Passion of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 5) by Bella Klaus (best motivational books txt) 📗

to his uncle. I stared at the screen, not knowing how to answer. His soul would step in to help Kain, but I doubted that preternatural Valentine even remembered taking the boy in as his ward.

“He didn’t leave the Cat’s Cream that night, the night after that, or the night after that one,” said the female enforcer.

“Surface.” Captain Zella tapped a button on her remote, which raised the van’s shutters. “We’ll continue our search for Jonathan Samil above ground.”

The vehicle continued in the dark for another minute then made a few turns until we ended up within a dimly lit parking lot already crammed with cars. We traveled up what felt like ten levels of concrete ramps and single-lane driveways signposted with white arrows until daylight streamed in through the windows and the vehicle exited into the street.

A yellow sign that said NCP Grosvenor Hill Car Park listed the parking lot’s daily tariff, and I shuddered at the prices. We were a block away from my apartment and Jonathan’s last known location on Brook Street.

The vehicle stopped outside a pink storefront painted like a doll's house, and Captain Zella swept her gaze down my outfit, making me frown. “You’re coming with us.”

“Alright.” I slipped my phone in my pocket and rose off the seat.

“Humans won’t see you if you’re wearing the cloak of a reaper.”

I raised the hood. “That’s fine with me.”

Captain Zella’s features hardened. Instead of commenting, she walked to the other end of the van and opened the door, letting in the cold and cacophony and exhaust clouds of a November morning in the heart of London.

We didn’t find any women in corsets or bodysuits loitering outside the Cat’s Cream, but the interior was thick with cat dander. Its walls were a mishmash of pastel blues and pinks with mauve-and-white-checkered floors. White tables for twos and fours were arranged around the establishment, around a tall bar surrounded by stools.

A black-haired woman wearing a cat-ear headband rose from behind the counter, clad in a PVC maid costume complete with a frilly white apron. “Can I help you?”

Captain Zella strode to the bar and pulled out a smartphone. “Have you seen this man?”

She leaned over the counter, peered at the screen, and twisted her painted lips. “He looks like the typical kind of bloke who comes here to bother our waitresses.”

I turned in a circle, looking for the other employees, but I only found a raised platform with a microphone stand. As Captain Zella continued to question the woman about who was on duty the evening of Jonathan’s one-way trip to the Cat’s Cream, I walked toward its back door, looking for clues.

“Hey,” the waitress snapped. “It’s staff only in there.”

I whirled around, my mouth falling open. “You can see me?”

“Of course I can,” she replied. “Don’t go down there unless you want me to call the police.”

“I would like to see your work permit,” said Captain Zella.

The waitress curled her lip. “You can’t harass me. I’m a British citizen.”

“But not a human if you can see me while I’m wearing a reaper’s cloak.” I walked toward the waitress, my brows raised. “We’re looking for someone who came here and never left. Can you help us?”

The woman’s eyes widened, and she reached beneath the counter, but white light flashed across the cafe, making me freeze.

A jolt of alarm shot through my chest, and I rotated my eyes to Captain Zella, who glanced around the establishment, her lips tightening with disapproval. I tried to make a noise in the back of my throat, but it came out in a rush of air. The waitress was clearly trying to hide something, but did the enforcer have to freeze me?

Reaching into the pocket of her jacket, Captain Zella strode around the counter and extracted a metallic device. As she pressed it into the waitress’s arm, it hissed with magic and then emitted three sharp beeps. The captain pulled back the device and stared at its screen.

“Lareth Murray, demon hybrid,” she said. “Mother, the succubus Mezaris, and father, Dylan Murray, a water mage from Natura. It says here that you were employed by the Department of Sewage as a drainage technician, yet here you are in Logris, a male trying to pass as a human woman.”

A gasp caught in the back of my throat. I hadn’t sensed any magic from him, so I hadn’t suspected he was even using a glamor or had demon magic. My gaze roved Lareth’s PVC maid outfit and settled on his necklace. Its strap wasn’t anything special, but a white medallion reminded me of Cleopatra stone.

Lareth’s warning growl filled the air.

Captain Zella reached into one of her pockets and extracted a pair of shimmering handcuffs. “As you know, citizens of Logris are not permitted to leave the city without authorization from their monarch. I see no authorization from the Mage King—”

A spout of water surged up from behind the counter, throwing Captain Zella to the ceiling. With a loud crack, her head smashed against its surface, sending chunks of plaster raining down to the floor. The water thickened, keeping the enforcer pinned there.

My heart flip-flopped, and I pushed my magic outward and covered my hands with flames. If I didn’t break free from Captain Zella’s forensic enchantment…

Lareth stared at me with eyes as dark as the ocean reflecting the night’s sky, the depth of his hatred making my stomach drop. Without so much as a twitch, water streamed from the counter and across the floor, forming the shape of a serpent.

Every ounce of blood drained from my face. What the hell was Lareth planning to do to me with that water snake?

Chapter Thirteen

My breaths turned shallow. Sweat beaded on my brow, mingling with the droplets of water splattering from the water snake. Even though it was transparent and made of liquid, the creature glowered through eyes the color of Lareth’s. It slithered toward me in side-to-side movements that left wet trails across the cafe’s checkered floor.

My gaze