“I wish I could jump into his body,” Tom commented wistfully. “He doesn’t need it anymore.”
That jerked Cal’s head up and around to glare at the ghost for his insensitivity. “Shut up, asshole. Show some respect.”
The car weaved drunkenly as Rose jumped, clearly startled by his sudden outburst. “What the hell? I’m just driving. Respect?”
Heat crept up his neck and into his face. “Erm…right.” Maybe he should refresh her memory about his ghosts. There really hadn’t been time until now, and since she was going to be around him—hopefully forever, one way or another—she probably should understand his particular gift. “I see dead people, remember?”
“Mm-hm. Vaguely. Why? Did, uh, did Jonas’s ghost just show up?”
I wish. He shook his head and jerked his thumb at what, to her, would be empty space. “My current Casper, Tom, is being a bit of a dick.”
Tom grumbled. “You try floating through everything for two years and see how much you like it. Not to mention the fact that I would kill for pizza right now. Or those burgers Rose got.”
Cal didn’t miss the morose tone. The ghost looked about as lost as he felt when he started ruminating too much about the past.
Rose whistled softly and ran one hand through the fall of her dark hair. “I thought witches were bad. You guys…you’re definitely something else. I just can’t imagine what everyone else around here deals with on a daily basis.”
She had absolutely no idea, but a lifetime to learn. His phone trilled Another One Bites the Dust, saving him the trouble of responding. Lifting it from the cup holder between the seats took most of his energy. The ringtone meant it was Lucas, hence one he couldn’t ignore. “We’re a long ways out, man.”
“Put me on speaker. Rose is there, right?”
Cal punched a few buttons to shift the phone onto the Bluetooth system. As he closed his eyes and let the phone fall into his lap, he said, “Go ahead, Lucas.”
“Hi, Mr. Rollins,” Rose said.
“First, well done on closing the T’chan. Mr. Ray has already been in touch and said thank you.”
“It was…quite something.”
The odd note in Rose’s voice brought Cal’s eyes open again and he glanced her way. Her honey-colored skin had tinged pink and she squirmed a little. Interesting. She’d never acknowledged the influence the T’chan had had on her, and in the interests of keeping the peace, he’d never pressed. But he’d love to know more.
“That’s not why I’m calling though. We have a lead on the man we think has Gwen’s soul-stone. You ever hear the name Giles Jester?”
From the way Rose paled, Cal got the impression she knew of the man. It was very unlikely for a woman who’d lived with a witch not to know about a necromancer with the power Giles had.
“Um, I’ve heard the name, yes.”
Cal’s eyebrows lifted at the slight hesitation. Maybe she knew more than he’d thought she would, given her protestations about loving her mother.
“Well, we think we know where he’s headed.”
Chapter Nine
Sentinel Truth #5: While it’s true Twisted Ones can’t walk on holy ground, don’t count on that protecting you. It’s not hard to launch a fire grenade and burn you alive. Note: this applies to them too.
Rose’s fingers tightened around the smooth leather steering wheel. Hearing Giles’s name had banished her fleeting flashback to the T’chan with all the efficiency of a bucket of ice water. There was a name she never wanted to hear again. “How? Where?”
Hopefully she sounded neutral enough not to raise questions. While Gwen had sworn the man was no threat to her, Rose had never fully trusted him.
Giles gave her the heebie-jeebies and that was without ever seeing him cast a spell. She knew he was a consummate necromancer. More than one of her illicit smuggling runs had been to obtain slightly used parts for him, and not the kind you got off cars. Not some of her prouder moments, but she’d been hard up for work in the beginning before she got a decent reputation for obtaining things.
And why the hell would Giles have Gwen’s soul-stone? Did the slimy creep intend to use her powers? He’d helped her create it, after all, so knew just how powerful she was. And, and… Her breath stuck in her throat. She’d been willfully blind, hadn’t she? The only way Giles could have the soul-stone was if he’d turned on her, turned her over to the Twisted Ones.
