He sounded casual, but there was something in his eyes that told me he wasn’t being completely truthful. I didn’t know what usually happened to old war mages, but it was obvious that Mac, at least, wasn’t content to just fade away. He craved the adrenaline rush of battle, maybe even the danger.
I decided on a change of subject. “So, my ward drew its power from the Circle, until they cut it off.”
He nodded. “Right, which gave it its strength, but also created a conduit between you. I suspect that John is right and the council got worried that you’d figure some way of turning their own magic back on them, so they shut down the connection.”
“Or they thought I’d be simpler to kill that way.”
Mac looked uncomfortable. “Perhaps. But what it means is that there’s nothing wrong with your ward, except that your mother didn’t have experience in doing the transfer so it got a bit warped. I can fix that, but its looks aren’t the problem. The reason it doesn’t work is the same as if a watch stopped. It needs a new power source.”
“What new source?” I was getting an idea about what the bad news was.
“The only one big enough to support something like this, other than the Circle itself.” He smiled gently, as if he understood my dilemma. “The power of your office—the energy that makes you Pythia.”
“No. No way.” I gestured at the curtain. “Give me one from the books out front.” There were some pretty scary ones listed; surely we could find something that would work.
But Mac was shaking his head. “I have no way of knowing how strong your innate magic is. Your aura is confused with the Pythia’s energy, and I can’t separate them. There’s no way to know whether you could support one of the larger protection wards on your own. If not, any tat I gave you would draw power from the reserve you inherited as Pythia, the very thing you want to avoid.”
“Then give me a smaller one, an easy one!”
Mac regarded me somberly. “You’re going into Faerie, a place most mages won’t venture on a bet. None of the smaller stuff would do you any good there. And none of the wards I have would protect you as well at that one. Craftsmanship like that is rare these days.”
“Maybe I’m stronger than you think.” I was a clairvoyant; surely I could manage to support one measly ward.
Mac only shrugged, causing his lizard tattoo to scuttle for cover again, this time under the snake’s scales. The snake didn’t like that and swatted at the smaller ward with the end of its tail. The lizard jumped out of the way, then ran across Mac’s cheek to the top of his head. It stayed there, peering out from behind a bushy eyebrow, regarding the snake with unfriendly black eyes.
I dragged my attention back to what Mac was saying. “Magic is like a muscle, Cassie, a metaphysical one but a muscle nonetheless. The more you work with it and train it, the stronger it gets. Whatever magic you have is raw talent. And that alone won’t get you very far.”
“Tony wouldn’t allow me to be trained.”
“He did you more of a disservice than you know. A powerful, untrained magic user is a target, nothing more. Power can be siphoned away if you don’t know how to protect yourself. The Dark Circle has no compunction whatever about stealing magic from anyone they can. At the moment, you fighting a dark mage would be like a baby trying to arm wrestle a bodybuilder, unless you use the power of your office. You need training, at least in defense,” he said seriously, “and the sooner the better.”
“Yeah, I’ll add that to my list,” I said bitterly. Everyone was always giving me new items for my agenda, when what I needed was help in clearing off some of the old ones. “Right now, I have a few other problems.” I turned, feeling Pritkin standing in the doorway even before I saw him. “Like how we’re going to get into Faerie.”
“We’ll get in,” he said grimly, and I noticed that he’d strapped on his arsenal. He had the long leather coat that acted as a slight disguise draped over his arm. “The problem will be getting out.”
“Are we going now?”
“No.” I tried not to look relieved at his answer. “Tonight.”
“Tonight?” I followed him into the outer room. “But the vamps will be up then.” I didn’t know that Mircea was in his safe room at the moment—first-level vamps aren’t bound by the sun cycle and can be active at any time of day. But most still sleep in daylight, since the night is much kinder to their energy levels. If Mircea was awake, he was probably sluggish. But tonight he wouldn’t be.
“We are not trying to penetrate the vampire area,” Pritkin reminded me. “And the portal is guarded by mages.”
