Page 138 of White Raven
Athan lowered his brows. “Hiswork?”
Sarah picked herself up from the floor and took a deep breath as she approached him. “Yeah…his pieces were the only things missing from the shop.”
“You saidPoe’sshit…she had orders to—wait…” Athan cocked his head. His face looked gray…nauseated. He focused on Tony next. Tony felt compelled to nod.
“It’s why I came back. I checked with the school John Allan attended when we were in Scotland…only it wasn’t a John Allan that attended. John Allan was hisguardian.” To Kane’s credit, he didn’t balk, but he seemed like he was becoming more pale…if that was even possible. Tony continued, “I came back to tell you both. I went to Virginia to double check everything before sounding completely mad, but…Sarah was already there…looking foryou. We pieced it all together, and she looked up a portrait of Edgar Allan Poe as a child…”
Kane glanced at Sarah, who nodded in confirmation. “It’s the same boy,” she said. “John—Poe, texted part of a poem to your phone for me to find. It led me to the museum in Virginia, and I thought that’s where he was keeping you…but I remembered what we talked about that night at home. How nobody knew if his body was really in the grave in Baltimore. Sykes left us confirmation of that on some sick version of a prize wheel. She basically told me where she was ordered to leaveyou. I don’t think he wanted her to tell me. She seemed overly cautious. I think she’s in some kind of trouble.”
“I’ll fuckingkillher,” Athan growled, gripping the edge of the sink.
“If I’m right, then I think you’re gonna have to get in line.” Sarah took his bare hip bones—hip bones that were still protruding a little too much, even with the gift of Sarah’s strange blood. “Besides, I’m more interested in getting my hands on my father. Preferably around his fucking neck. I left Sykes to Rhaena and Brandon.” Kane’s head shot up.
“Rhaena…thebaby…”
Baby? What in the name of…
Tony kept silent, listening…as he did best. Sarah only shook her head slowly, reaching for a wad of cheap paper towels, and wetting them before gently cleaning his inked chest. “She wasn’t pregnant. It was something else. Something I made worse by accident.” Kane said nothing, but his jaw clenched tight, and she continued to clean him, holding one of his hands between them and wiping the dried blood from his knuckles. “My blood didn’t last. Brent was the one who realized something wasn’t right at the apartment, and he called us over.”
“Stratford? Why?” Kane asked, watching her work.
Sarah glanced up at him, and then back down, taking his other hand and doing the same to that one. “He went to find you. So you wouldn’t be alone. You know…fuckingbro-code, and all that. He was at Wren’s when I got there, and we talked. He didn’t want you sulking by yourself, and I imagine it’s because I gifted him his own ass one too many times. Must have known how you were feeling. Anyways, we got to the apartment…and you had—” Sarah shook her head again, fighting off emotion. “We all panicked. Rhaena lost her temper, and all of a sudden…she just started to change. It wasn’t a full moon. I think she was hitting some emotional limit, and it triggered her. Kinda like Foley.Wren and Brent were there, and she told us to run. I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I—I injected her with more of my blood and now…she’s…”
“She’s both?” Kane asked, shocked. Sarah nodded.
“We think that was the reason she thought she might be knocked up. Her body was adjusting to a different kind of cycle for her transition. But then…that happened. She was out for days. I reined in Nick Specter and had him give me blood bags that we’d had left over from before I turned. They worked. Rhaena’s fine, she’s just…different now.”
This was a lot to take in all by itself. Tony couldn’t imagine how Kane was feeling as he processed every word.
“I’ve missed so much. I should have been there with you…when you found out about…him.”
“Stop,” Sarah warned, tilting his chin up and looking him in the eye. It was strange to see Athan Kane so…smitten. The look in their eyes was explosive. “Don’t fucking do that. You spent days in a black box of torture. And when I find this son of a bitch…”
“Do we kill him?” Kane asked. “Do we kill Edgar Allan fuckingPoe?”
“Not until we get answers,” she replied…and she meant it. Her face was pure determination, and vengeance.
“Where would he be?” Tony finally cut in. “And what about your bird?”
Kane stuck his head beneath the faucet, and Sarah started globbing shampoo into his hair, scrubbing through his scalp with her fingernails. “Jesus, Sarah…too much! My eyes are on fuckingfire!”
“Oh, shut the hell up. Youreek. Deal with it.”
Tony chuckled through his nose as Kane turned his face under the water, squinting. “You try taking a little holiday in a fucking ancientgraveand tell me howyousmell!”
Sarah tried to stifle her laugh, and continued to wreak havoc on his head, rinsing it as he squirmed over the sink. “I thought I’d find him at that museum…but that wasn’t his actual house. His house is here in Baltimore. I think that’s where he is. I think he’swaitingon us. As for Poe, thebird…we know he’s smart. Smarter than anybody ever gave him credit for. He might have sent him on some mission, but it’s obvious now where his allegiance lies. I’ll be surprised if we don’t find him waiting right where we left him outside.”
Kane shook out his hair and combed it back with his fingers. “He’s not fucking leaving us again. I don’t care if I have to nail his scrawny-ass feet to the perch stand.”
Sarah knelt down, and pulled out Athan’s spare clothes, and Tony saw that as his cue to leave. “I’ll let you finish up. I’m gonna go see if the bird’s still outside.”
Kane nodded, and Sarah smiled. “Thank you, Tony…for everything. I don’t know if I could have done it without you.”
He returned her gesture, dipping his chin. “No worries, mate.”
“If she’s right about where Poe is…it’s only about a ten-minute walk from here. Hope you brought decent shoes,” Athan smirked.
“It’s not the walk I’m worried about,” Tony admitted. “It’s the execution we’re about to carry out.”
