“Where in New Orleans would a day-walking vampire goose with anger issues take an earthbound angel to drain her?” His stomach lurched at the thought, an image of an undead fowl with fangs sucking on Destiny’s neck.
“How would that even work?” Mike asked. “Geese don’t have lips. How could they cover the wound?”
“Can they even suck?” Crimson asked.
Mike scratched his head. “Maybe if she opens her mouth all the way, her victim’s flesh will mold to the back of her mouth.”
“That’s how she does it.” Crimson raised her index finger. “She deep-throats their necks.”
Their banter morphed the intrusive image in Pete’s mind into something he could never unsee. He shifted his weight to stop his tapping foot, and a tingle formed in the right side of his brain. It spread over the entire side of his head, wrapping around to the front and flashing a vision behind his eyes.
Destiny sat on a concrete floor, her hands bloodied from struggling against chains. The image vanished as quickly as it had formed, but something else, a feeling…no, a knowing…wriggled into his mind.
He slapped his hand on the counter. “Are there any iron mines in Louisiana?”
Max made a chittering sound and clasped his paw together. “You sense her.”
“Barely. She’s surrounded by iron ore.”
“Why would she take an angel to iron mine?” Crimson grabbed a laptop from a shelf and opened it on the counter. “I didn’t think it affected angels like it does fae.”
“To keep me from finding her.” Pete peered over her shoulder as she pulled up a map and searched for iron mines.
Mike’s phone rang, and he pressed it to his ear before striding down the hall. Max climbed onto the counter, and Crimson gave him a little scratch behind the ears before zooming in on her search results.
“Looks like our choices are Michigan and Minnesota.” She pointed to the red pins on the map.
“It’s this one. I’m sure of it.” Pete tapped the pin on the screen, and it opened a tab with information about the mine. “It’s a museum now. She’s holding her there, but I can’t imagine why she’d do it in a public place.”
Crimson lifted one shoulder. “Maybe it’s a failsafe. She knows you can’t hop in and out without causing a scene, so she took her to a public place just in case you found her.”
He closed his eyes, clearing his mind of everything but the vision he’d seen of his angel. Breathing deeply, he focused on the ether, searching for any information the universe was willing to give up.
It gave him nothing.
“Is the bakery unlocked?” Mike asked as he returned to the kitchen. “Richard is struggling big time. Katrina’s got him subdued, but if he doesn’t get some cake ASAP, he’s going to clear out every grocery store and farm in the parish and cause a real famine.”
“There isn’t any cake.” Pete picked up Max and cradled him to his chest. “Helga destroyed everything.”
Mike’s eyes widened. “We need those cakes. Only an angel can make them.”
“She was planning to contact her boss, but she didn’t get the chance.” A demon doing demonic things was the least of Pete’s worries. “Can you open a portal to the iron mine on the screen? To the concrete room inside where Destiny is. I have to save her.”
“I’ll call my parents,” Crimson said. “The recipe must be recorded somewhere.”
“Your parents are angels?” Max asked.
“Long story.” She typed on the computer before waving a hand at him. “Send them on their way. I’ll handle the cakes.”
Mike lifted his arm, his right palm glowing red. “I can get you outside the mine, but you’ll have to find the room on your own. When demons try to portal underground, we always end up in Hell.”
“That’s fine.” Pete would find her. All he needed was to get close. Then he’d sense his fated mate.
“Since it’s a tourist spot, you might shift before you portal. People won’t bat an eye at a rabbit and a raccoon appearing out of nowhere, but a man holding a raccoon is sure to draw attention.”
“Right.” He set Max on the floor and called on his rabbit. Pastel sparkles gathered around him as his body morphed, his clothes magically absorbing into his animal form.
On all fours, he twitched his nose and looked at Max. “Are you ready for this?”
