Savannah Sacrifice Read online

  “Why did you come down here, Starling?” If she told him it was to follow some guy, it would be hard not to lose his mind. Then again, it would surprise him if she had come down here for some stupid reason like a guy. She seemed so much more mature than most women her age. He couldn’t be sure whether it was the way she was raised, with a mother who’d had her fair share of problems, or whether it was because Starling was a nymph, but unlike most college age women, she didn’t spend her time trying on jeans or flipping her hair while she texted away on her cell phone.

  “I’m surprised you don’t know. You seem to know everything,” she answered.

  “I wish I knew everything. It would make my job a hell of a lot easier.”

  “You mean it gets easier than being a shadow?”

  He ignored her jibe. She was angry. She had earned the right, but he didn’t have to give her the response she was gunning for. Nothing good would come of a fight.

  “Are you still shifting into your swan form?”

  “Not since my mother was killed.”

  “If it will make you feel better to go for a fly, I can keep you from getting hurt.”

  “Really? You are going to tell me that you care how I feel?” She gave him a look of disgust. “Why don’t you just leave?”

  “Look, I’ll leave, but if you need me, I booked the next room.” He pointed to the right. “Don’t go anywhere without letting me know. Savannah isn’t a great place for you to be running, or flying, alone.”

  “If I need a babysitter I’ll let you know.”

  • • •

  Starling had spent the night staring out the window, watching the lights of steamboats and liners as they passed down the river. When she’d finally slipped into the lull of sleep, her dreams had been filled with images of her mother’s spirit. Each time she tried to ask her mother, Carey, about the books, her spirit would fade from view, until finally Starling had given up and just sat in silence.

  The morning sun stole through the window and filled the room with its light.

  Starling … Asclepius’s wraithlike voice broke the silence of her sleep-fogged mind. I’m waiting. I need your help.

  “Go away,” she said aloud.

  Starling… you must find the Libros Umbrarum. We need you … you must help us.

  “What do you think I’m doing? Do you really think I want to go on a wild goose chase through a city where I don’t know anyone? Do you think I like being assaulted by you and your … your … ” Her anger rose as she searched for the word she needed. What could she call a group of ghosts other than a pain in her ass? “Your friends?”

  I have no friends.

  “Thanks to you and your kind, neither do I. Can’t you just leave me the hell alone?”

  If you don’t help me, you will die …

  “You can go fuck yourself.”

  The ghost’s laughter echoed through her like she was nothing more than an empty vessel. Get the books. They hold the answer. If you can’t do it, we will find another, but don’t think we will go willingly.

  Her heartbeat thundered in her ears as a wave of panic passed over her. It wasn’t the first time she had been threatened by a spirit in her life, but in the last six months, the spirits had been growing angrier. “I’m not afraid of you.”

  Yes, you are.

  “I don’t need you breathing down my neck. Go the fuck away.”

  She unzipped her purse and grabbed her pill bottle with the GX 149. All she needed was one of the tablets Harper had prepared for her and the voices would stop, at least for now. She opened the orange bottle’s lid and peered inside. There were less than two dozen pills left. Taking out a white, oblong tablet, she swallowed it down.

  Her phone rang and Jasper’s smiling face filled the screen. A wiggle of excitement crept up her spine as she moved to answer. There was something nice about having someone around who actually gave a shit, even if he was paid to do so. Besides Harper and Chance, there was no one else alive who seemed to give a crap.

  “Hello?”

  “Sleep well?” Jasper asked.

  “Better than normal.” She tried to sound annoyed, but she couldn’t stop her excitement from spilling into her voice.

  “You ready to get back to Vegas?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  Jasper sighed. “Your dad and Harper were upset that you didn’t tell them you were leaving.”

  “Maybe I should’ve told them, but they would have tried to stop me, and I’m not going back, at least not yet. I have work to do.” Ever since she’d graduated from high school, she’d spent her days getting ready for this trip. The last thing she would do was go back the second she arrived.

  “Are you going to tell me what exactly you are talking about?”

  “If I do, you promise you won’t tell a soul?”

  There was a short pause on the other end of the line. “You aren’t here to kill anyone, are you?”

  She laughed. “No, that’s your job. Remember?”

  “Funny,” he said, his voice steely. “Get ready. We’re heading out at ten. I already got our plane tickets.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. And if you promise to not tell anyone my secret, maybe you can stay. I could use a little help—I can always use a hand with my laundry.”

  “You’re hilarious,” Jasper said drily. “I’ll be over in a minute.” The phone cut off and she sat it back down on the wooden nightstand.

  She slipped on her clothes, feeling her future hanging in the balance. If he decided to help her, he couldn’t assume that she owed him anything. If he helped, it had to be on his accord and regardless of the dangers. More than likely, getting the books would be easy. All she had to do was get down to the bank with the paperwork she had brought and everything would be taken care of—as long as they didn’t look too deeply into the paperwork’s authenticity.

  Starling dug in her purse and pulled out the key ring she had looked at a thousand times. The safe deposit box’s key slipped to the front of the ring, and she read the words inscribed on its brass surface: Do not duplicate. First National Bank, Savannah, GA.

