know her, and I’m only just learning what sort of reputation she has with her own people. On top of that, let’s put some things together. Dian, the fae Warden, wasn’t here for this. Next, our two local noble fae were called back only a few days before I was asked to go. A breakout of this scale had to take months to plan, or it would have been impossible. Next, it was definitely an inside job. We know that Eliphas’ second in command took his eyes.”
“Really?”
“Kartane is his second, yes. Moving on, Tarak was killed. Now, I don’t know if Korey is part of this, but she sent us into the building, and that’s where we ran into Erline. Levi tried to kill me twice, and you once by proxy being in this car. I don’t know who we can trust right now, and I’m not taking any chances. If Cassius gets back to us, we tell him we’ve locked down and leave it at that. We won’t go to his house; we won’t be vulnerable around him. We don’t know who might be watching him or who he might think it’s safe to report to. I trust his loyalty and honor, but those things aren’t exclusive to me.”
“So, we’re in this on our own,” Raphael finished, looking away.
“From what I can tell. If this was planned just to kill us as collateral damage and ties into something else, we’ll get out of it easily enough. That’s what I’m hoping for, but…”
“But we need to watch our backs until we know for sure.” He nodded a couple of times before turning back to me. “I’m with you all the way.”
“Thanks.”
We drove in silence as I tried not to let what he said touch my heart. He was probably considering his own survival, and I had already proven my skill at keeping him alive, even if I couldn’t fucking save anyone else.
When we entered the city, I drove by different venues I knew of. The Jackalope was closed, windows dark. I hoped Paden was already home. I drove by the vampire nest and the club they ran, thankful the club was dark as well. Even the entrance to The Market was missing. Not just locked to outsiders, but completely gone.
Finally, I pulled into the parking garage for my building and sighed.
“Is there anything we need to stay inside for a few days without dying?” I asked him, not turning off the car yet. “I’ll run and get it while you get inside.”
“I stocked up on groceries a few days ago, so we have enough food. Everything else is yours to deal with.”
I knew he meant ammo and other potentially necessary defensive items.
“We’re fine then,” I decided, cutting off the engine. He jumped out first, and I wasn’t sure what to think of his weird decision to check the halls and walk in front of me. “Let’s take the service elevator instead of the main one,” I said softly, pointing him to a closed door. “That way, we shouldn’t run into humans, smelling and looking the way we do.” I was pretty sure we smelled like smoke, and Raphael was covered in dried blood.
He nodded, and we went into the service area of the building, which had its own elevator for the building staff. I had special permission to use it when needed from the building owner, so management wouldn’t get onto me. Thankfully, the building owner also made sure there were no security cameras in this area because of my extracurricular activities.
When we were on my floor, I checked the entry hall before unlocking my home and letting Raphael go in first. It wasn’t until I was in the door that my frazzled mind remembered the bags I left in the BMW.
“I’ll be right back!”
I jogged out, took the elevator back down, grabbed the bags from the trunk, then hauled ass back upstairs, anxious about leaving Raphael alone. On the flip side, I couldn’t leave a bunch of weapons in my car for anyone to find if they passed by.
Once I was upstairs again, I saw Raphael in his customary place in my kitchen, already diving through things.
“I’m making food,” he announced as I got closer. His shirt was already changed, and the blood on his arms was gone. If he had been injured, he was already healed. He wasn’t completely clean with dust in his hair and more blood and dust on his pants, but he’d made an effort.