by Karen Chance
I lunged, the broken sword that remained in my hand up and aiming for his torso. That close, I never miss—unless I’m using my left hand and wearing a dress with a trailing hem. My foot caught on the fabric, I tripped and slammed face-first into the wall. This is why I wear jeans, I thought furiously, as I spun, and plunged the sword blindly into warm, yielding flesh.
There was no chance to see what, exactly, I’d hit, because the next second I was thrown back a half dozen yards into the vestibule. I hit Ray and we went down in a tangle of thrashing limbs. I jumped back to my feet again, sword in hand—only to find that the battle was over.
Suddenly the only fey in the hall were four bodies left sprawled on the muddy boards. I scrambled toward the nearest, tripped over the dress again, cursed and staggered the rest of the way to its side.
I rolled the limp, blood- soaked figure over. The face was unrecognizable, but the torso was relatively clear of wounds—no jagged stab line and minimal blood.
The next one was the same, and the next, and the next. I stood up and kicked the wall, so furious I could barely see. I’d had him. Goddamn it, I’d had him.
Until I’d missed.
CHAPTER 26
The skirt of the dress was hanging half off and threatening to trip me with every step. I tore it the rest of the way loose and threw it on the floor. I was never wearing another goddamned skirt as long as I lived. Which probably wouldn’t be too long now that I’d let my best chance to rid myself of that unbelievable bastard slip through my—
Somebody whistled and I looked up, suddenly realizing that I had an audience.
And a hallway full of vampires.
The whistler was Scarface, who was leaning on the banister overhead, grinning at me. He was swinging a head by the hair, but it wasn’t Ray’s. The long, flowing silver-blond locks were gory, and the head itself was trailing veins and ligaments out of the neck, which hadn’t been severed cleanly as a sword stroke would have done. It took me a second to realize that it had been literally ripped off a fey’s shoulders.
Good, I thought viciously. And smiled back.
He patted it fondly. “Next time Convocation comes around, I’m gonna wear this on my belt.”
I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or his boss. Cheung was standing in the middle of the hall, just below the railing. His suit coat was off and his natty orange tie was askew, but otherwise he looked about the same. Except for the gun in one hand and the sword in the other. And his expression, which went better with the arms than the Armani.
I did a head count and realized that we were seriously outnumbered. In all, it looked like eight of his vampires had survived. Except for Scarface, they were crowding the small hallway, backing up the boss. And unlike their buddy, they weren’t smiling.
To make matters worse, it was past time for the wards to have kicked back in, if they were planning on doing it. The fey must have really screwed them up, probably so no one could raise them during the fight. It was a good strategy, but it meant just one thing for us.
If Cheung decided to attack, we were toast.
He glanced at me and Louis-Cesare stepped between us. Cheung regarded him impatiently, his face more fierce and hawklike than ever. “I have lost seven men tonight,” he said brusquely. “I think that is enough.”
Louis-Cesare nodded abruptly, but he didn’t drop the sword. Cheung made a disgusted sound and handed his own to one of his boys. He put a hand in his pocket and Louis-Cesare tensed. But he just took out a handkerchief to wipe some blood off his cheek. If it had been human, he’d have absorbed it, but the fey kind gives vamps no nourishment. And from what I’ve heard, it tastes foul.
“I don’t have the rune,” I told him, while I had the chance.
“I know you do not,” he told me, pretty calmly under the circumstances. “I saw your face when the fey threatened you. If you had had the stone, you would have used it. Or, if you did not know how, you would have given it to him.”
Louis-Cesare frowned. “Are you accusing Dorina of cowardice?”
“No. I would have done the same. The stone is valuable, but I would not die for it. And now I would like an explanation for why my men did so!”
Louis-Cesare and I exchanged a glance. I didn’t see any reason to correct Cheung about why the fey were here. Besides, I was fairly sure that finding Naudiz figured onsubrand’s list somewhere.
Just not at the top.
