Beau smirked. "I got connections myself you know," he replied. "Someone owes me a big favor, so I decided to finally cash in on it. If we can figure out what direction Lincoln is heading, then my guy will find him."

"Can we trust this person?"

"We should," Beau said. "He is my brother, from another mother, after all."

Six hours later, I was convinced my heart was going to explode inside my chest. I was sitting in the pa.s.senger seat of the black Honda Accord, rented under a fake alias and driver's license by Beau. I was overwhelmed with anxiety as the car pulled up onto the side road, leading to our destination: The House at the Edge of the World; Shadow's house.

I tried to imagine how it would play out in my head, all the potential scenarios that could occur. I even came up with "Aria emotional contingency plans" for every one of them.

If Shadow insisted on continuing to treat me like s.h.i.t, then I wasn't going to stand for it. I would stand up to him and deliver a punishing kick to his s.c.r.o.t.u.m.

If he said he loved me and missed me, I would probably still do the same just for treating me like c.r.a.p over the past couple of weeks.

He sounded like he missed you, Lincoln had said, shortly after our impromptu s.e.xual experience on Beau's priceless antique piano.

As good as it had felt at the time, I was filled with remorse for what transpired between Lincoln and I, especially since things were left unresolved with Shadow at the time. To hear that Shadow still cared for me; to hear that he missed me, made me feel like a lowlife for that one moment of pleasure.

I felt like I had betrayed Shadow.

But what's done was done. It was best to leave it buried, wasn't it? It would never happen again and it was something Shadow didn't need to know about it.

It would only serve to hurt him.

We drove up the winding road, past the rows of solid oak trees and around the European inspired stone fountain, displaying two lovers locked in an eternal embrace. Finally, the car stopped in front of a large iron gate. The mansion was just beyond it.

From where I sat, I felt the aura of extravagance radiating from the modern architectural masterpiece. The elegant look of the building was inspired by an underwater paradise, an Atlantis embedded into an ocean cliff, with smooth white curves reminiscent of a coral reef.

The large gla.s.s windows, along with the milky smoothness of the mansion's concrete walls, gave the building an organic feel. It was an ent.i.ty in itself.

Beau whistled. "Wow, this is one s.e.xy house," he said. "What do you girls think?"

Isadora didn't seem impressed.

"It's just another rich boy's house," she said from the back seat of the car, ambivalent to the extravagance of the mansion. "It lacks personality."

"Oh, I dunno sweetheart. I think it's got plenty of personality," Beau replied.

Suddenly there was a low humming sound as I watched the iron gate open up for us. "Well, looks like Shadow's expecting us," Beau said as he drove on through.

Eventually, we stopped at the foot of the mansion. I opened the car door and stepped out into the rain.

"You ready?" Beau asked.

"For what?" I asked.

"Oh, you know what," he said as he exited the vehicle and opened up the backseat of the car to allow Isadora out. "The magnetic pull of two distant lovers is a force of nature in itself." He pointed to the grey sky as beads of rain drifted down from it. "You see, even the heavens are getting all misty eyed."

I took a deep breath.

Isadora looked at me, and laid a hand on my shoulder. "His spirit was with you all this time," she whispered into my ear. "Now go see him. Time should not be wasted when it comes to love. One day, you may end up alone, regretting those moments that could have been."

She was right.

I walked up the steps, shoving all the anxiety I felt deep into the pit of my stomach.

I opened up the large double doors, only to be greeted by a large, muscular black man in a tank top.

He was eating rolled up pancakes with his bare hands.

I wasn't expecting that.

"Are you Aria?" he asked.

I nodded.

"I'm Cairo West. Brevin was my dad," he introduced himself. "I've heard a lot about you."

"I'm sorry about your father," I said sympathetically. "He was a good man."

Cairo looked at me thoughtfully, as if trying to think of the right words to say. Eventually, he said, "You hungry? I made pancakes. Try them with peanut b.u.t.ter. My girl says I'm a freak for eating them like that, but hey, f.u.c.k it. You love what you love, right?"

"I'm not hungry," I replied. "But thanks."

There was another moment of lingering silence between us.

It was the voice of a woman which broke the awkwardness between us.

"For G.o.d's sake Cairo, let her in already." A pretty Asian girl descended from a winding staircase. She had a gothic inspired style which I found cute. "Shadow got nervous hearing of your arrival, though he'll never admit it. He's standing outside on the balcony like some melodramatic fool. Go find him. I can introduce myself later."

My heart skipped two beats. I nodded, and without another word, I rushed towards the direction her finger was pointing.

Sure enough, through the large vibrant windows of the Oceanside mansion, I saw Shadow, his back facing me, staring out into the endless blue waters.

The idiot was getting drenched from the rain. He was going to catch a cold.

I opened the sliding door, leading to the balcony.

Shadow turned around and looked at me, a sad gleam in his eyes.

I decided I wasn't going to be the first one to break. I'd allow him to speak first.

And then I would give him s.h.i.t for the h.e.l.l he put me through.

His mouth slowly opened and I waited for his first words to me in over two weeks.

