The Black Masquerade Page 9

  “Do you have anything to keep yourself occupied?” I asked.

  He stared blankly at the wall. “Um, I guess I do maybe. I can watch movies.”

  “Good idea. Start a Lord of the Rings marathon or something.”

  Tony nodded, and I pointed at my business card that was still on his desk. “Give me a call if anything comes up. I’ll let you know if we end up needing anything.”

  I was vague on purpose. Now that we knew where the hounds were, Abel would be finding something that would knock them out, most likely while I had my date with Justin.

  We just needed to keep ourselves—and Tony—alive for a few more hours.

  Chapter 19

  “When do you think it’ll all go down?” Tony asked.

  “These things can take a few days,” I said, waving him off. “At least by next Wednesday.”

  I wanted to give him a day far enough in the future that he would relax enough for us to do our job. If he knew we were coming back that evening, it would definitely make him freak out.

  Abel and I got in the car, and I glanced at the clock on the dash. My date started in thirty minutes. Good timing.

  “How long do you think it’ll take to get everything ready for tonight?” I asked.

  “A couple of hours. I’ll text when I’m ready.”

  I nodded. “And I’ll check in with you when I’m done.”

  I still wished I hadn’t slipped up about the date. It wasn’t Abel’s business. I hadn’t missed the slightly wounded expression he’d quickly covered with anger, though. It had hurt him. But why? Regardless of how drawn to me he was, he’d been abrupt and rude almost the whole time we’d been together the last couple of days.

  With a deep breath that I let go of slowly, I decided not to feel bad about the situation. Unless he started treating me nicely and we became more than just angry acquaintances, it wasn’t my fault our relationship was hard on him. I wasn’t flirting with him or leading him on.

  Abel pulled up to my house, and I ran inside to get ready for the date, waving at Abel as he drove away. The moment his car was out of sight, I sank into the couch, needing a breather. He was intense. The day had been intense. And I was ready for a relaxing evening with an attractive man.

  ***

  I opened my closet and stared at my options. What was I supposed to wear? I didn’t want to dress too nicely, especially since we’d be bowling and eating pizza, and I also didn’t want to come across as trying to impress him.

  Don’t get me wrong—Justin was attractive and I had no problem letting him know I was potentially interested. But experience told me I needed to dress cautiously. Especially until I knew if he wanted more than a casual, friends-getting-caught-up type relationship.

  I settled on a nice pair of jeans—dark, cute designs on the back pockets, and an attractive top. Not overly flashy or formal, but still strong enough of a color to bring out a little of my personality.

  After making sure my hair and makeup looked okay and that I didn’t have anything in my teeth, I hopped in my car and drove to Jack and Jill’s, where we’d decided to meet. I knew Jack, the owner of the place, and looked forward to bringing his bowling and pizza company some business. He was an old resident of Lehi and a good friend.

  Justin was already there, waiting. We went inside, reserved a lane, and ordered pepperoni pizza.

  “You look nice,” he said.

  I smiled, sensing a genuine compliment. “Thanks. So do you.”

  And he did. I seemed to remember him having curly hair in high school. It was cut very close now, drawing attention to his high cheekbones and strong jawline. He’d only aged a little, though. He didn’t have any wrinkles, and his skin, though nicely tanned from the sun, was still just as fresh as it had been in high school. So not fair.

  “How do you do it?” I blurted.

  “Do what?” he asked.

  I waved a hand at him. “This. You don’t look a day older than nineteen or twenty.”

  He chuckled. “I eat well, get plenty of exercise, and try to make sure I’m sleeping nine to ten hours at night.”

  I smiled. “The sleep. That’s it. I’m definitely not getting enough.”

  He returned my smile, and we bantered back and forth until the pizza arrived. We started a game of bowling soon after, and I found myself totally enjoying the time we were spending together. It was so easy to be with him—he was funny and a natural at getting people to open up. I chose my words carefully, not wanting to scare him away on our first date, but I could totally see myself confiding in him eventually. Hopefully, there would be a repeat date.

