Well. She made show of considering just that, then shrugged. Im going to practice the water displacement some more. Thanks. She kissed him, then without touching the sigil on his chest, studied it some more. The man was a map of spellcraft, and she had donned her explorers hat. See you tomorrow?
Id like that. Im going to sleep well tonight, thinking of your mouth. He traced her lips and she kissed his fingers. Something to take with me into dreams.
CJ crossed the loft threshold under the violent glare of the prismatic light. His world had been reduced to imprisonment within his home, and hed learned to hate the constant minute tinkle of overhead crystals and the flash of color across his skin, when it should have given him marvel as it had Vika when she first viewed it.
Stomping across the painted protection ward, he paused in the center and tilted his head, closing his eyes. A strange judder moved the floor beneath his boots. He knew it wasnt an earthquake or the building settling, as sometimes upper floors felt wavery.
Someone is trying to breach my wards.
The protection demons wards, to be exact.
Racing to the sofa, he found the remote control hed designed to turn off all the chandeliers with one click or in specific groups, such as in the bedroom or kitchen or only over his spell room. Hastily returning to the ward, he knelt and, bowing, spread out his arms to each side, the remote held in one hand.
Of all the demons within him, he had a sort of alliance with Protection, and he had actually summoned it to the fore on two previous occasions. Now, he needed the demons help.
Ada ada io ada dia.
His gut churned, the infestation awakening and battling against one another for reign. And when he felt the warm glow beneath his skin, familiar and welcome, CJ clicked off all the lights.
The loft grew so silent he heard the hum of the electricity buzz through the wires. And then, palms slapping the hardwood floor, he was overtaken.
Hed found exactly what hed hoped to find on the concrete railing before the Seine in the fourth quarter. A minute, dried speck of blood above a gash in the concrete. Apparently the dark witch had been in a fender bender and hadnt walked away without injury.
Ian Grim had carefully scraped the blood into a vial with the tip of a pocketknife blade, and now, in his lab, he had prepared the mixture and laid the bead of processed blood onto the same map hed used with the pendulum.
Immediately the bead, small as a dragonflys eye, had began to travel the streets on the map, at first following a main road and then veering down an alley.
Grim stood patiently over the map, hands clasped to his gut, his muscles tense and jaw tight. It had been six months. Finally he would learn where Certainly Jones was hiding.
Over the decades they had matched each other in magics, always trying to one-up the other. They had never been allies or even friends. Always enemies, but not quite, for they employed a gentlemans conduct for all duels and magical showdowns. They were always generally aware of the others location and doings, and if something struck one as interesting then the challenge was issued.
Dasha tended to put up with his macho grandstanding. He loved her for her quiet acceptance.
He hadnt realized Jones had a clue what he was up to until the man had returned from Daemonia and Ian had sensed what his nemesis had returned with. Something hed wanted to lay his hands on for decades.
You havent won yet, Grim muttered as he tracked the slowly moving bead that veered toward the fifth arrondissement and then scattered in a powder across the map, as if blown away by explosives.
No!
The dark witch must have been on to him and blocked his approach with protective magic. To be expected. If Grim were able to easily sneak up on Jones, hed be disappointed. But he was closer than ever now.
The fifth. Only one of the largest quarters in Paris. I will find you, Jones.
Chapter 8
This cleanup was weird.
Pulling on her gloves, Vika looked over the piles of ash. Normally, she was rarely called in for a vampire cleanup. The vamp was staked; he ashed, leaving behind just bits of clothing and personal items. Usually. This time, one particular pile of ash was only half-formed, sitting before the legs and hips of what had yet to ash.
A young one, Libby said, joining her side with dustpan and broom in hand. Clear goggles, that covered her nose as well, wrapped her head because the fine dust tended to fly up ones nostrils. Thats too sad.
The young vampires didnt ash as easily as those who had perhaps a few decades of vampirism to their arsenal. And the heat generated during an ash didnt get hot enough to destroy clothing. Hence, the cleanup call.
You grab the feet, Vika said. Ill get whats left of the hips. This shouldnt take long.
Libby handed her the black body bag, and Vika zipped it open as her sister inspected the shoes on the feet. These are Louboutins.
Dont think about it, Vika warned.
I know. Really bad karma to steal the deads belongings. But do you know how much those things cost? And theyre purple. I think theyre my size, too.
