by L. J. Red
“Hmm, very sad,” I said leaning back against the door. “So, she was a donor too?” I fished.
“No. I don’t think so; she didn’t really come to the parties.”
“Then how did you know her?” I coaxed.
“Oh, well, she showed me around on the day I got here. I’m not sure why. I think maybe she worked for the court? She was the one who gave me the tour and settled me in. Then she didn’t turn up for a few days, and then about a month later I saw her face on the news.”
“You didn’t find that weird? Unsettling?”
“The queen told us there was nothing to concern ourselves with. An outside vampire must have killed her to discredit the court. She said we could use the court’s chauffeured cars if we were worried about going out at night but”—she shrugged—“I spend my nights here and daytime isn’t any trouble.”
“How kind of Alexandra,” I said wryly.
“Oh yeah, she’s so great.” Her voice warmed. “She’s always so graceful, so in control, and in charge of all these vampires. Talk about female empowerment.” Eve’s eyes glowed.
I was pretty sure Alexandra, queen of an actual race of predators, was not what people were talking about when they said female empowerment, but whatever. Eve was clearly drinking so much of the Kool-Aid it was practically running through her veins. “What did you talk about when Sevda showed you around?” I asked, pulling the conversation back to Sevda.
Eve shrugged. “Just what it would be like here and what it was like serving the vampires. A bit about what my duties would be.”
“That it? All work? What about relationships? People she knew?”
“No,” she said, “sorry.”
“That’s okay,” I told her. “You’ve been very helpful.” She hadn’t really, but it didn’t hurt to keep her sweet. “Here, if you remember anything.” I pulled a card out of my pocket and passed it over to her.
Her eyes widened when she read it. “Oh shit,” she said. “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”
I shook my head. “I’m not the cops, and anyway it was your precious vampires who hired me,” I said, finally pulling the door open and stepping outside.
I glanced around the empty hall. Well, looked like this night might not be entirely a bust. I couldn’t hear the party from here. We were in an entirely different part of the building. Aware of Eve in her room behind me, I pulled the door closed and walked quickly down the hall, ducking around the corner.
Time to do a bit of exploring. I closed my eyes and relaxed into my magic, finally letting the veil that had been rippling and twisting in the presence of the vampires pull free and opened myself to magic.
Chapter 13
I slipped into the half world, my magic expanding out from me. The half world wasn’t exactly a different place. I didn’t move, I was still standing in the hallway, but it was like I was looking through a sheet of smoky glass. The solid items that mattered in the real world—the floor, the walls the doors—all of those went blurred and insubstantial. The only things I saw clearly in the half world were the living and the dead.
I opened my mental eyes to a world of shadows and whispers. Everything was insubstantial and echoey. I could see the loose threads that connected the dead to the living trailing through us, ghostlike. I sent myself out of my body and into the world around me.
Hot and bright, I could sense Eve’s presence receding slowly as she left her room to return to the party. The living I could only sense when they were close, but it was different with the dead, my range had been growing. I was surprised to find I could sense the partygoers downstairs. At least, the dead ones. The vampires were like pinpricks of cold, eternal light, and as I watched them, I swear some of them turned to watch me just as they had when I had first entered the court.
I turned away hurriedly; that wasn’t what I was looking for. Instead, I sank my senses into the rooms around me. If Oliver or Sevda had lived here then they would have left a mark on the half world. A lingering echo of their presence. The dead didn’t just haunt the places they died but also the places where they had lived. I reached deep and, in my heart, I knew I wasn’t just reaching for Oliver and Sevda; I was reaching for my sister as well.
But there was nothing there. Just like four years ago, when I had stood in a room much like Eve’s and desperately searched for an echo of her presence, Violet was gone. The threads that had connected her to the world were faint now after five years and at the ends, where her spirit should be waiting to talk to me, was nothing but frayed threads. Someone had cut her out of the world and I still didn’t know who, or why.
I forced myself to stop looking and turned my attention to Sevda and Oliver, fixing their images in my mind’s eye. Nothing. I frowned. Wait. Nothing? Not even the faint threads that I could sense from Violet’s life here?
Everything that lived left its mark on the half world. A trace, an echo, something. The frayed edges of my sister’s presence had always bothered me, but I’d assumed it was something to do with being killed by vampires, the dead creating the dead. A kind of infinity loop of magic that had tangled and torn her threads and robbed me of her spirit.
But this was different. Oliver and Sevda’s threads weren’t there at all. Where there should be some mark of their history here, something to show they had once lived, there was nothing. It was as if the entire place had been wiped clean. Like every single thread that had connected them to the world had been called upon, wound up, and taken away.
Was it because I didn’t know them? I had never had trouble sensing a spirit from a photograph before, even sometimes just from a name. Could I be looking in the wrong place? I pushed myself harder, straining for some echo, some hint of their presence. It should be here. If they had lived with the vampires there should be some mark left in the half world. Something I could use to prove what happened to them. Something I could use to give them justice. But it was useless. There was nothing. No matter how hard I strained. No matter how desperately my mental fingers swept through the air, they caught on nothing at all.
