by Amie Gibbons
She spat the last words out like poison.
“Got the gang who got my sister last night, but got the men in mine too.”
Grant and I exchanged a look. We didn’t know about the other group.
“But they did use you last night,” I said. “The magic in the bomb led us back to the restaurant.”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t there last night. I went shopping and came home. I didn’t go there until they told me it ‘was done,’ and I should go see the payment. I knew something was wrong then, and went to look, and… and I ran out of there. Why, why would they want me to see that? I told them the deal was over and they just laughed at me.”
“We still don’t know what killing the gangsters got them,” I said. “I mean, sure it was part of the deal, but it was them finding a loophole, suggesting they wanted the gangsters dead for some reas… Ohhhhhhh crap!”
“What?” Grant asked.
“Sacrifices. Souls have power, and it can be used by magic things, like with Truck selling souls of victims.”
My eyes searched the air as I imagined the pieces coming together.
What was I missin’? Where did the pieces fit?
“They…” I took a deep breath. “They needed sacrifices to get power from the souls, and they got twenty of them and however many were in the other gang, I’m guessing around fifty to seventy total. We’ll have to check with C… we’ll have to check, but,” I said, speeding up, “I’m guessin’ that’s a lot of power and they’re using it for whatever they have planned tonight. So why the bomb though? We had the test on Friday, they knew thbobh.”
I paused as my words bled together and made myself slow down. “They knew they could get in after Friday’s test. So why the bomb on Saturday? What did it accomplish?”
“More dead,” Grant said. “If they are harvesting souls, that gave them more.”
“But why outside?” I asked. “Why not blow up the hotel right then and get all the souls? Why wait?”
“Because they couldn’t do it last night,” Grant said.
“Or maybe couldn’t get something so big in yet?” I said. “It’s gotta take energy to run magic through Maria. So maybe the souls were to build up more energy. Still doesn’t explain the bomb outside last night though. That wasn’t big, it could’ve been snuck in probably. Right? Or they could’ve just had someone like Jade walk a normal bomb in like we thought.”
“Maria,” Grant said, kneeling in front of her and resting his hands on her knees, “what else do you know? Anything, no matter how small or irrelevant sounding, could be helpful.”
She looked up and closed her eyes. “I’m trying to remember it all.”
“Okay,” I said, “when did you first meet the Fae?”
“About two months ago.”
I nodded. “And how did she approach you?”
“Walked up to me in the restaurant,” Maria said. “Said she knew who I was and wanted to make a deal. I thought she meant she knew I was the boss’s wife and wanted to make a deal with the gang, but we went into the back and she said what she was and that she wanted help fighting against vampires. She made them sound so evil and oppressive, like they were committing genocide of the Fae. I thought the Fae were the victims. The good guys, you know?”
I bit my tongue to keep from arguing that even if they were victims, it didn’t automatically make them good guys.
Nope, not even gonna touch that one.
“And then she showed me all that about my sister in some kind of vision world, just handed the answer I’d been looking for to me. I was so angry after seeing that, and she only showed me a clip, as proof, I would’ve agreed to anything to take those men down.”
“What was her name?” Grant asked.
“Um, she introduced herself as Nancy,” Maria said. “But I don’t think that was her real name.”
“Sir,” I said as she paused, “I think we may need someone with more experience in these matters to question her.”
He stared at me for a moment then nodded.
I called Carvi and asked him to come up, we’d keep the woman from talkin’ to anyone after this, and he said sure.
“Sorry for the interruption, Maria,” I said. “Please continue.”
“That was it. She wrote out a contract and we both signed. It seemed pretty straightforward, you know? Like we wouldn’t hurt each other, I’d get dead and arrested gangs who were responsible for my sister’s death, and she’d get to use me to run her magic through until midnight tonight. And she’d finish off those directly responsible for Carolina’s murder in the night after she was finished with me at midnight. And at sunrise tomorrow, our connection would be broken.”
“Connection?” I asked. “Can she get anything through you now? Like see through your eyes or anything?”
“No,” she said, “just can use my magic and run hers through me.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yes. It specifically said that in the contract because I was worried about that so she put it in.”
“Good. So you signed the contract, and then what?”
“She did a few little tests to make sure the magic worked through me, said she’d be in touch, and gang members started dropping. Things were getting kind of tense because everyone assumed the other gangs were doing it.”
“Did you want a gang war?” I asked.
She stared at the floor. “Kind of. Them killing each other seemed like a good thing. I thought it was just reserved for the bad ones, like the gang I was in didn’t actually do it so they’d be left alone.”
“But that’s not what happened,” I said as the door out in the main room opened.
I poked my head out of the bedroom to see Carvi walking down the hall.
We walked in and he smiled at Maria.
She didn’t even look up.
“Fae running magic through her,” I said. “That’s why those spells got through and looked human. She made a deal.”
Carvi just nodded, eyes locked on Maria.
He walked in front of her and Grant moved out of the way as Carvi sat next to her.
“I need to see,” he said, “but if the Fae is connected to her, I don’t want the risk that the Fae will sense my magic. Ariana?”
