A Discovery of Secrets and Fate (Chronicles of the Stone Veil #2) - Sawyer Bennett Page 0,41

houses. Some are inherently natural. But one thing is universally true, the fae are very protective and secretive of what they can do, so you never really know what you’re up against. I suspect this incubus tagged Adira somehow at the bar.”

“Tagged?”

“Elicited pheromones using sexual compulsion and followed them right to her.”

“Great,” I mutter sarcastically. “A supernatural bloodhound.”

“What’s more concerning is how he got in the house to begin with?” Carrick murmurs pensively as he coils the whip, keeping the blood-covered dagger hanging on the outside and away from what I bet are expensive pants.

I jolt because that had not even crossed my mind. I remember Carrick that night of my birthday, standing out in the street and casting a spell over my house. That’s at least what I suspected it was, but I hadn’t thought about it much since.

“You put a spell over my house,” I say, looking to him for affirmation.

Carrick nods. “And the Fantasia when you moved onto it. It was to keep all fae and daemons out.”

“Where did you get the magic?” I ask suspiciously. He’s not fae or daemon, and I’m mostly certain he doesn’t have access to a stone. Those all seem to be gone from the history I’ve learned.

“The gods,” is all he says before walking toward my house.

“What kind of magic did they give you?” I ask, needing to know more about the most influential person in my life right now.

He ignores me, as expected.

As we reach the porch, Zaid meets us there. He has a towel in hand and tosses it at Carrick, who uses it to wipe the dagger clean before depressing it back into the handle. I have no clue how Zaid knew Carrick needed a towel or just appeared as we approached the house, but if I asked every curiosity that ran through my mind, I wouldn’t have time to do anything else.

“Nothing unusual inside,” Zaid says to Carrick before bringing his gaze to mine. “Except you had one hell of a scuffle in your room. There’s a dent in your drywall.”

I rub the back of my head. “Luckily, my skull is thick.”

Glancing back at the garage where Adira’s dead body is, I ask, “What do we do now?”

“I’ve already called 9-1-1,” Zaid says, and I whip toward him in shock. “They should be here any minute. The story is you were out with Carrick tonight, and I was your driver. We were dropping you off, and you checked on Adira and found her dead. Simple as that.”

“Simple as that?” I hiss, pointing a shaky finger back at the garage. “My friend was murdered. There’s nothing simple about it.”

Zaid looks neither chastised nor bothered in the slightest by his dismissive attitude, but Carrick steps forward to hand him the whip. “Put that up.”

Zaid does as asked, as I suspect he always does, and no sooner has he disappeared into the house again than red flashing lights illuminate the street. It’s an ambulance pulling in first, followed by a police car. I remember Carrick had told me before that when a succubus kills—which is presumably the same for an incubus—it will present as if the person had a heart attack, which makes sense. Your entire life force is being consumed, so it stands to reason the heart would give out.

“Come on,” Carrick says, taking me by the hand. His warm, reassuring touch doesn’t feel wrong, and I’m grateful for it as he leads me toward the ambulance.

* * *

It was awful watching the paramedics examine Adira and determine she was beyond any life-saving measures. It was hard lying to the police detective, shaping the story Zaid had fed me just before they pulled in. The worst was watching the coroner’s van come and take Adira’s body out in a black plastic bag on a stretcher.

The detective left me his card and said he was going to contact Adira’s family, who were all down in Arizona. I’ve never met them, and she’d go home at Christmas, but I can’t say if they were close or not. I know that if I went into her employment file at One Bean, I’m sure I had her parents’ emergency contact number, but once the policeman offered to call, I gladly let him take that burden off me. I only had so much strength left, and that was all being reserved to tell Myles and Rainey our friend is dead.

Carrick suggested—didn’t demand, which was surprising—that I pack a bag to stay at his condo