Rogue (Relentless Book 3)

THE DEMON STARED at me with wide eyes as I took in his appearance: my height with a rounded face and curly brown hair. If it weren’t for his black eyes and the two small horns peeking through his curls, I might have mistaken him for human. That and the fact that my power was going a little berserk. What the hell was David thinking? Why hadn’t he told me he was sending me to see a demon?

Kelvan put up a hand and fear flashed across his face. He stepped back until he was pressed against the door. “You’re Mohiri… and Lycans! David, why did you send hunters into my home?” he asked shrilly, and I glimpsed tiny fangs where his canines should be.

A faint voice issued from the cell phone in his hand, and he hit the speaker button.

“Kelvan, this is my friend Sara I told you about,” said David’s familiar voice. “Sara, meet my good friend Kelvan. You’ve probably figured out that Kelvan is a vrell demon.”

I looked at Jordan, who had studied demonology a lot longer than I had. She gave a slight nod, which I assumed meant vrell demons were not dangerous.

“Hi.” I smiled at Kelvan but didn’t extend my hand. I didn’t think he would appreciate my power’s reaction to him.

“Hello,” he replied stiffly, without returning the smile.

David spoke again. “Kelvan is one of the best hackers in the business. He’s actually the one who tracked Madeline to Albuquerque.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Kelvan shifted from one foot to the other. It struck me then that he was not being unpleasant on purpose. He was genuinely afraid of us, afraid of everything if all the locks on the door were any indication.

Someone moved behind me and Kelvan’s eyes widened even further. “David vouches for you, but what about the other hunter and the wolves?”

I glanced over my shoulder at Roland who looked ready to pounce if Kelvan made one false move. Turning back to Kelvan, I said, “Are you going to try to eat us or anything equally unpleasant?”

The look of horror on his face was almost comical. “Of course not!”

“Then we’re good.” I faced my friends. “Chill out, guys.”

Roland’s jaw dropped. “But he’s a demon, Sara.”

I arched an eyebrow, and he reddened. “I didn’t mean it that way. You’re different.”

“David trusts him and so do I. Not all demons are evil, you know.”

They all stared at me like I’d sprouted my own pair of horns, and I could feel Kelvan’s eyes boring into the back of my head.

Jordan looked at Kelvan. “You see what I have to live with? Watch out or she’ll be trying to feed you blueberry muffins next.” She went to the coffee table, grabbed a National Geographic magazine, and settled down in the stuffed armchair as if she hung out in demon lairs every day.

Roland relaxed his stance, and he and Peter took the couch. He picked up the TV remote. “Hey, do you mind if we watch TV while we wait?”

“Um, sure, go ahead,” Kelvan replied weakly as if he didn’t know what to make of the strangers invading his living room.

“If you guys don’t need me anymore, I have something to take care of,” David said. He told me to contact him when I got to Albuquerque then said goodbye and hung up, leaving me standing with a nervous demon. I tried not to stare at Kelvan, but it’s not every day you meet a demon. Sure I’d seen a few, but none that were humanoid.

“David said you have a laptop and some phones for me,” I said to break the awkward silence.

Kelvan nodded and went to the far corner of the living room that served as his office. The large desk was almost impossible to see beneath the computers and multiple monitors that were mounted on stands to make room for them all. Soda bottles and Chinese takeout containers also littered the top, and he muttered an apology as he hurried to clean it up.

I took the opportunity to study the apartment. It was cluttered, but much cleaner than I’d expected based on what I’d seen of the building. Books, magazines, and newspapers lay around the living room, and the kitchen table was covered in what appeared to be model airplane pieces. There was a stereo with an actual turntable and a large stack of albums beside it. The top one was a Fleetwood Mac album, and my fingers itched to find out what others lay beneath it.

All in all, it looked like a pretty normal place, not what I’d expected a demon’s home to look like. But then, I’d never really imagined demons living among humans this way. I’d pictured them living in sewers and abandoned buildings, not in a little apartment with throw pillows and a ficus tree.

