He looked up from his phone as I entered. “How did it go?”
He’d smoothed back his hair from where I’d tugged and tousled it, his shirt was buttoned and his face was smooth and impassive. No indication that we’d been rolling around on the floor less than half an hour ago. My shoulders sagged in relief. Pretend it had never happened. Yes, I could do that.
“Carmella?” His eyes narrowed. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. The spell is almost ready, they have a plan to lure Malachi out and Garnet gave the go ahead to move civilians into the vamp city in the underground.”
His brow twitched. “You want to move humans into a vamp city?”
“Garnet runs that place. He’ll do his best to keep them safe. It’s either that or leave them to Malachi’s mercy.”
The limo slid away from the curb.
Vritra nodded. “Where to now?”
I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my lips. “Are you going to chauffeur me around the city now?”
His lips twitched. “What’s the point in having a limo if you can’t ferry around a beautiful woman once in a while.”
My cheeks heated under his intense regard. “Can you drop me off at the IEPEU?”
Vritra gave the driver instructions via intercom and then sat back. “Once I’ve dropped you off, I have a few things to take care of at Shaitan Enterprises.”
“That’s fine.” I smiled.
He returned it but his eyes were dull. I wanted to bring the glimmer back into them so bad it was an ache at the back of my throat.
The limo came to a halt.
“We’re here,” Vritra said.
I reached for the door then paused, suddenly gripped with the feeling that once I stepped out of the vehicle I’d never see him again. “Will I see you later?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
The door closed behind me and the limo peeled away into traffic leaving me with a horrible feeling of foreboding in the pit of my stomach.
3
The tech room was filled with computer geeks. Operatives like Kevin sat huddled in front of monitors, clicking away, their eyes locked on black screens showcasing green scrolling data—numbers and letters and stuff I didn’t understand. Kevin was tapping away at his keyboard, and Melody was on her phone, her face scrunched up in frustration.
I took a seat by a bank of unmanned blinking monitors. “I got the go ahead from Garnet.”
Melody looked up from her call. “I’ll call you back,” she said into the receiver then hung up. “Thank goodness, because I already have Kevin and his team working on the logistics.”
“Wow, Kevin, you finally have a team.”
Kevin made a non-committal sound followed by a growl. His dark hair was mussed, and his glasses sat slightly askew on his face. He looked like he’d slept in his clothes.
“Kev? You having issues?”
“Systems super glitch recently.” He jabbed at the keys, his lips pressed together in frustration.
I wheeled my chair closer. “How does this broadcast work?”
“It’s a message on a loop which will intercept regular viewing at hourly intervals from six pm to midnight. It’ll also show up on all devices with internet. I’m targeting residents of this district.” He pulled up a map with a highlighted area. “They get told to gather here,” He pointed at a blue dot on the periphery of the district, “at precisely seven pm the day before the eclipse.” He pulled up another map. He jerked his head toward the guys seated to his left. “Jeremy is hitting this district and Mark this one,” he pointed to another map. “By midnight on the night before the eclipse we should have evacuated half the city.”
“Only half?”
He turned to me, brow arched. “You think you can do better?”
Wow, testy. I held up my hands. “Sorry.”
“It’s the best we can do at such short notice,” he huffed.
“And you’re doing great.”
“Hurumph.”
Melody winced. I’d never seen Kevin this agitated before.
I focused on Parker. “Garnet said we need to liaise with Elorian about the set up.”
“Okay, we can do that first then we need to head over to speak to Nathaniel about the newsletter. He isn’t answering his phone or his door, but he could just be avoiding the IEPEU. If you come with me though…”
“You think he’ll open up to a familiar face?”
“Kinda.”
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
Leaving Kevin to his muttering and low level cursing we headed out to find the hidden vampire city and speak to Elorian.
***
The underground was much less spooky in the daytime. Knowing the sun was shining above us made the descent into the tiles and stone much less daunting. Okay, I was a big bad asura, but vampires gave me the creeps. It was the whole, sucking blood thing that did it. And the rotting bodies didn’t help.
We strode through the tunnel onto the platform which was dark and silent. Did anyone actually ever use this place?
“Can you remember the way into the city?” Melody asked.
“Yeah, I think we go…” I stared at the train track.
“Carmella?”
“I don’t know. Shit. I can’t remember.”
“Phew, because I thought it was just me.”
“Some kind of vampy mojo making us forget?”
“I vote vampy mojo.”
I plonked my butt on the nearest bench. “They’ll come to us. We’re walking blood bags after all.”
“True.” Melody parked herself next to me. “Have you heard from Mira?”
My heart sank. “No.”
Melody sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. Me too. It just hurts that she couldn’t tell me she was leaving. I’d have understood, may not have liked it, but still, I thought we were friends. She saved my life and told Paimon to shove off. She could have just gone with him then, why wait and…” A horrible thought filtered through my mind.
“Carmella? What is it?”
“What if she didn’t leave?”
Melody frowned. “What?” Her eyes lit up as she flipped onto the same page as me. “Shit, you think she was taken?”
