Knight shook his head and hooked a thumb at Pellini. “Nothing this ugly sack can’t handle.”
“Kara, I’ll be back in a few,” Pellini said. He pulled himself out of the booth and headed toward the door with Knight following, leaving me to stare after them in disbelief. Why on earth would Pellini jump to do Knight’s bidding when he distrusted the man so much?
Knight slowed and stopped, then he pivoted back to me. “Twelve,” he murmured, eyes unfocused. “The twelfth is a radical game changer.” He drew a deep breath and took a step closer. “Spawned of fierce cunning. Beauty and power exemplified. Beware the twelfth.”
Time stopped as the echoes of his words reverberated in the air. In the next heartbeat he staggered and blinked, shattering the moment. His face paled as he met my eyes, then he muttered an apology and hurried after Pellini.
The lunchtime din of the restaurant rushed back in his wake. My heart pounded as I pulled my notepad out of my bag and wrote the words exactly as he’d said. The small of my back tingled as I reread the seemingly prophetic warning, and I had a feeling I knew exactly what “twelfth” he’d referred to.
Whether by design or dumb luck, I’d spent my first decade as a demon summoner na?ve in my worldview and ignorant of the machinations of the demonic lords. The last couple of years had changed all of that. I now sported eleven complex and hideously beautiful scars—sigils carved into my torso by the demonic lord Rhyzkahl during a failed ritual intended to strip my identity and make me his tool. Only a few weeks past, Ryan—a.k.a. Lord Szerain—completed and activated the twelfth sigil in a risky bid to save me from being enslaved by Rhyzkahl.
But was that his only purpose? Knight’s warning rekindled simmering doubts, and the sigil pulsed warm on my skin as though it knew my thoughts. With a shudder I dragged my attention back to the immediate issue: my freaking picture at a murder.
I tweaked the faded green curtain aside to peer out at the back parking lot. Beyond it, sun shimmered off Lake Pearl, silhouetting the two men in deep conversation while also making it annoyingly impossible to read facial expressions. Then again, Knight’s arrival gave me the perfect opportunity to give the other photographs a more careful perusal. To my relief, other than the one with me in it, I didn’t see anything damning to me or my posse.
Casually, I flipped open the folder Pellini had left on the table. More photos. Five pictures of the ravaged plantation, likely taken by Pellini when he visited.
A copy of Jerry Steiner’s driver’s license. I bared my teeth in automatic response at the sight of the hard-faced man. Steiner was the sadistic piece of shit who’d done wet work for Farouche and liked it.
A photo of Leo Carter, Farouche’s head of plantation security. I didn’t know much about him, but he’d obviously piqued Pellini’s interest.
And finally, several photos of the eighteen wheeler where the body of Amber Palatino Gavin had been dumped. The sister of fellow summoner Idris Palatino, she’d been raped, tortured and murdered to create an arcane trap for me. I glanced back at the driver’s license with unmasked venom. Jerry Steiner had been one of her attackers.
The waitress approached with a pitcher of tea, and I quickly closed the folder before she could see the contents. I spotted Knight leaning against his car and puffing on a cigarette. A second later Pellini came back inside and returned to the table, but didn’t sit.
“Everything cool?” I asked.
“Something came up,” he said tersely, then gathered the photos and stuffed them into the folder. “I’ve got to go, but I want to head out to the plantation with you tomorrow,” he continued, snatching up his briefcase. “I’ll call.”
“No problem,” I replied, acting nonchalant and not at all completely perplexed.
Pellini fumbled a ten from his wallet and dropped it on the table. “If that doesn’t cover it, you’re shit out of luck.” With that he hurried out.
At least that hadn’t changed. Pellini still knew how to act like a dick. I peered out the window again and watched the two men get into their cars. A few seconds later Knight pulled out with Pellini following right behind him.
What. The. Fuck.
Chapter 2