through my hair and pull it into a side braid with an elastic that I find in one of the drawers. Then I return to living room where Jax is lounging on the sofa, fiddling with his phone.
“So, what do we do now?” I ask, plopping down on the sofa beside him. “What’s the plan for finding these vampires?”
“ We aren’t doing anything.” He punches a few buttons on his phone. “ I’m going to track down some vampires and make some arrests. I need to get a confession from one of them, though, because we can’t use what happened to you as evidence.”
“I should be able to help you.” I pick at the tab of my empty soda can. “This is Guardian business, and I’m a Guardian, too.” I crunch my soda can up and drop it on the table. “Besides, I can identify the vampire who killed Adaliya.” I crack my knuckles. “And, with the right amount of torture, I should be able to get a confession out of her along with a list of names of the other vampires who were there.”
His gaze cuts to me with a frown on his lips. “No one’s going to be torturing anyone. That’s not how we do things.”
“It might not be how we do things, but it’s definitely an easy way to get the truth out of someone,” I say. Since I really want to go with him, though, I tack on, “But if you don’t want me to torture anyone, I won’t.”
His phone buzzes in his hand, but he doesn’t glance at the screen. His eyes stay fastened on me, assessing me, while he contemplates what I said for a lengthy amount of time.
“First years aren’t supposed to go on arrests,” he says.
My lips part to entice him with more reasons he should take me, but he continues before I get an opportunity.
“However, you made a good point about being able to identify the vampire. This will go a lot more quickly if I have a single target to zero in on instead of spending days searching and asking around.”
I resist the urge to get too excited just yet. “So, I get to go?”
He surrenders with a sigh. “Yeah, you get to go.”
“Yes!” I fist pump the air. “Finally, some action work.” God, I’ve missed it.
“But,” he speaks loudly over my celebration, “you have to agree that you’ll listen to everything I say. If I tell you to do something, you do it.”
“Yes, sir,” I say with a grin and a salute.
He rubs his scruffy jawline. “You know, I’m really starting to like this whole sir thing.” His eyes suddenly glimmer mischievously, and his mouth opens to say something I’m pretty sure I won’t like. “Probably about as much as you like how I smell.”
And there we go. He lasted a whole hour.
“That was the enchantment talking,” I lie breezily. “Honestly, I kind of think you smell—”
“Yummy.” His goofy, arrogant grin makes me want to slap him.
Well, sort of. Truthfully, he kind of looks adorable enough to kiss.
I blink the thought from my head. Just stop, Alana. Don’t go there.
“Whatever.” I decide to own up to the truth. “I think you smell yummy, but I also think cookies smell yummy, too.”
Something about what I say makes his expression falter. It takes a second for me to figure out what might be wrong. Dash smells like cookies. Does he think I’m saying Dash smells yummy, too? Why would it matter? I mean, how can a guy who smells like cookies not smell yummy?
“We should probably get going.” He checks the time on his phone. “The sun’s about to go down, and then we have about eight hours to get this done before the vamps have to hole up underground and indoors again.” He starts to get up, but I catch his arm, stopping him.
“There’s one more thing I want to talk to you about while we’re here and can speak freely.” I let go of his sleeve and wait for him to sit back down before continuing. “The Dagger of Conspectu… What does it do exactly?”
A crease forms at his brows. “You don’t know?”
I shake my head. “I think I’ve heard of it, but not enough to know what it
“So, what do we do now?” I ask, plopping down on the sofa beside him. “What’s the plan for finding these vampires?”
“ We aren’t doing anything.” He punches a few buttons on his phone. “ I’m going to track down some vampires and make some arrests. I need to get a confession from one of them, though, because we can’t use what happened to you as evidence.”
“I should be able to help you.” I pick at the tab of my empty soda can. “This is Guardian business, and I’m a Guardian, too.” I crunch my soda can up and drop it on the table. “Besides, I can identify the vampire who killed Adaliya.” I crack my knuckles. “And, with the right amount of torture, I should be able to get a confession out of her along with a list of names of the other vampires who were there.”
His gaze cuts to me with a frown on his lips. “No one’s going to be torturing anyone. That’s not how we do things.”
“It might not be how we do things, but it’s definitely an easy way to get the truth out of someone,” I say. Since I really want to go with him, though, I tack on, “But if you don’t want me to torture anyone, I won’t.”
His phone buzzes in his hand, but he doesn’t glance at the screen. His eyes stay fastened on me, assessing me, while he contemplates what I said for a lengthy amount of time.
“First years aren’t supposed to go on arrests,” he says.
My lips part to entice him with more reasons he should take me, but he continues before I get an opportunity.
“However, you made a good point about being able to identify the vampire. This will go a lot more quickly if I have a single target to zero in on instead of spending days searching and asking around.”
I resist the urge to get too excited just yet. “So, I get to go?”
He surrenders with a sigh. “Yeah, you get to go.”
“Yes!” I fist pump the air. “Finally, some action work.” God, I’ve missed it.
“But,” he speaks loudly over my celebration, “you have to agree that you’ll listen to everything I say. If I tell you to do something, you do it.”
“Yes, sir,” I say with a grin and a salute.
He rubs his scruffy jawline. “You know, I’m really starting to like this whole sir thing.” His eyes suddenly glimmer mischievously, and his mouth opens to say something I’m pretty sure I won’t like. “Probably about as much as you like how I smell.”
And there we go. He lasted a whole hour.
“That was the enchantment talking,” I lie breezily. “Honestly, I kind of think you smell—”
“Yummy.” His goofy, arrogant grin makes me want to slap him.
Well, sort of. Truthfully, he kind of looks adorable enough to kiss.
I blink the thought from my head. Just stop, Alana. Don’t go there.
“Whatever.” I decide to own up to the truth. “I think you smell yummy, but I also think cookies smell yummy, too.”
Something about what I say makes his expression falter. It takes a second for me to figure out what might be wrong. Dash smells like cookies. Does he think I’m saying Dash smells yummy, too? Why would it matter? I mean, how can a guy who smells like cookies not smell yummy?
“We should probably get going.” He checks the time on his phone. “The sun’s about to go down, and then we have about eight hours to get this done before the vamps have to hole up underground and indoors again.” He starts to get up, but I catch his arm, stopping him.
“There’s one more thing I want to talk to you about while we’re here and can speak freely.” I let go of his sleeve and wait for him to sit back down before continuing. “The Dagger of Conspectu… What does it do exactly?”
A crease forms at his brows. “You don’t know?”
I shake my head. “I think I’ve heard of it, but not enough to know what it
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