I did take note of the thick bars on the windows, and I couldn’t help but wonder who or what Kelvan was hiding from. Granted, it wasn’t the nicest part of town, but his defenses seemed a bit extreme. Maybe he was afraid someone was going to steal all his computer equipment.

“I hope you like Macs. They’re all I use, and David didn’t give me much notice.”

I turned to find Kelvan holding out a thin, silver laptop. “Wow, it’s so light,” I marveled when I took it from him. And small. This would easily fit in a backpack. “Nice!”

“It gets great battery life, and you can go a few days without charging if you don’t use it much. I got you a padded case to protect it.”

“This is great, Kelvan. Thanks.”

Kelvan smiled for the first time, and his fangs flashed again. It was a little strange to be talking computers with a guy who had fangs, but I did my best to act like it was no big deal.

He held up a small rectangular gadget. “This is a mobile hotspot and it’ll let you connect to the internet from almost anywhere. The account is not in your name, and there’s no way to trace it back to you or us. I also installed some of my own apps on the Mac that will allow you to browse the internet and make secure calls that can’t be traced to your IP. Come over to my desk and I’ll show you how to use them.”

Twenty minutes later, I closed the laptop after a crash course in how to use a Mac and Kelvan’s special software. In addition to the laptop, he gave me a bag containing four prepaid cell phones and an envelope containing five hundred dollars in cash. I tried to refuse the money, but he said it was from David, not him. When I asked him if David could afford it, Kelvin chuckled and said their clients paid generously for their services. His statement made me wonder exactly what they did for their clients and why he chose to stay in this rundown building when he could afford to live in a better neighborhood. He seemed like a nice guy, a bit shy around strangers. But then it wasn’t as if a guy with horns could go out and socialize a lot. From the look of his apartment, he didn’t have many visitors either.

I was getting to my feet when a scrawny white cat entered the living room and headed straight for Kelvan. It was easy to tell from the cat’s matted fur and staggering walk that it was unwell, and I automatically bent to pick it up. The poor creature weighed next to nothing, and it could barely manage a weak hiss in my direction.

Kelvan immediately reached for the cat. “Please, don’t hurt her.”

I was so shocked anyone would think I could harm an animal that I answered more sharply than I meant to. “Don’t be ridiculous.” I cradled the cat in my arms, my power already searching for the source of her illness. It didn’t take long to discover the tumors riddling her frail body. The poor creature would be lucky if she lived another two weeks. “She’s full of cancer. Didn’t you take her to a vet?”

His eyes widened until they looked like large black buttons. “How do you…? I took her to one of our doctors, and he said there was nothing he could do for her.” He held out his hands and I saw they were trembling. “Please, Lulu is all I have.”

I gave him a reassuring smile and sat on the couch between Roland and Peter with the cat on my lap. I had healed very sick animals before, but never one so full of cancer. I didn’t want to make any promises to Kelvan until I knew I could help Lulu. I laid both hands on her stomach and cringed as my power explored the extent of her tumors. They were so big that some of them had fused together. She should have been put to sleep weeks ago. The agony on Kelvan’s face told me he knew that, but couldn’t bring himself to part with her.

Kelvan came to stand before me, clenching his hands together. “What are you going to do to her?”

Roland stood beside him to watch me. “Dude, I think this is Lulu’s lucky day.”

“What do you mean?”

“Watch.”

Hoping Roland was right, I stroked Lulu’s head, letting my power soothe her. Soon her head drooped limply against my thigh, and my power went to work. I went after the smallest tumors first, gently consuming them with healing fire that repaired the organs they had damaged. The largest growth was attached to her lungs, and it took me a good five minutes to destroy that one. Then I had to fix her weakened heart and remove the remaining impurities from her blood. I smiled in satisfaction as the glow faded from my hands. That should do it.

