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But when the sting went down, Tony was nowhere to be found. The Feds managed to round up and indict some of his human servants, but of the fat man himself there was no sign. Both his warehouses in Philly and his mansion in the country were empty, and my old nurse was dead in pieces in the basement. Tony had left me a letter explaining how his instincts had warned him that something was wrong, so he’d had Jimmy torture Eugenie to find out what I was doing. Vamps can take a lot of abuse, and Genie loved me; it took a long time to break her, but, as Tony said, he’s the patient type. He wrote that he’d left me the body so I could dispose of it properly, since he knew how much she had meant to me. And so I’d know what I had to look forward to one of these days.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I admitted to Billy. “But my parents weren’t the only ones he killed who were important to me.”
“I’m sorry.” To his credit, Billy Joe knew when to stop pushing, and we sat in silence until the waiter returned with effusive apologies. The boss was unavailable for the evening. Apparently, Jimmy had gone home with a headache.
I flirted with the satyr for a few seconds before sending him off for another drink. As he left, Billy emerged from his head, looking surly. “And I thought I had a dirty mind! You don’t even want to know what he was thinking about you.”
“Got that right. So where’s Jimmy?”
“In the basement, like I told you. They posted a loss last quarter, so Jimmy’s being sent to the ring.”
Talk about childish. The Senate wouldn’t let Tony kill me, so he was taking it out on someone else. I stood up and headed for the exit. There were a few things I wanted to ask Jimmy before he made his contribution to the evening’s entertainment. But I knew I’d better hurry. The ring was Tony’s favorite spectator sport, but it tended to have a detrimental effect on the participants. He had decided a century ago that it was a shame to simply kill anybody who displeased him, and had set up a boxing ring to decide things instead. But it wasn’t used for boxing, and only one fighter walked out alive after each anything-goes match. It beat the usual Vegas fights all to hell, and like them, was usually rigged so the right person lost. “How do I get down there?”
Billy located a service stairway by the ladies’ room for me, while he disappeared through the floor to do some advance scouting. He reappeared about the time I hit the lower levels, with less than happy news. “Jimmy’s scheduled to be up next, and they got him matched against a werewolf. I think it’s one of that pack Tony took on a few years ago.”
I winced. Great. Tony had ordered their alpha killed to encourage them to move out of his territory, and Jimmy had done the deed. So any member of that pack was required to kill him on sight or die trying. If he got in the ring, he was not walking out again.
I reached for the service door only to find Billy barring the way. “Move. You know I don’t like walking through you.” I’d fed him once tonight, and that was enough.
“You aren’t going in there. I’m serious; don’t even think about it.”
“The only person who might tell me about my parents is about to be eaten. Get out of the way!”
“Why, so you can join him?” Billy pointed a very substantial-looking finger. “Through that door is a hallway. At the end of it are two armed guards. They’re human, but if by some miracle you get past ’em, there’s a whole roomful of vamps on the other side. You go in there and you’re dead, and without you I’ll soon fade too far to do any damage. End result—Tony wins. Is that what you want?”
I glared at him. I hate it when he’s right. “Then what do you suggest? I’m not leaving until I see him.”
Billy grimaced. “Then come this way, fast.”
We fled down the corridor in the opposite direction, and I was soon glad that Billy was there to provide directions. The place was a rabbit warren of tunnels, all painted the same industrial gray. In minutes I had no idea where I was. We stopped several times to duck into rooms, most of which were filled with cleaning supplies, broken gambling machines and, in one case, wall after wall of computers. The one thing they didn’t have was people—I guess everyone who was off duty was at the fights.
I thought we were avoiding being seen again when Billy disappeared into another wall, so I didn’t waste any time flinging open the door. This time, I was met with a large room stuffed to the ceiling with what looked to be extra props and decorations. A collection of African masks and spears sat beside a suit of armor that was missing the bottom half of one leg. A rather ratty-looking stuffed lion’s head leaned against a mummy case, which had been modified to house a poster board advertising a magic show. It was watched over by a huge statue of Anubis, the jackal-headed Egyptian god, who seemed to be glaring at something in the far corner. I followed the line of its glassy, fixed stare and found Jimmy’s ugly face peering out of a heavy-duty reinforced cage. The pointed features, slicked-back black hair and shifty eyes were those I remembered, but he must have been doing pretty well recently, because his usual baggy suit had been replaced with a sleek tan number that looked like it had been made for him.
It took him a few seconds to place me. When he’d known me, my hair had reached the small of my back and I dressed in Eugenie’s version of appropriate attire for young ladies, which meant long skirts and high-necked blouses. The hair had been sacrificed to a more practical, and far less memorable, bob as soon as I went with the Witness Protection people. It had grown out some since then, but not enough to make much difference. And Jimmy had never seen me in anything like the leather number. After a confused few seconds, though, it clicked. So much for my great disguise.
“Cassandra! Goddamn, it’s good to see you! I always knew you’d be back someday. Let me outta here, would you? There’s been a big misunderstanding!”
“Misunderstanding?” I found it hard to believe that he really thought I’d just walked back into the organization. Tony might forgive a fourteen-year-old who had run off in what he assumed was a fit of adolescent angst, but an adult who had conspired to destroy him was another matter. I debated leaving Jimmy where he was, but although I liked h
aving him securely behind bars, I preferred to talk somewhere less likely to be interrupted by Tony’s thugs.
“Yeah. One of my assistants is trying to get ahead the easy way, and lied about me to the boss. I can straighten things out, but I gotta talk to Tony—”
“You certainly took your time.” I looked around at the sound of a tiny voice but didn’t see anything. “I found the witches, but one of the vamps caught me. Get me out!”
I glanced at Billy. “Who said that?”
“I’m over here! Are you blind?” I followed the squeak to a small birdcage that was almost hidden behind a peacock-feather fan. Inside was a woman about eight inches high and mad as a hornet. Flaming red hair framed a perfect Barbie-doll face and a pair of pissed-off lavender eyes. I blinked. What the hell was the bar putting in the drinks?
“It’s a pixie, Cass,” Billy said, looking unhappy. He drifted in front of her cage, and she scowled at him.
Tiny fists grabbed the bars of her cage and rattled them angrily. “Are you deaf, woman?! I said, get me out! And keep that thing away from me!”
“You know her?” I asked Billy, surprised. Apparently, he’d had a more interesting social life than I’d thought.
He shook his head. “Not that one, but I’ve met others. Don’t listen to her, Cass. None of the Fey are anything but trouble.”
“She’s probably headed for the ring,” I protested, trying to deal with the fact that Tony had found a way into Faerie, which wasn’t a myth after all.