“We found reservations for him under an assumed name on a flight out of Fairbanks and you’re not going to believe where he went.”
There was a great deal she didn’t believe when it came to Giles—his morals, his breeding, or his ability to take a joke.
“I actually asked Central to re-run their checks. He flew out of Orlando about twenty minutes ago on a direct flight to Sacramento.”
She blinked.
Next to her, Cal must have come to the same instantaneous conclusion she had because he whistled. “Shit. What are the chances of it being just coincidence?”
“Considering his flight from Fairbanks landed in Orlando yesterday, not particularly high.”
She didn’t know much about the T’chan, but given the two corpses they’d found at the site, apparently opening one involved blood magic. Sacrifice. So, maybe it made a lot of sense that Lucifer would employ a necromancer, a powerful necromancer, to get the T’chan open. “So you think he was there?”
She wanted him to deny her suggestion.
“Why California?” She’d usually met him in New York or New Orleans. Still, there was a thriving witch community in the Golden State. Granted, they were usually more involved in working on spells to grow particularly powerful healing plants than they were in actually hurting anyone.
“It’s a major hub. There’s a big nest of vampires in the area that he controls. He, and the nest, are actually why we’re getting ready to pull out of the state entirely. Since none of our gargoyles feel pulled there, and given recent heavy losses in the battle against the Twisted Ones, there’s no point in continuing the fight in the state for now.”
Dread filled the pit of her stomach.
“What does that mean for Gwen, Mr. Rollins?” If she had to, she’d hop on a plane and go by herself. She wasn’t going to sit around and do nothing until she knew, one way or the other, that Gwen couldn’t be pulled out of the stone by the Twisted Ones. “You, uh, you didn’t agree to take on a bunch of vampires in helping me track her down.”
“It means our assault is going to have to be very careful,” he answered slowly.
Relief flooded through her. While she might not fully trust the Sentinels as a whole, she still would rather have them if she went after Giles. Any additional cannon fodder to keep monsters at bay would be appreciated.
“What do you have in mind?” If Gwen had already been pulled out, there might be people watching for her. Even if Gwen hadn’t told Giles about Rose specifically, the necromancer might put two and two together.
“I’m working on a plan already. With Sacramento being the capital and having a heavy vamp population, there are some Sentinels in the area. They can’t do much, mostly just quick hit-and-run attacks to thin the herd. At the very least, it reminds Giles he can’t turn the humans into his personal soul bank.”
That didn’t relieve her. At all. Thanks to her work for Gwen and other witches, she knew just what sort of damage could be done using the power that resided in the witch’s soul.
“I can get some intel from our people out there,” said Lucas. “Unfortunately, Giles is notoriously hard to pin down. He’s been on our radar for a while, but we’ve deemed him too big a threat with too little reward to test our limited resources.”
She’d never had a problem reaching the necromancer. Then again, she’d never been the one to contact him; he called or emailed her when he wanted her to obtain something for his spells.
“I’m going to send some additional support out to California, see if we can get something to shake loose. It’s a long shot, given
the vampires he surrounds himself with.”
Her brow furrowed. That didn’t sound like Giles. He’d never had vampires around when he met with her. Granted, they always met in public locations and most vampires couldn’t blend in very well with humans. “You really think he has the soul-stone?”
Lucas grunted, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught Cal shaking his head. His head drooped and he really still looked like crap.
“It’s all I’ve got. Unfortunately, if he does have it, as I suspect, I still have the same problem I’ve had since we first heard about the bastard coming up through the ranks. No way of luring him out into the open.”
She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, sorting through the options available. “Maybe not,” she said slowly.
Next to her, Cal frowned. Nothing came through the line.
“I may have not been entirely forthcoming with you up until now about some of my life.”
“Oh?” Lucas all but growled the single syllable. “Pray tell, Ms. Johnson.”
She swallowed hard and the foot not on the accelerator tapped nervously against the floorboard of the SUV. “I, uh, I know Giles. I’ve met him. I have his phone number.”
