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Bad things came in threes. Escott wondered if devastating things came in sixes.
While he sat through Karen Blackwell’s very brief questioning, all hell broke loose on the other side of the door. Escott tried not to listen in, but Newbreed hearing made that hard.
“Then who the fuck was Amber Winrose?” the Chief screamed.
Jan sounded short of breath. “We’d have to exhume the body to find out, but each and every Elemental present said they were related. Female human, roughly fifty years of age. But to be fair....” Jan calmed, finally. “We have absolutely no records of her being in the original settlers’ group or a returnee from stasis. And no way a fifty-year-old could survive imps and reach here.”
That was true.
“And she came in before our Guardian went down,” Escott’s father muttered. “Fuck me.... How in the hell? A rogue unknown Newbreed, a dead woman and a dead Guardian.”
“The Guardian is not dead,” Karen Blackwell told her interrogators.
Escott forced himself to stop listening to his father’s unrelated conversation and stick to this one instead.
“Ma’am?” the enforcer asked. “It’s—it’s—it’s not?”
“No.” Karen Blackwell, flanked by her husband and two adopted daughters, sat with her hands folded in her lap. The woman had nothing to fear. “It is not dead. It is merely asleep.”
Two enforcers rushed to the door and tore it open. “Chief.”
“Chief, you have to come in here.”
“Not now.” The Chief dismissed them with a wave of the hand. “I have bigger problems than her petty complaints. Take a statement and cut her loose.”
“Sir. She said she’s the one who poisoned the Guardian.”
Wherever the Chief’s panic lay, he made time for this. “What?”
“I did not poison him,” Karen Blackwell told him. “I simply woke him up, made him break your barrier, and then put him to sleep again...in the city.”
Escott tried to wrap his head around that. Other than Jerret, he didn’t know anyone capable of controlling imps. When he stared at Karen Blackwell, though, he realized one thing—she was serious. If the stories he’d heard in passing were true, that meant that out of all the women with imp husbands, Karen—although refusing to acknowledge the fact—was the first. Hell, the Chief’s hate for her stemmed from the fact that he knew them when she and Tine were a secret couple.
If anyone could mess up an imp, it’d be a woman with the ability to manipulate an imp lover for over twenty years, having three children for him in secret on top of it.
The Chief gritted his teeth. “Woman, I have one nerve left and I don’t have time for this shit.”
“Oh. You’ll make time. You’ll make all the time in the world and you’ll take my complaints seriously if you want your precious barrier back up.”
A silence fell over the room as they stared each other down. Jan walked in and tried to reason. “Kiki, think of what you’re saying. You’re confessing to murdering an imp. You know those crimes fall to Jerret, Yule or not.”
“Do not call me that. And secondly, he’s not dead, he’s asleep.”
“So deeply he appears dead?” Even Jan was skeptical. “Jerret would have noticed.”
“Jerret was just forced out of hibernation against his will. Being summoned from slumber is far different than being dragged from it. It’ll be another week before he’s normal again.” Karen raised her right eyebrow at her. “Do you think this happened overnight? Please. I woke the Guardian up a month ago. It’s just taken this long for him to stand due to the vexing rain that stung him. You are lucky he didn’t run through this city, tearing it apart.”
She sounded disappointed there. No one had a way to counter her words. Even Maraton, the only imp in attendance, had nothing to say.
The Chief asked him, “Mara?”
Still with mouth agape, Maraton shook his head. “She’s right about one thing, Jerret can call us all awake almost instantly, but the things used to force us from sleep.... It lingers. It’s...it’s possible, but there are countless things that can injure us. Household things that are rather harmless to Yules. But...but I admit, my senses are dull. We can usually sniff it out. I can’t as of now. Not yet.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be able to in a few days. In which time enough Topsiders have broken through to give your enforcers the overwhelming task of seeking them out night and day. The ones who don’t get killed, of course.”
Teeth gritted, Escott’s father said, “She’s full of it. She knows how to play this game. That’s all. Ignore her.”
Karen rose. “You will not disregard me and my case.”
The Chief paused before leaving. He called over his shoulder. “You wanna play this game? Then let’s play it. You’ll distract us and waste our time with your nonsense, and we’ll be even further in the shitter. Unlike the men you surround yourself with, I’m not one of your lapdogs. I didn’t even want to waste time bringing you in. So make your fucking statement and leave.”
“There are strange imps among us and you have to acknowledge that! Imps that don’t adhere to the proper laws of nature.”
