I scowled. “You do realize that we’re in the middle of a crisis, right? Vampires are dying. Humans are dying. Do you really think my mind is focused on paintings and graduation?”
Declan’s green eyes twinkled. “You need to lighten up, Mia. The world is full of dark moments. The more often you can find the specks of light, the more likely you are to retain your sanity.”
My expression remained fixed. “Telling a young woman to lighten up is almost as bad as telling her to smile. Don't tell me how to feel. And definitely don't tell me how to behave.”
Declan seemed taken aback. “Apologies, Mia. It wasn't my intention to do either of those things. I was just trying to pass along the benefit of my wisdom. You’re still young. You haven't yet lived through catastrophic events. Trust me when I tell you that the lighter moments are the ones that pull you through.”
I folded my arms. “And now you’re condescending to me because of my age? You don't look much older than me. How is it that you’ve seen so much?”
He gave me a knowing look. “You know as well as I do that appearances can have very little to do with one's age.”
“True, but I also know that with age doesn’t necessarily come wisdom. Those two are not inextricably linked. I've known plenty of morons who lived to a ripe old age and I've known young paranormals with more wisdom in their pinky fingers than an entire enclave of vampires possesses.”
Declan released a breath. “You’re right. I don't want to quarrel, Mia. I like working with you. It's been a nice change of pace. I've grown accustomed to working on my own. If I had realized what a pleasure it could be to join forces with someone like you, I would have tried it a long time ago.”
“Working with me?” I echoed. “Kind of a loose definition of work, isn’t it? What exactly is it that you do?”
“I’m an independent contractor,” he said.
“You’re really working hard to maintain that mysterious vibe, aren’t you?”
He pressed his lips together. “There are things you’re better off not knowing.”
“For my own good?” I rolled my eyes. “There you go again. I’m going to change your name from Brown Coat to Mr. Condescending.”
“I told you the truth about my reason for tracking Sela,” he said. “It wasn’t related to my work. Well, not that I know of. My oracle said she was linked to my fate. That could be personal or professional, I suppose.”
“Well, if you really enjoy this whole buddy system, maybe you can put out a call for a partner when this case is solved.” Assuming it was solved. Right now, that seemed like a pretty big assumption.
His gaze lingered on me for a beat. “Yes, I’ve been alone too long. A partner would be nice.” He straightened. “I’ll take it under advisement.”
I offered my hand. “So are we friends again?”
“Friends,” he murmured. “Of course.” He curled his fingers around mine and gently shook my hand.
“Good,” I said. “Now that that's settled, let's go to the gallery and try not to get killed.” This time I’d be prepared. I had a few spells at the ready should the muse attack us again.
Given the choice between a broomstick and a bicycle built for two, Declan chose his sleek and sexy car. Go figure. The drive was quick and pleasant, our disagreement already forgotten. I liked that he didn't double down on his argument. I told him he’d offended me and he’d accepted it and apologized. If he had handled it any other way, I wouldn’t be sitting in the car with him right now. Secretly, I was relieved. There was no denying the chemistry between us. He was also pretty handy in a fight. I had a feeling I’d be calling upon his skill set again before too long.
The first thing I noticed at the gallery was the ‘closed’ sign. It didn't come as a surprise. I pulled out my phone. “Should we call or just bust our way in?”
“Don’t bother to call.” Declan's attention was fixed on the front window.
I tucked away the phone. “You’re voting for bust? Color me shocked.”
“Don’t call because she's not going to answer.”
I squinted. “What you mean?” I pressed my face against the window and my heart stopped. There were paintings torn to shreds on the floor and smashed sculptures—much worse than after our visit—but that wasn't the worst part. No, the worst part was still hanging on the wall.
I whipped out my wand, but Declan beat me to it. His fist smashed through the glass, shattering the entire window with a single punch. I was surprised to see that his hand remained completely unscathed. He didn't wait to clear the debris. He leaped through the open window and I hurried after him, careful not to get caught by any of the shards.