I sat up straighter. “Paimon was mighty pissed when she didn’t agree to go with him. It’s highly possible that they took her by force.” I stood up and began to pace. “All this time I’ve been thinking she just left of her own free will. What if she didn’t? What if he’s keeping her from me?” Rage swelled in my chest. How dare he? How dare he kidnap my friends?
“Whoa.” Melody gripped my shoulders. “We don’t know that for sure. We don’t know anything for sure. And say that he has taken her. There’s no way we can get her back, if she’s stuck in the djinn realm she’ll need to make her way back to us herself.”
Melody was right. If Paimon had taken Mira, she was on her own. Dammit.
“Looky what we have here.” A smarmy, greasy voice said.
I turned on the vamp, grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. “Take me to Elorian or I’ll tear out your throat.”
His eyes bugged and his mouth worked.
“I’d do as she says,” Melody said. “She has a thing for playing with vamp windpipes.”
I painted my most sadistic grin on my face.
The vamp made a strangled sound, probably because I was strangling him.
Melody cocked her head. “Shall we take that as a yes?”
He blinked his protruding eyes, and I dropped him.
He rubbed his throat. “This way,” he scuttled off and we followed.
***
The city was just as I remembered, shrouded in forever night, and blanketed by twinkling stars. Elorian met us outside a tiny diner occupied by several human and vamp couples. Yeah, that was still a shudder-worthy sight.
I handed him Garnet’s note, he scanned it, pocketed it and then pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is an awful idea, but I unde
rstand your predicament and I—”
“You again!”
I knew that obnoxious voice. Oscar, the vamp who liked to wear leather coats too small for his frame, appeared behind Elorian. He was flanked by two other vamps and several more trailed at his back.
“Go away, Oscar.” Elorian’s tone was lazy and bored.
“Fuck you, Elorian. Garnet’s not here. And we’ve decided we ain’t taking orders from the likes of you.”
Elorian gave us a closed lipped smile, his eyes flat and hard, and then he turned to face Oscar and his posse.
“What’s your plan, Oscar?”
Oscar blinked, and was that a flash of doubt in his eyes? But then he was pushing back his leather clad shoulders and jutting out his jaw.
“Really, Oscar?” Elorian drawled. “You want violence?”
“Yeah, we want violence. We been talking, right, and come to the conclusion that you is chatting shit. The no violence because the evernight might fail is a crock. It’s just your way of keeping us in control. Bet you and Garnet cooked that shit up together. Or maybe you do have him convinced, who knows, but we’re gonna prove, right now, right here that you’re full of bullshit.”
Humans and vampires spilled out of the nearby buildings drawn by Oscar’s blathering.
Elorian sighed. “Ladies, I suggest you step back.”
Oscar snarled and attacked. Elorian flicked his wrist and sent the vampire flying over his posse’s head in an elegant arc. A collective exclamation filled the air, but Oscar was quick getting back on his feet. He charged again, and this time he didn’t attack alone. His minions jumped into the fray with him.
I took an instinctive step forward, but Melody grabbed my arm to stop me from intervening. Turned out I needn’t have bothered, because Elorian simply raised both hands and froze the vamps in mid-air. They were suspended, snarls tearing from their throats and clawed hands at the ready. Their eyes moved from side to side as if trying to figure out what the heck had just happened.
Elorian studied his fingernails, seemingly unimpressed with his own display of power. “You may wish to test the no violence theory, but I doubt every vampire under this evernight feels the same. If the blanket of stars evaporates, I cannot guarantee it’s return, and this city, this safe domain with its perks,” he looked a frozen Oscar up and down, “will be taken forever.”
A low murmur broke out among the gathered vampires and their human pets.
“Well?” Elorian addressed the gathered voyeurs. “Do you wish to test me?”
“No. No, Elorian,” someone muttered.
Others joined in, shaking their heads.
Elorian waved a hand, releasing Oscar and his cronies from the stasis. Oscar’s lips turned down, and for a moment I thought he’d resume his attack, but then he turned on his heel and stormed off into the night.
Elorian sighed. “There is nothing more to see here people. Please go back to whatever you were doing.”
The crowd dispersed, leaving Melody and me alone with the silver haired enigma.
“What was that? I mean how did you do that?” Melody asked.
“Your world has its magick and I have mine.” He held up the note. “I’ll set up residences for the citizens and post sentries on the platform to guide them here.”
“Thank you,” Melody said.
“Come, I will lead you out.” Elorian swept past us and off down the street.
We followed him toward the exit, but I couldn’t help the anxiety worming around in my stomach. Oscar had been silenced now, but what if he did manage to get together a group large enough to overwhelm Elorian?
I paused at the doorway leading back to the underground. “Are you going to be okay, Elorian?”
His brows flicked up. “Okay?”
“With Oscar and his idiot vamp posse.”
He smiled thinly. “Your concern is touching, but completely unnecessary. If Oscar tests me again, he’ll be the one being made an example of.”
Who was this guy? What was this guy? I’d have to quiz Garnet about him when I got the chance. Leaving Elorian to the preparations, we made our way back to the underground and our city above.