“You killed her!”

I looked up at Kelvan’s grief-stricken face and shook my head. “No, she’s just sleeping. See? She’ll be perfectly fine when she wakes up. The really sick ones always do this after they’re healed.”

“Healed?” His eyes darted from me to his cat. “How… how is that possible?”

“It’s something I do, and I’d really appreciate it if you’d keep it to yourself.” It had been careless of me to show my power to a stranger, especially a demon, but all logic had gone out the window when I’d picked up the sick cat. Standing, I placed the sleeping cat in his outstretched hands. One of my fingers grazed his hand, and he jumped as if he’d received a shock. “Sorry.” My power was a bit amped because of the healing and the presence of a demon. I forced it back down. The lessons with Nikolas and Chris had really paid off.

Kelvan’s next action shocked us. He sat on the coffee table, cradling Lulu to his chest while fat tears rolled down his cheeks. “I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely when he could talk again. “Lulu was my brother’s cat, and she’s all I have left of him.”

“Your brother?” I prodded gently.

“Mallar, my older brother. He brought Lulu home five years ago when she was just a kitten.”

Jordan came to stand beside me. “Where is he?”

Kelvan sniffled and wiped his face with his hand. “He was killed two years ago. He and his friend, Jaesop, went out one night and ran into some vampires.”

“Vampires?” Peter asked. “Why would they kill another demon?”

Kelvan shrugged sadly. “Why do humans kill other humans? They are evil. Vampires think themselves superior to all other races, and they kill anyone who crosses them. There are few demons who would not rejoice if every vampire was wiped from the face of the earth.”

“Is that why you’re helping us?” I asked him. “Because of your brother?”

“David and I have been friends for years, so I would have helped him anyway. When he told me Madeline could lead the Mohiri to the Master, I made tracking her my first priority.” He stroked his sleeping cat’s head. “Hunters don’t help my kind, and we don’t help them. But if you need anything, you let David know and he’ll contact me. I can never repay you for helping Lulu.”

“You don’t owe me for that. I would have done it anyway.”

He gave me a watery smile. “You are not like other hunters, are you?”

Jordan snorted. “You have no idea.”

“How did you know what we are anyway?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “Most demons can sense another demon when we get close enough. My people have a very good sense of smell, which is why I knew those two were werewolves.”

Jordan covered a yawn with her hand and looked at me. “As fun as all of this is, I’m ready to crash for a few hours.”

“Me too.” I gathered up the laptop, cell phones, and cash and looked around for my backpack before I remembered I still had to buy one. I spotted a paper bag on the kitchen counter and stuffed everything into it. If we ran into anyone on the way to the car, I doubted they’d take much notice of a Chinese takeout bag.

“Thanks for everything,” I said to Kelvan before I followed the others into the hallway. He held out his hand, and I shook my head. My control was a lot better now, but I didn’t want to risk hurting him. “Better not.”

“Oh, right.” He withdrew his hand and ran it through his curls. “Listen, I know you’re more than a hunter. It doesn’t take a genius to see that. David said the Master is looking for you, and I’m sure it has something to do with whatever you did to Lulu. Be careful out there. Word is that this is the most dangerous vampire anyone’s heard of in a long time. They say he’s insane, and he really has it out for the Mohiri. All vampires do, but he’s the worst.”

“If you know that, you must know more about him.”

“No one really knows anything about him, except what comes from other vampires, and they’re not saying anything. There have been some demon disappearances that have been blamed on him, too. No one knows what he’s doing with them, but everyone’s afraid. Just watch your step.”

“I will. Thanks.”

The four of us were quiet as we walked back to the car. Jordan started the engine and looked over at me. “I’m going to stop at the first decent motel I see.”

