by Debra Dunbar
He caught his breath. “Ian always wanted me to supply the donors with a glass of wine beforehand. He said it made them feel relaxed. Most of us don’t really care about that, but a little alcohol in the blood stream has a pleasant taste, so we sometimes offer it. When Aaron took over, he had me put the contents of one vial in each of the humans’ glasses. Sometimes I didn’t have enough because there were extra humans that night, but I put it in as many as I could. I didn’t know it was causing us to be ill until the feast.”
Maybe Lawrence was just an unwitting tool in all this.
“Where are you?” I asked again. Lawrence might just be the link that would get me face-to-face with the plague demon. If I could banish him at the point of my sword, we wouldn’t have to worry about the ritual or wrestling control from a powerful mage. And with the plague demon gone, maybe Wolfram would be able to heal the sick. Of course, that depended on Simon wanting to infect the rest of the Balaj and getting Lawrence to play double agent and pick up the vials himself.
“I need sanctuary,” he insisted again.
Here goes nothing. “If you help me take down this plague demon, the one supplying the tainted bottles, then not only can I grant you sanctuary, I might be able to get you back in the Balaj.”
There was a moment of silence before he responded. “I’ll meet you, but only you. No vampires or I’m gone. I’ll only talk to you.”
It was a start. Maybe once we were face-to-face, I could convince him to help me.
“Okay. Where?”
He rattled off an address telling me to meet him in twenty minutes, then hung up. I promptly looked the address up and squinted at the screen of my phone. Randallstown. That was out in the county off Liberty Road. Twenty minutes was cutting it close. I’d need to hustle.
I ran for the door, snatching my sword up on the way. “I’ll be back around dawn,” I told Raven. “Address is on the notepad on the table. If I’m not back by sunup, call Tremelay and let him know.” Dario would be to ground by then, but the detective could come track me down if needed.
How the heck am I supposed to do that? No phone. No fingers to dial even if I had a phone.
“I don’t know. Figure it out.” The door slammed behind me as I jogged down the stairs and to my car.
Chapter 30
The address Lawrence gave me led out of the city and along a rural road to a long gravel driveway with a boarded up building in the middle of an overgrown field.
This was a bad idea. I’d texted Tremelay the address myself, telling him I’d check in at dawn. I considered doing the same to Dario, but he had his own problems. I couldn’t have him babysitting me all the time. He needed to plan defenses, fight off Simon, and probably arrange to have his carpet replaced. Still, I sat in the car on the country road, debating whether to go in or not.
Lawrence had sounded desperate. If he was innocent and helped me banish the plague demon, maybe I could convince Dario to pardon him. And if he was guilty…well I’d try to bring him in. If I couldn’t then I’d kill him.
I made my decision and pulled my car around behind a small grove of trees at the end of the driveway, wincing as I ran over a pile of brambles. Hopefully my tires wouldn’t be punctured, especially if I needed to make a quick escape. I got out of the car and walked out to the road. The vehicle wasn’t completely hidden with the leaves off the trees, but I was sure no one would notice it unless they were looking for it. Then adjusting my scabbard on my back and pocketing my keys, I headed up to the house.
I didn’t walk right up the lane, because that would be crazy. Instead I darted in between the trees lining the avenue like a ninja, dashing across the open expanse of weed-filled lawn to flatten my back against the rotted wood siding beside the boarded-up front door.
I felt the static of a vampire, but it was faint and weak compared to the way Dario, Leonora, or Simon felt. This was more like Jasmine, or Balen, who I assumed were probably about the same age as Lawrence. One vampire. He was alone. If this was a trap, then I’d only have him to face.
I slid my sword from the scabbard, holding it at the ready as I edged forward and pushed my arm against the door. It didn’t budge, so I tried pulling on the handle. Nothing. Jerk. If the guy wanted to meet me, the least he could do was make it easy for me to get in. Abandoning my ninja routine, I stood in front of the door and surveyed the house. The roof sagged. The paint was peeling. The siding was spongy with rot. The porch I was standing on seemed solid and reasonably strong, so I assumed this house wasn’t so far gone that it would fall down on my head. It was bad enough that the plywood and boards over the doors and windows looked downright new in comparison.
