by Amie Gibbons
“Book reference. There’s… bad scenes. I like some of that author’s stuff, but Ghost was not for me. Too rapey rapey. But, hey, right up your alley. Ummmm, I am happy you’re alive and all, and I was about ready to ya know, raze the village to take revenge, but some of that may have been your spirit hitchhiking in me anyway, but I um-”
“Ryder,” Grant said, grabbing my shoulder, “calm down.”
“You were right, sir, he’s… depraved.”
“And this is news?” Carvi shrugged. “I’m back to at least fifty percent of my normal energy levels. Considering I had to regrow a new body last night, that’s pretty damn good. I need a shower, feel free to go to Grant’s room if you need to get away from this, but personally, I think you would’ve enjoyed joining us.”
“I’m too tired for this,” I said to Grant.
“Don’t look at me,” Carvi said. “I’d give you blood, but as I said, fifty percent. I need everything I have right now.”
“I’ll be fine after some more coffee and less naked people,” I said. “I just… I’m thinkin’ I need a fantastic meme right now about how I just can’t even.”
“You come back from the dead and she deals, but sees the results of an orgy and she’s in shock,” Grant said.
“Go look, sir,” I said, pointing to the door. “Actually let me grab my stuff and I’ll follow you to your room cuz I can’t deal with seeing that more than one more time on the way out.”
I looked around. “Okay, I had a suitcase in here, right?”
“It was in the living room,” Carvi said. “But I dragged it to the kitchen to get it out of the way.”
“Oh, right, okay. I guess I can brave that for a minute.”
Carvi snorted and said something under his breath.
###
“Did you guys hear from Pyro last night?” I asked as we walked down the street to the garage.
Carvi shook his head.
“Ummmm, so he never came back out of the astral plane?” I asked. “Will he be okay during the day? What happens to him if he’s there when day hits?”
“Lea,” Carvi paused and grabbed my arm. “It’ll be fine. Either he drifted off like he normally does or he’s just stuck there for the day. Either way, he’ll be fine.”
“You don’t know that,” I said.
“It should be okay, Ryder,” Grant said. “I have a handle on some of this magic stuff, and it sounds like Pyro would be hard to trap.”
“Okay,” I said as we hit the garage.
Carvi pulled out keys and one of the cars clicked and flashed its lights at us.
He opened the passenger door for me and I glanced at Grant, who nodded. I slid in and Grant took the back.
Carvi got in and we drove out, Carvi rolling down the top.
“Not too bright for you?” I asked. “It’s midday.”
“Nah,” he said. “It’s fine.”
I flashed back to the beach scene. “Carvi, do you get power from the sun?”
He laughed. “Um, no, it may not hurt me but it’d take the son of Ra to actually draw power from the sun.”
“And who are you the son of?” I asked.
He shot me a smirk and a wink as he pulled onto the main road.
“Where are we going?” Grant asked.
“We got a lead in a vision yesterday,” Carvi said. “Remember that girl we heard about? The one who was gang raped over a year ago as part of some initiation? She had a sister.”
Grant’s eyes narrowed as they met mine in the review mirror.
“Related to our case?” Grant finally asked.
“Somehow,” I said. “Still now sure how, sir, but I recognized the sister’s voice even though I couldn’t see her in the vision.”
My mind drifted, tryin’ to make sense of all of it.
“Are you waiting as some kind of dramatic pause, Ryder?” Grant asked.
“Oh, right.” I shook my head. “No, I’m still just kinda shaken. The sister was the woman gangster we met yesterday, sir. Maria.”
Chapter seventeen
“Our records say Maria Sanchez lives here,” Carvi said, parking illegally in front of the building.
It was nice.
A giant curved building with lots of windows facing the other side, giving probably every apartment on that side of the building a view of the ocean.
“Carvi?” I asked, pointing to the car.
“Spelled. No cop would dare touch it,” he said, climbing out.
Grant and I followed him to the building and Carvi stared at the pad you were supposed to use to buzz in.
Something popped, electricity sparkled and danced over the pad for a split-second, and Carvi opened the door.
Now that was a nifty trick.
We walked into the building. It had an open lobby with seats off to one side in an open, living room kinda area, and a guard at one side.
We walked to the hall with a smile and nod at the guard, turned the corner to the elevator, and Carvi paused.
“What?” I asked.
“I just realized, everyone but you two, Blanche, and a few of my employees think I’m dead,” Carvi whispered. “The employees didn’t learn of any of this until they arrived in the morning, meaning the vampires were all most likely already asleep, and certainly not trolling for information, even if the employees did want to talk. And I know you three wouldn’t.”
Grant nodded along. “To the world, you’re dead. At least until the people there last night and the ones who saw you today start talking. No reason to correct that assumption.”
“I’ll be down here if you need me,” Carvi said, “but as long as everyone thinks I’m dead, we have an ace in the hole.”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure how we’d use that to our advantage, but we might be able to. “What apartment number?”
“Penthouse,” Carvi said. “Apparently gangbanging pays well.”
“Yeah, well, you’d know,” I scoffed.
Carvi shot me a look.
