“We don’t mention that name, Elieanora.” Words so steady, they were steel. “Do you understand?”
Elena turned this time. “Yes.” If he wanted to forget the monster, she couldn’t blame him. What she could blame him for was that he’d forgotten his daughters, his wife, as wel . “Evelyn needs to be trained as fast as possible. Her skil s wil provide a defense against attack.” Pausing, she went to thrust a hand through her hair before remembering she’d braided it. “Amy should also be tutored in basic self-defense.”
“Because you’ve made them targets.”
She flinched, but didn’t back down. “They’re your daughters, Jeffrey,” she whispered, hitting back because that was what she did with Jeffrey. That was their endless cycle of pain and recrimination. “Unless you’ve turned over a new leaf, there’s more than one competitor out there who’d love to get his hands on your child.”
Jeffrey opened his mouth, closed it without speaking. A moment later, Evelyn squeezed past her father. She didn’t get far before Jeffrey’s hand came down on her shoulder. “Evelyn.”
The ten-year-old, her eyes an echo of the man who towered above her, lifted up her face. “Yes, Father?”
“Remember who you are. A Deveraux.” A stern reminder.
Elena wanted to say that there was no question about the fact that Eve damn wel was a true Deveraux—since hunting seemed to run in the blood—but restrained herself in the face of the anxiety the girl was trying so hard to mask. “Come on, Eve,” she said instead. “Let’s talk.”
Raphael met Jason in the skies above Staten Island, the cloud layer a thick white foam below them. “I thought you’d left the country.” His spymaster was meant to be on the way to Europe.
“I had an unexpected meeting come up.” Jason didn’t explain further, and Raphael didn’t ask. Jason would have been no good to him as a spymaster if he didn’t think for himself—like the others in the Seven, the male served Raphael not out of obligation, but out of choice.
“I returned to the Tower before dawn this morning to pick up something,” Jason continued. “It is as wel —I can confirm the name of the one who murdered your man last night. She cal s herself Bel adonna, though she has also used the name Oleander Graves.”
That name was no surprise. Neither was the gender of the kil er—female vampires bore the same bloodlust as males—but the speed with which Jason had tracked her down was. “How did you find her?”
Jason braced his wings against the push of the wind. “Elena wil be able to verify from the scent, but Neha’s assassin is not as clever as she believes.
She said some indiscreet things to the dancers at Erotique that made it child’s play to tie the murder to her.”
Raphael raised an eyebrow. “I did not know you patronized Erotique, Jason.” The club of choice for the more high-ranked vampires, its dancers and hostesses were considered to be both accomplished and sophisticated.
“Il ium,” Jason said in short explanation. “He spent some time there after helping Venom take care of the scene. When he saw me come in this morning, he asked if I could corroborate his suspicions using my contacts—I was also able to pinpoint her current residence.” He named the apartment building and number.
Making a mental note of it, Raphael put aside the matter of Neha’s pet vampire for the present. The assassin would be uncomplicated enough to dispatch now that she’d been located. “Tel me about Il ium.” The visit to Erotique could’ve been nothing, a diversion to take his mind off the upcoming visit by the Hummingbird, but given the blue-winged angel’s fascination with mortals, it could augur something far more dangerous.
“There is no need for concern,” Jason said at once. “Galen would’ve warned us if there was.”
Raphael agreed on that point. The two angels were fast friends and had been for centuries. “And you, Jason? Who wil warn me about you?”
14
His spymaster turned so that his tattoo fell in direct sunlight, striking and speaking of a dedication beyond pain. “I wil , Sire. Then you wil execute me as you promised when I became one of your Seven.”
Raphael met Jason’s eyes. “The promise was made and wil be kept if necessary, but I prefer you alive. You’re the best spymaster in the Cadre.”
Jason’s lips curved in the faintest of smiles, a rare sight. “They’ve al tried to recruit me—Charisemnon and Favashi in particular.”
“I would expect nothing else.” But he knew Jason would not betray him. The black-winged angel had sworn al egiance to Raphael on a field carpeted with a wash of blood. None of it had been Jason’s. But his blade had run slick with it. The next target would’ve been his own body if Raphael hadn’t stepped in.
Bonds forged in such black fire didn’t easily break.