Page 46 of Villains Never Die

Wesley Lake - magician’s candidate - opposition to Emmett Graves

“Someone else wants the job?” I asked.

“He just threw his hat in this morning,” Gray said. “He’s speaking at the next Council meeting if you want to find out what’s going on with him. You should probably stay on top of this.”

I opened the folder and scanned the pages inside. “What do we know about him?”

“Young, about your age, not originally from Ashbruck. He worked for the Boston Council. Wants to strengthen regulations to keep supernatural species separate, with the Council as the only point of intersection.”

“We all basically keep to ourselves outside the Council anyway.”

“He thinks magicians need more power, that they’re favoring the species less like humans.”

I snorted and closed the folder for later inspection. “Idiot. No one doubts that we’re more powerful than humans.”

“He wants it written into law.”

My phone buzzed on my desk with Rook’s name. I glanced back at Gray. “Thank you for this. You’re dismissed.”

The moment he was gone, I picked up the phone.

Rook: You owe me that game of chess.

Don’t get too eager. You won’t win.

Rook: We’ll see.

Tomorrow night, 9pm. Want to go to the next Council meeting with me?

I didn’t know why the words slipped past my thumb like I’d consciously thought about them. I hadn’t. It just made sense to invite him to witness the Council meeting for himself. We were, after all, working together on the serial killer, and there was some kind of Council connection there.

Rook: Is this a date?

A business invitation.

Rook: You’re no fun.

So you’ve said.

Rook: Council meeting. But tomorrow night at 9 I’m going to kick your ass at chess.

With that settled, I checked off my mental to-do list.

Russian shipment. Check.

Prague collection preparations. Check.

Rook dealt with. Check.

‘Dealt with’ was a strong phrase for what we were doing, but according to Gray, Rook couldhandleme, and I looked forward to our chess match. I couldn’t remember the last time I looked forward to something.

I added Wesley Lake to my ongoing list of tasks right under finding Teddy, who still managed to slip through my fingers, and opened my laptop to check on the one item on today’s list I hadn’t completed.

veilknight

Without Death, the spirits of the dead might have trouble reaching the other side. She keeps the balance, shows the path. Killing her would upset the balance, leaving spirits stranded. They aren’t meant to stay here.

Lovely. More of the dead to chatter in my ear all the time.