Grant pulled his gun and I followed suit as he hit the button for the elevator.
We’d cleaned up, armed up, and I was feeling more myself after the craziness of last night.
Maybe I needed some violence too.
We got on the elevator when it reached the bottom and hit the button for the penthouse.
Nothing.
“Carvi!” I hissed.
“Yeah?” he came in.
“We need you to fix this pad too,” I whispered, wigglin’ my fingers over the keys.
“What am I, your fairy godfather?” He grinned and held his hand over the keys and the penthouse lit up.
“Thanks.”
He nodded, lookin’ a little grey, and backed out.
He turned, eyeing the guard as the doors closed.
We had twenty floors till the penthouse and I leaned against the back of the elevator, looking at Grant.
“What, Ryder?” he asked.
“I’m just wondering when life got so crazy, sir,” I said. “It got crazy when I got my powers. Then a lot crazy as they kept coming, and then I was kidnapped and saved by y’all. And then I started workin’ for you, and things kinda calmed down. It was sorta normal, for a psychic. And then, ever since we got that case two months ago and we got into the vamp world… life’s just gotten weird, sir.”
“Yes, yes it has, Ryder.”
That was it?
I rolled my eyes.
Well, what did I expect really from Grant.
He’d kinda been talking a lot this weekend for him. He was probably out of his allotted amount of words.
The elevator door pinged open and we walked into a foyer area.
Grant tapped his finger to his lips and I nodded, taking position behind him.
He turned into the first area off of the foyer, leading into an open floorplan living room, dining room, kitchen area.
He scanned the room with his gun out, me covering his back and keeping an eye out behind us.
I straine
d my ears and couldn’t hear anything.
Grant walked through the big area and checked behind the kitchen counter and in the pantry and shook his head.
We walked over to a set of closed doors, trying one after the other. A half bath and a laundry room, and no one in there.
We backed out and crossed back to the foyer and to the other side, a short hallway with two closed doors and three open ones.
Bedrooms and bathrooms probably.
The first on the right was a bathroom. A full one, but sparkling clean with nice towels expertly arranged.
Guest bathroom.
The next room was a just as neat and tidy bedroom. So, guestroom. Next was an obvious home office.
The next had an elliptical and a set of weights next to a yoga mat, all just kinda tossed in and lookin’ like they hadn’t been used for a while.
But then again, how would I really know?
Grant turned the knob of the last room. Had to be the master bedroom. And if anyone was here, it was the last place they could be.
My heart echoed in my head and I was afraid Grant could hear it.
This was it. This could be the answers we were lookin’ for.
He opened the door and crashed through, gun up and him scanning the room with quick, expert sweeps.
I followed suit and shook my head.
No one.
Crap on a cracker.
But Grant held up his hand for a quick second before securing it on the gun again and crossing the bedroom towards the far side.
It was a big bedroom, with a door on either side. One with bamboo blinds opened out onto some kind of balcony and the other one had to be into a bathroom.
I cleared my throat and Grant paused, looking at me.
I pointed to the balcony and he creased his forehead, jerking his chin at the bathroom door.
I’m not sure why we were bein’ so quiet. If she was there, she heard us crash through the bedroom door.
I shrugged and pointed to the door again.
It just felt right.
Like I was pretty sure she was out there.
Gettin’ a tan maybe?
Grant nodded and twitched his gun as though to say, “After you,” and I hit the door.
I’d never taken point before.
I opened the door with a crash, rushin’ out with my gun drawn.
And slammed to a stop.
Maria stood on the railing, holding the decorative bars arching over the top of the balcony, long hair ratty and blowing in the wind.
She jerked and turned her head as I came out and stared at me, eyes wide and red, long dried tears on her cheeks.
Soooooo, no deck chair.
“Maria,” I said, lowering my gun as Grant walked out behind me. “I’m Ariana. Do you remember me?”
She nodded.
“Can you come down from there?” I asked.
She sniffed and looked away, staring back at the sidewalk far below.
“I didn’t know,” she said so softly I barely heard her.
“Didn’t know what?” I asked.
“What would happen. I just wanted…” She shook her head. “I didn’t know who did it. I guessed. And by then I was in, and it was so easy. I just wanted information. And when I found out who really did it, by then I was married.”
She laughed, loud and crazy.
“I never loved him. Couldn’t. But it was so easy to play him. I’d never done something like that. You know, some girls do. Some girls pretend, to get money or power or whatever. I never did. I just wanted to find a good man, fall in love, and be a vet. And then my baby sister dragged me out for spring break after my divorce. To cheer me up. She brought me to Miami. I was nearly thirty. I was done partying past midnight. I went back to the hotel. I mean, she was in crowded areas and her friends were supposed to be waiting for her back at the bar we’d left. She should’ve been fine.”
“Your sister was the girl who was kidnapped and gang rapped,” I said. “And you, what? Went undercover in gang central?”