“Jókell—that’s the fey who contacted you—stole it from the Svarestri,” I told him.
Cheung’s scowl deepened and his tiger tat looked up, its emerald eyes gleaming. “He assured me that it was a family heirloom!”
“Maybe next time you should ask which family. The rune belongs to the Blarestri royal house. The Svarestri stole it with his help, and then he double-crossed them.”
Cheung’s face lost some of its color. “You are saying that there are two fey royal houses involved in this?”
“And at least three Senates. The rune’s the hottest item in town, only nobody knows where it is. And we can’t ask Jókell because he’s dead.”
“Yes. We found the body but not the stone. It had been taken.”
“By Elyas, of the European Senate,” Louis-Cesare informed him.
“Elyas.” Cheung’s hand clenched on the handkerchief. “He will pay for the losses he has caused me this night.”
“That is doubtful.”
Cheung bristled. “You believe that lightweight to be my equal? I would have challenged him years ago if I thought he would fight his own battles!”
“I believe only that it is difficult to revenge oneself on a corpse.”
Cheung looked confused.
“Elyas is dead,” I said bluntly. “Someone killed him tonight and took the stone, and no, we don’t know who.”
“You are one of the chief suspects,” Louis-Cesare added helpfully.
Cheung stared at him for a moment. “I beg your pardon.”
“Not anymore,” I objected. “He was here waiting for me while Elyas was being killed. And so were his men.”
“That is not an alibi,” Louis-Cesare argued. “He could have followed us to Elyas’s, murdered him and been here in time to intercept you on your return.”
“If he knew Elyas had the stone. But he didn’t. He wasn’t even in New York when Jókell was killed.”
“Perhaps, perhaps not. We have only his word for it that he arrived in New York when he said he did. But let us assume that he was telling the truth. He could nonetheless have surmised that Elyas was the thief. He had been plagued by telephone calls from the man all day; Elyas told me so himself. When the rune turned up missing, it would not have been difficult to infer that Cheung might be responsible.”
Cheung’s face had been getting progressively redder as Louis-Cesare talked. “You are accusing me?”
“You had an excellent motive,” Louis-Cesare said, as calmly as if he weren’t outnumbered eight to one. “Probably the best of anyone. The other interested parties merely want the stone. You need it, to avoid the wrath of your mistress.”
“But he was here all night,” I insisted, “from shortly after we escaped him at the Club.”
“And how do you know this? The man would say anything.” Louis-Cesare waved a hand, fortunately not the one with the sword in it. “He is clearly desperate.”
“He doesn’t look desperate.” Cheung looked somewhere between confused and pissed.
“Of course he is desperate. He is facing execution!”
“Execution?” Cheung said sharply, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of us.
“It is a death penalty to break the Senate’s truce. It is also death to murder another senator outside of a duel. And Elyas was slaughtered like an animal,” Louis-Cesare informed him. Cheung lost the rest of his color very quickly.
“But he was here,” I insisted. “We have a witness.”
“One of his men?” Louis-Cesare sneered. “They would say anything for him.”
“No. One of ours. He kidnapped Radu to find out who I was and to try to get me to talk. He’s around here somewhere….”
“You kidnapped my Sire?” Louis-Cesare demanded, rounding on Cheung, who was starting to look a little beleaguered.
“He has not been harmed.”
“That is irrelevant. Kidnapping him alone was a violent act and a clear violation of the truce!”
“She kidnapped my servant,” Cheung said, pointing at me.
“She is not vampire. The truce does not affect her.”
“She was sent by a vampire!”
“She was sent by the Senate, who I am sure will be receiving a formal complaint from Lord Radu very shortly.” He looked pointedly at me.
“Yes,” I said, hoping I knew where he was going with this. “And I might have mentioned that you were here, when I called to let them know I have Raymond.”
“They already have men on the way,” Louis-Cesare added confidently. “Can you not feel them approach?”
