by Karen Mead
Jay needed to get back to the register, but not before dropping a new piece of information on his friend. “He told me he’s working on an orange-purple deck.”
Mike’s eyes widened at that. “Really? That’s crazy.” Then he did some quick calculations in his head. “And that’s going to hit like a freakin’ freight train.”
Before Mike could sink too deeply into the despair of anticipating his imminent defeat by elementary-schooler, Cassie surprised him by bursting into the shop. She was acting strangely, hunched over and hugging her arms to her stomach like she was protecting something. She was also moving fast, power-walking through the shop.
Mike called after her. “I thought you weren’t on today.”
“I’m not!” she exclaimed as she made her way to the break room door. Mike followed her, feeling slightly guilty. It always felt strange going behind the counter at DG since he didn’t work there, but no one had stopped him yet.
Cassie walked up to the round table in the middle of the break room and unzipped her coat. A familiar rodent hopped off her chest and onto the table.
Mike looked at his bespelled English teacher, eyes wide. “He really should have just given you the extension.”
“I don’t know what happened.” Cassie said, hunching over so she could look more closely at the rat. “We were arguing, and then he was like this all of a sudden. Sam wasn’t even in the room.”
“You mean, someone else turned him into a rat again?” Mike said quizzically.
“I have no idea. I tried calling Sam but um, I don’t think he’s answering calls from me right now.”
Mike was about to ask Cassie why Sam was ignoring her calls, then remembered what little he knew about last weekend and closed his mouth.
Do NOT go there. I would not go there for a million dollars and all the Sorcery cards in China.
They both turned when Dwight walked into the room. He’d been on break when Cassie had arrived, but obviously hadn’t gone far. “Oh God, not this again.”
“Can you call Sam?” Cassie asked. “I need to know whether or not he did this. Because I don’t think he did, but if it wasn’t him, then I’m stumped.”
“Why can’t you…” Dwight started, then noticed Cassie’s pained expression. “Ah, sure. I’ll call him right now.”
He pulled out his cell, hit a button and paced languidly. Mr. Golding mirrored him, pacing back and forth on the surface of the table with the kind of deliberate movement that made it obvious he wasn’t just a rodent. Mike had a strong urge to pick him up and pet him, but resisted. He didn’t think rats were normally supposed to be cute, but there was something adorable about his stuffy English teacher in that fluffy little body. Did rats normally have such bright, intelligent eyes?
“Hey man, you’d better get down here.” Dwight started. Mike heard something muffled on Sam’s side of the connection, then Dwight sighed. “Yeah well, you’d better. Because it’s about a certain rat.”
Sam must not have been far away, because it was barely ten minutes before he opened the door to the break room. His face fell when he saw Mr. Golding on the table.
“I was hoping Dwight was just being facetious,” he said slowly.
At his entrance, Cassie turned away from him and bit her lip. Mike suppressed a sigh.
Don’t go there. Don’t even go there.
Cassie wasn’t the only one unhappy to see him; at Sam’s entrance, Mr. Golding squeaked, jumped backwards to the far end of the table and began shaking like a leaf. This time, Mike didn’t fight the urge to pick the poor thing up. He was afraid Mr. Golding might keep backing away from Sam and fall off the edge of the table in the process. Holding the rat was a little like holding a vibrating cell phone.
“I swear it wasn’t me,” said Sam. “I didn’t even think about this guy today, let alone try to curse him.”
Cassie crossed her arms, still not looking at Sam. “Did you put some kind of timer on the original curse? Like, maybe he reverts back to this form if certain conditions are met, or aren’t met?”
“No, it wasn’t anything that complex.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“I know you have zero faith in me, but at least give me credit for knowing how to curse someone,” said Sam bitterly.
Okay. This is going to a bad place, fast.
“We need to call Dr. Zeitbloom,” said Mike. “Figuring out stuff like this is practically his job.”
At that, Sam seemed to lose all his energy. He collapsed into the nearest chair. “I wish we could.”
