“I like being precious! It’s gives me a fuzzy, warm glow.” She couldn’t resist a tease. It was in her nature.

“Well, it’s true. My brothers will kill me if I let anything happen to you. And I’d never forgive myself.” He held her gaze for a moment, and her brain emptied of everything except a desperate urge to kiss him. “So, do you fancy a trip tomorrow? It’s a long drive, though. And we can’t stay overnight,” he rushed onwards, “because I have to go to the British Museum on Monday.” He briefly outlined what had happened.

“I can go with you?” Vision of golden, jewelled treasures filled her head. “Holy shit! Yes, please! Templar treasure! An enormous finder’s fee!” All embarrassment vanished. “Sit and tell me everything about what’s going on.”

“So, you see our problem,” Zee said to Alex Bonneville as they were cleaning the bar of The Wayward Son in White Haven after a busy Saturday night. The other staff were well out of hearing range. “A box won’t cut it anymore. We have too many jewels.”

“Oh, no! What a terrible dilemma!” Alex shot Zee a wry grin. “So much gold!”

“Funny, if they weren’t so dangerous!

Alex poured them both half a pint of Skullduggery Ale. “I’m kidding, obviously. You need another spelled box. Or a treasure chest, at this point.”

“More like a bunker. Me and Eli have already prepared a place in the cellar. We’ve dug a pit. It was a rough brick and dirt floor anyway. We’ve lined it with slabs and made a trap door to go over it. Can you spell that?”

“Bloody hell, mate. How much stuff are you expecting?”

“Prepare for the worst, and all that.” He’d already told Alex about what had happened to his brothers and Shadow in Florence. “There could be more. Weapons, too.”

Alex’s grin vanished. “I’d rather it be in your cellar than anywhere else. I’ll come round tomorrow with the whole coven. We’ll set up a protection spell.”

Zee knew that Alex would help, but it was good to have it confirmed. “Thank you. I don’t like us having them. Feels like we’re sitting on dynamite, but like you said, better with us than anywhere else.”

“You’re sure you don’t want to be with them? Your brothers, I mean.”

“No! It’s important that me and Eli are here to keep everything safe, and besides, I like my new job.”

“Good, because you’re great at it.” Alex raised his glass. “And way easier to deal with than Simon!”

It had been two months since Simon, Alex’s previous Bar Manager, had left and Zee had taken over the role, and he loved it. He also loved the fact that he had use of the flat upstairs. A partial sharing arrangement with Abigail Kendall, the DS on Newton’s team. He was currently spending half his time there, and had debated whether to fully move in, but with more of Belial’s jewels arriving now, he couldn’t really.

“Cheers, Alex. That’s good to know. Any idea what we can do with all of his stuff long-term, though? We can’t keep it forever.”

“There are a few options, I guess,” he mused while he sipped his beer, “but the more you accumulate, the more overall power you’ll have to contain. Digging a hole is a great idea. Maybe the best yet. However, with all your newfound wealth, you should have a proper safe installed. A big one.”

Zee blinked in shock. “I hadn’t considered that. The kind we can walk into, like in a bank?”

“Pretty much. You can then add spells to it, and you’d have double levels of protection. Make sense, right?”

“We could convert half the cellar!”

“Absolutely, if that’s the best space. Reinforce the walls, etcetera. I bet Caspian can recommend someone. He’d know companies who could do that.”

“That’s a brilliant idea. Nahum is arriving tomorrow. I can talk to him and Eli, and call Gabe. He’ll agree, I’m sure.” The more Zee thought about it, the more he liked it. There would be no need for it ever to leave their house, and seeing as Gabe had bought the farmhouse and the land for all of them to use, it made sense.

“I bet,” Alex added, as he put his beer down and loaded glasses in the dishwasher, “that your alchemist friend, JD, could recommend metals you could use for extra insulation, too.”

“Alex, you really are a bloody genius! That’s a brilliant idea.”

