Page 44 of Hitched to the Vampire King

That seemed to galvanize the group, with everyone rising to their feet at once. Sam and Avery headed toward the kitchen for a quiet strategy session while Josh and Jaden discussed whose laptop they would use to start digging up dirt on Nash.

Lucy came to stand beside me and rested her head on my shoulder. “How can I help? Just because I can’t join you doesn’t mean I want to sit on the sidelines and do nothing.”

I slung an arm around her waist and tugged her close, bumping her hip with mine. “Actually, I do have a special assignment for you. One that might be a bit unconventional, but just as important as everything else.”

“Oh?”

“We need to stay undetected right? If we’re going to do this, we can’t let Nash catch even a whiff of us.”

“Whiff. You’re thinking about your scent, aren’t you?”

“Mm-hmm. As it stands, the second we step foot inside the warehouse, they’ll know we’ve been there.”

Lucy paused. “Are you thinking witches?”

“Absolutely. This is New Orleans, after all, and they have more than their fair share of witches. I’ll bet there’s at least one who has a spell that can help us with that. Can I leave that in your hands?”

“You bet,” she said. “What’s your next step?”

I sighed, the weight of my tasks settling on me. “First, steel myself for a trip down nightmare lane. Then, brace for the storm that’ll be Gabriel when I tell him about my plan. Josh wasn’t wrong when he said Gabriel won’t like this. He’s gonna be pissed.”

“Sopissed,” Lucy said, laughing. “What I would give to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure you’ll hear all of it,” I said begrudgingly. “Not to mention there’s Aimee’s little interrogation to look forward to.”

Lucy burst into laughter.

“I fail to see the humor in this,” I muttered.

She gave me a knowing look. “Come on, you’d be cracking up if our roles were reversed.”

Fair enough.

ChapterFifteen

As the sunbegan to dip below the horizon, signaling the end of a long and grueling day, everyone was exhausted. The day’s non-stop research fest had taken a toll on all of us. Every time I entered a room or asked a question, I was met with bloodshot eyes and jaw-cracking yawns. I couldn’t blame them. Even I was desperate to slide between the sheets and drift off into oblivion.

Lucy, who’d been on the phone all day trying to wrangle a witch into helping us mask our scents, finally flopped on the couch next to me with a victorious grin.

“I did it,” she announced. “It took a bazillion phone calls, but I finally tracked down a witch who’s willing to meet with us. She’s buddies with Bethany.” When I frowned, Lucy chuckled. “The witch from Jackson—remember? The one who came knocking at our door and told us about the demon summoning?”

Oh, right! Honestly, with everything that had been going on, I’d completely forgotten about her. It wasn’t like we were bosom buddies or anything.

“Well, this witch is willing to meet with us tomorrow, and she’ll bring the spell. For a fee, of course.”

I didn’t even want to ask what this fee would cost us. Right now, I didn’t care.

“That’s a relief,” I murmured. I tipped my head back against the couch and gave a weary sigh, one quickly followed by a yawn I couldn’t suppress.

Lucy stretched out on the couch and draped her legs over my lap. I raised a brow, then shook my head, too tired even to nudge her legs off me.

“How did everyone else fare?” she asked, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms.

I glanced toward the kitchen, where Avery, Sam, Josh, and Jaden had gathered. The room looked more like an episode from a police drama than it did a kitchen. One of them had dragged in a massive corkboard from somewhere and tacked a map to it, which now had pins sticking out of it as they narrowed down Nash’s haunts. Scattered around them were laptops and tablets, along with random bits of papers and sticky notes. Jaden’s methods were a bit chaotic, but they were effective.

“It sounds like they’ve had quite a bit of luck in their tasks. Jaden has a good grasp on Nash’s background, and they’re developing the profile right now.”

Lucy nudged me with a toe. “You guys are really good at this. I’ve never seen you in slaying mode before. It’s been interesting to watch. Avery’s been trying to track this vamp for a year and got nowhere. But you guys have a handle on him in under a day.”

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