4
The sun was making its final arc through the sky when we got to Nathaniel’s place of abode. The streets were painted orange and red, and long shadows spilled across the pavement reaching for us like ominous fingers. Melody had given Kevin a status update, and according to her, he sounded less antsy. The broadcast set up must be going well. So evacuation was being handled, but we’d still have half a city to defend and that was where Nathaniel came in.
Melody tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear and looked up at the run down warehouse. “Kinda shitty, isn’t it?”
It was no mansion, that was for sure. “Yeah, but you should see the inside. He’s really done something with the place.”
Melody’s brows shot up. “Really? What, like bachelor pad type stuff? Gaming console and bean bags?”
“More like Lara Croft style stuff. He has all these artefacts and stuff in glass cases.”
“Is he hot?”
“I guess so.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why am I asking Miss I-only-have-eyes-for-Vritra.”
I laughed. “We all have our types.” And I had no idea what her type was. “Why don’t you judge for yourself? I get the feeling that there’s more to the Night Owl than meets the eye.”
I climbed the steps and pressed the buzzer, holding my thumb on the button for a long beat. We waited in silence. I buzzed again, but no joy.
“Great. I don’t think he’s home,” Melody said.
I puffed out my cheeks and blew out a breath. “Well, we need to find him. Maybe Kevin’s ex, whatshername, will be able to get us a list of hangouts for the guy?”
Melody was already on her phone. “Kev, yeah. I need you to get me a list of places Nathaniel might go…yes, now…I don’t care if she hates you, tell her it’s a matter of national security…tell her if she doesn’t cooperate I’ll arrest her myself for obstruction of justice…no, I’m not serious, but she doesn’t need to know that.” She hung up. “So, I think I pushed him back over the edge to antsy.” She tucked her phone into her pocket. “Come on, I’ll buy you coffee while we wait for Kevin to send us the details.”
***
The corner cafe was crappy just like the neighborhood, but the coffee itself was pretty good, even if it was served in Styrofoam cups. The staff were friendly, and the smell of bacon was heavy in the air. My stomach growled, reminding me it’d been several hours since my last meal.
I nudged Melody. “You fancy a bacon sarnie with that coffee?”
“You took the words right out of my mouth.”
We ordered and then wound through the colorful plastic tables to a red booth by the window. It was pretty quiet—just an elderly couple, a young man nursing a pot of tea and playing on his phone and a couple with a baby.
My butt had just kissed the bench when my phone vibrated in my back pocket.
Honey’s name flashed up on screen. The last time she’d seen me, Vritra had been carrying me out of the Mayfair mansion after the anchoring ceremony. She must be worried sick. I was a bad, bad friend. I’d been meaning to call her and rope her into helping, so this was perfect timing.
“Hello, sexy.” I leaned my elbows on the table. “I was just about to call you.”
“Really?” She didn’t sound convinced.
“Okay. Not right this minute, but I was planning to once I’d sorted out some other stuff. I need your help.”
“Thank goodness. I was hoping I could jump in and do something. Name it.”
Man I loved this chick. “I’m going to set up a meeting for the supernaturals of the city. Haven’t locked down location yet, but it’ll be a hush, hush, recruitment drive. I need back up convincing the yaksha and rakshasha to fight alongside us. We have the asura and a few witches, but we’re going to need more fighters.”
“What about the gods?”
“No.”
“No?”
“Long story, but short version is they’re pissed off and left us to our fate. All except Varuna who’s still eager to help.”
She sighed. “That sucks. Malachi has cosmic gods and superpowers.”
“Yeah. I know. So are you in?”
“Does Victor have an aversion to physical contact?”
I grinned and met Melody’s gaze nodding slightly.
Melody gave me the thumbs up.
“I’ll grab Victor and Urvashi too,” Honey said. “Just text me time and place and we’ll be there.”
“Love you, chick.”
“Love you too.”
I hung up and caught Melody watching the young couple and their toddler seated to our left. The mum was cooing at the kid and the dad was taking pictures of them on his phone. Sweet.
The waitress blocked her view by placing our bacon sandwiches on the table. “There you go, love,” she said, before sashaying back to the counter.
Melody sighed. “You know, it’s times like this I’m glad I don’t have any family to worry about.”
Well, that was unexpected. I’d anticipated she’d comment on how cute the trio was. But then her words registered fully. “What? No family at all?”
She nodded and sipped her mocha. “Yep. Nada.”
“Like, not even cousins or distant aunts?”
She set down her drink and pushed one of the plates toward me. “Nope. I don’t know who my parents were. I grew up in foster homes. I got lucky when I hit fifteen.” She glanced down at my plate. “Eat up. I can hear your stomach from here.”
The bacon was delicious, but I was intrigued by Melody’s past. “What happened when you turned fifteen?”
She’d just taken a huge bite of her sandwich and quickly chewed and swallowed. “I got placed in a foster home with a wonderful woman called Miranda. She was awesome. I lived with her for almost five years. Her people became mine for a while, but even though they were nice and included me, I was always the outsider, you know. Until last year I was still in contact with my foster mother. She passed away though, breast cancer. I went to visit but they wouldn’t let me see her.” She picked up her drink. “Family only, they said.”
Unleashing Magick Page 3
