Page 27 of Rites of Passage

Mae shook her head, her throat tight. “Don’t be. I’m going to rip that asshole’s heart out and shove it up his ass if it’s the last thing I do.”

Brimstone growled in agreement. Gregory and Agnes gaped. Schuman stared.

A snort left Alicia where she stood beside Vlad.

The incubus smiled. “That’s the spirit.”

“Do you remember anything about the object you gave me yesterday?” Nikolai asked Agnes.

Mae fished the skeleton key out of her T-shirt where it was hanging on Hellreaver’s necklace and showed it to the witch. They’d decided it was the safest place to keep it for the time being.

Agnes paled at the sight of the key. “Oh.”

“You told us to guard this with our lives.” Nikolai narrowed his eyes. “I take it this opens something important. Something the Dark Council wants access to?”

Agnes rubbed her forehead. “My memories after I became that—thatthingare still hazy.” She paused, her expression hardening. “All I know is that the monster I became was one of the creatures tasked with the safekeeping of that key. I overheard Barquiel and Oscar Beneventi mention that it was crucial to helping them achieve their goals.”

Nikolai stilled at the mention of his half-brother.

“And you have no idea what those goals are?” he asked roughly.

It was Mae’s turn to lay a calming hand on the sorcerer’s arm. “I’m sure Agnes would have told us if she knew.”

Nikolai clenched his fists, regret flashing on his face. “I’m sorry.”

Agnes shook her head. “No. I’m just frustrated I can’t help you more. You saved my life.”

Schuman crossed her arms. “So, the coven is nowhere near figuring out what this thing does?” She indicated the key with a sharp jerk of her head. “Maybe you should let us take a look at it.”

“You won’t be able to do anything with it.” Mae rolled the key between her fingers, frustration gnawing at her. “This thing has a powerful spell on it. One I still haven’t figured out.” She made a face at Schuman. “Besides, unless you want ghouls tearing into your people, I suggest you leave it with us.”

Schuman’s eyebrows knitted together. “What do you mean?”

One of her aides whispered in her ear.

The major’s pupils flared. “Wait. That freak accident in Ridgewood last night was you?!” She glowered at Jared. “Why wasn’t I informed about this?!”

The Immortal rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Because I took care of it.”

He cast a faintly accusing look at Mae.

She grimaced.

It was thanks to Vlad’s quick thinking and Jared’s assistance that they’d managed to avoid the attack on the apartment making headline news that morning. Because the power had gone out in the neighboring blocks, they’d cooked up a story about a freak explosion on a nearby powerline causing the apartment windows to blow in. The incubus had added an element of truth to the narrative by blasting a hole in a transformer unit on the junction next to the building. Luckily, the cinema had been almost empty at the time and the ghouls’ screams had gone mostly unheard.

By the time the cops and the fire engines turned up, all evidence that a deadly battle had unfolded inside Mae’s apartment had been cleansed, courtesy of Vlad’s phone call to one of theBlack Devils’clean-up crews. The speed with which the silent men and women had turned up and their efficiency at scrubbing all the blood and gore from her place had sent a chill down Mae’s spine.

It was obviously not their first rodeo.

Jared had been quick to take over the case once it was determined the exploding transformer had not been an act of vandalism. As for her windows, Vlad had sent a company out that morning to replace them.

Mae’s shoulders grew tight. They had a meeting with Bryony in an hour. She’d hoped she would have more to tell the High Priestess after speaking with Agnes. But, bar some cryptic clues, they were nowhere near figuring out the nature of the skeleton key or its place in the Dark Council’s schemes. She came to a decision and gazed at Agnes.

“I have three questions for you.”

Agnes dipped her chin. “Go on.”

“You said that scientist injected you with a strange serum. Any idea what it was?”

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