“You’ve kept a warlock in this house without permission.” Levi shook his head. “Allowed him to perform magic here.”
Merick nodded. “She has, but never fear, I haven’t done or revealed anything to her, Levi.”
I jerked to look at him and then to Levi. “I performed a tracking spell in the house once. And it backfired on me big time.”
“Elizabeth’s magic.” Levi nodded. “Some of her most powerful spells are active even after all this time.”
“He leaves tonight. Catalina will be your guard at night here. We’ll find a day guard as well,” Mario stated, his voice flat.
“No,” Merick and I said at the same time.
I looked at Levi. “You know he means me no harm. He wouldn’t have protected me otherwise.”
“He’s cult,” Levi said again.
“And Abigail might as well be.” Merick didn’t hesitate, and I cringed. I hadn’t told Levi anything about being in contact with the Cult.
Mario stared at me for a moment. There was something in his gaze I couldn’t read. I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice. “Say what you want, Mario.”
“You’ve been practicing black magic.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
“No, I haven’t. In fact, my magic practicing lately has been very little. Cult doesn’t mean black magic.”
Levi nodded. “It’s a gray area. It means Abigail does what she needs to accomplish her task. Abigail has learned some new tricks, and I had a feeling they were Cult-related. I had assumed it was Oliver. I didn’t think she was hiding a Cult member in her house.”
“Actually, I tried to get him to leave. He refused, but again it’s saved my ass several times.” I shrugged.
Levi bowed his head as if he was praying. “I’m going to trust you in this matter. You are right. He could have killed you without any of us knowing that it was him. He’s chosen to expose himself and risk his life to let us know that he’s here now.”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Mario snarled. “Cult, the people who killed Elizabeth.”
“Actually, Samuel put the order in to kill my parents.” There was no need to let Levi and Mario know that Merick was in on all the secrets.
Levi’s head snapped up at that. “How do you know that?”
“I helped the Cult with a case, and they exchanged information in return.” I shrugged. “There was no other way to get the information I wanted or needed.”
“Samuel knew nothing about them.” Levi met my gaze. We both knew that wasn’t exactly true. Samuel had mentioned my mother and that he knew who I was.
“I believe that he was in contact with Ira much longer than either of us knew.” I kept my voice soft.
Mario stood and stepped up to me. “You kept this all from us.”
“Mario…” Levi warned. Merick made a move to get between us, but I held my hand up.
“Let him express his anger.” I looked up at Mario. “I’m not scared of you, so let your anger out. If you want to talk about what was hidden from who, let’s talk, because it seems to me that you and Levi still have some secrets that need to be shared.”
Mario smiled, and it wasn’t a nice one. It wasn’t the handsome one he used when he was teasing me. It wasn’t the soft one he got when he thought of something nice. It was evil. Scary. “You put all of us in danger by inviting a Cult member into your house and your life. You have done research on Samuel and Ira that has brought chaos to our doorstep, Princess. You want to know what we’ve been hiding?”
“Mario,” Levi warned again, this time standing up. “Stand down.”
I glanced at Levi. “Let him say his piece.”
“We’re debating on if you should be changed now or if we should wait until Samuel kills you.”
Whatever I was expecting him to say, it wasn’t that. I nearly stumbled backward and looked at Levi to see if it was true. Levi’s face was completely blank.
“You both know my wishes.” I kept the anger out of my voice. “So that’s not something that should be up for discussion.”
Mario laughed and wrapped an arm around me, drawing me close to him. “You asked, Princess.”
I shoved him away from me. Luckily, he didn’t resist letting me go, and he stepped back.
Levi pressed his lips together. “If you two are done, we have more important things to discuss. Merick, I must ask you to leave because this includes vampire business.”
Merick bowed his head. “Of course.” He simply disappeared.
“The vampires you found speak of a woman—”
“Adrianna Hyde.”
“Perhaps.” Levi nodded. “They were not able to name her, but they say she drains their blood.”
“Remember the stories of Elizabeth Bathory? Apparently, she was inspired by this woman, and Liz has had a run-in with her before. Her and her sisters.” I was going to leave the Cult out of it.
Levi sighed. “Do you trust her sister to lead you to the right place?”
“It’s the only lead I have. Liz could be in trouble, or she could be killing more people. I have to find her.”
“Take Mario with you and go tonight.”
“Oh, fuck no,” I snapped.
Mario had a smirk on his face. “I can deal with the vampires if there are any.”
“And I’ll call you if I need that assistance, but I don’t want you at my back right now.”
“Princess,” Mario chastised.
“Fuck off. I’ll take Simon and Merick with me.”
There was silence for a moment as if an unspoken debate was going on. “Okay, then it’s settled. I’ll call you when I get there and let you know what
