Miranda glanced toward the back of the bar where Tolly, Matt and Blue sat. They were out of sight, hidden by an outthrust wall and an intervening pillar. “All
right, 1 promise.”
“Thank you.” Tango turned around and looked up at her. The changeling was several inches shorter than she was. Miranda looked her over appraisingly. Aside from the strange smell of energy that she had, there was nothing to distinguish her from a normal human. Miranda wondered what Matt would sense around the small woman. She had heard fragmentary stories about changelings and what happened to vampires who drank their blood. Most went mad. Some died in lunatic raving. A few... a few ended up doing things that were simply impossible. One vampire had supposedly ended up wandering around in broad daylight, drunk on changeling blood and firmly believing that it was nighttime. The strange thing was that he had survived. He had walked a full day in sunlight and come back to his wits at dusk with no worse damage than a suntan.
Tango withstood her scrutiny for several minutes before asking sarcastically, “Haven’t you ever seen a Kithain before?”
“No,” Miranda admitted. “You’re the first.” “Really?” She seemed mildly surprised. “There’s a whole court of Kithain in Toronto.”
Miranda blinked. “Where?” She could hardly believe it when Tango said Yorkville. “Our pack goes through there all the time.”
“We’re sort of like vampires. You have to know what you’re looking for. So...” Tango considered Miranda with equal scrutiny. “Did you have anything to do with this murder last night?”
“No,” Miranda lied coolly, suddenly mistrusting the changeling. “You’ve heard the reports, haven’t you? He was beaten to death. Would a vampire do that?”
Tango was silent for a moment. “I suppose not. It just seems like an odd coincidence for you to be here....” “One of my pack is gay. He likes to hang out in Hopeful.” Part truth, part lie. Matt preferred to hang out around the frat boys that he fed on.
“Does he?” Desperation showed in Tango’s face. “Did he see my notice when you came in? Does he know Riley or a blond guy he might have been with here?”
“I don’t think so.” Another lie, of course, since Matt didn’t really know Hopeful. In fact, he had laughed at the notice. Tango’s mouth twisted in disappointment. Miranda almost felt sorry for her. “Who is Riley?”
“A friend. Another Kithain. A pooka, if that means anything to you. He’s got himself mixed up in something and vanished.” She looked into the bottom of her empty glass. “He’s been kidnapped.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” A smaller lie, but still a lie. Kidnapping and vanished people were commonplace among the Sabbat. Miranda supposed that she had become used to the idea. She had been kidnapped the night she was made into a vampire; she was probably still on a missing-persons list buried somewhere in a police file. “I hope you find him. Any clues?”
“Maybe.” Tango rapped her glass against the top of the counter. The overwhelming frustration that had been on her face when she first entered Hopeful returned. “I just can’t get to them.”
“Police records? Computer files?”
“The airport.” Tango bared her teeth angrily. “Did you know that the fucking Toronto airport is not in Toronto?” She lifted her glass and hurled it against the nearest wall. “It’s not in Toronto!” she screamed.
Hopeful was suddenly silent. Everyone turned to stare at Tango as she stood white-faced and rigid, glaring at the broken glass. Miranda stared at it for a moment as well, fighting down the instinct to respond to violence with violence. She put her hand on Tango’s arm. “Let’s go outside.”
“No,” Tango hissed through clenched teeth. “I’m staying here. I’m fine.”
Miranda smiled at the bar staff who were coming to investigate. “It’s okay,” she told them. “We’re leaving. Right, Tango?” The Kithain didn’t respond. “Right?” asked Miranda again.
The changeling took a deep breath. “No,” she said with icy control. “I’m fine.” She pulled away.
Miranda grabbed for her. “I really think it’s time to
go-”
“No.” Abruptly, Tango spit twice onto the stained floor of the bar. The energy around her changed, as though suddenly condensing into her body. Her arm under Miranda’s hand seemed to shift. It felt tougher, harder, tight bands of muscle moving under leathery skin. Tango pushed Miranda away with a strength that surprised the taller woman for a moment. Tango wasn’t the only one who was stronger than she looked, however. Miranda fought back with vampire strength, trying to force the changeling to turn around. If she could, all she would have to do would be to look into her eyes and the fight would be over. They would be out of the bar in moments. But Tango was fast as well as strong. Miranda tried to grab for her twice and missed. She wondered what it all looked like to the humans in Hopeful. Just two women struggling?
