Black Night (12 page)
I stood in the gangway between my house and my neighbor’s and leaned against the outer wall of the building, rough brick against my check, my eyes closed. My stomach churned with anxiety. What had happened to Beezle? Who had taken him, and why? Were they hurting him? Would they ransom him?
I felt the brush of soft linen against my cheeks, and looked up to see Nathaniel standing before me. He tucked his handkerchief back in his pocket as I straightened.
“I wasn’t crying,” I said.
“Of course not,” he replied.
“I’m just worried about Beezle,” I said.
“Naturally,” he said.
There was an awkward silence, and it only highlighted the nearly impossible distance between us. Gabriel would have comforted me, and I would have welcomed his comfort. Nathaniel didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t know if I wanted him to do anything anyway. And thinking these kinds of thoughts only made me feel more alone.
“I have arranged for repairmen to come and fix your back door and your broken window,” Nathaniel said.
The door. I’d mostly forgotten about it. Gabriel and I had pushed it back into the frame as best we could and nailed it shut yesterday morning—was it only yesterday? Why did it seem like ever since I’d discovered I was Azazel’s daughter I had more and more days like this, days that seemed like lifetimes?
“How did you get out the back door when the bomb was in your hand? The door was nailed shut.”
Nathaniel shrugged. “I tore it out of the frame.”
“Ah. But it’s going to be fixed now.”
“Yes. I would not wish to take any chances with your safety.”
He said this in a way that made me look up at him, and I thought maybe there was something like tenderness in his eyes. Maybe he meant it. Maybe he really did want to keep me safe. That didn’t mean he cared about the person I really was as opposed to the person he wanted me to be. And no amount of tenderness would help me find Beezle or Gabriel. But I needed him to cooperate with me, in at least one way.
“Listen, Nathaniel,” I said. “I really do need you to keep this business about Gabriel from Azazel.”
He frowned. “Are you asking me to lie to my lord? Because the penalty for such a thing would be fierce.”
As much I didn’t like Nathaniel, I didn’t want him to be punished. And I was sure that he wouldn’t be willing to sacrifice his beautiful face for my sake. I’d have to play this carefully.
“I think that you would agree that something strange is going on here,” I said.
He said nothing, only nodded so that I would continue.
“But I would not want to alarm my father unnecessarily.”
“Surely in an event like this you would wish him to know? What if you incurred bodily injury while the . . . Gabriel was missing?”
“Well, in point of fact, I already have incurred bodily injury. And I’m okay, thanks to you.”
“And what of the regular reports that Gabriel makes to Lord Azazel?”
I had thought this one through already, and I was pretty sure that I’d come up with a good solution. “What if you made the reports for a few days?”
Nathaniel’s frown deepened. “You want me to deceive my lord by pretending to be the thrall?”
I decided to overlook his reference to Gabriel’s status just this once. This part was going to be tricky.
“No, I just want you to call in to Azazel every day like Gabriel would. But I want you to edit your reports. Edit,” I repeated, when he looked like he was going to argue. “Not lie. Just fail to mention certain information. And if Azazel is hearing from you, then surely he won’t mind if he doesn’t hear from Gabriel.”
“But in order for me to report to Lord Azazel I would have to have daily knowledge of your activities and whereabouts,” he said.
I nodded. This was the part that I really did not like. “Right, well, you would stay here for a few days.”
He looked speculatively at me. “With you?”
“In Gabriel’s apartment,” I corrected.
Nathaniel appeared to be thinking it over. I found myself unconsciously holding my breath as I waited for his decision. There was no reason for him to help me, and really no reason for him to potentially put himself on the line for Gabriel. But this was the best solution I could come up with. My hope was that Azazel would be so happy that I wanted Nathaniel to stay nearby that he wouldn’t wonder about Gabriel’s radio silence.
What are the chances of that?
I thought to myself, and the voice in my head sounded a lot like Beezle’s. Azazel didn’t strike me as stupid, but I was hoping that I could pull a little sleight of hand. Maybe he wouldn’t notice what I was doing with my left hand because he was watching my right.
I thought to myself, and the voice in my head sounded a lot like Beezle’s. Azazel didn’t strike me as stupid, but I was hoping that I could pull a little sleight of hand. Maybe he wouldn’t notice what I was doing with my left hand because he was watching my right.
“Your plan is not without risk,” Nathaniel said.
I nodded.
“There is a strong possibility that my lord is already aware that the thrall is missing.”
Beezle had mentioned this, too, but as I’d thought about it, I realized that it couldn’t be true. “Wouldn’t he have contacted me, then, to make other arrangements for my safety?”
Nathaniel thought about it for a moment. “Possibly. Or possibly he is waiting to see if you will call him. It is impossible to divine my lord’s intentions.”
Great. “Well, everyone keeps telling me that I am more important than anything else to Azazel, so I am going to assume that he would have gotten me another bodyguard by now. Surely my welfare would rank above any mind games.”
“That would seem to be so, but it is not safe to assume anything with the Grigori.”
I was getting impatient with Nathaniel’s dithering. “Look, can we just assume that Azazel doesn’t know, and that if we pull this off, he will never know? Are you going to help me out or what?”
Nathaniel looked disapproving. “You are asking me to make a decision that may materially affect my well-being, for the sake of a half-blood thrall and a woman who does not particularly like me.”
I gritted my teeth. “It’s just possible that I might like you more if you help me out.”
“Very well. I will assist you. But I will want something in exchange from you at a later date.”
I looked at him warily. “Something? Could you be more specific about that something?”
“I do not know what I might need at a later date, so how can I specify?”
