Out of Sight

by Stella Cameron

  I meant—um—on paper, of course. I promise I will be your partner. It’s just that we can’t risk some newcomer complicating matters.

  Pascal, where were you—

  Not now, Pascal said loudly. Then he lowered his voice. If you give me your word that you’ll work with me, I won’t kick him out in the street.

  That left Sykes without an easy comeback. Finally he said, That would not be my responsibility.

  You don’t feel any responsibility for a boy who may be your cousin?

  The stone glistened under the overhead white lights, beckoning. Sykes grew impatient. First things first. We find out if this boy was conceived while you were in a moment of confusion.

  How dare you.

  Be cordial. Listen to anything he has to say. When I can get there, I will. It won’t be in the morning.

  Pascal made a grumbling noise. That damnable Mario has gone to ground. Anthony picked him up at the airport and brought him here. He took off somewhere around the courtyard and we haven’t found him yet.

  It took Sykes only moments to remember Ben and Willow’s dog who had been sent home to New Orleans for a vet’s appointment. Craziness. Willow loves that dog more than she loves you, he said, deliberately unkind. You’d better hope he surfaces again. Goodbye.

  He let his guard drop firmly and instantly into place and locked Pascal out, at least until he felt he had the strength to deal with him again.

  The stone with its amazing shapes and textures magnetized him. With his hands extended, he approached and let his fingers run over the surface. In places it was silky, in other spots the finish was rough. Most of the gold veins had a porous quality, much of the green, especially where it was a brighter shade, felt as if it had been polished.

  He checked his watch. This room was soundproofed so he could work without fear of Poppy hearing him, but he didn’t want her to wake up and be confused. He winced. Not more confused than she was already.

  She had not insisted on rushing away from the house, although he thought she might have left at once if it were daylight. He wasn’t even sure if she was deeply angry with him for exerting power over her, but was she embarrassed at learning she was anything but an unwilling partner in their…encounters?

  Muscles tightened and a shiver went through him. Being with her was unbelievable—but he was willing to try making it real, again and again.

  He took up a pointed chisel and a small mallet to refine the line of the arm he had revealed, but he was drawn to the neck. It was young and inclined to one side. As he worked, the lobe of an ear followed naturally and the start of hair, full and flowing away from the jaw.

  An image came to him. A woman with a joyful face, but then, he had known this would be a woman. The questions were, who was she and why was she here in his studio?

  The hair was fuller than he expected, with wind-swept smooth lines. What he had done was very crude, but he could see where he was being guided.

  Then it was all a little jumble, lumpy and almost formless. He hesitated.

  He must get back to the bedroom before Poppy woke up.

  The overhead lights grew dimmer. Sykes glanced up at them and watched the beams pale to yellow, flicker off, then on, only the shade had turned purple and hovered above his head, a glowing purple cloud.

  Sykes prepared himself. He breathed deeply and opened his senses wide, ready for whatever was to come.

  Purple turned violet and intense, a fog that shrouded the studio. And he heard whispering. He knew from Marley and Willow that they also heard similar sounds, particularly Marley when she was traveling. And Ben spoke of faint laughter and light voices in the Court of Angels. Ben also insisted the faces of the angels there changed, but Sykes had never seen it happen.

  It is time to discuss the Harmony and what it holds. This was the voice of Jude. Sykes would know it anywhere.

  Welcome, he told the newcomer. I wasn’t expecting you.

  I am never expected, Jude said. Those who went before me hoped it would never be necessary to seek out the Harmony but I begin to be sure the time has come. I have seen things changing.

  Through the violet film, fading to mauve in places and drifting into green, Sykes saw Jude. As autocratically handsome as ever, the white streaks in his black hair seemed no more or less than when he had last appeared. His clothing, from another time and place, fitted him perfectly. His image was not clear and although he wasn’t in the semi-invisible state Sykes liked to play with himself, neither was he substantial.

  I’ve never heard of the Harmony, Sykes said, and he didn’t think he wanted to.

