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Prax nodded, leaving the rest unsaid. The wizard had taken the bait.
Tamara stepped into the room. “What is going on in here?” Her eyes landed on Prax. “You!” She pointed a perfectly French-manicured index finger at him. “I knew you were trouble. How the hell did you get in here?”
Before Prax could answer, a booming voice sounded in the hall. “What’s all this?”
Tamara whipped around, and we all looked behind her. Craptastic. All the ruckus had brought down the big boss, the VP. He covered his nose at the stench the moment he stepped into the room.
As usual, Tamara was the first one to play the blame game, and she pointed straight at me, then at Prax. A look of confusion crossed her face when she saw that Prax was now wearing a very official-looking uniform jacket and looked every inch the part of an EA Enforcer. It must be convenient to be able to shape his own soul stuff into whatever he wanted at the drop of a hat.
It was Kamal who spoke first. “Umm, little help here?” He was still leaning his entire body weight against the fridge door, and something was still trying very hard to get out.
Just then, the fridge door flung open, shoving Kamal forward. The dark portal was exposed again, along with a now one-armed ghoul. Prax and Kamal moved fast, shoving the door closed. This time, Prax mumbled something in what sounded like a foreign language and made a gesture. Chains appeared around the appliance, tightening until the fridge stopped moving. Then the chains faded away to nothing.
Prax stepped away from the fridge, and so did Kamal, though the security guard still eyed it suspiciously.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“Binding spell.” Prax’s response was curt. Then he turned to the VP and flashed a badge. He quickly explained his reason for being here. “I will need to collect this fridge for evidence.” He gestured to the tossed chairs, ghoul-covered table, and the rotten dismembered arm on the floor. “Seal this room off. Someone from the EA will come in overnight to clean it. We will replace anything that has been broken, including the fridge.”
“Yes, I think that would be for the best.” The VP kept his hand over his mouth. He looked like he was trying hard not to retch, especially when the arm started crawling toward him like a zombie version of Thing.
Prax picked up a chair and swiftly stabbed it with the metal chair leg, stopping it in its tracks.
The big boss finally noticed Betty and me, still pressed up against the wall. Betty’s arms hadn’t gotten the memo yet that the danger had passed, and she was still clinging to me for dear life and shaking like a leaf.
“You two should take the rest of the day off.”
“B…but…” Tamara started.
“They should take the rest of the day off,” he said firmly, before turning and walking away down the hall.
“Yes, sir, of course.”
Chapter 18
Mateo
I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Eva called to tell me she was safe. I already knew the decoy locket had been taken, since Seth was monitoring it and had notified me the second it happened.
The fact that Eva was leaving work early and I got to see her sooner than I expected was a bonus. I didn’t trust the incubus alone with her, despite having already warned him off her earlier this morning. I wouldn’t hesitate to call in some favors to get his ass locked up in a jar if he so much as breathed on her inappropriately for even a fraction of a second. The vexing incubus had merely shrugged and said that he was no longer interested, now that Eva “stunk of cat and wyvern”.
I scrolled through the numerous pictures Seth had sent me of the wizards on the Council. Some of the photos had been taken quite some time ago, but Seth assured me that the men would still look similar, since they kept themselves looking young—or youngish, rather, since most of them appeared to be in their early to mid-forties.
Of course, with the way they dressed and styled themselves, many of them managed to look young and old simultaneously. I didn’t think that was what they meant when they said timeless elegance. More like eternally outdated.
None of the men looked familiar to me. But then again, it wasn’t like I’d paid much attention to how he looked when I’d seen him. I’d been too busy trying to figure out an escape route and keeping Eva safe. I did, however, remember what the guy wore. That suit had stuck out like a sore thumb at the seedy motel. Maybe Eva would have a better memory.
My phone rang again, and I picked up immediately. “What’s the deal, loser?”
“A whole fucking lot of nothing, that’s what.” Seth sounded frustrated. “I thought that even if there was a ward around the wizard’s place, the locket would at least track it to the edge of it. But it just cuts out about two miles out from Eva’s workplace, right over the lake. I did some rudimentary scrying, but all I saw was water. Whatever, we tried. Did any of those photos I sent you look familiar?”
“No. But I wasn’t exactly paying attention to the wizard. I was too busy escaping. I’ll get Eva to have a look when she gets back.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He hung up.
I got up from my seat, stretched and cracked my neck, then went to the kitchen.
I’d gone earlier this morning to pick up some “snackable” food: crackers, bread for sandwiches, cold cuts, cheese, and jam, in case Eva had the midnight munchies again, since she clearly wasn’t interested in my protein bars. I had considered picking up ingredients to make dinner for us while I was at the grocery store, but decided against it since we might get called away to investigate something midway through it. And besides, Prax might linger, and I didn’t want him ruining our time together.
