Dakota glared at him for a beat. “MIS has no jurisdiction,” she said. “They’re a privately owned entity.”
“Please, don’t fight anymore,” I moaned as I tried to stand. The world whirled around me, and I fell back onto the sofa. “If this is about who gets to spend more time with me, there’s plenty of Joey to go around. But… if we’re speaking of a sexual scenario here, then there’s more Joey reserved for the pretty lady—and I’m not talking about you, Xander.”
Still glaring at Xander, Dakota ignored me. “If Mel’s death was supernatural in any way and not just your run-of-the-mill, cultist-psychopath child sacrifice, than SSD wouldn’t begin to understand how to process and investigate that case, let alone have the necessary skills to find relevant evidence to lead them. If I collected anything at all from the crime scenes, it wasn’t as a homicide detective. Do you understand me, Mr. Shells?”
“Do you guys think I might have suffered a concussion when the Automaton kicked me?” I asked. “I mean, all the lights in this place are on, and that window is wide open, allowing the sunlight to flood the apartment. Isn’t all that brightness bad for concussions? Your constant bickering doesn’t help, either. In fact, it reminds me of my childhood, when mommy used to yell at daddy. She’d get so mad and would beat him down. But he stayed with her, he continued to subject me to that tyrant. And you know who I hate more between the two of them? Him. I hate him for keeping me there. That’s who.”
Both Xander and Dakota glanced at me with a mixture of annoyance and confusion.
“He never knew his mom and dad,” Xander said, poking a fat hole through my story. “Don’t listen to him.”
“I know,” Dakota said. “He spent most of his childhood bouncing between group homes and juvenile hall. His longest stint with a foster family lasted two weeks. I did my research. And from what I’ve gathered, you didn’t have the greatest childhood either.”
“Hey, you two,” I said, “don’t fall in love on my behalf. I can see the sparks from here. Unless I’m hallucinating from a concussion.”
“I’ll make you a deal,” Dakota said. “Same deal I made with him. You help me find my dad. Afterward, I’ll fork over any information I have regarding the Anderson’s and Mel.”
I guffawed. “She said fork.”
“Maybe he does have a concussion,” Xander said, glaring at me.
“How can you be sure? From my experience, he’s always an idiot.” Dakota placed her left hand on her hip, and for the third time, offered her right hand to Xander. Maybe he kept ignoring it because his palm was cold and sweaty, like mine had been. “What do you say? Do we have a deal?”
Xander scratched the back of his neck and declined her hand again. “I don’t know what Joseph has told you, but he played some kind of role in whatever ritual happened that night. They used his blood, and then killed Mel. Finding Hecate is our number one goal at the moment. We can’t waste time looking for your father. I’m sorry.”
Dakota didn’t speak for a moment.
“You roped us both into your deal,” I said from the couch. They both turned. Apparently, I wasn’t as invisible as they had led me to believe. “There are two things Xander is good at, apart from nagging and bitching. He keeps his word, because he is bound by Gabriel to do so. And he can find a straw of hay—is that right? A piece of hay? It doesn’t matter. You get the picture. He can find that in a needle stack. And there are two things I’m good at, apart from being extremely talented in the bedroom. I keep my word, kind of like Xander’s thing, but not for God. Mostly for me and my unflappable morals. You see, I’m kind of like a modern-day knight. No, no, no. Samurai. I follow my own code, live by own—”
“Joey,” Dakota said, “make your point.”
“Second thing I’m good at, other than the bedroom stuff and keeping my word, is killing things. I once killed an ant colony with nothing but a dried twig and a magnifying glass.” I chuckled with embarrassment. “That’s not true, of course, because I’m not a psycho.”
“You’re doing it again,” Xander said.
“Listen, Dakota. Egghead and I will help you find your old man. Hell, we might even conduct therapy betwixt the two of you to help solve all your daddy issues. But we’re also going to finish what we started.” Wow. This sudden and newfound conviction felt good. I was actually motivated and ready to move my ass off the couch. “Xander’s going to find Hecate, and I’m going to kill her.”
Dakota showed me her profile as she focused on Xander. “Hecate is a Nephil,” she said. “How do plan to kill her?” When Xander and I failed to answer that question, she shook her head. “I have no doubt you intend to keep your word. But how can you when you’re dead?”
“She makes a solid counterargument,” I said. “So, I guess we have to ask ourselves, how badly do we need the evidence she may or may not have found?”
“That’s a risk she’ll have to take if she wants to work with us,” Xander said. “If not, I still know skilled bounty hunters that I could put her in contact with.”
Dakota scratched her pointed chin before curling her index finger into her mouth and chewing her nail. “Do your contacts have pacts?”
“They’re all Acolytes, yes. But I won’t provide you with any information until you hand over the evidence you found.”
“Okay,” Dakota said, nodding her head. “Deal.”
Xander grinned with evil delight. “Not so fast. I’m here on a lunch break, and I’m not taking Joey back to work with me. I’ll meet with you later tonight for the exchange. Until then, you’re on babysitting duty.”
Dakota glanced sideways at me and frowned. I grinned and wagged
