Fire in the Blood (10 page)

He blinked us out of the room without another word.

Chapter Six

We popped into my living room, and it looked like a tornado had torn through it. Though a tornado was entirely possible, because this was Illinois after all, I suspected the damage was of the intruder variety. No vamps, hunters or demons popped out of the shadows to attacks us. My wards felt intact, but that didn’t mean a thing where Kris was involved, because he could smash through them like a deer through a windshield. There was no sense of a current intruder either, and I called out for Harvey.

“Yes, Mistress?”

“You okay?” I asked. The vamps hadn’t seen him to attack him, and he appeared uninjured.

“I am well. You look much better.”

“Thanks. It looks clear here to me. What do you think?”

His ears twitched as he glanced around the room. “I agree.”

“As do I,” Faust spoke up.

“Okay. Harvey, grab whatever you’ll need for the next few days, and make it fast.”

“Yes, Mistress.” He headed off toward his room—yes, unlike most summoners, I spoil my demon with his own room, in addition to all the video games he wants.

I flexed my fingers as I fought the urge to start putting things to rights. The couch and chairs were destroyed, the pillows slashed and foam stuffing scattered across the floor. Glass was shattered in the frame of each of my Van Gogh prints. They weren’t worth anything, just high-end poster store copies, but I liked them. They were colorful and interesting and brightened the place up. My TV was smashed, and DVDs were strewn every which way. I felt violated. Nauseous. This was supposed to be my safe haven, my sanctuary from all the terrible things I saw and did while on the clock. Faust hugged me, and I sighed against his shoulder.

“We need to have a conversation,” he said.

“I know, but we also need to keep this quick, in case they come back,” I said. “Come on, you can help me pack.”

“I can provide you with clothes,” he offered.

“I noticed. Thanks for dressing me, by the way. I’d rather not flash my naughty bits at the Oberon.”

“I’d like to avoid that as well.”

I snickered and moved away before he could distract me further. Against my better judgment I peeked into the kitchen and found it equally destroyed. I thought the damage to the living room might’ve been done during a search, but my dishes were smashed. I doubted anyone could find clues to my whereabouts hidden in the pattern on my china.

With a growl of disgust I headed to my study. The door was open, and I froze as I stepped through. Everything was gone—my spell books, my computer, even my damn mystery novels. The destruction was devastating, but I was more or less prepared for it, and I could deal with that, because I could rebuild. Outright theft of my entire library, on the other hand…

“Aww hell,” I muttered. “So much for making my own spell.”

Faust stepped past me, headed for my desk. He picked up a piece of paper and read aloud.
“Dear Patience, because you have helped yourself to my library so many times, I decided to return the favor. I will see you soon. K.V.”

Balling my hands into fists, I let out a stream of expletives that’d make a sailor blush. That
bastard.
I stomped away to my bedroom, which was also in disarray. My stomach twisted, nauseated by the idea that the demon had rifled through my unmentionables. Then again, just because Kris stole my library didn’t mean that the vamps and/or the hunters hadn’t shown up and played a part in the mess. I paused as glass crunched under my conjured shoes, and I looked down at a broken picture frame. A family portrait was obscured by cracks spiderwebbing the glass. I didn’t have much in the way of mementoes, so I was pretty young in it—five or six years old, stuffed into an unfortunate pink polka-dotted dress with a matching bow in my hair—and I was surrounded by my parents and my mother’s parents. The hunters had killed the lot of them in the recent summoner purge. We weren’t close. Not a lot of summoners are what you’d call happy, loving or well-adjusted.

“Is that your family?” Faust asked when he joined me.

I cleared my throat and did the best to shake off the sudden urge to mourn. Now wasn’t the time to cry over my relatives, and I still wasn’t sure they were deserving of my tears. “Not anymore. Help me flip the bed.”

“Why?” He grabbed hold of the end of the mattress, curious.

“I have an emergency stash under the floor.”

“Very practical of you.”

We hauled the mattress off the bed, followed by the box spring, and leaned the two against my dresser. I hauled a storage container of out-of-season shoes out of the way, and pulled up the floor. A dull gray metal strongbox was hidden beneath the loose boards.

“This was my insurance plan in case I ever needed to split fast and head to a nice, warm country with no extradition laws.”

“Should we do that now?” he asked with a wicked grin.

“Tempting, but Kris would find us. Hang on, I need one more thing.” I handed him the box and sorted through the chaos of slain pillows and ruined clothing. Finally I found what I was looking for, and I snatched it up.

“Is that a stuffed dog?” Faust asked.

“Yes.”

“Is its name George?”

“Maybe.”

I hurried out of my room and headed to Harvey’s. He’d filled a backpack with what he considered the essentials, and appeared to be having a difficult time deciding between which
Legend of Zelda
game to bring with him.

“Come on, we’re out of here,” I said.

“Very well.” He scooped up all of his options and added them to his bag. I handed him my stuffed dog, which was, to be more accurate, a Weimaraner named George. I’d had George since I was a baby, and he was the only object in the world I had an emotional attachment to.

“I want you to look after this for me,” I ordered. “Keep it safe.”

“I’m honored,” Harvey replied. I knew he wasn’t teasing. In fact he looked a bit taken aback, because he knew how much the toy meant to me. Everything else in my condo was replaceable. George wasn’t. Harvey added George to his collection and zipped the backpack closed.

Faust popped us out of my place before anything leapt out to attack us, and we appeared outside the Drake Hotel. Between his charm, and a fake ID with matching credit cards from my stash, we checked into adjoining suites, and Harvey and I covered the rooms in wards. Afterward Harvey disappeared into his suite—again, I spoil my demon, and I didn’t want him to complain about overhearing any sexy fun time between Faust and me—I ordered room service.

