"Thanks for giving me hope."
He rested a hand on my shoulder, his eyes full of malicious amusement. "I grew up with Elyssa. She wanted to be a Templar since we were like three. And since her dad wiped you away like bleach on a skidder, she won't ever come back to you. Especially now that she knows what her father went through to get you out of her life. You're trouble, man."
I resisted the urge to snatch his arm off my shoulder and break his fingers one by one. The odd thing was, mean as he sounded, I could actually feel in my guts he was being sincere with me. "She almost died on me once, Beck. I don't intend to let our love die either."
He shrugged. "She's like a sister to me, man."
"Yeah, right. You're sick in the head if you'd look at your sister's ass like you look at hers."
He laughed. "Okay, I admit it. She's hot. I've liked her since we were kids. If I ever saw myself settling for one woman, it would be her."
"Please don't take this the wrong way, Beck, but I would do my absolute best to cut off your daddy-bags if you ever tried anything with her."
He held out his hands in a half-shrug and said, "Dude, if she doesn't want you, she doesn't want you. You have to let go."
Maria gripped my hands all of a sudden and, after an intense moment of furrowing her brow and muttering incantations, let go. "Finally, I have cleared the air."
A conflicting knot of emotions I hadn't even realized was crowding my insides faded. "What happened?"
"The circle kept the spell limited to you. When you opened the circle I was interpreting the truth of all feelings in the room and sharing them." She shook her head and slumped back into her chair. "Madre de dios, I really need a drink."
"Justin, I gotta ask you about something else from your story," Beck said, motioning me away from Maria.
I followed him, wary about whatever subject he was interested in. He probably wanted the hookup with Stacey. I'd enjoy letting him meet her werewolf boyfriend, Ryland, also a Templar and undoubtedly more qualified to kick this punk's ass.
"What is it?"
"You talked about that vampire, Maximus, the one who kidnapped your dad."
I shrugged. "And?"
"He's the same one who's organizing here in Colombia. The one we were supposed to take down before our mission changed to apprehend you."
I remembered the conversation I'd had with Underborn about Maximus. He wanted me to take the rogue vampire out. I shivered with the realization of just how far the malignant cancer called Maximus was spreading. How many other drug lords did he have ties to? How many new recruits had he added to his army of brainwashed kids? I had a feeling Underborn didn't know the half of it. Or maybe he did and had no compunctions about throwing me into the fire.
"What about vamplings? Have there been any reports of those here?"
He shook his head. "Not that I know of."
"Good lord, do you even know where his headquarters are? He might have a basement or something crawling with the things."
"He's in Bogota, or at least a splinter cell is. They're organizing in the old section of town."
"I hope you guys are planning to put a stop to that."
Beck nodded. "Christian plans to proceed with the operation soon. It might help if you came back with us and gave him the details on your encounters with this guy."
I thought back to what Bella had told me about El Dorado and seeing Vadaemos. Maximus was a major player, but finding the demon spawn who'd brewed the bad blood between my kind and the Templars was even more important. A very clear flow chart existed in my brain. It started with finding Vadaemos and ended with me striking peace with Thomas Borathen. Well, technically, it ended with me enjoying some intimate time with Elyssa, but that all relied upon her father fixing the mind wipe. Everything else could wait.
"Tell you what, Beck. If you help me, I'll help you."
He folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "This should be good." He looked around conspiratorially. "Well, what do you want? You know I can't make Elyssa like you—not that I would if I could." He winked.
I resisted yet another powerful urge to punch him in the face. "I don't expect you to. I want you to enter El Dorado with me to capture a fugitive."
"A fugitive?"
"Yeah."
Fausta came up behind Beck. "What are you conspiring about over here?"
Bella appeared from somewhere, gripped my arm, and tried to pull me to the side. I resisted. "Justin, you should not do this. Even without El Dorado to worry about, you-know-who is extremely dangerous."
"Everything and everyone is dangerous," I countered and glanced at Fausta. "You look like you think you're a badass. Maybe you can help me if Beck is too scared."
Fire danced in Beck's eyes. "Me scared?" He snorted. "Count me in."
"In on what?" Fausta said.
Beck scratched his arm and shrugged. "Some kind of fugitive hunt."
