Page 17 of How to Entice a Fiend

“Orin’s fucking rich. He can buy new carpet,” I decide.

“Wait, wait… I do have a photo, now that I think of it. No one was pleased I took it and warned me to never take another. Let me see, let me see…”

Mads still has the bag on his head, but it must be clear enough he can see through it. It just irritates me even more,which I’m positive is why he’s doing it. I yank it off, getting a bit of hair with it.

“Ah, do you need even more hair? You already have such lovely hair, why sacrifice mine?”

“The next time you see me, I’m going to be bald,” I growl.

“I apologize. I will not say anything more about your hair or your attitude or about how I must have caused you great sorrow in the past for you to be so feisty with me,” he says as he turns his phone toward me. “That’s me in the middle.”

“Is this… is this from a fucking Halloween party?”

“Sure is. I went as a vampire. See? Isn’t it great? With the cape and the garlic necklace and the fake blood on my face. Everyone loved it.”

I snatch the phone from him and zoom in on everyone else’s faces, unsure why I have to be subjected to such a thing. Everyone looks ridiculous dressed up in Halloween costumes like they don’t have a care in the world—like they don’t give a shit about anything but themselves. I recognize a handful of people, but quite a few I don’t know at all. The issue is that the person I’m looking for isn’t there.

“This isn’t all of the main members.”

Mads flips the phone around and examines it closely. “Admittedly, I haven’t been on the council long. These are the members I’ve met. I don’t believe there are others, but I could be wrong. Could it possibly be someone who has left the council in the past year or so? I joined merely six or seven months ago. Do you have a name for me? If you tell me exactlywhoyou are looking for, I can ask around.”

“No. I have to go. If you touch Rylee, I will remove every single part of you.”

“All parts? Like… every part? I just feel like there are much better ways to spend your time.”

“Do not even look at her.”

“Of course not,” he says as I slip out of the room, having to trust that Rylee will be safe with Orin.

CHAPTER FIVE

MADS

Someone who wasn’t at the party… hmm…

I wander back to the kitchen where Rylee is just sprawled out on the floor, hugging the cat to her.

“She’s been like this for ten minutes. I think she’s just so happy she can’t move,” Orin comments.

“You and your wife have been known to travel,” I say.

Orin raises an eyebrow at the shift in the conversation. “Before I got my kids, we did. Since then, Cordelia still has the wander bug, but I chose to stay here and raise the two kids.”

“Have you met with the UK council?”

“I have.”

I show him the photograph. “Who is missing?”

Orin examines it closely. “I guess it depends since when. This does appear to be the current council… which you would know as you’re on it.”

“Do you remember any names of the council members who were there in the past?”

“Let me see,” he says as he inspects it again. “Well, you don’t have Bella Donalds, William Allred, and Harold Taft.”

“What happened to them?”

“Bella died. I can tell you that much. One day, the council members walked into the room and found that she was already sitting in her chair. They said she was acting strangely but she didn’t say a single word. Once everyone was seated, she blew up, maiming most of the council members.”

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