“I could create food,” Faust offered, and I shook my head.

“Normal people order room service. We’re trying to appear normal here. Then again, normal people would have luggage.” I plopped down on the sofa, and a set of luggage appeared in the room. I laughed and smiled. “Very nice.”

“I did promise to provide you with clothing.” Sitting beside me, he took one of my hands in his and studied it, as though looking for some sort of magicky connection between us. Soul mates. Ain’t that a kick in the head?

“I’m sorry,” I apologized again. “The higher powers really are dicks for matching you with someone with the lifespan of a fruit fly.”

“It doesn’t matter. I love you.”

“I love you too, but it
does
matter. It’s not fair. You should be matched with another faerie.”

“No. I think that would be just as difficult. Most faerie relationships no longer last.” He squeezed my hand and smiled reassuringly. “We will just have to enjoy the time we have together…you’re certain you won’t consider necromancy?”

I wrinkled my nose. “Necromancy is disgusting. Besides, who would I feed on? Harvey? I don’t think so.”

“True.” He continued to peer down at my hand, tracing his thumb over my knuckles in a very distracting way. “I have had many lovers, but only truly loved very few of them. I didn’t expect to fall in love again, and then you gave me this.” He withdrew a silver pocket watch from his vest. It swayed back and forth at the end of its chain, glinting in the golden light of the room.

My face heated with a blush. I’d given it to him as a winter solstice present last year. “I don’t know why, but I thought of you when I saw it, and I knew I had to buy it for you. It seems silly, buying a watch for a faerie, but…”

“But it was perfect.” He smiled, and my heart fluttered. Geez, I really had it bad. He made me flustered and awkward like a teenager. “No one had given me a gift in a very long time. Most people ask things of me. Like Helen and Zachary. They’re very needy, but they never ask what I want, say thank you or offer to do things for me.”

“What can I do for you?” I asked, curious.

“Marry me.”

I laughed and kissed him. “Tell you what. If I live through this, then you and me have a date with a preacher in Vegas.”

He grinned, but it was a hollow promise. My survival was a really big
if
. The fact that I was still kicking after the rest of the summoner population had been killed was pretty miraculous. My concern must have shown on my face, and Faust pulled me to him and held me.

“Everything will be all right,” he assured me. I doubted that, but it was nice to hear just the same. “I have so little left. I won’t lose you too.”

Guilt threatened to swamp me—he was guaranteed to lose me if I killed Kris, but I couldn’t tell him that. Instead I forced a weak smile. “We have that in common. You lost your clan. I lost the other summoners. It’s us against the world, babe.”

“Then we’ll just have to look after each other, won’t we?”

“Looking after you sounds like a full-time job,” I said, and he chuckled.

“The same could be said for you. You’re trouble, Patience Roberts.”

Truer words had never been said.

Chapter Seven

Faust stirred and woke me at six in the morning. He didn’t seem like an early riser, so I blinked at him with bleary concern.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He sat up and rubbed his face with his hands. “Simon is calling me.”

Huh. Wasn’t expecting that one. Honestly I doubted that we’d ever hear from him again.

“You think it’s a trap?” I asked.

“Perhaps.”

I nodded. “Lemme dress and we’ll go.”

“You should stay here. Go back to sleep.” Faust turned and stroked my hair. It was a perfectly sensible request, so of course I ignored it and got out of bed.

“Nope. We’re in this together. You go, I go.”

Though he sighed, he nodded in agreement. “Very well.” His familiar gray suit appeared around him in a quick blink, ruining my view of his nakedness as he rose. Pity. The glasses reappeared as well, and I detoured from finding clothes long enough to gently remove his specs and slip them into his jacket pocket.

“Your eyes are pretty. Stop hiding them,” I insisted.

Faust frowned. “I like my spectacles. They make me look mysterious.”

“You’re mysterious enough on your own. You don’t need accessories to enhance it.” I kissed him affectionately, meaning to keep it light and walk away, but he wrapped his arms around me. Clothes appeared on my body—blue jeans, a black silk blouse and black combat boots. No bra, and I wondered if he’d left that detail out on purpose. Then again, I barely have any boobs to speak of, so they don’t really get in the way.

“Be ready,” he warned, and blinked us out of the room.

We appeared back in the library of Simon St. Jerome, and I tensed for a fight. The Titania and Oberon weren’t around to put me in faerie-blooded timeout if I was rude, so that was an improvement. But Mr. and Mrs. Michael Black were there, and that didn’t bode well. They stood together to the side of the antique wooden desk and looked vaguely displeased to see us. Mrs. Black gasped softly, and I was willing to bet that she recognized the family resemblance between Faust and Simon’s eyes. Now that I knew about their connection, I saw a few more similarities—high cheekbones, fair skin, slender hands, and fine, expressive eyebrows.

Faust stepped away from me, folding his hands in front of him. “You called?”

“I located the information you requested,” Simon replied. He held out a plain beige folder, and I eyed it suspiciously.

“Free of charge?” I asked.

“In this instance, yes,” he replied.

Watching him like a mouse waiting for the cat to pounce, I edged closer and took it. Vamps were fast, even librarian ones, but he remained calm and serene. Simon was usually even-tempered, but now it made me worried. I flipped the folder open and found a few pages covered in Latin. Like any good summoner, Latin is among the languages I speak. There are days I speak it more than I do English.

I quirked a brow at Simon. “Thanks. So it is possible to banish an ancient demon?”

“It hasn’t been done in modern times, but we were able to locate a few examples. Mostly legends, but you might be able to draw something useful from them,” he said. “I assume you are familiar with the requirements for killing an ancient demon.”

“Yup.” My stomach somersaulted, but I kept calm as I flipped the folder shut. “Well if that’s it, we’ll get out of your hair.”