Then Tango made a mistake, driving her elbow back into Miranda’s abdomen, a move that would have knocked the air out of a human and left her on the floor, gasping for breath. It didn’t bother Miranda in the slightest, but she feigned weakness, letting her grip on the changeling go slack. Tango started to pull away... and Miranda slid around her, got one hand under her chin, and forced her face up. Tango had beautiful, sharp brown eyes. “Outside!” Miranda ordered her. “Go outside!”
Tango’s will was fiercely strong. Miranda’s was stronger. The changeling’s eyes didn’t go distant the way that the bartender’s had, but her body obeyed Miranda’s commands. Tango turned and walked out of Hopeful. The bar staff stood aside to let her pass. Miranda went after her. “Sorry,” she apologized to the staff.
“Glasses are cheap,” said Todd. “Make sure she gets home all right.”
Tango was waiting for Miranda on the steps of the bar. She was outside, but that was as far as Miranda’s orders had taken her. “You promised not to do that!” she growled roughly.
“I’m sorry, but you didn’t leave me much choice. Did you want to make a scene — or more of a scene?”
“I’ve never known Sabbat vampires to turn away from making a scene before.”
Miranda paused. Why had she stopped Tango from causing a disturbance? It would have been nothing to the pack. The others would probably have enjoyed it, in fact. Except, she decided, that a fight would have compromised the secrecy that Solomon wanted. A brawl would probably have meant a call to the police and the pack’s faces linked to Hopeful. Yes, that was it. Solomon would be pleased with her foresight. She faced down Tango’s angry glare. “The Sabbat knows when not to fight.” Miranda walked down the steps to the sidewalk, motioning Tango after her. “Come on.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
Miranda looked back up at the changeling stubbornly rooted by the door. “You can’t go back inside. Unless you want to stay where you are now, you have to come down sooner or later.” She sat down on the steps of the restaurant, now closed, next door. “What’s the big deal about the airport? It’s only in Mississauga. You can get a taxi there.”
“You don’t understand.” Tango was tense for a moment longer, then her head fell forward and her shoulders slumped. She came down the steps of the bar and seated herself beside Miranda. “I can’t leave Toronto. I’ve been cursed.”
“Mississauga and the airport are just on the other side of a highway from Toronto. It’s practically part of Toronto. The boundaries aren’t even marked.” Miranda frowned. Some vampires of the Sabbat dabbled in ritual, and, of course, she had seen Solomon’s human magick at work, but she had never heard of a curse that could be so finely tuned.
“This is Kithain magic. It doesn’t have to make sense
— it’s part of our nature.” Tango pushed her hands through her hair. “Every time I try to get to the airport, I start to choke. I can’t breathe.” She rubbed her neck. “It’s like somebody is strangling me. I can drive past the airport, I can see the signs telling me which terminal to go to, but if I turn off the highway and onto the a
irport grounds, I feel like I’m going to die. Same if I try to get a taxi — and I have. From the other side of the highway. Driver looked at me like I was crazy when I told him to turn around.”
“Can’t you just get the curse removed? Aren’t there ways to do that?”
Tango shook her head. “The short story? No. I can’t. If I try to, I’m in trouble with the duke of Toronto.” “The duke of Toronto?”
“The Kithain duke. You vampires really are insular, aren’t you? Do you ever pay attention to anything that goes on outside your own dark afterlife?”
“If it’s important.” Miranda looked out along the street. It was quiet and still a little muggy. Occasionally a car would drive past, its headlights blinding, or a knot of people would come out of a bar, breaking up like an amoeba to go their separate ways. “I bet I know more about Toronto than you do.”
“I bet I know more about the world and the way it works. Which is more important?”
