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“Would you like to continue our swim?” There’s no missing the heated suggestion in that seemingly innocent question.
My nerves tingle, and my heart pounds like a distant army thundering down a mountain.
“Not now.” Right now, I have to find some Bellua boys and get it through their thick skulls that just because I’m here on the same job doesn’t mean they get to chase me around the hotel like I’m a wallet they misplaced.“But I hope to see you around again, art historian Levi.”
“It will be my pleasure, Lily Dean.”
I’m grinning like an idiot as I get back into the elevator in my sodden underwear, clutching my favorite knife. At least something about this job is proving interesting.
While the elevator clatters up the ancient shaft, I reach into my purse, pull out the large stone, and wave my hand over it, uttering the incantation to activate my security net. The stone grows hot in my palm. At first, the heat is lovely on my wet skin, but then it becomes burning. I yelp and drop it.
It’s not supposed to be that hot.
I stare down at the stone. It wasn’t just hot to the touch. It’s glowing with an eerie blue light.
That’s not supposed to happen, either. Becka said that if the poltergeist is in the area, it will glow orange. She never said what to do if it glows blue.
I think back to Levi, to those beautiful, creepy tattoos on his body. I think about that deep voice vibrating through my body, and something terrifying occurs to me.
He called me Lily Dean.
I never told him my last name. I’msureI didn’t.
So how did he know it?
7
SEVEN: ORION
While Jackson is off chasing down Lily, I get to work setting up our equipment around the honeymoon suite. I carefully set up our own infrared cameras and monitors. Brooks won’t trust Lily’s equipment, even though we now know she’s the Shadow, which means that she knows what the fuck she’s doing.
Instead, he rips one of her infrared devices from the wall and rubs at the symbols scrawled on it. His jaw works. With a yell, he hurls it at the wall.
I cringe as it dents the plaster and bounces on the floor. We’ll have to pay to fix that hole, and we won’t exactly have a lot left after we pay this insane hotel bill. I pick up the infrared.
“Cut that open,” Brooks snaps. “Figure out what the fuck all those crystals and symbols do. I don’t want any surprises.”
I set the camera down on the desk with trembling fingers. “Well, too late, because this stock-standard job is turning out to be nothing but surprises. Brooks, this is Lily we’re talking about.OurLily. She’s not going to do anything to hurt us—”
“Grow up, Orion. She’s not our Lily anymore. She’s hunting monsters, and she never bothered to tell us.”
We’re not exactly easy to track down,I want to say but wisely choose not to.
We very deliberately made sure that Lily couldn’t find us after prom. We thought it was the right thing to do. We thought we were keeping her safe.
But then why is she here? Why isn’t she at college?
I don’t want to believe that Brooks is right, but perhaps his words hold some semblance of truth. After all, the striking bombshell we’re working with now is completely different from the frightened teenager we left behind. I’m not sure who this new Lily Dean is, but I’m suddenly desperate to get to know her.
Ignoring Brooks’s request for now, I busy myself scrawling protective symbols on the walls. If Lily’s sleeping in this room tonight, I have to make sure that poltergeist can’t hurt her. I’ll rub them off in the morning, before housekeeping comes.
These symbols are completely different from the ones Lily uses. Ours have been passed down through generations of monster hunters. Supposedly, these particular symbols have been gifted to our ancestors hundreds of years ago by the angels or some shit. They’re for people who aren’t magical or supernatural to use.
But Lily’s? They hold the distinct markings of the supernatural. Of…witchcraft. Magic.
Which is illegal for hunters to use, according to the Vault’s bylaws. Using magic like that without knowing how to control it can accidentally blow up a building or turn an entire suburb into tree frogs.
Brooks regards me from the bed as I move around the room. “Go on, brother. Say what’s on your mind.”
