Shades of Wicked

by Jeaniene Frost

  I wasn’t the only one to stifle a laugh. Cat did, too.

  “Well, it seems like this intervention has turned into a party,” Cat said, her tone becoming markedly more cheerful. “Let’s break out the booze! Mencheres, I hope your mini bar has gin and tonic. I don’t know about the rest of you, but all this near-slaughter stuff has made me thirsty.”

  Chapter 30

  After more polite interrogation disguised as get-to-know-you conversation, I was ready to leave. All the liquor in the hotel couldn’t take the edge off being on the receiving end of countless appraising looks, veiled trick questions, and endless false smiles. It took all of my control to keep from telling them not to bother. Ian’s friends might not be actively trying to kill me any longer, but it was clear they still didn’t trust me. They shouldn’t, either, though not for the reasons they believed.

  Thank the gods Ian also wasn’t entertained, and he wasn’t shy about showing it. After the second hour, he stood up, announced that he was bored and said we were leaving.

  I didn’t cheer, but it was close.

  “Well, mates, it’s been grand,” Ian said in a tone that implied he felt the opposite. “Before we go, a reminder that Veritas’s real identity as Ariel needs to be kept in strictest confidence. After all, were it to become known, the council would torture the shite out of her, then who knows what other secrets she’d be forced to reveal?”

  Cat stiffened and Bones’s eyes narrowed while Spade visibly flinched. Once again, I almost cheered. With that single remark, Ian had reminded them that if they betrayed me, they also endangered the ones they loved most. Even Mencheres wouldn’t be safe, considering his history with me as Ariel, although he appeared the least concerned. In fact, he smiled at me.

  “This should prove to be most interesting,” he murmured.

  I didn’t know what he meant by that, but Ian said, “Until again,” and escorted me to the door. I hesitated over my form of farewell. I couldn’t say that today had been a pleasure. Not even I could pull off that momentous of a lie.

  “It was nice not having to kill any of you,” I settled on.

  Ian laughed and winked at his friends. “Definitely an original,” he told them.

  I was surprised when Cat hugged me. She must have caught it in my expression because she grinned when she let go. “Sorry, but where I come from, you hug your family. Ian is Bones’s cousin, so that makes the two of us family now, too. Don’t edge away, Ian. You know you’re next,” she added, and grabbed Ian.

  Cousins? I knew Ian considered Mencheres as a surrogate father, but I hadn’t realized any of them were related by blood. I met Ian’s eyes. His brow only arched as if to say, Your dossier knew nothing, as I told you.

  I’d ask him about being related to Bones later. Now, I just wanted to leave. When Cat finally let Ian go, we did.

  We took the elevator to the first floor. There, we picked up Silver from an empty room we’d mesmerized an employee into letting us use. We’d left Silver there since it would have been a bit much for Ian to show up with a new wife and a new pet, especially one that looked like a winged dog.

  “That was as much fun as getting head from a shark,” Ian commented as we left the hotel with Silver on his leash.

  I let out a grunt of agreement. “How much you want to bet they’re following us right now?”

  “Undoubtedly, but don’t fret. I intend to lose them in the tubes.”

  “You mean the subway?”

  He flashed me an impish grin. “Yes. Ready for some fun?”

  I must have been, since I found myself grinning back. “Oh, yes. Even if they somehow manage to keep up, I still want to pay them back for the miserable afternoon.”

  He laughed. “Then hold on to Silver and let’s do this.”

  We arrived in Trenton, New Jersey, as the sun was starting to set over the Delaware River. We’d given Ian’s friends the slip somewhere back in New York. We’d lost them after jumping from moving train to moving train so many times, I’d actually gotten dizzy. But it had been that giddy sort of dizziness that reminded me of children spinning in circles so they could laugh when they fell down. Ian had a knack for reveling in the moment no matter his overall circumstances. His joy was infectious, reminding me that somewhere along the way, I’d lost that. Finding it again felt like rain soaking into a drought-dried land.

