Nathaniel’s frown deepened. “You want me to deceive my lord by pretending to be the thrall?”
I decided to overlook his reference to Gabriel’s status just this once. This part was going to be tricky.
“No, I just want you to call in to Azazel every day like Gabriel would. But I want you to edit your reports. Edit,” I repeated, when he looked like he was going to argue. “Not lie. Just fail to mention certain information. And if Azazel is hearing from you, then surely he won’t mind if he doesn’t hear from Gabriel.”
“But in order for me to report to Lord Azazel I would have to have daily knowledge of your activities and whereabouts,” he said.
I nodded. This was the part that I really did not like. “Right, well, you would stay here for a few days.”
He looked speculatively at me. “With you?”
“In Gabriel’s apartment,” I corrected.
Nathaniel appeared to be thinking it over. I found myself unconsciously holding my breath as I waited for his decision. There was no reason for him to help me, and really no reason for him to potentially put himself on the line for Gabriel. But this was the best solution I could come up with. My hope was that Azazel would be so happy that I wanted Nathaniel to stay nearby that he wouldn’t wonder about Gabriel’s radio silence.
What are the chances of that? I thought to myself, and the voice in my head sounded a lot like Beezle’s. Azazel didn’t strike me as stupid, but I was hoping that I could pull a little sleight of hand. Maybe he wouldn’t notice what I was doing with my left hand because he was watching my right.
“Your plan is not without risk,” Nathaniel said.
I nodded.
“There is a strong possibility that my lord is already aware that the thrall is missing.”
Beezle had mentioned this, too, but as I’d thought about it, I realized that it couldn’t be true. “Wouldn’t he have contacted me, then, to make other arrangements for my safety?”
Nathaniel thought about it for a moment. “Possibly. Or possibly he is waiting to see if you will call him. It is impossible to divine my lord’s intentions.”
Great. “Well, everyone keeps telling me that I am more important than anything else to Azazel, so I am going to assume that he would have gotten me another bodyguard by now. Surely my welfare would rank above any mind games.”
“That would seem to be so, but it is not safe to assume anything with the Grigori.”
I was getting impatient with Nathaniel’s dithering. “Look, can we just assume that Azazel doesn’t know, and that if we pull this off, he will never know? Are you going to help me out or what?”
Nathaniel looked disapproving. “You are asking me to make a decision that may materially affect my well-being, for the sake of a half-blood thrall and a woman who does not particularly like me.”
I gritted my teeth. “It’s just possible that I might like you more if you help me out.”
“Very well. I will assist you. But I will want something in exchange from you at a later date.”
I looked at him warily. “Something? Could you be more specific about that something?”
“I do not know what I might need at a later date, so how can I specify?”
I thought about it for a minute. “All right. It’s a deal. But I have the right of refusal, same as you did. If I decide that the task isn’t something I want to do, then you can ask me for something else later.”
“It is a bargain, then,” he said, and he held out his hand to me.
I wondered if this was how Faust felt when Mephistopheles held out the contract. I was getting something I wanted, but what price would I pay?
I put my hand in his to shake, and instead he raised it to his lips. When his mouth touched my skin, I felt a little thrill of attraction deep in my belly, and again felt like I was somehow betraying Gabriel. I tried to pull away and his fingers tightened on mine.
“Remember, Madeline Black, you are my betrothed. There will come a day when you belong to me, body and soul. And then there will be no bargaining between us. I will be master in my own house.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and yanked my hand away, any hint of attraction doused by his attitude. “And you wonder why I dislike you.”
“You have lived too long on your own,” he said. “You will see my way is better, in time.”
I clenched my fists at my sides. I would not lose control and blast him back into the Old Testament, which was apparently where he had collected his notions of marriage. I needed him to help me now. If he wanted to believe that one day I would be a meek little miss who would cleave unto him without a word of protest, then he could have his fantasies. There was no guarantee that the marriage would actually happen in any case.
“Whatever. Listen, do you think that we could go back to the alley where Gabriel went missing and see if you can pick up anything that I didn’t? It seems like everything bad started there.”
“And what of your gargoyle? Do you believe that he was taken by the same creature that took your bodyguard?”
“I have to believe it,” I said. “Otherwise I have too many enemies to contemplate.”
“I am sure that you do,” he said. “Your lineage practically dictates that it is so.”
“Way to comfort, Nathaniel.”
We took off for the alley near the grocery store, the site of the second wolf murder, Gabriel’s kidnapping and my strange attack from Samiel. I felt like I might be pressing my luck going back there, since an assortment of bad things had already occurred at that site. But it was the only lead that I had.
Late-afternoon traffic backed up on Ashland below us as we flew. The sky had a gray, wet look and the air was cold and damp. I shivered under my coat. I was still wearing only a T-shirt and sweatpants, since I hadn’t really thought about dressing for the weather when I ran outside to search for Beezle. I couldn’t be seen when my wings were out, but I could still experience the elements. I was invisible, not indestructible. Nathaniel, on the other hand, seemed perfectly comfortable despite his lack of gloves and hat. Yet another reason to dislike him.