“Imps mate once. And imps would rather eat someone than do what you’re suggesting. Stop wasting my fucking time and go look through your own piece of shit estate for some kid with a dimple in his chin. Fuck off.”
The slamming door left the room ringing. Maybe the Chief’s anger clouded his judgement, but it didn’t reach Maraton. The imp stood in deep contemplation. When he walked out, he headed to the right, toward his leader. Jan didn’t know what to say.
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Karen Blackwell’s face reddened. A stranger might have thought it was from rage, but it was something else—Escott’s father had hurt the woman and not just her pride. But hurt her to the core.
The two daughters at Karen’s back kept their gazes low. Mr. Blackwell didn’t appear all that concerned about being there. Hell, he seemed ready to crack a smile at the absurdity of it.
Something was up, and it was something the Chief was too stupid to see. Karen Blackwell feared unknown imps mucking about—they’d just encountered an unknown Newbreed. The problem was...they didn’t know of any missing women to give an imp a Newbreed kid. And although Newbreed girls grew fast—very fast, the boys only outgrew regular humans by a fraction. Winrose couldn’t have been older than Escott himself, and his mother was in her fifties. So where in the hell did he come from and why didn’t anyone notice?
Without offering them a word, Escott walked out. He had to get more information. None of this was coincidence. Karen Blackwell was out for blood and he wanted to know why. He went to a higher—more annoying—source. Gwen.
Wherever Gus-Gus was, Gwen wouldn’t be far, and she wasn’t. They exited Ice’s room together, Gwen looking glum which was uncommon for her.
“Essy. Did you hear? Your suspect’s injuries were new. An enforcer must have done it in custody,” Gwen began.
That was probably Winrose. That could wait. Escott cut Gus a glance and sighed with relief when the man walked on without them.
Gwen tried to follow. “Hey wait. I came to give you a hand.”
Escott blocked her path. “Gwen, listen. Invisible, whatever the fuck, I don’t care how you do it; tell me what’s going on. Do you know anything about why Karen Blackwell’s looking to make us bleed?”
All focus on Gus’s steady retreat faded. She met Escott’s gaze. “Dad told you?”
“Told me? What? No. Told me what?”
He folded his arms, ready for whatever nonsense might come his way.
To his shock, Gwen dragged him near the wall and whispered, “You take this to your grave, do you hear?”
Escott nodded.
Gwen hesitated. After she glanced past him, she muttered, “Okay, so three months ago Karen Blackwell busts in here, in tears mind you.”
“How the hell do you know? You’ve only been coming since Newbreeds got recruited. That’s one month ago.”
“I know...” Gwen said through gritted teeth. “Because I told you, I’m invisible. I was at home in the study when Dad busted in and started kicking over shit. Eza ran him down and got him to stop breaking the furniture.”
The invisible shit was annoying, but Escott persevered.
“Karen Blackwell came into HQ to file a rape charge.”
Escott raised an eyebrow.
“Against an imp.”
He was less than impressed. “So she’s...trying to get back at Lander’s dad again? She’s tried everything else. I guess this is the last straw in the bundle of tricks.”
“Not for her,” Gwen whispered, “For Princess.”
This time Escott listened with intent. Karen Blackwell being evil was a given but using children as pawn was a low that sent him into a rage.
“She said she found Princess half naked and she’s checked, and she’s pregnant. She said she’s certain it’s an imp and she wanted help catching a rapist imp on the loose.”
Escott’s eyes widened. “That’s stupid. That’s insane.”
“Yeah. And Dad tore into her. A rumor like that could send people into panic. So Dad told her to go home and find her daughter’s boyfriend, whoever he was, and take it up with him and get outta his face. He literally took her by the arm and dragged her out the door.”
Escott prayed he was wrong. “And he didn’t file a complaint?”
Gwen leaned back, insulted. “Essy, an imp rapist? An imp rapist? Do you even know how hard and how dangerous it is to sleep with an imp?”
“Hard?” No, Escott didn’t know. He wanted to know how the hell she knew, but that wasn’t as important as the information needed now.
Sighing, Gwen put her hands on her hips. “Elementals work on positive emotion. They can feed off it constantly. Imps can only taste endorphins and adrenaline in people’s blood. They literally cannot get aroused unless their partner is aroused first. And as they feed on negative emotion, a scared person or a terrified person’s fear would leap to them and put them in a partial coma. It’s...it’s impossible. It’s simply impossible.”
