Donovan bristled and opened his mouth to argue with Bria some more, but Sophia let out a loud, earsplitting whistle. Startled, we all looked at the Goth dwarf, who pointed her finger at Jo-Jo.
"Listen," Sophia rasped.
"Enough," Jo-Jo said, a hint of steel ringing in her soft voice. "That's enough. Every second that we waste arguing is another one that Callie spends with Dekes. And none of us want that, now, do we?"
The dwarf's clear eyes moved from face to face, and one by one, we all shook our heads.
"I didn't think so," Jo-Jo said. "Now, instead of arguing with each other, we are all going to sit down and talk about how we can rescue that poor girl, calmly and rationally, with no more snotty comments or accusations. Is that understood?"
We all murmured our agreement, except for Donovan. The detective glared at us all in turn before his gaze cut back to Jo-Jo. He gave her the evil eye as well, but the dwarf stared right back at him, her perfectly sculpted eyebrows raised in a silent question. Finally, Donovan sighed and gave in.
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
Jo-Jo nodded her head, graciously accepting his reluctant acquiescence. "Good. Now let's get started. "
We all grumbled a little more, but thanks to Jo-Jo's chastising we sat down and got to work. Finn fetched his briefcase from one of the bedrooms and spread out all the information that he'd dug up on Dekes. Then he flipped on his laptop and started looking for anything that he'd missed or anything else that might help us rescue Callie.
I also explained to Donovan about Vanessa and Victoria and how we were going to save the two women as well. I told the detective how Dekes had been using the two sisters, feeding on their blood and the elemental magic that it contained. My intent wasn't to scare him or to get him to worry even more about Callie but instead to make him realize exactly what kind of monster we were going up against - and that killing Dekes was the only option now.
Donovan's features twisted with disgust when I finished. "So Dekes married Vanessa just so he could feed off her Fire magic? That's despicable. "
"Yes, it is. "
The det
ective's gaze fell to my neck. "Is that what Dekes did to you last night? Did he try to feed on your elemental power too? You have Ice and Stone magic, right? That's what all the rumors claim, anyway, the ones I heard after you killed Mab. "
Once again, I saw that flash of concern in his eyes, and I wondered if maybe Owen was right after all - if Donovan still cared about or wanted me in some small fashion. If he did, he had a hell of a way of showing it.
"Yes, Dekes fed on me too," I said in a quiet voice. "It was . . . unpleasant. "
I didn't say anything else, and Donovan didn't ask me any more questions. He didn't want to know anyway - not really. It would only make him feel guiltier about not being there to stop Dekes and his men from taking Callie. But my words had one positive affect - Donovan didn't raise any more objections about my killing the vampire.
"So Dekes has your Ice and Stone magic now, along with Vanessa's Fire and Victoria's Air magic? Fuck," Finn said. "That's going to make it that much tougher for us to rescue the women and get out of the mansion, if not impossible. "
The others murmured similar concerns, but I looked at Finn.
"Nothing's impossible. Remember Fletcher telling us that?"
Finn nodded.
"Besides, you know as well as I do that you don't need magic to kill someone. Don't you worry about Dekes. I'll take care of him. "
I didn't tell the others that I had the same concerns they did about Dekes and that my own magic wasn't a hundred percent. There was no use worrying them. Besides, magic or no magic, I wasn't leaving the women to the vampire's mercy. I was getting them away from that bastard no matter what.
"How do we even know that Callie's still alive?" Owen asked. "According to what the detective said, Dekes has had her for at least two hours now. He could have killed her already. "
I shook my head. "No, I don't think he's killed her yet. Dekes announced his casino yesterday, and he's getting ready to break ground on the project, remember? He can't afford any more delays. Callie has to sign over the restaurant to him first before he gets rids of her. Otherwise, the property would just pass to her next of kin, whoever that is, and be tied up that much longer. "
Donovan shifted on the far end of the couch. "Actually, that would be me. Callie's parents died last year, and when we got engaged, she changed her will to make me her sole beneficiary. "
Finn arched an eyebrow. "Well, how very nice for you, Detective. "
Donovan's hands balled into fists in his lap, but he didn't respond to Finn's mocking taunt.
"So he gets Callie to sign over the restaurant to him; then what?" Bria asked.
I picked up one of the photos that Finn had shown us yesterday when we'd had brunch at the restaurant. This one showed an ashy husk of a man, burned to a crisp inside his own home. "Then, sometime later on tonight, Dekes and his men take Callie out to the restaurant, tie her up inside, and burn the Sea Breeze to the ground around her. Everyone will know what happened, but nobody will be brave enough to do anything about it, not even the cops. Dekes's stranglehold on the island will finally be complete, and all that will be left to do is clear away the charred rubble so the construction on the casino can start up. Two birds, one stone, and all that. "