  He won all of the bowling games, but I won both games of laser tag.

  Laser tag, if you’ve never tried it, is quite entertaining, even for adults. It was mostly a game teenagers played—in fact, both of our teams were full of teenagers—but it was still some serious fun. I found I’m good at sneaking around, and I’m not really ashamed to admit that I used the amulet to hide myself in the shadows better. Of course, the vests they make you wear have lights all over them, so I could only hide myself so much.

  At the end of the date, we hung out in the parking lot, neither seeming to want our time together to end.

  “I’d like to do this again,” Justin said. “In fact, I’m going to the governor’s masquerade this weekend and still need a date. Would you be interested in going with me?”

  I felt my cheeks redden. Dang it! Why had I already invited Abel? I should’ve waited. “I’m sorry . . .” I didn’t need to continue.

  “You’ve already got a date this weekend?”

  I nodded. I was about to tell him I’d also be at the ball when he rushed to speak again, probably wanting to make sure a second date actually happened. It warmed my insides that he seemed to be as interested in me as I was in him.

  “Drat. I need to act fast where you’re concerned—that’s good to know. How about next week sometime?”

  “That would be good. Give me a call, and we can work something out.” I tilted my head when the fact that he would be at the masquerade really sank in. “You’re going to the ball? How long have you been here, anyway?”

  “I recently helped on a job for the governor—we built his website. I acted as a liaison between him and my company.” He shrugged modestly. “We hit it off and now stay in pretty close contact.”

  I nodded. The governor’s website had recently been overhauled. They’d done a huge unveiling, and part of their unveiling was the black masquerade, celebrating the change. I suspected it all had to do with the upcoming elections. Everything politicians did had to do with upcoming elections.

  We said goodbye, and I hopped in my car and drove home. Abel was there already, leaning up against his trunk, his expression difficult to read.

  Chapter 20

  “Hold on—just give me a second,” I said. “I need to change clothes.”

  I stepped inside, leaving the door open behind me. Abel didn’t follow me. Was he still annoyed at me for having a date? Whatever.

  It only took me a couple of minutes, and I soon joined him outside. The clock on his dash showed it was nearly midnight. Whoa—my date had gone a lot later than I’d thought, and I hadn’t once checked the time. I wasn’t going to apologize. I’d been having fun, and I wasn’t about to let Abel’s sour attitude ruin it.

  Abel parked the car some ways down the street from the facility, and I looked at him skeptically.

  “Why’d you park this far away? What if we need to make a quick getaway?”

  He shrugged. “Shouldn’t be a problem. I’m fast on foot. What about you?”

  I didn’t answer. Running wasn’t my thing—my favorite type of physical activity usually involved reading or watching a movie. Dancing, if I must. But not running. Still, I was in shape.

  Abel and I hopped out of the car and stepped around to the trunk. He popped it open, and we sifted through the various weapons available. Once we’d selected a few, Abel handed me a couple of crudely m
ade explosives while he put on a small backpack.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Bombs?”

  He shrugged. “I couldn’t figure out another way to deliver the gas without us getting knocked out in the process. If I’d had more time, I would’ve built something to pipe it into the unit. We’ll have to make sure we’re far away before the trigger gets pulled.”

  “And then we run as fast as we can before the cops arrive?”

  Abel stared at me. “Before they arrive?” he repeated. “They know who we are. Besides, haven’t you noticed the horrible security here? There are only a couple of cameras.”

  He entered the code to open the gate. It was simple, only four digits—a generic code that would be the same code for everyone—and it wouldn’t tell Tony who was coming or going. I had a feeling it hadn’t been changed in a while. I glanced back at Abel. “Okay. You’re right. This place definitely needs better security.”

  He and I entered after the gate swung open. I held the amulet in my hand, half expecting it to start yelling at me any second, warning me that someone was near. But nothing happened.