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Can I look through you? Similar to the Fae using Maria to thread their magic through.”
“Um.” I looked between him and Grant. “Is it…”
“Intimate?” Carvi asked. “Yes. But nothing we haven’t done before.”
“Nothing we’ve done since you attacked me,” I said.
Carvi walked over to me and I crossed my arms.
He rested his hands on my arms and stared into my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he said through my mind. “May I use you for this?”
I nodded and he walked me to the bed and around to side opposite Maria, pushing down on my shoulders with the barest bit of pressure. I sat.
Carvi crawled on the bed and lay down, holding his arms out for me.
I lay next to him, resting my head in the crook of his arm where it fit perfectly.
Like a puzzle piece fallin’ into place.
“Why does it feel so right with you at times like these?” I thought at him.
“Because we have chemistry, lea,” he said, still in my head far as I could tell.
I closed my eyes and felt him slide in with no effort.
I could hear whispering like he was talkin’ to Maria, but not the actual conversation.
When I opened my eyes and sat up, I felt groggy and kinda sore and like time had passed, like I’d fallen asleep in a weird position.
“The Fae are planning something,” Carvi said, scooching up and leaning against the headboard. “They needed Maria to get in before, and I believe they need her for tonight, but I think Ariana was dead on. They killed to get souls to generate into power.”
“Any idea why they did the itty-bitty bomb last night?” I asked.
“They were doing something with that,” I said. “And if we can’t figure it out, well, I think that means it’s important.”
“Usually does,” Carvi said, sitting up off the headboard for a second before slouching back down. “I’m going to need more blood. You two are still rebuilding your strength and Maria is tainted by Fae.”
“So we’ll take you back to the hotel,” I said. “It’s not far.”
Carvi shook his head. “Not unless you carry me. That little bit of magic drained me. I need food now. Maria, do you have any neighbors’ numbers? Preferably young and attractive ones.”
###
Carvi took a time out with a friend of Maria’s for a snack and afterwards the man looked like one of those pictures of Cuban refugees that spent days at sea on a raft without food or water.
But this one looked really happy.
Carvi had asked me to join so he could show me the blood cream pie and I not so politely declined.
He then asked for Grant to join as well so they could teach me the pleasures of a blood cream pie mixed with an Eiffel Tower and I left the apartment for coffee for about an hour, Grant babysitting Maria in the living room.
I made the mistake of googling Eiffel Tower sex act while I was drinkin’ my coffee.
Made me wonder about the logistics and how the guy gettin’, er, eaten by both the girl and the vampire avoided getting jostled and injured by the vamp performing such a delicate act.
I tried looking up magic stuff to figure out what the bomb was about but only found stuff on fiction books and TV shows. None of it useful.
Carvi called me when he was done and we got back to the hotel with Maria in tow.
We weren’t entirely sure what to do with her.
Carvi didn’t know how to cut the magic tie between her and the Fae off. He couldn’t trace it without risking the Fae sensing him and knowing he was alive. And he didn’t think putting her somewhere else or flying her somewhere far away would do any good.
My vote was putting her on the plane and shipping her off to Europe, basically get her as far away from us as we could before tonight.
Obviously they had to find someone close, otherwise, why bother with Maria and not just grab some random person in China or something that we’d never be able to get to in time.
Carvi was pretty sure they only needed someone close initially to make the bond, something about ties to the land, but that it’d work from anywhere now that it was established and had been for months.
It didn’t make sense to me, but hey, I wasn’t the metaphysical expert.
“Where we gonna put her?” I asked as we walked into the hotel.
Everything looked so normal. The damage from last night long cleaned up.
“Over here.” Carvi led us down one hall and opened the room door halfway down.
The room was a normal nice hotel room. Carvi wanted his hotels to be original so he made sure each room was decorated with its own flair and style, so every room didn’t have that generic chain feel, but besides the fact that this room had a sort of jungle motif goin’ with the green and gold wallpaper and red chair and bedspread, it looked like any other nice hotel room.
Bathroom with marble counters and a jetted tub, a dresser with a mini fridge built into it and a microwave on one side and a giant flat screen in the middle and facing the king-sized bed.
Jade lay on the bed, looking like she was sleeping peacefully.
Though, knowing Carvi, she was in a nightmare of her own design inside her mind.
“Why keep her alive?” I asked.
Grant shot me a hard look and I shrugged.
He could be disappointed or whatever, but I meant it.
“Because this drags the torment out,” Carvi said. “And we still need to figure out what spell was in her. Knowing what we do now, I’m guessing it has something to do with the plan tonight. Might be a contingency plan. This Fae is smart, I’m betting she didn’t have just one way to set off whatever will happen tonight.”
“It’s all related,” I said slowly.
There was something.
Something tugging at my mind.
“We’re missing something,” I growled. “Killing the waiter, making him a zombie, passion spell, trying to trap us then killing Carvi.”
