Thrall

by Jennifer Blackstream

  I nodded to the building. “This is where the wizard Stavros worked. Nikolaos is his business partner. I might be able to find something in his office, maybe they owned property somewhere?”

  Arianne nodded and opened the door. “I’ll take the lower levels. Scream if you find them.”

  I didn’t respond to that. Not just because now wasn’t the time to argue about her choice of words, but because the smell that rolled out from the building’s interior told me in no uncertain terms that the fight club was not the only building at Fortuna’s that held dead bodies.

  Arianne raised her arms, and her lips moved. I couldn’t make out any words. It was just a hiss of breath that varied slightly in speed and ferocity. Without my third eye, I had no way to see what spell she was casting, but it didn’t matter. It was obvious a second later.

  I’m not afraid of snakes. That being said, I challenge anyone to remain calm after finding themselves suddenly in the presence of not one, but three giant anacondas. Peasblossom pressed against my neck, startling me since she was still invisible. Snakes were one of the few animals quick enough to snatch a pixie out of the air. Peasblossom was invisible, but I don’t think that gave her much comfort.

  Something about the snakes seemed off. I had to squint at them before it came to me. Their mottled black and olive green scales looked ashy. But it wasn’t any sort of powder that made them look that way. It was shadow.

  “Where did you summon them from?” I whispered.

  “Snakes can be found in any number of nightmares,” Arianne answered, her voice low, her eyes somehow brighter even in the darkness. She touched one of the snakes, letting its gargantuan scaled body slide against her palm. She whispered again in that soft hissing sibilance. Then the snakes moved outward, curling around the wreckage with the grace of sunlight on water.

  I didn’t wait around to watch them find their prey. I fought past the stench and went inside, following the same path Liam and I had taken the first time we’d come here, when we’d come to steal a contract from Stavros. Back when the wizard was still alive. I walked quickly through the first room, lit as it was from the sunlight streaming through the windows. When I hit the upstairs, I circled around, passing a balcony that offered a view of the main casino floor. Now that the casino doors had been ripped off, sunlight reached into the main floor.

  The once glittering casino rooms of Fortuna’s Stables glittered no more. The entire floor was littered with upended roulette tables, broken chairs, and shattered lights. Playing cards, some torn, some burned, littered the once immaculately vacuumed floor. The smell of ashes, old blood, and spilled alcohol rose to fill the second floor like a sickly fog.

  “It would seem Stavros served more of a function here than we thought,” I said grimly. “And there was me thinking the fight club was the only consequence to our little coup.”

  “Not surprising.” Peasblossom stood on my head, peering over the wreckage. “He built a fight club for Otherworlders under the parking garage. You think none of them wanted to come in here? None of them ever got mad after losing a fight, none of them ever got hungry and had the urge to go looking for easy prey?”

  “You’re right.” I rubbed my temples, trying to ease the headache forming under the press of the casino’s stench and the ache of my third eye. “I should have made sure someone filled the vacuum caused by Stavros’ absence.”

  Peasblossom started to argue, but I held up a hand for her to be quiet. It wasn’t that I was worried someone would hear us. If Toby and Kurt heard us, it would only drive them away—and into Arianne’s waiting snakes. I just didn’t want to be told, again, that this wasn’t my fault.

  I was ten feet away from Stavros’ office door when I heard sounds of movement. A drawer slammed shut, and papers rustled. I crept closer, dropping my disguise in favor of hiding completely. “Invisibilia,” I whispered.

  I waited for the shiver to pass over my entire body, hiding me from sight. I crept closer to the door, moving slowly in case there were any creaky spots that might give me away. Holding my breath, I slipped through the open doorway, careful to keep my footsteps light and avoid any debris.

  Detective Stafford sat in the chair behind the desk. I blinked in surprise. Of all the people I might have expected to find here, he wasn’t on the list. He was scowling down at the paperwork and muttering under his breath. As I watched, he slammed the file he’d been holding onto the desk top.

  “There have to be some contracts left,” he complained. “Something that will give me some leverage!”