I thought that was a risky strategy, but it seemed to work. Cheung began to look a little nervous. Of course, that wasn’t necessarily good for us; he might decide to kill the witnesses and blame it on the fey.
“I didn’t mention the kidnapping,” I said quickly. “I thought there was a chance Radu might want to forget the whole thing.”
“Why would he choose to do that?” Louis- Cesare demanded. “At the very least, he could have the man formally chastised.”
I didn’t know what the Senate’s idea of “chastisement” entailed, but judging from Cheung’s expression, it wasn’t anything good. “Well, technically, no harm was done,” I pointed out. “And we are on the same side in the war….”
Cheung grabbed at the thought. “Yes, we are allies,” he reminded Louis-Cesare.
“You have a strange way of showing loyalty!”
“It was a… misunderstanding. I had been robbed. I merely requested Lord Radu to accompany me to this house to retrieve my property.”
“And is that what he will say before the Senate?”
Every time Louis-Cesare said “Senate,” Cheung flinched slightly. “There is no reason for them to learn of this.”
“Radu may feel otherwise. I do not like to speak ill of my Sire, but he can be somewhat… vindictive.”
“You could talk to him,” Cheung pointed out.
“Why would I do that?”
“We fought for you!”
“Not knowingly,” Louis-Cesare said.
“But the result was the same. You would not have carried the field without us. And therefore the debt is the same. And your family has a reputation for honoring your debts.”
“As does yours.”
Cheung’s eyes narrowed. “What do you want?” “Protection for this house for the next few days, until I can make other arrangements.”
I started to say something, then stopped. There were worse things than having Claire pissed off at me about vampire security. Assuming I could even figure out where she was.
“Agreed. And it is to be made clear to the Blarestri that I had no knowledge of their connection to the stone when I arranged to handle the sale.”
“Okay, but we get Ray,” I countered. “I promised to bring him in.”
Cheung rolled his eyes. “I have no further use for him. I wish I had never heard of him or that accursed stone!” He looked at Louis-Cesare. “We have an agreement, then?”
Louis-Cesare nodded. “I will do what I can with Lord Radu. But it would perhaps be best if you were not here when we have that discussion. Your presence might… inflame him further.”
Cheung didn’t go so far as to say “thank you,” but he nodded. He pulled a sheath off the fallen fey and handed it to a servant, who carefully enclosed the unusual sword. Then Cheung and half his boys slipped silently out the back door.
The rest lingered behind, looking awkward. “Would you… happen to have some tea?” one of them asked me, after a moment.
“Uh, yeah. I think so.” Claire had mentioned seeing some. “I’m not sure I know how to make it, though.”
“If you show me to your kitchen, I can manage.”
I pointed. “It’s through there. What’s left of it.” He nodded and the guys filed out, except for Scarface, who continued to watch us from above.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding, and sagged against the wall. Damn. That could have gone… well, a whole lot worse.
Louis-Cesare looked at me and smiled. “Lord Cheung is an honorable man.”
Lord Cheung had been in deep shit and just dug himself out, I didn’t say. Because pissing off Scarface wasn’t my idea of a good time. Not when I felt like I might fall over any minute.
And not when I still had a mess to deal with. I pushed myself off the wall.
“Where are your friends?” Louis-Cesare asked me, as if he’d been reading my mind.
“I don’t know.” I looked at the missing stairs. A few planks still clung to the walls here and there, and the top three steps remained in place. But that wouldn’t have helped me much, even if I hadn’t had one hand out of commission. “Maybe upstairs.”
“I will check.” He caught hold of the jagged edge of the floor above and pulled himself up. Scarface waited, arms crossed, eyes slitted, until he stood up, and then the two faced off. I held my breath; it looked like there might be trouble, after all.
Then Scarface grinned. “I never had the chance to watch you fight before.” He pursed his lips. “Not bad.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about, having been a little too busy not dying to pay attention to anyone’s technique. Louis-Cesare looked bemused as well, whether at the compliment or in surprise at who was giving it. But he nodded briefly.
