Cloak of Deceit: An Alex Moore Novel (31 page)

“You bit him,” Carl said from behind me, sounding outraged.

Son of a bitch.

I caught a glimpse of Esmond’s pink bite marks, poorly hidden by his stiffly-starched shirt, and sighed. Julian stared at me, eyes practically bulging, searching for the truth on my face. I gave him a helpless look. “It just happened. I was defending myself.”

Please don’t change your mind.

Julian shook his head on a sigh and looked away.

What could I say? Even if he hated the idea, it was already done. I’d done what I had to to survive. Looking at him, already hurting and now stunned, I wished I could take it back.

I’m already screwing it up.

“What do you want?” I snapped at Esmond. “And by the way — how is it you’re still alive?” My mind shifted back to business as I recalled that the last time I’d seen his beautiful face, he’d been bloodied and unconscious. Derek’s gang didn’t strike me as the merciful kind.

Esmond dropped his smile. “Right. Sorry about that, darling. I didn’t mean to leave you high and dry, but I hadn’t expected so many of them.”

I started to ask what the hell he was talking about, because he hadn’t gotten away, but Julian cut over me.

“That’s your M.O. isn’t it?” He took a threatening stance at my side. “He always leaves someone else to take the fall, even though he’s been involved in every large-scale raid campaign in the last five years.”

Esmond blinked up at Julian, feigning a flattered smile. “I’m built for espionage, not brutality.”

“Why did you bite him?” Carl asked, ever single-minded.

“Yes, Alex darling, why did you bite me?” Esmond chimed in.

The tension in the room spiked.

I groaned in frustration and plopped myself down in the chair across from our pain-in-the-ass guest. “First off, call me
darling
one more time, and I’ll send you hurtling out that window. Second, I told you, I was defending myself. Can we all get back on topic here? Let’s find out why he’s here.”

I looked first at Carl, then at Julian, thinking
come on guys
. Carl nodded and leaned on the arm of my chair, crossing his arms over his chest and fixing Esmond with a wary look. Julian mimicked Carl on my other side.

“I’ve come to make good on our agreement, to take you home. Or have you forgotten?”

“Cut the crap, Esmond. Our agreement was over the minute you let Derek and his goons lay their hands on me.” I raised an eyebrow at the Mirage Agent and saw his cocky façade start to peel at the edges.

Esmond cleared his throat. “I’m not your enemy, Alex.”

“That remains to be seen.”

“You could see for yourself, if you’d only look,” he chided.

Julian and Carl both looked down at me expectantly.

I shook my head. “No, you’ve already proven you can fool my psychic abilities.”

“Very well then. What shall I do to prove my intentions are honorable?”

“Leave,” Julian grunted.

“You’re not helping,” I said.

He looked away from me, shaking his head.

Esmond kept his glass green gaze intently fixed on me, his aura a calm, peaceful grey, tinged with violet. The violet made me blush, though I wasn’t exactly sure why. His bow-shaped lips curled into a knowing smile, and I looked away. I would not get sucked in by his charm.

What could he do to prove his intentions? It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going with him now. I had Julian. And Carl. I shook my head. “Why is it so important I go with you? Tell me what the Grigori wants me for.”

He blinked, seeming surprised by the question. “The Grigori embraces every consciousness connected to us.”

“They also kill Undead on sight,” I countered.

“Your situation is…unique.”

No shit.
I was getting really sick of people pointing that out to me.

“So, why do they want me alive?”

“He’s not going to tell you,” Julian said.

Esmond ignored the interruption. “I can tell you what I know, and that is that you have come into your powers late and unprepared. Being an Undead further complicates things. You’re a danger to yourself and to others until you learn to control your strength. The Grigori cannot afford to let you run rampant. You are a liability. We are the only ones who can train you.”

You mean control me.

I swallowed, and Julian and Carl both stilled, as if Esmond’s words were hitting them with a delay.

“Can’t we just do the distance learning thing?” I swirled my hand in the air beside my head in a vague gesture of the collective.

“Not for everything. There is no guarantee you can be reached at a distance. Even over the last few days you’ve become harder and harder to track as your powers settled.”

Julian and I shot each other a quick look, and I knew we had the exact same thought. That was good news. “If I’m such a threat, why aren’t you just taking me by force?”

Esmond glared at Julian beside me, and the Knight straightened. “Yes, well, we tried that, didn’t we? With the company you keep, that method would prove very costly to us. So, they sent me. To reason with you.”

“Is that what they call what you do?” I asked. “I call it conniving.”

“Touché. But I would also add that the Grigori sees the benefit of having you as a potential ally, so they will no longer try to force you into the fold.”

“They want me to come willingly?” I clarified, raising one eyebrow.

He nodded.

Carl snorted. “You don’t really believe this guy, do you?”

I didn’t look at Carl, though he was putting voice to the doubts in my head. Instead, I stared at Esmond and started to piece together the larger puzzle. I was an accident, but not necessarily a problem — or rather, I wasn’t a problem for whoever’s side I chose. That’s what it all came down to. Politics. The Cabal, the Grigori, the Cloak.

They all wanted me for their own selfish reasons, but for the same reason: I was a weapon.

For the time being, that gave me some leverage. Esmond had been sent to scout me. I liked his methods better than Derek’s.
I can work with this
.

“Yes. I believe him.”

Carl gaped at me. Julian paced behind me. Esmond leaned back, the picture of ease. Put a martini in his hand and he could be on the cover of GQ.

“What have you been authorized to offer?” I tried to sound like negotiations about my future affiliations were as routine as college interviews.

Esmond arched one sable brow, his lips curling. “My protection, if necessary.”

“What does that entail?” Based off the last time we’d run into trouble, I wasn’t sure it was worth much.

Julian stepped closer to me, seeming to take up more than just physical space.

