I hoped that commonality was enough to bridge the gap between us.
“How did you do it?” he asked finally. “I’ve tried to get through those defenses myself but I never managed to get past the skeletons. There’s too much magic in there for me to call anything sophisticated. Animals with enough higher reasoning hate magic and won’t go near those tunnels.”
I blinked once in surprise. Findlay had tried to rescue his daughter all by himself? That journey had been difficult with two of the most powerful mages alive and six elite vampire warriors. I had to give Findlay props for even attempting it.
“Dom was the ringer. His lightning attack really saved our hides. The gun you gave me didn’t hurt anything either. Thank you for that, by the way. Your message was exactly what I needed after that fucking message. I’m going to kick Lamonia’s ass the first chance I get. He needs to pay for all of this.”
I gestured broadly at our surroundings. The interior of the ironclad looked like a refugee camp. Wolves in varying states of health were being stuffed anywhere they could fit. At least a dozen waited in the hallway for this room to be vacant. We’d need every square inch of space we could find, including the closets.
“You’ll have a chance tonight, if you hurry,” Findlay said offhandedly, twirling a lock of Sophia’s dark hair between his fingers.
“You can braid it,” she chirped. “Mr. Finch did that sometimes to keep it out of my face.”
“What?” I said, swiveling to face Findlay.
“I said daddy could braid it,” Sophia repeated patiently. Findlay’s face softened in a way that I hadn’t imagined possible at the word daddy.
“No, what your daddy just said. What do you mean, I’d get the chance if I hurried?”
Findlay finally looked up from Sophia’s small, beaming face. “Lamonia has been bankrolling our wedding as a gesture of goodwill. They’re keeping Cat and I apart until the official ceremony. He’s hosting a masquerade ball and feast tonight for all of the Trust delegates to attend. It’s supposed to be a rehearsal of sorts. That’s why Ashby was back. He was supposed to drag me back to New York by four in the morning. They arranged a transport on the neighboring atoll. I’m sure they’ll notice something’s amiss when I don’t turn up. But by then we should be underway.”
I braced myself against the wall, suddenly dizzy. If what he was saying was true, I only had two hours to prepare. The masquerade ball was a perfect chance to snatch Cat right out from under Algerone’s perfectly chiseled nose. She was sure to be heavily guarded but if I went in under a disguise… it could work.
“You’re not going to miss that transport,” I said softly.
“What, do you expect me to waltz right back into that den of monsters? Sophia is safe. I’ve only just gotten her back and I’ll be damned if I’m leaving her now. It’s just a chance for Lamonia to show off the two Trust puppets he’s got under his thumb. Going back now would be suicide.”
I speared Findlay with an accusatory glare, anger flooding through my veins again. “So you’re just going to leave Cat to rot? She’s Sophia’s mother. How long do you think it will take the vampires to notice the girl is missing? They’ll put the Paris street collapse together with your absence and they will kill her. Or worse, they might turn her. Do you want that on your conscience, Findlay?”
His dark eyes snapped shut and pain flickered across his face. His weak chin trembled with the effort not to make a sound. When he spoke, his voice came out hoarse with agony.
“No, I don’t want that Valdez. I want to save her more than anything. But I’m only one mage. When I turn up without Ashby there will be questions. I can’t rival the full might of House Lamonia all by myself, and I won’t deprive Sophia of both of her parents.”
“You won’t be going alone,” I said, picking up one of Ashby’s frock coats. This one was possibly the most outrageous of the bunch. Vibrantly red and trimmed with an ungodly amount of gold, it caught the eye. Gold fringe even dripped from the epaulets on each shoulder. I draped it over my shoulders and tested the fit. It was a bit large on me. I wasn’t anywhere near as tall or broad as Ashby was.
Findlay squinted at me. “That’s not going to work, Valdez. Even in the pitch dark, they’ll be able to tell it’s not him.”
