by Krista Walsh
“I know there are risks involved, and I’ll make every effort to keep us both safe, but this is the only way I’ll move forward.” Gabe crossed his arms and firmed his resolve. Ligeia had made it easier for him by confirming Allegra’s concerns. He had made a deal with John, and if the jinni was even close to as wily as Ligeia suggested, the last thing Gabe wanted to do was break his word. “Tomorrow morning, we’re going to Deverill’s place. You can either walk with me through the front door, or I can carry you over my shoulder, but I’m keeping up my end of his deal.”
Ligeia stared at him blankly until she finally forced a smile. “Perhaps that is the wisest choice.” Tears pooled in her eyes and she blinked them away before they fell. Her hands trembled around her glass and she took another sip of the whiskey.
She looked as pathetic as a terrified rabbit.
Gabe puffed out a sigh and pushed his hand through his hair. The weight on his shoulders dropped into his stomach, shaking up his already rattled nerves. This evening, he had gone to the river believing the only option was to capture or kill the siren, both of which made him recoil. Now look where he was.
He hoped he could find a resolution that would satisfy everyone, but going to John would be like facing a dragon, exposing himself to the serpent’s teeth and hoping they didn’t snap down on his neck.
That’s a worry for tomorrow, he told himself firmly.
“If he agrees to release you, you’ll be free to go where you want,” he said. “You can take another stab at that stable life for yourself.”
Ligeia’s nails dug into the blankets. “And leave him here to be successful and happy? To never pay for his crimes?”
“Would killing him pay that debt?” Gabe asked. “It would be too quick. The only way you could carry out an eye for an eye is to chain him to the bottom of the river. Could you do it?”
Ligeia sneered and opened her mouth, no doubt to say it would be her pleasure, but the words didn’t come. Her shoulders slumped. “No. I would not wish that fate on anyone.”
“Then trust me. You can make him pay by enjoying your life in spite of him.”
She twisted her head to face him. “And if he doesn’t agree to your terms?”
Gabe gritted his teeth. “Then we’ll figure out something else.”
In the white depths of her eyes he recognized the weight of her skepticism. For a breath, he believed she would continue to fight, to push him to let her do it her way, and in that moment, he wasn’t sure what his decision would be. The image of that dragon grinning down at him filled him with a chill that set his pulse racing. He’d never set out to be a dragon-slayer. To protect his city, yes, he would do his best, but never as a first option.
Finally, Ligeia nodded. “All right. We’ll do this your way.”
His tension released its hold on his muscles until she added, “For now.”
***
After Ligeia fell asleep on the futon, Gabe grabbed his phone and his laptop and closed himself in the bathroom.
He checked his phone first and rolled his eyes at the sheer number of messages Percy had sent while he’d been gone. I got her off the air! Are you back? The camera just cut out — what happened? Are you alive? Gabe? Can I have your stuff if you’re dead? Seriously, man, are you okay?
Twenty-four messages, but none of them from John. Based on that, Gabe hoped the jinni hadn’t connected the change in weather with Ligeia’s capture. He still needed time to sort this mess out.
Keeping his voice low, he called Percy.
His friend looked exhausted, as though he hadn’t stepped away from his computer since Gabe had tasked him with finding a way to block the radio signal, and he offered Gabe a wan smile in greeting.
“I wondered if I’d see your disturbingly handsome face again,” he croaked. He cleared his throat and reached for his cereal-bowl-sized coffee mug. “What happened to my camera?”
“It got smashed.”
“Dude.” Percy shook his head, but didn’t bother pretending to be angry. “I guess you got her, then?”
“I did,” said Gabe. “She’s currently asleep on my futon.”
Percy’s eyes flew wide and he jolted up in his seat. “You brought her home? Why? She’s not a pet, man. Did she bewitch you or something? Did she sing?”
“Relax, I’m fine.” I think. “I chained her up and brought her here so I could call John from somewhere safe without a hundred men watching me.”
