it shortly. I stuck the note into the secret panel underneath the desktop, locked it, and returned the key to its original location. Then, I hastily straightened up the rest of his office, returning it to more or less the same disastrous state it’d been in when I arrived, and teleported myself back to Quinn’s bedroom.
“Quinn?” I called out as I hid the book in one of Quinn’s dresser drawers. “Dylan? Minerva?” I descended the stairs when I didn’t hear anyone respond. None of them were there and there was no note letting me know where they’d gone.
I pulled out my phone and checked my messages—zero. I looked at my texts—none. I teleported to the Falls, but they weren’t there either. When I returned, I texted Quinn to find out where they were, but when I didn’t hear back after a few minutes, I got even more worried. I looked out front and noticed Quinn’s Defender was still there. My mind began to think in terms of worst-case scenarios, and it took everything I had not to panic. I was about to form my own one-man search party when I heard their voices at the front door. I ran to the door in relief, opening it to discover Quinn, Dylan, Minerva, and Quinn’s brother, Doug, standing on the other side. I swallowed my surprise and immediately forced a big smile as I stealthily removed the engagement ring from my right hand stuck it in my back pocket. I wasn’t about to make the same mistake with yet another of Quinn’s brothers.
“There you are,” Quinn said a little too enthusiastically, especially considering the state I’d left him earlier.
“Hey, I was worried about you guys.” I slyly flashed Dylan a little “what the hell” look, and he just shrugged his shoulders.
“Evie, this is my brother, Doug. He decided to escape the city and come up here to hang out.”
“Hey, it’s good to meet you,” Doug said, offering his hand.
“Good to meet you too,” I replied, shaking his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” We all stood there for a second until I realized I was blocking the entryway. “Oh, sorry.” I quickly stepped aside. Quinn walked in first and kissed me.
“He just showed up,” he whispered in my ear.
Minerva followed Quinn, winked at me, and headed upstairs. Dylan followed Doug inside and closed the door.
“We wanted to wait for you,” Quinn continued in a tone all could hear. “But it was getting late, and I knew you’d be a while longer so we grabbed a bite.”
“Good call. I just got back a few minutes ago.”
“Did you find what you needed?” Dylan asked.
“Yes, I did,” I confirmed with a grin.
“Quinny said you were doing research for a class project or something like that,” Doug said.
“Something like that,” I stated, smiling.
“I empathize with the suck-factor of having to study during the summer. I’m in bar exam hell right now myself.”
“Doesn’t sound like much fun,” I remarked.
“Only a couple more weeks and it’ll all be over. Still, I needed a break. So I came home to spend time with my little bro. I just didn’t realize he had visitors. Hope I’m not crashing the party.”
“No, not at all,” I insisted.
“Yeah, M and I have to head out tonight anyway,” Dylan threw in, stifling a chuckle. “You know—places to go, things to do.”
Minerva came downstairs with a Louis Vuitton leather overnight bag and a large hiking pack. I had to grin at her choice of “luggage.”
“Let me help you with that, M.” Dylan rushed over and grabbed “his” pack. “Doug, great meeting you,” he said, extending his hand to Doug when he reached the front door.
“Likewise,” Doug said, shaking it.
“Yes, it was nice to meet you,” Minerva added, also shaking his hand.
“You, too,” Doug replied, eyeing her up and down a little too intently. “Sorry I took you to a greasy spoon—I had no idea you were vegans.” He shot Quinn a nasty look.
“I forgot to mention it—so sue me,” Quinn replied dryly.
“Careful, you’re talking to a nearly licensed practitioner of the law.” Doug smiled.
“‘Nearly’ being the operative word, dude,” Quinn quipped.
“Bite me.” Doug turned to Dylan and Minerva. “Hey, you sure I’m not running you two off?”
“No, not at all. We wouldn’t want to overstay our welcome,” Minerva replied sweetly, completely ignoring the fact that Doug was ogling her. Dylan was either oblivious or so secure in their relationship that he didn’t care that Doug was practically undressing Minerva with his eyes. She walked over and hugged Quinn. “Thanks for inviting us to stay with you. We had a great time.”
“Yeah, man. Great time.” Dylan fist bumped Quinn.
“Glad you could make it,” Quinn said, keeping up the ruse.
“We’ll see you two soon,” I added, keeping my game face in place as they each hugged me good-bye.
“Not if we see you first.” Dylan winked at me. Just as I wondered how they were going to make their great escape, I followed them outside and saw a black Audi S-8 in the driveway.
“Love the ride!” I called out.
“It gets the job done,” Minerva flashed me a huge grin. They got in and a minute later they were gone. I knew they’d be back—right after they returned the car from wherever they’d “borrowed" it.
“So, Dougie, how long are you planning on staying?” Quinn asked after Dylan and Minerva had left.
“Through the weekend. Mom called me yesterday saying she wanted the family to go out for dinner when they get back Thursday night, so I figured I’d hang for a few days and recharge. Tommy, Sam, and Mary are coming over Thursday too.”
Crap
—Quinn’s parents were coming home in two days. How was I going to get myself out of this one?
“You sticking around?” Doug asked me curiously.
