by Michele Hauf
She grasped her throat. “Kaz took it off last night when you...”
“I’m sorry, Zoë. I was jonesing for the sparkle,” Luc said. “By going to Mauritius, I really betrayed you. Can you ever forgive me?”
“You know I can. But we’ve a big mess to clean up now.”
“I’ll do whatever you ask. But I have to leave. Hunger pangs.”
“You can find me here,” she called after him. When she closed the door, Zoë said to Kaz, “I know you won’t let him back in.”
“Damn right.”
“I should probably look into finding a cheap rental to stay in until I can get a new place. I’ve taken advantage of your kindness.”
“You are welcome here as long as you like. Sid, too.”
From behind them, Sid meowed heartily. And that confirmed it: Zoë had found home.
Chapter 22
Zoë had to be strong if she were going to help Kaz find the new lab. No more shirking in fear and allowing her magic to take a hike. It was only when she was calm and confident that she could actually wield her powerful magic in public.
“Stay calm, stay strong, keep a hand on the magic,” she muttered as she and Kaz got off the Metro in the eighteenth in the heart of FaeryTown.
They both wore the black ointment beneath their eyes—a gift from Ian Grim—but they weren’t looking for a winged being. Zoë wasn’t, anyway. Kaz, on the other hand, had been followed by a mysterious faery who harbored a death wish for him, so they decided that seeing what may soar toward them was the best option.
“You feeling good about this?” He winked. “Pretty little witch.”
That he used a term of endearment meant he’d been able to get beyond the stupid thing she had done by concocting the blend. Even though it had created a big problem for him—and ultimately caused the death of his friends—she trusted he did not hold it against her.
She had to trust that because right now, she had nothing else in this world to cling to. She’d lost her home, everything she owned and all her magical accoutrements. Yet she didn’t feel lacking, for she had saved Sid, and Kaz had rescued Luc. And with all hope, Luc may recover and leave his addiction to dust behind.
“Zoë?”
She chuckled softly. “Yes, I do feel good about this. So much so, I was counting my blessings. And one of them was you.”
She kissed him, and only when tourists walking by on the street nudged them did Kaz pull away with a smile on his face.
“You’re my blessing, too.”
“Sort of a forced blessing, I’d say,” Zoë said. She didn’t want him dwelling on the bad, though. “You smell so good.”
“Save the flirting for later. It’s hard enough trying to divide my focus between work and you.”
“On to the vampires, it is.”
“And I’ll keep an eye out for armed faeries. Watch the wings coming this way.” Kaz dodged a faery’s blue wings, but they fluttered right over his head as if the creature were a figment. “I forget we’re in a different dimension.”
“Yes, the faery can allow you to feel them only if they wish it. There are a couple vamps across the street sitting by that café table. They don’t look threatening.”
“They are always a threat,” Kaz growled. With a sweep of his gaze over the next passing faery, he then decided, “Not a threat.”
They strolled down the sidewalk through the depths of FaeryTown. Zoë pointed out the vampires coming in and out from the ichor dens, and the occasional vampire walking down the street seemingly unaware he tread through such multidimensional territory. She trusted Kaz would know which one he wanted to approach, if any at all.
Just when she sensed they neared the edge of FaeryTown, Zoë spied a familiar face in a passing black vehicle. She squeezed Kaz’s hand.
“I saw the fangs,” he verified. “Is he someone you recognize?”
“I’m pretty sure he was one of Switch’s cohorts. Wasn’t he the guy who drove the car?”
“I staked that one.”
“Right. But he’s familiar. I must have seen him at some point while I was being held by Mauritius.”
“I trust your hunch. I’m going after the car. Stay close if you can.”
They raced down a street and when the male vampire got out of the vehicle and spied Kaz rushing toward him, he darted inside a pastry shop.
Zoë inhaled the sweet, greasy scents as she trailed the men, passing behind the counter with apologies to the human cashiers, and headed through the back baking room.
The back door swung open, and the vamp managed to swing out and jump over a wooden delivery crate to curl around a corner. Moving deeper into the block and away from the touristy area, they turned many corners and ventured into narrower alleys, until the vampire leaped for an iron staircase hugging a brick wall. Kaz grabbed him by an ankle and brought him to the ground. Stake in hand, he held it over the vamp’s heart.
The vampire shifted his gaze to Zoë as she arrived huffing and glad the chase was over. “Mauritius wants your head, witch.”
“I’m not his slave and I’ll never make the Magic Dust again.”
“Stupid witch. And you! You took out Switch!”
Kaz slapped a hand over the vampire’s jaw. “Wasn’t allowed that pleasure. You telling me Switch is dead?”
The vampire nodded from behind Kaz’s hand.
“Sounds as if I missed that party. That means you’re going to have to do some talking. Where did Mauritius move Zoë’s lab?”
The vampire tried to bite Kaz’s hand so he twisted his palm over his mouth.
“He won’t be able to tell us where it is if you do that.”
“Zoë, let me handle this, okay? Stay back and out of danger.”
She stepped back. At the end of the alleyway, she spied a flicker of dark wings and focused on the motion down there. A faery? Her concern level for the winged creatures was so low she had difficulty seeing them even with the ointment.
