“Why are you mad at me?”
Because you're here and he’s not. Because I’m mad at myself but it’s easier to take it out on you. I took a breath. “I found the lab, but I was too late and the kidnapped Nefesh had been moved. I promised Charlotte Rose and I failed her. I failed Meryem. All I’ve got are loose ends.”
The memory of a pile of heads, each with an identical blank stare boring a hole in my soul momentarily blacked out everything else. I wrapped my arms around myself and stuffed my hands into my armpits, but I couldn’t stop shaking.
I willed everything down. Falling apart around Levi was a bad habit and it ended now. I wasn’t a damsel in distress. I’d get through this.
“I’m guessing the lab was in Hedon if the Queen was there. How bad was it?” he said.
My eyes drifted down to the bloodstain on my boot and just as quickly bounced off it. “Don’t ask. Even I don’t hate you enough to put that image in your head.”
“Grazie,” he said sarcastically. “Where did you leave things with her?”
“She’s not coming after me. I’m her new favorite enigma, remember? In fact, she’s doing what she can from her end. If she finds the kids first, she’ll hand them over. Status report complete,” I said, proud of how cool and composed I sounded.
Levi’s eyes searched mine. “There’s more.”
“Meryem is still out there having god-knows-what done to her. That’s not enough?” His unrelenting stare got under my skin. “We’re not friends, Levi. Save your heart-to-hearts for Miles. I’ve told you everything you need to know.” I restarted the elevator.
“You haven’t failed anyone,” Levi said, his hands jammed loosely into his pockets. “In fact, you’ve done more than anyone could have asked. All of this, the magic, the smudge–it blindsided you and with every setback, you keep going.”
Blindsided was a good word. It was like those games of Pin the Tail on the Donkey where they tied a scarf around your eyes and turned you round and round. I was spinning in the dark and the weight of it all was too much to bear.
“We’re not friends,” I said softly, resting my head on Levi’s shoulder. Allowing myself this comfort for a few precious seconds.
“Perish the thought.” He kissed the top of my head and sputtered. “I swallowed golem,” he said in a strangled voice.
I laughed, my cold bubble finally bursting.
The elevator pinged, the doors sliding open to the lobby.
Miles stood on the other side, a dozen highly trained men and women in House uniforms arrayed behind him. “The smudge just went public.”
Chapter 19
“Darwinism is a lie.” I stomped my foot in lieu of throwing someone.
Hey, humanity. A piece of free advice: when there was a thirty-something dudebro with black shadows slithering over his skin, how about not lining up to take selfies with him? This gene pool needed some damn lifeguards.
He stood in the middle of Robson Square, a multi-level, pedestrian-only area a few blocks away from House Pacifica that backed onto the Vancouver Art Gallery, or as we locals called it, the VAG.
Hard “g.”
It featured a tiny ice rink that turned into an outdoor dance venue in summertime and was a busy hub of activity during Jazz Fest, special events like when we’d hosted the Olympics, or today when the gawkers were out in full force. Didn’t these people have jobs?
To their credit, both the Nefesh and Mundane cops had pushed most of the crowd back, herding them behind cordons on the upper plaza. The press stood to one side reporting that they were live with a virus victim at Robson Square while a small group of chanting protesters held signs like “Stop the Nefesh peril” and the ever pithy “Lock them up.”
Miles issued orders to his people and they jumped into the fray clearing out the rather aggressive selfie-wanting crowd.
Dudebro, who should have been put down like a dog for wearing yellow board shorts, a blue shirt with red bowtie, and a backwards baseball cap, had his arms around two girls making cutesy faces and throwing peace signs.
“Screw it,” I said. “Let the smudge have them.”
“I’m seriously tempted,” Levi said. “They see his facial snake, right?”
The smudge slithered from one of Dudebro’s cheeks to the other.
“Please use that term on a regular basis,” I said.
I grabbed one of the peace sign girls after Miles broke up the party. “Why are you taking selfies with him?”