Percy frowned. “So why is she still there?”
Gabe sighed. “Because I’m either the most open-minded son of a bitch in the world, or the weakest. Curiosity got the better of me.”
He gave Percy a summary of Ligeia’s story and watched his friend’s face closely to see if his retelling had the same effect on Percy as it had on him. He wanted to be sure his anger and revulsion had been genuine and not just a result of her melodic voice.
By the end of the story, he felt more confident that he hadn’t been played by some spell.
“That’s messed up,” said Percy.
“I wish I knew if it was true.”
“Too bad your ability to see through illusions doesn’t include lies.”
Gabe snorted his agreement.
“So what are you going to do?” Percy asked.
“I’m going to bring her to John in the morning. It might take some sleight of hand to get everyone out of there in one piece, but I have to give it a shot.”
“Do you really think it’ll be that easy?”
The dragon in the back of Gabe’s mind grinned wider, its sharp teeth glinting. “No. But I’m hoping that if I throw both of them into a room together, the truth will come out. At least then I’ll have a better idea of which side I should be backing.”
“And if they start fighting?”
Gabe twisted his mouth in uncertainty. “I don’t know. Stop it if I can, or just get out. No matter what happened in the past, neither one is exactly innocent.”
“Tough call,” Percy said, and his face disappeared into his coffee mug. When he emerged, he added, “I know you’re not asking my opinion, but no matter what, I think you should punch that jinni guy in the face if you get the chance. By the sounds of it, he deserves it on a bunch of levels.”
“How will that fix anything?”
“It won’t, but it’ll make you feel good. So if you could choose, how would tomorrow go?”
Gabe dropped his head against the wall. “I’d convince John to release Ligeia and make sure she gets out of town, I guess? In a perfect world, she’s telling the truth about wanting to make a normal life for herself. Then they can both move on with their lives and I can stop playing marriage counselor.”
Percy chuckled. “What do you need me to do?”
“Nothing. You’ve gotten about as much sleep as I have the past couple of days. You should get some rest and leave it with me.”
“And let you have all the fun? No way, man, I’m invested in this. I need to know how it ends as much as you do.”
Gabe passed a hand over his face. “Fine. Then is there any way to figure out who’s lying? I doubt there are many records from back then, but do what you can to confirm Ligeia’s story, and maybe dig into John’s background, as well. If I can get a bit of clarification on who I can actually trust, this next part will be a lot easier.”
“You got it. I’ll call you in the morning so we can nail down a plan for the meet. Now get some sleep before you keel over, but sleep in the bathroom and lock the door. I don’t trust this lady not to feed on your soul while you’re out.”
***
Despite Percy’s fears, Gabe slept on the living room floor beside the heater and woke with his soul intact the next morning.
Ligeia was already awake. She was sitting on the futon with her hands in her lap, her face pale and white eyes wide. Gabe wondered how long she’d been up and what sort of thoughts had passed through her head. He guessed they weren’t pleasant and wished he could say something to set her at ease, but wor
ds escaped him. He had no guarantees about how their meeting would go, so any promises he made would be empty.
The best he could do was make sure the morning went smoothly.
With the power back on, Gabe brewed a pot of extra strong coffee — much to the siren’s fascination as she watched the brewing coffee maker — and left Ligeia with a hearty breakfast of his last egg and a heel of bread that was tough but not yet moldy while he disappeared into the shower. He stood under the spray until the last drop of hot water dripped from the tap. The heat was a blissful change from his near-permanent chill over the last couple of days, and yet it did nothing to thaw out his nerves, numbed by his plans for the rest of the afternoon.
Plans that were quickly moving from hypothetical into reality.
