[Victor]When I woke, Echo was practically bouncing in our bed. I smiled at her excitement and wondered what could have worked her up like this. When she saw I was awake, she pounced on me with a hug. “What’s going on, princess?” I asked. “I moved some really big stuff with my magic! Marius told me he could move large items, but I didn’t think I was ready. I was though!”“Calm down, my love. You’ll have to explain that to me.” Echo sat up on top of me and started quickly filling me in on her day. I listened intently. It seemed Rock was creating a home for Rhett and the woman he saved. “Did Rock say why he was doing this?” I asked her. “He told the men at his company that they were repaying the debt owed to Rhett for helping with the cult and the creature. Gray said the vampires would pay by having me transport everything. Then only the witches would still owe him. I think that’s fair because the coven hasn’t been very helpful to everyone else in the alliance while we’ve worked on this,” Echo replied. I chuckled. She wasn’t wrong. Mrs. Layton was excluding herself from meetings if she didn’t feel they were important. We were already starting to realize we couldn’t count on the coven in this action. She seemed to believe we would take care of this situation and not expect much from her because of the conflict between witches working with vampires and a warlock. Most of the time she would decline meetings while telling us to let her know if we ‘really’ needed her. Bringing together a broad mixture of supernaturals often ended up like this. Someone always had objections or issues strong enough to make them sneak away from their responsibility. It led to Trent, Maeve and myself deciding to end our alliance with the coven. I would be contacting Queen Bellamy about her alliance with them as well. If this was how Mrs. Layton would behave in our first collaborative action, then none of us could trust her in the future.An alliance didn’t mean picking and choosing which threats to the area you were going to deal with. Saleh Layton was planning to let us resolve the issue with the cult while doing almost nothing to assist. I was certain she would expect the vampires to end their association with her, but not for all of the other supernaturals to end theirs as well. “Keep working hard, my love. I’m proud of you for helping to repay our debt to Rhett. I know you don’t like him, but you are being very gracious in this.” “Gray said Rock told them Rhett was keeping a woman at his house. Do you know if she’s safe? He’s not going to make her do things with him, right?” “Rhett promised he was treating her respectfully. I choose to trust him. He seemed like he truly cared about her. Maybe she reminds him of someone he cared about before he became a warlock. I do need to talk to Spencer about her if you don’t mind getting off me.” Echo leaned down and kissed me before climbing off. When I got out of bed, she started straightening up the bedding. I quickly got dressed, not wanting to waste time with a shower. Taking my hand, Echo accompanied me downstairs after I was dressed. It was the first day Spencer had been allowed out of his room. If Echo was busy, he probably was alone for much of the day. I was proven wrong when we entered the living room and he was chatting with Neil. It seemed they had decided to form a friendship now that Spencer wasn’t a potential threat. They were talking about the differences in fighting supernatural hunters and fighting groups of humans who were strengthened by their dedication to a demon. When we entered the room, they quieted and turned to us. I nodded to the men. If Echo hadn’t been with me it was likely I could have surprised them. She could be sneaky when she wanted to, but she didn’t seem to want to in this instance. “Gentlemen, I don’t mean to interrupt your conversation,” I said. “I was hoping to have a word with Spencer.” “We weren’t talking about anything too important,” Neil replied. “How can I help you, Victor?” “As you know, last night we went to inspect the body of the creature… or creatures. We met up with Rhett, the warlock who killed it. Apparently, there was a victim that night, but the creature didn’t manage to bite her.” “Thank God. Is she okay? They’re stronger than they look when they take over a human corpse. I don’t know how much stronger they could be when taking over a vampire corpse,” Spencer said. “Rhett is keeping her in his home. She seems to be fine, according to him. It was her history that made me want to come talk to you. He said she was living in the caves where the cult is located. The fae and demon took her as a slave and the beetle had attacked her before. When it didn’t have a host,” I told him. Spencer froze and stared at me intently. “It attacked her without a host? You’re sure? He’s not just misinterpreting something she said?” “He was fairly confident in what he said. I can call him here and he can tell you as well. It might be better. I don’t have much information about her.” “Call him.” “Rhett, could you come here, please?” I said loudly. I looked around the room, but he didn’t appear. That was strange. He often seemed as if he was waiting invisibly to be called. After a few more minutes, shadows swarmed in the corner of the room and he appeared. He didn’t look as calm and put together as usual. As if he had rushed to get