“But…”
“You’ll know which charm. You must…” She stopped and listened. “They’re here.” The delirium returned and she slumped back on her pillow.
“Who did this?”
“It was Fate,” she whispered. She coughed once and a spray of blood came out of her mouth and dripped onto her pillow.
Whenever I dreamed of her, I was always a wreck the next morning. I awoke cursing my aunts, my stomach in knots of hate. Maybe that’s how they always found me, by the scent of my pain and anger.
I searched the fridge for something edible. I’d grown used to eating at Hell’s Belles every day, but I didn’t feel like being around anyone, so instead I scrambled a couple of eggs and made toast.
I remembered the book I’d borrowed from Talbot and found it under the bed.
It wasn’t exactly light reading. The Greeks called Aunt Morta “the Inflexible,” which seemed pretty darned accurate.
I hadn’t seen much of Aunt Morta—or of Decima, for that matter. I wondered what that meant, if it meant anything. Gaston had been playing least-in-sight as well. It meant either that they’d given up, which wasn’t likely, or that something else was occupying their time.
I told myself I wanted to be the one who was their downfall, but the idea that someone was trying to topple the old broads from their seat of power bothered me. My mother would have said that no matter what, they were still family and it was my responsibility to help them. But she was dead and I was bitter. I wanted to see them without friends, powerless, hunted.
My first reaction when threatened was to punch something or someone, but I didn’t know how to fight an enemy I couldn’t see. My best bet was to flush him out.
* * *
There was a blaring in my ears, so loud that I couldn’t hear anything else.
I bolted up. I glanced at the clock and realized I’d overslept. I was supposed to meet Talbot, Naomi, and Elizabeth at Hell’s Belles over an hour ago for a Sunday morning breakfast.
I spotted Talbot and Naomi sitting on one side of a booth. I slid into the opposite seat. “Sorry I’m late,” I apologized. “Elizabeth here yet?”
Talbot shook his head.
Twenty minutes later, Elizabeth hadn’t showed and she wasn’t answering her cell.
“Maybe we should reschedule,” I said.
“I could do a reading while we wait,” Naomi offered.
I held out my left hand, palm up.
She took my hand and studied it carefully.
“I’ve never seen anyone without a life line before,” Naomi said.
“That’s because I’m not supposed to be alive,” I said.
Naomi continued to gaze at my hand. “But your fate line doesn’t seem to end,” she observed. “It goes all the way to your wrist.” She held up her hand. “Just like mine.”
“What else do you see?” I asked.
“Death and destruction,” she replied flatly. “Someone is hiding in the shadows.”
“Not very specific, is it?” I asked her.
“It’s not supposed to be,” she said.
Why would someone—besides my relatives, that is—want to kill me? Naomi was female and a Fate, which meant she had a flair for the dramatic, but I couldn’t shrug off her reading completely.
“What else do you see?” I asked.
“You’re lucky in love,” she replied.
I raised an eyebrow. “Not so you’d notice.”
She smiled at me. “I saw the way that girl was looking at you the other day, when I stopped by Eternity Road.”
“Elizabeth,” I said. “And she’s just a friend,” I lied.
She shot me a shrewd look. “Oh-kay,” she said. “If that’s your story.”
“Okay, maybe more than a friend,” I replied. A lot more.
A shadow crossed her face “Elizabeth, huh?”
“Elizabeth? You see something about Elizabeth?” I leaned forward to look at my own hand.
“I’m still learning,” Naomi said.
“Just tell me what you saw,” I ordered, but Naomi shook her head and clammed up. I followed the direction of her gaze and saw Elizabeth rushing toward us.
I tugged on Naomi’s braid. “Thanks for the reading.”
“Sorry I’m late,” Elizabeth said. “Something came up.”
Something or someone?
Everyone was pleasant to each other, but the conversation was stilted. Elizabeth didn’t fit in with my friends, but I wasn’t sure why.
After breakfast, we took a long walk through the park. Talbot and Naomi held hands, but when I reached for Elizabeth’s hand, she shied away.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered, but she ignored me.