Escott could imagine. Although he hadn’t checked, he’d suspected maybe something similar happened between him in Lilah. He couldn’t admit to anyone that he didn’t have the drive for her he’d seen other imps fall under whenever their wives came to take them home early or for some sort of ‘surprise.’ The times when Lilah was interested though, he’d reacted.
But then something else occurred. “Newbreeds can,” he said.
Gwen frowned. “No male Newbreed other than you and Lander have come of age yet.”
Escott’s stomach dropped. “And since Lander’s her son...Princess’s brother and he knows that.” He pointed at himself. “She was accusing me?”
“The unmarried Newbreed son of the police Chief. Yes. That’s why Dad nearly put a bullet into her, consequences be damned. But she came back a few times suggesting that maybe there was a rogue imp in here causing trouble. But again, how? And a rogue Newbreed was even less likely.”
“It’s fucking likely,” Escott said. “It’s more than fucking likely, it just jumped out the fucking window for fuck’s sake.”
Gwen went pale. “What?”
“Winrose. He’s not one of ours. He’s...we don’t know where the fuck he’s from. But he’s not from any imp Uncle Maraton knows.”
“Yeah, but his father....” Gwen slowed and considered it. “You know, nobody ever asked about the logistics involved in a woman getting impregnated by a thirty-foot imp?”
Escott shuddered. “I never wanted to visualize anything.” He came to a conclusion. “So the Guardian isn’t his dad. So how the hell does that tie into Lander?”
Gwen shrugged. “As you’d say, fucked if I know.”
Eyes closed, Escott sighed. “Whoever Amber Winrose was, she was related to Winrose, that much I could see. I saw the line. He was related to her. So let’s assume he’s been after Ice because of that bomb.”
“Ice?”
Escott gestured to the door.
“Okay. Ice....” Gwen considered it. “Then back to the bomb. Everybody and their mother thinks it was Karen Blackwell, but—”
“What if it was?” Escott asked. “What if it was Karen Blackwell trying to kill all of us for turning our backs on her plight or at the very most, harming her daughter?”
Gwen scoffed. “You assume Blackheart has that much compassion in her.”
That wasn’t fair. Escott could see it when the woman talked...this was tearing her up. Maybe she was wrong and her thirteen-year-old daughter with the body of a grown woman did find a bastard boyfriend and she got into some trouble. Then instead of admitting it, made some story up. Maybe that happened.
“If Princess had a boyfriend, how could we find him? Can we ask her?”
Gwen cocked her head, studying him. “Brother, you are aware of the fact that not a lot of guys would go after a mute.”
Escott blinked at her. “That’s a rumor. They never talk, I get it—”
“No. Rosie speaks. Princess can’t. She hasn’t for years. Absolutely meep. Hell. I saw Father Blackwell slap her once and she couldn’t even make a sound when she cried. It was awful. She straightened up before Karen could see her, but I wish she hadn’t. I wish her poor mother could have seen it, so she’d get her imp lover to drag that bastard off into the woods somewhere and eat out his damn heart.”
For a brief moment, an awful thought came over Escott, but he decided to stick to the facts.
“I believe Karen,” he said. “She knows imps. She knows them better than us by the looks of it. Everyone’s focused on the Newbreeds because we’re the kids, but she’s only into real imps. She says the way she found her daughter meant she was with an imp. I believe her.”
Gwen didn’t share that sentiment. “An imp that wouldn’t come back and try to drag her off? That’s horse shit.”
Escott backed away. “I haven’t figured that part out yet. But I’ve figured out enough.”
“Where are you going?”
Escott broke into a run. “To beg Karen Blackwell to put our fucking Guardian back while we track down whoever hurt her daughter.”
“Fool’s errand,” Gwen yelled. “An imp with a bun in the oven’s coming for his kid. You’d better count on that. They were tossed away as babies. Uncle Mara can tell you; no imp is leaving his baby behind.”
Taking the steps two by two, Escott raced down the stairs. He prayed his father hadn’t thrown Karen out on her ass just yet. He resolved to jump from banister to banister despite the damage his claws would do to the wood.
Those efforts paid off as he tore the door open in time to see the woman and her posse shuffling out.
“I believe you,” Escott yelled. “I believe you, Mrs. Blackwell. I believe you. I’ll find you your imp. I swear it. I believe you. So please, please sit down and make a statement. I’ll find him. I believe you.”
Gwen took the steps the regular way but made it in time to see Karen Blackwell turn to them with a look of disbelief and hope.
“How do you plan to find him?” Gwen muttered under her breath.
Escott muttered back, “I have no fucking idea.”