“I will stake you,” Kaz warned the squirming vamp. “Is the lab near the building where Mauritius does business?”
The vampire shook his head. Kaz took away his hand from his mouth and the vamp spat at him. Slashing out his arm, he managed to cut Kaz’s jaw with his sharp fingernails.
“Stop that!” Zoë yelled and thrust out her hand, focusing her magic. Seeing the vampire hurt Kaz stirred up her energy and forced it out in a wave of anger. The air swooshed over Kaz’s body and slammed the vampire, pinning his arms flat on the ground. It was obvious he tried to lift his head, but could not. “I did it!”
“So you did. Thanks, Zoë.” Kaz sat up, taking his hands from the vampire, but keeping the stake firmly placed over his heart. “Now talk, or I’ll have to use the big gun.”
“Screw you, hunter.”
“Big gun, it is.” Kaz pulled a silver cross from his pocket. “I’m guessing you are baptized, yes?”
“So what?”
Kaz held the cross over the vampire’s face, putting it but inches from his eye. “Dare me, longtooth.”
“Get that thing away from me.”
“If this cross touches you it’ll burn a wound incapable of healing into your skin. It’ll eat through your eye and your skull and into your brain. You won’t die today, probably not even tomorrow. It’ll slowly gnaw away at your gray matter until you’ve no brain left. Hell of a way to die.”
“You’ve not the courage! You don’t want your girlfriend to see you commit such a vile act.”
Kaz turned to Zoë. He quirked a brow at her in question.
He was asking her permission to harm another being. In principle it went against her values, yet in that moment, she could think of no reason not to induce such harm. The knight was doing his job. The vampire was not rational, and was involved with
an organization that ultimately harmed humans.
She nodded her approval of anything he needed to do to make the vampire talk.
“Wait!” the vampire yelled as the cross traced his lashes. “It’s in the fourteenth. Near the catacombs. I’m not sure of the address because I’ve only been there once.”
“Liar.” Kaz brought the cross closer to the vampire’s eyeball.
“All right, all right! It’s behind the train station. But the building doesn’t have a number on it. You have to look for the symbol.”
“What symbol?” Zoë asked over Kaz’s shoulder.
“Mauritius’s family crest. Just stake me now, hunter, because I don’t want my boss to know I narced on him.”
“Nope.” Kaz stood, tucking away the cross and the stake. “That’s your problem to deal with now. Let’s go, Zoë. Can you keep him pinned for a bit? We don’t need him running to Mauritius and tipping him off we’re on our way.”
“I think I can handle that.”
Pleased she’d controlled her magic while normally she wouldn’t have been able to access it under stress, Zoë spoke a few Latin words to lengthen the spell, then blew a kiss to the vampire, who struggled against nothing more than the air spell.
“Voila!” she announced.
“Good going,” Kaz said. He wrapped an arm across her back and led her down the alley. “What made you able to access your magic now?”
“I think because of my connection to you. You give me confidence.”
“Works for me.”
They exited the alleyway, and Zoë tugged Kaz in protectively. “Earlier, I think I saw something with dark wings. But it wasn’t clear or even solid. It felt menacing.”
“Sounds like my stalker. Where was it?”
“I haven’t seen it since, but we’d best keep our eyes peeled.”
Feeling newly revitalized over her magical skills by the time they reached the fourteenth, Zoë followed Kaz’s hasty footsteps up the Metro station stairs to street level. She sensed he was in some kind of hunter mode, fierce and focused, and wasn’t about to spoil it with conversation.
Kaz drew her close as he slowed his pace over a sidewalk that stretched before older business establishments. “You see anything move, even a flicker, let me know.”
Zoë scanned in all directions, standing tall and ready. Like a hunter. It helped to think in those terms. Put her in action mode. “You think that vampire told the truth about this location?”
“I can only hope. If not, we’ll search building by building for that symbol.”
“It’ll be small,” Zoë said, “and most likely marked in blood.”
“Nice,” Kaz added with no appreciation whatsoever.
Zoë scanned the people they passed but all were human, and the tourists stood out with their tennis shoes and cameras. Kaz wore the Order gear, and that coat was a dead giveaway to any vampire who was in the know.
A fleeting shadow passed over them, drawing their attention to the sky. Zoë gripped Kaz’s hand and he squeezed.
“Faery,” he muttered.
“I think so. But not in attack mode. Just keeping an eye on us.”
“Peachy. The Order doesn’t train their knights for this kind of combat. Wait.” He dropped her hand and shuffled out of his coat, tugging the sleeves inside and reversing it.
“What are you doing?”
“I read something in the research about wearing my coat inside out.”
“Oh, yes, it should make you invisible to the sidhe. If you believe, of course.”
“Worth a try, eh?” He tucked the collar down so the blades would not cut his neck. “What about you? You want to turn your shirt inside out?”
“I’ll be fine. Nonbeliever, remember?”
“Zoë, they believe in you.”
“But more so you. So you’ll be the one they take out first. That’ll give me time to run. Yes?”
His smirk ended in a chuckle. “Your logic is strangely sexy, you know that?”