I thought about it for a minute. “All right. It’s a deal. But I have the right of refusal, same as you did. If I decide that the task isn’t something I want to do, then you can ask me for something else later.”
“It is a bargain, then,” he said, and he held out his hand to me.
I wondered if this was how Faust felt when Mephistopheles held out the contract. I was getting something I wanted, but what price would I pay?
I put my hand in his to shake, and instead he raised it to his lips. When his mouth touched my skin, I felt a little thrill of attraction deep in my belly, and again felt like I was somehow betraying Gabriel. I tried to pull away and his fingers tightened on mine.
“Remember, Madeline Black, you are my betrothed. There will come a day when you belong to me, body and soul. And then there will be no bargaining between us. I will be master in my own house.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and yanked my hand away, any hint of attraction doused by his attitude. “And you wonder why I dislike you.”
“You have lived too long on your own,” he said. “You will see my way is better, in time.”
I clenched my fists at my sides. I would not lose control and blast him back into the Old Testament, which was apparently where he had collected his notions of marriage. I needed him to help me now. If he wanted to believe that one day I would be a meek little miss who would cleave unto him without a word of protest, then he could have his fantasies. There was no guarantee that the marriage would actually happen in any case.
“Whatever. Listen, do you think that we could go back to the alley where Gabriel went missing and see if you can pick up anything that I didn’t? It seems like everything bad started there.”
“And what of your gargoyle? Do you believe that he was taken by the same creature that took your bodyguard?”
“I have to believe it,” I said. “Otherwise I have too many enemies to contemplate.”
“I am sure that you do,” he said. “Your lineage practically dictates that it is so.”
“Way to comfort, Nathaniel.”
We took off for the alley near the grocery store, the site of the second wolf murder, Gabriel’s kidnapping and my strange attack from Samiel. I felt like I might be pressing my luck going back there, since an assortment of bad things had already occurred at that site. But it was the only lead that I had.
Late-afternoon traffic backed up on Ashland below us as we flew. The sky had a gray, wet look and the air was cold and damp. I shivered under my coat. I was still wearing only a T-shirt and sweatpants, since I hadn’t really thought about dressing for the weather when I ran outside to search for Beezle. I couldn’t be seen when my wings were out, but I could still experience the elements. I was invisible, not indestructible. Nathaniel, on the other hand, seemed perfectly comfortable despite his lack of gloves and hat. Yet another reason to dislike him.
We landed in the alley just as it began to drizzle.
“Wonderful,” I muttered. “It’s so great when the weather obscures every possible piece of evidence.”
“The type of evidence that we are searching for would not be visible to the human eye in any case,” Nathaniel said. “You are looking for traces of magic, or the evidence of a supernatural being.”
“I thought you said that you couldn’t trace a power signature?”
Nathaniel huffed, clearly annoyed that I had reminded him of a defect. “I cannot trace a power signature, but I can sense the evidence of magic. You would be able to as well, if only you would concentrate.”
“So you mean that I don’t need you at all?” I said, but softly enough that he couldn’t hear. I hoped.
As Nathaniel walked around the area, I tried to focus my magic, to send out my will and look for the traces of other kinds of power. This wasn’t like casting nightfire, or even the kind of magic that I used as an Agent to break a soul’s binding to its body. It wasn’t about destruction. It was a softer kind of magic, and soft magic was not my specialty. I could barely control my powers at the best of times. Fine control was pretty much beyond me.
Still, I made the effort, because I was heartsick at the loss of Beezle and because I wasn’t about to let Gabriel disappear before I’d had the chance to figure things out between us. And, well, because I couldn’t let Nathaniel be right about me. I wanted to be more than a blunt instrument of force, too emotional to control my powers.
I imagined my magic like a veil, a shimmering wash of power that blew away from me with a whisper. The veil extended away from me, gently settling on everything around me. I held that invisible net in place, searching all along the fabric of my magic with my mind, and was surprised to find that I could “see” Nathaniel’s power inside the net. It was like finding a trace of heat on an infrared camera. I could clearly sense the pulse of magic and identify its source. Interestingly, Nathaniel seemed to feel my power settle over him.
“What is it that you are doing, Madeline?” he said. He was about five feet away from me.
I ignored his question. Emboldened, I pushed the veil away farther, trying to extend it over the breadth of the alley and then down to the T-junction where we had met the wolves. I felt beads of sweat break out on my forehead as it became much more difficult to keep the veil as light as a feather.
“Madeline, what are you . . .” Nathaniel repeated, but I held my hand up for him to stop.
I’d found something, and it was not at all what I’d expected to find. I’d expected to find traces of magical castings or, if we were lucky, an object that would somehow lead us back to Gabriel’s kidnappers. Anything but this.
“Nathaniel,” I said, breathing heavily from exertion. “There’s a portal in this alley, not ten feet from where we are standing now.”
7
“A PORTAL?” HE SAID BLANKLY. “THERE CAN’T BE A portal there. We would be able to see it.”
I could see it very clearly, a swirling vortex of magical power trapped inside my invisible net. As I watched, the portal began to pull at the edges of my net, trying to suck the magic inside. Since I had no idea where the portal went or who had put it there I thought not getting yanked in was a good idea. I quickly doused my will and the net disappeared.
“That was close,” I said.
“What was?” Nathaniel asked.
I explained about the vortex pulling on the edges of my power, and he shook his head. “This can’t be.”
“It can. I’m telling you that it’s there.”
“A portal does not operate in this fashion, like a secret door for club members only. It is always visible and always under the control of a master.”
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