Max said, “I wouldn’t say we run with them. But enough has changed in the past little while that we’ve been…,” his eyes flicked to Darien, “stepping in for a good cause.”
Logan’s canine teeth glinted in the candlelight as he smiled. “Good cause or no, you and your Devils sure know how to keep things interesting, Cassel.”
“Indeed,” Darien drawled. “I want to ask you something while we’re here. Where was Chrysantha last seen before she went missing?” It was a thought he’d had; while Angelthene suffered from a high level of crime, he wondered if there was a chance that the abductions—both the abductees and the initial target all university students, which didn’t happen often—were linked. It might be a stretch, but he wasn’t about to rule it out.
Logan’s eyes were guarded. “You boys joining the law enforcement in their detective work or something?”
Darien hooked his thumb through a beltloop. “I’m just asking.”
There was a pause as Logan assessed them. “The last time I heard from Chrysantha, she was serving drinks at a dive bar on the southern end of the downtown core. A shithole called Puerta de la Muerta, on Red Water and Crystal Teeth.” Puerta de la Muerta—literallyDeath’s Door.
Darien’s eyes flicked skyward as he mapped out the two streets in his head; he knew this city like the back of his hand. “Dennis Boyd’s rat-infested hovel.”
Logan nodded. “What about this Sabrine girl? Where did she go missing?”
“Canopus Street,” Darien said. “Near the Avenue of the Scarlet Star.” On their way to the vigil, Loren had given him every detail she could remember from that night. Darien added, “But the Darkslayer and his henchman weren’t after Sabrine—they were after her friend.”
Logan narrowed his eyes. “She was taken by a Darkslayer? Which circle?”
“None we know of. Ever seen a hellseher with a tattoo of a phoenix head?”
Logan looked as confused as Darien felt. “Never.” He seemed to think of something, and then he smirked, his sharp canines glinting in the moonlight. “Randal must be just loving this.”
Darien didn’t say anything. As far as he knew, Randal had no clue about the wannabe Darkslayers working his soil, and he wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. The last thing he needed was the king of Angelthene’s Darkslayers poking his nose into this fucking mess.
Logan said, “Why’d they take Sabrine if it was her friend they were after?”
“According to Loren, they caught up to Sabrine first—before they could get to Loren. They held Sabrine at gunpoint as a last-ditch effort to get Loren in their car. Peace officers showed up, so they took Sabrine instead.” Darien had been listening carefully to the goings-on of the underworld for any indication that whoever had Sabrine in their clutches was looking to trade her for Loren. He suspected it would happen eventually, likely sooner rather than later, for they wouldn’t have taken Sabrine unless they’d had a plan to use her to get what they really wanted. The problem with that possibility was breaking the news to Loren. And it didn’t take a genius to conclude she wouldn’t take the news well.
“I’m guessing they’ve cloaked Chrysantha’s scent?” Max asked the wolf.
“Of course.” Logan’s lip curled. “But I won’t stop looking for her. Ican’tstop.” Darien understood how he felt. Had it been Ivyana who’d gone missing, Darien would’ve refused to rest until he brought her back home.
“I keep waiting for something to occur to me,” Logan murmured. “I’ve gone over that night again and again, but I can’t figure it out. Nothing unusual happened; it was just another normal night. And by morning, Chrys was gone.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Darien said. “Until then, we’ll let you know if we hear anything.”
Logan gave a stiff nod. “Likewise.” He rubbed at his nose and stared out at the dark horizon. “I’ll see you boys around.”
They now had another lead. But first on the list was Cain—and Cain was exactly who Darien would be going after tonight.
As soon as they dropped Loren off at Hell’s Gate and devised a plan, they would head into Stone’s End to start crossing suspects off their list, and possibly—hopefully—adding new ones. He could sense that they were getting warmer, though it wasn’t warm enough.
Darien disappeared into the crowd, Max on his heels. Leaving behind the werewolf that continued to stare at that empty horizon, as if it held the answer he was seeking, for a long, long while.
18
The sky had opened with rain by the time Darien reached the exit that led into Stone’s End.
It was almost Witching Hour, but he didn’t feel the least bit tired. He could thank adrenaline for that. Adrenaline and the red and blue lights oscillating at the roadblock up ahead.
Roadblocks were the norm at a place like Stone’s End. The city’s crime level was so high, there was a heavy presence of law enforcement everywhere a person went. But it peaked here in Cain’s neighbourhood, where turf wars were a nearly nightly affair, and there were locks on things that didn’t normally have locks on them—mailboxes, air conditioning units, vending machines.
Which was exactly why Darien didn’t bat an eye as he drove up to where the peace officers were waiting by their squad cars. The other Devils in the vehicle weren’t fazed either, though where she sat in the passenger seat beside him, Lace shifted with what Darien knew was annoyance.
“Say one word,” Darien warned her in a lethally quiet voice as he slowed the car to a crawl, “and you’ll be walking home.” Max and Jack snickered in the backseat.
But everyone grew quiet and serious as Darien lowered his window.