  It is explained in the preamble to the Book of the Way. It was written by one of our ancestors with help from several unrelated paranormals of his time, members of other families. Families you are aware of.

  The Fortunes? Sykes asked at once. Perhaps the Montrachets?

  Perhaps.

  With respect, Sykes said, aware that he had better be respectful but he was on overload. The past couple of days had come at him like rockets. With respect, sir, I’d like to see this preamble. If it’s so important at this time, I need to be aware of it. If you want me to do something about it, that is.

  You will have to find the angel, Jude said. I had hoped you would do so by now, but… He made a disappointed gesture.

  How are we supposed to know which angel we’re looking for? Sykes said. There are so many of them.

  If you had found her, we would know, Jude said. The ones who want this city are acting differently. Expect more of them to come, perhaps many more.

  Sykes rotated his shoulders. Is it to be some sort of invasion, then?

  I cannot say with certainty. My concern is for the family and those closest to them. The Harmony was created in case a great power was ever needed. It is well-guarded and beyond price. It is with the angel.

  Frustration overwhelmed Sykes. He pointed to the foot-high piece of marble on its plinth. You sent that to me, you must have. Is it part of the answer?

  Hurry, was all Jude said. I don’t know how long we have so you must hurry. You need the preamble. It will show you who our closest allies are, the ones we can call on if the worst comes.

  Gliding, Jude approached. The book appeared in his hands, large with a heavy gold cover studded with gems.

  He turned it to face Sykes and opened the front cover to the flyleaf. This was the Book of the Way, the Millet family rules.

  This is our book, Sykes pointed out. Why would others have anything to do with what was written in it?

  Because we were entrusted with what was written. We were to keep it safe and make sure it was acted upon if it became necessary—for the good of all our kind.

  Sykes ran his eyes over the yellowing parchment. Show me.

  Jude turned the flyleaf and smoothed it flat. He put the book closer to Sykes who leaned over it. He wanted to touch the paper, not that he would be allowed to make contact even if he did try.

  Close to the spine he saw the ragged edges of a number of pages that had been torn out. He glanced quickly up at Jude. This preamble you talk about. Is this where it’s supposed to be? Is it gone?

  Stolen, Jude said simply. And unfortunately I never saw it, so you must find it.

  You said you knew all about it.

  I know its message but not the details and that is why I cannot tell you more. He turned several more pages and there, in deep yellow, was a circle divided into segments from its center, like a wheel. I believe this is the Harmony with its seven partitions. Count them.

  Sykes did so and nodded.

  There are seven keys needed to open the sections and get to the Ultimate Power inside.

  But we don’t have all of them, Sykes pointed out.

  Jude closed the book and began to distance himself. Liam Fortune may know something, he said and faded from sight.

  17

  No way would Sykes allow Poppy to return to Fortunes alone. He wasn’t sure he would be able to let her go anywhere alone until he had a
nswers to the questions coming at them like bullets fired at close quarters.

  They went into the building by a side door and Sykes set aside the umbrella they had used. The streets were hot and steamy—and breathless.

  “I don’t need a bodyguard,” Poppy said. “You’ve got other things to do.”

  He took hold of her arm and made her look at him. “You matter a lot to me. More than a lot. I’m not leaving until I make sure you’re in a safe place.”

  Her lips parted and he saw her struggle with her emotions. She pulled away. “I am in a safe place. This is where I live and work.”

  She marched along a deserted passageway past storage closets, freezer compartments and eventually the kitchens. Sykes prepared himself for another confrontation with Liam or Ethan who had every right to disbelieve any arguments Poppy and Sykes came up with about not being involved with each other.

  When it came to Liam, finding a way to ask Jude’s question was uppermost in Sykes’s mind.

  “Um, Sykes.” Poppy skidded to a halt and faced him.

  Their eyes met for long enough to make him reach for her, but Poppy held up her palms. “We’ve got to get our acts together. This can’t be all about sex.”

  “Is that what it is for you? All about sex?”