“What is that?” Elizabeth said. She pointed to a brownish red spot in the snow. There were more spots like bloody flowers in the snow.
“That’s blood,” I said. “Stay here.” I stepped closer and sensed a trace of old magic.
“Yeah, right,” she said.
In a hollow of trees, there was a deep pit, filled with congealing blood. The remains of some animal lay a little distance away. I didn’t check, but I knew it would be a cow or a sheep and it would have a dark hide.
Elizabeth made a little distressed noise and turned away, gagging at the sight, but Naomi was made of stronger stuff. She walked closer to the pit and peered in until Talbot grabbed her arm. “Come away from there,” he told her.
“It’s just that I’ve read about it, but I’ve never seen anything like this for real,” she replied. “It’s fascinating.”
“Fascinating?” Elizabeth said. “Who would do that to a defenseless animal?”
Naomi opened her mouth to answer the question, but I shook my head. Elizabeth didn’t need to know any more than absolutely necessary. It would probably give her screaming nightmares.
I knew of the ritual, although I’d never actually seen it performed. It was used to summon revenants, ghosts—whatever you wanted to call them. The blood was for the ghosts to drink. A necromancer had done this, a night-wanderer, the one who calls the dead. Freakin’ just great.
“Should we call someone?” Elizabeth asked. “We can’t just leave it there.”
“You look green,” I said. “I’ll take you home and then I’ll make the calls.” I would call, anonymously, of course.
“No, I’m staying,” she said.
“Not even if I say please?”
“Not even then,” she replied.
I stared at the scene.
Talbot dialed his dad. “Do you have a minute to take a look at something?” They had a brief conversation and Talbot hung up. “He’s on his way.”
Ambrose arrived and surveyed the scene silently.
“Do you know who that is?” Ambrose asked. He pointed to a photo of a young man with curly blond hair that was nailed to a tree near the pit. There was a large red X painted through his face. That was clear enough.
I had seen the photo before.
Ambrose moved closer to examine the photo. “Do you recognize him?”
“It’s Elizabeth’s brother,” I told him. “Alex. He’s missing.”
The obvious suspect was Sawyer. He was a necromancer and knew Alex, but there was something about the scene that made me think it could be someone else. Was there another necromancer in the House of Hades? Or had Sawyer taken on an apprentice?
I handed the photo to Elizabeth. “Do you remember when this was taken?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. She studied it for a long moment. “This was taken a few months ago.”
Something shiny gleamed up at me from near the pit. I got down on my haunches to examine it more closely. Another Parsi Enterprises bottle cap. I started to throw it away, but pocketed it instead.
“We should get out of here,” Talbot urged.
I glanced at Elizabeth. She looked like she was going to throw up. “Why is a photo of my brother here?” she asked. “Near this pit of blood? Is it some kind of a warning?”
I led
her away from the gruesome scene, but the image stayed with me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Despite her worry about her brother, Elizabeth had invited me to a black-tie event. On the big day, I washed and waxed the car until the paint shone and then headed home to get ready.
I’d borrowed a vintage tux from Ambrose’s never-ending pile of rotating store merchandise. The tux had belonged to a down-on-his-luck caterer-waiter slash actor and had a cigarette burn near the left cuff but I was relieved that it fit.
I hadn’t learned how to tie my own tie, though. After several frustrating minutes in which I almost strangled myself, I finally gave up and knocked on the Bardoff apartment door to see if Talbot could help me.
“Can you tie this for me?” I asked. I held up the slightly-worse-for-wear bow tie.
“You do clean up well,” he said. “Hand it to me.”
My tie was knotted quickly and expertly.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Where are you off to?”
“Date with Elizabeth,” I told him. “Some kind of fund-raiser for Blake University. We’ll be dining on rubber chicken with a bunch of people I’ve never met.”
“The perils of dating a wealthy girl,” he replied.
I looked at my watch. “I’m late, gotta go. Thanks for the help.”
