"Do you mean besides the torture of Isla's best friend, or the-"
His voice is quiet, deathlycalm, "I didn't touch her."
"Psychological torture is still fucking torture, Al," Isla bites. "Don't be ridiculous. Can you even imagine how Bel would react if she knew you were within the same fucking block as her? How quickly Cas and Fritz would be here, tearing you to pieces?"
With a heavy breath, he lays his head on the back of the couch, "Well I can't take it back now, can I? And I've been told in no uncertain terms that an apology would not be appreciated. Which I understand and haven't even tried to cross that line. All I can do is make sure no one gets close to any of you again. Which Ihave, in case I haven't made that clear yet."
"What exactly have you done?" I ask. His insistence that he's been vital in keeping everyone safe has my head spinning. I haven't seen this man around once, nor have I heard anything about him from Isla.
"Oh, you mean, besides warning Isla weeks ago that the Sanctus Sculitis knew she would be here this week for the baby shower?"
If Isla feelsbadfor keeping this from me, sheabsolutelydoesn't show it, practically daring me to say something about it. But our secrets from each other are just that.Ours.
"Sure, yes," my teeth grind. "Besides that."
He holds up his hand, lifting a finger with each thing he adds to the list, "I canceled your hotel reservation last minute from the hotel's end so you wouldn't be in the building the Sanctum was planning on you all staying in. I evenmade sure thatthey knew it wasn't your fault, so they took care of some very nice accommodations.
"I played with the traffic lights today, causing the delay that kept you from arriving when they expected you. I caused a cell tower outage to ensure they couldn't reach any higher-ups and alert them if they did spot you.
"And, if that isn't enough for you, this," he holds up his middle finger in my direction, "is not dirt. As I said, there's so much blood on my hands I'll never be washed clean of it. At least now it's only coming from those set out to do real harm."
Isla finally peeps up, her voice seething, "And he stole the Benedict Arnold or whatever."
"The what?"
Now Alastor turnsall the wayaround, nearly leaning over the couch to look at me, "The Sanctus Sculitis Benedici?"
My lips purse as I shake my head, genuinely having no idea what the fuck he's talking about.
His eyes dart to Isla's, then back to me, then to the ground and back, frantically for a moment, "No. That's impossible. You have to have it. I put it in the-"
I'm getting more confused by the second, "Why the fuck would I have it? I don't even know whatitis."
"There's no point in lying to me anymore," Isla bites. "I know you went through my books. They are all over the built-in shelves in the bunker."
Embarrassment warms my cheeks. I didn'tgo throughthem. "Honey, do you have any idea how many books you have?"
She ignores the nickname, "How many?"
"I stopped counting at 157." A small smile lifts her cheek atthe mention ofher extensive collection, "I didn't even take the time to put them in any specific order, much less investigate their contents. Half of them seemed so old they seemed like they needed to be shelved immediately so they didn't crush each other."
"So you do or you don't have the Benedici?" Alastor prods, his wide eyes trained on me like he's going to throttle me if I don't answer correctly.
I simply shrug, "Buddy, I don't even know what that is. How would I know if I have it? And how the absolute fuck would you have even gotten to my house in the first place?"
His eye twitches before he turns back to his drink, "I snuck it into one of the boxes full of her books."
"He said he figured that wherever I vanished to was the safest place it could be." Isla adds.
A small dose of comfort soothes the heat in my chest.If this kid couldn't find where Isla went aftersomehowhacking into the Sanctum's spy network, there's no chancein hellthey know where I've been hiding her.I'll get her back on a plane home tomorrow, locked safe and sound 20 feet under the ground.
"Are either one of you going to tell me what exactly isinthis Benedici? Or are you waiting for me to run home and find out for myself?" I push for the answer they both keep avoiding.
"It's our— fuck,their— holy text," Alastor explains, "It contains all the knowledge they have on demons, Vankhala, their rituals, including how to use the bloodline to keep the weapons functional."
My eyes narrow with suspicion, "And they only have one copy?"
Isla snickers, "That's exactly what I said."