  As we got closer to the storage unit, we heard noises coming from inside. The door was open by about four inches. I glanced at Abel. He put a finger to his lips, motioning me to be quiet. I rolled my eyes. Like I needed a reminder.

  Abel started setting up the explosives just at the opening to the storage unit. A slight glow came from inside, and it sounded like a meeting was going on. I crept close to the edge of the door, then got down on my knees and listened for a moment before peering inside.

  Multiple chairs faced away from the door. All of them were filled. They were discussing something, their body language tense and alert. We’d have to be very careful.

  Abel made sure the switch was ready to go, then we tiptoed the way we’d come. He unrolled a spool of wire as we went.

  We stepped around a corner about five hundred feet away, and the amulet started going crazy. It didn’t take me long to figure out why.

  Four people stood there, waiting for us. I assumed they were hounds. Two were women, all were dressed in black. The amulet was burning against my chest.

  Kill kill kill.

  I realized it was telling me we would need to murder them. Obviously. Flames glowed at the tops of their sternums, but I wasn’t close enough to extinguish them. Unlike in the movies, conversation didn’t happen. The men jumped to attack me, the women aiming for Abel.

  Abel was ready, and I pulled out my knife, my heartbeat nearly choking me. His knives flashed in the moonlight as he launched them, hitting both men. The men slowed, but didn’t stop as they charged me. How were they still on their feet?

  I stepped to the side, surprised to find my movements more agile, more catlike. Was the amulet helping me after all? One of the men grabbed me by the wrist, pinching and giving a hard-enough shake for my knife in that hand to fall. Oops. Okay, so I wasn’t trained at this. Maybe the amulet could only enhance training I’d already received.

  He was close enough to me, though, for the amulet to sense his presence. I reached out with my magic.

  Kill?

  Yes, kill.

  I snuffed the fire. The man collapsed.

  The other man gasped, his fist missing my face as he lurched to get away from me. Not wanting to lose the opportunity, I stepped toward him, switching the knife to my right hand. He turned to run, but Abel was there. Both women were on the ground, unconscious. Once the men had come at me, I hadn’t even heard or noticed them fighting.

  The man jumped up out of Abel’s reach, and I turned my attention to the women. I knew from experience that hounds healed quickly.

  Trusting Abel to do what he needed to with the man, I dropped to my knees next to the women. Their fires were harder to find—I had to practically lean over each of them in order to snuff out their flames.

  What to do with the bodies? I got to my feet, looking for Abel and the other man. They’d disappeared around the corner. Hoping the man wasn’t leading Abel back to the unit, I rounded the corner, nearly smacking into Abel. He had the man pinned up against the wall. The man was in the middle of changing into a hound. His face had elongated, fur sprouting everywhere, and his ears were way higher than normal. Somehow, Abel’s grip around his throat was stopping that transformation from taking place. Maybe he couldn’t finish it without oxygen.

  I stepped up next the man and practically had to wrap myself around him to reach the flame in his sternum. This was much worse than I thought it would be. For some reason, I’d assumed the distance between myself and my victims would grow larger as I got better, not smaller.

  The man’s flame disappeared, and he went limp under Abel’s grip.

  “We have to get rid of the bodies,” I whispered.

  Abel nodded. “First, the gas.”

  Apparently, the fighting had been relatively quiet—none of our enemies had made noise, and only scuffling sounds had resulted. The blood pounding in my ears had been loud enough to alert someone, I was sure. But that wasn’t the case.

  We raced back to where the fighting had originated, where the detonator still sat. Abel picked it up and pushed the button. A series of explosions went off, not big enough to rock the ground, but definitely loud enough for my ears to ring.

  “Whoa,” I whispered. “That will have caught attention.”

  He nodded. “Sorry. I wish we could have tested it.”

  “When will the air be safe for us to breathe?”

  “In a couple of minutes. We can’t wait that long.” He pulled out two gas masks from the small backpack he’d been wearing, handing one to me.