"You just agreed to help him hunt down a fugitive and you don't even know who it is?"
"Vadaemos Slade," I said enunciating each syllable for the proper affect.
Fausta's eyes went huge. "I am in." She clapped her hands with joy, like a little girl with a lollipop. "This will be the biggest takedown ever!"
Beck high-fived her. "You know it!"
She practically squeed with happiness.
"We have to take him alive," I said, trying to curb their enthusiasm a bit. It didn't work. "I need to interrogate him so I can prove he's the one who set up the massacre at Thunder Rock, not House Slade."
That got their attention.
"You think this guy is the one behind Thunder Rock?" Beck asked and looked at Fausta. She shrugged.
"Let's just say he knows a lot more than anyone else does about what happened there."
"This is insanity," Bella said, putting both hands to her hips. "I can't allow it."
"You're not my mom," I said.
"Maybe not, but I am trying to talk sense into you."
I bit back a smart remark and took a deep breath, giving me time to find the right words. "Vadaemos Slade is the key to solving a lot of problems. First and foremost, if I can make him admit to Thunder Rock, the Templars and spawn can resume normal relations."
"And perhaps a certain young lady's father will approve of you?" She raised a dark eyebrow. "Hmm?"
"Maybe. It's a long shot but it's all I have left." I tried to keep the desperation out of my voice but did a lousy job of it.
Bella took my hand and patted it. "You are hopelessly in love, aren't you?"
I gripped her hand tight and nodded, swallowing the sudden lump in my throat. Thankfully, Beck and Fausta were too busy one-upping each other's plans for capturing Vadaemos to notice the conversation.
"At the very least, catching Vadaemos will bring a really bad man to justice."
She nodded sympathetically. "Then I suppose you'll need my help."
"Really? You'll help?" A ray of sunshine warmed my heart.
"Yes. I'll ask a couple of others who are familiar with El Dorado to come as well."
"We'll need plenty of light sources," I said. "That's the only way to keep those shadow things away."
Bella smiled. "Light is one thing you won't have to worry about with Arcanes on hand." She took me by the arm and steered me outside. Beck and Fausta followed, arguing about what sort of arsenal they should bring with them. "Gather whatever supplies you need and meet back here first thing in the morning," the dhampyr said. "We'll want to be there by the time the sun is rising to maximize our daylight hours."
I hugged her. "Thanks."
She giggled in a way that totally belied her age and kissed me on the cheek before heading back inside the meeting hall.
Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough for me. I walked back to Alejandro's place and paced restlessly, trying to think of anything useful I could do to prepare for the next day. I didn't know magic and didn't have much else of use with me to take, so it appeared I'd have plenty of time to kill before we left. About all I could do was practice making magic circles since one of those had protected me against the shadow horde.
I grabbed a chunk of chalk and drew a circle on the floor, concentrating on closing it until I felt the static whisper of magic close around me. Then I brushed away a bit of the circle to open it, reclosed it, and started over again.
"Is that all you know how to do?" Lina said from the doorway.
A sound like a terrified dog burst from my mouth as I toppled on my butt. I'd been so intent on the circle I hadn't heard her approach. When I gathered my wits, I said, "Once I tried to short circuit a security door in a vampire stronghold and accidentally blew out power in the whole place."
She laughed. "You are so funny."
"Even when I don't want to be."
She laughed again, but her smile faded and her bloodshot eyes told me laughing was an effort. "I am sorry, Justin. I should not have said those things about you."
I wanted to be angry with her, but couldn't find it in my heart to go through with it as she stood there, her big brown eyes still glistening with tears. It was definitely those guilt pheromones girls had in their tears at work again. I waved her apology away as though it was no big thing. "You're a beautiful girl, Lina, but my heart already belongs to Elyssa." I sighed and stared at the circle.
"Would you like me to teach you some spells?" Her face brightened a tad.
"Sure. Just don't expect any miracles."
By dinnertime I was famished and had a headache. Lina wasn't a master sorceress, by any stretch of the imagination—in fact, she was still a novice by the Arcane Council's standards—but she knew a heck of a lot more than I did. The basics were the same across the board, it seemed, and concentration was an important part of making anything happen. My brain could only take so much concentrating before it tried to think about more interesting topics, namely El Dorado and Elyssa.