I stared at the horrific scene. What had been a beautiful painting of angels delivering message of peace and joy had been slashed and streaked with blood. Sela’s blood. She hung in the middle of the painting, suspended by thin, silky wires. Her eyes were open and her once-gorgeous hair was matted to her head, sticky with blood. Her white outfit was nearly ripped to pieces. Blood was everywhere, which made it difficult to identify her injuries. I was so intent on the view that I nearly missed the sound—so faint that my own heartbeat would’ve drowned it out.
“Declan, I think she’s alive!”
He immediately produced a small, jewel-encrusted dagger. Fancier than I would’ve expected for Brown Coat. “I’ll hold her,” he said. “You cut.”
As carefully as I could, I began to cut the wires. I didn’t dare add to her collection of lacerations. She collapsed against Declan and he placed her gently on the counter.
“Sela, can you speak?” he asked. “Who did this to you?”
Her mouth opened and closed, producing a barely-audible croak.
“We need a healer,” I said.
“We need answers first,” Declan insisted.
“She's on the verge of death,” I said.
Declan twisted to look at me. “Which is exactly why we need answers first. We can't take the risk that a healer will arrive fast enough to mend her. Then we lose both her and whatever information she might have.”
For someone without a monkey in this circus, he sure seemed hell-bent on helping this case along.
“We need to know what happened,” Declan said to the muse. “Were you involved in releasing the toxin and, if so, for what purpose?”
I took out my phone and dialed. “I can multitask. Sela, I'm going to try and get you help. If you could tell us anything at all, even one word…” Robin's voice came on the line. “Robin, it's Mia. I need you to send a healer to the Arthouse right now. It’s Sela’s art gallery. She's dying and we need to save her.”
“I shall send word straight away,” Robin said and hung up.
I tucked my phone back into my pocket. “Stay with us. Help is on the way.” I wanted to see if I could treat her injuries, but there was too much blood. So much blood, in fact, that I felt compelled to ask—“Were there vampires here, Sela?” Maybe they had sought revenge for what happened at Nonesuch, despite Harriett’s warning. There were no obvious puncture wounds, but the blood made it difficult to see.
Sela’s arm lifted briefly and then dropped back down to her side, as though its weight was too much to bear. Her breathing was erratic. It sounded more like an occasional wheeze.
“I might be able to preserve her in this state with a freeze spell,” I said. “It might slow the effects of her injuries.”
Declan smoothed her hair away from her face. A simple gesture that revealed a lot about his character. He didn’t like to see her suffer any more than I did.
“Maybe, but will she still feel pain?” he asked.
My mind raced with options. “I can try to put her in a catatonic state first and then freeze her. The first spell will shut down her brain and the second will shut down her body.”
Declan's hand formed a fist. “Then we’ll never get answers. She might be our only link to the toxin.” If only we’d known when we’d come for the sundial. Then again, it was unlikely that visit w
ould have yielded answers. We’d been lucky to escape.
Sela’s arm moved again. I heard another raspy breath escape her.
“I think she's trying to tell us something,” I said.
She began to convulse and I retrieved my wand, hoping to perform my spells before it was too late. The sound of approaching footsteps drew my attention to the window. A druid poked his head in and I immediately recognized him from AMF headquarters. He took one look at the scene and came flying through the open window, skidding to a halt in front of us.
“Agent-in-training Holmes,” he said. “I’m Healer Keswick.”
“Thank you for coming,” I said. I stepped aside and urged Declan to do the same. Introductions could come later. Right now I only wanted Keswick to be concerned with Sela.
The druid moved closer to inspect her limp body. “Quite a beating.” Her eyes were closed now and I no longer heard her attempts to breathe. He rubbed his hands together and they began to glow with a warm golden light. “She’s a muse.” He sounded surprised.
“Yes,” I said.
“Can you save her?” Declan asked.