  I put it on, then we raced back to the storage unit.

  Chapter 21

  The door had been destroyed near the bombs, the metal curling back. The fifth bomb hadn’t gone off. I glanced at Abel.

  He glowered. “Be careful,” he said, his voice distorted by the gas mask. “It could go off at any moment.”

  I closed my eyes, trying to maintain control of my sarcasm. “I’m a Fire Impeder, Abel. It’s my job to keep bombs from going off.”

  “Yeah, but while you’re killing hounds?”

  He had a point.

  We stepped into the huge storage unit. Bodies lay all over the place. I felt sick just seeing how many there were.

  Without hesitating, I began snuffing out the little fires. It got harder and harder as I went, my progress slowing. The amulet obviously needed time to recharge. Why hadn’t the shade in Mount Koven warned me about that? There was no way I’d get everyone at this rate. I looked back—I’d only taken care of about ten hounds so far. There were at least fifty to go.

  I was bending over a particularly large man, trying to reach the flame at his sternum, when shouting voices in the distance echoed off the unit walls.

  I glanced over at Abel. “Time to go.”

  He was busy pulling dead bodies away from me, making it easier for me to know who’d I’d already killed. “No. We stay here.”

  I shook my head. “Even murdering a criminal is illegal if there isn’t just cause. There’s a reason we have a court system in place. You can’t just go around killing people.”

  Abel grunted impatiently, but didn’t argue. He took me by the hand and pulled me up and around the dead bodies. We jumped out of the unit, but instead of heading to the opening of the facility, we ran deeper into it, going as far to the east as possible before running south toward the entrance. We made a wide berth around the cops and their lights.

  Getting out of the facility ended up being a lot easier than I’d thought it would be. Everyone was distracted by the mass of entangled bodies they discovered.

  Abel didn’t let go of my hand after we left the facility and started toward the car. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It didn’t give me a thrill or anything. Honestly, it made me uncomfortable. I couldn’t turn it on and off as easily as he could, apparently. Wanting to make sure we were on the same page, I extricated my hand from his.
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  He glanced at me, his eyebrow raised. “What was that for?”

  “I can’t handle your mood swings. I never know if you’ll yell at me or be my best friend. You’re supportive and a jerk at the same time. It’s not exactly a turn-on.”

  Abel didn’t respond for a moment, and I was afraid I’d angered him. Typical Abel.

  He finally turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders, gazing into my eyes, his own expression intense. Despite what I’d just said, I couldn’t help but feel my attraction for him shoot through the roof. This man was hot.

  “Lizzie . . .” He seemed to be fighting with himself over something. Finally, he sighed. “As soon as I know what’s going on in my own life, I’ll fill you in. I’m attracted to you—very attracted—but my situation is far from simple right now. It would be better if we didn’t date.”

  And there went the mood. I raised an eyebrow. “Date? Are you serious? Did it sound like I was about to ask you out?”

  Abel chuckled, which only made me more annoyed. “No . . .no, it didn’t. I was mostly telling myself that.”

  “Good. Because you haven’t exactly endeared yourself to me.”

  A sad expression crossed his face. “And I’m really sorry about that. I truly am.” He held my gaze, then released me.

  Abel continued walking to his car, and I did the same. Neither of us said anything more. Unsurprisingly, his explanation didn’t resolve a thing. If he’d been trying to confuse me, he’d succeeded. And not knowing where my own feelings were going was equally frustrating.

  What I’d told Detective Cole definitely applied to Abel as well. Until this man figured things out, and until my life was little calmer, I couldn’t afford to get distracted. Famous last words, I know, but when the man you’re attracted to goes hot and cold as frequently as Abel, it’s easier not to fall for him.

  We were almost back to my place when I got a call from Chief O’Hare.

  “Lizzie?” he said, his voice gruff and exhausted. “There are explosive devices in a storage unit up north. We need you there to make sure they don’t detonate—at least one of them hasn’t gone off yet.”