Especially the window to my left. I walked over, still prepared to stab anything that came near me, and eyed the window. The plywood was on a hinge and not nailed to the frame. I reached out and swung it open. It moved on well-oiled hinges, revealing an opening big enough for a rather large man to crawl through.
I wasn’t a large man, so in I went, sword leading. The threshold was spongy, but the floorboards were sound. I didn’t exactly want to call out, so I was relying on Lawrence’s superior vampire hearing and sense of smell to know I was here.
“In the back.” The whispered voice was the same as the one on the phone, still with that edge of fear in it. I left the hinged plywood on the window open to give myself some light and made my way forward. It was slow going. The room was pitch black and the faint moonlight through the window didn’t help much. I could only make out dark shadowy shapes of broken furniture and fallen chunks of drywall. My sword was at the ready, because I wasn’t completely a fool. There was only one vampire here. A prepared Templar could take down a small army. One vampire should be nothing, especially if Lawrence was as scared as he sounded.
“Here.” A figure stepped from the doorway. He was tall, and broad-shouldered with what looked like a fry pan in his hand. I saw a flash of fangs in the faint moonlight. “Put down the sword and I’ll come closer.”
Not happening. “I won’t hurt you. I just want to talk.”
I took cautious steps forward, worried that I might fall face first onto the ground because I tripped over a warped floor board or a stray brick.
Fall I did, but it wasn’t because I tripped. I’d put one foot forward onto the solid floor only to feel nothing under me. It had looked solid, so I’d already transferred my weight there, and my quick shift backward wasn’t enough. The foot went straight down, and my body followed.
It was a long drop that launched my heart into my throat. The fall took seconds, but it all went by in slow motion giving me time to realize that I’d fallen through the floor, to wonder why I hadn’t seen this gaping hole, and to fear whatever I might land on top of.
I hit shoulder-first and rolled to distribute the impact of my body on the dirt floor. The landing jarred my shoulder, sending a jolt of numbness down the arm. My sword clattered to the floor a few feet from me.
“Got her!” The voice was gleeful. Dim lighting came on and I saw a man with short brown hair and a beard who was wearing a pair of tan Carhartt-style overalls rush forward to grab my sword. He screamed the moment he touched it and flung it to the corner, dancing around and shaking his hands.
It was a trap. I’d prepared for a trap, but not one where I dropped through the floor into the basement and now I was bruised with a numb arm and my sword across the room. Luckily overall guy didn’t look like he was an MMA fighter. Coming to my feet I sprang forward and ran for my sword only to come up against an invisible barrier that threw me back three feet. I landed on my back and gasped for air, trying for a defensive maneuver while allowing my diaphragm time to get back in the action. It was hard to do a defensive maneuver without my sword, although I was pretty sure in a fight with this guy, I’d win.
Overalls guy was smart enough to realize this, or maybe he figured that any woman carrying a hand-and-a-half sword might kick his butt. He stayed well outside the barrier that I’d just encountered, also remaining
a respectful distance from my sword.
No attack came, so I let my breathing return to normal and surveyed my surroundings, keeping an eye on Overalls as well as anyone else who might appear from nowhere and decide to take a stab at me. I’d definitely sensed only one vampire, and I’d seen Lawrence, recognized his voice from the phone call. And now I was rethinking the likelihood of his innocence.
Was Lawrence in deep and sheltering here with a Renfield he’d picked up along the way, or had he truly jumped sides? I got to my feet and made a circuit of the room, realizing that my invisible cage was just that—a cage. Mages weren’t cheap, especially ones good enough to craft this as well as the floor illusion I’d fallen through. One good enough to do this would certainly be good enough to summon a plague demon and add a magical component to the diseases he spread. Which meant Lawrence and this guy were working for Simon.
Overalls man watched me warily, shifting position to keep as far from me, and my sword, as possible.