The druid didn’t answer. He concentrated on Sela’s body and hummed. His hands hovered over her, moving from head to toe. I’d never heard a druid hum during the healing process before. I couldn’t decide whether it was part of the ritual or one of Keswick’s idiosyncrasies. After a few minutes of silence, his arms dropped to his sides.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I tried everything, but she was too far gone.”
It could hardly come as a shock. She was in terrible shape when we arrived. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
“I’ll send a team to recover the body,” Keswick said.
I nodded mutely and continued to stare at Sela even after the druid left. I looked at her arm, the one she’d tried to lift, and followed her line of sight back to the destroyed painting.
“Declan,” I said slowly.
His green eyes flicked to me and I pointed to the painting. What I’d believed to be only streaks of blood across the canvas were, in fact, words.
“Can you read this?” I’d missed the message the first time, probably because I’d been so focused on Sela.
“They’re upside down,” Declan said. He glanced back at Sela. “She must’ve written them after she was hung there.”
I swallowed hard, trying not to think about the horrible pain she endured before she died. Even if she was somehow connected to the toxin, she didn’t deserve to die this way.
“I see the word ‘garden,’” I said. There was a word in front of it, but I couldn’t decipher it other than the first letter ‘B.’ “What does it mean?”
Declan’s expression hardened. “Whatever it is, it’s nothing good. I can promise you that.”
Chapter Twelve
“You think she was killed because she knew too much?” Dani asked. I jumped back and she sliced the air with her sword, Revival.
“Nice reflexes, Holmes.” Master at Arms Finn Horton observed the four of us as we practiced together in the armory. While we didn’t have an official class with him this year, Master Horton was happy to accommodate anyone with a burning desire to improve their weaponry skills.
“Either that, or the vampires resorted to good, old-fashioned vengeance,” I replied. I brought down the blades of the double-sided axe, missing Dani’s arm by a narrow margin. I grunted from the exertion.
“Almost had me,” Dani said.
“Almost isn’t good enough in a real fight.” I tossed the cumbersome weapon aside and plucked a sickle from the wall. It was lighter and easier on my wrist.
“You don’t really think the vampires are responsible, do you?” Bryn asked.
Bryn and Cerys clashed their swords together across the armory. I watched as Cerys landed a blow on Bryn’s leg. It would’ve given her quite the gash if our weapons weren’t spelled to be harmless. We could make contact fifty times and not leave a mark. It made for excellent training when we didn’t have to fear hurting each other. We could just go for it.
“I would’ve said no after the enclave, but who knows?” I said. “It only takes one rogue vampire to do damage like that.”
“What does your beloved Brown Coat think?” Dani asked, as we continued our exercise.
“That we need to figure out what B Garden means,” I said. “I’ve passed the information along to Herb and Robin for research. If it’s a place, then we need to get there as soon as possible.”
“I notice she didn’t correct your use of beloved,” Bryn said with a knowing smile.
“Only because I was ignoring it,” I shot back.
“You can like him, Mia,” Dani said. “Nobody here would blame you. He sounds great.”
“What little we know of him sounds great,” Cerys corrected her.
“Uh oh,” Bryn said. “Why do I get the sense that Mom is about to bust out a lecture?”
Cerys jabbed at her opponent. “The only thing I’m busting out is my weapon against you.”
Bryn jumped back a few steps. “Nice.”
Cerys kept up the pressure, forcing Bryn into a corner. “What do we know about Brown Coat aside from the fact that his name is Declan and he’s a so-called independent contractor?”
“And he wears cool clothes and is mega-hot,” Dani added.
“He’s not a vampire,” Bryn said. “And you don’t think he’s a magic user.”
“I haven’t seen him use magic,” I said. “He’s an excellent fighter, though, and seems to leap tall buildings in a single bound.”
“You’re hot for Superman,” Bryn said with a laugh. “Can’t blame you on that one, though I was always partial to Batman. All that broody darkness.”