  How I would miss him when this was over! I’d had more fun with Ian than I’d had in . . . I didn’t want to remember how long. Right now, I didn’t want to do anything except savor the moment. Soon, and only if all went exactly as hoped, we’d both go back to our separate lives.

  Ian kept a brisk pace as we went through an urban area of Trenton. After several minutes, Silver started to lag behind. I picked him up, murmuring, “Poor boy, I know you’re tired. It’s been a long day for you.”

  “Just a few more blocks until we reach the bazaar,” Ian said. “Shouldn’t take us long to get what we need there.”

  “What are we buying? Mirrors?” We could have done that at one of the many shops we’d passed, but maybe Ian had a special type in mind.

  “Magical supplies to power our spells. This bazaar doesn’t have the best stuff, but we can’t risk stocking up at one of my houses. If Dagon knows where they are, he’ll have spies staking them out.”

  “I can power the spells,” I protested.

  He gave me an amused look. “Your abilities are indeed impressive, but we can’t have you drain yourself on spells. You won’t have enough time to rejuvenate. All Xun Guan’s wailing over losing you moved up our timetable, remember?”

  I disputed the “wailing” part but I couldn’t forget the rest. In fact, I was glad I’d left my mobile back in that demolished New York City hotel room. It was probably blowing up from texts about my surprise “marriage” to Ian from fellow Guardians and some council members, too.

  “Guess I need to drop my glamour before we get there,” was all I said. “I can hardly go to a magic bazaar wearing my Law Guardian appearance.”

  “Not without causing a panic,” Ian agreed, flashing a grin my way.

  I found myself smiling back as I dropped my glamour, once again feeling my clothes stretch to accommodate the changes in my height and curves. For so long, I’d associated my real form with negative connotations. My silvery blonde hair with its gold and blue streaks was a constant reminder that my blending of species was considered an abomination to most vampires and ghouls. But Ian didn’t look at me with any of the disgust Tenoch had feared people would show if they knew what I was. Quite the opposite. Green pinpoints of desire began to appear in his eyes.

  “Perfection,” he murmured.

  Silver broke the moment by making happy little yipping sounds while sniffing several times. He must have caught the change in my scent, too. Guess Ian wasn’t alone in preferring my real appearance. Suddenly, I wondered if some of Silver’s happiness could stem from him knowing others of my kind. Were there others? Too bad Silver couldn’t talk to tell me.

  Five blocks later, Ian stopped. “Here we are.”

  I saw nothing but the underpass of a bridge in front of us, the river to our left, and an empty lot to our right. Whatever had stood in that lot had been torn down so long ago, only the foundation slab remained. But there had to be more here.

  “What’s the trick to penetrating the glamour around this place? Another gift to a bridge troll?”

  Ian grinned. “Nothing so extravagant. You simply need to work a spell. It should present itself soon.”

  A black cat jumped out from behind a bush near the underpass. It hissed at us, which made Silver quiver.

  “Don’t worry,” I told him. “It’s just a cat . . .” My voice trailed off as I saw the large nameplate on the cat’s collar.

  “‘I am a dog,’” Ian read aloud, snorting. “They’ve made the spell too easy. Must be catering to any sort these days.”

  His fingers moved as if he were rolling an invisible coin between them. When he was finished,
the cat had morphed into a dog. Now, Silver’s wings began to wiggle in a friendly way.

  “You can’t play with it,” I told him, sighing. “It might not be nice.” Or an animal at all.

  Before I was done speaking, the area around us changed. The empty lot all the way to the underpass beneath the bridge was now filled with booths, people, lights, and noise. So much noise.

  “Best deal for a love spell here!”

  “Grow your cock three inches in one dose!”

  “Look twenty years younger overnight!”

  “Lose all the weight you want with our new potion!”

  “It sounds like a bunch of late-night infomercials come to life,” I said, wincing. I remembered bazaars from ancient times, when they were commonly situated at the intersections of trading routes. Back then, they were one of the few ways you could experience different cultures. If I closed my eyes, I could still hear the sounds of people speaking long-dead languages, smell the delicious scent of meat from countless cooking pots, and see the blaze of fires that were the only illumination against the night.