“Someplace cheap,” I reminded her. “We have to make this money stretch until we can get more.” David’s five hundred dollars would help a lot, but between gas, food, and hotels, it wouldn’t take us long to run through it. I had some diamonds that would fetch a good price if I could find a buyer. I put that on my mental list of things to do – after I got some sleep.

“As long as it’s not a total roach motel.” She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a thin wad of bills, which she handed to me. “Here’s four hundred. It’s all I could get.”

Roland leaned forward. “I have five hundred. I found a bank machine at the airport.”

“I can’t take that. It’s your car money.”

He laughed and sank back against his seat. “I don’t think a car is very high on my list of priorities right now.”

“I have two fifty,” Peter chimed in.

I opened my mouth but Roland spoke first. “We’re in this together.”

Jordan pulled away from the building. “See, we’re better off than we thought we were.”

Ten minutes later, we parked outside a Motel 6. Jordan and I went inside to get two rooms, and the boys stayed with the car. I leaned wearily against the front desk as I waited for the clerk to finish whatever she was doing and check us in. It had been a long, stressful day, and all I could think about was how good it would feel to lie down and close my eyes.

The featherlike touch against my mind was so faint I thought I imagined it at first. It came again, and I jolted away from the counter. Nikolas was here. Not at the hotel but definitely close-by. And if I could sense him…

I grabbed Jordan’s hand and pulled her toward the door. “We have to get out of here.”

“What? Why?”

“Nikolas is here.”

She scanned the parking lot as she ran after me to the car. “I don’t see him.”

“You know that bond thing? He’s here, trust me.”

“Shit!”

Roland and Peter were in the front seats so Jordan and I dove into the back. “Get us out of here, Roland,” I cried, sinking low in the seat.

He turned in his seat to look at me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nikolas,” I gasped as the sensation grew stronger. Roland continued to stare at me, and I yelled, “Drive, damn it! Nikolas is here.”

“Fuck.” He started the car and eased out of the parking spot.

“Hurry,” Jordan barked. “I’d rather face a couple of hungry vampires than Nikolas right now.”

“If I drive too fast it’ll draw attention.” He pulled out onto the road and slowly picked up speed. “And I’ve seen what Nikolas is like when he’s pissed.”

“You’ve never seen him like this,” Jordan muttered.

I didn’t speak because I was too busy trying to sense Nikolas’s presence. It disappeared and reappeared several times, and each time my breath caught in my throat. His nearness awakened a storm of emotions inside me, and my Mori moved restlessly. It hadn’t even been a day, but I missed him so much. I hated the way things had been between us before I left, and part of me wanted to tell Roland to stop the car and let Nikolas find us. Shaking it off, I reminded myself why I was out here and what was at stake if I didn’t do what I’d set out to do. There would be no future for any us until the threat of the Master no longer hung over our heads.

“We’re clear,” I said at last.

Roland merged onto the highway. “How do you know?”

I swallowed past the small lump in my throat. “I just do. I’ll explain it later.”

“How the hell did they find us so fast?” Peter asked.

Jordan harrumphed. “My guess is they tracked the cell phones you were supposed to ditch in Boise. There’s no way they could have guessed we’d come to Salt Lake City.”

“But how’d they know we were at that motel?” Peter wondered out loud.

“I don’t think they did. They were probably driving around checking out motels.” And seeing if he could sense me nearby. It had almost worked. Another twenty minutes and I would have been asleep in my hotel room, unaware he was anywhere close by until he showed up at the door. Something told me he wouldn’t have knocked either.

It was just past four in the morning when Roland pulled into a roadside motel and declared that we weren’t driving any farther tonight. I had no idea where we were, and I didn’t care as long as there was a bed. I paid for a room with two beds at the front desk, and the four of us said good night. I didn’t even bother to undress. I fell on top of the covers and was out within minutes.

* * *

I leaned against the car, sipping the hot coffee Roland had brought back for me along with breakfast. The morning air was cold, but I was enjoying my first real view of Utah too much to sit inside the hotel room with the others. We were in a town called Green River, which the motel clerk told me was popular with outdoor enthusiasts. Watching the sun slowly turn the peaks of the distant rock formations to gold, I understood why.

