Shadow Walker (23 page)

I had to admire Maya’s courage. She was the only nonmagical person in this room, and she’d already seen what Gabrielle could do. I cursed Maya’s stubborn stupidity at the same time, but admitted she had guts.

“Maya, if you’re staying, sit down over there and keep out of the way,” I said. “Pamela, make sure she doesn’t shoot anyone. Gabrielle, you stand here next to me, and I swear to the gods, if you touch anyone in this room, I’ll fry you so fast you won’t know what happened. Cassandra, start the spell.”

Cassandra, the calmest of all of us, spread out her map and opened a vial of black powder. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll need to borrow some salt.”

Cassandra couldn’t find Vonda. She tried many different variations of her spell, but at each attempt, her black sand and white salt lay in neat piles on the map and didn’t move. We postulated that Nash’s non-magic might be interfering, but taking the map out far behind the house and performing the spell again did nothing.

“She’s shielding, and the shields are strong,” Cassandra said. “Plus, I don’t have anything personal of hers.”

“Try to find the dragon then,” Gabrielle said. “We can follow him to her.”

“You can’t find Mick with a locator spell,” I answered. I knew this from experience. Once, during the five years Mick and I had been apart, I’d gone to a witch and asked her to locate Mick—I told myself that I simply wanted to see that he was all right. But I’d been missing him, heartsore, and I wanted to know where he was. The witch, a good one, had never been able to find him. It turned out that Mick had been very close, as usual, watching me, but he’d instinctively shielded the locator spell. All dragons did that, he told me later.

“We’ll go to the witch’s house then,” Gabrielle said, brow furrowed. “See whether she left something behind that will help us.”

“Not if she’s a good witch, which she obviously is,” Cassandra answered. “I keep my own apartment meticulously clean, knowing that one stray hair could betray me.”

That explained part of Cassandra’s fastidiousness. I suspected, though, that she’d be as neat as she was regardless.

“What about Ted?” I asked. “He’s human. She’d shield him when he was near her, but the minute he’s out of her range, would he show up? And then lead us back to her? Can you—I don’t know—cast a timed spell that will show Ted as soon as he’s out from under her shield?”

I knew as soon as Cassandra looked at me that she was a powerful witch indeed. She didn’t even flinch at my crazy suggestion but nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve never done that, but I could try it. I warn you that she might be able to cast a spell that shields him always, no matter how far he gets from her; plus I’d need something of Ted’s. A shirt, nail parings, a sample of his handwriting.”

Maya reached into her back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “How about this?”

It was the list Ted had made of the faults of my hotel. The paper showed boxes ticked with neat checkmarks, and Ted’s comments written with sharp up-and-down letters. Maya had the original.

“Perfect.” Cassandra smoothed out the paper, writing side down, on the map. “This might take a while, so I urge you, don’t interrupt me.”

“Sure thing.” Gabrielle straightened from where she’d been leaning on the counter and walked purposefully down the hall to Nash’s bedroom.

Nash strode immediately after her, and Maya, with a snarl of anger, charged after him. Pamela folded her arms and leaned against the counter, two feet from Cassandra’s side.

Nash had guns back there, and Maya still had hers. Gods, I wanted to put a binding spell on the lot of them.

Cassandra found Ted Wingate after a few hours—whether Vonda hadn’t shielded him, or Ted wasn’t with her at all, or Cassandra was just that good, I never knew. She put her finger on a line on the map of New Mexico and said, “He’s there.”

There
, I saw when we zoomed in, was a casino and hotel run by one of the small New Mexico tribes, located on a back highway, a little off the beaten path. I’d stayed there before, when my peripatetic life took me along New Mexico’s byways. The turnoff to the hotel was about ten miles east of Gallup, which meant nearly two hours from Flat Mesa.

“Will they still be there when we get there?” I asked. “Or are they making a pit stop?”

Cassandra rubbed her forehead, streaking it with her black powder. “I’m not good enough to know that. But they must be there for a reason, because Mick could fly them anywhere they’d want to go. Either that or Ted’s on his own, nowhere near his wife or Mick.”

“I’d like to talk to Ted, regardless,” I said with determination. “If he’s alone, he can’t move any faster than we can.”

“We have dragons,” Cassandra pointed out. “Colby and Drake.”