  Ian snorted. “They have the tourist-trap vendors in front. The real quality magic dealers are in the back.”

  The booths weren’t merely lined up on either side of the orb-lit path. They were also above it. Some vendors sprinkled samples of their concoctions onto people below the way perfume hawkers at malls used to spritz unwary passersby. The layout reminded me of an advertising gauntlet. I doubted anyone had escaped with the full contents of their wallets intact.

  We made our way through the vendors, ignoring the shouts directed at us from all sides and the dusting of spells from above. One briefly changed my hair color to brown, then red before it went back to my natural silvery-and-streaked state. Another dusting of magic powder gave me gigantic breasts that popped the buttons off of my jacket before it wore off. I ignored Ian’s grin at that spell, saying “no” very firmly to the vendor.

  The crowds abruptly thinned as we approached the latter part of the vendors. The air changed, too. Faint hums of magic now felt like drumbeats along my skin. Ian was right. This section contained the real power.

  “May, my lovely one,” Ian said, walking over to a booth covered in fine silks instead of the plastic coating that was common for the other vendors. “It’s been far too long.”

  A regal-looking woman with red highlights in her ebony hair rose. “My beautiful one.” She greeted Ian, leaning over the table that displayed her wares to accept Ian’s kiss on each cheek. “It has indeed been too long. And who is this?”

  “Ariel,” I answered before he had to figure out which name to call me. Then I extended my hand. “Pleased to meet you, May.”

  She shook it. Her dark brown skin was warm, marking her as human, but the power tinging her aura denoted her a trueborn witch. There was also something in her gaze that made me believe she was much older than her mid-thirties appearance. Either she’d helped herself to some of the bazaar’s anti-aging spells, or she regularly drank vampire blood to stave off the effects of time.

  “Charmed,” she said, then politely returned her attention to Ian. “What are you seeking tonight?”

  “Six of the most potent spellbinders you have,” he replied.

  “Six?” Her brows rose. “You must be intending to do something very dangerous or very lethal.”

  Ian’s smile was instant. “Both.”

  She paused, then shrugged. “Very well, but as always, if you are caught with these items, you did not get them from me.”

  “Don’t fret, May.” Ian’s voice rang out with impish humor. “Law Guardians don’t scare me.”

  I rolled my eyes. He couldn’t resist, could he?

  After a large amount of gold changed hands, Ian had six carefully packaged binding objects in six different bags. “Remember, don’t allow the naked elements to touch each other until you’re ready to use them,” May said in parting.

  “Pleasure doing business with you, as always,” Ian replied.

  We were making our way back through the congested section of the bazaar when I felt a familiar, distinctive brush of power. “They found us,” I muttered to Ian.

  “I know. Determined, aren’t they?” he noted without a hint of surprise.

  Then a familiar voice shouted, “There you are!” so loudly, we heard it above the many vendors hawking their wares.

  Ian turned at the same time I did. Cat gave us a merry wave as she pushed through the throng of shoppers between us. Bones was behind her, his expression as intense as Cat’s was falsely cheerful.

  Inwardly, I sighed. You could run from family, but it seemed that you couldn’t hide.

  Chapter 31

  “It feels like it took forever to get here,” Cat said in a chipper tone when she reached us. “But wow, is this place ever worth it! I didn’t know magic users had their own version of a flea market. I am so getting that boob-booster spell. It’ll be fun having double D’s for a night, or maybe I should try—”

  “How did you find us?” Ian interrupted her. “I know we lost you in the tubes.”

  Cat gave him an arch look. “Oh, you did, but I have two words for you: tracking devices. I slipped one in both your pockets when I hugged you. You guys really went all out with the train hopping, didn’t you? It looked exhausting. That’s why Bones and I sat back and had some drinks while we watched the blips on our cell phones.”

