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She grimaced. “My foresight is being decidedly ambiguous at the moment. I just felt the need to buy this for you. I’m hoping you don’t need it, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“I guess.” I tossed the knife lightly in my hand. It was very well balanced. “And at least it is small enough to keep hidden.”
“That’s the idea.” Then she gave me a sketchy salute and headed back down the stairs.
I considered the knife for a few seconds longer, then tucked it into my jacket pocket and tried to get back to the paperwork. Unfortunately, the figures refused to compute. After twenty minutes I gave up and rang the Langham Hotel, booking a suite for a couple of nights. I wasn’t able to go home, which gave me the perfect opportunity to indulge in a little pampering at one of my favorite five-star hotels. With that done, I headed back downstairs to help out until the end of my shift.
After grabbing something to eat from the kitchen, I caught a cab to the address Ilianna had given me. Adeline Greenfield lived in one of those beautiful old Victorian houses filled with character—the type of house all too often torn down and replaced by sterile concrete boxes. As the cab took off, I stood on the curb, admiring the graceful old elms that dominated her front lawn, and the thick carpet of moss growing across the tiled roof. There was an air of graceful age that hung over the place. And as I opened the old wrought-iron gate and walked through, it felt very welcoming.
The front garden was so lush with flowers that, even at night, they filled the air with a riot of perfume. And though it should have overwhelmed my olfactory senses, it didn’t.
I climbed the red-tiled steps and walked across to the front door. A little gold bell sat on the right edge of the door frame, its cord swaying gently in the breeze. I rang it a couple of times, and the joyous sound leapt across the night, making me smile.
Footsteps echoed inside, then the door opened, revealing a short, gray haired woman with lined, leathery features and the brightest blue eyes I’d ever seen.
“You’d be Risa Jones?” she said, looking me up and down before her gaze went briefly past me. If her expression was anything to go by, I wasn’t what she was expecting.
“Yes, I am. I hope I’m not too late. Ilianna did say to pop over after I finished work …”
“No, no, that’s fine,” she said, unlocking the security door then stepping aside for me to enter. “It’s just that I wasn’t expecting you to come alone.”
I paused. “Why’s that?”
“Ilianna mentioned you had a reaper following you about, but that I shouldn’t worry about it.” She snorted as she snipped the door closed then led the way down the long, shadow-filled hallway. The air smelled of ginger and some other spices I couldn’t name. It was tantalizing and pleasant. “Not that I would. I’ve seen more than my fair share of them buggers, and they don’t scare me.”
She led the way into a cozy sitting room that was dominated by a log fire. Two well-padded armchairs sat in front of it and, in between them, a small coffee table on which sat a tea pot and two china cups.
“Would you like a cup?” she asked, motioning me to sit on the chair to the left.
“Thanks,” I said, even though tea wasn’t high on my must-have list. “So you can see the reapers?”
“Well, technically, no. Not like I see you, for instance. But sometimes when I’m dream walking, I cross their paths. As I said, they don’t scare me. They seem to be mostly benevolent beings.”
I supposed they generally were—even the moody ones who carried swords. I watched her pour the tea, then nodded when she mentioned the sugar. She stirred in several spoons, then offered me the cup. I took it gingerly—I was a mug girl at heart, and bone china always seemed too delicate for me. “By dream walking, do you mean astral traveling?”
She nodded. “I find it beneficial when it comes to dealing with some clients’ problems. It is human nature not to be entirely honest, but there are no lies on the astral plane.”
“So do you watch them go through their daily lives or do you walk through their dreams?”
“Mostly the latter. Dreams can be interesting—and sometimes dangerous—places.” She studied me for a moment. “But you know that. You’ve walked the astral planes yourself.”
“What you call the astral planes, I call the gray fields. But I’ve never walked through anyone’s dreams.”
“You could. You have many more of your mother’s gifts than you think.”
I did? That was certainly news. I took a sip of tea, then said, “Did Ilianna mention why I wanted to see you?”
She nodded. “Catherine Alston ordered the protection spell three years ago. She mentioned that there was some nasty business going down in the council, and she wanted to be sure she was safe at home.”
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p; I hadn’t thought to ask Alston why she’d wanted such strong magic guarding her. “I guess she didn’t clarify what the nasty business was?”
Adeline shook her head. “Vampires of her vintage usually work on a need-to-know basis. I didn’t need to know. I just needed to make the spell work.”
“So what sort of spell was it?”
She took a sip from her cup, then said, “Full protection. It should stop anything or anyone wearing flesh who intended her harm.”
