Gregorio’s lips twitch. “Fair,” he says, and he clicks onto his computer. “All right. I can print out a new identity package for you. Are you—?” Abruptly, he turns back to Cass, his eyes dark with concern. “Is there a rush? Are you in trouble?”
“No, no,” Cass says hastily. “Just, um?—”
And those are two of themanyquestions he was hoping to avoid—and the main reason he didn’t go to notoriously chatty Nathaniel for this.
Traditionally, demons registered with their local Chain get certain benefits from that membership. Among those benefits are new identities, international safe houses, and assistance when traveling abroad. It’s almost like having a demon-specific consulate in every country on Earth.
And that’s great, of course, except when it’s not. Besides the fact that bureaucracies move slowly, Cass isn’t the only demon who doesn’t necessarilywantthe Chain to know his every move. It’s one of the many reasons why he maintains roughly a dozen safe houses worldwide, not just his extra two here in Redwater, and one of the many reasons why he painstakingly set up a secret identity at the beginning of the twentieth century, making sure he could disappear in a hurry if the occasion arose.
But he has a second person to consider now: Desi. While he still doesn’t want the Chain to know she exists—it’s safer for everyone, especially Desi and JJ, that way—he can use Gregorio’s blank templates to do the legwork on his own, ensuring that Desi has a birth certificate and other legal documents.
Particularly after what JJ mentioned over the phone last week about the Sanctum building a demonic soul-tracking spell. If Cass needs to grab Desi and vacate Redwater for a few weeks to throw them off the scent, then he’ll want her to have an “official”—if secret—identity locked and loaded.
And all that means he has to get through this conversation without alertingGregorioto Desi’s existence, too. “I’m just looking for some extra security,” Cass says eventually. “The world is crazy nowadays, you know? Even though not much happens in Redwater, we still had the Jackson–Locke murders a few years ago. Frankly, it feels like we’re due for another catastrophe.”
“Do you really have to tempt fate like that?” Gregorio complains, and he pushes himself to his feet, stretching. “You sure you’re not in a rush?”
“Positive.”
“All right. I’ll go grab the paperwork from Micah. He’ll have the forms available.”
Cass frowns. “They’re not online? I thought the Chain digitized all their forms nowadays.”
“They do,” Gregorio says, “but I was looking for an excuse to visit Micah, anyway.”
“You’re literally married. You see each other every day.”
“You’re missing the point.” Gregorio considers him. “So is this going through official channels?”
Cass fights back a flinch. “Of course. If I go through with it at all, at least. Right now, I’m just… considering my options. Like I said, there’s no hurry.”
Gregorio doesn’t look convinced. “Uh-huh. Well, I won’t make you sign for the paperwork now, since I’m not technically giving it to you. And I’ll just have Micah drop by your house with it sometime in the next week, so if he forgets his logbook…” He shrugs. “No paper trail.”
Relief floods through Cass. “Oh, you arespeakingmy language, Ricci,” he says, and he nods towards the empty coffee cup on Gregorio’s desk. “What are you drinking? I’ll get you a refill and leave it here. Should be the perfect temperature by the time you get back.”
Gregorio’s lips twitch. “Hot black and white mocha with almond milk.”
Cass opens his mouth, closes it, and digs out his phone, tapping into his notes app. “Repeat that? Slower?”
Gregorio dutifully complies. “And you just need one identity package, right? Or did you want extra for Ez and Obie?”
“I—” Cass’s throat suddenly feels dry. “Actually, two would be better. Thanks.”
Gregorio’s eyebrows pull together. “Only two?” he repeats, but just as quickly, his expression clears. “Right. Obie’s been around for millennia. He probably has enough fake identities to fill a small city by now.”
“Probably,” Cass agrees. “Thanks again, Gregorio. You’re the man.”
“Don’t forget my coffee,” Gregorio replies, and he strolls out the door.
Shaking his head in amusement, Cass walks out behind him, making a quick right into the coffee shop next door. The line is long enough to curve all the way around the room, and he pulls out his phone while he waits, staring down at it without really seeing anything.
Two fake identities. It wasn’t something he consciously considered when he first left Ez and Obie on babysitting duty this morning, but if he’s being honest with himself, he thinks that was probably his plan from the start.
After all, Cass already has a fake identity that the Chain doesn’t know about. It’ll be child’s play to make a matching one for Desi.
And if he creates a third for JJ, well. It’ll make all of their lives easier if something goes wrong.
He shakes his head sharply, scowling down at his screen. No. No, that would never happen. He can’t imagine JJ leaving the Sanctum, not even for Desi. So if the worst ever happened and Cass had to leave Redwater, then?—