“Where’s Simon? And why me? I’m a human. I don’t have anything to do with which Balaj holds Baltimore.” Which was true if I had been a regular Templar who’d taken her Oath. The only reason I was involved was because I made it my business to be involved.
The Renfield laughed. It was one of those booming laughs that would have been overwhelming in a noisy, crowded bar. Here, it was deafening, making me fear the volume of sound might undermine the stability of this dilapidated house.
“He’ll be here soon. He didn’t want to be close enough for you to sense him, so he sent Lawrence in alone. Well, alone except for me.”
He laughed again and I winced, more over his words than the echoing sound. Five hours until dawn. I doubted they intended to leave me here to rot in this cage. Simon or another vampire was going to show up eventually and put me down. I needed my sword, which meant I needed to find a way out and fast.
I reached out a hand to touch the barrier. Magical energy sparked across my palm. Whoever this guy was he was good—scary good. And I had a pretty good idea already who this mage was.
“You won’t get out.” The words were said in an accent that came from someone whose first language was clearly Spanish. A man stepped from the shadows. He had on dark slacks and a button-down shirt. His silver hair matched his neat beard. Immediately I thought of the guy from the beer commercials.
“Why is a mage working with vampires?” This had to be the Argentinian mage, Dark Iron’s nemesis.
He shrugged. “There is something I want. I need them to get it for me.”
The soul trap. The one I had hidden behind the Ramen noodles in my apartment. Lovely. Just lovely. I kept my mouth shut, torn between a desire to prompt a stereotypical villain monologue and the need to keep it secret that I even knew about the soul trap.
“Why don’t you just go get it yourself? Or ask a mage to help you. Haul Du is just a short drive down the beltway.”
“Haul Du is in league with the thief who took my property. And I can’t go into Baltimore. It seems someone took the pains to put a spell in place that keeps me out. It’s degrading, lessening in its effectiveness, but I don’t have time to wait around the month or two it will take before it’s weak enough to break through.”
I stared, confused. Was he the big bad that Fiore Noir had been spelling against with death and soul magic? No way. He might be powerful, but he was a mage. And I’m sure the Conclave would have had an issue if he decided that Baltimore needed to be reduced to rubble. No. This had to be a side spell that Dark Iron had asked Fiore Noir to do. Maybe the soul trap sent out a magical beacon when used, and this was to keep cerveza-guy from knowing where it was.
For some reason Simon wanted me out of the picture. He knew it would be risky to try and take me inside Dario’s territory. He knew it would be risky to try and take me without a mage by his side. And that mage couldn’t go inside the city limits anyway. Which was why Lawrence had made me meet him here in Randallstown.
The mage stepped forward, his dark eyes gleaming. “I read in the paper that the mages here were doing soul magic. The thief must have loaned them my property. I talked to a few of them in prison and they confirmed they used it, but none know where it is now. They claim that the thief had it, but he is nowhere to be found. But the item is here. It’s here in Baltimore.”
The hair rose on the back of my neck. He’d spoken with incarcerated Fiore Noir mages. He must have spoken with Chuck—and Chuck lied. He’d covered for me. I didn’t have any illusion that he’d done that because he was a nice guy and he liked me. I’m sure it was because with me dead he wouldn’t be getting his regular popcorn deliveries or my monthly visits to talk shop.
“You helped catch and incarcerate those mages,” Cerveza continued. “From what they said, you have some minor magical abilities. You were part of Haul Du until they discovered you are a Templar and kicked you out.” He stepped closer to the magical barrier. I resisted the urge to move backward away from him. “Where is it? Where is Dark Iron, and where is my soul trap?”
I tried my best poker face. “Do you seriously think Dark Iron would tell me his whereabouts? Or that he’d clue me in on where he stashed a stolen magical item?”
I clearly should never play cards because Cerveza knew I was lying. “He’s in Baltimore. He’s hiding in Baltimore. That’s why I haven’t been able to find him. It’s that annoying spell shrouding the city.”
