Gabriel’s POV
I woke up to the sound of knocking on my bedroom door.
“What?” I grunted, not wanting to get up.
“Get up, man,” I heard Nick’s voice. “We have to start searching.”
I grunted again and sat up in my bed. We agreed to go to my grandma’s old study and our library and find everything we can about Victor and Cora. If he was politically active there should be some records about him. We have to start somewhere.
“What time is it?” I asked and got up.
“8:30 am.”
“Too early,” I complained.
He laughed. “Don’t be a pussy. Go do your morning stuff and I’ll see you at your grandma’s study. I’ll start looking.”
I brushed my teeth and hopped in the shower. I put on a pair of sweats and a hoodie and went down to the kitchen.
I made two cups of coffee and took them to the study.
Nick already had two books in front of him.
“Anything?” I asked and handed him his cup of coffee.
“Nothing much,” he responded, not looking up from the book in front of him. “Go to the library and bring any books that could have something about him.”
I nodded and walked out.
Half an hour later there were at least fifteen books stacked up on the desk in front of Nick. I grabbed one and started reading it.
Anything that seemed useful I passed on to Nick. The books were mostly about politics and law and that was Nick’s turf. He had a law degree, but he was not currently using it. Well, unless hunting down Victor counts. Then he was definitely using it.
If Victor was into destroying the world with machines, that would be my turf. I was planning on going to college to study mechanical engineering. I was into different kinds of laws. Unfortunately, those laws didn’t help at the moment.
“Have you found anything?” I asked Nick after a while.
“Not much,” he sighed. “He was a very charismatic man who gathered a lot of followers. Our kind saw him as salvation and as a future king of the supernaturals. Speaking as a lawyer, his laws were good, and they were fair. No wonder people loved him. He promised so much, and his actions proved a lot of it to be true. Until he revealed himself for who he truly was.”
“Anything else?” I asked, annoyed. We know that already.
“It just talks about how he wanted power to eventually kill all the humans, but he was removed from his position. It doesn’t say what happened to him.”
“Basically, nothing we don’t already know,” I sighed and heard the door to the study open.
Shit. Is it Aria? We should have locked the door.
I sighed in relief when I saw Annie.
“Hey, guys,” Annie said and smiled. “What are you up to?”
“Victor and Cora research,” I said quietly in case Aria came down with her.
“Oh, you don’t have to whisper,” Annie said. “Aria is still sleeping.”
“Good,” Nick said. “Come in and grab a book. Maybe we missed something.”
The three of us went back to research and I kept listening carefully in case Aria woke up. I don’t want her barging in on us.
I took a couple of books that were about dark magic and searched for Cora’s name in them.
After a while I finally found something.
“Guys!” I said, not looking up. “I found something about Cora.”
“Read it,” Nick rushed me.
“Among the dark witches, Cora from the Blacklist Coven is the most feared one. She is known for the merciless torture of her victims, using forbidden ingredients in her potions, and using spells that are punishable by death. Her hunger for power is never satisfied and she will always want more. She will stop at nothing to collect as much power as she can.” I read and turned the page but the part about Cora was finished, and it continued about her dark sister, Petra.
“That’s it?” Nick asked, frowning.
“Yeah,” I sighed.
Nick growled and ran his fingers through his hair. “This is useless.”
“Hey, guys,” Annie said, looking at the book she was holding in her hands. “It says here that Victor had a close personal assistant. She was his right hand, and she traveled the country to gather more followers for him.”
“It was probably Cora,” I sighed.
“No,” Annie said and shook her head. “It says here her name was Patricia Jones.”
“That could be something,” Nick said and walked over to Annie.
She gave him the book and he read the part about Patricia, flipping through some of the pages to see if there is anything else about her.
“Anything?” I asked.
“No. That is it,” he said. “But that could be something. If she is important, she has to know something more about him. We have to find her if she is still alive.”
“I will call Sebastian,” I said. “He knows some people that could track her down.”
Sebastian was well-connected, and he could help us. I will gladly be a bouncer for a few nights to repay him.
I texted him telling him to give me a call as soon as he could.
“Are we done here?” Annie asked and stood up.
“We are,” I nodded. “I am hungry.”
“Me too,” Nick said. “Annie, wake up Aria while Gabe and I clean this up and we will go and get something to eat.”
She nodded and went upstairs.
I looked at the time and saw it was 10:40 am. We have been here for a while.
I was placing books back on the shelves when Annie ran into the study.
“She is gone!” she yelled.
I froze and I couldn’t move. Nick growled loudly pulling me back from my shock. I ran upstairs to her room and saw her stuff was there, but she wasn’t.
