Page 52 of Monsters of Desire and Nightmares of Passion

“Okay.”

“Lisa, do you think that you can float upstairs?” Draw asks her.

“Sure.” Lisa smiles, performs a genie head move, and disappears.

“Are you sure about this?” asks Khal. “This girl could be a spy.”

“She’s lost. She’s a ghost and can’t do any harm.”

“Lisa could spy on us,” adds Mrez. “Maybe it’s something the Church arranged.”

“I don’t believe she’s a spy,” Draw interjects. “But I don’t want to put you in danger, Ivy.”

“It’s settled then,” I say. “Lisa stays. End of discussion.”

“I’m good with that.” Draw pulls me closer, kisses me on the top my head, and holds me closer. “Khal, go get Lisa. We’ll help her figure out her situation.”

Mrez goes back to scrolling through the doctor’s phone.

“What are you looking at, sweetie?” I ask as I walk up next to him and lean close.

“I snatched this from one of the guys who wanted to kill you.”

“Find anything good?”

“Not yet.”

As we talk, the phone rings.

“Be quiet. I have an idea.” Mrez morphs into a guy who looks familiar but whom I couldn’t identify. He clicks the facial recognition button and begins talking.

“Owen, can you talk?”

“Yes,” answers Mrez.

“Where is she? Do you have her?”

“Yes, I have her.”

“You need to bring her to us.”

“No.”

“Do you dare defy me?”

“No, I’d never defy you. The area is covered with police. I could be caught. The others made a mess at the hospital with all those kills. I need to wait a few more hours before it’s safe to leave.”

I’m so impressed by Mrez’s performance.

The guy on the other end of the line clears his throat. “I’m sending the location now. Be there tomorrow before midnight with the Royal Blood.”

The call ends. Mrez shifts back to his most familiar human self.

“Who was that?” I ask no one in particular.

Mrez clicks on the location.

Draw looks at me and holds his arm around me in a protective way. I love the way he keeps me close to him and makes me feel safe. As I listened to Mrez bullshitting that The Church of Light guy with Draw at my side, I realized how deeply I was connected to the guys. “My monsters,” I think to myself.

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