Page 17 of Guardian of Shadows

Elle placed a hand on his arm. “I don’t mind.” Elle stared at Carleigh and pulled a glamour to mirror the female.

“Holy shit, that’s crazy sauce. No wonder the cops weren’t able to find you. How did you choose the women you pretend to be?”

Elle removed the glamour. “I used the shadows to hide by the ATMs until someone checked their balance and had a lot in the bank. If that didn’t work and I was running out of time, I would sit in a coffee shop and listen as customers ordered. I chose those who were belligerent in dealing with the baristas. I again used the shadows to follow them. I had to get a little aggressive, knocking them into someone else so that they dropped their purse or something equally as disruptive. Sometimes it worked, and I could take a picture of their driver’s license so I had their address. Then I would break into their house the night before the new moon and steal their bank card.”

“What if they had an alarm on their house?”

Elle called forth a fireball. “I fried it.”

Carleigh’s mouth fell open. “That’s both terrifying and so fuckin’ cool. T, you need to introduce her to the witchy twins after she meets Tessa. Only you would find a mate more badass than your mom.”

Anthony ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck. He glanced at Elle with that crooked smile of his. Elle didn’t consider herself anything special. She was no more talented than the other fae, but since she was the first one Anthony and his cousins had met, she would take the compliment. And she couldn’t wait to meet his mother if she, too, was a badass.

“How did you know they had the amount of money you were taking? Just because someone was hateful doesn’t mean they’re rich,” Harlow asked.

“I checked their balance at the ATM before going into the bank. If they didn’t have as much as I was supposed to take, I would have to find someone else, but that never happened.”

Harlow angled her head. “And how did you get the pin number for those?”

“I created a spell and added the same energy I use to create fireballs.”

“You are as scary as you are talented,” Harlow muttered.

“C, I need you to remove all evidence of Elle being in Nashville. Since this is the last job she’ll have to do for Grevolus, hopefully the feds will get tired of searching for her, and with us going to Norway, there’ll be no way to track her there.”

“Elle, where do you live?”

“A little town called Register, Georgia. It’s not too far from Savannah.”

“What’s Grevolus going to do when you don’t show up? Are you supposed to call and check in before you get home?”

“No, no checking in. But he’ll probably seek the bond between us on Tuesday when I’m supposed to be headed back.”

Carleigh tapped a finger against her cheek. “Are you sure he never checks it before then? How does it even work?”

“As far as the sigil, I assume he has a map, and my location shows up somehow. I don’t really know since that’s not one of my abilities. I have no idea what he does with his time while I’m away. When I’m home, he drinks all day, then he leaves at night to find a female to spend time with. I would assume that’s what he does when I’m gone since he doesn’t work or cook or clean.”

“Well, he’s going to have to learn to do those things now,” Anthony muttered.

“No, he’ll talk some female into doing them for him. He has all the money I’ve stolen, so he has enough to live on for a while. He did say he wanted to move after this job, but if I’m not providing money for him, he might stay put. At least I hope he does. I don’t want anyone else to lose their life merely because he’s a lazy, evil bastard.”

Carleigh gasped. “He killed someone?”

Elle leaned against Tony’s side. “Probably more than one, but he found a farmhouse on about eighty acres, and he murdered the old man who owned it.”

“Hasn’t anyone stopped by to check on the owner?”

“Sadly, no. Mr. Johnson was really old. If Grevolus drives his truck into town, he glamours himself to resemble the man.”

“That’s fucked up,” Harlow said, having returned from using the phone, which she wiggled. “Travis and Brynna are staying here for a few weeks, but he said I can catch a ride back with Tor and Bodi. They were stocking the armory here, but they’re almost finished.”

“We can catch a ride,” Carleigh countered.

“One of us needs to man the office, C. I’ll roshambo you for it.” Harlow placed her right fist on her left palm.

“You’ve been hanging around Cailín too much. What’s it she calls this? John Kin or something?”

“Janken, and I wish I were around her more. Anthony, tell Mason to give Cailín a day off.”

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