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I looked over the sunlit parking lot and was seriously tempted to take off while the mage was healing. I so didn’t have time for this, whatever this was. I had to persuade Casanova to tell me where his boss was hiding. Not that I was 100 percent certain that Myra was with him, but it was a good guess. They both worked for the same guy, the leader of the Russian vampire mafia, known as Rasputin in the history books. What the books don’t say is that he found other uses for his formidable persuasive abilities once a Russian prince “killed” him. After lying low for a while, he brought much of the drug running, counterfeiting and illegal magical weapon-selling rackets in Eastern Europe under his control. He’d recently decided to add the North American vamps to his growing business empire by taking over the Senate, and he’d succeeded in killing off four Senate members. But that got him nowhere unless he took out their leader, and the Consul had proven tougher than he’d expected. The whole thing was very Cold War-ish and didn’t interest me much, except for the fact that I had accidentally blundered into the middle of it.
After the failed coup, Rasputin had simply disappeared. Thousands of vamps and mages were searching for him, but had so far come up with zilch. Since there aren’t many good hiding places, and since Tony and Myra had vanished at the same time, I was betting they were all together. But wherever she was, I had to find her before she recovered from our last meeting, or she would certainly find me. And I doubted I’d enjoy the experience. Or survive it.
But I had promised, and it was intriguing to think that Pritkin and I might be on the same side for a change. The enemy of my enemy might not, in this case, be precisely my friend, but I’d take anything short of outright hostility. I could use all the help I could get, and Casanova had looked very nervous when Pritkin showed up. That might be useful. I dodged a couple of gargoyles wrestling a crate of cabbages up the ramp and started to go back inside. That was when the fun really began.
Chapter 4
“ Cassie!” Casanova flew up the loading ramp, trying to minimize his time in the sun. A moment later, my three delinquents came into view, following leisurely in his wake. Great. I’d actually managed to forget about them for a while.
The gargoyles took one look at the trio and began a high-pitched keening that made me want to cover my ears. “Did you see what your stupid enchantments did?” I asked Casanova furiously as he skidded to a stop in front of me. “I could have been killed!”
“We have worse problems.”
I jerked Enyo away from the smallest gargoyle, which she’d been poking at with a stick. The cowering, birdlike creature and his companion went running inside, squawking loudly. “And where were you?” I demanded, too angry to care that annoying an ancient goddess wasn’t smart. “You three are always spoiling for a fight, but the first time I need help, you’re off getting a manicure!”
It was true—Deino was sporting a new set of bright red nails—but less than fair, considering that they’d helped out in the bar. But I was in no mood to care. The Circle blocking my ward had me seriously rattled, now that I had time to think about it. It was the only defensive weapon I had, and being without it made me feel extremely vulnerable.
Enyo looked offended but let me keep the stick. Pemphredo and Deino crowded around while I resumed my rant at Casanova. “Now Pritkin’s half dead,” I informed him, “and the mages are sure to be—”
He gripped my arm so tightly that I yelped. “Where is he?” He began fumbling in his coat frantically. “Why can I never find my damn cell phone when I need it? We have to get him medical help, quickly!” For a minute I thought he was being sarcastic, but one look at his face told me otherwise. The guy looked absolutely terrified.
“What is wrong with you? Since when do you care if—”
Casanova left me standing there talking to myself, while he ran indoors. I followed, the Graeae trailing after me. Enyo picked up a broom on the way in and formed it into a weapon by snapping off the head to leave a jagged point. I didn’t try to wrestle her for it. She was back to old-lady mode, but she’d probably win anyway.
I reentered the kitchen to find a livid Pritkin being pawed at by a frantic Casanova. The mage knocked the vampire aside hard enough to send him sprawling and glared at the gargoyle who’d helped him. Since he was back on his feet, I had to assume that her remedy, whatever it was, had worked.
“Take it off me,” he barked. “Now!”
Casanova picked himself up off the floor. Not only did he not respond in kind, he actually seemed to cower slightly. “I can have a healer here in five minutes!”
I stared at the vamp as if he’d lost his mind, which maybe he had. Vamps and mages have an adversarial relationship, born out of the fact that they both claim to be the leading force in the supernatural world. The sight of a vamp as old as Casanova fawning over the war mage who’d just belted him was surreal.
“I don’t need a healer. I need the damn geis removed,” Pritkin said furiously.
That got my attention. “She can remove it?” I ran forward, hardly daring to believe it could be that simple, and the Graeae moved with me. I didn’t get an answer because the gargoyles suddenly started to shriek like Armageddon had arrived, their combined voices loud enough to shatter several nearby glasses.
I covered my ears and dropped to my knees in shock, only to have Deino fall on top of me. I’m not sure whether she tripped, or whether she was trying to shield me from the hail of food—rolls, pastries and assorted molded-pâté body parts—being thrown at us from all sides. Either way, the landing jarred the eye loose from her face and sent it skittering across the floor. She screeched and scrambled after it, knocking gargoyles out of the way left and right. Her sisters waded into the fray as backup and I took refuge under the main prep table, where I found Casanova and Pritkin.
“You could get hurt! I can’t allow you to go out there!” Casanova was practically screaming in order to be heard, and he had a two-handed grip on Pritkin’s right arm. “The gargoyles view the kitchens as a sacred trust, as they once did the temples that fed them. They see the Graeae as a threat, but I’ll explain—”
“I don’t give a damn about your personnel problems,” Pritkin snarled, grabbing the vamp by the front of his designer shirt. “Get her to remove my geis, or you will have more trouble than you’ve ever dreamed.”
“Hey, I’m the one with the geis here,” I interrupted. “Remember? If anyone is getting anything removed, it’s me.”
“This isn’t about you!” Pritkin said as something heavy hit the tabletop and rolled off onto the floor. It was the little gargoyle with the hairnet and the donkey ears, and he wasn’t moving.
I dragged him under the table with us but wasn’t sure how to check for a pulse, or even if he was supposed to have one. What I was sure about was that the greenish colored blood he was leaking onto the tile wasn’t good. “Okay, that’s it.”
I crawled out from under the table and stood up. The noise level was unbelievable and, in the few seconds I’d been preoccupied, the kitchen had been completely trashed. Deino had retrieved the eye but was staggering about on the far side of the room, four gargoyles hanging off each arm while another perched on her back, hitting her over the head repeatedly with a rolling pin. Enyo, in all her blood-soaked glory, had the gargoyle with the earrings raised over her head and was about to throw her across the room. The throw alone might kill her, but if not, landing on the kn
ives a grinning Pemphredo was holding out certainly would.
I took a deep breath and screamed, louder than I’d believed possible. The gargoyles ignored me, but the three Graeae stopped and looked at me inquiringly. None of them appeared overly upset. The only expression anyone wore was a lopsided grin on Pemphredo’s face. “Stop it,” I told them in a slightly more normal tone. “When I said I needed you to fight, I didn’t mean them.”
Pemphredo cackled and pumped her fist in the air. Enyo looked at me sourly but sat the gargoyle down anyway, who hissed at her and staggered off, looking dizzy. Deino managed to lurch over to Enyo to hand her the eye, but her sister waved her off less than graciously. Pemphredo came skipping over and plucked it out of Deino’s hands, looking triumphant. I suddenly got it. “You were betting on me?”
Enyo slumped onto the prep table, knocking some radish eyeballs out of the way and looking dejected. I wasn’t sure why—obviously she could see without the eye, or come to some approximation of it—but she seemed very depressed about missing her turn.
