The Left-Hand Path: Mentor
Page 11
“No thank you,” Elton piped up without turning away from the shelf where he was inspecting a basket full of dried umbilical cords.
“You see? I have to pursue alternate avenues. Do you have any idea how long it’s been, and how gorgeous I am? Absolute torture.”
Allan reappeared from the depths of the shop, carrying an armful of various herbs and a large square of soft leather.
“Brilliant,” Nathan said, and he approached the counter as Allan spread the ingredients on the wooden surface. He took up the silver knife as the vampire offered it to him and bent over the table, carefully carving the inscription on the rough side of the skin.
“What is that?” Cora asked, leaning her elbows on the table to watch him.
“It’s Nsibidi,” Nathan said.
“Bless you.”
He smiled at her. “It’s a West African script. Nigerian, specifically. Sort of the grandfather of the veve. Which is this,” he said, returning his attention to the leather. He cut the delicate, curling symbol with a practiced hand, scratching tiny lines into the dried calfskin.
“And a veve is what?”
He glanced up as Elton peered over his shoulder while making every effort to appear disinterested. “A subject for the advanced class, my love.” He paused in his work to look up at Allan. “Do you know where we can get a heart? You don’t carry them here, do you?”
“I most definitely do not,” Allan said immediately, his eyes on Elton. “You know organs are strictly black market, and I don’t deal in that sort of thing here.”
“Allan, he’s cool,” Nathan sighed. “He’s not going to bust you.”
“Well, he couldn’t, because I don’t have anything like that here,” Allan insisted before Elton could agree.
“Do you know where we can get one? There’s a lich in town.”
Allan laughed. “Is that what it’s been? The regs have been going insane about the murders. I wondered if it wasn’t you.”
“It wasn’t me. I’ll have you know I’m firmly on the side of good as far as this whole situation goes.”
“Except for the murder,” Elton pointed out, and Nathan shushed him.
“Details.”
“I might know someone,” Allan admitted after a moment.
“Do we really need a heart for this? A human one?” Cora asked. “I mean, isn’t that kind of...you know, fighting awful with awful?”
“You’re going to have to get used to the fact that sometimes, Cora, magic is downright unpleasant,” Nathan said. “We need a human heart. A lich is death incarnate, and the best counter for death is life, of course. Don’t worry; most of the black market organs are taken from people who are dead of natural causes.”
“Oh, well that is a comfort,” Cora sighed. She looked up at Elton. “Isn’t it your job to stop things like this?”
“Right now, the lich takes priority,” Elton said with a pointed look at the vampire.
Allan sighed and took a slip of paper from the pad next to the register, scribbling an address on it and sliding it across the counter to Nathan. “Here. He’s in Tucson, but he’s the only one in the area that I know. Not that you heard it from me, right, friend?” He grinned toothily at Elton, but the Chaser only exhaled through his nose and moved a jar on the nearby shelf to inspect the contents.
“Excellent,” Nathan smiled. “Allan, you’re a prince. Put this on my tab, will you?” He scooped up the various herbs and strapped them into the makeshift leather satchel, tying it off quickly and slipping it into his pocket.
“If you don’t pay it off before they take you away, I’m petitioning the Magistrate for compensation.”
“Feel free, if you’d like a thorough inspection of your operation here,” Elton said, and Allan swore at him.
“This is why I moved out of Phoenix,” the vampire muttered.
“Are we done?” Elton asked as he pushed a jar to the back of a shelf. “If we’re going to Tucson, we ought to get going.”
“Look at who’s in a hurry all of a sudden,” Nathan chuckled, but he avoided Elton’s scowl and moved toward the door, turning Cora by her shoulder on his way. “I’ll be back to pay, Allan,” he promised, then he looked back to Elton. “But if we’re driving all the way to Tucson, I want my Jeep.”
Elton shook his head as they exited the shop. “No.”
“I’m not sitting in the back of your Malibu for three and a half hours while you tell me not to smoke. Aren’t you paying for your car? You’re welcome for me letting you ride in my Jeep and save money, Elton.”
