Dante’s red eyes grew even redder.

“We met up with Candace the night before, as she was making her great escape after filching the Avgo.”

“So you boys caught her red-handed, eh?”

Dante pointed at Slate. “He did. He messaged us to meet him at the top of The Tower, so we got into combat gear and found him with her up there.”

Combat gear?

Candi shivered. Was that what they called their demonic appearances?

“You appeared in front of her in combat gear?” Ray Torra stood up, blue sparks crackling from his fingertips.

The seven men froze. This was not looking good. Their eyes darted at the suddenly combative Custodian of the Tower.

“I was already in combat gear.” Slate’s gravelly voice rumbled out in the silence. “It was my job to protect the cache.”

“Aside from Slate, what did the rest of you boneheads think that would accomplish other than scaring her witless???”

Dante said nothing.

Ray Torra turned back to Candi. “So you are the proud owner of the Avgo.”

Candi pressed her lips together. “I would like to return it, if I may.”

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the deep pink gemstone. She placed the stone on the table in front of her with gentle hands.

It sat on the table, shining like a golf-sized pink heart. Its reflective and refractive light scattered in a radiant burst of colors.

Ray Torra shook his head with an evil grin. “Too late for that, my dear. You should have thought of that before absconding with the Avgo. You are stuck with it now.”

Candi looked at it with a grimace. She didn’t even want to have anything to do with it, now that it was clear that it was associated with demonic beings who were effectively holding her hostage.

What had begun as a simple heist had gone grievously awry. Not only had she not been able to reach the waiting helicopter to take the gem to the rendezvous point, she still had not been able to contact Madam Broussard about the Event.

No show, no call was the kiss of death.

By now, she probably no longer even had a job. Not showing up for what was supposed to be an important event that she was partly in charge of was a major offense.

But she could survive that. What she could not recover from was the failure to deliver the gemstone to the head of the organization.

This alone was enough to land her butt on the streets to join the throng of the unemployed if she was lucky.

At this point, they probably thought she had decided to keep the loot for herself. This was tantamount to stealing from the organization. Never mind the fact that it was never theirs to begin with.

“Please take it back. You don’t know how sorry I am that I even found out about this stone. I was not expecting such—”

“How?” Leonardo interrupted.

“Sorry?” Candi looked up at the blonde male with the aqua eyes.

“How did you find out about the stone?”

Candi waved her hand in a vague gesture. “I read about it in some obscure book I found.”

The men looked at each other.

Dante leaned forward, regarding her with a strange quizzed expression. “What’s the name of the book, and where did you find it?”

Candi scratched her head. Should she tell them the truth, no matter how bizarre it was, or should she tell them an easily digestible lie?

Truth won.

“The book’s name is written in an obscure language so I’m not exactly sure what the meaning is behind the title.”

“What does it say?” Dante interrupted with impatience.

“It’s called Ellipsoidal Macrocosm.” She frowned.

It didn’t make sense to her, let alone a room full of demonic beings with the physical appearances of male swimsuit models.

But their eyes didn’t narrow with confusion. Their demeanors never changed. It was as if they were expecting this. As if they knew what the name of the book was.

“Where did you find it?” Dante repeated his question.

Candi pursed her lips into a duck pout. “I stole it.”

“Hah!” Lucas spat out a laugh. “The professional thief strikes again!”

Candi cleared her throat. “Something like that.”

Jason grinned. “She’s not a greedy thief though. She’s a VERY discerning one.”

Jared nodded in agreement. “Out of all the exquisitely valuable loot, the girl picks up an old battered book and a gem of dubious value, leaving behind the huge diamonds and rubies and emeralds behind.”

Jason waved a finger in protest. “It’s not valueless. It is an exquisite pink sapphire and would look stunning on her.”

“That is true.” Jared rubbed his nose in thought. “She has that warm honey blonde hair and those color-shifting hazel eyes. This pink sapphire would make a splendid diadem.”

“Stop sabotaging the discussion with your incessant need to tie everything to your design job!” Byron shot them a warning glance. “This is the Avgo we’re talking about, not some lame gem that you can use to create a head gear with.”

Dante shook his head. “Professional thieves are never loners. They ALWAYS have an organization they work with.”

He turned razor sharp eyes at Candi. “Which organization do you work for?”

Candi took a deep breath. She was alone inside a room with eight demonic beings.

She might as well come clean with them. There was no such thing as loyalty to an organization that would just as soon ditch her for her failure to deliver what they ask for.

“I am an archaeologist. It’s my job to procure valuable things from my digs and hand them over to my Head Supervisor.”

Dante crossed his hands over his chest and gave her a slanted look. “So you’re an over-educated grave robber.”

She looked down miserably at her fingernails. “You could call me that.”

“But the Avgo that you took was not from a grave or even an archaeological dig.” Slate chimed in. “It was from our collection of rare and unusual gemstones.”

She turned to Slate with guilty eyes. “Yes I know. It wasn’t the gem that was taken from a gravesite. It was the book.”

Ray Torra harrumphed. “How did you find it?”

“It was—” she paused.

“Yes?” Ray gave her a piercing look.

“It was in the clasp of a mummy’s hands.”