“When it comes to Ten Club, they have eyes and ears everywhere. To end them, one must look for the less obvious manner. I believed using their need for power against them was my best option. However, I never anticipated the Seers were busy hatching their own scheme. They thought they were more suited to lead the club and aligned with some members behind my back.”
I was on the edge of my seat. So these Seers who worked for him weren’t exactly loyal. Why did they work for him to begin with?
“It was more of a mutually beneficial relationship,” he explained. “I raised many from the dead. They owed me.”
I was about to ask how he’d done that and why he couldn’t do that for his wife and children when he added, “Ten Club ensured that door was closed forever.”
So while King was secretly planning his grand exit, where Serina would take the keys to the kingdom, the Seers were making their own plans. They wanted power. He wanted Ten Club to self-destruct.
He nodded his head of thick dark hair. “I called a mandatory meeting at my house in San Francisco to announce my departure. But as the last members were arriving, one of the Seers slipped up—I heard one thinking about how happy she would be when it was all over. I knew right away she was up to something, so I took her into another room and pressed her. Violently.”
I guessed he meant he tortured her.
“Yes,” he said, “and then the events unfolded as I told you.”
I felt my mind itching and spinning. Suddenly, I was inside King’s head:
I stood in a big living room with white furniture and hardwood floors. Women in black cocktail dresses started falling to the floor like leaves scattered in the wind. People in tuxes and sequined gowns were scrambling for the doors, yelling or cussing. So much confusion.
Then, as if my heart had been ripped right from my chest, I doubled over, clutching the fabric of my white dress shirt. I could not breathe. The pain was too much. And then suddenly it stopped. They’re dead. No. No. No.
I rushed outside and found my driver. “Hurry. Get to Mia’s parents’ house.” It wasn’t far, but the drive felt like a never-ending downward spiral into hell. Everything inside me already knew the truth.
The car pulled up to the grand home on Nob Hill, and I ran up the steps. When I reached the top, the front door had been left open. I could hear the screams from Mia’s mother.
King cleared his throat, pushing me out of his head. I was back in my dad’s house. Staring into King’s pale gray eyes.
“You do not need to see the rest,” he said.
I looked down at my feet. I got the gist. “I’m so sorry they did that to your family.” Despite his mistakes, my heart broke for him. I could feel the gaping hole inside him, like his soul was dead.
“As am I.”
“So what happened to the Seers after that?”
“I am a cautious man. I made sure that when I raised them from the dead, I had a way to send them back should they cross me.”
So he killed them.
“Seers never truly die. Their souls are bound to the earth.”
“But your wife. You said she was a Seer.”
“She was forced to sever ties with them at one point. It is why I cannot get her back. She moved on with our children.”
Moved on to where? I wondered if a man like him knew what was on the other side.
“That is a complicated question. I can merely tell you that once a person crosses over, they are gone forever.”
“And the other Seers, where are they now?”
“The ones who moved against me are forever trapped in that house.”
Oh god. That was why it was so cold, so dark. He killed them and left their souls to rot there.
“After I buried my pregnant wife and child,” he said, “I warded our home, along with my warehouse, to keep people away, and I decided I no longer wished to live.”
But why the safe? Why the bottom of the ocean in Florida?
He gave me a pained look. “I have been resurrected more times than I can count, and I wanted to die for good this time. I asked the fishermen to take me somewhere no one would ever find me.”
“Are you really thousands of years old?”
“I am sorry,” he said, “but that is all we have time for. And now that I have answered all your questions, removed all doubt from your mind as to why we must move forward, do you believe you are up for the challenge? Because it must be you, Jeni. They will not know who or what is attacking. They will be unable to defend themselves against a power they have never seen. Meanwhile, I will ward the property to prevent them from leaving once they’ve entered.”
I let the pieces spin around inside my head. He wanted to finish what he started by calling all the members for another meeting. He would use the opportunity to make a trade with Serina to get my dad back. I guessed he then expected me to do my thing and kill everyone there. After everything King told me about how conniving these Ten Club people were, I worried that this wouldn’t go smoothly.
“If you would like to confront Serina, be my guest. But she is quite old and has acquired many tricks since I have been away.”
“She as old as you?” I asked.
“No one is as old as me. Which is why it is time to make things right and put an end to this unholy life of mine along with my legacy.”
The thought of killing him was too much. I couldn’t even pretend to visualize it. “Okay, but death could still reject you.”
“Ending Ten Club will make things right.” He took my hand and kissed the top. “This is why you must help me.”
I stared at his beautiful face, feeling my heart swell. I had never used my “gift” before. Not like this. The only two times I had, I’d been fighting for my life. “I could fail.”
“You will not. Especially after you shake hands with the man who murdered your mother, and then meet his wife, the current leader of Ten Club: Serina. She will be very pleased to tell you all about the fun she’s been having torturing your father.”
Serina was Victor Escorcia’s wife? She was the new leader, too? I felt the all too familiar rage building in my chest. The world was not safe with people like them in it. A revolting, sadistic power couple. “I’m in.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The event would be held at King’s creepy death-house-on-a-hill back in San Francisco. He insisted it would make a statement that the rightful leader of Ten Club had returned to claim his throne and settle unfinished business. Basically, it was a showdown, and everyone was coming to watch.
I guessed some members wouldn’t be happy to see King again, especially the individuals who’d killed his family. King said he didn’t know specifically who they were—he’d been too distraught at the time to find out—but that didn’t matter now. Ten Club, all of them, were going down. Either way, if I were in those particular members’ shoes, I’d be showing up to back Serina. I would be scared shitless of King retaking leadership, because, well, payback.
They’re getting it anyway. And I felt zero guilt. Except for the part about ending King’s life, too. He didn’t understand what I felt. Neither did I, really. My best guess was it had something to do with my Seer blood. He had a long history with them, and if what he said was true, about their souls never really moving on, perhaps I knew him long ago?