We landed in the alley just as it began to drizzle.
“Wonderful,” I muttered. “It’s so great when the weather obscures every possible piece of evidence.”
“The type of evidence that we are searching for would not be visible to the human eye in any case,” Nathaniel said. “You are looking for traces of magic, or the evidence of a supernatural being.”
“I thought you said that you couldn’t trace a power signature?”
Nathaniel huffed, clearly annoyed that I had reminded him of a defect. “I cannot trace a power signature, but I can sense the evidence of magic. You would be able to as well, if only you would concentrate.”
“So you mean that I don’t need you at all?” I said, but softly enough that he couldn’t hear. I hoped.
As Nathaniel walked around the area, I tried to focus my magic, to send out my will and look for the traces of other kinds of power. This wasn’t like casting nightfire, or even the kind of magic that I used as an Agent to break a soul’s binding to its body. It wasn’t about destruction. It was a softer kind of magic, and soft magic was not my specialty. I could barely control my powers at the best of times. Fine control was pretty much beyond me.
Still, I made the effort, because I was heartsick at the loss of Beezle and because I wasn’t about to let Gabriel disappear before I’d had the chance to figure things out between us. And, well, because I couldn’t let Nathaniel be right about me. I wanted to be more than a blunt instrument of force, too emotional to control my powers.
I imagined my magic like a veil, a shimmering wash of power that blew away from me with a whisper. The veil extended away from me, gently settling on everything around me. I held that invisible net in place, searching all along the fabric of my magic with my mind, and was surprised to find that I could “see” Nathaniel’s power inside the net. It was like finding a trace of heat on an infrared camera. I could c
learly sense the pulse of magic and identify its source. Interestingly, Nathaniel seemed to feel my power settle over him.
“What is it that you are doing, Madeline?” he said. He was about five feet away from me.
I ignored his question. Emboldened, I pushed the veil away farther, trying to extend it over the breadth of the alley and then down to the T-junction where we had met the wolves. I felt beads of sweat break out on my forehead as it became much more difficult to keep the veil as light as a feather.
“Madeline, what are you . . .” Nathaniel repeated, but I held my hand up for him to stop.
I’d found something, and it was not at all what I’d expected to find. I’d expected to find traces of magical castings or, if we were lucky, an object that would somehow lead us back to Gabriel’s kidnappers. Anything but this.
“Nathaniel,” I said, breathing heavily from exertion. “There’s a portal in this alley, not ten feet from where we are standing now.”
7
“A PORTAL?” HE SAID BLANKLY. “THERE CAN’T BE A portal there. We would be able to see it.”
I could see it very clearly, a swirling vortex of magical power trapped inside my invisible net. As I watched, the portal began to pull at the edges of my net, trying to suck the magic inside. Since I had no idea where the portal went or who had put it there I thought not getting yanked in was a good idea. I quickly doused my will and the net disappeared.
“That was close,” I said.
“What was?” Nathaniel asked.
I explained about the vortex pulling on the edges of my power, and he shook his head. “This can’t be.”
“It can. I’m telling you that it’s there.”
“A portal does not operate in this fashion, like a secret door for club members only. It is always visible and always under the control of a master.”
I thought back to something Gabriel had said to me once. “I thought that some portals were naturally occurring.”
“Yes, but not in this plane. There has never been a naturally occurring portal on this mortal earth.”
“So it’s got to be under the control of a master, then,” I said thoughtfully.
Nathaniel’s lips pressed together. “Yes, it would have to be, if it were there.”
“Oh, it’s there,” I said, getting annoyed. “In fact, this probably explains how Gabriel disappeared. He stepped into the portal by accident.”
“In that case, why has he not returned?”
I glared at him. “Apparently when they were handing out the good stuff they forgot to give you brains to put inside that pretty head. How the hell should I know why he hasn’t returned? I’m assuming it’s because there is either something insanely dangerous on the other side of that portal or it’s a trap. Or both.”
Nathaniel gave me a long-suffering look. “Madeline, why would someone place an invisible portal—not that I believe in such a thing—in a throughway for mortals? Anyone could accidentally enter it.”
I grabbed his wrist and dragged him in the direction of the portal. I was totally fed up with his if-I-can’t-see-it-I-don’t-believe-it attitude. Why the hell would I make up a portal in the middle of the alley? To get attention from him? I think not.
The portal was several feet inside the alley and close to the T-junction. As I approached the corner, I slowed, trying to remember exactly where it was located. Nathaniel smirked at me as I cast out my net again, this time trying to see two planes at once—the physical and the magical. It was less of a struggle to cast the spell a second time, but much more difficult to see the physical location of the portal behind the magical net. The real world was an indistinct blur, a vague procession of washed color and shadow.
I inched closer to the location of the portal, shuffling my feet in tiny steps. Nathaniel huffed out an impatient snort behind me. I would have made a smart remark at him but I needed all of my energy focused on the magical net. The portal had started trying to pull me in again, and I was exerting a great deal of effort keeping my power outside of the vortex.
When I was only about a foot and a half from the portal, I pointed my finger right at it and then dropped the net.
