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I left Lucas the same message I’d left Desmond, then turned my attention to the unconscious girl. We couldn’t leave her here unattended, not with Mayhew on the loose and obviously aware of where he could find her. I wanted to leave and make sure my friends were safe, but I had to protect the most vulnerable target first. Almost everyone I cared about was a supernatural creature of some kind, and though I didn’t think they could best a demon in a fight, they would be able to hold their own longer than a human.
Lucy may have been a were-ocelot, but right now she was just an injured girl who needed help. My help.
Genevieve’s cell was the next call I made.
“Hello?” If I didn’t know better, I’d have sworn I called a phone-sex operator by accident. Genevieve’s voice was a sultry, inviting purr.
“Genevieve, it’s Secret.”
“Lord.” Her breath whooshed out, and it took her a moment to regain her composure. “What’s happened? What did you find?”
“We’ve got her.”
She let out an excited cry, and when she spoke again her voice was thick with emotion. “Is she…is she okay?”
“She’s alive. She’s pretty badly hurt. Her feet are cut up, and it looks like a demon took a bite out of her.”
“Did you say a demon?”
“Long story.”
“Where are you?” The rustle of movement interrupted our conversation, and a door slammed on her end. She was on the move.
“We’re in Lucy’s dorm room. Holden carried her back here.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
I nodded and went to hang up the phone, then stopped. “Shit. Genevieve?”
“Mmm?”
“If you see me anywhere but in this room…run like hell. Understand?”
“Is that a threat?” She sounded more mystified than angry.
“No. It’s part of the long story.”
Genevieve didn’t care about my story as long as her niece was safe. She agreed not to trust me unless I was with Holden and hung up. Holden had wrapped Lucy in her twin duvet and added the one from her roommate’s bed as well. He crouched next to her and brushed an errant copper hair off her balmy forehead.
“What the hell happened down there, Secret?” he asked, but never took his attention off the girl.
“I think I pissed off a demon.”
“I believe you could piss off God himself. But that’s not what I mean.”
“I know. I wish I could explain it.” I gave him the brief rundown of my week, skipping over any werewolf-related drama and emphasizing the issues with Gabriel and Mayhew. I gave him more details about my previous evening under Mayhew’s spell.
“So he stole your memories, made you forget, then stole your appearance. Basically he wasn’t full of shit when he said he could take over your life.” If he was mad about Mayhew violating me, it didn’t show. “You need to call Sig. Now.”
Shit, he was right. Sig and the council hadn’t even been on my top-ten list of people I needed to warn about Mayhew, but Holden’s mind cut right through the warm-and-fuzzy stuff and went straight to business. If Mayhew got into the Tribunal’s lair and killed Sig and Juan Carlos, he could effectively destroy the entire vampire political structure.
And the council would never believe I was innocent.
I picked up my phone again to dial Sig’s number, but it began to ring before I got the chance. The boppy eighties pop song felt out of place in the somber atmosphere of the room. Next time I picked a ringtone, it was going to have to fit my lifestyle a bit better. Nine Inch Nails, maybe. Or some Alkaline Trio.
Mercedes’s number was flashing on the caller ID screen.
“Cedes, hey, can I call—”
