Page 32 of Curse of Ancients

Harlow’s fingers flew across her keyboard as she spoke. “Dominic and crew are in place. That’s the good news. The bad is that a man and a woman showed up not long after. When Dominic asked why they were on private property, they made an excuse about being lost. Dominic grabbed the man, but before he could question him, he pressed his fingers against his temple, chanted a few words, and basically evaporated into black smoke. Rasmus caught the female and kept her from doing the same thing, but she isn’t talking, mainly because they gagged her. With Dominic’s females being witches, he is aware of how incantations work. He called Lilly for suggestions on how to handle the woman, and she’s going to have Nekoma poof her to the safehouse.”

“Dammit! That means…” Carleigh didn’t want to tell Bayu that Gemi was most likely dead too. Lydia had sent an email with the names of a handful of Gargoyles in Asia, but now it looked like their help wouldn’t be needed.

“Yeah. It also means these fuckers are even closer to Bayu than we originally thought. Hopefully, Nekoma and Lilly will be able to get the woman to talk before she can evaporate. I ran the license plate, so I have a name and address. The woman didn’t have a purse in the vehicle, so we don’t know her name, nor do we know the man’s since he’s vapor, but I did a search on Zion Earth, and the address the license plate is linked to is some sort of compound. There is one main house with a bunch of smaller cabins along with a barn and some sheds dotting the area around it. I just sent the address in an encrypted email to you and Uncle Julian.”

“So basically, the Black Lotus is a cult.”

“It would seem that way. One made up of magic users who have crazy fucking abilities. I’ll keep you posted once Lilly and Nekoma arrive and see what’s what. I had Dom take the woman inside the house and set her up in the living room. That safehouse is wired for sound, so you and Bayu can watch and listen if you want to.”

“Thanks, Low.”

“You can thank me by sending a video of Juni. I’m missing out on all the cuteness.”

Carleigh walked to the back door and stared out at the pool. “You really are. I never envisioned having a toddler in my life, but now I can’t imagine life without him or Bayu. We hear everyone’s story of meeting their mate and how special it is, but I’m telling you, Low, until you experience it for yourself, you can’t truly grasp how magical it is.”

“I pray every day that my mate turns out to be the most boring human alive.”

“Aaaand you just jinxed yourself.”

“Probably. Speaking of boring humans, I need to respond to an email from a potential client. I’ll call you back in a bit.”

“Talk soon.” Carleigh disconnected and braced herself. Bayu had entered the kitchen soon after she answered Harlow’s call.

“It’s not good, is it?”

In losing his connection to his animal, Bayu had lost the ability to eavesdrop from a different room. Carleigh turned away from the window and approached her mate. “I’m afraid not.” She recounted her call with her cousin, knowing everyone in the living room other than Elle would have already heard her side of the conversation. Kat was in the office with Julian, and he would relay what was said.

“Until we know for certain, we shouldn’t lose hope that your aunt is still alive. If they’re smart, they won’t do anything rash until they get what they want.”

“And that’s me.”

Carleigh stepped into Bayu’s space, pressing her palm to his cheek. “True, but they can’t have you. You are mine, and nobody is going to take you away from me.”

Bayu dropped his forehead to hers. “They’ve already proven they’ll kill to get more power.”

“Yes, but your father didn’t have a Clan at his back. Right?”

“Correct. It was just our small family. My father’s mother passed away soon after his father did. My mother’s parents are in Japan, if they’re still alive, but they’re human.”

“Do you think Gemi contacted them and let them know about your mom?”

“I doubt it. She was focused on finding Kiki, and now…” Bayu squeezed Carleigh’s hips before stepping back. “It will be up to me to contact them, but I cannot do that until I know it is safe to do so. When I was helping Julian, I noticed some numbers that I believe are my father’s bank account information. If so, I don’t want the Black Lotus to get their hands on it to further their cause.”

“Let’s take a look.” Carleigh threaded their fingers and led Bayu to the office. “Tag, I’m it. I need the computer, and you need to take a break,” she told her dad.

Julian tapped the keys a few times, then stood. “It’s all yours.”

Carleigh took the seat and brought up the scanned pages. “Do you recall where in the journal they were?”

“Sorry, no. If you need me to scroll through them, I will.”

“Do you remember any of the numbers?”

“Yes.” Bayu told her the few digits he remembered, and she typed them into the search field.

“There they are.” Carleigh copied both sets and pasted them into a new document. Working with banking information often, she recognized the first series as the routing number. It took several minutes to get into his account since she didn’t have his login information, but when she did? “Uh, Bayu?” Carleigh sat back in the chair, pointing at the monitor.

Bayu leaned over her shoulder. “That can’t be right. There’s no way my father had that much money.”