Nick came right behind me. “Where the fuck is she?”
“Her stuff is here,” I said, gritting my teeth. “I don’t think she ran away.”
Annie came in and pulled out her phone. “I am calling her.”
“Put it on speaker,” Nick growled.
I could feel how angry and scared he was. It was kind of intimidating, I had to admit. Nate was getting stronger by the minute.
After a few rings, Aria picked up. “Hey, Annie.”
“Where the hell are you?” I said.
I couldn’t control myself.
There was a moment of silence and Aria sighed. “I went out for coffee, and I went to the library.”
“Why?” Nick growled.
“Because I wanted to start my research on this prophecy,” she said calmly.
The three of us shared a look. I hope she didn’t find anything.
“Where are you now?” Nick asked.
“I am at a bakery. Pete’s,” she said. “Don’t worry. I will be there soon.”
I knew that bakery. It was close to the hotel she was staying at.
“No,” I said. “We are coming to get you. Stay there.”
Aria’s POV
I sighed and ended the call. I should have known this would happen.
I looked back at Ian who was smiling at me. “Are you in trouble?”
“I think I am,” I smiled back and sipped my coffee.
“Are they coming here?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I sighed.
“That is my cue to leave then,” he said, smiling warmly at me. “I don’t want to be killed by two warlocks.”
“One is a half-wolf, technically,” I laughed.
I learned this morning that Ian knows about supernaturals, and he knew I was a witch as soon as he saw me. He thought this inquisition thing was horrible and he had been helping the supernaturals run and hide.
Ian was so happy to see me this morning when I came to the hotel. He immediately said yes when I asked him if he would like to go get a cup of coffee with me.
I was having doubts about coming to see him and asking him for his help, but I needed someone who knew his way around the city. Someone who lived here and maybe even knew Claudia. And he was the only person aside from Gabriel, Nick, and Annie I have met here. Well, there was Jack and Mike. But Nick would explode if I went to them. And they could tell Annie. I couldn’t risk that. She would tell Gabriel and he was trying to keep me in the dark. I was sure of it. So, Ian was the only logical choice. I would just have to be careful about what I share with him. I decided to tell him that I was interested in her work because I wanted to be an architect as well. That should be good enough to explain my interest in her. I just hoped he would want to help me. At least to show me around the city.
Talking to him was easy. He was like a friend I’ve known all my life. As I was coming up with a way to ask him to help me find out more about Claudia, he brought up the supernaturals. He carefully told me he knew what I was and that he had no intentions of giving me to the inquisitors.
The conversation was easier from that point. I told him a little bit about how I came to the City, and he knew about the attack on my village. I carefully mentioned Claudia and I told him a little bit about why I wanted to find out more about her. I left out the part about the prophecy and told him she was my distant relative and my grandma’s last wish was for me to get to know her. Turned out, he had heard about Claudia. She was a pretty famous architect.
He immediately decided to help me. We made a deal to meet here at Pete’s every Thursday at 9 am to discuss what we have found out about her. He told me where the library was, and he said he would go to her old firm to find out more about her. Maybe there was a supernatural person who knows her well and who would be willing to talk to me about her.
“It is a deal then?” he asked me and stood up from his chair.
“Yes,” I smiled. “Next Thursday at 9 am.”
“How are you going to sneak out?” he asked with a smirk.
“I will think of something,” I sighed. “They can’t forbid me from leaving the house.”
“They can try,” he teased me.
“I don’t even know why they are so protective,” I sighed.
I felt like I could talk to Ian about this. It was easy with him.
“They are probably attracted to you,” he smiled at me. “You are beautiful, you know that, right? It is hard not to be attracted to you.”
I smirked. I knew Nick was attracted to me because I was his mate. But Gabriel? I didn’t think so. Nick probably would have killed him by now. He just cared about his friend and wanted me safe so Nick would be okay. How come I didn’t think of that sooner? That was the only explanation.
But what about the connection?
“You are even prettier when you get lost in your thoughts,” Ian’s voice interrupted my train of thought.
I looked back up at him and he was smiling warmly at me. Please don’t go there, Ian. I am comfortable with you. And I don’t want to stop feeling that way.
But I can’t tell him that, so I just smile. “Thank you, Ian.”
“I am leaving,” he said. “They will be here soon, and I value my life.”
I laughed and he winked at me.
He walked out of the bakery, and he waved at me.
A few moments later another man walked inside. I didn’t know why, but I felt like I knew this man. He looked around the bakery and his eyes landed on me. He smiled coldly and started to walk toward me. I felt complete and utter terror inside and I didn’t even know why.