  Grabbing her smartphone, she tapped in the first letters and her regular search popped up. Maybe this time it would find something new, something she had missed. She hit enter. Lines of purple websites flipped onto the screen, each one reading: Bank Officers Indicted for Multimillion Dollar Fraud.

  Clicking on the top find, she read through the page. At the bottom: Unclaimed safe deposit boxes will be held by the acquiring institution, The Savannah Bank. She clicked through until she found the directions to the bank from the hotel.

  A sense of hope crept through her, but inadequacy and doubt followed close on hope’s heels. The only thing left she hadn’t tried was prayer.

  She bowed her head.

  My Goddess, Epione, please help me find success. I just need something, something to help me get rid of the guilt I feel and the spirits who threaten me.

  There was a knock. Starling made her way over and opened the door. Jasper leaned against the side of the wall, his arms crossed over his chest like he’d been waiting for ten minutes rather than a few seconds. She couldn’t help but notice a little splash of shaving cream at the corner of his freshly shaven jaw. She wanted to reach up and wipe away the bit of froth, but instead she did nothing. It was nice to see that even he, the shadow, was imperfect.

  “So what are you up to?” he asked, barely moving a muscle. “Why would you run away from home to a place like Savannah?” He paused for a second. “This city is a spirit hotspot. Is that why you chose to come here?”

  “If I had my way, I wouldn’t have anything to do with spirits, in their hotspot or out of it.” She grabbed her purse and phone and walked out of the room. “I came here because the spirits told me I had to. They’ve threatened that if I don’t get some books from a safe deposit box, they will keep coming after me.”

  “Why didn’t you tell someone you were being threatened?”

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p; Now there was a suggestion from someone who clearly had no contact with the spiritual world. “For starters, do you really think it would make anything better? No one can help me, so why should I complain? And what would I have told Harper or Chance? To get everything ready for this trip, I had to steal the safe deposit box keys from Harper. Then I had to forge the will and everything else the bank is going to need to get to the box. I don’t need anyone else getting into trouble trying to help me. I’m tired of everyone around me getting hurt. I’m not willing to put you at risk either.”

  “Look, Starling, I’m here to keep you safe. That means if you need something, I’m in.”

  “I just need to get into the bank, get the books, and get a handle on the spirits. Then everything will be okay. I don’t need you.”

  “You’re not going alone.”

  “You may get hurt. I told you, I don’t want anyone else to get hurt for me.”

  “Then tell yourself I’m putting myself at risk for the Sisterhood.”

  There was an inexplicable pain in her chest at his flippant response. “Fine.”

  “It’s a damn good thing you’re a nymph,” he said, ignoring her shortness. “Or I would say you don’t have a chance in hell of getting into the bank vault.”

  “What does being a nymph have to do with getting in?”

  Jasper gave her a sideways glance. “Won’t you use all your, you know, feminine wiles?” He shifted uncomfortably and stood up from his position against the wall.

  She snorted with laughter. “Did you really just say feminine wiles? What are you, eighty?” She walked ahead, leading the way downstairs to the lobby.

  The thought of using her power for seduction made her skin crawl. Yes, it was something she could turn on and off, not some innate attraction, but with this power came problems. The only time she’d used her gift had been on a poor neighbor boy when they were fourteen. She hadn’t a clue what she was doing. She’d asked the kid to share his slice of pizza, and when he’d said “no,” a strange energy had passed over her body. The next thing she knew, he was handing her the entire box.

  He’d been hard to get rid of after that day. His affections led to his showing up at her door in the middle of the night, love letters, and playlists. He’d only stopped when his family finally moved away.

  She didn’t need any more stalkers. She already had more than her fair share of the dead kind.

  “Where’s this bank?”

  She pulled her smartphone from her purse and tapped a few buttons. “It looks like it’s only a few blocks from here.” She slid her phone back into her purse. She looked up and caught him staring at her with his earthy brown eyes. At their center was a ring of blue, so faint that if she hadn’t been in the right light, she would have missed the haunting, but sexy, mixture of colors. “I’ve been wondering, how old are you?”

  She couldn’t look away from the blue oasis in the desert of his eyes.

  “Twenty-three.”

  A burst of energy surged up from her stomach, but she tried to ignore the feeling. She couldn’t feel anything for this … shadow. “Seriously? Huh. I would have thought you were like, thirty.”

  “Thirty isn’t old, you little shit.”

  “I didn’t say it was. I just meant that you look older.” She finally managed to divert her gaze. “And we’re going to have to come up with some kind of backstory if you are going to keep tagging around with me.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, but I’m hoping, if everything goes right, we are going to be in and out of the bank and then back to your dad and Harper on the ten o’clock flight.” Jasper opened the door leading to the parking lot and waited for Starling to pass through.

  She stole another glance at his enchanting eyes as she passed by. “Here’s hoping everything goes according to your plan.”