I smirked and held up the wad of dark auburn hair I’d fished out of the drain not ten minutes before and waggled it at him. “I don’t look like him yet, but give me a half-hour and I will.”
Findlay’s eyes sparked with sudden hope. “You can weave a glamour?”
“On the coat, most likely. It’s not going to be strong. That’s more Cat’s area of expertise than mine. But if I wind the hairs around some iron shavings and stitch it into the epaulets, I think it can work for a limited amount of time.” I waved another of Ashby’s coats at Findlay. The black tails were more subdued and I grinned at him. “What do you say, Lou? Are you in?”
Findlay murmured a word to his daughter and she went skipping out of the room obediently. He considered the coat for another minute as she went, before snatching it from my hand. He pulled it on with a snarl and fixed me with a steely glare.
“Let’s make the fucker pay.”
My grin widened. Okay, maybe I could like Findlay. Just for tonight, though. Then I’d go back to hating his guts.
***
The transport came at four, just as promised.
Dominic had insisted on joining us on our fool’s errand. We were still wanted assassins, but saving Cat was crucial to getting our names cleared. He said very little to me, talking to Findlay for the most part as we ran through our plan. I knew he was still angry about my agreement with Volkar. It wasn’t really my idea of a good time, being married to something inhuman. To have my dreams of a future snatched away just like that and tie myself to the demi-humans, in a constant struggle to right their wrongs. All I wanted was to have my family together again, safe and happy. And I’d wanted him to be a part of it.
But life wasn’t fair. Sometimes you had to take the lemons you were handed and squirt them right into your enemy’s eyes. Dom and I could have a nice long chat if we survived the night.
A good glamour was supposed to mold to the body like a second skin, providing the appearance and sound of the person you were trying to imitate. The idea was to be unaware you were wearing one. My poorly formed glamour felt like wearing a plastic sheet. I prayed it wasn’t raining in New York. Running water was a surefire way to undo even the most potent magics. And this spell felt about as stable as a half-played Jenga tower.
Findlay glanced at Dom once as the archway expanded. The strains of an orchestra drifted through the widening gap and I caught a glimpse of twirling vampires on the other side. We’d be stepping straight into the building, thank God.
“You look like you’re about to go on a killing spree, Finch,” he hissed so low that only we could hear.
“Or wall someone into a wine cellar,” I offered with a shudder.
It was impossible to gauge his expression behind the Arlecchino mask. The painted-on grin leered at us. Dom had donned Ashby’s least offensive article, a gray frock coat and trouser combination. Golden buttons on his white shirt provided the only splash of color in the entire ensemble. Well, with the exception of the mask, which I tried hard not to look at. It reminded me far too much of a clown for comfort.
“Enough, you two,” he grumbled. “Let’s get going.”
The coat’s many pockets had been loaded with guns, and I had to move slowly through the opening, so as not to draw attention to the places where the frock coat bulged. Findlay stepped through before me and Dom flanked him, covering my slow approach.
A spotlight trained on Findlay almost at once and we were all forced to raise a hand, squinting past the sudden glare to find the source.
Algerone Lamonia sat on a raised dais in what could only be described as a throne. Ornate and crafted from gold, it looked like hell to sit on. But hey, it wasn’t my ass,
so I couldn’t judge how comfy the thing might be. Just to his right sat a small, hunched figure. Her dark hair had been styled into an elaborate updo, leaving her swan-like neck bare. She was still a little wan, even beneath the natural golden cast of her skin.
Cat’s face brightened when she spotted Findlay. I shook my head the barest fraction. Absurd. I was going to have to have a talk with Cat about her taste in men when we were in the clear. Even with his eleventh-hour heroics, I didn’t think Findlay was the sort of person my sister should spend the rest of her life with.
“And here we are,” Algerone boomed, voice exultant as he took us in. Some of the tension in my chest eased when no one pointed at us and cried “fraud!” So far, so good. “The guest of honor. Thank you Ashby, for delivering him safely here.”