“Yeah.” She sniffed and nodded. “And it was so easy. I thought it’d be hard. Hard to find them. Hard to get on the inside. But it wasn’t. Then I figured it’d be hard to pretend I wasn’t disgusted, hard to pretend to like one of them, but it wasn’t. I met Antonio and it was just easy. Easy to live the lie. I got in, got his trust, and just started gathering information. I found out about magic pretty fast. The gangs use magic a lot. And I started experimenting. And then…”
Her voice caught and Grant inched by me, his gun away.
I kept mine out.
Just in case.
“And then?” Grant asked, voice oh so gentle.
“She approached me, said she had magic, said she could help me get revenge for my sister. She knew who did it. She showed me. Showed me too much. I was so angry. I wanted to puke. So when she asked me, I said yes. I didn’t know what I was getting into.”
“You made a deal,” I said, stomach sinking.
I didn’t know a lot about Fae, but I knew you never made a deal with one.
“Gang members started dying and I thought good, you know?” she said. “But then…”
“Then they went after a waiter in a hotel,” I said.
She nodded, still staring down.
“Why?” I asked.
Grant shushed me and I shot him a dirty look.
He scowled and slashed his hand at me and I tossed my hands up, stepping back.
Fine, he could question her.
“I…” She broke off with a sob.
“It’s okay, Maria,” Grant said in his gentle, talkin’ to skittish horses tone. “We can talk about all this later. We need to get you off that rail first.”
She shook her head. “I’ve been up here since last night. Kept getting down and going for more drinks. Didn’t help. Still can’t do it.”
“No, because you know you’re not done,” Grant said. “You need to make this right. You want to make up for whatever you did, then do it by helping us.”
He lunged forward and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her in, and they both fell in a heap on the hard concrete.
She burst into tears and Grant rubbed her arm, whispering to her about how it’d all be okay.
“No,” she said. “Nothing will ever be okay again. I thought that after my sister too. Thought the world was coming to an end, but it didn’t. But now, I’m done. I’m responsible. All those people.”
“No,” I said, “the Fae are. You didn’t know. But you have to tell us what you do know. You can help us stop them.”
She shook her head. “No one can stop them.”
“We can,” Grant said.
“We will,” I said. “But it’ll be a lot easier with your help. What’s their plan?”
She shrugged, eyes locked on the bars around the balcony.
I could practically see her planning to launch herself over it.
I dropped my gun and lunged at her as she jumped to her feet and grabbed her arm, yanking her back as she grazed the bars.
Grant grabbed her without a word and picked her up, pinning her arms to her sides and half walked, half pushed her inside. I grabbed my gun, followed and shut and locked the door behind us.
Grant let her go next to the bed and she sank down on the edge of it.
“It’s my fault,” she said. “They said they had to have a human to run things through, that’s what they got out of the deal. And in return…”
“You’d get a lot of dead gangsters?” I asked. “Can’t say I have a problem with that part. The men who did that to your sister, they deserved a lot worse.”
She nodded. “But it wasn’t just them. I wasn’t specific enough. I said gangsters, not just the bad ones. I mean, you can have gangsters who run things more like a business. They don’t rape and murder just because they can. They’re like any other businessmen. That was Antonio. He was a business man. Protected his territory, sure, but he ran his drugs and weapons like an importing compan
y. I didn’t love him and I was disgusted at first because I thought they were all alike, but he wasn’t a bad man, despite what he did for a living.”
“But you just said you wanted them all dead?” I asked.
“Something like that. I didn’t mean ones like Antonio. But…” She shook her head.
“The Fae are like genies,” I said. “You can’t make a wish without it going bad. It’s how they mess with humans. And in deals, you gotta pretend you’re dealin’ with lawyers, basically have everything down to the last detail and no loopholes, otherwise, they seem to enjoy gettin’ away with stuff like this. But, what did they need a human for?”
“Said they had to run their magic through one, to… she explained it like money laundering, had to make it look clean. Said she had to go through me to make it look like human magic, so it could get past Fae barriers.”
I drew in a sharp breath.
“Did she test it on Friday?” Grant asked before I could say anything.
Maria nodded, looking up at him. “How did you know?”
“Did she tell you what she was doing, or just that she was testing it?”
“She… she told me she was going to test it, so I’d feel magic flowing through me, but that it wouldn’t hurt and it was just a test, that nothing bad would happen.”
“So the zombie and the little passion spell were her testing to see if the magic could get into the hotel,” I said.
Of course they were tests! Why else do little things like that?
The passion spell to see maybe how a powerful spell worked through Maria, the killing to test that shadow spell maybe, and the zombie to see how one that required continuous magic worked?
Maybe.
How did we not see it before?
“Why the bomb outside?” Grant asked.
“Bomb?” she asked, shaking her head. “I… I don’t know about any bombs.”
“They set off a bomb outside the hotel,” I said. “We thought they drove everyone out and set it off there because they couldn’t get inside, but now we know they could, or at least their magic could.”
She licked her lips. “I don’t know. They said they were doing it Sunday. Whatever it is. I don’t know. I just overheard that when they were using me as a conduit on Friday. I wanted… I wanted revenge. And they were saving the men who hurt my sister for the last, to make sure I kept up my end, but said they’d do others before then as a… a good faith payment.”