Cassie and Mike exchanged worried glances.
“He’s taken off without a word. Eugene sent Billingsly to check his apartment and there wasn’t any sign of a struggle, but his phone says he’s out of range and he’s nowhere to be found. He’s just gone.”
Cassie’s eyes looked panicked. “There’s no way he just upped and left us, someone must have taken him. He could be….”
Sam just looked at the floor between his feet. “I don’t know, Cassie. I don’t know anything.”
Mike put Mr. Golding back down on the table; it seemed like the rat had calmed down once he realized that no immediate magical harm was headed his way. “Can’t you do some kind of tracking spell on him or something? Sorry if I’m talking out of my ass about magic, but that sounds like a logical thing to try to do.”
Sam grimaced. “You’re right, as usual, but the person who would know how to do that is Georgette, and the only one who knows how to contact Georgette is Serenus.”
“You could call someone at court and ask for their—” Cassie started, then stopped herself as she came to a realization. “But it was probably someone from court who took him in the first place.”
“Maybe someone doesn’t want Dr. Zeitbloom around during the hearing,” said Mike, continuing Cassie’s thought. Sam just sat looking at the floor, at a loss.
Cassie put her hands in her coat pockets and looked at the rat on the table, expression serious. “Well, we can’t help Serenus if we don’t even know how to look for him. But we can turn Mr. Golding back, at least.”
Sam leaned forward and rubbed his eyes. “Not today, we can’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think it’s been a fun couple of days for me?” Sam asked, and Cassie colored. “I don’t feel good, and I’ve been having a “bad magic day,” for lack of a better term. I don’t want to try turning him back when I might screw it up and leave him half-changed.”
There was silence for a few moments as everyone processed that. For once, Mr. Golding seemed to agree with Sam, because he shook his tiny head vigorously.
“You should know, I was busy defending you when this happened.”
“Don’t do me any favors, Cassie.”
“You two, you’re getting carried away,” said Mike, looking back and forth from one to the other. Both Sam and Cassie were wearing expressions like death warmed over. “Okay, Serenus going missing is a big problem, I admit that. But the rat situation isn’t that bad. All Sam needs is some R&R, and in another day or two Mr. Golding will be back to normal.”
Sam continued his intense study of the floor. “I hope so, but I just don’t have a lot of confidence in my own abilities right now, Mike.” At that, Cassie blushed bright crimson and began her own in-depth study of the floor tiles.
I kind of hate these two right now, Mike thought.
The door opened, and Dwight poked his head back into the break room. “Eugene’s here. What’s this I hear about another gang of vampires coming to my shop tomorrow night?”
Sam turned his eyes up towards heaven. “That’s right, I have even more good news for everyone.”
Chapter Seventeen
Going to The Daily Grind late at night for some kind of after-hours vampire powwow was starting to feel normal. Cassie sat with her arms crossed at one of the café tables, trying to adjust the black dress into place. It had seemed to fit her much better in the store. Next to her, Miri was also wearin
g basic black, a simple A-line dress that Cassie had never seen on her before. It seemed oddly conservative for the vampire that normally wore skirts that just barely covered her rear end. Even Ethan was dressed up, wearing an adorable little navy blue suit with a red tie while he played cards with Mike and Jay. Cassie was sure Eugene spared no expense on his ward’s attire.
Cassie drummed her fingers on the table, impatient. She wanted to get this over with so she could go home and go to sleep, but she wasn’t that eager to meet this vampire, either.
“We really should find a better place to hold these things,” said Cassie finally, breaking the silence. Their formal wear looked incongruous in the shop. Miri looked unimpressed with the idea.
“Where else are we going to go at midnight on a Tuesday? I guess we could rent out a room at a bar, but half of you aren’t old enough to drink.”
“Technically, you aren’t old enough to drink either,” Cassie retorted, but she was cut off by Khalil coming to stand behind Miri’s chair. Gently, he hugged her from behind. She made an irritated face.
“That’s funny, it almost feels like there’s someone touching me,” she said.