Scarface started patting himself down, but his trophy got in the way. So he tied it to what remained of the banister by the hair while he searched around in his pockets. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing, and by the look on his face, neither could Louis-Cesare.
Eventually, Scarface located a pen and, after a moment, ripped down a hanging shred of wallpaper. He presented them to Louis-Cesare with a strange look on his face, half-hopeful, half-embarrassed. “You know, in case I don’t catch up with you at the Challenge.”
Oh, my God, I thought blankly.
Louis-Cesare gave me a fierce look, and I bit my lip while he hastily scribbled his name. I doubt it was very legible due to the nature of the paper, but Scarface seemed pleased. He folded it carefully and put it in his back pocket.
“You’re challenging?” I asked, as Scarface reclaimed his trophy.
“Damn right, I’m challenging. You’re looking at a future senator.” And the scary thing was, he wouldn’t be the strangest one I knew.
He eyed the remains of the fey. “You wouldn’t happen to know anybody who could get this shrunk by tonight, would you?”
“I think it takes a while. You have to remove the skull and then boil it…” I trailed off, because Louis-Cesare was looking at me funny.
“Damn.” Scarface cocked his head. “Then again, I could take it like this. Think I’ll intimidate an opponent?”
“You scare the hell out of me,” I told him truthfully.
That seemed to have been the right answer. Scarface laughed, clapped Louis-Cesare on the shoulder and somersaulted off the balcony, his grisly trophy bouncing against his thigh. I waited until he’d passed through the front door and went to retrieve my own.
Ray had ended up wedged in a corner by the back door. He had a muddy boot print across his face and one of his fangs had broken off. But other than that, he seemed okay.
“We got a bond now?” he demanded.
“Getting there.”
I tucked his head under my arm and went hunting for the rest of him. I was trying to haul his body out of a heap of broken furniture when Louis-Cesare came back. “They are not there,” he told me. “The rooms are disturbed, as if they were awakened abruptly, but there is no one anywhere a
bove us.”
My breath came out in a sigh of relief. There was a huge hole in the floor, another in the wall where the pantry had been, and then there were the missing stairs. No way had anyone slept through that. If he’d found anything, it wouldn’t have been good news.
“I also cannot sense them,” he said, listening.
Neither could I, now that I concentrated. There were no shuffling footsteps, no telltale heartbeats, no frightened breathing. Just the ancient fridge dumping some ice cubes, the soft sounds of tea being brewed and the pounding of the rain.
“Perhaps they returned to Faerie,” Louis-Cesare said.
“Maybe.” But that didn’t sound right. Claire had been pretty adamant about not returning without that damned stone, and anyway, she’d have just been stepping right back into the mess she’d fled.
Of course, betweensubrand and a palace full of assassins, I knew which one I’d choose.
There was probably another explanation, but I couldn’t think of it just then. I was feeling a little dizzy now that the adrenaline had bled away, and the lack of a meal in something like fourteen hours had given me the shakes. And Ray was caught on something, and one-handed I couldn’t seem to—
Louis-Cesare tugged him out and set him on his feet, and accidentally bumped my injured wrist. I sucked in a breath through my teeth. “What is it?”
“My wrist.”
“You never told me what was wrong with it,” he said, cradling it in one large hand.
“subrand,” I said simply. “He broke it last night, too.”
Louis-Cesare paused, but he didn’t say anything. And after a moment, I felt warmth slide through the damaged tissue, wrapping the bones in a web of power that, whether it helped the healing process or not, felt damned good. I could still feel the throb in the injury with every heartbeat, but it was distant, manageable. I’d get it bound up in a few minutes, but for right now, this would work.
“Thanks.”
He didn’t reply, just pulled me against him. His hand was in my hair, his heartbeat under my ear, and it was oddly soothing. What was even more so was the fact that he was still in one piece. I wasn’t sure how, but I’d take it.