Page 77 of Immortal Unveiled

“Oh my God!” Though he’d had his suspicion, shock raced through Manus, reaching every single cell of his body. “We’ve gotta find it before the demons do.”

“Do you have any idea where Nancy could have hidden it?” Virginia asked.

Manus shook his head.

Kim spoke up. “We’ve searched everywhere. But now that we know what it is, I’ll search the house again, and the storage unit.”

Virginia shook her head. “It won’t be there. As an emissarius, your mother knew that those would be the first places the demons would search once they found out she had it. She would have been smarter than that. She would have hidden it where nobody would suspect it, but where you, Kim, would eventually find it. As the only relative, you’re the executor of her will. She would have known that as you close out her affairs, you would come upon the book. But it wouldn’t be obvious to anybody else.”

Kim stared at her, stunned disbelief coloring her face. “You’re saying it’s up to me now?”

“Manus will help you, rest assured. But you knew your mother best. You know her thinking, her reasoning. You’re the one best equipped to figure out what she did with the book.” Virginia sighed. “I wish I could help you, particularly since it was mine in the first place.”

“It’s nobody’s fault,” Manus said quickly. “I just don’t understand why Nancy didn’t bring it to our attention immediately.”

Kim shook her head. “She didn’t know what she had. Don’t you remember what Emily, her assistant, said? That she never let the cat out of the bag before she was sure? She wasn’t sure it was connected to the Stealth Guardians, and after she spoke to the translator and most likely pieced together what he translated and what she suspected, she might not have had enough time to contact your people. The demon killed her that night.”

Virginia nodded. “That’s good thinking. It means you need to figure out what your mother did between the time she left the translator’s office and the time she got killed. Somewhere in that time span, she hid the book.”

Manus nodded at Virginia. “Thank you, Virginia, you’ve helped us a lot. We’d better make our way back to the portal. I need to call Grayson to meet us there.”

“Grayson came with you? You’re not gonna be able to leave that early. He’ll be at the party.”

“Party?” Manus asked.

“Yes, Samson is throwing Delilah a big bash for her birthday.” She waved them to follow her into the hallway. “Come, I’ll give you a ride to HQ. You might as well say hi to Samson and the gang. They’ll be upset if you leave without showing your face.”

Manus exchanged a quick look with Kim then glanced at the clock. “It’s past midnight in Baltimore. There isn’t much we can do there right now anyway. Can I take you out for a drink and introduce you to some friends?”

“Vampires?” Kim asked.

“That, some humans, and a few witches.”

“I’m not gonna say no to a drink.”

“Well, then, let’s go. We’ll take my car,” Virginia said.