“I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please don’t eat me.”
At that, she cracked a small smile. “I thought you wanted me to eat you?”
He grinned and gave her a peck on the cheek. “The confusion tactic worked! I got her talking to me!”
“What have I missed?” asked Cassie.
“Are you really sorry?” Miri asked in a small voice. She reached up and tugged on one of his coat sleeves.
“Yeah. Which doesn’t mean I’m okay with everything, but I know I was wrong,” he said. “I want to talk about it with you, not yell at you like some—”
At that, Miri stood up and kissed him. He put his hands on her back and pulled her close, pushing her chair out of the way with his leg. Cassie poked at Khalil’s side.
“Hey, Ethan’s here!” she said. “Could you please keep it PG?”
“I’ve seen kissing before!” said Ethan defiantly from across the room.
Just then, Aeka and Nyesha walked in, both dressed impeccably in silver evening gowns. Cassie turned her face away; it almost physically hurt to look at Aeka, and not just because she knew the blond girl was far more beautiful than she was. She had lied to Aeka in North Carolina, saying they would go back to the sea together…something that probably wasn’t even possible, but she had been desperate at the time. She’d have done anything to get Aeka to help Sam kill his attackers, and it had worked like a charm…only now, she was afraid that the girl who was like a spiritual sister to her would never, ever forgive her.
Ethan smiled at the sight of them. “You both look really pretty!” he said. Then a line appeared on his forehead, as though something had just occurred to him. “Um, Cassie and Miri also look very pretty.”
“Thanks,” Cassie and Miri said in unison, without much enthusiasm.
“It begins,” said Mike, ruffling his fingers through Ethan’s dyed-black hair. “Now you get to see how much fun it is to have to watch everything you say around women like a hawk.”
“Don’t put sexist garbage in his head! Khalil, you tell him,” said Miri, hugging Khalil around the waist.
“I am not involved and have no opinion,” he replied, his face a study in blankness. Miri frowned and straightened his tie with a yank that made him grimace slightly.
Sam came in from the back, wearing the black suit he’d last worn at court. Cassie supposed he only had one.
“Is Mr. Golding happy in his cage?” She asked icily. She couldn’t believe he had put the poor man back in the rat cage again.
“There’re too many people here tonight. If he runs around loose, someone might step on him,” Sam said, adjusting his gloves. “I want to know where he is at all times.”
There were a lot of them. With Nyesha’s arrival, the entire Buckley clan was there, including Eugene. Cassie and Ethan were familiars, so of course they had to be front and center. Jay, Mike, Dwight, and Khalil were there in the capacity of human members of the entourage. And Aeka was…something. The bottom line was, O’Donnel probably knew something about her, so if she was missing, he might take it as a slight.
“The only one missing is Serenus,” Cassie said sadly. Miri put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about him. That man is far too valuable to kill,” said Eugene from his place in the back of the room with his vampire sons. “You’ll see him again, and soon, I’d wager.”
Eugene’s words comforted her a little, but in truth, she wasn’t really afraid of Serenus being killed. There were just so many things someone could do to you without killing you…she shuddered at the thought.
The door swung open with a jolt, and the man with laughing blue eyes sauntered into the shop, a pretty brunette at his side.
“Finally, we made it! You wouldn’t believe the flight we’ve had.”
Before Cassie was conscious he had moved, Eugene was across the room, shaking the other vampire’s hand. “Thaddeus, so good to see you again. And the lovely Arianna.”
“Please, call me Tad,” said Tad, grinning. “That goes for all of you as well, life is too short to stand on ceremony.” He clapped Eugene on the back, which Eugene accepted with a friendly stiffness.
Sam cleared his throat, walking forward to meet Tad down the center aisle. “I’m Samuel Andrews; welcome to my city,” he said, sounding more gracious than Cassie would have predicted. “This is my—”
“Of course, everyone knows who you are,” said Tad, pumping Sam’s hand in an energetic handshake. “I thank you kindly for your hospitality, it means a lot to me.”