“There. It’s right there. If you concentrate, you can see it,” I said, throwing his words back at him.
Nathaniel looked at me doubtfully, but he got a steady, focused look, like he was searching for evidence of magic. I could see when he found the portal. His eyebrows shot up to his hairline.
“Extraordinary,” he murmured.
“Don’t apologize for doubting me or anything,” I muttered.
He moved closer to the portal, and it seemed that he was feeling the edges of the vortex with his fingers. I wondered that the portal didn’t try to suck his magic inside, the way it did for me. Maybe he was more powerful than I, or maybe he just had more control.
“What are you doing?” I asked curiously as he continued to move around the portal, seeming to examine it from every angle.
“Trying to determine the master of the portal,” he said, not looking at me.
“Do portals have makers’ marks?”
“Of a kind,” Nathaniel said. “Most beings will leave a kind of magical signature or a sense of their power behind with their casting. But the most extraordinary fact about this portal . . .”
“Other than the fact that it’s invisible and it’s not supposed to be there?”
“. . . is that it seems to have been wiped clean of all traces of power.”
I frowned. “But wouldn’t the process of clearing the power signature leave a trace, too? I mean, it had to have been wiped clean by magical means.”
“It would seem logical, but no. There are certain kinds of spells that can ensure that no trace is left behind.”
“So we’ve got a portal with no way of knowing who cast it or why. That’s just swell,” I muttered.
I drifted closer to the portal, frustrated by everything that had happened and the total lack of leads.
“. . . ddy!”
A voice, so small and faint I thought that I had imagined it.
“Maddy!”
I stood still, listening. It sounded tinny, like it was coming through a pipe, very far away.
“Maddy!”
“Beezle?” I called. “Beezle, is that you?”
No response.
“Madeline?” Nathaniel said, watching me with concern. “What is it?”
“Quiet,” I said. “I heard Beezle.”
“I heard nothing.”
“Maddy!”
There, again, first quiet, then louder. Where was it coming from? Was Beezle trapped somewhere in the alley? Was he hurt?
“MADDY! GET AWAY!”
There. It was clear as a bell that time. I stared at the portal.
“He’s there,” I said to Nathaniel.
“Who is where?” he said.
“Beezle is inside the portal,” I said, and I was sure of it, and I knew that it didn’t matter how it had to be done but I was going to get him out.
I walked toward the portal, as if in a trance, my heart beating faster and faster until it was galloping in my chest. Beezle. I could get Beezle back.
“Madeline!” Nathaniel cried, and he sounded alarmed.
I felt his arm around my wrist, grasping, trying to yank me away.
I pulled my arm free, turned back to the portal. Nathaniel grabbed me again, twisted me around to face him.
“Madeline, what in the name of all the gods are you doing? You cannot just walk into that portal without knowing what may be on the other side.” He shook me a little, his hands on my shoulders. “How am I to face Lord Azazel if you mindlessly walk into harm?”
I pushed his hands from my shoulders, furious. “Don’t treat me like a child. You’re only worried about how Azazel would punish you if I’m killed. Beezle is in there, and I need to find him.”
Nathaniel’s eyes were cold and furious. “Think, Madeline. The gargoyle may not be inside the portal. It may be a trap that
is laid for you.”
“I don’t care,” I said. “If he’s there, I have to help him.”
“You fool,” he spat. “There are terrible things that you cannot even conceive of in other worlds. And contrary to what you may think, I would not relish the thought of your being devoured by a monster, or captured by a demon tribe.”
My face reddened. Even if I didn’t like Nathaniel, I should probably stop acting like he had no feelings. “All right, maybe you don’t want me to get hurt. But if there is a possibility, even the tiniest possibility, that Beezle is in there, I have to go to him. I have to get him back.”
He’s the only creature in the world who has ever really loved me, I thought.
Nathaniel looked at me a moment. “You are going to go in there no matter what I say, are you not?”
I nodded.
“Then take my hand,” he said.
There was a time when I would have done anything not to touch him. But for this, for Beezle, I put my hand in his willingly.
We stepped into the portal, and as we did I heard Beezle’s voice screaming, “Maddy! NO! IT’S A TRAP!”
Well, of course, I thought. I knew it was a trap. I just didn’t care.
And then the portal was pulling us through, and I was in agony. I had traveled via portal a few times to my father’s house, and it was like having my head squeezed between two cinder blocks. Nathaniel gripped my hand tighter. My eyes felt like they were going to burst from my skull, and a moment later, we were out.
I felt Nathaniel’s grip on my fingers loosen and I landed flat on my face in something soft and wet and foul smelling. I gagged and lifted my head, spitting out mud.
“Is there some reason why you can’t follow the most basic of instructions? What don’t you understand about, ‘Maddy, no, stop, it’s a trap’?”
I wiped mud from eyes, pushed myself back to my knees, and looked for the source of that very familiar and beloved voice.
Beezle was inside a tiny metal cage on a little grassy hillock about ten feet away from me. He didn’t look much worse for the wear, but he scowled at me ferociously.
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