I finally came back to the real world, my eyes feeling grainy and my eyelids heavy. Fuck, I had overreached. I took a step, then, feeling shaky, half sat, half collapsed, sliding down the wall to the floor. I rubbed my hand against my forehead. Not enough sleep, not enough food. Stupid.
I took a moment to catch my breath, then shoved myself to my feet. I still felt shaky and on edge. The lack of Sevda’s and Oliver’s presence had unsettled me. And I didn’t like feeling weak while in enemy territory. I needed to get out of here.
I went down the stairs quickly, one hand tight on the handrail. I didn’t want to run into any of the vampires on my way out. I just wanted to get out of here and get back home, inject coffee into my veins, maybe eat something, or just sleep for a week.
No luck.
“Tiana.” Alexandra’s deceptively gentle voice greeted me at the foot of the stairs.
Chapter 14
I turned the corner and there she was, coming up the hallway toward me. “Lexi.” I pulled a twisted smile on my face. “I was just heading out.”
She didn’t bat an eyelash at the nickname, merely smiled, but it was an empty one, that didn’t meet her eyes. She looked down at me from her unfair height. How dare she glide in heels that high? If I wore anything taller than two inches I wobbled around like a penguin.
“Where is Valerian?” she asked, looking over my shoulder as if he would appear there just by the force of her gaze.
“I staked him and left him for dead,” I said. “I’m sorry. Did you want him back in one piece?”
Her smile widened. “Always so quick, Tiana.”
“You don’t know me,” I said.
“Hmm,” she hummed, noncommittal, coming closer to the stairs. “If Valerian has been anything other than polite, do let me know. I can find another escort for you.”
“Now you tell me,” I said. What the fuck was her game? Of all the people to send, Valerian was both t
he worst and the best. She knew that. She knew I couldn’t ignore what had come before. The good and the terrible. “Four years you all act like I don’t exist, now I’m suddenly guest of honor?”
“For your healing,” Alexandra said. “I thought it better you have no reminders of—”
“Yeah right,” I said, talking over her. “Like you gave a shit about my healing. And even if you did, you think being here, surrounded by vampires in this fucking building isn’t reminder enough? I guess when people started dropping like flies you changed your mind, huh?”
“You were so obliging as to become a private investigator and the number one in Seattle for solving magical crimes.” I rolled my eyes. That was an overstatement. “I knew you were the one we needed.”
“You knew I’d take the bait, you mean.”
“I hope you have found enough evidence to prove these murders had nothing to do with us.”
I scoffed. “Are you kidding? Oh Lexi, it’s early days yet. I’m sure I’ll be able to prove you bloodsucking leeches are to blame eventually.”
She only smiled wider. “So much anger,” she said.
“Can you blame me?” I spat.
“Of course not,” she said, her expression transforming into a perfect mockery of sympathy. “After what happened to dear Violet—”
I raised my hand. “Number one, never, never say her name in my presence again. Number two, don’t even think it, because I can hear you thinking.” I turned on my heel, done with this conversation.
“She was special, you know,” Alexandra said from behind me. “We all had such high hopes.”
“High hopes?” I said, rounding on her. “Are you kidding? You left her to die. That’s where your hopes got her.”
“Yes,” she said, “it was unfortunate.”
Unfortunate? I couldn’t fucking take this. “My sister was brutally murdered and left to die alone in the cold and you call that unfortunate?”
“And yet, she didn’t have half the fire you have.”
“Yeah, well. If it had been me murdered, I’m pretty sure she would have been here to kick your doors down too.” Was that true, I wondered. If I had tangled myself up with vampires first, would Violet have found herself in the same trap I did? Would she have repeated my mistakes just like I repeated hers? I supposed it didn’t matter. We would never find out.
Alexandra had come a step closer while I was thinking and I was suddenly on edge. My personal space limit for vampires was about three meters, or maybe an entire state line, one of the two.
“I’ve gotten up close and personal with enough vampires today,” I said warningly.
Alexandra’s mouth tightened into a line. “Gloria will be reprimanded,” she said. “I have a no-tolerance policy for harm against humans.”
She looked at me, and for once her eyes were honestly serious, the temperature in the hallway dropping. “You can believe that, Tiana. If I find out any of my vampires were responsible for the deaths of these humans, they will die for it. I will not have a repeat of what happened to your sister.”
“Yeah,” I said, the words dragged out of me. “You wouldn’t want to ruin your perfect public image, right? I get it, Alexandra. Murder is bad for business. That doesn’t change anything. You vampires are killers and you can pretty it up all you like with your fancy dresses, your jewels, and your parties but it doesn’t change the truth and it won’t stop me from bringing you down.”
I turned and left her standing there in the hallway, glittering and cold like blood on snow.
Valerian was nowhere to be seen, which meant I was missing my ride out of here, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to see him anyway. I decided to head for the street and call an Uber once I’d put some distance between me and the vampires. I almost made it out, but Kyran accosted me before I’d cleared the doors.
“Great, just what this night needed. A second run-in with the asshole in a fancy suit.”
Kyran smoothed his hand down his lapels. “You finished stirring up trouble?”
“Never,” I snapped back.