Letting Drake fly us there—he would never let Colby do it without him—would be risky. Drake might take the opportunity to kill Vonda while he had the chance, screw his deadline, which was four hours from now. Or Vonda might be able to discover Drake’s and Colby’s names and trap them as well. I still had no idea how she’d known Mick’s. Then we’d have three dragons to face instead of one.

I explained this to Cassandra. She nodded as she lifted the edges of the map and poured the powder and salt into a bowl. “Then we drive.”

Twenty-three

Again convincing Maya to stay behind was difficult. I needed Cassandra with me, and I didn’t want to let Gabrielle out of my sight. I also needed Nash, who would be my most formidable weapon.

“I want you and Pamela here,” I argued with Maya. “You have to make sure Drake doesn’t come after us, but tell Colby to watch in the magic mirror without Drake knowing. If everything goes to hell, we might need to call the dragons in, regardless.”

Maya was furious. “You can tell Colby that on the phone. You don’t need me to deliver messages.”

“I also want to know what Grandmother and Elena are up to. They’ve been entirely too secret in that kitchen of theirs. And I need someone to try to find Coyote.”

“Anything else?” Maya asked sourly.

“I think that about covers it. Ask Fremont to help you, and tell Colby to stay alert.”

I made a move toward Nash’s truck, but Maya stepped in front of me. “Janet, Nash thinks he’s invincible for some reason, and I don’t mean against magic. He has this idea in his head that he can’t be hurt. Either that or he doesn’t care that he can be.” She shot a vicious glance at Gabrielle, who was climbing into the backseat of Nash’s pickup. “Nash isn’t stupid enough to fall for Gabrielle, but he is stupid enough to think she’s harmless.”

“I know.” I gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Believe me, Maya, I’ll keep her far away from him. I don’t trust Gabrielle an inch, which is why I want her right next to me. And a long way from you.”

I stopped before I said anything sentimental, like “You’re my only girlfriend, and I don’t want to lose you.”

“You bring him back safe to me,” Maya said, scowling. “Or we’ll have words.”

“I will. I promise. Don’t linger here; go back to my hotel with Pamela. The witch can’t touch you there, but she might figure out what we did and backtrack Cassandra’s spell to Nash’s house. You’ll be safer at the hotel.”

She gave me a look full of fire. “And when you come back, we’ll talk about what else you haven’t told me about Nash and these women who want to make babies with him.”

I raised my hands. “Fine. I’ll bring the tequila.”

She flashed a sudden smile at me, remembering our first girls’ night at her house. We’d started out enemies and ended up . . . lesser enemies and very drunk.

I looked at Maya for a few seconds, then on impulse I grabbed her in a hug. Neither she nor I liked girly-girl hugs, but her arms came around me, and she held me tightly for a moment.

“Go,” I said, and ran for the truck.

Because Nash drove, we cruised the speed limit all the way, neither above nor below. Cassandra and I sat in the front seat with Nash, while Gabrielle lounged behind us on the half seat. When I’d ridden in this truck last fall, Nash had stashed in it a first aid kit that could have supplied an emergency room, plus enough gear for a seven-day hike in the remotest part of the earth. A glance in the back showed me the large first aid kit was still locked in place. Good thing, because we might need it.

The road into New Mexico from Holbrook ran straight across fairly flat land, the road bisected at times by shallow canyons. As we approached Gallup, canyon walls rose to line the freeway, and with them, the storm clouds. Snow began to fall gently as we approached Gallup and then passed it, the freeway looping away from the town.

I pressed my hand to the window, smiling to see the flakes of snow home in on my fingers. I let them go, not wanting to endanger us as we sped on into growing darkness.

The winter light faded, by the time we pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and casino, ten miles south and east. The high-rise hotel with its huge lighted sign was incongruous on this lonely stretch of road through a river canyon, with mountains rising to the south. But these days, tribes needed the money casinos brought in, especially the smaller tribes that had no other resources, and so there existed a swank hotel in the middle of nowhere.

We walked in to lights and noise and a swirl of people. We were a disparate bunch, Nash in his workout clothes, Gabrielle and I in jeans and leather jackets, Cassandra in her skirt suit with tasteful black pumps and turquoise jewelry. The clerk behind the desk blinked once, but her training took over, and she asked in a friendly voice whether she could help us.

As a hotel owner, I’d learned that, for both security and to protect your own liability, you never volunteer information about your guests. If someone asks to see a guest, you call the guest’s room yourself and don’t give out the room number. If no one answers in the room, you offer to leave a message from the inquirer. The last thing you want is for some crazed stalker to go charging upstairs, endangering your patrons.