Silence reigned supreme. Even the traffic around them seemed to dim out.
Might as well go through with this. “I can get in touch with him and probably get him to meet with me.” She curled her fingers tighter around the steering wheel. Seeing Cal and the other Sentinels fight so hard against the Twisted Ones had done a lot to build her belief that they were doing the best they could against some pretty dark forces. If Giles had the soul-stone as they thought he did, she could help them help her. “I’ve done errands for him before.”
Cal’s head jerked up and he gaped at her. Rose swallowed hard against the abrupt desire to retract that statement. But she needed to make sure the demons couldn’t identify her.
“I can tell him Gwen got killed. He knows I know he’s powerful; I could tell him I want his protection.”
A slow hiss came through the phone. It was drowned out by Cal’s snarled, “Absolutely not. You’re not putting your neck on the line for just the chance of drawing him out.”
Her teeth ground together. “I’ve survived this long. If the Sentinels are nearby, covering me, maybe we can catch him.” Her foot tapped the floorboard at a feverish pace to release the adrenaline surging through her body. Either she tapped or she’d start shaking and that wouldn’t work while driving.
She was actually proposing she trust the Sentinels with her life. The Sentinels she’d spent a lifetime hating. I must be losing my mind.
Lucas slowly said, “It makes a certain kind of sense. If Rose knows him, and if he knows her, she makes an excellent choice. Given that Gwen’s kept her away from us for the past twenty-four years, he might not realize she asked for our help before seeking him out.”
“Like hell she makes a good choice.”
Cal’s flat refusal to accept the possibility stiffened her somewhat flagging confidence in the notion of playing bait. She was perfect for the part, even if it meant taking some risk. But wasn’t there a bigger risk in doing nothing?
“Don’t shoot me down before you hear me out,” she said evenly. She deliberately inserted a soothing note to her voice. It was probably just a matter of time before the Sentinels found out everything about her; maybe if she came clean with them first, they’d cut her some slack for her career choices. “Gwen and Giles worked together. She prepared potions for him, and he, in turn, occasionally helped her craft a spell. I ended up meeting him.”
She yanked the steering wheel to veer into the fast lane long enough to dodge around a stupid Miata traveling at the speed limit rather than fifteen miles an hour over it like a normal person.
“Cal, I told you earlier about my job. Well, my skill set anyway. Sometimes I took commissions for Giles. If anyone can get him to come out into the open, it’s me. He has a standing list of requests should I come across certain items.” She never actively went looking for his requests, since she spent as little time near the necromancer as possible, but she had the list.
He let out a growl, but nodded in acknowledgement. Lucas continued to remain silent.
“I want to do this. It’s insane, but Lucas just said he didn’t have the manpower to deal with Giles in a full-out assault. So don’t try that. Let me get him out into the open for you.”
“No. No, no, and absolutely, fuck-all no!” Cal slammed a fist against the dashboard. “You will not dangle yourself in front of the enemy like that. It’s too dangerous. You’d be all alone. I don’t care how many of us would be in the area, you can’t go see the necromancer alone.”
She blinked at his vehemence. He sounded like he actually cared. Not just, like, normal cared, like one person did for another, but like he personally cared if she lived or died. She reached over and touched his arm, allowed her to soak in the warmth that flowed from the corded muscle under her fingers. “If I do this, I wouldn’t go alone. I want you there, Cal. I trust you to keep me safe.”
She really did, surprisingly enough. His anger over the Jonas situation, the fact that he’d sacrificed one of his own because he felt the greater need to protect her, hadn’t gone unnoticed or unappreciated. Even if he’d callously wanted to put down his fellow Sentinel.
“Cal being with you is a given,” Lucas said. “There’s no one I trust more to guard you directly. We really want that soul-stone. There’s a chance Gwen could lead us to your sister.”
She pulled viciously onto the steering wheel to veer onto the shoulder before slamming on the brakes. Her lungs heaved but no air made it into her body. “My…what?”