“Have fun, Nyx,” Talbot said. “But be careful.”
I was already out the door. My Caddy had a parking spot of honor only a block away from the shop and I sprinted there. If I were late, Elizabeth would get pissed. She seemed to be angry at everything lately, although I couldn’t blame her. Her brother’s disappearance hung over our relationship like a weight.
My breath was coming fast and I slowed to a walk to calm down. Staying in one place for so long was just making me skittish, I told myself.
“Sorry I’m late,” I told Elizabeth when she answered the door. I took a closer look at her.
Instead of her usual jeans and T-shirt, Elizabeth wore a long green silk dress and had her hair up. She looked every inch the debutante. She looked like a stranger. I let out a low whistle. “Who are you and what have you done with Elizabeth?”
She giggled. “I could say the same about you,” she said. “You look like Rudolph Valentino or someone.” I didn’t tell her I’d met him.
“Rudolph Valentino?” I asked.
“He was a famous silent-movie star,” she explained. “We’re studying his movies in acting class.”
“Acting class, huh?” She’d never mentioned an acting class before.
“Didn’t I tell you? I’m majoring in acting,” she said.
An actress who looked just like my dead girlfriend? That couldn’t be good.
Elizabeth linked her arm with mine and dragged me over to her roommate. “Isn’t he handsome?”
“He‘s fairly attractive,” Jenny said. “After a bath.” She wore an elegant gown of her own.
“Are you coming, too?” I couldn’t keep the dismay from my voice.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I have my own escort. You won’t see me for the rest of the night.” She grinned diabolically.
I counted my blessings.
“Are you warm enough?” I asked Elizabeth when we were in the car. A ball gown didn’t exactly offer protection against the elements, even though she was bundled up.
“I’m fine,” she said, but she was shivering as she said it.
If it wasn’t the weather making her shake, what was it? I turned the heater up anyway.
The event was held at a hotel downtown. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t the luxurious scene that we found ourselves walking into. The ballroom was overflowing with people as a band tuned up in front of a small dance floor.
Elizabeth maneuvered through the crowd with ease.
Cascades of white flowers escaped from tall vases. I could feel the curious looks sent my way. My tie suddenly felt too tight. I wasn’t exactly a people person, but I wanted to be the kind of guy Elizabeth could take to fancy functions. I wasn’t that guy, but I wanted to be. For her.
I met people whose names I’d never remember. At dinner, I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off her. I sat next to her and kept touching the spot where her dress exposed the soft skin of her back.
Despite my prediction, I was having fun. There was an open bar and the bartender was pouring generously. In fact, I was in danger of getting drunk, something that Elizabeth seemed to be actively encouraging.
“Your drink’s empty,” Elizabeth said. “I’ll get you another one.”
“I think I’ve had enough,” I said. “I’ve got to drive home.”
The music was from the big-band era. “Want to dance?” I asked Elizabeth. “I do a mean foxtrot.”
“What’s a foxtrot?” she asked.
“I’ll show you.” The music slowed as we reached the floor. I pulled her close and put my hands on her back, then twirled her until we were both laughing and dizzy.
Dinner was better than I had anticipated, but that could have been the champagne talking. “What did you do to get stuck at one of the cheap seats?” I asked.
“She invited you,” Jenny said as she slid into the seat beside me.
“What happened to I won’t see you for the rest of the night?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “My date wasn’t nearly as entertaining as I’d hoped.”
I looked around with an exaggerated stare. “I’m afraid I don’t see your escort anywhere.”
She pointed to a bewildered older man in a designer tux. He looked like he played a lot of golf. He held a drink in each hand as he scanned the crowd. He saw us, gave an enthusiastic wave, and spilled the drinks all over himself, which he’d obviously forgotten he was holding.
“Drat it, Danvers spotted me,” she said. She jumped up and hurried off in the opposite direction.
“Is that Jenny’s boyfriend?” I was surprised. He seemed too mild-mannered.