“That explains so much about you and Gray,” Dani quipped.
“Oh, he has a regular oracle,” I said.
Dani shrugged. “Who doesn’t?”
Good point. “He’s been nothing but kind and helpful. He’s as dedicated to stopping this from becoming a plague as anyone at the AMF.”
“Cares about others,” Cerys said. “That’s good. If he’s a good fighter, you also want that compassionate quality.”
“Don’t worry, Cerys,” Bryn said. “She won’t marry him until you’ve given your stamp of approval.”
I nearly threw my weapon against the wall in exasperation. “I am not getting married.”
The other witches laughed.
“Speaking of plagues, how’s the containment effort?” Cerys asked. She quickly lost her advantage over Bryn as the water witch exchanged her sword for two escrima sticks. Bryn wielded the sticks as though they were her own arms. I was in awe of her skill.
“Gotcha,” Dani said. Her blade caught my midsection. “Try not to get so distracted.”
“You’d be bleeding out right now if the sword weren’t spelled,” Master Horton added.
“No need to rub salt in the invisible wound,” I said. “The containment effort is going well, I think. We’ve tracked down most of the vampires that crossed into Terrene. Luckily, there weren’t too many.”
“They probably didn’t get the chance to travel far because they fell ill so quickly,” Cerys said.
“Are they all accounted for?” Bryn asked. “The ones that made it to Terrene?”
“Two are outstanding,” I said. I discovered this fact when I told Herb and Robin about Sela. I hadn’t realized there were any loose ends in Terrene until they told me. They were deliberately keeping the information from Nick so he didn’t try to head back to Terrene while on suspended leave.
“Only two,” Dani said. “It could be worse.”
“Even two vampires can easily spread the toxin exponentially,” I said. “Robin has been trying to trace their movements and pinpoint their locations. As soon as he has the information, I’m going back to Terrene.” Without Nick, thankfully. I didn’t want to end up back in an Order of the Edge holding cell.
“They must be dead by now, right?” Dani asked. “The two
vampires?” She whirled around and lunged at me. I was ready this time and easily blocked her attempt.
“I would think so,” I said. “But there’ve been no reports of dead vampires from the League and they’ve been watching the death records.”
“Why are they so hard to track?” Bryn asked.
“Because the only information we have is the date and time they crossed the border,” I said. “No one keeps tabs on them after that. Neither one resides in Terrene, so they must have gone to visit someone. They could even have gone to the same place for all we know. Robin’s checking with the League for known vampire hangouts in the area.”
“Did they leave together?” Bryn asked.
“No, but they left our realm within an hour of each other,” I said. “And they crossed at the same border.”
“Are there any more reports of dead vampires?” Dani asked. “Or has the disease or toxin, or whatever it is, run its course?”
“Nothing new that I’m aware of,” I replied. Then again, I wasn’t sure how much information was being withheld from me at this point. Without Lucille and Nick, I was only a solo trainee with no real world experience. Herb was hardly going to hand the entire investigation over to me. That wouldn’t stop me from continuing, though. It helped that I had a secret weapon. Brown Coat was proving to be invaluable.
Dani’s sword became engulfed in orange flames and she smiled at me. “Are you sure you’re ready to go again?”
I returned her toothy smile. “I’m sure.” I whipped out my wand with my free hand and a stream of water drenched the blade. I watched with glee as the flames dissipated from Dani’s sword. The fire witch glanced at her naked sword and groaned.
“No fair using magic,” she complained.
“You used fire magic on the sword!” I argued.
Bryn cackled from her side of the room. “Going down in flames, Degraff?”
Dani glared at her. “Those sticks would be burnt to ashes by now if I were facing off against you.”
Bryn stuck out her tongue. “You’ll miss me when you’re sweating your butt off in the Southern Quadrant next year.”
“I’m a fire witch,” Dani replied. “It takes more than a little sunshine to make me perspire.”
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