I wasn’t sure how to ask whether Ted was here without alerting him, but I saw Gabrielle open her mouth to simply demand they hand over Ted, Vonda, and Mick. I pulled her out of the way and let Cassandra smile and Nash take out his badge and show it to the woman behind the desk.

“You’re no fun, Janet,” Gabrielle said as we walked away. “We’re all-powerful, half-goddess women. We should be able to take what we want whenever we want it.”

“You watch too many movies.”

“What else is there to do in Snowflake? Oh, look, video poker.”

I felt like a mother with an unruly teenager. I let Gabrielle plop onto a padded stool in front of a poker machine. She slid a credit card into a slot, which I couldn’t grab before she’d fed it in. The lights blinked and the computer dealt a hand.

“Is that your credit card?” I demanded. “Do you even have any money?”

“Relax, big sis. I have plenty of money stashed away, and I lifted the credit card from Nash.”

I dove for the button that would cancel the game, but she batted my hand away. “Just one. He won’t even miss it.” She picked the cards she wanted to keep, chose her bet, and pushed the button for the next deal. Three different cards came up, none matching what she already had.

“You bet twenty dollars on a pair of twos?” I asked. “Someone needs to teach you how to play cards.”

“I know how to play cards. It’s called gambling. The bigger the risk, the greater the thrill.”

I canceled the next hand and pulled her off the stool. “Risk your own money. Besides, I see Ted.”

Ted was playing blackjack. My annoying hotel inspector with his tan and his golden brown hair flashed his charming smile at the dealer, a young woman who kept her smile neutral while she dealt him another card. Ted was winning, chips stacked in neat piles next to his hand.

The young woman turned over her own cards, a nine and a three, followed by a king. “House busts,” she announced. She passed chips to Ted and two others at the table.

Ted chuckled and raked his win toward his pile. “That’s all right, little lady. Maybe you’ll get me next time.”

Gabrielle scooted onto a chair next to Ted, boldly took one of his chips, and pushed it at the young woman. “Deal me in.”

“Hey.” Ted’s glare softened into a smile as he looked Gabrielle up and down, obviously not knowing who she was. “Well, now, I guess I don’t mind if you want to sit next to me, little gal.”

Ick. I leaned on the table on Ted’s other side. “Hi, Ted.”

Ted swung around, and all the color drained from his face.

I smiled. “Be careful how you talk to my sister.”

“Your sis—” Ted broke off.

I drew on the storm outside, which had started swirling in earnest, and showed Ted, under the table, the white ice whirling in my fingers.

“Sit tight,” I told him. “Let Gabrielle finish, and then we’ll go upstairs.”

Ted gave me a tense look, clearly remembering my icequeen magic at his office. On his other side, Gabrielle glanced at her cards, a jack and a six, and asked for a hit. I resisted rolling my eyes, and the dealer turned over an eight.

Gabrielle shrugged as the dealer raked away the chip. “Sorry, Ted,” she said. “Maybe I should bet more on the next one.”

“No, we’re done.” I put my hand on Ted’s shoulder, letting the cold of the snow burn through his shirt. “Pick up your chips, Ted.”

“I’ve got them.” Gabrielle swept them into her hands and walked away. Ted had no choice but to follow.

Gabrielle went to the cashier’s cage and handed over the chips, eagerly snatching up the stack of hundreds and twenties the cashier pushed back at her. She pocketed the money with a wink at Ted, who choked but said nothing.

Cassandra and Nash were no longer at the front desk as Gabrielle and I walked Ted out of the casino, but I didn’t want to look for them. If they’d found Vonda, Cassandra would have alerted me, and I didn’t want to risk losing hold of Ted.

We waited for an elevator to empty; then I pushed Ted into it, my hand firmly on his elbow. His entire arm was cold now, and he shivered. I waited for Ted to let me know what floor. He said seven. I hoped for his sake he wasn’t lying.

“Gabrielle, you
stick
on a sixteen,” I said in an admonishing tone as the doors slid closed. The elevator swiftly rose. “You really need to learn about odds.”

Gabrielle fingered the wad of cash in her pocket. “You don’t stick if you’re trying to lose other people’s money. Thanks, Ted. Consider it payback for the trouble you’ve caused me.”

“I don’t even know who you are,” Ted said.