I stared at the laptop sitting on the hood of the car, which was my other reason for being out here alone. I dreaded making the call, dreaded the worry and anger I would hear in Nate’s and Tristan’s voices, but I had to call and let them know we were okay. I wasn’t sure if Tristan would even be there or if he was out looking for me, but Nate would be there for sure. Kelvan had warned me not to use the cell phones to call home because they could be traced, but he’d assured me the software on the laptop would prevent the Mohiri from tracing my location.

I hope you’re right, Kelvan. I opened the app and typed in the number to Tristan’s office phone. There was a short delay before it began to ring. I held my breath until I heard someone pick up on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Tristan?”

“Sara! Is Jordan with you? Are you girls okay?” The relief in his voice brought tears of guilt to my eyes.

“Yes, she’s –”

“Where is she? Is she alright?” Someone demanded in the background, and I knew it was Nate before Tristan put me on speaker. “Sara, what the hell were you thinking running off like that? Where are you?”

I took a deep breath. “I can’t tell you that. I’m sorry I worried you, but I had to do this.”

“Worried? I’ve been half out of my mind that one of those monsters will find you.” I had never heard Nate so upset. “I know you’re angry about the decision to take you away, but this is not the way to handle it.”

“His decision, not mine.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “I know you all want to protect me, but I can’t live that way, to be constantly guarded and never allowed to have any control over my own life. You know me, Nate. That would kill me.”

His tone softened. “Then we’ll figure something out. Just come home.”

The plea in his voice made my stomach knot, and I tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t cause him more pain.

“Tell us where you are and someone will be there in hours,” Tristan said, mistaking my silence for concession.

I stared at the ruggedly beautiful terrain and steeled myself to say what I had to say. “I can’t do that. This is about more than controlling my life. I’m tired of hiding and watching people I love get hurt. I don’t want us to spend our lives looking over our shoulders.”

“What are you saying?” Tristan asked slowly.

“I’m saying that as long as the Master is alive, none of us are free.”

Tristan sucked in a sharp breath. “Sara, you can’t mean to go after him alone? That would be suicide.”

“I know that. I’m just going to find the person who knows his identity.”

“Madeline.”

“Once I find out what she knows, I’ll tell you and you can take care of the rest.”

“What makes you think you can find your mother when Tristan’s people can’t?” Nate asked. “She could be anywhere in the world.”

I heard clicking in the background and knew Tristan was on his computer, most likely asking his security guys to trace the call. I sent up a silent prayer that Kelvan’s software blocked them from tracking me.

“I have my sources too, and according to them, Madeline is a few hundred miles from where I’m standing. If they’re right, I’ll be paying her a visit tonight.”

The clicking stopped. “Sara, if you know where Madeline is, tell me and I will bring her in.”

“She’ll see you coming, but she won’t expect me.” I let out a short laugh. “Who knows, maybe she’ll be curious enough to meet her daughter that she won’t try to run.”

A door opened behind me, and I turned to see Roland leave our room and start toward me. It was time to get on the road again.

“Listen, I have to go.” Nate and Tristan began to protest, but I cut them off. “I only called to let you know we’re okay. I’ll call again in a day or so.”

“You haven’t asked to speak to Nikolas,” Tristan said. I suspected he was trying to keep me on the line as long as he could, which meant he was having trouble tracing the call.

“That’s because I know he isn’t there.”

“You should call him.”

“I’m in no mood to be yelled at right now.” I bit my lip. I did want to hear Nikolas’s voice, even if he was yelling at me. I just didn’t trust myself to speak to him yet.

I changed the topic. “By the way, how are Seamus and Niall?”

“Furious they were tricked so easily. It may take them a while to live it down.” Tristan released a slow breath. “You can’t go around using your power on the warriors, Sara.”