dressed. “My apologies,” he said as he realized I saw him appear. “I was assisting with a project and wasn’t prepared for going out. Are we talking with the Templar about my guest?” Rhett crossed the room and sprawled into one of the chairs. He leaned to the side while one of his legs dangled casually on the arm of the chair. His body seemed to relax a lot more once he was sitting. I glanced at Echo. She smiled. ‘He was working with the crew all day. Even though it was a gift for him, he insisted on lending a hand. Something about him still irritates me, but I think he’s a good person despite that,’ she told me mentally. “Spencer, Neil, this is Rhett. He’s a warlock and our ally,” I told the men. They nodded to him, but no one made the effort to try to shake hands. Spencer was looking at him with interest. I knew he knew what a warlock was, but I didn’t know if he had ever met one before. The room was slightly tense as the Templar and the warlock stared each other down. Spencer told me once that each had turned his back on their god. But Rhett had given himself to a dark spirit, which was different. “Tell me about the person you have in your home, please,” Spencer requested. “I want nothing to leave this room. I also want all of you to understand that she is staying with me. It doesn’t matter if anyone else thinks they have a claim on her. She would have died if I hadn’t found her when I did. No one else helped her and her father’s people would harm her if she were given to them.” The connections started linking in my brain with his behavior earlier. He was attached to a female who he wasn’t flirting with. He was protective over her in a way that was reserved for mates, family, and children. After what he told us last night about not being able to love, I was sure it wasn’t a mate. Considering the way he talked about the battle that killed his brother’s descendants, I was fairly certain she wasn’t his family either. That really only left one option if my assessment was correct.My investigators said the alley where she was living was difficult to get into. I thought it meant only that she was very thinly built, but if she was a child, she could have made it in as well. “Do you think we’ll try to take her from you?” I asked. “I think the fae queen might demand her.” “Once this is over, we might want to talk to Maeve about her, but we can let her stay with you until that has to happen. If she’s fae, she should be with her people,” I said. “No, she shouldn’t. From what I know of her people, at best, they’ll eat her. At worst, they’ll rаpe her while eating pieces of her for months or years. She is not ever going with the fae. I will make sure we both disappear long before that happens.” Echo gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. I took her to the sofa and sat her down, keeping her close to me. She was still learning about the different species. Sadly, some were like that. “Please tell me about her,” Spencer said again. “I don’t know how old she is. Around eleven, I’d guess. She’s part goblin and something else. Her mother died in the cave where they were living. She wasn’t born among the goblins, which is why she is alive. The bug attacked her while she was sleeping a month or so ago. “The elf saved her from it and she ran. She’d never left the cave system before but didn’t want to stay after that. She saw her chance and escaped. Since then, she’s been living on the streets,” Rhett explained. “What does she look like?” “She’s pretty small with reddish-brown skin and black hair. Her eyes are very dark brown, but sometimes they glow a golden color. It seems to happen when she gets very emotional.” Spencer nodded. There was a spark of recognition when Rhett talked about the girl’s eyes glowing. It meant something to him. “Tell me what you realized. I saw that and I am not a patient man,” Rhett told him. “That’s not true, though, is it?” Spencer questioned with a smirk. “Normally, you’re very patient. Chaos without patience is mayhem. There’s no pleasure in it. When it comes to the girl, though, you are impatient. Did she claim you as hers?” “She’s a child. I’m not interested in a romantic relationship with a child. This has nothing to do with what her mother’s side of the family is. I need to know how to protect her from any other nastiness that might try to get her,” he replied. Spencer sighed. “Her mother likely died because she stayed out of the sun for too long. Her people need the power and warmth of the sun.” “What is she?” I had some idea of what Spencer was getting at. Though humans were the most common creation of their god on the earth, they weren’t the only ones. Those who had been turned away, humans who had disobeyed their god when he tried to have a more active hand in their lives, rebellious angels, and other things also inhabited the world with us. All of these beings were different from humans. They were not considered ‘supernaturals’ since they were products of the human god. For lack of a better word, I might call them preternatural. Many of them didn’t fall into the purview of either deity. Especially for the descendants of humans who were shunned by their god. How much of my human religion had been myth and how much had been truth? Echo held my hand as we kept our attention on Spencer. There was a lot more to the creature’s last victim than it seemed.