Merick shook his head. “Really, I’m along for the ride at this point. I’m curious to see what you have because the Cult could never touch her.”
Oliver nodded and started walking further into the house. “Nor would they. She’s well protected, powerful as all get out, and she’s formed an army of believers to protect her.”
“You sound like you admire her.”
Oliver glanced at me with a smirk. “She’s something to admire for sure. Beautiful, soft.” He made a sound low in his throat that startled me.
“You know her personally?”
“A one-month stand.” Oliver shrugged a shoulder. “Power attracts power, Abigail.”
I rolled my eyes. “Great, can you tell me where she is or why Liz would go after her?”
“Liz is stupid if she went after the woman alone. This is the case that Levi is working with Detective Mason, isn’t it?”
“Yes, now I need to know information on Hyde before I go out to a location.”
Oliver paused. “Niece, you shouldn’t go after her. Liz is as good as dead, and if she’s not dead, she’ll be damaged.”
“Liz has survived this once. I’m not leaving her out there to die.”
“Adrianna is immortal, in the truest sense of the word, Abigail. You can’t kill her, you can’t contain her, and you’ll become another victim on a long list,” Oliver snapped. “That is not how you are meant to die.”
I raised a brow. “Beats being changed into a vampire.”
Oliver jerked like I had slapped him. “That would be against your wishes.”
“Glad someone agrees. But seriously, I’m not leaving her there.”
Oliver threw open the door to his office, not his library as I expected. “Sit down.”
Merick took a step back.
“You too, cat.”
This was a new side of Oliver’s anger I rarely saw. Merick and I both sat in front of his desk. Oliver sat down across from us. “Adrianna plays with blood magic, the blackest kind you can get. She enjoys the torture and the death of each of her victims. If Liz has survived her once, then I highly doubt she’d go back.” He looked at Merick. “Has Liz survived her?”
He nodded. “She and her sisters were young, but she was there.”
“How young?”
“Liz was six, maybe seven.” Merick shrugged. “I don’t know the full story.”
He wasn’t much older than me, and Liz and I were about the same age, so he would have been young as well.
“We found a child at one of the sights. She’s at the hospital right now.” A sickening thought came to me. “She had no name, how long had she been there?”
Oliver shook his head. “Don’t dwell on it.”
“Adrianna is a monster, and she needs to be stopped.” I glared at Oliver. “And you slept with her? For a month?”
“I didn’t know exactly who she was. I was young, stupid, and greedy. I thought that she had the key to life, Abigail.”
And I knew where the rest of that thought went. One of my uncle’s goals in life was to bring my mother back to the land of the living. They had been really close, and he never quite moved forward from her death.
“Okay, so if I can’t defeat her, I’m going to rescue Liz.”
Oliver let out a sigh. “We’re talking an army, Abigail.”
“Liz left a dozen dead bodies at one site. Between Merick and I, I think we’ll be okay.”
“And Detective Mason,” Merick added.
Oliver shook his head. “Taking the detective is stupid. He’s human. Leave him back here. I’ll go.”
Merick and I stared at him. We’d make a powerhouse trio if we could get anywhere near Adrianna. “We might actually have a chance if you go,” I muttered.
Merick nodded. “Call the detective. Tell him to be ready for whatever we find.”
I pulled my phone out and called Mason.
“What is it, Abby? I’m a bit busy,” he answered.
“I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to go to the location with magical backup tonight. Just be ready for what we find.”
There was some muffled grumbling like he was holding his hand over the phone. “Okay, that’s fine. I’m at the hospital dealing with the little girl.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s told her therapist some terrifying things, Abigail. I have to go.”
The line went dead in my hand, and I closed my eyes. I hoped that the little girl would be okay. There were tools and ways to work through trauma, and she would get there.
“He’s busy anyway. So let’s do this.” I stood.
Merick and Oliver nodded and stood as well. “I’ll drive,” Oliver stated and walked out of the office. Typically, when Oliver drove, it was a fancy sports car, or we rode in a limo like the first time I had met him.
Tonight, the vehicle waiting for us in the garage was a jeep that looked like it’d recently been through a mud bath.
“Climb in and give me the location.” Oliver climbed up into the driver’s seat. Merick clamored into the back seat, and then I took the front passenger. I buckled up and then gave Oliver the location.
I hoped whatever we were going to find there was going to lead us to Liz or at least a clue that she was still alive.
CHAPTER NINE
The jeep bounced as it rolled over the hilly ground near the clearing in the forest. Oliver brought it to a stop and climbed out. “We walk from here. The jeep will alert any supernatural creature.”
I climbed out, and my hand instinctively went to my gun. Oliver raised a brow. “Gun against magic?”
“Most things die when you shoot them in the head and