  She made an ugly face. “Tricks and traps. What else should I expect from a man who gets me from the bathroom to the bedroom without my seeing anything happen.”

  Inspiration hit Sykes and he ran with it. He leaned against a wall, crossed one foot over the other and assumed partial invisibility.

  Poppy’s eyes enlarged in a very satisfying way. “What are you doing?” she whispered, looking around. “What if someone comes?”

  “I choose who sees me like this. At the moment, you’re the only one who knows I’m here at all. Now, could I get your attention, please?”

  She gaped.

  “That’ll do,” he said. “Good reaction.” And to increase the effect, he rose a foot from the floor while keeping his position against the wall.

  “Sykes,” she squeaked.

  “Just listen. I know your brothers are going to look at us as if we just got out of the same bed.”

  “We did.” She did another quick visual of the area.

  “We can deal with it in one of two ways. Let them think that or try to keep denying the obvious.”

  She turned pink and moaned. Sykes grimaced. “Am I so awful you don’t want anyone to think you’d sleep with me?”

  “Keep your voice down,” Poppy said. “I don’t go around sleeping with just anyone.”

  Sykes inclined his head. “How am I supposed to take that remark?”

  “Don’t take it at all. I’m not making sense because I’m rattled and it’s all your fault.” She wiggled a forefinger at him. “You hypnotized me without permission and that was a creepy thing to do. You invaded my privacy, took over my body and mind.”

  “I know, and then I forced you to make love with me.”

  She looked away quickly. “No, you didn’t. You were right when you said the trance must have gotten rid of my inhibitions. I did what I wanted to do.”

  “So did I. But it wasn’t just about sex. I really like you, Poppy. I care about you. I don’t know where we’re going, but that doesn’t seem like such a bad start.”

  He thought her eyes filled with tears. Then she looked up at him and he knew they had. “What is it, Poppy?”

  “Have you forgiven me for being a selfish pig?”

  “It isn’t for me to forgive and I don’t think you’re a selfish anything. But let’s save the topic. I’ve got to be certain Liam and Ethan know to keep an eye on you if I’m not around. It’s possible we need to have a chat with Nat about police surveillance.”

  “Please don’t do that.” She sounded desperate. “We have no proof that anything’s really wrong yet.”

  “One woman is dead? At Ward’s you saw four people you think weren’t human? Nothing wrong?”

  “I could have made a mistake about those people.”

  “And you could be right. We’re not taking the risk. There are enough of us to look out for each other and that’s what we’re going to do.” Jude had made the point and Sykes agreed with him.

  “I’m not helpless, Sykes. I won’t take any stupid risks.”

  “If Ward Bienville is released, will you spend time with him alone?”

  She peered into the kitchen, obviously buying time.

  “Poppy?”

  “If it looks like that could happen, I’ll let someone know. Okay?”

  It wasn’t, but he had no right to push too far. “Be very careful.”

  The door from the club banged open.

  Ethan Fortune stopped in the act of hurrying into the passageway. “Poppy! What the hell is the matter with you? Are you going to keep scaring the hell out of us?”

  Sykes backed up until he could reappear and join the two of them without Ethan seeing what he was up to. “Calm down, Counselor,” Sykes said, hoping his own easy smile would defuse the other man’s anger.

  Ethan, the youngest of the Fortune brothers, glared at Sykes. They were all blue-eyed and dark-haired, these male Fortunes. Too bad the Millets couldn’t get over their aversion to the same coloring in their own family. Poppy’s were the only dark eyes among her siblings.

  Every time she looked his way, Sykes got sucked in by Poppy’s eyes.

  “Okay, you two,” Ethan said. There was not the faintest crack in his anger. “Liam told me he met you coming back here together yesterday. Today it’s me who has the honor. Both times neither of us saw you for hours, Poppy. You’re a big girl. What you do is your—”

  “Business,” she finished for him. “That’s right. Why are you so doggone edgy?”

  Ethan looked here, there and everywhere but at Poppy.