Esmond watched him with an appreciative wariness, but when I didn’t budge, his gaze fell to me again. His mind brushed against mine, searching for an inroad to my thoughts, but backed off when I gave him a mental
back off!
shove.

“I have a squad of four Agents at my disposal.”

“Is that a lot?”

Carl let out a bark of laughter, which actually made Esmond jolt. “It’s enough to do a whole lot of damage,” my psychic-educated blood donor assured me.

“What would you want in return for your help if I happened to go somewhere dangerous and you had to come along and ‘protect’ me?” I studied Esmond as I asked. For a fleeting second, before he could hide it behind his polished mask, I saw a flicker of satisfaction.

He regarded me, half-interested, which I knew was an act. “For you to accompany me to the Grigori Council, as we agreed. Hear them out.”

“That’s all?”

He bowed his head in assent, or maybe to hide his self-assured grin.

“Excuse us,” Julian said through gritted teeth. He lifted me out of the chair and yanked me to the corner of the room, my arm caught in his iron grip. “What the hell are you doing?”

I gazed up at my frustrated Undead Knight — the largest hurdle in the plan I was hatching. “Jules, the Cloak still has Andreas. They’ll hurt him to get to us. Derek as much as told me so. We have to bust him out.”

His gaze darted over my face as the words soaked in. He shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”

“He’s your Sponsor,” I said, “and your friend.”

“So it’s my problem. I’ll take care of it.”

“Alone?” I asked, disbelieving. Always the hero.

He nodded and let go of my arm. His next words were thick with emotion, slow, and careful. “I can’t risk losing you again. I don’t think I could take it. Especially now.”

“No way.” I forgot to keep my voice low. Esmond and Carl both looked over at us, dropping all pretense of not eavesdropping. “You’ve already lost too much because of me — your job, your house, Monique. I won’t cost you Andreas too. We both know if you go alone, you’ll get caught or worse. I’m going with you.”

“Alex.” Julian sighed, his expression tired. “I’m a warrior. You are—”

“A Force Agent.” I held my head high. “With five other Agents for backup. What have you got?”

He paused, just for an instant, and I thought I was wearing him down. His brow furrowed. “We can’t trust them to help us.”

I suppressed a smile.
Us
. I
was
wearing him down. “Jules, what choice do we have? We have to move fast if we want to save him. You said yourself the Cabal has connections to the Cloak, high up. Derek gloated about it.”

“It might be too late already.”

“So you wanna just give up?” I frowned.

He gave me a tortured look.

“I know I’ve screwed things up pretty bad. But you can’t fix them alone. Please, let me help. Just…trust me on this?”

He sighed and looked away. “I trust you Alex. I don’t trust
them
.”

“I’m one of
them
, Jules.” I knew I’d thrown my last ace, but I held firm.

Julian sighed and turned away from me, either in defeat or disgust. Probably both.

Carl stood up. “I’m coming too.”

Julian threw his hands up in the air, shooting me an accusatory glare as if to say “see what you’ve started?” I shrugged. Him going alone was just a suicide mission. As far as I was concerned, the more help, the better. I walked back to the chair, ignoring Esmond’s cocky smile.

“All settled?” he drawled, straightening his cuffs.

I glanced at Julian over my shoulder. He stood on the far side of the room, leaning on the bar, his back to me. I hoped I wasn’t pushing him too far. And I hoped I could trust my gut, which told me that Esmond wouldn’t turn on me. I had a lot riding on that — more than I could be comfortable with — Andreas, Julian, me, Carl. We would all be placing ourselves in the hands of the Grigori, counting on them to help us and not throttle us. All on my word. I took a deep breath and nodded.

“Good.” Esmond settled in, looking effortlessly comfortable.

Julian stepped beside me again, faster than I could see him move. I flinched when he appeared, then gazed up at him, wanting some clue to his thoughts. His aura had turned a murky brown. I had no idea what that meant. When this was all over, I’d have to remember to ask Esmond if he had a handy manual for me to read.

“If we do this, your people follow my orders.” Julian leveled his most threatening glare on Esmond.

“They’ll follow my orders, and I will follow your lead. But if the choice comes between our mission and Alex’s safety…”

“Do what you have to,” Julian finished.

Esmond raised one eyebrow in his impression of a surprised face. It all seemed like such a performance. For all we knew, he knew what we were thinking before we did.

I hope you know what you’re doing, Alex.

Esmond nodded once. “We agree on that, at least.”

“If you do anything to betray me.” Julian left the rest unsaid. His voice was flat and slick, like black ice, and just as treacherous.

Judging from the flush in Esmond’s pale, perfect cheeks, his meaning was understood. The Mirage Agent smiled at me. “Where shall we meet?”

Chapter Twenty One

T
he Cloak’s Pacific Northwest detainment base was nestled halfway up a wooded mountain, off a secluded forest road, disguised as a geological excavation. Carl, Julian, and I rode in the very back seat of Esmond’s black van. Julian was quiet and completely closed off to me. It baffled me how he could be so easy to read one minute and then totally elude me the next, leaving me in the dark about his thoughts and feelings unless he shared them. Carl, and even Esmond, were open books in comparison to the stoic Undead Knight. Of course, as frustrating as it was, the mystery was part of Julian’s appeal.

There were plenty of other diversions to distract me from my pointless probe of Julian’s feelings. The psychic energy in the car had thrown my powers into overdrive and scattered my concentration. Five full-blown Grigoric Agents sat in front of me — a rainbow of colors, smells, and feelings. My Undead senses were mixed up in it too, a melding no one could help me sort out. I had all this input, but not enough training or practice to make sense of it. Julian could teach me about one side of myself, but I still had so many questions. I secretly hoped the Grigori could answer some of them. My curiosity had intensified once I met the others.