“Since you’re stuck here?” Miranda turned her head to regard Tango again. “I’d say Toronto. Like knowing that if you’re cursed to stay in Toronto, you’re lucky to make it as far as the edge of Mississauga. That’s the border of Metro Toronto. The city of Toronto ends about halfway there.”
Tango was silent. After a moment, she said, “I’m sorry, Miranda. I shouldn’t have said that.” She sighed. “Kithain aren’t much better. I think I managed to piss off every one of them here before I found out what kind of trouble Riley was in. And humans.... Well, it’s just not the same. Most of them haven’t got a clue about what the world’s like. It’s nice to have someone who I can talk to and know they’ll at least understand.” She stuck out her hand. “Thanks for getting me out of there. I’m a little too edgy for my own good right now.”
“No problem.” Miranda shook the proffered hand.
The changeling’s gratitude felt as warm as her touch. Miranda found herself smiling. “So what exactly is it that you need at the airport?”
“Riley’s luggage. It’s at the Lost and Found. He... well, let’s just say that basically he disappeared after checking his bags at the airport in San Francisco. He may have been on the airplane with me, transformed into a little girl.” *
Miranda’s eyebrows rose. “That’s...” Impossible? The word came to her tongue easily, but since her own change into a vampire, she knew that very little was truly impossible. Tolly distorted his body totally unconsciously. Blue knew vampires who could take on the shapes of bats and wolves, and even clouds of mist. Solomon sometimes spoke of learning to shapechange. And there were the Garou, werewolves, for whom shapeshifting was a part of their very identity. “That’s strange. 1 didn’t think it was... easy to transform one person into another.”
“It’s not. I’ve heard of it being done. But not so quickly — it took weeks of sculpting the person’s body and rearranging their entire mind. It must have happened to Riley in the space of about an hour or less.” Tango fiddled with a ring on her finger. “I still don’t know who did this to him. They searched his apartment already and stole the information that might have identified them. There might be something in his luggage. If I could get to it.”
“I could...” Miranda bit off her words. What was she doing? Tango had started out as prey — she should stay that way, or maybe become a distant contact, someone to be exploited when the need arose. She should not become a friend! Miranda was a vampire of the Sabbat.
She chose her allies by what they could do for her, not what she could do for them! “I could get it for you,” she said gruffly, “for a price.”
Tango looked at her. “Could you? I don’t have any money on me.”
“For a favor. You’ll owe me.” A favor owed by a changeling would be good. “I have my own car. Where is the Lost and Found?”
“Terminal two. They’re open until midnight.” Tango’s eyes were alive with hope. “It’s too late now, but first thing tomorrow night? Would you?”
“If nothing comes up that I have to do with the pack.”
Tango’s smile was dazzling and ecstatic. “Thank you, Miranda!” She grabbed the vampire and pulled her into a hug. “Oh god, thank you!” She let her go and stood up. “The luggage is for Riley Stanton, flight 2800 from San Francisco. The person who called about the bags didn’t say what you’d need to pick them up. If you need a letter or something, I can...”
Miranda smirked back. “Getting them to give me the luggage won’t be a problem. Trust me.”
“I don’t suppose it would be a problem, would it?” She dug a card out of her pocket. “This is the address of Riley’s apartment and his phone number. I’m staying there. Bring the bags by as soon as you can. Miranda, you don’t know how much this means.”
“Oh, I do. And don’t think that I won’t collect.” Miranda allowed her smirk to soften a bit, relaxing into a smile. “Go home, Tango. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” Tango shook her hand then, pulled her up into another hug. “Thank you, Miranda.” The changeling let her go and walked away down the street. Miranda watched her walk into the shadows, then turned to go back into Hopeful.
Tolly stood at the top of the steps to the bar, watching her.
Miranda stared at him for a moment, surprised and angry. “Where did you come from?” she spat.
‘“E bafroom,” Tolly mumbled in response. “I forrowe’ you ou’.”
There was something odd about his face, about the way he was holding his mouth — odder than usual, anyway. Miranda looked at him with narrowed eyes. “What have you done to your mouth, Tolly?”