“Nikolas taught me anything is fair in a fight. They use their strength and speed against me. My power is my strength, so why shouldn’t I use it to level the field?”

“I don’t think that is how he intended for you to use it.” Tristan was stalling now, trying to keep me talking. Kelvan’s software was obviously working as he’d promised, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

“Tell Seamus and Niall I’m sorry.” My hand hovered over the keyboard. “I have to hang up now. I love you both and I’ll talk to you again soon.”

“Sara, wait –” Tristan said, but I ended the call before he could finish. I swallowed hard and closed the laptop with a shaky hand.

Roland leaned against the car. “Rough call?”

“It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.” I picked up my cup and drained the last of my coffee. “Do you want to use the laptop to call your mom? She must be worried.”

“I called her from the Boise airport and told her we were staying a few more days with you. She wasn’t happy, but she said she’d let the school know.” He made a face. “She’s going to flip when I tell her it’s going to be more than a few days.”

“Who knows? It might be only a couple of days if we find Madeline,” I said hopefully. “And if not, you can always go back.”

“Stop trying to get me to go home. We’re in this together, and that’s it.”

I smiled and gave him a quick hug. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

Jordan walked up to us, jiggling the car keys. “We ready to get this show on the road?”

“Yes.” A thrill went through me. Today we would reach Albuquerque, and I might finally get some of the answers I was looking for.

Peter joined us, carrying his and Roland’s packs. “What if we find Madeline and she won’t talk?” he asked, dampening my excitement.

“She’ll talk.” Madeline owed me that much, and she was going to help me whether she wanted to or not.

We were leaving town when I spotted a sign for a thrift store. It didn’t take us long to find two small backpacks, coats, and a few needed toiletries. I moved my stuff from Roland’s pack to my own, smiling when the laptop fit easily inside. Tucked in with my clothes was a silver necklace, and I fastened it around my neck, letting the plain silver cross settle on my chest. It had been my grandmother’s and a gift from Nate on my sixteenth birthday. Wearing it made me feel like he and my dad were with me in a small way.

Eight hours and two pit stops later, we reached the Albuquerque city limits. I wasn’t the only one who released a happy sigh. Jordan and Roland had switched places at the last stop, and he glanced over at me as we drove into the city. “Where to?”

“Let’s get something to eat before we do anything else.”

“Really? I mean, I thought you’d want to go after Madeline as soon as we got here.”

“I need to check in with David first, and we’re all hungry.” We’d only been on the run for a day, but they all looked worn out and in need of a break. Spending so many hours in a car is tough for anyone, and it didn’t help that we were all a bit on edge. “Just make sure it’s someplace we can afford.”

I wasn’t the least bit surprised when Roland found a little mom-and-pop burger joint. When it came to burgers, he and Peter had built-in radar. We filled a booth and the waitress took our orders. While we waited for our food, I stepped outside to call David, using one of the prepaid phones.

“You made good time,” he said when I told him where we were. “I didn’t expect you to get there until tomorrow.”

“We were motivated to move quickly.” There were things David didn’t know about me, so I was vague on the details of our near run-in with Nikolas.

“This is good actually. We’ve been keeping a close eye on Madeline’s movements, and she’s still in Albuquerque, but for how long I don’t know. Since we’ve been tracking her, she hasn’t stayed in a place longer than a week.”

My pulse quickened. “So she’s here now, for sure?”

“Yes. Do you have your laptop with you? I’m sending you something.”

I tucked the phone between my ear and shoulder and opened the laptop. It powered up in seconds, and I opened the browser and logged into the new email account David had set up for me. Before I’d left home, I’d wiped the computer in my room as he’d instructed, but I had no idea what Tristan’s security guys were capable of.