I inclined my head respectfully and gave a little flourishing bow. I was not confident enough in my glamour to test the voice on Algerone, of all people. If I’d done it wrong, I’d sound as if I were suffering a head cold. As an undead creature of evil, Ashby hadn’t been sick a day in his unlife. No need to give the game away just yet.
When I straightened out of my bow, the spotlight had moved elsewhere and the polite smattering of applause died down. The dancing couples began to sway once more to the music and we pushed our way through the crowd toward the dais. I was hoping to get close enough to dispatch Algerone and snatch Cat. Findlay had acquired a stone from Declan that should allow for a hasty retreat back the way we’d come. If all went well, we’d be gone before the place devolved into utter anarchy.
A straight path through the crowd was made impossible by the bustle-skirted and frock-coat clad crowd of vampires. As we all appeared to be men and had no partners to pair off with, dancing our way across was impossible. We were forced to work our way around the room. We were bombarded by servitors the whole way, offering us wine or champagne. Findlay told more than one of them to piss off, and I liked him just a little bit more for that.
“Shit,” Dom hissed from my right.
“What?” I hissed back, wheeling around to see what he’d spotted. Had my glamour come undone?
“Just to your left. That blonde vampire is making a beeline for you.”
Sure enough, when I turned my head I found a familiar blonde vampire bearing down on me. Arabella Danvers looked the same as I’d last seen her. Tall and thin, with an angular face and a rather pissy expression fixed on her perfect features. She’d swapped her black dress for the creme and lavender one that I’d been reborn in not so long ago. The slippery fabric looked better on her slim frame than it had on mine. If she wiped the look of rage from her face she might have resembled one of the fragile beauties one so often saw on the covers of romance novels.
I quickened my pace. If she stopped me, I’d be forced to interact with her. The more I interacted with the guests, the higher the chance we’d be found out.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me, Ashby!” Arabella snarled.
The blonde vampire caught up to me in a flash and seized me by the ponytail. I froze in panic. Did she feel the crinkly spell work beneath those lithe, deadly hands of hers? I prayed to God that she put it down to hairspray and nothing more.
“Dear Bella,” I began in a wheedling tone that I hoped suited Ashby. My voice sounded off, even to my own ears. Hopefully it would be difficult to tell over the swell of music coming from the orchestra. “What can I do for you this evening?”
Findlay and Dom continued to wade through the crowd, though Dom’s head swiveled often to look back at me. That was comforting, in a way.
“Don’t you ‘dear Bella’ me,” she hissed. “You made me a promise. It’s time to deliver.”
“I don’t recall any promise,” I said truthfully.
Her face morphed into a rictus of fury. She seized my lapels and yanked me so close I could count each individual eyelash. “You fucking bastard. You think you can just sleep with me and not pay up? I was promised Geoffrey’s position once your mission was complete. Tell Algerone this evening or else.”
“I’m not telling him anything,” I hissed, removing her hands from my lapels. I wouldn’t be saying a word to Algerone. I’d let my gun do all the talking and it would be a very brief conversation. Then Cat, Findlay, Dom, and I were going to get the hell out of here.
“Bastard,” she spat again. Faster than my eye could track, her hand shot out and seized a glass of champagne from a server’s tray. She threw it right in my face.
The sparkling liquid hit me like a cold slap and the spell dissolved like cotton candy beneath the deluge. Arabella blinked at me in shock for a moment, her mouth forming the word “Valdez.” Then she screamed. “Iron Heart! Iron Heart is here. Algerone—”
But that was as far as I let her go. I shoved a hand into the pocket of the frock coat, clutching the cold steel of a pistol I’d retrieved from one of vamps we’d slain after killing Ashby. I shoved the muzzle into her voluptuous chest and pulled the trigger, piercing her heart. She exploded into an unattractive pile of goo five seconds later and I could hear every wet slap of her flesh against the marble floors. The silence was so thick in the room that it could have been cut with a knife.