  A woman stood facing the desk. Her back was to me, but there was something familiar about her. She wore bright teal leggings that showed off her long legs, and a baggy peasant-style blouse. Gold bands hung from her wrists, clinking gently as she propped her hands on her hips. “And it is as I have said,” she ground out. “He—”

  “We have to leave,” a new voice broke in.

  I held my breath as another person came through the door. It was a man this time, short and stocky with a thick tuft of chocolate brown hair. He headed for the woman, but as soon as he’d made it three feet, he froze. His nostrils flared. He swiveled his head.

  “Who else is in here?”

  He was looking right at me.

  Chapter 15

  Shifter.

  Cursing, I dropped the invisibility, careful to keep my back to the corner. Stafford stood up so fast he knocked over the chair. The woman he’d been talking to spun around. Her green eyes locked onto mine, and a memory roared back to the front of my mind, terrifying in its clarity. I recognized her now. She was the telekinetic. The one responsible for crushing Peasblossom’s wings. Cold fury wormed through my stomach, sending tendrils of ice into my veins.

  “Who the hell are you?” the shifter demanded.

  “Ms. Renard.” In an instant, Stafford’s shock was gone, replaced by that saccharine geniality that made my skin crawl. “How nice to see you. I hope you’re not upset about how we left things. I’ll admit, I was oversensitive. And it was petty to ghost you. In fact, I was just going to return your call.”

  “What is she doing here?” the shifter snarled again.

  “Mind your manners,” Stafford snapped. “Ms. Renard is working with me on the murder of poor Jamila.” He straightened and gave me a broad smile full of smooth white teeth. “Don’t mind them, Ms. Renard. One can’t be too careful in this area.” He waved to encompass the telekinetic and the shifter. “You aren’t the only one who sees the wisdom of a bodyguard. These are my employees.”

  His employees? The Sanctum? Surely not. How could anyone go from serving a Machiavellian criminal wizard like Stavros to an opportunistic turncoat like Stafford? I stared at him, then back at the woman. She was Stavros’ telekinetic. I wouldn’t forget her face as long as I lived. Peasblossom trembled against the back of my neck, her tiny heartbeat pounding so hard I thought I could hear it.

  “I felt bad about the way we left things,” Stafford continued, oblivious to the recognition passing between me and his green-eyed “employee.” “I thought I could make it up to you. The wizard that used to have this office was famous for his contracts, and I remembered you mentioned the ladies at Foundations were under contract, so I thought—”

  “How long have they been working for you?” I interrupted.

  Stafford frowned. “Why does that matter?”

  “We have to go,” the telekinetic said sharply. “Now.”

  “I’m the boss here,” Stafford growled through gritted teeth. “I say when we go. Don’t make me remind you who’s in charge again.” He smoothed his hands down his suit, brushing his hand over his badge where it was hooked onto his belt as if reassuring himself it was still there.

  The woman looked at him then. The vein in her temple pulsed, and her jaw tightened as if she were gritting her teeth.

  “There’s a sorceress in the casino,” the shifter said, his gaze sliding back and forth between the room’s occupants. “It’s Arianne Monet, and she�
��s not happy. Serena’s right, we need to get out of here.”

  Fear glittered in the detective’s eyes. He had no reason to know Arianne was involved in this case, but he’d obviously heard of Arianne. I wondered if he’d had any personal experience with the dream sorceress’ magic.

  A second later, Stafford’s smile returned with reinforcements. “So? We have no reason to hide from her. We’re trying to find a murderer. Connor might have killed Jamila, but we all know he wasn’t calling the shots, don’t we? There’s a mastermind. And he’s preying on Syrian women. Arianne is brown-skinned right? Arabic of some flavor? She’d appreciate that we’re saving her countrywomen, yeah?”

  A thought was trying to make itself known to me, fighting the tide of bravado Stafford kept shoving my way. “Why are you in Stavros Rosso’s office?” I pointed at the telekinetic. “With his minions?”

  Stafford’s smile slipped. “What?”