Next to her Cal let out a strangled groan. “Been a little busy, Lucas. She was studying the stuff I gave her, and I hadn’t really found a way to tell her that little detail yet.”
The world swirled in funny colors around her as her mind raced, trying to come to terms with what they were saying. Just above a whisper, she asked, “Is it possible that…who is it? Who do you think’s alive?”
Lucas’s voice, when he responded, sounded as calm and level as it ever had. “It seems Serenity survived; Gwen took her along with you the day of the massacre.”
Gray replaced the colors and her head swam. She forcibly pried her fingers off the steering wheel before she broke it. “How? I mean, that’s impossible. I would have remembered something like that.” Wouldn’t she?
More importantly, why hadn’t Gwen told her Reny was alive? Throughout the years, Gwen had made it abundantly clear that neither her egg-sister nor Rory had survived.
“I don’t know. We need to know what she did with Serenity, which is why I’m willing to consider going along with this plan of yours. If there’s even a chance she’s alive, we have to get that soul-stone if Giles has it.”
If Reny were alive—her mind spun with the very notion of that—then they’d have a much better chance at closing the Rift, especially if they could bring in an old Queen. Two young Sacred Mothers, and a Queen…could it work? She didn’t know, but still it was better than nothing, right?
Slowly, very slowly, vertigo reversed itself and breath flowed more easily through Rose’s body. Reny. Sweet, precious Reny might still be alive. Dear God, what did you do, Gwen? Why keep all of this from me?
Steadying herself, she glanced at Cal. “You knew about the possibility?”
Even before he nodded, his thinning lips confirmed her suspicion. He muttered, “I should have told you sooner. Lucas told me about it while you were with Vasiliu and the others. There just hasn’t been a good opportunity. I wanted you focused on the T’chan.”
So that had been behind his odd behavior just after sunset. She offered him a weak smile, accepting the apology buried in his words.
Through the phone connection, she heard the tapping of a keyboard before Lucas spoke again. “I wouldn’t do this if I had any other viable options. You know that, right?”
“Yes.” If she’d had
any confidence they’d come up with a different plan to retrieve Gwen’s soul-stone before the demons extracted her and she confessed about Rose’s existence, Rose wouldn’t have suggested this route at all. But if Cal was in it and with her, she would survive.
Hopefully.
Cal squeezed her knee. The gesture gave her some form of peace in the face of the dangerous road ahead. Having calmed herself, she glanced over her shoulder to check traffic and then hit the accelerator to get back on the highway.
“I don’t know him very well, of course. I don’t know if anyone does.”
“You said you obtain items for him. Do I want to know what sort of things?”
“Probably not.” From the way he asked the question, Rose got the distinct impression Lucas might well know more about her than she’d actually told him.
Still, she’d told Cal part of what she did while flying him to Orlando. She wasn’t going to tell her whole career story to a bunch of goody-two-shoe half-breed angels. At least Cal had seen the humor in the hog theft.
“Fine.” Lucas didn’t sound happy, but given she was proposing they risk her when they’d just found her probably wouldn’t sit easily with the man responsible for protecting North America as a whole. “As long as you can get him to meet you in the open, not in an isolated location, I’ll tentatively agree to this. Cal is with you every step of the way. He’ll have to avoid direct physical contact; you know that, right?”
Vaguely, yes. Something about how physical contact between Sentinels and Twisted Ones alerted both parties that they’d encountered the enemy. The dictate about staying in the open wasn’t really necessary. “Trust me, I’ve never been closed away with him without someone else around, and I never want to. He’s creepy.”
“No contact means no fighting until our people move in to take Giles.”
She nodded, focusing on the road ahead. She’d rather stare at the gray pavement than let her thoughts linger too much. Yes, her idea, but that didn’t mean she was completely comfortable with it. “If he agrees to meet with me, it shouldn’t be that difficult to capture him, right? I’ve never seen him with bodyguards or anything.”
Locked in Stone Page 11
