Page 58 of Wicked Little Tricks

We were goingdown. Wonderful.

“Care to warn a girl what’s in store for her?” I asked.

His shoulders were stiff as he regarded me, not quite meeting my eyes. “I’m just doing what I’m told.”

“Have you seen a werewolf anywhere around here?”

He didn’t answer. With a sigh, I started down the stairs. We reached the bottom, and another hall with only a single doorway at the end.

It opened before us, revealing steady and warm artificial lighting. And here I had been expecting candles and lanterns, and surfaces flowing with blood.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped inside. All I had to do was convince Ivan I couldn’t help him find my mother. Wherever we went to find Braxton, Sebastian could locate us.

The bloodless man shut the door behind me, not coming inside. I was left in a modern office lit by expensive lamps, one aimed at a dark oak desk.Behind the desk sat Ivan, leaning casually in his seat. There were two other vampires in the room with him, one a tall man with short red hair who I’d never seen before, and other the blonde woman who had chased me to the Bogs.

I wanted to wilt under the pressure of Ivan’s gaze, but I stood my ground. “Where is Braxton?”

Ivan remained perfectly still as he spoke. “Safe, for now. Where is Celeste?”

It was still weird hearing my mom being called another name. “I haven’t seen her since I was ten years old. You’re all off your rockers if you think I can find her.”

“The devil would not be interested in you if you could not.”

I shifted uncomfortably. So Sebastian was the reason they took interest in me after all. Damn devil, getting me into trouble again. “He now knows I can’t, but he already sealed a contract with me. Such things go both ways.”

“Lies.”

The vampires at his back shifted.

I spread my arms. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe he does believe I can find her, but he’s wrong. I have been looking for her most of my life.”

His brow lowered as he studied me intensely. “A devil haunts your steps, you are involved with angelics, and goblins watch you all over the city. There is something special about you, Eva Nix.”

I stifled the urge to groan.He didn’t have any special information. He really was only after me because everyone else was. He didn’t know anything about celestials, or their half-blood progeny. He just wanted the sword and was looking where everyone else seemed to be looking.

“Look, it’s not my fault everyone had the same idea and started stalking me because of it. I would think you all would have also garnered the information that I have in fact been looking for my mother for many years. I don’t know why any of you suddenly think I can find her.”

He smoothed his stubby hands across the desk. “Well, if you cannot give me what I want, then I have no reason to return your roommate. He hurt several of my people the other night.” He tilted his head. “Perhaps I should make him pay.”

I took a step toward the desk without thinking. “You harm him and the entire Willowthorne Pack will be after you.” Only, I wasn’t sure if it was true. The pack protected their own, but would they wage war with one of the major factions of vampires in the city?

Ivan smiled. “Let them come. They are no match for us.”

This wasn’t working. I had to try another tactic before they kicked me out and I never saw Braxton again. “There is one thing I can tell you. It’s not the location of my mother, but it is the only person in the city who knows how to locate her. Let me see that Braxton is alive, and I’ll tell you.”

I tensed as Ivan stood, but he simply held up a finger to the two vampires behind him. He pointed at me, then turned to walk toward a door behind the desk. The two vampires moved my way.

I held up my hands and took a step back. “Let’s not be hasty now.”

The blonde woman sneered. “We are taking you to your werewolf, night runner.”

My heart pounded as they moved closer to me, but I forced myself to relax as they each grabbed one of my arms. They led me toward the door Ivan had gone through, then we journeyed down another long hall. I was worried we were going to go down again, but instead we found another stairway and went up. Then we went up some more.

We continued climbing in silence until we reached the roof entrance.

“You guys aren’t going to just toss me off the building, are you?”

“That was the plan for your werewolf should you try to locate him through the devil,” the female hissed, still clutching my arm. “He would be nothing more than a splatter on the sidewalk before you could reach him.”

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