  “Stavros. The wizard these people worked for. He died.” I stared at the telekinetic, but she was busy trying to set Stafford on fire with her glare. “Why would they be working for you?”

  “You knew Stavros?” Stafford asked, his voice hoarser than it had been before.

  The telekinetic circled the desk and grabbed Stafford’s shoulder. “We have to go. Now.”

  This time Stafford didn’t shout her down. He didn’t try to exert his dominance, remind her who was boss. In fact, his shoulders hunched and his hands were practically shaking. He glanced nervously down at the floor.

  “No!” I shouted, realizing too late what was happening.

  The telekinetic and Stafford vanished. I spun around, but the shifter had run off too. I’d never catch him. I ran around the desk, glaring down at the symbols that confirmed my fear. “Figures someone like Stavros would have a teleportation circle underneath his desk chair.”

  Peasblossom didn’t come out from under my hair. I hesitated, then reached for the zipper of my pouch. “I just remembered you haven’t had lunch. Why don’t you slip into the pouch and have some honey? I might need you later, and when I do I’ll need you to be tip top.”

  My throat constricted when Peasblossom didn’t argue. In fact she didn’t even move, just let me lift her off my neck and put her in the pouch. Bizbee glared at me when I peeled back the flap, but then he seemed to register the look on my face. He vanished into the pouch without another word and returned a split second later.

  With a honey packet.

  I looked at the door, gauging my options. Somewhere out there, there were two werewolf mercenaries, one shifter who was working with at least one member of Stavros’ Sanctum, three giant anacondas, one furious dream sorceress, and… Well, whatever else hunted here.

  “Blood and bone,” I muttered under my breath. I grabbed my cell phone, cursing again when I nearly dropped it in my haste. The shifter hadn’t teleported out with the others. Liam and Scath were circling the building, if I warned them, they could catch him. I dialed Liam and began, “There’s a third dangerous shifter who might be headed your way, he’s from the—”

  A loud crash erupted outside the office, spilling a dose of hot adrenaline into my blood stream. I shoved my cell phone into my waist pouch and took off out the door, magic burning in my fingertips.

  I ran down the hall toward the source of the noise, going against my better judgment. I was about to turn the corner when something curled around it, heading straight for me.

  I had a split second where the werewolf and I stared at one another in mutual shock. The shifter—probably Toby or Kurt Reeves—was in half man, half wolf form. And he was big. Yellowish brown fur, and gold eyes that bored through me. Limbs that were too long for his body, and a mouth full of glistening teeth.

  I couldn’t move faster than a werewolf. But thanks to Flint’s merciless training, I’d gotten very good at casting defensive magic on the fly.

  “Tela!”

  The spell shot from the palm of my hand, exploding in stringy white ropes that stuck to each wall, forming a sticky web between me and the wolf. The shifter recoiled as the web continued to hiss and lash itself to either side. When it went still, the creature eased forward, nostrils flaring. He gave an experimental swipe, then growled when his paw stuck to the strands thick as ropes. It took a second for him to rip free. I watched as he realized that, though inconvenient, the web would not be impossible to force his way through.

  The shifter gathered his energy, muscles tensing as he prepared to charge. I called another spell. I had more time now. I had the luxury of a more complicated spell. A stronger spell.

  A deadlier spell.

  You didn’t often get a second shot with a shifter.

  Something long and black shot around the corner. I froze, heart pounding. Between the web and the darkness, it was hard to tell what was going on. I heard a muffled gurgling sound, as if the air were being forced from a body.

  Then I remembered the anacondas.

  “Ms. Renard.”

  I jerked my head away from the sight of what I now realized was the giant snake wrapped around the shifter, knowing I’d be haunted by the sight of those restricting coils in my own nightmares tonight. Arianne stared at me through my webbing.

  The sorceress had dropped her glamour, and to my complete lack of surprise, she didn’t have a hair out of place. She stood in the dark hallway beside the choking wolf with the serene expression of a queen standing by while a traitor was executed. If anything she looked…satisfied.