“I don’t see how that’ll help,” I protested, not liking the idea of walking into a bunch of war mages any more than dealing with the vamps. In fact, it was probably even less smart—at least the Senate didn’t want me dead. Probably.
“Some friends of mine are on duty tonight,” Mac explained. “I think I can get you past them.”
“I have some supplies to arrange,” Pritkin added, throwing on his coat. I didn’t envy him that, considering that it had to be over ninety degrees outside, but I guess he didn’t have much of a choice. The police would probably object to his walking around looking like an extra from Platoon, and going about unarmed right now would be even less healthy than heat stroke. “I suggest you stay here, out of sight,” he said, avoiding my eyes. “Rest if you can. You may not get another chance for some time. And have Mac rework your ward,” he added as he headed for the door. “You’ll need it.”
He hurried out the door like all the hounds of Hell were after him. Mac looked at me and shrugged. “It’s your call, but I’d advise you to consider it, love. Faerie is a scary place, even when it isn’t on the brink of war. Right now, I can’t think of a soul who’d want to go near the place.”
“I’ll think about it,” I promised. I might have questioned him more, but my attention was distracted by Billy floating through the wall. He was making faces at me, so I figured he had news. “I’m tired,” I told Mac. It wasn’t a lie—sharing a room with the Graeae isn’t exactly restful—but I mainly wanted some privacy.
“Got a cot in back,” Mac said. “I cleared my appointment list for today after John showed up, so I won’t need to go back there. Get some sleep, Cassie.”
He meant well, so I managed not to roll my eyes at him. Yeah, sure. There were only about a hundred reasons why I’d have trouble sleeping.
Billy followed me to the back and I flopped down on the cot after shifting aside notebooks full of sketches, stacks of grimoires and old potato chip bags. “What’s up?”
Billy took off his almost transparent hat and fanned himself. “I need a draw,” he said without preamble.
“Well, hello to you, too.”
“Hey, I have had a day, okay?”
“And I haven’t? What happened at Dante’s? Is everything all right?”
“Sure, if by all right you mean that the Circle has closed the place while they search it for a certain rogue sybil and the illegal aliens who helped her elude them.”
“They’re searching? But that’s vampire property!” The reason I’d sent Casanova the remaining contents of the duffle was the longstanding treaty between the mages and the vamps. It contained strict prohibitions against any of one group entering the property of another without permission. “Are they crazy?”
“Don’t know. Some of them sure act like it. Anyway, Casanova was pitching a royal fit when I left, and he’d sent a couple of reps to MAGIC to complain. But these are weird times, Cass. Tony owns the place and he’s a known ally of Rasputin, the guy the Circle and the Senate declared war on a week ago. I don’t know what the rules are in wartime, and I don’t think Casanova does, either. Right now, he’s playin’ it safe. To keep from looking like he helped you, he pretended that you appeared and started wrecking the place because you’re pissed at Tony. The mages jumped on the excuse to say that they’d make sure you weren’t still in the casino, and started searching.”
“Great. So now I
’m some kind of lunatic who goes around starting fights.”
“No, now you’re some lunatic who goes around killin’ people.”
“What?”
“Yep. A couple of mages came right out and called you a murderer. I didn’t get details, but I’m guessing they were talking about the two mages who ended up dead.”
I felt sick. “Tell me the Graeae didn’t—”
“They didn’t. They tore up the place, but it looks like the mages were killed by Miranda’s group. Some of the more powerful gargoyles stayed behind to buy the others time to get away, and the mages started slaughterin’ ’em. Then the rest went ballistic and voilà. Two dead mages.”
“But the gargoyles were acting in self-defense!”
“They might get away with claimin’ that, ’cept they ain’t supposed to be here in the first place. Casanova got the rest of Miranda’s people out and hid them somewhere, and now he’s blamin’ Tony for bringing in unlicensed workers behind his back. He’s doing a pretty good job of covering his ass, but he’s leaving yours hangin’ in the wind.”