Dark Iron probably was still in Baltimore—at least his body was. I had no idea what Dario had done with it, but I got the feeling it was in little pieces all over downtown. Or possibly at the bottom of the river.
“The man hated me,” I insisted. “I swear to you that he never gave me your soul trap.”
Chuck had, not Dark Iron, so I could get away with swearing on this statement. Cerveza narrowed his eyes. “Get it for me and this all goes away. I’ll help you escape. I’ll ensure your vampire lover keeps his head and his territory. I just want my property back.”
I wasn’t sure Simon would agree to any of that, but I was willing to believe that Cerveza was powerful enough to make it happen. I actually considered his proposal. I didn’t want that soul trap. It wasn’t an artifact, so I wasn’t bound to turn it over for safekeeping to the Temple. The thought of what this man would do with it was horrific, but it was his, and for all I knew he just set it on a shelf so he could look at it occasionally.
Who was I kidding? The dude used it. It was tempting to think I could trade that nasty box for my life, for Dario’s life, probably for the banishment of the plague demon too. Dario would never leave his Balaj. I couldn’t abandon my pilgrims to Simon and his vampires. All this was right in my grasp—well, right behind a box of Ramen. I hadn’t wanted to ever let that box see the light of day, but I really didn’t want to wait here for Simon to come and kill me.
“I have resources,” I told the mage. “If you disclose the area from your location spell, I might be able to find the trap myself and bring it to you.”
His dark eyes sparked, excited and eager. “It’s roughly a mile from the harbor area. Near the water by only a few blocks.”
That was a shitty location spell, but I guess with the protective one around the city, it was the best he could do. I bit my lip, wondering what to do. Could I trade a box that would be used to steal people’s souls for my own life? For the lives of whatever vampires remained alive in Dario’s Balaj? For the hundreds of humans sick with this disease?
Before I could decide, another vampire approached—this one with a power that made my skin crawl. In an instant Simon stood before my invisible prison, staring at me with those weird light-colored eyes.
“She’s trapped in there?” He asked. “She can’t get out, can she?”
“Yes. She can’t pass the magical barrier,” Cerveza mage replied.
“And you managed to get her sword too. Nice.”
“Jack did that. She dropped it when she fell through the floor and he kicked it away.”
Simon left me and
walked over to the wall where my sword lay.
Pick it up. Pick it up. Pick it up.
The idiot did just that only to drop it with a yelp. I laughed. I’d spelled it to deliver a shock to anyone who tried to wield it except me. Besides that, it was a consecrated weapon. Dario said it made his skin crawl just to be near it. I’m sure touching the hilt did more than just deliver a mild static shock.
Simon turned back toward me, red faced and glaring. It must have been one of the very few times he’d looked like a fool in front of anyone. I was thrilled to be the one delivering that embarrassment.
“I suggest we just leave it there,” the mage commented dryly. I got the feeling he was trying not to laugh himself. “Five years from now when someone shows up to demolish this place, then they can deal with it.”
My mirth faded with his words. If my sword was going to rust here for five years, that meant Simon planned on me being dead. Why? One dead Templar wouldn’t do much in tipping the scales of a vampire war. He was better off trying to finish off Leonora.
Did he know she was injured and infected? Was I in here because Dario was the defacto leader of the Balaj, and I was leverage, the closest thing he had to a blood-slave?
“He’ll kill you,” I told him. “Murder me, and Dario will hunt you down to the ends of the earth.”
He smiled, walking closer to my invisible cage. “That’s why I don’t intend to kill you. I’m hoping he’ll trade you for the city.”
Idiot. “Then you don’t know Dario very well. The Balaj means everything to him. He won’t abandon his family or his territory for me.”
“No, but he’ll do something foolish like try to rescue you. If he’s smart he’ll realize that they’ve already lost the city. Fighting us will only cost him more of his dwindling family. If he agrees, he’ll get you and get to walk away with any remaining vampires. If he says no, he’ll lose the city and watch while I slaughter every last one of his brothers and sisters. Then I’ll make him watch while I drain you.”