Instead, Algerone’s voice cut through the press of silence against my ears. He stood, eyes blazing with hate. He pointed a long bony finger at me.
“Bring me Iron Heart alive,” he thundered. “I want the pleasure of ripping her throat out myself.”
For a few seconds nothing happened. Then every single vampire in the room lunged in my direction, drawing weapons from their coat pockets or beneath their skirts. They charged at me en masse, deadly teeth bared.
I cocked the pistol and took aim.
“Game on bitches.”
chapter
26
“DAMN IT ALL TO HELL, Valdez! You couldn’t lay low for five minutes?” Findlay’s voice drifted from a little further off. My wheeling eyes found him in the gap where a vampire I’d shot had been moment’s before. He’d shoved a kebab through the eye of the vampire attempting to rip his throat out. Apparently some of them had wised up the fact that he’d been helping us. Most appeared fixated on me, but a fair number were going to target Dom and Findlay. I could only hope they’d be up to the task of fending them off.
“This wasn’t my fault!” I shouted back, firing into the open maw of a vampire who’d lunged for my throat. He fell to the ground, forming a puddle of gore at my feet. Some of him splattered onto the frock coat. Ugh. I was definitely going to need a shower when this was through. I drew out another weapon and took aim at the next few vampires coming for me. I’d retrieved my trusty CZ 75 from Ashby’s quarters before we’d left Wolf Isle.
I was grateful I had now, as the incendiary rounds tore into the nearby vampires. In the tight press of bodies, the flames spread from one vampire to the next, saving me ammunition. They were forced to take a step back from me in order to keep their lily pale asses from getting torched by the flaming dress or suit of the vampires next to them. It gave me just enough room to back into the corner and get a running start.
Valerius, don’t fail me now, buddy.
Warm, ready strength flooded my body and my limbs seemed to have a will of their own for a few seconds. Inches before the nearest vampire’s nose, I pushed off the ground with enough force to clear the entire line of them and land in the small gap that Findlay and Dom had cleared around the dais. I lost my footing on the other side, and slid the last several feet toward the stage on my knees rather than sticking the landing. There was too much blood on the ground to allow for a smooth escape. Even demons had to obey the laws of physics on occasion, it seemed.
Three more vampires appeared out of nowhere, blocking my path. These weren’t the young lackeys we’d faced on the ships, however. These vampires were old, and powerful. Their auras hit me like black holes and I swayed on my feet. If it was just me, I probably would have succumbed to their dark influence. But Valerius swung into motion, dodging an
d ripping and shooting in a blur of energy. In only a matter of seconds, the elders had been reduced to smoking piles of gore-soaked clothing. My boots squelched as I stepped through them, raising my weapons.
Algerone’s cool eyes tracked my advance and, almost faster than my new eyes could process, he snatched Catalina from her elaborate chair, pulling her up by her hair. My sister let out a scream that was audible even over the din of the room. Findlay paused in his attack to turn toward the sound and caught the show meant for my benefit. The vampire jerked Cat’s head to the side hard enough to draw another cry from her and descended, tearing through her neck like it was tissue paper.
Blood pulsed out of the open wound, staining her formal dress a deep crimson. A tear ran down her cheek, and she seemed to look at me and see me, through the broken spellwork obscuring my visage. She smiled for a moment, then her eyes went blank and her head hung limply to the side.
“No!” I wasn’t sure if Findlay or I screamed first. After everything I’d been through; years wasted trying to save my sister, it couldn’t end like this. Fury snaked around me, thick swirls of flame and smoke. I lifted my arms and let the rage curl between my fingertips.
The next second I was running towards the throne, ready to tear Algerone’s head off and drop-kick it halfway across the city. This vampire had to die.
Algerone dodged my first strike, leaping down the steps to land in a less bloody portion of the floor. My sister swayed in place and I caught her on reflex, slapping a hand over the blood that gushed from the savage neck wound. Algerone smirked up at me, having anticipated my reaction perfectly.
Agent of Magic Box Set Page 40
