He put the window down to get cool air on his face, still hot from the conversation with Lexine. He understood her conflict all too well.
While living under Thornton’s thumb, Jett had hated everything about his existence, but thought for years he lacked the power to change it. Lexine believed the dream showed her the future, even though she despised the poachers. He saw the torture he’d experienced reflected in her eyes.
But he had changed his future, when the sacrifice Raphael had been prepared to make had given Jett the motivation to fight. At some point, Lexine would also need to make a choice. Hopefully, she wouldn’t bow to the dream.
Jett clenched his teeth. He could always kill the son-of-the-bitch poacher when the opportunity presented itself. But he intended to leave Sanctuary after he killed Lawrence. He didn’t belong here, didn’t know the first thing about living a normal life, least of all one with a female. However, spending time with her, temporarily, could be good for them both.
Dusk descended as he entered human territory, and he turned the headlights on despite his night vision. The last thing he needed was a brush with local law enforcement.
As he entered the village limits of a tiny Vermont town, a text came through, giving him an address. He found the location a minute later and parked along the sidewalk.
Lights illuminated the storefronts, but many Closed signs hung in the windows for the night. A figure stepped toward the vehicle, and Jett reached for the gun at his hip.
“Evening, Jackass.” A smile from the platinum-blond speaker revealed fangs.
Jett blinked. “You?”
Almost a year ago, after Raphael had returned to the colony and Jett had hidden in the forest, Raphael had sent a group of Guardians, led by Devin, the demon who now stared through the open window. Jett had refused the help and sent a pissed-off Devin on his way.
Since then, Jett had figured out Devin was Ginger’s adoptive father, making the Guardian an extension of the archangel family.
“You remember me, then? Good.” Devin opened the door, the smug grin fading from his face. He held out a palm-sized, plastic case. “Put these on.”
Jett extracted the colored contacts, set them into place, and got out of the car. He fell into step at the blond Guardian’s side. Devin had traded the black Guardian uniform for jeans and a Hard Rock Cafe shirt. Contacts colored his eyes plain brown.
Jett mused that an onlooker could mistake them for brothers, both with their light blond hair and brown eyes, the big difference being that Devin had his hair cropped while Jett’s fell to his chin.
“You look almost normal,” Jett muttered, keeping his fangs out of sight in case any humans observed them.
“So do you, amazingly enough.”
Jett ignored the sarcasm. “Do the Guardians frequently slink about in human towns like this?”
“Not on official business, no, not often. Sometimes small groups leave the colony to practice driving, visit museums, that sort of thing. Law enforcement gets bent out of shape when we chase poachers beyond Sanctuary’s borders like this. On our land we can kill because the treaty with United States gave us sovereignty. Out here, the poachers have the right to a trial and don’t legally deserve to die.”
Jett scoffed.
“Yeah,” Devin said. “We’ve been negotiating with the Vermont State Police for about a year now, triggered when they figured out we raided a farm near Burlington to save Raphael. They want to curb poaching, though most of them are more concerned with the assholes getting themselves killed than with the safety of the archangels. If an agreement can be reached, some Guardians and Staties might partner together to deal with poachers’ activities across the state—their legal system combined with our hunting and tracking abilities.”
“Interesting. You expect it’ll work?”
“I’m hopeful, more so than some.”
Jett scanned their dark and quiet surroundings. “Where are the humans you followed here?”
“The inn’s restaurant. Gwyn is keeping watch inside.” Devin tapped his ear, indicating a discreet communication device, and nodded toward a building across the street. Music filled the air as the door opened and a young couple exited. “We can’t do anything in the public eye, even attempt to interrogate them. We have no choice but to wait and drag them into the woods if we get the chance.”
Jett fisted his hands. “I fucking hate waiting.”
“Lark assures me your head is in the right place.”
“It is. Is yours?”
“Excuse me?”
“Lawrence wants your grandchildren. You’re more at risk of making rash, emotional decisions than I am. I’m surprised you’re here.”
“I’ve been a Guardian for over two hundred years. I can keep my shit together even under these circumstances, thank you very much.” Devin paused and his lips twitched into a tight smile.
“Is something funny?”
Devin shrugged. “Lark and I were both students of one of the most revered Guardians in the history of demons on earth, and we are respected for it. Since his death, no one has given me shit. The irony that you are, now, amuses me.”
“I don’t see the irony.”
“My teacher was Dante, Jackass.”
Jett stared. “And?”
Devin’s eyebrows shot to his hairline. “I thought Raphael told you about him.”
“He hasn’t mentioned any Dante.”
“Son of a…” Devin folded his arms and shook his head. “But I know he gave you the photo.”
Jett’s hand jerked toward his right jeans pocket, where he kept the wrinkled keepsake. “The photo of my family? He left it for me, but I never asked him about it.”
“And now isn’t the time for the conversation.”
Jett kept his gaze on the restaurant windows. “No, it’s not, but it’s a little late to drop the subject now. You’re saying this teacher of yours…”
“He was your father, though my training was centuries before you were born. Dante was the leader of Sanctuary before Vin. He founded Sanctuary.”
“Bullshit.” His father, the leader and founder of Sanctuary? And Jett got fucking kidnapped and never rescued? He backed away and shoved his shaking hands into his pockets. No, no, hell no. He didn’t lose anything by being kidnapped, least of all a good family. He didn’t want to hear otherwise.
“Raphael didn’t recognize you. Neither did I when I first saw you, and it’s little wonder. You have such a good blend of both your parents’ features you don’t look strongly like either one. But now, the more I look at you, the more of him I see. Your voice, I dare say, is close to identical, especially when you’re giving me shit.”
Jett’s voice came out as dry as his mouth. “I want to think there haven’t been many children kidnapped from Sanctuary to confuse me with.”
“There’s never been a kidnapping other than yours and Bryce’s. Everyone thought you’d been killed along with your father. I lived in Haven at the time, but I’ve been told the humans brought a whole residence building down with a handmade bomb. Dante was identified for certain. He was shot just outside, protecting you after hiding you within. By the time the rubble had been thoroughly searched, there wasn’t much left of those inside to identify. I don’t know how much you know about this, but after death, a demon’s body deteriorates rapidly, even the bone. Combined with the explosion, there wasn’t much more than dust left of the occupants of that building.”
So that’s why the Guardians never rescued him. He’d been so young he didn’t remember much, but he recalled a sense of hope in the early days that someone would come for him. A hope that faded. The disappointment that filled the hole had given fuel to Lawrence’s lies.