“You don’t, but your wife does. Who do you think paid your way into that job in Flat Mesa? Or rented your house? That was me, Gabrielle, your fairy godmother. All you had to do—
all
you had to do—was get Nash Jones over to your house and have Vonda hold on to him for me. But, no, you two had to play your own little game, and now you’re going to answer for it. You don’t take money for a job and then don’t do the job.”

“I think Ted became a little too fond of his work,” I said. “As the inspector, I mean, making sure I couldn’t possibly pass his little tests. I bet you enjoyed making out that check sheet and waving it in my face.”

Ted’s own face was pale, his lips blue, as the cold from my hands seeped into his blood. “I didn’t have a choice. Vonda said I had to.”

“Vonda needs to answer a lot of questions. I sure hope she’s here.”

“She is.” Ted’s lips compressed from more than cold. “She sent me off to play so she could be alone with your boyfriend.”

My heart constricted, but I refused to let him worry me. One thing at a time.

The elevator doors opened. Gabrielle danced out before us. “Which one?”

“Seven twenty-six,” Ted said in a dull voice.

Gabrielle ran down the hall, not bothering to be quiet. She stopped in front of room 726, and blasted the lock with a beam of Beneath magic. Ted made a strangled noise.

I shook my head. “I can’t do anything about her. Gabrielle’s kind of out of control. But you know what little sisters are like.”

Gabrielle was smart enough to step aside as she slammed open the door. I felt the witch in there, powerful, her aura a strange smoky color, and mixed with hers, the fiery red of a dragon.

I closed my eyes a brief moment and prayed with all I had that we wouldn’t find them in bed. If that happened, I didn’t know what I’d do. I’d try to kill Vonda, and there would go my hope of getting Mick safely free.

The core of me twisted into a ball of pain as I shoved Ted inside in front of me. Vonda lounged on the bed of the large half suite, but she was dressed. Mick stood across the room from her, looking out the window, his back to me. He wore a sleeveless T-shirt, baring the dragons on his arms, which vibrated with the same shivering movement I’d seen before.

Something warm flooded through me when I saw him. He was Mick, the man I loved, strong, safe, alive. Everything in me wanted to go to him and slide my arms around him from behind, resting my head on his broad back. I wanted to touch him, smell him, feel his hard body, reassure myself that he was all right.

I missed his warmth in my bed, his sleepy eyes regarding me from his pillow, his slow smile as he suggested we make love again. I missed riding with him on the highway, my arms wrapped tightly around him, feeling wild and free and, at the same time, safe. He was my Mick, and I wanted him back.

“What are you doing, Ted?” Vonda asked, not in the least alarmed at our dramatic entrance.

She sat up, and I faced Vonda Wingate for the first time.

Vonda wasn’t pretty, at least not to me, but like Ted, her looks were striking. She wore her blond hair cut close in an angular style, and her eyes were very blue in a face too pale for my taste. She had slimness without being bony, more like a person who worked out a lot and ate very little. Her white sleeveless shell, gray silk skirt, and the black pumps she’d dropped next to the bed were as tasteful as anything Cassandra would wear. Vonda had paired the ensemble with pretty silver jewelry.

I understood at once why my grandmother and Elena called her “Shadow Walker.” Shadows danced through Vonda’s aura: gray, smoky, dark. She was human, and yet her magic had built upon itself until it had consumed her. It clung to her like scum on the bottom of a dirty bathtub. She might look like a well-off woman in her forties, but I knew this was the picture she chose to project. I couldn’t guess what she actually looked like, but likely something old, because I sensed great age in her.

The most unusual thing about Vonda was the sheer amount of magic swimming in her. If Nash was a magic void, Vonda Wingate was a magic well. She’d been filled to the brim with all kinds of magic: witch magic, shaman magic,
chindi
magic, and now, dragon magic. The magic swirled around her in the shadows, part of her and separate from her at the same time.

She looked at me, and I suddenly understood my danger. A woman who sucked up magic from others would be more than thrilled that a Stormwalker with Beneath powers had just walked into her lair. She’d simply add me to her collection.

It wasn’t my magic mirror that Vonda wanted, I realized with clarity. She would have to kill me and Mick to use the mirror, and Vonda wanted me alive. Magic mirrors, though rare, weren’t unique. I was.

When Vonda had first come to town, she hadn’t simply grabbed me and sucked me dry. I would have fought her, possibly killed her. She hadn’t been strong enough then.