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“Dare.” Malakai’s eyes were wide. “What’s Gaven going to do when he finds out one of his men disappeared from watch and is now dead?”
Darien took his phone out of his pocket, not caring that he was getting blood all over the screen as he found Finn’s number.
“Solace,” Finn answered.
“I’ve been helping you out,” Darien began, every word tense as he stared at the corpse slumped in the chair. “Now I need you to help me.”
“What happened?”
Darien briefed Finn on what was happening, saving most of the details for when he saw him in person.
When he was finished, Finn swore. “You didn’t check his mouth, Cassel? What are you, a newbie?”
“Don’t fucking talk to me like that! Of course we checked it, but he must’ve swallowed it before I knocked him out at the warehouse!” There must’ve been a delay on the poison, something in his bloodstream that had kept it from reacting quick enough to off himself before he gave away intel. Some Blood Potions were known to do such a thing, which was likely what’d happened here, and something Gaven one hundred percent had not been made aware of before hiring the guy.
“Okay, okay!” Finn was saying. “How do you want me to fix this?”
“Frame someone. Pick one of the worst criminals from your database and make it look like they were behind this.”
“Shit, Cassel—”
“Do it, Finn!” Darien barked. “Or I’m out.”
He swore again. “Alright, I’ll handle it. Where are you?”
“Can’t tell you that.” He wouldn’t drag the Butcher into this mess, not when he was already wanted by the MPU and every other form of law enforcement in the whole state of Witheredge. Casen was lucky he’d managed to evade them for this long, especially considering the location of the Umbra Forum was pretty widely known. Good luck didn’t last forever. “Meet me at Lonely Beach at quarter past three. Alone. Or I am killing anyone you bring, and you.”
—
Finn slammed the trunk shut, sealing the dead body inside it. He leaned against the car and crossed his beefy arms, teeth worrying his lower lip.
Only the two of them were here. Malakai had parted ways with Darien back at the Umbra Forum so he could take Jewels to her doctor’s appointment. Malakai hadn’t elaborated on her situation, and Darien hadn’t asked. He’d gleaned enough from the look on Malakai’s face to know his sister was losing her battle with the Tricking.
No one ever won against the Tricking.
Finn said, “This isn’t exactly how I’d hoped to spend my day.”
“You and me both.”
“What did you learn from him?”
Darien filled him in on everything the guy had revealed in the short time before the poison had spread through his system.
When he was finished, he jerked his chin at Finn. “Anything new with you?”
“Way more than I’d like.” His sigh was more like a growl. “More dead animals.”
“Where?”
“More in Hooded Skullcap. Edgemoore. The neighborhoods up by Dark Creek.” He paused. “And Ebonfield.”
Darien’s eyes flicked skyward as he pictured the city in his head, as if he were looking at a map. “Those are all near the Crossroads.”
“Sure are.” Finn nodded sharply. “It’s not just dead animals either. People have been seeing doctors and Healers for some new illness that’s making them severely fatigued. And when I looked into the medical records, I found that all these people—every single one—live in one of those areas in the city.”
Fucking hell.
“What did the doctors say? Anything?”