“We’re proving to those haters that there’s no virus,” she said. “He’s a level five and his magic is showing itself to the world. I wish I had that. It’s awesome.” She skipped off to catch up with her friend.
Miles jogged over. “Get back to HQ. I can’t protect you and deal with all this.”
“I’m not leaving,” Levi said.
“Those assholes will tear you apart.” Miles kept an eye on the protesters. “They’re hyped.”
“Fuck them. I’m not running away. Can you kill it or is it too strong?” Levi asked me.
“I’ve got this. But there are too many cameras. I don’t want to come out this way.” It would be a disaster. The Queen, the Untainted Party, the shadowy organization that Yitzak’s killer belonged to–the longer we put off any of them learning about me, the better.
“There’s nothing we can do about the press,” Miles said.
“But we can do something about Ash,” Levi said. “I won’t let you be exposed.”
“That’s really kind of you, but I don’t know how you plan on getting rid of that smudge without me.” I shook my head. “This isn’t a good place for you to suffer any… setbacks.”
“She’s right,” Miles said. “Everyone is going to be watching you.”
“Which is precisely why I can’t stand here with my thumb up my ass. Should the worst happen, we implement Plan B,” Levi said.
“Plan B is more dangerous than the initial problem. No way.”
“Not your call, Miles.”
“Not my–?” Miles puffed his chest out, then exhaled slowly and gave Levi a tight nod. “Yes, Sir.”
Yikes. Mommy and Daddy were fighting. More importantly, what was Plan B? Levi being blind wasn’t great and obviously Miles wanted to protect him from that, but the smudge problem was enough to warrant dealing with the consequences.
The Chief Constable came over to have a word, looking haggard. “Do we need to empty the plaza entirely? Is whatever that is about to go nuclear and take out half of Vancouver?”
“Keep everyone back and no one will be in any danger,” Levi said. “We’ve got this and will neutralize it.”
“See that you do, because this?” He gestured to the protesters. “Is a powder keg and one innocent victim could be the spark that ignites the communities for good.” He strode back to the officers.
“So, no pressure,” I said.
“Do you want the Lillian glamour?” Levi said.
“No. Make it seem I’m you.” I tilted my head at the protestors. “It’ll shut them up and remind everyone of your strengths.” I kept a close eye on Dudebro, currently protesting the loss of his adoring public. “No matter what’s between us personally,” I said. “I believe in you as House Head. You want to do right by your people, and that’s the leader Nefesh need. So if I can keep some crap off your plate like a city going full riot, then let me. And if that’s not reason enough, do it because it’ll put the spotlight on you and keep it off me.”
“The first reason was pretty good,” he said, softly.
The smudge made a particularly aggressive slither along the right side of Dudebro.
“The smudge has never made itself visible before,” I said. “I’ve been the only one to reveal it, so why the change? You think it found a permanent host? Were we wrong about it not taking root in a person?” I really hoped not, especially with all those vials in the Queen’s possession. I bounced on my toes, psyching myself up. “I’m starting to see the appeal of magic that follows rules.”<
br />
“Hallelujah, she sees reason,” Levi said.
The wind shifted, and I gagged hard. Even from this distance, the smudge’s toxicity was nausea-inducing.
“What?” Levi said.
“You don’t smell that?”
He and Miles shook their heads. Lucky me.
I cracked my knuckles. “That thing is history.”
Levi placed a hand on my shoulder. “There are innocents here. Don’t get carried away. No… setbacks, okay?”
“Destroying smudges isn’t problematic for me. I’ll keep everything in check.”
Miles clipped a tiny mic to my collar and handed me an earpiece. “It’s tuned to a closed frequency. Only me and my security team can hear you. You need anything, ask.”
I slid in the earpiece. “Got it.”
“Ready?” Levi asked.
“As I’ll ever be.”
He pressed a quick kiss to my mouth. “Kick ass, Ashira Cohen.”
When he released me, a tiny tingle of magic rippled through me.
“Fuck, that’s weird,” Miles said.