Around eight o’clock in the morning, Percy called, looking even rougher than he had the night before. Ligeia’s reaction to him might have been comical if it weren’t so sad. She hid behind Gabe and spent the second half of the call — once she overcame her fear of the talking head in the screen — poking at Percy’s features, not understanding why she couldn’t touch his hair. At one point, she began to sing to make sure he was real. Gabe clamped his hand over her mouth when Percy’s slack-jawed face leaned in close enough to the camera to become nothing more than a black silhouette.
After Percy slumped back in his chair and shook off his dazed expression, he moved forward as though the interruption hadn’t occurred.
“Great, so just so we all understand the plan,” he said. “Gabe, I’ll be in your ear. If I hear him offer you anything other than a cup of coffee, I’m going to scream at you to walk away.”
The screaming had been Gabe’s idea. Ligeia’s prediction of how the meeting would go had gnawed at him in his dreams, and he didn’t trust himself not to get so caught up in the discussion that he accidentally agreed to another one of John’s deals. He would follow through on the agreement he’d already made, but when he walked out of that ostentatious house again, he wanted it to be string-free.
“Since I no longer have a camera to work with, I’m working on getting into Deverill’s security system,” Percy continued. “A man with that many precious collectibles is sure to have a video system in place, so if I can get eyes in the room, so much the better. Other than that, it’s all on you. No pressure.”
What Percy didn’t say in front of Gabe was that he would be continuing on with his research, looking for anything Gabe could use against either Ligeia or John if the need arose. Gabe wouldn’t be going into this meeting unarmed.
He transferred Percy to the headset clipped to his glasses, then hesitated for a moment in the kitchen. After a minute’s deliberation, he pulled a carving knife from the top drawer and eyed the edge.
“Not as nice a weapon as the one I brought to the river,” he said with a glance at Ligeia, “but it’ll have to do.”
She narrowed her eyes at the blade. “You believe you’ll need such force?”
Gabe tucked the knife into the leather sheath. The fit wasn’t perfect, but it would at least prevent him from cutting himself. “I hope not. But it’s best to be prepared.”
He glanced around the apartment, and only after the second sweep of his gaze did he realize he was procrastinating.
Now or never, he told himself. He tucked his hand under Ligeia’s elbow and pulled her toward him. With a final deep breath, he cut a rift in the air and led them through to the end of Deverill’s driveway.
20
For the first time in a week and a half, the sun sat in triumph in the canvas of a cold blue sky, the harshness of its light uncovered by even a single cloud. The snow reflected back under the bright glare, blinding the world with its purity.
Gabe tilted his head back to embrace the light, but the warmth didn’t offer its usual comfort. Dread coursed through his veins and prickled his fingers at the sight of the house. He didn’t want to return to those cold black and white tiles in the foyer or face off with those wolfhounds.
He brought John to mind — the man’s calm authority, his unwavering confidence. He wanted to punch that confidence in the mouth.
He should have listened to Allegra’s warning and not made the deal in the first place. Seven hells, if he were going to lay out his regrets on this case, he should never have gone to his office during the storm where Clare could find him. Now he was caught between a homicidal siren, possibly possessed by some unseen monster, and a snake in an Armani suit without any hint of who the greater enemy would prove to be.
John would surely have something up his sleeve, no matter how Gabe approached the discussion. He’d have to be careful, treat the entire conversation as a trap, and be ready to fight back if he had to. And Ligeia…he didn’t trust her any more than John, but at least experience had shown him what she was capable of.
But how much does she trust me to see this through?
A chill scurried down Gabe’s back, and before they stepped onto the path to the front door, he drew her to a halt. Ligeia tilted her head up to face him, her gaze questioning.
“I’m taking a risk in giving your story some benefit of the doubt,” he said. “I need you to promise me that you’ll follow my lead in there. I don’t want any blood drawn if we can avoid it. Do you promise?”
She opened her mouth, rebellion flaring in the whiteness of her eyes until they swelled with that eerie electric blue, and Gabe realized he should have spoken to her about this before they came here. Clearly, she hadn’t planned to sit pretty and let him arrange things.