I fell back on the cot, feeling numb. None of this was happening. It had to be some kind of nightmare I’d blundered into and would wake up from any minute now. “If the Circle knows the gargoyles killed their men, why are they blaming me?”
“I don’t know.” Billy looked puzzled. “I saw the bodies and they have claw and teeth marks all over ’em. I guess it gives the Circle an excuse to brand you a dangerous lunatic.”
"Shit. ”
“Yeah, that about sums it up. So like I said, I’m whacked. I hate to be a pain—”
“Since when?”
“Very funny, Cass. I spend half the day gettin’ top-quality info for you and—”
I was too tired to go through our usual routine. “Fine. You can have a draw, but then you go back to Dante’s. I need you to give Casanova a message.”
“He may not be able to hear me,” Billy protested. “Some demons can’t, at least not in a human body.”
“Then you’ll have to get creative.” Given Casanova’s reaction to Billy’s presence earlier, I was betting he could hear him just fine. But even if not, I wasn’t going to let Billy weasel out of this. Casanova had to get the traps I’d sent him somewhere secure. Otherwise, with mages crawling all over the place, they were sure to find them and I doubted he could lie his way out of that one. Even if he did, it would only be by blaming it on me, and thereby giving the Circle yet another nail to put in my coffin. Not to mention a hell of a weapon, depending on just what was inside those boxes. I sighed. It looked like I should have kept them after all.
Billy left after taking what I considered to be an inordinately large draw, and I settled in for a much-needed nap. What I got instead was the disorientation that precedes a time shift. I tried to call out, to warn Mac that I was about to take a trip, but darkness reached out and grabbed me.
Chapter 7
My knees made the acquaintance of another hard floor, this one marble, and my head hit something with an audible crack. A green blur wavered in front of my face, and I slowly blinked it into focus. It turned out to be a porphyry vase taller than I was, complete with leering Gorgon-head handles. For a moment, I just sprawled beneath it, staring up at their ugly faces while my head and knees vied for the title of most abused anatomical region. But the marble was cold against my bare legs, and I didn’t think lying around in the open was too smart. I pulled myself into a seated position using the vase’s pedestal for leverage, and got my first clear look around.
I was in an alcove alongside a large, round room. The dark green marble floor was incised with gold lines that formed themselves into a starburst pattern directly under an immense chandelier. Three others just like it lit up a sweeping staircase, their crystals showering pinpricks of light onto the crowd below.
People passed me in a dappled river of candlelight, satin and flowing shadows. Men in swallowtail coats escorted ladies dripping with jewels. Subtle brocades vied for attention with flashy silks. Fans fluttered and hems danced in a kaleidoscope of color and movement that did nothing to help my throbbing head.
Most of the fashions looked like the ones I’d seen at the theatre, but there were a few more exotically dressed guests including an African chief wearing enough gold to buy a small country and a guy in a toga. It looked like a costume party, but I knew better. I pulled my legs up and wedged myself as far as possible into the dark alcove. It wasn’t much of a hiding place, though, considering the nature of most of the room’s occupants. For a moment, I just looked around in stunned awe. I’d never seen that many vampires in one place in my life.
Then I noticed an even stranger sight. A diaphanous form, transparent enough to be almost invisible, glided along one wall. It blended so well into the shadows cast by the chandelier’s long tapers that for a moment I doubted my instincts. Then it passed in front of a painting so dark with age that the subject was unrecognizable, and I saw it more clearly—an amorphous column of pastel iridescence. At first I thought it was a ghost, but the only discernable features on the protrusion I assumed to be a head were two huge, silver eyes. Whatever this thing was, it had never been human.
I was so intrigued that, for an instant, I almost forgot my predicament. There was a huge amount about the Pythia gig I didn’t understand, but I knew spirits. I’d met old ones who’d been around for centuries, new ones who, in a few cases, hadn’t even known they were dead, friendly ones, scary ones, and some things that weren’t ghosts at all. But this didn’t fit into any of those categories. I realized with shock that I didn’t know what it was.
