Page 61 of Warrior Unraveled

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Following the guardians into the command center, Wes tossed his backpack on the floor next to the door and looked around the room. Pearce and Aiden were both working on computers on the console. Logan lounged on a chair nearby. Now all three turned their heads.

“Hey, you’re back,” Aiden said. “How did it go?”

“Where’s Virginia?” Wes asked.

“She left the compound a while ago,” Pearce said.

“Alone?”

Pearce shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Where to?” Was his heart beating a little bit faster at the thought that Virginia had left the security of the compound without taking anybody for protection?

Pearce jabbed Aiden in the side, grinning. “Looks like our friend here is a little concerned about the new council member.”

“Don’t worry, Wes,” Aiden said calmly. “She can take care of herself.”

“With all that’s happening, you let her leave on her own?” Wes wanted to punch somebody for that stupidity.

“It’s not like she would have listened to us anyway,” Pearce threw in. “Besides, she transported directly to another compound. The demons have no way of tracing her.”

“Hmm,” Wesley grunted with displeasure, though that knowledge was reassuring.

A beep from the computer made Pearce turn back to the monitor. “She’s back.”

Logan rose. “What was that?”

“The beep?” Pearce asked.

“Yeah.”

“I installed a motion detector near the portal as an extra level of security,” Pearce said. “Just in case another witch is even cleverer than Wesley and figures out how to travel through our portal without triggering the intruder alarm. This way, we’ll get alerted to any motion down there, even if it’s one of us.”

“Good idea,” Logan said. “Let’s wait till she gets here and I’ll update everybody on what I found out at the morgue and the police station.”

Everybody nodded. A minute later, the command center’s door opened, and Virginia stepped in. Wes felt a breath leave his chest, relieved that nothing had happened to her. Damn, why was he so concerned about her wellbeing? He knew she was infinitely stronger than him and therefore shouldn’t have to worry that she couldn’t take care of herself. But he’d also seen how strong the demons were, and Virginia’s powers weren’t limitless, particularly not if she was trapped in a lead cell.

“Hey,” Virginia said. Her gaze traveled over the assembled guardians and then landed on Wes. She said nothing to him directly, but the fact that she did lock eyes with him for a brief second made him feel better instantly.

“Good, you’re back,” Logan said. “I was just about to fill everybody in.”

“We have news, too,” Hamish said.

“Same here,” Virginia said, then addressed Logan. “You were at the morgue? What did you find?”

“I looked at Faldo’s body in the morgue,” Logan started. “He was bludgeoned to death. There’s no evidence of him having been tortured before his death. He was hit with a heavy object. Which is consistent with the evidence the police picked up from the house.”

“Which is?” Hamish asked.

“A bloody paperweight. Looks like the killer grabbed it from the desk in his study.”

Wes nodded to himself. “So the killer didn’t bring a weapon to kill Faldo.”

Logan met his gaze. “Looks like it. So maybe this wasn’t premeditated. Maybe something went wrong. An argument got heated. Things got out of hand.”

“That would make sense, since we didn’t find any sign of a break-in,” Wes said and motioned to Hamish, Manus, and Enya. “We checked everywhere. He might have let his killer in.”