“If you don’t, I won’t bother speaking to him. I’ll assume you lied to me and hand you over without a moment’s hesitation.”
Did he mean it? He didn’t know, but Ligeia clearly believed he did. Her pale face turned ghostly for a moment and she offered him a reluctant nod. “I promise I won’t make the first move.”
“That sounded sincere,” Percy said in Gabe’s ear, the words thick with sarcasm.
Gabe clenched his teeth. Her promise wasn’t exactly what he’d asked for, but he accepted the answer as a compromise.
Good practice. I have a feeling I’m going to be doing a lot of compromising this morning.
Ligeia’s eyes went wide on her narrow, pinched, perfect face, and Gabe steeled his spine against the potential hurricane about to strike.
“I’m having a hell of a time getting into this security system,” said Percy. “I haven’t seen one this complex in years. My mad respect for whoever designed it is growing by the minute, and I might have to leave you for him. I’m sorry.”
Gabe appreciated his friend’s attempt to lighten the mood, but his attention was too focused on his own role to offer anything in return.
David was standing in the open doorway by the time they reached the top step. Without even bothering to cast a glance down his nose in their direction, he said, “The master will see you in the living room.”
Gabe squeezed Ligeia’s arm, and she clasped her bound hands in front of her. The chains rattled against the tiles as she shuffled across the foyer.
The two wolfhounds stood guard on either side of the sweeping stairway. One of them raised its hackles and drew its lips back to reveal the sharp teeth. In its steady gaze, Gabe sensed the same promise it had made on the ice — if they faced each other again, the hound wouldn’t go easy on him.
He steered clear of them and entered the living room, which was no less eye-catching than it had been on his first visit.
The mid-morning sun added a new angle to the lavish interior — the gold accents on the furniture glittered and the objects in the curios seemed to come alive with the dancing shadows of the trees outside the window.
“Wow,” Percy whispered. “I’m still not into the video system, but I’m checking out the itemized list he has for his insurance policy. I’m suddenly not surprised he thought you and the siren would be quaint additions to his collection. He has one of everything. All right, I’m going on mute now so this guy doesn’t hear me calling him names. I
’ll come back when I have something for you.”
The line went silent, but Gabe’s courage didn’t waver. He knew Percy would be listening and would step in before he did something overly stupid. Hopefully.
John stood in the center of the room with his hands folded in front of him. As soon as they entered, he extended his arms toward Ligeia, as though greeting a long-lost lover.
Which, Gabe thought, I guess is the case.
“Mr. Mulligan, you have exceeded my expectations.” John said. “Not only have you brought her to me, but you’ve brought her willingly. Once our dealings have been completed, I would love to open a bottle of my best cognac so you can tell me how you managed to achieve such an unconquerable goal. Ligeia, my darling, how are you?”
His tone toward Ligeia was one of amused patience that sounded just short of irony. He wasn’t making fun of her, but he wasn’t expecting a compliment in return.
A low hiss sneaked out between Ligeia’s lips, and Gabe squeezed her arm tighter.
“I confess I’m surprised at the delivery,” John said to Gabe. “I did give you my number. You could have saved yourself the trip.”
Gabe glanced over his shoulder at David, who stood in the doorway. He assumed it was to prevent Ligeia from making any attempt at escape, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was to prevent his own departure as well.
He swallowed the acidic taste of worry and forced a grin at John. “I didn’t want to put you out of your way. When I make a deal, I like to see it through to the end.”
John chuckled. “I must say, I’m impressed you managed to get her this far on your own. I thought she’d gone too feral to be reasoned with.”
Ligeia growled softly in response, but made no move to free herself from Gabe’s hold.
“I guess she just needed to hear the right offer,” Gabe replied, and ran his tongue over dry lips. “I did as we agreed — I caught her and brought her to you, but now we come to a bit of a hiccup. I don’t know how comfortable I am releasing her into your care.”