“Haven’t you gotten sick of doing this? It didn’t get you any answers the first time round.”
I clenched my hands into fists. I had had enough of these people bringing up my sister. The half world trembled around me as if it was responding to my rage.
“Or maybe you were too busy fucking Valerian to even care about what happened to Violet—”
I didn’t even think about moving. One second, I was standing across from him, the next my knife was pressed against his heart, the wicked sharp tip digging into his shirt. “Stop talking,” I said, my voice so low and steady it didn’t even sound like my own. His eyes had widened in shock. I didn’t know how I could have caught a vampire by surprise or how I had moved so fast. All around me the veil was shivering.
“Your little witch magics won’t be enough,” he said, recovering, and lightning-fast his hand whipped out and smacked into my wrist, knocking my arm aside and spinning me away from him. “You should have stayed away,” he said. “You don’t want to be here. This court may be shining on the outside but there’s a darkness here that will eat you up.” His fangs flashed and he leaped at me.
I don’t know if he really would have followed through on the threat. It would be stupid to break Alexandra’s rules when he was already on her shit list. But then Kyran had always been stupid. Either way, he didn’t have a chance to touch me. Valerian was suddenly between us and Kyran ran straight into his fist.
He reeled back, roaring in anger, his eyes flared with rage as he focused on Valerian and went right for the throat. I scrambled out of the way. I had thought Valerian was scary when he put down those humans in the street but the sheer violence unleashed in the clash of two alpha vampires was terrifying to see.
Valerian was alight with it, the violence seeming to wake something in him, something deep and dangerous and full of glittering hunger. He struck out at Kyran, his fist cracking against Kyran’s face. It terrified me, thrilled me. It was like staring into the heart of a tornado even as it ripped everything around you to pieces. The blows literally shook the room, the glittering chandelier above us clinking, sending fractured light up the walls. At this rate we wouldn’t be alone in the entranceway much longer.
Kyran snarled, blood dripping down his lips. “Such a devoted protector,” he spat at Valerian. “I know why you’re doing this. Careful now, Alexandra might decide you’ve climbed too high. She’ll find another way to bind you.”
“Don’t talk about things you don’t understand, Kyran,” Valerian spat, and swiped at Kyran when he made the mistake of coming too close.
A new way to bind him? What was Kyran talking about? How had Alexandra bound Valerian? He was too smart, too selfish, to let Alexandra get any power over him, wasn’t he?
Kyran snarled, unable to get close enough to attack Valerian. His eyes slid to me and Valerian’s warning growl echoed through the room. The tension in the room sharpened, It was as if the attacks from a moment ago had been posturing and only now were they unleashing the real threat. They both stopped moving, sinking into the terrifying stillness of the dead.
My sense of the half world suddenly expanded, as if the fact of them tapping into their vampire abilities somehow resonated with me. Valerian’s power flared around him like an aura of fire, open to me, vast and familiar, calling to my own magic with sweet, wordless desire. Beyond him I could sense Kyran. Not just the usual pinprick awareness of the dead, but his aura of power bloomed too, through Valerian, like Valerian was the channel connecting me to vampire magic.
Unthinking, just wanting this fight to be over, I reached out and sank my hands into the power. They both jerked upright, then turned to me, shock knocking them out of their rage. I froze in confusion. I had never felt anything like this before, but I could sense them clearly, sense their own power running through the half world so familiar to my own. Cold and bright. Death magic.
But the stretch of my powers was too
much for me after the searching I had already done and I swayed, turning it into a step backward at the last moment. My eyesight went hazy for a moment. I thought I saw concern on Valerian’s face before it blanked smooth. I let go of the magic hastily and swayed again, locking my knees so I wouldn’t hit the ground.
Valerian turned back to Kyran but I could see the fight was over, both of them unsettled. Kyran turned away and strode back into the court and I released the breath I’d been holding. “We should go,” Valerian said and didn’t even give me time to respond, gripping me by the elbow and tugging me out of the court.
“Get off me,” I said, pulling roughly free the moment we were clear. “What the hell was that?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
“Bullshit. Some vampire trick?”
“Tiana.” He reached for me and pulled me round to face him. “I swear to you I don’t know what that was. I can’t explain it. But it’s not the first time I’ve sensed your presence in the half world. Your magic is changing. Between us, something is changing.”
He was right. There was something going on with my magic, not just in the half world but here now, in his grip around my arm. That spark I could still feel shivering under my skin and at every point of pressure under his fingertips. The feeling was suddenly too much, too strong, and I pulled free of him. “You need to stop touching me,” I said.
“You need to stop putting yourself in danger,” he said. “I cannot protect you—”
“Protect me? Right, because you weren’t enjoying the hell out of that fight.”
“Tiana, please—”
“No,” I said. “You didn’t fight Kyran for me. You’re not protecting me. You did it because you get off on it. I saw it in your eyes; don’t lie. It’s the same thing I saw with those thieves last night. It’s nothing to do with me.” I forgot myself in my anger and stood toe to toe with him. “And that’s fine. I didn’t take this case for you either. I did it for the dead. They deserve justice and I’m going to prove that it was vampires that killed them and then I’m going to leave, you understand?”