I mustered all the courage I had to endure what was to come next. Come on you jerk, do your worst. I can take it.

"I can't live without you," he said.

Immediately, all the anger I had for him faded away.

Instead, I ran to him and buried my head deep into his damp chest.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered into my ear as I felt the warmth of his breath against the top of my forehead. "G.o.d Aria, I've been such an idiot. I'm so very, very sorry."

"You were a d.i.c.k," I agreed with him, "And you put me through h.e.l.l. It'll take some time for me to heal."

I lifted my head and looked up into his face and was stunned.

"Are you crying?" I asked.

"It's just the rain," he replied. "It's just the rain."

It wasn't.

Epilogue One

Shadow I had been to my share of dinner parties before, ones that usually involved business dealings or someone showing off their estates and the new five-star chef they hired. Those were usually boring, and to some degree, awkward. However, the little dinner party we were having tonight, for all my new guests, was by far the most f.u.c.ked up I've experienced.

The food itself was fantastic, a fusion of Cajun and Island flavors. It was nice to sit down at my own table and have a home cooked meal, especially after being on the road for so long. Aria seemed to enjoy the food as well.

I wondered if anyone noticed since the beginning of dinner, we were holding hands under the table.

Earlier, Beau and Cairo offered to cook-giving them a chance to acquaint themselves with one another-while Reiko, Aria and I sat down to discuss what our next steps should be.

The other woman Aria brought back with her, Isadora, a.k.a. the infamous Mr. Friday, had excused herself from our presence and retired to one of the guest rooms. Aria filled me in on what happened during the poor woman's wedding.

At this point, Calisto's body count was enough to fill its own cemetery.

Every person under my roof had a vendetta against her, and from the sound of it, was willing to do whatever it took to get revenge.

But that didn't necessarily mean I could trust all of them.

I also had to reorganize my priorities. Finding Lincoln and bringing him back in one piece was now at the forefront.

The only thing that consoled me at the moment was the fact that Lincoln was resourceful, when he chose to be. He'd find a way to hang in there while we searched for him.

The conversation during dinner started off casual at first, pleasant introductions and comments about how great the food was. Everyone was trying to be on their best behavior. Even Cairo had decided to use a fork and knife tonight, instead of shoving food into his mouth with his over-sized hands.

However, the elephant in the room was so apparent that its a.s.s was practically resting on each of our shoulders.

"So, have you always lived in New Orleans?" Reiko had asked Isadora, after a long moment of silence.

"I'm going to kill your sister. Tell me what the best way to do it is," Isadora replied, looking straight at me.

And with those words, the eerie calmness of our little dinner party escalated into a dog's breakfast.

"We need to get Lincoln back first," I replied.

Isadora shook her head. "No. Your sister's head at the end of a stick first," she replied, calmly, as she set her fork down. "I have nothing against Lincoln, despite him being the indirect cause of my wife and my friends being slaughtered, but his life is not my priority."

"You left out your family," Beau said, in between bites.

Isadora gave him a wicked glare. "Delilah was the only family I had."

"I have to agree with Isadora on this one," Cairo chimed in. "If we can get to Calisto first before she commits another ma.s.s genocide, we may be able to save Lincoln as well. From what Aria said, it sounds like Calisto wanted to keep him alive, for some reason."

"Calisto's a psychopath," Aria replied. "As far as I'm concerned, Lincoln's life is hanging by a thread. We need to find out where he is and rescue him. Beau, you said your brother can help?"

"Half-brother," Beau corrected.

I was taken aback. "What? Donald had more than one b.a.s.t.a.r.d? "

Beau shrugged. "Shouldn't be much of a shock," he replied. "Old dad wasn't known to be the most faithful. I wouldn't be surprised if the zipper on his pants had voice activated sensors on them."

"Your dad was a good man," I replied, trying to honor the memory of my friend. However what Beau said had some truth to it. Donald was known to dip his finger into multiple honey pots.

"A good man with at least two known b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, and counting," Beau replied. "But back to the issue at hand. Lincoln needs rescuing and I know just the man that will get it done. I just need a time and place."

I tried to get a sense of Beau, stare him right in his jade-colored eyes, but he was a difficult one to read. Perhaps I was getting worse at it? After all, I had failed to read Calisto.

Could I trust this man with Lincoln's life?

"I owe him one," Beau continued. "After all, I pointed a gun at him and almost pulled the trigger."

That didn't help with my trust level.

Aria leaned into me and whispered into my ear. "He's rough around the edges, but ultimately, he helped us," she said. "I wouldn't have made it back to you if it weren't for Beau."

I looked at Beau again, and finally gave him my attention. "Give me a day or two. I have a source that may be able to tell me where they're holding Lincoln."

"I think all our priorities have shifted here," Reiko announced. "The first thing we need is to establish a network and financial stability. Only then will we have the resources to fight Calisto on every front."

"How long is that going to take?" Aria asked. "Once again, I have to stress, Calisto is temperamental. Lincoln might not have very long."

"Without hard cash on hand for initial setups, it'll take me at least a month to get the Midnight Society back to where it was before," Reiko said. "With hard funds, it'll take probably two weeks."