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“Then how did you know Typheus Alexander lived?” Preta pressed.
“I once visited the containment wall, escorted by a contingent of loyal agents when they were removing some dissenters,” La Cora admitted. “That’s when I saw Agent Alexander still lived.”
“And did you talk to him?”
“No,” La Cora said. Not far away, I saw Kev’s weight shift from foot to foot, but the truth-seeker charm still didn’t burn the former chief director, so he wasn’t lying. He just wasn’t telling the whole truth.
“But he spoke to you,” Demetri insisted. I’d always appreciated how sharp Demetri was, though I’d sometimes wondered if he was really on my side.
“He told us to continue what we were doing,” La Cora said. “That’s it.” He hissed and dropped the truth-seeker charm, his hands shaking with the agony of being burned. I grinned and zoomed forward with my vampiric speed.
“Let me get that for you.” I scooped up the charm and shoved it at La Cora’s chest, then grabbed his wrist and forced him to hold it. “Why don’t you try that again?”
Weight shifted in my backpack, and I desperately hoped Tempest didn’t show herself.
“Vampire whore,” La Cora spat in my face, and my coven-mates were at my side in a flash.
“Say that again,” Nico growled.
Flames flickered in Hudson’s hands, and Jax said, “Threaten her again, and you’ll see what a real burn feels like.”
Looking completely unsurprised at the revelation that I’d been turned, Preta waved us off. I grudgingly took a couple steps back. The guys remained tense for an extra moment before falling back around me.
“Tell us again what the devil said to you,” Preta demanded.
“I wasn’t there,” Cyrene sniffed.
“He said…” La Cora’s voice shook as he stared down at the truth-seeker charm resting on his already-burning palms. “It’s difficult for me to remember exactly, but I believe he said that we could cooperate… That if we cooperated, he would spare us.”
“Is that all?” Preta demanded.
“He wanted us to keep offering sacrifices, and one day, he would consider bestowing the honor of being his host.” La Cora gulped, and I’d never heard his voice sound so uncertain.
“All right. That’s enough,” Preta barked, his voice radiating with authority. “We’ll continue their interrogation in a more official capacity and ensure we get every piece of information from these two we can.”
He motioned for some DHA agents to restrain the two of them. Cyrene and La Cora silently let them put magic-binding manacles around their wrists. They didn’t argue, try to cut a deal, or bluster.
“Escort them to their holding cells,” Preta told Circe and another lower-level director. “Make sure none of their loyalists try anything.”
With La Cora and Cyrene out of the way, Preta was the next ranking officer, and it seemed he’d overthrown his superiors peacefully. Somehow I doubted La Cora and Cyrene would go down that easily, though.
“Most agents must be loyal to them by now,” I said, my heart in my throat. “Or scared they’ll be the next to disappear.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Jax muttered.
“We’ll go with them,” Lan said, and to my surprise it was Nico who stepped forward with him to escort the two former directors to the cells they’d once imprisoned us in. I watched with suspicion as Kev and his coven-mates followed behind them.
“We’ll need statements from everyone in the Salvos and Wildes covens, so don’t go too far,” Demetri motioned to us.
“Last I heard, I’m not under your authority,” I grinned at my old boss.
“You’re reinstated,” Demetri said gruffly, staring at Preta as if daring him to disagree.
The new director of the DHA nodded. “Carmela Plata, I declare you an agent in good standing. I’ll expunge your banishment, which means we owe you back pay. Nimue Wildes, you no longer need to supervise her. Salvos coven, I also reinstate your cross-departmental unit.” He faced me. “We’ll discuss your next mission soon, but you have the thanks of the DHA for your work thus far in freeing Charlotte from the clutches of the infernal realm.” He leveled us with a stern look. “Don’t cross the new threshold again without our go-ahead.”
New threshold? My ears perked up at that, but there was one more thing my vampire coven-mates couldn’t let slide. I clutched the straps of my backpack tighter as Hudson stepped forward.
“And the vampires you’ve been rounding up?” he called. “During Lughnasa, it was agreed that—”