The mad vampire grinned broadly and let his tongue loll out. He had driven a thin spike of metal through it, one of the few pieces of his anatomy that had not been pierced before. Miranda thought she recognized the spike. It had been pushed through the skin just under his chin before. Miranda curled her lips in disgust. “How much did you hear?”
“You’re going ‘o ‘e airpor’ ‘o ge’ bags for ‘e ‘an...” Tolly stumbled over the word. Miranda saw a little trickle of blood as the spike poked against the roof of his mouth, “...for ‘e ‘an-gring....”
She cut him off, barely able to understand what he was saying. “All right. Enough.” She climbed up the stairs and gave him a hard glance. “You didn’t hear anything.”
tcj »
“Don’t talk. It’s disgusting.” She caught his face between her thumb and forefinger, pinching it. “You didn’t hear anything. You saw me feed on the woman from the bar, then send her away. That’s it. Understand?” He nodded. “Good.”
Miranda went hack into the bar. Fortunately, even if Tolly did say something about Tango, neither of the others would be able to understand what he was saying anyway. She didn’t want Matt and Blue to know about the changeling. Tango was her secret, her ally. Her... friend? Miranda clenched her teeth. Whatever Tango was, she was a welcome change from other vampires!
Matt and Blue were still sitting at their table. Wet rings on the table showed that they had at least moved their glasses of beer around, even if they hadn’t actually drunk any. “Well?” asked Matt. “Did you feed well?” “Well enough.”
“What was the commotion?”
“I was playing with my food.”
Blue snorted, then glanced at Tolly. “And you took your time. Did you make it to the bathroom?”
Tolly rocked his hand back and forth. “Yeah an’ no. Ra’ies room.” He patted his face with an effeminate, fluttering motion. “Pow’ere’ my ‘ose.”
“What?” Blue looked at the mad vampire sharply. “What the hell have you...?”
“He pierced his tongue.” Miranda almost smiled as Tolly stuck his tongue out and made Matt flinch in disgust. “What have you two been doing?”
“Waiting for you.” Blue tapped his wrist and the big, heavy watch he wore. “It’s almost one-thirty. Are we going to leave before your bartender or what?”
Todd. Tango knew him. Miranda hesitated. If the pack killed Todd, Tango would be suspicious. But the pack had
to kill tonight and satisfy Solomon’s commands. For the first time in several years, Miranda found herself reluctant to kill a human. She made her decision and stood. “He’s off. We’ll go to another bar
and find someone else.”
“What?” Matt’s jaw dropped. “After all the time you took deciding here? What’s the matter with him, all of a sudden? Has he recently acquired a friend? Is he suddenly too big for us to handle?”
Miranda glared back at him. “No. I just changed my mind. Fair enough?”
“No, it isn’t.” Matt rose to his feet as well. “We had him picked out, we had this planned, and you just decide to change your mind? The Sabbat isn’t an autocracy, Miri.”
“Are you challenging me, Matt?” hissed Miranda. “Do you want to lead the pack? You’re welcome to try and take it from me.”
Matt bared his fangs in a snarl. “Maybe I am. Maybe...”
Blue reached over and grabbed Matt’s coat, yanking him back into his seat. “Not here!” He looked around. “I don’t think anybody saw that.” The big vampire glanced up at Miranda. “We’re not challenging you, Miri—”
“Speak for yourself,” Matt muttered. Blue gave him a deadly stare, then turned back to Miranda.
“We’re not challenging you, but Matt’s right. We had this planned. It’s a good plan. We should stick with it. Unless you can give us a good reason for dropping it.”
She couldn’t, Miranda knew. She had no good reason except for wanting to hide their involvement in the murders from Tango. She closed her eyes, releasing her anger. She had no choice. “All right.” Miranda opened her eyes again. “The pack has spoken. We take the bartender.”
“Good.” Matt bounced up from his seat again, eager for the kill. Miranda found herself wanting to kill him. “Time check, Blue?”
“One-twenty'five.”
“Lots of time.” Matt led them out of Hopeful. Miranda walked last.
She spared Todd a glance as they passed the bar. He caught her eye and smiled at her. She looked away and hoped that Tango never found out. She had tried.
Pomegranates full and fine Page 10