I decided not to beat around the bush. “I want to know about the fae who don’t feed on humans.”

Disbelief flickered across his face a second before his features settled into their typical grumpy position, but I’d seen it. Mother-freaking bingo. I’d seen it. “I don’t know what ya—”

“Yes, you do,” I went on, leaning forward. “And it’s important.”

“Ya crazy.” He shook his head, looking away. His dark eyes narrowed. “Ya shouldn’t be asking questions like that. Ya don’t know—”

“I know that the Order worked with these fae before, up until a couple of decades ago, and I know that the Order buried it so deep that no one knows about it.”

He was silent for a moment. “Merle’s been talkin’.”

Excitement rose. “Actually, not really. She’s missing.”

His gaze shot to me. “What?”

“She’s gone. I think she might’ve gone to one of these communities.”

“No way.” He shook his head again. “That ain’t possible.” His slippered foot started tapping. “And not because of the why ya think. Those communities ain’t in existence anymore.”

Holy crap, I was a bit breathless. Jerome was actually talking to me. “You—so, you’re saying that there are communities of fae that don’t feed on humans? That are good?”

“I said ‘was,’ and that means in the past. They’ve all been . . . dealt with.”

I frowned.

Jerome rubbed a thick hand over his forehead. “David don’t know about this. This was before he came on as sect leader and was just some boy workin’ the streets. Ain’t no one around here besides Merle who knows about this. And that’s the way it needs to stay.”

“Wait. What?”

“All of that is in the past and it ain’t a past anyone is revisiting. Sorry to hear that Merle is missing, but she ain’t with no good fae. And there ain’t nothin’ to tell.”

“Jerome, please. You obviously know something about these fae.” I fought to keep my patience. “What can it hurt by you telling me about it?”

He laughed. “Girl, ya don’t know anything.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

“There’s nothin’ to tell,” he repeated.

I counted to ten before I continued. “Obviously there’s a lot to tell. There were fae who didn’t harm humans at one time. Why can’t you tell me about them, about what happened?”

Jerome was quiet.

“You know the knights and the prince came through those gates and—”

“And that got nothin’ do with what used to be some thirty or so years ago. They can’t help ya, because they ain’t existin’ no more,” Jerome snapped, his voice thick with the cold. “Sorry I ain’t got the kind of news ya lookin’ for, but it’s time for you to go.”

“Jerome.” My hands curled into fists.

“I mean it, Ivy. Ya need to go. Now.” His gaze cut to mine. “Don’t make me ask ya again.”

I held his gaze. I didn’t get it. He knew something. He’d pretty much confirmed that there had been good fae once upon a time, but refused to go into any detail about it and I couldn’t figure out why. Why was it such a big deal for it to be known that there were fae who didn’t feed on humans?

“Ya know where the door is,” Jerome said.

As much as it ticked me off, I knew when it was time to give it up when it came to Jerome. Pressing my lips together, I rose. “Hope you enjoy your pie,” I said.

He didn’t say anything until I reached the door, and then he stopped me by saying, “Don’t go around askin’ other people about that either. Heed my advice on it. There ain’t nothin’ you need to know about any of that.”

I didn’t respond as I walked outside, closing the door behind me. As I walked down the steps, my phone rang. I pulled it out and saw that it was David. My heart skipped a beat and I willed my voice to stay level as I answered it. “What’s up?”

“Is Ren with you?”

I stopped walking. “No. Why?”

“Shit,” grumbled David. “He was supposed to come back and talk with me last night about some shit that was urgent. He didn’t show. I called him last night and this morning. No answer. Like he’s done dropped off the face of this planet.”

Chapter Sixteen

The conversation with Jerome and the whole situation faded into the background. My heart was thumping fast as I stared at my phone. Ren couldn’t be missing. Twenty-four hours hadn’t even passed since the last time I’d seen him. Granted, the length of time didn’t matter, but I refused to believe he had just disappeared. No way. My brain couldn’t even process that.

There was a good chance he was taking some unplanned and unapproved leave time after I’d dropped that bomb on him, but would he really not tell David? Ren was too responsible to do that.

As I walked back toward the Quarter, I ignored the way my pulse was all over the place, and called Ren. The likelihood of him answering my call when he wasn’t answering David’s was slim, but I had to try.

The phone rang and went to voicemail. For a moment, I didn’t know if I should leave a message or not, and then told myself I was being stupid. The words tumbled out. “Ren, this is Ivy. I’m calling you because David is looking for you. He’s been trying to reach you and you—well, obviously you know you haven’t returned his call.” Rolling my eyes, I stopped at the corner of St. Louis and Basin. “Anyway, can you call him back? I don’t expect you to call me. But just call him back. Please.”