“Yes, she is,” Quinn piped in without even giving it a second thought. “We’ll be here for a couple of days or so before heading out. There are a few more places we want to visit before I go abroad.”
“You ever meet them before? Our parents?” Doug asked me.
“No,” I said, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
“Looks like I picked a good weekend to come home.” Doug smiled and raised his eyebrows at Quinn. Then he turned and winked at me. “Well, now that I know I’ll be seeing more of you over the next few days, I don’t feel so bad ditching you two so I can crash and get a good night’s sleep.” He yawned. “See you both in the morning.”
“Later, man,” Quinn said.
“Night,” I called out to Doug, who was already halfway up the stairs.
“Are you
insane
?” I whispered frantically when Doug was out of earshot. “You want me to meet your parents? And Tommy and Sam—
again
?”
“We’re supposed to be out in the open, remember?” he replied calmly.
“Out in the open is one thing, but meeting your family—your
parents
?” I sighed and closed my eyes. “Please tell me Doug doesn’t know we’re engaged.”
“I wanted to tell him, but no. I didn’t want to risk having his memory erased.” He lifted up my bare right hand. “Nice move with the ring, by the way.”
“You saw that?” I opened my eyes to look at him.
“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure I was the only one. I was looking for it. I wanted to see if you’d remember.”
“Were you hoping I’d forget?”
“Maybe.”
“You really are nuts.” I reached up and kissed him. “Hey, I want to apologize for the way I skipped out on you earlier.”
“Where’d you go?” His expression shifted; he looked more anxious and concerned.
“Tartuf’s office. I needed to get something.”
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
“I think so.” I smiled and kissed him again.
“So, are you going to tell me what Ruben said to you?”
I sighed heavily, remembering my promise to Quinn that I’d tell him everything. “If you really want to know, then yes.”
“That bad, huh?”
“It’s not the best news I’ve heard all day,” I tried to joke.
He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Just tell me this—does it have to do with anything that’s going to happen over the next few days?”
“Not as far as I can tell.”
“Then I don’t want to know right now—not when my parents are about to come home.”
“Are you sure?” I asked in surprise while I silently sighed in relief.
“Yes. I want to have a clear head when my parents meet you.” He grinned.
It was my turn to take a deep breath. I could feel my nerves creep up my spine.
“Don’t worry, they’ll love you,” Quinn reassured me. “Besides, it’s too early for you to get all riled up. We still have plenty of time before they arrive.”
“Plenty of time for what?” I teased playfully.
“You’ve been away from me all day. I think you have some making up to do for lost time.” His tone may have been good-humored, but there was nothing innocent in his eyes or playful about the way he kissed me.
“You think Minerva and Dylan are waiting for us at the Falls?” I whispered in a slight daze.
“Not if they know what's good for them.” He lifted me up and kissed me again.
As usual, luck was not on our side. Dylan and Minerva
were
waiting for us when we arrived. The second we saw them, Quinn put me down, looking deflated.
“Well, nice to see you too,” Dylan said, pretending to be insulted.
“No—it’s just,” I began.
“We get it. You’ve been separated for the whole day, and now you’re bursting at the seams to get into each other’s pants. Well, sorry to ruin the party, but it’ll have to wait.” I saw the concerned look in Dylan’s eyes.
“What is it?” I asked.
“The Incident Timer on my watch started going nuts a couple of hours before you returned. It’s spinning out of control. Did you bring back Tartuf’s Journal?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Awesome!” Dylan exclaimed. “Maybe you’ve already created the unexpected variable—the something different we need. Maybe that’s why my watch is freaking out.”
“Maybe,” I replied, not feeling quite as assured as Dylan.
“So, does it talk about the ritual? Where is it?”
“It’s back at the house. I haven’t had a lot of time to look through it yet.”
“Well, go get it! Let’s check it out!” Dylan was practically jumping up and down.
“
Maybe now is not the best time,”
I said telepathically to Dylan.
“Why not now?” Dylan responded aloud, confused and disappointed.
“Because I told Evie I don’t want to know what the deal is until
after
we leave for the new portal,” Quinn chimed in.
“You don’t?” Dylan looked shocked.
“Nope. I want to spend time with my family with as little obsessing about demons as possible.”
“Fine,” Dylan stated. “But just know I’ve got a strong feeling that this Journal is going to give us the advantage we need,” Dylan said, beaming.
“I agree.” I smiled at Quinn.
“Hey, speaking of the new portal, it’s nearly ready,” Dylan stated. “A couple more trips ought to do it. In fact, now that Evie’s back, I can stop by right now.”
“And while you do that,” Minerva chimed in, “I’ll do a perimeter check back at the house. I’m feeling a little restless now that there’s another body there.”
“Thanks,” Quinn said.
“Yeah, thanks,” I said. “We’ll be right behind you.”
“I’m sure everything’s fine. I’m just overly cautious,” she reassured us, winking as she phased out of view.
“You know, I could help you stock the new portal,” Quinn offered slyly.
“Hey, don’t look at me. I’ve wanted to show you the place from day one,” Dylan replied. “It’s your little woman that needs convincing.”