Carvi sighed as he sat on the bed. “I’m exhausted. It’s going to take a lot more to keep me going. I’m going to plug into my people for a bit. That includes you, Ariana. You may want to lay down for a nap and make sure to get a big dinner. We’re all going to need our energy tonight. Maria, you’ll stay here with Jade. I’ll put a guard on the room. I suggest you don’t try doing anything stupid.”
“Like what?” she asked. “Trying to kill myself?”
Carvi jerked. “Actually, that may help. They can’t use you as a conduit if you’re dead.”
“Carvi!” I snapped.
At the same time, Grant said, “No.”
Carvi shot me a side glance with a little pout.
“What?” I said.
“It could help us,” he said.
“Too bad. We’re not killin’ an innocent woman.”
“Not so innocent.”
“No! She was involved, yes, but she didn’t know how bad they were. And you just said it could help. Not necessarily would. And if they can do stuff through the zombie, they could probably do stuff through her dead body.”
He shrugged. “You’re probably right. They are very good with the dead.”
Something in his tone tickled my brain.
“Wait, you were in a relationship with one, right?” I asked. “When you say good with the dead…?”
He smiled. “Same excuse men around the world give for being with a crazy bitch. Mind-blowing sex. So much that I never cared she wouldn’t let me bite her. And that’s coming from me. I’m not easily impressed by just one partner.”
I flinched.
Ouch.
The smile melted off his face. “Lea, I didn’t mean-”
“Nope,” I said. “I get it. How could a guy who has orgies and makes up sex acts for like four people at once ever be satisfied with one girl who basically doesn’t have moves and sees sex as something between people who care for each other and not an Olympic event? Excuse me.”
I marched out and back to the lobby.
And paused at the elevator.
I didn’t have a room that I’d ever seen or gone in to. I was pretty sure Carvi had lied when he said I had my own. I’d been staying with him here, and then moved my stuff to Grant’s room.
So I’d go to Grant’s room.
I still had the card Carvi gave me, the one he said could open any door in the place. Meant I could hang in Grant’s room, maybe grab a nap and some food.
“Ryder,” Grant said as I hit the elevator button.
“Yes, sir?” I said without lookin’.
I didn’t have to look to know Carvi was behind him.
“This is why I have the rules I do,” Grant whispered as the elevator doors swished open and we went in.
I kept my back or side to Carvi. I didn’t want to acknowledge him, or deal with him at all really.
We rode up in silence and split at the hallway.
Carvi didn’t say one word.
So he either knew I was done and was actually respecting that I couldn’t deal with him right now, or he was mad at me too for some reason.
I followed Grant to his room and he didn’t say anything as we went in.
I flopped on the bed and it said something about how wiped Grant was because he flopped next to me.
###
I jerked awake.
My stomach roared and tried to crawl up my throat.
“Ugh,” I said, sitting up.
The sunlight coming through the window said we hadn’t been asleep more than maybe two hours.
I shook my head to get the groggies out and slid off the bed, glancing back at Grant.
He lay
on his back, limbs flung out and one arm hugging a pillow into him like a teddy.
I grinned.
Grant had never looked so cute.
I tiptoed out of the bedroom and closed the door, then called room service and turned on the TV on low.
My food came so fast I swear the chef had to be psychic too.
I watched some rom com while I ate and my mind churned over the problem.
Why have the bomb? What was the point of that? If anything, it tipped us off. So what was the point?
If they wanted to just kill Carvi, what would their big plan tonight be? I mean, they wanted to get him outta the way, or kill him, but-
“Afternoon, Ryder.”
“Ah!” I jumped, holding onto my sandwich so hard a tomato squirted out, luckily landing on the tray, and turned.
Grant smiled that tiny ghost smile from the bedroom door and walked around the couch. “May I?” He pointed at the tray of sandwiches and the platter of fruit.
“Yes, sir.” I pointed to the kitchen area. “We also have coffee.”
“Good.” He grabbed a mug of coffee and sat back down, digging into a sandwich like a wild man with his first taste of over flavored American food.
“Sir, I’ve been thinkin’,” I said. “Maria said the plan had something big tonight, right? Well last night was when they planned to kill Carvi, I mean, after trying to trap him didn’t work. So I think it’s pretty reasonable to say they aren’t after Carvi alone, right? It’s more like he was some side thing or something, and the big thing is tonight. Makes sense, right?”
Grant nodded, mouth full of Ruben.
“Okay,” I said. “So the test was Friday night and I’m assuming it was successful, or at least enough to pull off whatever they need to. Then they tried sneaking something in inside Jade, but it was plain Fae magic, not something put through Maria, and it’s small but hard to trace. That seems like it’s step two of the plan. Then they tried gettin’ rid of Carvi, step three, I think. While he was supposed to be trapped, they set off the bomb, step four. This is where I get stuck. What did all this accomplish?”
Grant swallowed the last bite of that sandwich and took a swig of coffee.
He held up a hand and ticked down a finger. “Successful test.” Put down another. “Something we don’t get, maybe a trap.” And another. “Remove an obstacle.” Fourth down. “Something else strange we don’t understand.”