I looked down at myself and saw the suit Levi had been wearing. Levi was now my twin.
“You could have left out the clay in my hair,” I said.
“My illusions are faithful reproductions. I am a maestro and my art includes all details.”
“Asshole.” I ran across the plaza toward Dudebro.
The crowd went nuts when they saw me-as-Levi. Half of them burst into hysterical swoons over his safety, the other half jeered that they hoped he died.
What a bunch of ingrates. I had a new appreciation for the BS Levi had to deal with every day, having only seen the shiny adoration for him, and not the ugly flip side of people actively wanting him to fail.
One very pouty, very gelled guy in his early twenties who was dressed in a fitted paisley patterned shirt and white rolled up jeans refused to be evacuated behind the cordons, threatening to slap a lawsuit on two of Miles’ guards if they so much as touched him. “I need this selfie for my scavenger hunt. This’ll win it.”
I stormed over to him, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him off the ground, starting at the sight of Levi’s hands instead of mine holding the guy. Levi had really talented fingers. I flexed them, my thighs clenching in response.
The man I was holding turned an odd shade of purple. Right.
I lowered my voice into an approximation of Levi’s. People heard what they expected to. It was close enough. “Move, or I’ll throw you across the damn plaza.”
I lifted him a bit higher to prove I meant business.
He nodded frantically, but as soon as he touched the ground again, he held up his phone. “Could I–”
I lunged at him and he bolted, holding tight to his dumbass porkpie hat.
“Levi Montefiore. My man.” Dudebro high-fived me, but his smile was tinged with a sly malice.
I dug my nails into my palms, the smudge’s reek of rotting flesh and feces making my eyes water. “What’s your name?”
“Rick.”
“Good to meet you, Rick. What’s your magic?”
“Level five psychic.” Rick fired double finger guns at me. “Kapow.”
At that level, he’d be assaulted with voices and need extremely strong drugs to help shield himself. “What meds are you on?”
Rick rattled off a list that would fell a moose. They should have slurred his speech and slowed his movements, so either he’d built up some crazy unusual tolerance, or the smudge had given him a new alertness. He thumped his chest. “No more voices and I ride the buzz. You feel me?”
I felt several I.Q. points lower. Did that count? “All the feels.”
“Huh?” The smudge swam through his eyes and down his cheek. I really wished it would quit doing that.
Rick cupped his balls and waggled his tongue, giving the crowd ample gross frat boy photo ops. He let out a loud whoop.
“Don’t get too attached to that good mood,” I said.
“Why not?”
His meds could easily have thrown his magic immune system off-whack, leaving the smudge free to move on in and stay awhile. This wasn’t a marriage made in heaven, more like a squatter’s paradise. Humans couldn’t handle an infusion of magic not inherently theirs. One way or another, this smudge would kill Rick, and then it would be loose and rampaging again.
There was only one possible ending to this story.
“This might tickle.” I clapped Rick on both shoulders, sending my blood magic into him. Gritting my teeth, I ignored the beckoning song of his inherent magic and sought out the third-party smudge. Not hard, since it had invaded him like a pernicious weed.
Since it was a foreign body in his system, I was able to lock onto it without making Rick bleed, but I almost ran screaming because this smudge was living death.
My previous experience of these types of smudges were as a cohesive unit, but this one was fractured, hugely unstable, and going haywire bouncing around inside him. It was the magic equivalent of roadkill after a week, trying very hard to look like what it once was, but not fooling anybody.
No wonder it had gone public like this: it couldn’t have hidden its presence, even if it wanted to.
The wriggling maggots were no longer merely a sensation; they were a million tiny tangible entities now feral in their attempt to survive. These abominations wound up my arms in a parade of seething squiggles that were rot and a primal shriek, buffeting me in their dark arms.
The smudge turned Rick’s eyes black and he swung at me.
I ducked his punch, catching his fist and flipping him to the ground.
Believing it to be Levi going all badass, the crowd went nuts. Damn it, I’d probably single-handedly tripled the number of House Cats.
