“He still wanted to.” Aric made a face and then forced himself to relax. “Let’s go back to planning for whatever is about to go down. I don’t want to talk about Bob. He bugs me.”
A smile rose to my lips, unbidden, and I had to avert my gaze.
“If Adam has innocents in his house, then we’re going to have to be very careful,” Cormack noted. “I don’t want innocent reapers dying. The problem is, we have no way of knowing who is in on it and who isn’t. Maybe we should turn around and think about this some more.”
“I think that’s a very poor idea,” Zoe countered. “Right now, we know the bulk of the bad guys are going to be in that house. It won’t be all of them, but this wave of evil-doers wants to take us out. What they don’t realize is that we can protect ourselves in ways they can’t even imagine.
“I don’t think he’s going to unleash revenants on the guests,” she continued. “I think he’s going to try to draw us into the basement and kill us that way. He’s going to wait until he can draw us into that sitting room — or whatever it is — and then unleash revenants from all three doors at the same time. Maybe he’ll add some wraiths into the mix somewhere, too, but the revenants are the ones calling the shots, so I’m going with them.”
Cormack’s serious gaze lit with intensity. “And how do you know that?”
“Because that’s what I would do, and I’m diabolical.”
He held her gaze and then nodded. “Okay, if you’re so diabolical, how do you suggest we handle this?”
“We go in, get the lay of the land, and then give Grimaldi what he wants.”
Braden stirred beside me. “What’s that?”
“Izzy. He thinks she’s the one with the power to destroy the gates. He wants her off the chessboard.”
Braden immediately started shaking his head. “Absolutely not. I’m not sacrificing her. What are you even thinking?”
Rather than pick a fight, Zoe smirked. “You’re so funny. You have like zero sense of humor sometimes. You need to unclench.”
“Oh, yeah?” Braden was fired up and refused to back down. “How would you feel if we sacrificed your precious husband?”
“I wouldn’t have much of a sense of humor about it,” Zoe replied. “The thing is, I have no intention of sacrificing Izzy. Much like Grimaldi, I think she’s the key to taking down the gates. That doesn’t mean I’m willing to play chicken with her life.”
I balked. “I don’t know how to do it.”
“I think you do and you just don’t realize it.” Zoe was calm, matter-of-fact. “I think Bob is here because he needs us to work together. He wants us to figure it out on our own, but he’ll show up in the last reel and give us a push if necessary.
“He wants us to collapse these gates because at least then all he has to worry about are the gates that are supposedly under reaper control,” she continued. “He thinks Izzy will supply the strategy and I’ll supply the power.”
“But what about the other gates?” I argued. “There’s a gate in Poletown ... and I guarantee they’ve got other hidden gates.”
“Oh, I guarantee they do, too,” Zoe agreed. “I think once we take down this small nexus of gates, that will have the enemy retreating and regrouping. That’s what Bob wants right now. We can only take it one step at a time, and this is the first step.”
“If Bob wants it so badly, why isn’t he here with us?” Braden queried. “If he’s so Machiavellian, why isn’t he already here and guiding you guys to what he wants?”
“Free will,” Zoe replied simply. “He’ll show up when he figures it’s time. Until then, it’s up to us.”
“So, what do we do?” Cillian queried. He’d been largely silent since we piled into the limo, although he was the sort of man who liked a plan.
“We go to the basement,” Zoe replied simply. “We’ll head inside, greet everybody, and then head straight for the basement. That’s what our host wants. That’s what we need to do.”
“But what if we go into that room and we’re attacked by revenants?” Aidan prodded. “We could be slaughtered like cattle.”
“That’s why you have me.” Zoe offered up a sly grin. “Grimaldi has no idea who I am or what I can do. That means he thinks we’ll fall prey to him in an instant. He’s wrong. I’ve got this.”
Aidan held her gaze. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I do. In this particular instance, I know exactly what to do. We’re the ones who will be springing the trap. Have faith.”
“Okay.” Aidan held up his hands. “Just keep in mind, I’m getting married in a few months. It would be best if I don’t die. My fiancé will hunt you until the end of time if I don’t come out of this.”
Zoe snickered. “Well, now I’ll definitely make sure you survive. I don’t want to be hunted by Jerry.”
“That would probably be best.”
CORMACK TOOK THE LEAD WHEN WE EXITED THE limo. He arranged us so everybody was organized by age, which meant Redmond and Cillian were right behind him, Braden and I following as a couple, Aidan trailing behind us, and Zoe and Aric bringing up the rear. Technically they didn’t match the age configuration but Zoe insisted on being the last in line in case there was an attack from the rear and nobody offered up even a word of argument.
Cormack handed over the invitation as he reached the door, gave the butler what looked to be an imperious smile, and then motioned for us to follow him.
I’d been in the Grimaldi house multiple times now and the first thing I noticed was that the garish painting on the wall in the foyer, the one featuring the wraiths chasing the angel, was