“Well, I am a little strange. And I’ll take sexy.”
He squeezed her hand and as they turned to continue the search, something caught Zoë’s eye. “There.” She stopped at the curb before crossing the street. “That building with the metal-studded door. Do you see that small red mark? Looks like an M.”
“Obvious much?”
“And I think that was a vampire that walked away.”
“You think or you know?”
“Think. But it’s the closest to knowing I’ve felt since we arrived. Trust me.”
“I will. We have no idea how many are inside, so I need you to stay close to me.”
That he hadn’t asked her to stay outside lifted her confidence even more. “I’ll have my magic at the ready.”
“If you can do more of that trick where you hold them down with nothing more than air, then yes. But don’t get fancy. We’re going to play this cool and smart. All right?”
She nodded in agreement. “I’ll wait for your signal. Promise.”
“Follow my lead. If we’re lucky, the place will be empty. Unless they are busy setting things up.”
“Mauritius made me believe they’d be doing just that.”
“And he’d like nothing more than for his star witch to wander inside and allow herself to be captured.” He grabbed her by the shoulders. “You should stay outside.”
“But if I’m out here you’ll not see if some vampire grabs me.”
He mentally wrestled with the two bad choices.
Zoë touched his chest and spread her fingers over his frantic heartbeats. “I’ll be fine. I’ll duck when there’s trouble, and fling some magic when you need it. I won’t get in your way, nor will I let a gang of vampires grab me from behind.”
“Those are skills not even we knights of the Order have completely mastered. But there’s no other way to play this right now.”
“Exactly. So lead on, hunter. I’ll have your back.”
“I know you will.”
His confidence filled her with a burst of elation, and with a nod to confirm to one another they were ready, they crossed the street toward the warehouse.
* * *
As far as warehouses went, it was small, but ten times the size of the lab Zoë had in her home. Former home. A twinge of loss snagged her stalwart posture and her shoulders deflated as she walked down the aisle between two lab tables set up with pristine glass containers, alembics, burners and other accoutrements of the trade. Everything was stainless steel and sterile. No magical resonance could survive in this cold atmosphere, let alone harmonize to a workable frequency.
A drug lab, she decided. It sickened her.
“See anything that belongs to you?” Kaz asked as he inspected a sealed container of what looked like liquid ichor. A gallon, easily. Just waiting to be reduced and transmuted into Magic Dust.
Zoë averted her eyes from the substance that had been taken from a faery’s veins—she hoped not all at once—and then she knew it probably had been. Forcing herself to remain calm and not freak out over something that she had unknowingly masterminded, she let her eyes skim over a stack of papers and books at the end of the table.
Rushing over, she picked up the leather-bound book that was over five centuries old. “My family’s grimoire.” She’d been adding to it since her father had handed it down to her. He had thought it best to remain in her hands when he’d left to go into hiding.
Beside where the grimoire had lain were assorted papers, some with hand-drawn diagrams and notes. Had someone been trying to figure the chemical composition of the faery ichor? Zoë hadn’t a clue when it came to formulas and chemicals. It was all in the magic. And in her head.
“They won’t be able to reproduce it,” she said, confident the Magic Dus
t blend would remain her secret.
“Is that all you want?” Kaz tapped a delicate glass vial with the end of a long steel bar he’d claimed from near the doorway.
Zoë nodded, and then rushed over to the door, clutching the grimoire to her chest, as she knew what would happen next.
Kaz swung the metal pipe, knocking over the glass alembics and vials in a clatter of fine, sharp particles. Meanwhile, Zoë worked her magic to contain the shards in a vortex to keep them from flying everywhere. The tornado of debris grew larger with everything he smashed or knocked over. And when it was done, he gave Zoë a signal and she clapped her hands, dropping the vortex to the floor in a gentle crash.
She stepped carefully to his side, recalling how she’d initially imagined him her knight and she the princess who would never wear glass slippers. And for good reason, she thought now, as the glass crunched beneath her heels.
“No one will be able to manufacture Magic Dust here. Ever,” she said.
“Unfortunate!”
Both turned at the sound of a man’s voice. Kaz gestured to Zoë, who joined his side. He wrapped an arm about her waist.
“You’ve been a naughty witch,” Mauritius said. Pulling out a gun, he took aim and fired.
Kaz only had time to react by jumping in front of Zoë.
Chapter 23
As Kaz jumped, his gaze averted upward and he glimpsed the faery landing on the rafters above. The sweep of his black wings cast an ominous shadow in the air. Then Kaz’s eyelids shuttered as he felt the bullet pierce his shoulder. It burned through his flesh and felt as if lava pored into his bone. Not a fatal hit, but he might have wished for it, to stop the excruciating pain.
Zoë’s scream was the only thing that kept him in the present moment. Focusing on that horrible sound enabled him to twist, grab her by the waist and shove her back so she stumbled, landing on the glass-littered floor. The grimoire fell from her hands and slid across the glass. A second bullet whizzed over their heads.
Gripping a holstered stake with his good hand, Kaz squeezed the paddles, deploying the business end, and thrust it toward the vampire—whom he knew was Mauritius—like a throwing blade. It was counterweighted for such use.