Alex winked. “I know. I might not be able to search for Belial, but I’ll do what I can.”

It had been a great source of frustration that Alex couldn’t use his magic skills to find Belial in other worlds. He couldn’t touch the jewels, and even if he could, they couldn’t risk him encountering such a powerful presence. It would kill Alex. Plus, there was nothing else they could use to find his agents. Until now.

“What about the manifesto?” Zee asked. “It will have been handled by people other than Jacobsen. Could you use that?”

“Of course, but isn’t that in London with Barak? Why don’t you ask Estelle to do that? It’s one of her specialities.”

“That’s actually a great suggestion. I don’t know why they haven’t considered it. Unless they have, and it failed. I’ll call Barak soon. He’ll still be up.”

“Hold on!” Alex held his hand up. “There’ll be other spells you can use, not just finding spells. Objects contain impressions, and the stronger the emotion, the stronger the impression is. A manifesto will have lots! A skilled witch should be able to draw out the emotions of who was writing it, maybe even where. I have a few spells in my grimoire. They all vary slightly, but hopefully one will work.” He grimaced. “I tried one on my own grimoire, but there are too many years, too many individuals to separate. It gave me a headache. The manifesto, however, could be perfect to try.”

“Really? That’s possible?”

“Perhaps. It’s worth a shot if you’re at a dead end.”

“We are for now, but we’re working on options.” Zee forgot all about cleaning the bar, excited by the prospect of unlocking the manifesto’s secrets. “Wow. If we could pin down who wrote it, even if it’s years old, it would tell us something. Surely though, a psychic witch like you would have better results?”

“Maybe.” Alex pulled his long, dark hair out of his top knot and rubbed his head as if it ached. “Confusing, isn’t it? I don’t know what hidden talents Estelle has, but she might have success. Or, what about the Moonfell Witches? Olivia was telling us about them when we saw her at New Years.”

They’d had a big New Years Eve party at the farmhouse, and all of their White Haven friends had attended. The witches, Newton’s team, the PCs from the town, Stan, and Ghost OPS. It had been epic. A way to celebrate after vanquishing Black Cronos, and to toast Olivia’s pregnancy, of course.

“They saved Olivia,” Alex continued, “and I gather Odette saw Nahum’s wings. She sees the truth of things. It sounds like she works a little like I do.”

Zee nodded. He’d never met them. In fact, the only Nephilim who had was Nahum. “I guess we could ask them if Estelle needs help—if she’ll admit it!”

“She’s not a fool. She’ll ask if it will get all of you further along.”

“I like working with you, though.”

Alex laughed. “Thank you! We are glad to help, but they’re closer, and I think you can trust them, too. You need all hands on deck for this.”

Zee sat heavily on a bar stool. Everything seemed so big, with so many moving parts. He thought life might get less messy after Black Cronos, but it seemed even more complicated than ever. He felt like he was back on the battlefield, and could almost taste the dust and feel the sweat running down his face, and scent blood and death in the air. He took a deep breath to dispel it all. The images vanished, but it left him knowing something he’d rather not.

“We’re going to become Belial’s keepers, aren’t we?”

Alex nodded and sat down, too. “If you mean you’ll have to guard his shit forever? Yes.”

“Forever is a long time.”

“If you break up The Brotherhood, no one will know. You keep them in your big vault and forget about them. You think only of your future, which is for you to design as it pleases you. Like being here, for now.”

“I’ve got a lot going on in White Haven. That stupid pact with the dryads with Eli. My flat share, my job, my friendships. A shit-ton of money coming our way, too!”

“Always nice!”

New resolve filled Zee. “Yes, we build a huge, fuck-off vault spelled with everything, and sit on it like big Nephilim dragons. And we make sure we celebrate everything else. Like pregnancies and weddings.”

“Wedding! Just one!” Alex rolled his eyes. “That’s enough.”