Chapter 67

Julia

My brother kept his eyes on the detectives as we followed them out to the elevator.

“Have a nice day,” Persephone called out with mock sincerity.

Once the elevator doors closed, Trevor turned to us. “What the hell was that about? I thought you were going to keep your suspicions about LaCroix posing as one of the detectives to yourselves.”

“We decided just today that we need to be more proactive in our efforts to get Desmond to come out of hiding.” I explained.

“How is pricking his temper a good idea?” Trevor asked.

“It seems he already wants to kill me, so I’m not too worried about pissing him off,” I argued. “What more can he do to me?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized how foolish they were. My brother looked incredulous. “Fine! There’s a lot more he might do if he’s really angry. I get that, but I’m also tired of sitting around waiting.”

“There’s a possibility, if we get this to the right people at the police department, they might investigate it and find out where LaCroix is,” Gryph pointed out. “From what Beatrice told us, Desmond can’t simply create a form. He can only mimic that of another.”

“That means the person he’s mimicking may be dead,” Trevor finished for him. “While I understand your reasoning, I’m not sure pricking the tempers of these two detectives will help.”

“It might,” I argued. “We need to see if we can get someone else to listen to us.”

Trevor’s expression turned thoughtful. “Let me make some calls. I may know someone who can help us.”

I moved forward to hug my brother. “Thank you, Trevor. You’re still my favorite brother.”

He chuckled. “That would mean a lot more if you had another brother.”

I pulled away and grinned at him. “I guess, by default, you’re also my least favorite brother.”

He laughed at my overused joke, even though I was pretty sure he no longer found it the least bit funny. “What’s your plan now that you may have just made LaCroix even angrier?”

“It’ll be best if Julia stays out of sight as much as possible,” Gryph began. “I’ll talk to Allie about rescheduling as many Bliss clients as possible. It would definitely be safer if Allie and Persephone weren’t here too often.”

“Good thinking,” Trevor agreed. “We can make some space up at the law offices for any client meetings that can’t be rescheduled. Julia will be safer now that she’s not leaving your home and coming into the office.”

“I’m still concerned LaCroix will use police resources to find her,” Gryph admitted. “Maybe it would be safer if she stays with Oliver in the demon realm.”

“Normally, I’d be completely against that idea, but she would be safer there,” Trevor added thoughtfully.

I stared at the idiots, unable to believe what I was hearing. I was certain they’d realize what a bad idea it was to try to plan my life without consulting me. That had been the very thing that had led to the huge fight I’d had with Gryph all those months ago. Admittedly, some of it had to do with my own fear of getting involved, but I might have gotten over that sooner if Gryph hadn’t been acting like a caveman about the whole thing. My mind drifted as the idiots tried to plan my life with no input from me.

“I’ll take Julia home to pack her stuff, while you call Melina’s father to make arrangements for her transport,” Gryph told Trevor.

“I’m going to The Cauldron tonight.” My announcement had the desired effect of stunning both of them into silence.

“Very funny, Julia,” Trevor said when he recovered from his shock.

Gryph let out a nervous chuckle as he eyed me wearily. “I thought you were serious,” he remarked. “We should head out now to get you packed up.”

My smile was strained when I responded to that bit of idiocy. “I have a client meeting in ten minutes. Before that, I’m going to see if Mel and Allie want to go out tonight. There is no way in hell I am going to hide in Hell.”

“It’s too dangerous to go to The Cauldron,” Trevor argued.

Gryph remained silent, though I could see it wasn’t easy. I knew he wanted to argue with me. He wanted to tell me I couldn’t go to the club, but he was trying to find a way to do it without making me angrier. It was a sign he was smarter than my brother.

“What’s dangerous, Trevor?” I demanded. “You already know The Cauldron is one of the safest places in this realm.”

The Cauldron was an extremely popular witch club. They had the best drinks, live music three nights a week, and powerful dampening spells. No magic of any kind could be used in the club.

“Why is it safe?” Gryph asked, his eyes yellow. His wolf wasn’t happy about this either.

“With the dampening spells on the club, if Desmond sets foot in there, he’ll lose the form he’s using. They’ve gone out of their way to make sure no magic can be used inside.”

“You can’t stay in there forever, Sass,” he practically growled. “We still have to travel to and from the club.”

“I know,” I assured him. “I get that it would be safest for me to hide, but I can’t keep doing this.”

“This is a bad idea,” Gryph insisted.

“It’s my choice to make,” I reminded him.

Gryph wanted to argue with me. He wanted me to go to the demon realm and hide there until the danger passed. “We can always bring extra security,” I suggested.

Gryph gave a curt nod. “I’ll make the arrangements.” With that, he headed out of the room.

“No,” Trevor said in a firm voice. “You can’t do this, Julia.”

“And how exactly are you going to stop me?” I taunted Trevor.

“I’ll tell Mom what you have planned,” he threatened before realizing what he’d said. “Please, Julia. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Hearing the worry in my brother’s voice made me feel guilty. I really didn’t want to upset him, but I wasn’t going to give in on this. “I love you, Trevor, and I hate that you’re worried. Think about how you’d feel if you were the one being threatened. Would you want to give up your whole life?”

“It’s just until this is over,” he insisted.

“We don’t know how long that will be,” I reminded him. “How would you feel if you had to be separated from Melina?”

Trevor’s eyes widened. “You love Gryph.”

“Yes, I do,” I confirmed. “It’s not easy when you morons are trying to plan my life with no input from me, but I really do love him.”

Trevor let out a sigh and nodded. “I’ll see if there’s anything I can do to help Gryph, and I’ll make sure Melina’s ready to go out tonight.”

“And you’ll try not to run my life in the future?” I asked.

Trevor responded with a dry chuckle. “Don’t hold your breath on that.”

At least, he was honest.