There was a message from David in my inbox, and I opened it to find a black and white security photo of a dark-haired woman leaving what looked like a hotel lobby. She had either dyed her hair or was wearing a wig, but there was no mistaking Madeline’s beautiful features. I studied her for a long moment, expecting to experience anger, pain, something for the woman who had abandoned me, but all I felt was cool detachment.

“When was this taken?”

“This morning at Hotel Andaluz. She was checked in under the name Teresa King. It’s the first actual picture of her we’ve been able to get. She’s good at hiding from cameras. Is it her?”

“Yes.” My breath caught, and I immediately began to Google the hotel name for directions.

“She’s no longer there,” David said. “She stays only one night at a hotel before she gets a new one. She hasn’t checked into another one yet.”

My heart sank. “Then she might have left town already.”

“We have reason to believe she is still there. Kelvan has friends in the demon community in Albuquerque, and he found out through them that Madeline has gone to see a local warlock named Orias for the last two nights. His friends tell him she is expected back tonight.”

There’s a demon community? “Why would demons help us?” I asked when I’d gotten over my shock.

“They wouldn’t, but they’d help Kelvan. You must have made quite an impression on him.”

I closed the laptop so I could hold the phone again. “What do you mean?”

“Kelvan is a nice guy, but he doesn’t do well with strangers, especially hunters. That’s why I didn’t tell him what you are. After you left, he told me that if you ever needed anything, to let him know. He took it upon himself to reach out to his friends in Albuquerque.”

“I think his cat really liked me.”

David let out a laugh. “Lulu likes people even less than Kelvan does.”

I grinned. “I have a way with animals. It’s all part of my charm.”

“Okay, I get it. You’re going to be mysterious about it.” I could tell by his voice that he was still smiling. “I hope your charm works on warlocks, too.”

“I’ve never met a warlock. I’ve heard they can be into some heavy stuff.” Like capturing baby griffins and using their blood to raise demons. I shuddered. I had no desire to meet someone who practiced that kind of magic. Everything I knew about warlocks had come from Remy. Warlocks were born with magic, but they needed demon essence to make them strong. They raised higher demons and kept them captive so they could draw from the demon’s power. The stronger the demon, the stronger the warlock.

“Orias is a powerful warlock. He offers his services to anyone for the right price. He doesn’t care if you are demon, human, or something else as long as you can pay and don’t cause him any trouble. He doesn’t have a problem with Mohiri, like many of his clientele do, but he never gives anything away for free either, and that includes information.”

“Great,” I muttered. If we were lucky, we’d find Madeline at the warlock’s place and I wouldn’t have to deal with him at all. I sighed. Since when had I ever been that lucky?

“I’m sending you directions to Orias’s place now. It’s a little tricky to find if you don’t know exactly where you’re going. I think that is by design.”

Someone tapped on the window behind me, and I turned to see Roland waving for me to come in.

“Thanks, David. Listen, I have to go but I’ll let you know how it goes. And tell Kelvan thanks for me.”

“Will do. Stay safe.”

I hung up and joined the others in the booth where a burger and fries waited for me. Looking over at Jordan’s plate, I shook my head at the two monstrous cheeseburgers. “You aren’t actually going to eat all of that, are you?”

“Duh.” She smirked and took a huge bite from one.

I picked up my own and took a much smaller bite. It was homemade and so delicious after twenty-four hours of gas station food. I gave a contented sigh that drew smiles from my friends.

“What’s the plan?” Jordan asked in a lowered voice after she finished off her first burger. “Do we know where Madeline is?”

“She’s here in town, but she moves around a lot.” I told them about the picture David had sent me, and they all started talking at once.

“So we wait for her to check into another hotel?” Peter asked.

I took a sip of my soda. “We don’t know if she will get another hotel. But I have the name of a person she has been going to see, and there is a very good chance she’ll be there tonight. David is sending me the address.”

“Great.” Roland grinned at me. “So who are we going to see?”

I smiled at their expectant faces. “We’re off to see the wizard.”