  I shifted Silver until I was holding him with one arm. Then I began searching my pockets. Sure enough, I found a tiny, flat device no bigger than a ladybug in my front pocket. I hurled it toward the nearby river, cursing the entire time. Karma was quick to get me with this one. Just the other day, I’d tricked Shayla into hugging me so I could track her. Now I’d been had the same way.

  Ian handed me his remaining pouches of gold. Then he ripped his pockets completely off, hurling their contents and the material to the ground. He wasn’t taking a chance that Cat had slipped more than one tracker on him, it appeared.

  “Clever,” he told Cat with his own fake grin. “I would’ve felt a spell, but I didn’t think to check for bits of tech.”

  “Older vamps like you seldom do,” Cat assured him.

  Bones drew abreast with Cat. He gave a measured look around the market before his gaze landed on Ian. “Unusual spot for a pair of honeymooners, isn’t it?”

  “Says you,” Ian replied at once. “I have half a dozen magical sex toys in these bags.”

  I also didn’t miss a beat. “I like it twisted. Real twisted.”

  “Stop the pretense,” Bones snapped. “You’re not here for mystical bedroom props. Mencheres and Charles are combing through their allies trying to see if any of them knows what you’re really up to, but I wanted to give you another chance to simply tell us.”

  “C’mon, Ian,” Cat said, dropping her false cheerfulness. “Something’s going on. Whatever it is, we want to help.”

  I glanced at Ian. We really could use their help. Bones could use his telekinesis on Dagon if the mirror spell failed. Bones might not be strong enough to completely immobilize him, but he could slow Dagon down, and that might make all the difference. Moreover, Cat siphoned abilities from every vampire she drank from. She could be telekinetic herself from drinking Bones’s blood. She could also drink from Vlad and manifest fire, too. Or drink from the voodoo queen Marie Laveau to add grave power to that, and the list went on.

  If I had friends this powerful, I’d have already enlisted their assistance. But Xun Guan was my dearest friend, and she’d be appalled at how many laws I was breaking. Mencheres was the only other person I might have considered reaching out to, but Ian had made me swear never to tell him about Dagon. Everyone else powerful enough to help that I’d trusted was dead. There was a price for living as many years as I had. That price was burying most of my dearest friends.

  “Ian?” My question was clear in my tone. But when his features remained as hard as flint, I had my answer.

  “As I’ve told you both,
” Ian said in an acid voice. “Nothing is wrong, aside from my being interrogated, followed, and interrogated again. Blimey, Crispin, I treated you less suspiciously after you got married, and you might recall that our relationship was at its lowest point back then.”

  Bones’s flinch was almost imperceptible, but I caught it. Cat did, too. She linked her arm in his and gave Ian a measured look. “Bones thought he was protecting me back then. If you were him, you probably would have done the same. But we love you, Ian. You know that. And we want to help. Let us, please.”

  Bones gently pushed Cat away to move closer to Ian. Then he raised his hand as if to touch him, but dropped it with a sigh.

  “I have no excuse for betraying you. Oh, I gave myself many at the time, but I should have trusted you. I didn’t. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Believe me, I’ve regretted it ever since. You’re not just my friend, my sire, and my cousin. You’re also the closest I’ve ever had to a brother. You know that, don’t you, mate? I’d do anything for you, so tell me what’s going on and let me.”

  Ian’s expression softened. He even sighed as if not knowing where to begin. I laced my hand in his and gave an encouraging squeeze. He squeezed back, then looked at Bones.

  “Crispin,” he began. Then his eyes narrowed at something over their shoulders. At once, tension thrummed from him. “Go away,” he finished, his voice changing to growl. “Now.”

  Bones looked as startled as I felt by Ian’s sudden nastiness, but he planted his feet. “I’m not leaving until—”

  “Then we are!” Ian snapped.

  Now I saw what had alarmed Ian. Two demons were shoving people out of their way as they headed toward us. From their expressions, they recognized Ian. From Ian’s expression, they weren’t friends. How had the demons found us? Or was this simple bad luck? These weren’t the first demons we’d seen at this bazaar. The place was crawling with supernaturals. But they were the first that clearly wanted to start trouble we didn’t need.