AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, that’s something.” She came up beside me and flicked one of the crumpled chip bags on the desk into the garbage can near the opposite chair.
“The mess is Damon’s,” I felt the need to say. “He managed to spend about half an hour looking through the records, which I think is about as long as he’s capable of sitting in one place. He just went to grab us some takeout for dinner.”
Rose frowned. “I’m sure if I ask one of the officials, they’ll arrange a meal.”
“I don’t think any of us want to rely on your Assembly all that much,” I said. “Someonehere was authorizing the murders of witches who got too friendly with unsparked guys—someone had to be in the know about the real reason they were sending those enforcers after us before.” They needed Rose right now, but I wasn’t sure how much they thought they needed the rest of us.
“You don’t think that person was swept up in the arrests they made?” Rose said.
I motioned to the computer screen. “There are some references to assistance, but no names given. I haven’t seen anyone named who’d have that much authority in the Justice division of the Assembly, as far as I can tell.”
Rose sighed and draped her arm across my shoulder. I leaned into her embrace, closing my eyes against the glow of the computer screen for a moment. Her lips brushed my forehead.
“I guess that’s something for us to worry about when we don’t have a demon on the loose. Have you gotten any sleep? It’s been a long couple days.”
“I got those few hours in the limo last night,” I said. “What about you? You’ve been running around all day—you went out and faced that thing.”
“It’s not really ‘facing’ it when you stay a quarter mile away,” Rose muttered. “But hopefully we can really take it on soon and this will all be over.”
I tugged her into my lap and took a deep breath of her sweet scent. She relaxed into me for a moment, resting her head on my shoulder.
“That’ll be nice,” I said. “When it’s over, I mean. Everything’s out in the open now, right? We can just… be consorts, without having to worry about keeping secrets.”
“Yeah,” Rose said. “I mean, we’ll still have to be careful about how much we say to your families and everyone, not getting into the magical side of things… but yeah.” She pressed her face to the side of my neck. “I’m sorry you’ve all gotten dragged into yet another witching mess.”
“Hey.” I squeezed her tighter, reveling in the softness of this body that I knew held so much power. “I wouldn’t for a second take ‘regular’ life over getting to experience this. Sure, it’s kind of scary, but what other unsparked guy ever got to delve into the real supernatural like this? It’s fascinating to learn about when I’m not having to worry about my imminent death.”
If the Assembly would let me have access toalltheir records after this was done… Man, I couldn’t imagine all the crazy facts about magic and witching life I might be able to uncover.
“And it’s not like I’d stand back and leave the saving the world just to you when I can pitch in,” I added. “I live here too.”
Rose let out a faint snort, but I thought she relaxed a little more at the same time. Then, with a reluctant expression, she eased herself upright on my lap.
“I actually came over for more than just a check-in,” she said. “I managed to call together some of the main officials tonight so we can discuss our next steps. I think we need to talk to the members of the Frankfords’ faction that have been arrested, to see if any of them are still holding onto some of that demonic power. Our magic doesn’t seem to work so well against those things, but their own kind of power might.”
“That makes sense,” I said. “I’ve seen a couple of references in the files that make it sound like the guys who got the power put a little of it into keeping the portal sealed.”
“That’s exactly why I was hoping you’d come with me.” Rose gave me a quick kiss. “You’ve read more of the records than anyone else. If I need back-up to convince them, it’d be great to have you there.”
“Of course,” I said, my heart lifting. To actually do something with the pieces I’d been putting together would be a welcome change. And if it proved to the Assembly that Rose hadn’t been wrong to bring us into their community, all the better.
I grabbed the phone I’d been taking my notes on and went with Rose down the hall to the same meeting room where we’d spoken with the officials very early this morning.
A smaller group had gathered this time. Only Lady Northcott, not her husband as well, sat at the head of the table. Gwen Remington, Justin Brimsey, and the woman who’d spoken out against me and the other guys being there at all this morning had taken spots around the table too. The last woman, Lady Townsend, I’d gathered was someone pretty high up in the Justice division, so I guessed we weren’t going forward with any plans without her approval any time soon. The investigator who’d helped Rose take down the Frankfords—Ruiz, I thought I’d heard—stood propped against the far wall.
It made me feel a little more sure on my feet just knowing the names of everyone in the room this time around.
“I didn’t think you’d gleaned much from your trip this afternoon,” Townsend said, looking as severe as ever as she glowered at Rose. “Have you made some kind of urgent discovery that we have to know about immediately? Or maybe you think one of your consorts has?” Her gaze slid to me, her tone as she said the wordconsortsturning acidic.
Rose didn’t bother sitting down. She stopped at the edge of the table and crossed her arms over her chest. “Not an urgent discovery but an urgent request. Seeing the demon up close out there only reinforced my understanding of how powerful it is. We’re going to need every edge we can get against it. And I think the best edge we have access to is to turn its own kind of power against it. The Assembly has taken all of the members of the Frankfords’ faction that you could locate into custody, haven’t you?”
“We have,” Lady Northcott said cautiously.
“I’d like permission to interview them,” Rose said. “And permission to use a truth compulsion spell to confirm whether they’re telling the truth about what powers they might still hold. Or else send an enforcer with me to do that part. We just need to know as soon as possible.”
“Now, hold on,” Townsend spoke up before anyone else could. She leaned her knobby elbows onto the tabletop. “This group of witching folk clearly broke laws, and they were playing with something they didn’t fully understand and should have known they couldn’t control. But I’m not convinced they were manipulating anyone so much as being manipulated themselves by those creatures. I’m definitely not convinced they got any real power from them—the kind of magic they could keep lit over all this time like a spark.”
“I witnessed it with my own eyes when Charles Frankford used some sort of magic-like power against Lady Hallowell,” Remington said. “He’d kept that energy inside him at least as long as it’d been since he’d last interacted with the fiends. He admitted that he and his allies drew power from the creatures.”