  Chapter Three

  The entire bank smelled like industrial strength cleansers and bullshit. Over the last few years, since going to work for the International Legislative Organization of Nymphs who called themselves the Sisterhood, Jasper had gotten really good at identifying that pungent smell of people who lied for a living. Though admittedly, ever since Ariadne Papadakis had taken on the Sisterhood leadership role, life had been a little easier—at least when he’d had to deal with the leaders.

  Starling weaved past him and headed for the row of tellers waiting to take people’s money. There was only one man in the row of women, and Starling made a beeline toward him. “Excuse me?”

  “Yes, ma’am, how may I help you?” the middle-aged man answered in a thick Georgian drawl.

  “I need to get into my safe deposit box. It used to be housed at the First National Bank. I think it’s now here?” Starling’s voice wavered with nerves.

  Jasper walked up behind her and put his hand on her lower back, appearing to comfort her. If she played it right, they would be in, out, and gone. He could go back to work trying to dig up facts about the Catharterians from the FBI files he had hacked into, and she could go back to the care of her family.

  Soft warmth radiated from her where he’d placed his hand, and he pulled away. She definitely needed to get back to her family.

  The older man glanced at him and smiled. “Not a problem, ma’am. Do you have your key?”

  Starling rifled through her purse and pulled out a ring of mismatched keys. “Right here,” she said, lifting a little brass key.

  “Great,” the man answered with a smile. “Let me take you to the bank manager.”

  If they left Georgia on the ten o’clock flight, they would be back to Vegas before midnight. As soon as he got back, he could work on finding the Catharterians’ lair. He was so close to finding the location, he could almost taste it. Once he found their home base, he could get a population estimate. From there, he could figure out exactly how much danger Starling and the Sisterhood were in and how to protect them.

  The man led them to an office where a black man sat behind a desk, typing away on his computer. “Devon, sir? We have a young lady here who needs to get into her safe deposit box.”

  “Thanks, Jim. I’ll take care of her.” Devon looked up from his work and smiled at Starling, but as he noticed Jasper, his expression faded and annoyance took its place. “Do you have your key?”

  Starling jingled the ring. “Right here.” She flashed Devon a flirtatious glance, one that Jasper recognized from their time in Vegas, one that made whispers of jealousy creep through him.

  “Great,” the man said. He stood up and straightened his suit jacket. The employee glanced up at Starling before his gaze wandered down to her chest and lingered a moment too long. “Just need to take care of a few things and you can get just what you need.”

  The man’s words made the hairs on the back of Jasper’s neck stand on end. “Yeah, we just need to take care of a few things before we get married.”

  “Married,” the man said with a raised eyebrow. “Congratulations.” He finally turned his gaze away from Starling. “I just love to see happy couples.”

  Starling shot Jasper a look, but he pretended not to notice. It had been her idea that they run under the cover of a relationship. It wasn’t his fault if it was inconvenient.

  “Follow me,” Devon said, walking past them and out to the elevator. They waited in silence as the ancient elevator whirred and buzzed to a stop in front of them.

  He hated elevators. People were too close. There were too many possibilities for attack. Not that the bank manager would attack. No. There was no bulge at his ankle or hip. He wasn’t carrying a gun, but he had to weigh about two-fifty. In an enclosed space, Devon had the size, but Jasper had the experience.

  The doors slid open. “Ladies first,” Devon said, motioning for Starling to step through. Before Jasper could take a step, the manager shoved his way in next, making his percolating anger roil.

  Jasper wedged his body between Starling and the man, and she shot him another sharp glance. “Small elevator, eh?”

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bsp; Devon answered with a grunt and pushed the button for the lower floor. “Miss, I’m going to need your box number, your signature, and your key when we get down there. Then we can get out of these small elevators.” He eyed Jasper.

  “The less time we spend here, the better.” Starling’s elbow connected with the middle of his ribs, but he bit back a grimace of pain. “Lots of wedding plans to take care of. Isn’t that right, honey?” he asked, forcing a smile.

  The door to the elevator opened and Devon led the way out. When he was about ten steps ahead, Starling turned to Jasper and put her hand on his arm to stop him. “You. Stay. Here.” She pointed to a spot outside of the elevator’s doors.

  “No. I’m not leaving you with that guy. No way.”

  “Look, I don’t know the box number. I don’t have a chance in hell of convincing him I know my shit if you’re constantly acting like my over protective boyfriend. Just give me five minutes. If I’m not back with the box, then you have my permission to act out whatever macho fantasy thing you have going on in your head right now.”

  “I’m here to take care of you. If I let you walk into that room with a man I don’t know, I might as well go back to the Sisterhood.”

  “Jasper, it’s not like some bank manager is going to be gunning for me. Really. He is just some stranger at a bank. Big whoop. Now quit being so paranoid. I’ve got this. If nothing else, I can send my ghost friends after him, right?” She sent him a wilting smile, but it did little to quell his apprehension.

  “Five minutes.”

  Starling turned. Devon stood at the end of the hall, waiting. “Not coming?” the manager asked with a wide smile that made Jasper want to punch his teeth down his throat.

  “I’ll be right out here.”

  Devon stuck out his arm for Starling to take. Starling looked over her shoulder and mouthed the words “Be good” before accepting it.