  “Stafford was here,” I said, as much to drown out the gasping sounds coming from the werewolf as to share information. “And so was Stavros’ old sideshow. The Sanctum.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll know everything soon enough.” The sorceress put a hand on the snake’s side, stroking its scales. It relaxed its grip slightly, still holding the shifter, but no longer constricting. “You can go now, Ms. Renard. I’ll call you when I have answers.”

  It was my fear coming true. Arianne taking over the investigation, leaving and taking potential witnesses with her. Witnesses that could exonerate Iman—or condemn her.

  I started to argue, but just then, Liam came barreling down the hallway from the opposite direction of the sorceress. He came to an abrupt halt when he saw the webbing, and Arianne and her anaconda on the other side.

  “What’s going on?” He stared at me, looking me up and down as if fighting the urge to pat me down for injuries. He sniffed in my direction, probably for blood. “You called my cell, then you cut off mid-sentence. I barely had time to pass your message to Scath before I heard you shout a spell.”

  I winced. “Sorry. I called to warn you there was another shifter fleeing the building, but he didn’t attack me. He’s working with Stavros’ old sideshow.”

  Liam immediately looked into the air. “Peasblossom?”

  It made me happy that his first thought had been for my little pixie. That he’d remembered what the sideshow had done to her the last time we faced off. I pointed to the pouch. “She’s having some honey to keep her strength up.”

  “I’ve caught the two werewolves who can answer my questions,” Arianne said, uninterested in our exchange. “You can take Ms. Renard home, Detective Sergeant.”

  Liam stepped closer to the web. “I should be there when you question them.”

  “That is not necessary. I assure you, I’ll be quite safe.”

  Liam’s jaw tightened. “With all due respect, Ms. Monet, that’s not what I meant. In light of the accusation against your wife, it wouldn’t be appropriate for you to question the suspects alone.”

  Arianne’s eyes grew even darker, seeming to drain what little light was in the hallway. “You doubt my integrity?”

  “I think you’ll want an impartial witness to back you up,” Liam corrected her.

  Arianne smiled. “I appreciate your offer. But it is unnecessary.”

  “It wasn’t an offer. I’m telling you, I need to be there. You’re not the only one who wants the Emperor stopped.” Liam straigh
tened. “Besides, I can call my staff at New Moon and they can bring out transport for them.” He nodded toward the shifter still unconscious and limp in the snake’s coils. “We have methods for transporting feral shifters.”

  Arianne considered everything he’d said, her face giving away nothing of her thoughts. Finally, she nodded. “Call your staff. You may be present when I question them.”

  “I’m going to check on Scath,” I said, glancing at Liam.

  “Wait for me and I’ll go with you,” Liam said.

  I pointed to the giant snake. “You have your hands full here. I’ll be fine.”

  I didn’t come right out and say Arianne shouldn’t be left alone with the unconscious shifter, but I knew Liam got it. Mostly because he didn’t argue, even though he looked like he wanted to.

  I left the casino, breathing a little deeper when the doors closed behind me. I wrinkled my nose as the smell followed me out. “That’s disgusting.” I waved a hand at myself, using my Cinderella spells to remove the lingering odor of death. I told myself it was out of consideration for Scath, or possibly to avoid catching the attention of the shifter in case he was still on the prowl. But deep down, it was for me.

  I couldn’t see Scath, and when I stopped to listen, I didn’t hear anything either. It was just after two, and the sun that had been so bright an hour ago was hiding behind a pale grey blanket of clouds. I shook my head and started to circle the casino, hoping it wouldn’t start raining—or snowing—while I was out here searching for—

  Something wrapped around my neck.

  Something long and thick.

  And squishy.

  Tongue.

  The one word came with a mental image of the goblin I knew that tongue would belong to. A memory of being in almost precisely this position only yesterday.

  “Let go of my witch!” Peasblossom shrieked.

  I heard the buzz of wings, and suddenly the tongue released me. I stumbled and caught my balance with one hand on the wall of the casino. I looked up in time to see Asher three steps away and closing. The muted sunlight made his yellow skin look even paler, and made his red eyes stand out like emergency beacons.