Libby.
All right, all right! Lift.
They succeeded in getting the legs into the body bag without having to remove the shoes to lessen the weight. Libby tossed the bag into the back of the hearse.
They succeeded in getting the legs into the body bag without having to remove the shoes to lessen the weight. Libby tossed the bag into the back of the hearse.
So he liked the cookies, eh? Vika asked. She began to sweep the ash, Libby holding the dustpan and dumping it frequently in a hazardous waste disposal bag.
He took two this time. Said hed never had anything like them before.
Soul bringers dont usually eat, do they?
Not sure. Theyre from angel stock so they dont have to eat, but they can. And he did.
Thats remarkable. That Reichardt had a sort of conversation with you. Well, two sentences, but still.
I know! Remind me to always have a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies available.
Something tells me I wont need to remind you. But seriously, Libby, you are dating other guys, right?
Oh, no. What if Reichardt finally gets it into his head to ask me out and Ive got a date with someone else? That would so not be smart.
Vika pushed a small mountain of ash toward the dustpan. I suppose not. He wasnt going to ask, because the guy could have no concept of what a date even was. Maybe you should come out with me and Becky next weekend. Friday girls night out? Just for kicks.
Youve never invited me along before. Would Becky mind?
Not at all. I think I should ask her about those shoes. She runs with the glamorous crowd.
Vika suddenly couldnt erase the feeling something more than a routine vampire slaying had gone on here. I know most vamps are pretty well-off, but, I dont know. Are they all females? Does this feel odd to you? Im sensing some latent witchcraft in the air.
Libby paused from brushing up the ash and closed her eyes, studying the air about her by opening her instincts to the electrical energies in the ether. She nodded. I do, too. Most spellcraft would have faded by now. Must have been a powerful witch in the vicinity, and recently. That is weird.
Witches and vamps are on neutral grounds now, Vika added. And a witch would have no reason to take out vampires like this, not even for a source
CJ is a powerful witch.
She twisted a look to her sister. What are you implying?
Huh? Libby stopped playing with the tip of her purple glove and released it with a snap. Oh. Well. Im not implying anything. Sorry.
Vika nodded and turned to her work.
But he does practice dark magic, Libby added.
Why her sister couldnt get on board with her being interested in the ultimate of bad-boy witches was beyond Vika. He was exactly the sort Libby fell for. It was a good thing Libby wasnt attracted to CJ. He was hers.
Really? Already claiming the guy, and youre still not sure if youre safe around him?
Oh! Vika gasped as a few corpse lights suddenly entered her body, one right after the other, as if rushing to the front of the line. They burst inside her and then faded until she felt not a thing.
How many? Libby asked.
Three or four? I can never be sure. Probably all of them. I think theres at least five dead vamps here, though Im not sure that ash pile is one or two.
After shed taken on a soul, she felt nothing more. No sign from within that she harbored lost souls. The first time shed realized she was actually collecting souls was when Reichardt had been at the scene of a cleaning. Hed watched as she and Libby had done their work and then pointed out the souls hed come for were stuck to her. She had no problem agreeing to a regular scrub, while Libby had swooned and hadnt been the same since.
That smaller pile there. She pointed out one moist with dark liquid, which she guessed was blood. Im going to make a call and say that was a heart. And why would it not have ashed at the same pace as the rest of the body?
Because someone had reached in and pulled it out to drink the blood, Libby said. Witches had to consume the blood of a beating vampires heart once a century to maintain their immortality. But why five vampires when one will do? Do you think all the hearts got grabbed?
I dont see how its possible. Someone would have fought back. Unless there was more than one perpetrator.
Or the witch had the other vamps in thrall while he methodically went from heart to heart. We have to report this to the Council, Libby said. Were not detectives.
I know. I have no interest in getting involved in whatever this is. I have so many other things with which to concern myself at the moment.
Like the dark witch with the tattooed hand?
Who kissed me again.
Libby gaped and pressed her gloves to her mouth, but her eyes were all glee.
Hes invited me to the Council archives this afternoon. Were going to search the grimoires.
Libbys glee dissipated. Sounds like a real exciting date, sis. And you think I need to get out more?
Its a work date. Im determined to
I know, clean him up. So what happens when all his demons are gone? You two go your separate ways? Because I so cannot see you hooking up with him, even if you two have kissed. Hes completely opposite your type.