Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
“You knew that a dark practitioner was involved, though.” He sniffed. “That problem, at least, is easily solved.”
Khloë frowned. “It is? How?”
“I’ll just kill all the dark practitioners in Vegas,” replied Lou, as if the solution were obvious. “Then we can be sure he’s dead.”
Naomi barely held back an aggravated sigh. “That’s a bit of an overreaction, don’t you think?”
“Nope. And why would you care if they all die? They’re terrible, terrible people. The things they get up to” —he shuddered in disgust—“are pure evil. They should be eradicated for the greater good.”
Beck frowned. “What do you care about the greater good?”
“Not one thing,” said Lou. “But I want my daughter to be safe. A dark practitioner is a threat to her. Slaughtering them would remove that threat. Ergo . . .”
Naomi stepped toward him. “While I appreciate that you want to protect me, I’d rather you didn’t go on a killing spree.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” he pointed out.
“Who did you kill before?” asked Khloë.
“A bunch of angels.” Lou folded his arms, inching up his chin in superiority. “They deserved it.”
Khloë’s nose wrinkled. “Why?”
“Because they did.”
Alfie tipped his head to the side. “And that conclusion has roots in pragmatism or is just something you claim to excuse your actions?”
Lou’s face scrunched up. “Why would I want to excuse what I did? That kind of thing is for people who feel . . . you know . . . remorse. I would genuinely pity those who experience that emotion if I had it in me to give a rat’s ass.”
“And yet you judge others so much,” said Beck. “You don’t think that you’re perhaps equally cruel?”
Lou pointed at his face. “Perfection itself, remember?”
Jolene rolled her eyes. “Your ‘solution’ won’t help us. Unless the first dark practitioner you kill is our boy, you’ll only scare him into lying low by massacring his kind. He might even go underground, making it harder for us to find him and dragging out this whole thing. More, he could decide to come at Naomi another way. A harder way. Like with preternaturals instead of clerics. Humans who have a trace of Nephilim blood and thereby possess an aptitude for holy magick are far less of a threat.”
Lou leaned back, eyeing the Prime curiously. “Wait, you think you can talk me into ignoring that this is happening? Is that what you’re trying to do?”
“What I think is that if you want to get involved, you need to go about it more stealthily for Naomi’s sake,” said Jolene. “No dramatic displays of power or vengeance.”
“Says an imp—the very personification of dramatic displays of, well, everything.”
“Be a parent, Lou, and think of her.”
“I think of her all the time. She is always in my thoughts.” He thumped a fist over the right side of his chest. “I hold her here.”
“In the large cavity in your chest where a heart should be?”
“Now that was uncalled for.” Lou crossed to Naomi and curled an arm around her shoulders. “Fear not, my dear girl. I will make this problem go away completely. You’ll see.” With that, he disappeared.
Ciaran rubbed at the back of his head. “I could be wrong, but I don’t think he intends to listen to us.”
Naomi puffed out a breath. “No. No, neither do I.”
“Thanks to Lou,” Jolene began stiffly, “we’re unlikely to get the address of the monastery from the cleric. I’ll question him regardless, but it isn’t likely to get me anywhere. Even under threats of torture, he’ll protect this person he’s convinced is an angel.”
“He did give us a few clues to go on,” Beck reminded her. “He said that the monastery was over an hour’s drive away. That means it’s approximately sixty miles from here, though I’m not sure in what direction. He also said it was near a ghost town. There are several in Nevada, but I think there are only two that are roughly in a sixty-mile radius from here. I’d have to check.”
Jolene folded her arms. “We might be able to locate it using these clues, though we’re only likely to get an approximate idea of where it might be. Damn Lou for showing up. Things were going so well. We could right now be in possession of all the answers if he hadn’t appeared and messed everything up.”
Naomi pulled a face. “I feel like I should apologize for him.”
“You certainly don’t have to make apologies on his behalf,” Jolene stated.
“Do you think he really will aim to kill every last dark practitioner he can find here in Vegas?” asked Ciaran.
Jolene drew in a breath through her nose. “Yes, I do. And I’m feeling quite certain that he won’t be in the least bit subtle about it.”
What with how the start of her evening had played out, Naomi had briefly considered canceling her hookup with Luka. She wouldn’t exactly make the best company—too tired, too distracted, too annoyed that Lou had foiled their plan.