“Will the Jeep even make it to Tucson?” Cora asked as they all climbed into the rental car regardless of the argument.
“Of course.” Nathan stood beside the car door and pointedly lit a cigarette. “But it’s your choice.”
“The important thing,” Elton sighed, “is whether driving your Jeep will get you to shut your mouth for any part of this trip.”
“I’d hate to deprive you of my soothing baritone, darling.”
Elton didn’t answer, instead choosing to make the detour to the apartment complex where they had left Nathan’s Jeep. Cora was elected to follow in the Jeep while Elton and Nathan returned the Malibu to the rental company at the airport—where they would doubtless pay an exorbitant fee for the smoke and bloodstains—since Elton was not inclined to trust Nathan on his own.
During the drive, Cora considered dragging Nathan into the passenger’s seat and running away from Elton again. Nathan would be able to break this curse on her if he had the chance to think, she knew. They could do whatever they needed to do to kill this lich, and when they were done, Nathan would still be free. They wouldn’t have to worry about Elton trying to take him to the Magistrate to be killed. They could travel together, she could learn what he had to teach, and everything would be fine. They could be free together.
She sighed, staring at the back of the rental car through the Jeep’s dirty windshield. She couldn’t see through the tinted glass of Elton’s car, but she knew the two men would be bickering inside. Nathan was having a blast; there was no way he would agree to run off while he still had the opportunity to make Elton miserable. Having fun seemed to be pretty much the only thing he cared about—she supposed she was lucky that he seemed to care what happened to her, at least. She could do worse as far as mentors were concerned, she decided. She was glad to climb out of the driver’s seat of the Jeep when they arrived at the airport. She shook out her arms from the exertion of driving a car without power steering.
Elton and Nathan briefly argued about who would drive until Nathan held the slip of paper bearing the address from Allan in his palm and set it on fire.
“Very mature,” Elton muttered.
“And apprentices ride shotgun,” Nathan insisted, enjoying the Chaser’s grumbling as he was forced to climb over the side of the Jeep into the back seat. Elton hunched on the bench seat to stay out of the stream of Nathan’s smoke as they pulled out onto the highway toward Tucson.
“Is this what it’s always been like for you?” Cora called over the roar of the wind. “Fighting monsters, traveling around, having ridiculous adventures? This is just what your life is like?”
“Has been for some time,” Nathan shrugged.
“That’s amazing,” Cora laughed. “It sounds much more exciting than whatever I had to look forward to.”
Nathan took his cigarette from his mouth, exhaling smoke and flicking his ash out of the side of the Jeep. “Don’t romanticize it. You have the chance to live a normal life, Cora—normal as far as a witch is concerned, in any case. You can do real good if you want to. Don’t squander that. Normal didn’t work for me, but you aren’t me, and there isn’t anything necessarily wrong with normal. Normal might even be preferable if it means you don’t have people like Elton following you around.” He glanced across at her with a faint smirk. “At least give it a try first. There’s always murder and adventure if it doesn’t work out.”
“If you say so.”
They rode quietly for a while until Nathan glanced at Elton in the rear view mirror, chuckling at his surly expression. He looked more windswept than he liked.
“Elton,” he called over the wind, but he got no answer. “Elton,” he tried again. The Chaser’s eyes flicked to him briefly. “Elton, do you want to hear a joke?”
“No.”
“What’s a witch’s favorite subject in school?”
“I don’t care.”
“Spelling.”
Cora laughed, but Elton only let out a silent sigh, not even giving Nathan the satisfaction of shaking his head in disgust.
“And you know what kind of tests they give in witch school, don’t you? Hex-aminations.”
Cora paused. “Really?” she said, and Nathan frowned at her.
“What do you call two witches living together?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at Elton.
“What?” Cora asked in his stead.
“Broom mates.”
“Oh, these are awful,” she laughed. “Aren’t you perpetuating witch stereotypes or something?”
