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“You can say that again.” I gestured around at everybody. “Pax said that we got some information on the house. Must be big news.”
“Very big,” Dev said and kissed Hanlen on the temple as he moved to the other side of the big table to grab some cheese from the charcuterie board someone had set out. “Grab something to eat and drink if you’re hungry or thirsty and let’s settle in. This may take us a minute and we need to discuss what’s going to happen at Lamour tonight, too.”
Pax and I did as Dev asked. Once everyone was sufficiently settled, Hanlen got up and stood in front of us.
“Okay, so . . .” she began. “I got some information, Padre got some intel, and Harper uncovered some things. What we’ve discovered since is that they’re all related.” She looked at Pax and Harper; both of them nodded, and then she looked at me. I wasn’t sure why she was looking at me, but when Pax moved closer and slung his arm around the back of the couch and across my shoulders, that funny feeling in my gut turned sour.
“Okay, guys. What the hell is this all about? You’re all acting like the other shoe is about to drop and fall right onmyhead, and I’ve kinda had enough lately.” I crossed my arms and raised a brow.
“Sky . . .” Hanlen started. “Padre told us about what you found out regarding your parents.” She looked around at everyone. “Dev filled everybody in on that bit before you guys arrived. We’re so sorry.”
“Oh, is that all? It’s fine. Really. They’re still my parents, and I actually understand why they didn’t tell me. I’m not having an identity crisis or anything. Sure, I need to unpack it a bit and decide whether I want to know more, but it’s really all good.”
Hanlen nodded and shared a glance with Dev and then peeked at Pax. “Well,doyou want to know more?”
“You make it sound like you can tell me more.”
She smoothed her ponytail and propped her hip on the arm of the oversized outdoor chair, taking a half seat. Then, she just looked me in the eyes and nodded. “I’m not sure who should start with this story,” she began again. “Padre, do you think it’d be better for you to tell your bit, for me to tell mine—which I haven’t even toldyouyet—or for Harper to share her news?”
Pax rubbed my shoulder and I felt myself relax, though marginally. “I might as well go. I can bring everyone up to your piece, at least.”
He then proceeded to tell everybody about Father Duncan McLeod and his grandfather and how he’d just found out that his granddad was the priest at the center of the Moon Call Coven massacre. We all just stared in shock. I looked around the courtyard and saw everybody—all those who didn’t already know—with the same looks on their faces. Once he’d finished, he looked back at Hanlen and then at Harper, seeming to ask the silent question of who wanted to go next.
So . . . Pax’sgrandfatherwas the one there that night? Now I knew why he’d looked so familiar in that picture on Pax’s wall. I’d seen him in Harper’s paperwork.
“I think maybe I should go next,” Harper said, and we all turned to her. “So, I was doing some more digging into the estate’s history, specifically related to the dark coven. Burke gave Dev some leads for me to follow up on, and it led me to something huge.” She stopped and looked around at all of us.
“I found and talked to a member of the Moon Call Coven—well, anex-member—who didn’t die on that fateful October night. Back then, her name was Shelly Masterson. Now, she goes by Michelle Higgins. She was one of the youngest members of the coven but was able to get away from them before they got their hooks in too deep.” She reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a folder, flipping it open on her lap and leafing through the sheets of paper.
“That fits with what Duncan told me, too,” Pax said.
“She actually left the compound in March of that year and went into hiding, recording everything she could remember about her time with them at Lamour and what they had been doing and planned to do. Seems their leader, a”—she peeked down at the papers again—“Lance Palilonis, was into a whole lot of sacrificial murder. And he preferred it to be personal.” She looked up at all of us again.
“As we know, there were upwards of eighteen people living there at one point. Most times, it was thirteen, the perfect number for a coven. But here’s the kicker. Lance liked his witches a little too much. He had relationships going with a bunch of them and sired several children.”
“But we didn’t find any record of children,” Dakota said, and Harper looked at her, the look on her face indicative of what I knew was about to come next.
“Exactly,” she said. “And do you want to know why? Because Lance thought that sacrificing infants and children—hischildren—would earn him favor with the dark one they worshipped. None of them lived past the age of two.”
“Motherfucking asshole,” Aaron said and slammed a fist into his opposite palm. “If the fucker weren’t already dead, I’d want to take him out.”
“You and me both, brother,” James said and held out a fist for a bump.
“Well, that explains the sorrow and pain I felt in that house,” Birdie said, and all the other sensitives in the group nodded. “And you guys may get your chance,”—she looked at Aaron and James—“because I am going to send the asshole to the abyss for good. Iknowhe was one of the presences we felt at Lamour.”
Harper nodded. “Michelle told me that the coven had a rite and ritual planned for the night of the blood moon, which was”—she checked her paperwork again—“October 7th. They were supposed to sacrifice the newest infant. Another of Lance’s offspring. A baby girl.”
Everybody gasped, even me. But then it hit me. “Wait,” I said. “Didn’t the massacre happen on October 8th?”
“It did,” Harper confirmed. “The police arrived sometime after four a.m. on the morning of the eighth to find everybody in the house dead, and the back of the mansion smoldering.” She looked at Hanlen. “Do you want to pick it up here?”
“Yeah, sure,” Hanlen said and stood again, starting to pace. “I was looking into something related but slightly different. Sky asked me to help Harper look into theapplereference and the nameSeikothat came up, and Padre asked me to dig deeper into your past, Sky.”
My breath caught. I looked at her and then at Paxton, finding his gaze intent on mine. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have asked for your permission, but I had just found out about everything with my grandfather, and I had a hunch.”
I wanted to be upset at him for not talking tomeabout it first, but I knew this hadn’t come from a place of malice. He was only trying to piece things together, likely for my benefit. “It’s okay,” I said and saw the relief pass over his face. I turned back to Hanlen. “So?” I asked.
“So . . .” she started, smoothing her ponytail again before pacing some more. “When I accessed the databases I use for Arbor Investigations, I came up with something that I think both explains everything and opens up a whole new can of worms.” She looked at me.