It drifted along with the crowd in the direction of a ballroom directly across from the stairs. I couldn’t see much of the interior, which was lit for vampire eyes rather than mine, and received only an impression of laughing, candlelight-gilded faces and rich fabrics. But the thick, cloying scent of mingled perfume and blood that spilled out of its doors convinced me that I didn’t want to get any closer.
A young man, probably in his late teens, paused a few yards in front of me. He looked strangely out of place in the formally dressed crowd, wearing only a pair of plum-colored trousers in a silky fabric that hung low on his hips. His chest and feet were bare and his long hair was loose around his shoulders. It had a slight ripple to it as it cascaded down his back, like dark silk against his pale skin.
I really wanted to move, to get out of a place where my heartbeat had to be audible to the entire room, but he was in the way. And the last thing I needed was to answer questions about my right to be here when I didn’t even know where here was. Then one of the guests approached, a vampire with pale blond hair wearing what looked like a military uniform—red with gold braid and highly polished black boots. He stopped directly in front of the young man, his eyes sweeping over him in obvious appreciation.
The boy shivered, back tensing, buttocks tightening. He ducked his head shyly, causing light and shadow to play across high cheekbones and a cleft chin. His face flushed with a healthy glow, making him resemble the cherubs who stared down from flaking murals overhead, all but their pink faces lost to the dark.
The vamp stripped off one of the white gloves that went with his uniform. His hand stroked possessively down the boy’s side, fingers playing along the ribs until they came to rest on the thin silk clinging to his hipbone. The young man’s chest started rising and falling faster, but other than for louder breathing, he made no sound. My eyes focused on the boy’s bare feet, which were directly in my line of vision as I tried to melt into the floor. They were startlingly white against the dark green, and looked strangely vulnerable next to the vamp’s heavy footwear.
The young man stiffened as the blond head bent towards him, probably from the first glimpse of fangs, but a hand splayed possessively on his trembling back, holding him in place. He gave a small cry when his neck was pierced, and a visible shudder ran through him. But within seconds, he slid an arm around the vampire’s neck and began making low soun
ds in his throat, openly, generously eager.
The vampire pulled back after a minute, his mouth stained as red as his uniform. The boy smiled at him and the vamp ruffled his hair affectionately. He threw his short cloak around the young man’s shoulders and they walked together into the ballroom.
With a lurch in my stomach, I realized why I hadn’t seen any waiters passing with trays of drinks, or heard the chime of glasses. When the heart stops, blood pressure in the body drops to zero, the veins collapse and the blood starts to coagulate. Not only is it less palatable in that form, but it’s also harder to extract. Even baby vamps learn quickly—only feed on the living. At this party, the refreshments walked around on their own. And in my brief shorts and tank top, I looked a lot more like part of the beverage parade than a guest.
Almost as if he heard my thought, a vamp suddenly looked my way. He had a graying goatee that matched the silver brocade on his robes. They were lined with what looked like wolf fur, and he wore a large pelt draped around his shoulders. There was also something almost wolflike in the way he paused, one foot on the last stair, his nose tilted as if scenting prey. His flat black eyes came to rest on me, and a look of fierce interest crossed his previously unreadable face.
I scrambled to my feet and stumbled into the drifting crowd, panic lancing through me. The only doors were to the ballroom, and I dove for them as if my life depended on it, which it might. Somehow, I made it ahead of him, probably because he was too polite to elbow fellow guests out of the way. But a glance over my shoulder as I entered the dark, cavernous space showed that he wasn’t far behind. Anticipation had lit those expressionless eyes and I felt my stomach plummet. Some vamps preferred their food frightened and struggling; just my luck I’d find one on the first try.
I took a quick look around the ballroom, but there were no obvious exits. Of course, the stairs should have warned me—we were probably underground. I tried to focus, but it was difficult with power crawling along my skin like a cloud of insects. None of it was directed at me specifically; it was just overflow from the beings jostling me on all sides. I realized with a jarring shock that I wasn’t seeing merely a room full of vamps; it was a room crowded with master-level vampires—hundreds of them.