Nathan shrugged. “At least Elton and I don’t look alike. Then you might not be able to tell which witch is which.”
“Ugh,” Elton finally snorted from the back seat, and Cora covered her mouth to hide her laughter.
“Don’t mind him, my love,” Nathan tutted. “He probably doesn’t even know what a witch’s garage is called.”
“A broom closet,” Elton sighed, and Nathan briefly turned in his seat to throw him a wicked grin.
“Tell me more about this lich,” Elton said in an attempt to change the subject, and he leaned forward in his seat to be better heard. “What was the mark on the bodies?”
“A trademark,” Nathan called over his shoulder. “Or a signature, if you rather. I haven’t figured out if he can’t help it or if he does it on purpose, but it’s always there. On the neck, right?” He tapped the front of his own throat. “It’s how he holds them. You felt it.”
“I did,” Elton agreed, remembering the cold grip on his neck.
“Who is he?” Cora asked. “I mean, who was he, I guess. You knew him?”
“I knew him when he was already a lich,” Nathan clarified. “Definitely crazy, but he had a knack for enchanting, which I could never quite get the hang of. I played servile for a while—oh, master, powerful beyond my reach, et cetera. He ate it up. I convinced him to teach me. He knew what I was, too, of course. He called me K’winna aklinne. No idea what it means, but I do love nicknames.”
Cora gave a small, pensive frown as she listened. The lich had taught him? Taught him what? It was hard to think of Nathan as someone who didn’t already know everything.
“But who was he?” Elton pressed, and Nathan only shrugged.
“He didn’t talk much. I don’t even know what his name is. Does it matter? You hoping to get his biography before we kill him?”
“And why exactly did you decide to trap him in a curse box? What did you steal?”
Nathan tutted at the Chaser with a sly smile on his lips. “You’re digging for clues, darling, but that answer is a secret. Suffice it to say that the trinket I stole is worth more than your life and mine put together. It’s not something I’m planning on giving up.”
Cora’s brow furrowed as she watched Nathan from the passenger seat, and her gaze dropped to the small lump the turquoise pendant made under his shirt. He’d been guarding it like a treasure since they left the apartment, touching it and occasionally pausing to inspect it before hiding it away again. It didn’t look like anything special—but then, she didn’t know what an enchanted object was supposed to look like. She decided against asking. If Nathan didn’t want Elton to know what he had, she wasn’t going to be the reason he found out.
“If you’re holding onto a dangerous artifact—” Elton began, but Nathan cut him off by turning up the radio.
“Sorry, darling, can’t hear you,” he called over the music, and in place of answers, Elton was instead treated to an energetic rendition of Magic Carpet Ride.
Cora could only join in occasionally, since she didn’t know all the words, but neither of them paid Elton any attention as he slumped grumpily against the back of the seat and muttered, “Steppenwolf are Canadian, you know.”
11
Following a few impromptu karaoke songs, Cora’s sleepless night began to catch up with her, and she periodically slapped her cheeks or leaned her face out from behind the windshield in an effort to stay awake. Her eyelids felt heavy, but she wasn’t in any hurry to get back to sleep after the things she’d seen the night before. Even so, her chin lolled against her chest as the sun turned the sky orange behind them, and she nearly startled Nathan off the road when she snapped back to reality mid-scream. He pressed a hand to his wounded shoulder, wincing from the sudden movement as he straightened the car.
“This is ridiculous,” he said, and he pulled off the side of the highway and turned in his seat to face Elton. “We’re stopping. We’re getting some food, and we’re letting this girl rest. We can see about a heart in the morning.”
“We don’t have time to waste, Nathan,” Elton objected. “That thing is killing people.”
“Yes,” Nathan groaned, “so you keep saying. But it’s my ass that he’s after, so why don’t you let me worry about our schedule, hm?”
“It isn’t just you. You said yourself, my family—”
“Is in no danger until the lich is back in full flesh in any case,” Nathan cut him off. “I’ve been very friendly with you thus far, but I won’t sit idly by and allow my apprentice to be tortured without even trying to help her. Sleep deprivation is torture, Elton,” he added empathically when the Chaser opened his mouth to protest.