I straddled Rick and dragged the smudge slithering frantically under his skin out of him one agonizing inch at a time. My head was thrown back in a roar and my tendons strained. Blood tears streamed down my face.
Rick went limp; his eyes rolled back showing the whites.
Once it was three-quarters of the way out, I forked my red magic branches through it, making it cohesive once more. The smudge bucked violently but I overpowered it.
White clusters bloomed and fed, and the smudge was destroyed.
I checked Rick’s pulse. “He’s unconscious but breathing,” I said into the mic. “Pulse is a bit elevated. Get a paramedic.”
I pushed to my feet, chest heaving.
The plaza fell silent for two seconds. Then it went wild. Pure pandemonium.
All the cops and Miles’ team could barely restrain people from rushing me-as-Levi.
Heh. This wouldn’t stop any time soon. Levi was going to hate everyone wanting a piece of him. There was just one more thing to do. I flung my arms up in victory, smirking at the flurry of cameras that went off. If I was lucky, this photo would haunt His Lordship for the rest of his life.
I glanced over at Levi, still my doppelganger. He was doing that rapid blinking thing again. Before I could take more than three steps toward him so he could drop the illusion, a microphone was shoved in my face.
“I’m Leah Nichols, here with Levi Montefiore.” A black female reporter in a smart green suit stood next to me. “That was amazing.”
I nodded directly into the camera like of course it was.
Miles was partially blocking Levi, their heads bent close, having an intense discussion.
“Was that the magic virus?” Leah said.
I glanced at the men. Miles twirled his finger in a “wrap it up” motion.
Easy for him to say. I’d watched Leah before. The woman was a shark. There was no catch and release. She ripped every inch of information from her target, discarding its used carcass when she was done.
Hell of a reporter.
I smiled at her and launched into my best Levi voice. “Leah. We both know better than to believe in magic viruses.”
She smiled back. “Then where did it come from? What was it?”<
br />
“The heart attacks, this shadow mass, stemmed from… a sick game the Nefesh involved were playing. I’m pleased to report that House Pacifica infiltrated and cracked this ring and has now stopped this highly dangerous and illegal activity. There is absolutely no danger to the public. None.”
Leah met my eyes and I tensed, then she leaned forward. “Let us reiterate, there is no danger to the public.”
Whoa. She’d bought it. Miles made a more insistent motion to finish up.
“How did you do it?” she said.
That was a very good question since Levi’s illusion magic was a matter of public record and what I’d done didn’t fit.
“I can’t give away all my secrets now, can I?” I winked at her.
Miles put his arm around Levi, who leaned heavily on him.
I touched my earpiece and lied like a pro. “Excuse me, Leah, I have urgent House business to attend to.”
She couldn’t really protest that, so she wrapped up her segment.
I bolted to Levi’s side. “Sorry. Sorry. I didn’t want to make her suspicious.”
“It was the fight.” His eyes bore that scary dead look and he sounded hollow and distant. “Took a lot out of me to match the illusion to you grappling with the smudge.”
“Over there.” Miles nodded toward a bench away from everyone.
We got Levi installed on the bench. House security immediately formed a ring, their backs to us, both affording privacy and keeping us from public view.
Levi dropped the illusion, bent over with his elbows braced on his thighs.
“How bad is–what the fuck is that?” I shied away from the EpiPen looking thing with the disturbingly long needle that Miles brandished.
“Plan B,” he said grimly and jammed it into the base of Levi’s skull. “Hold him.”
It took all my strength to keep Levi still in a hug, his body bucking against me. His heartbeat stampeded to a dangerous level, pounding hard enough to snap out of his ribcage.
He clamped his hands onto my biceps, but I wasn’t sure he knew it was me.
“Ride it out, you stubborn motherfucker,” Miles said, as Levi’s entire body was wracked by violent tremors.
Blood & Ash: A Snarky Urban Fantasy Detective Series (The Jezebel Files Book 1) Page 23