  “Look at me,” Poppy told him.

  She got the brilliant-blue Fortune stare. “We love you. Is that okay? We’re worried about you. Is that okay?” He threw up his hands. “For cryin’ out loud. If we know you’re with Sykes and not a maybe murderer, we won’t be eating our nails up to the knuckles.”

  “Ward isn’t a murderer,” Poppy said.

  “You don’t know that for sure,” Sykes said quietly.

  “Okay. Would you mind coming through the club to the office,” Ethan said. “I don’t think we should be doing this out here. It’ll get busy soon enough.”

  “It’s only seven-thirty in the morning,” Poppy pointed out. “It isn’t going to be busy for hours. But it’s fine with me to use my office.”

  The inference was clear. She didn’t appreciate what appeared to be a general takeover of her life—and her office—by her brothers.

  “Follow me,” Ethan said, his face set. He pushed open a padded door into the very blue Fortunes club. “Things aren’t quite as quiet as you seem to think. We’ve already got visitors and they’re looking for you, Sis.”

  Liam met them in the middle of the club floor. He didn’t take his attention off Poppy. “What are you trying to do to us?” he said, turning a little red.

  Then he did look at Sykes. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to make the mistake of jumping to any conclusions again—not out loud. But I know what I think and I don’t understand what the pair of you are playing at.”

  “Really?” Sykes said, all innocence.

  Poppy elbowed him. “When everyone’s calmed down, Sykes and I will explain what’s happened.”

  That should be interesting.

  “Where’s your cell phone?” Liam said to Poppy.

  She pulled it out of her jeans’ pocket. “Right where it usually is. On me.”

  With finger and thumb, Liam took it from her. “It helps if you turn it on.” He did so himself and handed it back. “Your buddy Ward called here three times before I told him I’d let him know when I saw you. Ethan’s tried to get you, and so have I.”

  “I’m sorry, okay?” Poppy looked furious. “I’m not ten. I don’t have to tell an
yone where I am.”

  “You sure as hell don’t have to tell me,” Liam said, poking his face into hers. “Just as long as I’m pretty sure you’re alive.”

  A few employees were busy cleaning in the bar or polishing the brass tables but they still managed to send interested glances at the Fortunes.

  “Nat’s in the office with Bucky Fist,” Liam said. “They just got here. I was coming to see if Ethan had found you.”

  “Where did Ward call from?” Poppy asked.

  “How should I know?”

  Sykes began to feel sorry for Poppy’s brothers. He knew how it felt to worry about someone who meant a lot to you.

  The door to Poppy’s office opened and Bucky Fist, Nat Archer’s partner, came out. As always he wore a baseball cap back to front on his sandy hair and twirled a toothpick between wide-spaced front teeth.

  “Later,” he said, passing them. “Nat wants to talk to you first, Sykes, and Liam. Poppy, hang around, please.”

  “How did you know we were here?” Poppy said.

  “Wazoo was keeping watch,” Bucky said and sauntered out of the club.

  18

  Wazoo waved from a corner booth.

  “Has Nat managed to persuade her to stay in New Orleans?” Sykes asked. “I wouldn’t have expected him to take her to work with him.”

  “That’s mean,” Poppy said promptly and meant it. “She could be here to see me. Did you think of that?”

  Sykes rubbed her arm and smiled. “Sorry. I’m surprised to see her is all.”

  Her arm tingled and just looking at his smile made sure everything else tingled, too. “You’d better get in there to Nat,” she said, softening her voice. “Although I can’t think why he wants to see either of you.”

  From Liam’s frown, Poppy figured her brother didn’t know, either.

  Both men left and Poppy went to greet Wazoo. “Is Nat’s plan to keep you here working?” She knew what she had just said was not so different from Sykes’s suggestion. And she did not feel guilty.

  “Sit with me and I might just tell you somethin’ about it,” Wazoo said. The mug of coffee wrapped in her hands smelled too good. “You want coffee? Hah, I guess you’re the one to see about that.”