“I’m fine, really,” Cora said, but Nathan shushed her without taking his eyes off of Elton.
“We’re stopping,” he said again, and Elton frowned, avoiding Cora’s gaze. Nathan turned in his seat and took the first exit he saw for Tucson, then pulled into the parking lot of a cheap-looking motel near the highway. He let Elton check them in since the Chaser refused to let him magic their way out of paying, and he carried his duffel bag and case of supplies into the room once the door was unlocked.
Nathan settled the girl on one of the beds and pulled open the ancient-looking black case he had loaded with vials and bags from his apartment, setting out jars of liquids of various colors and uncertain origin. He disappeared into the bathroom and started the water running in the bathtub, then returned to dig through his bag for a specific pouch of herbs.
“What is that?” Elton asked, but Nathan ignored him, retrieving a pair of white candles from the bottom of the bag along with a small bottle of oil. “I told you, Nathan, only the one who laid the curse can break it.”
Nathan didn’t seem concerned. He took the candles into the bathroom and lit a small fire in his hand to melt the bottoms onto the rim of the bathtub, then carefully dressed them in his chosen oil and lit the wicks.
“Nathan,” Elton tried again. “Tell me what you’re doing. I won’t have unknown magic in here.”
“Come here, my love,” Nathan called from the bathroom door instead of answering. Cora watched him skeptically as he handed her the pouch of herbs.
“Nathan!” Elton snapped, finally drawing the other man’s attention.
“You must stop saying my name like that, darling; it’s positively distracting.” He grinned at the Chaser’s stern frown. “I told you I was going to break her curse. If you’re so sure I can’t, why don’t you just sit down and let me try? Take a load off.” He looked back to Cora and closed her hand over the soft pouch. “Empty his this into the bathwater and just sit. Until the water goes cold or the candles burn down; whichever happens first.”
“This is going to help?” she asked, glancing into the cloudy bathroom.
“It won’t hurt. You need to relax. Just try not to fall asleep while you’re in there.”
She chuckled emptily. “No promises.” She smiled up at him as he touched her shoulder, and she shut the bathroom door behind her, taking a deep breath as she opened the pouch and dumped the contents into the steaming water.
“It won’t work,” Elton said softly, and Nathan clicked his tongue at him.
“You’re so negative. Let the girl have a bath, at least. She’s left her family behind, she’s thinking she’s going to lose the only friend she has as soon as this is over, and last night she had to watch her dreamy love interest almost get choked to death by an undead abomination.”
“Love int—no,” Elton frowned, glancing at the bathroom door in disbelief. “She isn’t—she doesn’t think—”
“Calm down, precious,” Nathan chuckled, falling back on the bed and sorting through his bottles. “She’s a bright lass; she’s not going to make trouble. Though to be fair, you are pretty dreamy,” he added with a sly smile. “You do know how to wear a suit, don’t you?”
Elton let out a short sigh. “Does this sort of thing give you pleasure of some kind? Making inappropriate comments and being unseemly in general?”
“I get pleasure from all sorts of things,” Nathan chuckled. “And a great number of them have been called unseemly. Would you like me to show you some?”
“No thank you,” Elton said immediately. “I’m not interested in catching whatever you’ve accumulated over the years. You’re probably a mass of syphilis held together by skin at this point.”
Nathan snorted out a laugh. “You’ve got some cheek. You’re something, Elton Willis. How did someone fun like you end up being a Chaser?”
Elton slipped off his suit jacket and laid it across the bed. “Not that I’m particularly interested in sharing my inner workings with you, but is it so strange that someone would want to help keep order?”
“No, but the ones who do usually don’t curse people to get what they want, and they certainly don’t make deals with people like me. Besides, how much of what you do is ‘keeping order’ and how much of it is slapping people on the wrists for having sex with people they aren’t supposed to?”