Spouting more pleasantries, he quickly brushed past Sam to make his way toward Cassie. Cassie quickly stood up and took his offered hand. Instead of giving her a handshake like she expected, he went down on one knee and kissed her hand.
“I never thought I would see such a marvelous witch again in my lifetime. It is a true privilege to make your acquaintance,” he said, overflowing with old-world charm.
“Thank you…Tad,” said Cassie, but she knew her smile was a little forced. Was he just talking in general terms, or did he think she was already a witch? If he couldn’t tell that she was still only a familiar, she wasn’t going to tell him. No one else corrected him, either.
Tad also shook Miri’s hand. “Miriam, lovely to see you again. You know, half the vampires on the East Coast are still pining for you.”
Miri grinned, and returned the mischief in Tad’s eyes with some of her own. “Are you including yourself in that, Tad?”
“Put a finger on Eugene’s little girl, are you kidding? I’m too young to die again!” he said, winking at Eugene.
He went to everyone in turn, introducing himself with great vigor. He was quick to laugh, and never seemed to stop smiling. What surprised Cassie was that he even knew all about the human entourage members like Dwight and Khalil, going so far as to be familiar with Dwight’s music. The woman, Arianna, stayed by the entrance, but smiled graciously at everyone. Cassie wondered what her story was.
As pleasant as he was, Cassie felt her stomach twist with nervousness. This was going entirely too well; there was no way he had really just dropped by to say hi and shake their hands. The fact that he was alone was also curious; she had expected him to have other vampires, members of his clan, with him. Why would he come by himself, with only the silent woman for support? Was he trying to prove something: that he was strong enough to enter a demon’s stronghold without obvious protection?
She could tell that Sam was thinking similar thoughts when she caught his eye. Whatever problems existed between them, she knew they would present a united front where outsiders were concerned.
I don’t like this any more than you do. But I will not be the first one to turn hostile.
She blinked in surprise at the sound of his voice in her head. It had been a while since he’d done that. Still, she gav
e a barely perceptible nod.
The last person Tad went to fawn over was Aeka. “And here she is! I kept hearing rumor upon rumor saying that the Son of Sammael had added the most beautiful, angelic looking girl to his entourage, but I assumed they were all exaggerations.” He knelt in front of Aeka and reached for her hand as well. “But I see now that she is every bit as lovely as they say.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” said Aeka when Tad kissed her hand. It sounded forced, robotic; Eugene had probably told her exactly what phrases to say and when.
However, when he had finished kissing her hand, Tad stayed kneeling in front of Aeka. He studied the girl, seemingly drinking in the sight of her with those always-laughing eyes.
“Ah, but as much as they love to talk about you, my darling, no one seems to know quite what you are. Are you a witch? A familiar? Surely she can’t be a baseline human now,” he said, inclining his head to Sam.
Sam’s expression was carefully neutral. “She is human. She was a familiar, but lost her power, so I took her in.”
Cassie thought that was a smart answer; close enough to the truth that it wouldn’t contradict whatever Tad had already heard, but missing all the things they definitely did not want this vampire to know.
Tad looked puzzled. “A familiar who lost her power? Who’s ever heard of such a thing?”
“It’s quite mysterious to us as well,” said Eugene. He was starting to look uncomfortable with the attention Tad was giving to Aeka, and seeing Eugene look uncomfortable made Cassie doubly worried.
“What a shame. Tell you what,” he said, finally rising to his feet. “Why don’t you let me make her one of mine? It beats the alternative.”
There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room seemingly held their breath, including those who didn’t need to breathe.
“What…alternative?” said Sam. He was trying to hide his agitation, but not doing a very good job.
Tad yawned. “Death, of course. I don’t need magic to see that this one isn’t long for this world,” he said, gesturing at Aeka with a thumb. “She simply has no will to live. Let me take her back with me to Miami, she’ll have a whole new life filled with sunshine. I’m adamant that someone should enjoy it, though I can’t.”
