I found it odd that she hadn’t sensed me before I’d come inside. I was getting better at cloaking my energy. Good to know. If Lilah couldn’t detect me, would Shya? I’d have to find out.
Lilah was a demon, one I didn’t know nearly enough about. All I did know was that she was some kind of big bad in the underworld. Or, she had been. A curse held her trapped in a corporeal form, a vampire. Her demon power was limited, but it was still deadly. I’d seen her vanquish other demons with merely a word.
“It could be worse.” I shrugged. “You?”
“Ditto.”
“I just came in to get the rest of my things since I’m not spending much time here anymore.” I headed down the hall to my office, aware of her silent steps behind me. A chill crept up my spine. I resisted the urge to turn around.
“Falon told me what happened last night. Close call.” Lilah hung back in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Her long copper colored hair fell in waves over her shoulders. Dressed all in black, her hair looked more like fire than usual.
I opened a desk drawer and started pulling out pens and notepads. “Not close enough for whoever was asinine enough to take that shot.”
“They don’t know who they’re messing with.” Lilah flashed me an encouraging smile.
“So I take it you haven’t heard anything about who it may be?” I was acutely aware of her pale orange eyes on me as I tossed small desk items into my shoulder bag.
She paused, considering my question. “I have heard there’s a werewolf asking a lot of questions about you.”
I dropped my gaze to the desk drawer as I scooped out office supplies. What could Lilah possibly know about Juliet? “So I’ve heard.”
“Let me know if you need any help tracking her down. I’ve got eyes and ears all over this city.” Her expression was stone cold. Her smile had vanished.
“Thank you. I appreciate that.” I had no intention of letting on that I was way ahead of her. If she didn’t know it was my sister, I wasn’t about to enlighten her. I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more she wanted to say. I was curious but not enough to prod her.
I gathered up the knickknacks scattered about on the desk: a small stone wolf statue, a magic eight ball that had been a gag gift from Kale and a shiny green chunk of jade. Lena had given me the jade, along with many other crystals and charms over the years. I rubbed a finger over its smooth surface before dropping it into my bag.
I made sure to grab all personal effects from the room. Even the smallest bobby pin couldn’t be left behind. Demons could do very scary things with personal belongings.
It was going to be easy to leave the office behind. My place here had ended the moment I’d killed Veryl. Things were changing. I was changing. Gone were the simple days when my biggest kill was a careless vampire or a twisted werewolf.
As I exited my office for what was likely the final time, Lilah moved to let me pass and took her last chance to spit out whatever was on her mind. “Hey, Alexa, when you came here that night to kill Veryl, did you take anything from his office?”
I froze. I had a split second to decide between a lie and the truth. “Yes. I grabbed some files from his computer.” The truth came out steady and strong. I had nothing to hide. The way I saw it, I had a right to any further information Veryl had stashed on me.
“Oh.” Relief flooded her features. It was gone before I could make sense of it. “That’s all? Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” Now my curiosity was piqued. “Is something missing that shouldn’t be?”
She shook her head quickly, her tight smile plastered back in place. “Not missing. Most likely hidden.”
A lot of things could be said about Veryl, but nobody could ever say that the bastard wasn’t clever. He knew his time was running out, and he’d planned ahead. What could he have hid that would have Lilah so worried?
“Would you like some help?” I asked, ignoring the text message alert that rang out from my bag.
“I’ve got this. But, thanks anyway. You should be kicking some vampire ass for info. I don’t want to keep you from that.” With a grin that didn’t quite reach her coppery eyes, Lilah turned to go. “Have a good night.”
I watched her disappear down the hall into Veryl’s old office. The door closed behind her, loud in the sudden quiet. I dug my phone out, finding a message from Jez with photos asking me which outfit looked better.
I sent her a fast reply though my mind was otherwise occupied. Whatever Veryl had hidden from Lilah, it had to be important. My curiosity was insatiable. I wanted to know what it was.
My cell phone rang in my hand, scaring the crap out of me with the theme from The Twilight Zone. Arys had obviously been messing with my phone again. It was better than last week’s Rick Astley song. Nothing like being rickrolled by a vampire. Real funny.
Shya’s fatally smooth voice greeted me. “Alexa, would you mind coming by tonight? I have something for you.”
“Is this something I actually want?”
“It’s something you need to see. If you don’t want it, you can walk away.”