“No, they’re having problems,” Elizabeth said. “She was trying to break it off, but he can’t seem to take no for an answer. Her date tonight was her solution, but now she wants to get back together with her psycho boyfriend.”
“Why haven’t I ever met her boyfriend?” I asked.
“To be honest,” Elizabeth replied, “I can’t stand him.” There was an odd note in her voice, but my attention was on her plate, where I saw a lonely shrimp. I nearly threw the plate across the room.
“Don’t eat that,” I said.
Elizabeth was so startled that she dropped her fork. Our dining companions, an elderly man and his much younger companion, gave me a dirty look.
Elizabeth shot me an astonished look. “What are you talking about?”
“I thought you said you were allergic to shrimp?”
“I am, but I told the server I’m allergic.”
I jabbed the offending crustacean with my fork and waved it in the air. “What’s this, then?”
Jenny rushed up. “Elizabeth, is there a problem here?”
“No, of course not,” she replied. “Luckily, Nyx spotted a stray shrimp in my salad.”
Jenny obviously didn’t think I was good enough for Elizabeth. I didn’t know how to behave properly, she didn’t know who my family was, and I liked to brawl. I wasn’t anybody’s idea of boyfriend material, except, perhaps, Elizabeth’s.
A flash of red caught my eye and I turned to see Aunt Nona standing by the buffet. She wore a deep russet gown that exactly matched the shade of her companion’s hair.
“What’s she doing here?” I muttered, caught off-guard.
Elizabeth’s gaze followed mine. “Mrs. Polydoros?” she said casually. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled.
Elizabeth had said she didn’t know much about her brother’s job, but she recognized her brother’s boss at first glance. It seemed odd.
“What’s the story with Mr. and Mrs. Polydoros?” I asked Elizabeth, after Jenny disappeared again.
“They’re very influen
tial in this town,” she said. “Sawyer is on the board at Blake. And he’s Alex’s boss. Or he was until Alex disappeared.” She did recognize them.
“Oh, he is, is he?” She’d called my aunt’s husband by his first name. I watched my aunt and her husband as they laughed. She kept her left hand tucked in his.
All through dinner, dessert, and overlong speeches, I kept one eye on my aunt. She seemed oblivious of my presence, but I didn’t buy it for one second.
While the band was tuning up, Elizabeth decided she’d had enough of my distraction.
“Nyx, what’s wrong? You seem preoccupied,” Elizabeth said.
My mind should have been on my date, but I couldn’t take my eyes from them.
My aunt and her husband were the first ones to take the floor. He pulled her close and whispered in her ear and she responded with a laugh.
“It’s nothing,” I said. “Let’s dance.” I didn’t wait for her response, but tugged on her hand until she followed me out on the dance floor.
I took Elizabeth into my arms and steered her to a spot where I hoped I was outside my aunt’s line of vision, but could observe them. Something about Sawyer didn’t sit right with me, and I needed to get closer to figure it out.
I watched, transfixed, until the song ended, which is when I finally got it. His trademark grin was missing. When he didn’t think anyone was looking, he looked trapped.
Elizabeth said, “I’d love something to drink.”
I steered her toward the bar and ordered two waters. I ended up with an ultraexpensive bottle of something that tasted like tap water. Elizabeth wasn’t where I’d left her, but I finally found her staring out a window in the long hall leading to the ballroom. It was much quieter out there, and the hallway was nearly deserted. I wrapped my arms around her. “Tired?”
Elizabeth stepped out of my embrace. “Nyx, there’s someone I want to say hello to.” The abrupt change in mood caught me off-guard, but I followed her.
She led me to Nona and Sawyer. “Hello, Sawyer. Nona. This is my boyfriend, Nyx.”
“We know Nyx well,” Sawyer said jovially. “He’s our newest employee.”
Nona shook my hand and gave me an inscrutable smile.
“Yes, I’d almost forgotten,” Elizabeth said. “He has a second job on the weekends. He barely has time for me.” I stared at her. There was a hint of bitterness underneath her joking tone.
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