Vivaldi’s gaze slid from me over to Saros, scanning him quickly, as if sizing him up. Outside of what was in the file, I had no clue what went on during his undercover stint for them. When he’d personally requested Agent Holt, it made me wonder if Saros had kept in touch. I found it odd but when I asked the High Archon if he knew anything else about it, he said everything worth knowing was in the file.
I begged to differ.
Anyone on Vivaldi’s good side couldn’t be trusted in my book, so the fact that he and Saros had some unspoken détente automatically put Holt on my radar. If he was going to be with Oakley, around my son, he’d better not put them in danger of coming in contact with Vivaldi or any of his vampire slime.
“Disappearing overnight? Sounds like the Vivaldi Syndicate’s MO,” Fox Steele huffed out, chuckling along with the two beta shifters behind him. Fox was currently the Alpha Liaison, the one alpha among all the different shifters in Artemis that’d been elected to represent them in any government dealings. Everything said here would be relayed to the other pack alphas, any decisions regarding this meeting put to a vote.
“Yeah, like you haven’t had any mate claimingincidentsthat needed cleaning up,” Dante replied, shaking his head.
While shifters had been known to get into trouble, they prioritized their pack mentality and the good of the community, honoring traditions above all else. They also hadn’t gotten mixed up with any illegal dealings involving mortals, which was more than I could say about Vivaldi.
“Look, bickering will get us nowhere,” Lynx offered, and the other leaders all snapped their attention to the empath. They weren’t used to hearing from anyone aside from the meeting’s government representative—me, their Archon. But I didn’t stop him. He was right.
“Have any of your designated areas had issues with people just moving away? Leaving as if overnight?” I asked, gaze trailing over each of them to see if they reacted.
“No,” Vivaldi and Fox muttered almost in unison.
“Neither have we,” chimed in Niklas Morningstar, the great-great-great-whatever of the original King of Hell. When our government built these pocket districts of safety for supernaturals, angels and demons alike spilled from the mouth of Hell and swooped down from the heavens to live among our people. But Heaven was much too important to deal with the world below them, so Niklas was always sent to represent them both.
Apparently this seemed to only be a coven issue, not widespread. Which at least narrowed things a bit. “So why the change of heart to finally agree to meet with us?”
“If you’re willing to ask repeatedly, that means it’s a big problem. And if it’s a big problem, then you must be desperate.” Dante smiled, fully displaying his fangs.
“We’re here because he told us to be,” Fox said, Niklas agreeing alongside him.
“You all have motive to mess with our community. If you don’t want us looking too closely into your activities”—I glanced over to Dante—“or implementing more regulations over your packs”—then Fox—“or sending you back where you came from”—then Niklas—“I suggest you work with us on this.”
Vivaldi released an annoyed huff, refusing to admit we had a card to play. “I’m not gonna say I’m sad that some witches decided they don’t loveyourlittle haven and decided to move overnight. Doesn’t impact my kind.”
“They didn’t justdecide. There’s no forwarding address, no discussion with neighbors about being unhappy or having any reason to leave. Just whole householdsgone.”
At that, they all leaned in.
“Same houses or different ones?” Niklas asked, thumbing over the swirls carved into the skin of his jaw. They curved down his neck, and then down one arm. At first, most didn’t notice them—they were very shallow—but once you did, it was hard to take your eyes off them. Aside from that and his hot-pink irises, he could pass for mortal, not that he’d ever need to. Any mortal that dealt with him wouldn’t remember anything about his appearance—at least not until he came to collect. “Could be an old-fashioned haunting?”
“Our pest control team has combed the houses for any sort of ghostly activity,” I replied. “Nothing.”
He frowned at that but continued stroking his swirls, mulling over the information.
“There is no discernible pattern.” I pointed to the map of Celestial Haven, marked with orbs for each disappearance minus Hazel’s. While her case we believe was somehow related, it didn’t fit the pattern. Besides, I didn’t need a bullseye for these fuckers showcasing where Oakley and Aspen were. “This has been going on for a few years now, slower at first but has been getting more frequent. That’s when we were tipped off that there was something to look into.”
“By whom?”
“Well, we weren’t sure at first, but suspect it was a witch doing her own research into the matter.”
“Oh yeah, that Ashley Mirabel?” Fox asked. “The one in the paper?”
“Acacia,” I corrected. “And yes, that one. We’ve been slowly getting through the files she’d been keeping, but they are extensive.”
“Even if this isn’t your problem, until we know the cause, you are part of this community and it could be a problem for you down the road. If they are increasing their pace with targets, what will make them stop with our streets?” Lynx added in, going for the emotional appeal. While it wasn’t the tactic I’d go for, or I suspected Saros would choose, I couldn’t help but admire it. It was easy to understand what Oakley saw in the empath, even if it made me want to throttle him a bit.
“What do you want us to do?” Niklas asked, looking down at his watch with a yawn.
“Have your demons been making any more deals than usual? Or anything that could ripple out into these disappearances?”
“I’ll meet with our Seven and comb through the books,” Hell’s King replied.
“Thank you, that would be a huge help.” Before I’d even finished the sentence, he’d disappeared in a hot-pink puff of smoke.
