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Once upon a time, when I was a child reading fairy tales, I’d ached to have my own adventures. Not that I’d wanted to be some drippy heroine languishing in a tower, awaiting rescue. No, I’d wanted to be the knight, charging into battle against overwhelming odds, or the plucky country lass who gets taken on as the apprentice to a great wizard. As I got older, I’d found out the hard way that adventures are rarely anything like the books say. Half the time you’re scared out of your mind, and the rest you’re bored and your feet hurt. I was beginning to believe that maybe I wasn’t the adventurous type.
Billy returned after half an hour with news. The guards fit the descriptions Mac had given him and, lucky for us, there was a major uproar in the vamp area. “It’s like a circus, Cass—everybody’s there. The rest of the place is practically deserted!”
“Well?” Pritkin was looking impatient. “What does he say?”
“It’s okay—the right guys are on duty.” Billy, I noticed, was looking way too pleased about something. Maybe it was just relief that our job might be easier than we’d thought, but I doubted it. I knew his expressions almost as well as I knew my own, and he was practically ecstatic. “Okay, out with it.”
Billy grinned and twirled his hat around an index finger. For some reason the finger was less substantial at the moment than the hat, so it looked like his headgear was doing a giddy little jig all on its own. “It’s too perfect,” he crowed, his grin threatening to split his face. “Talk about a good omen!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Is something wrong?” Pritkin demanded. Billy and I both ignored him.
“I know your birthday doesn’t start for a couple more hours, Cass, but you’re getting your present early.”
“Billy! Just tell me already.”
He laughed delightedly, to the point that it barely missed being a cackle. “It’s that bastard Tomas. He was captured early yesterday morning. I think they’re trying to decide what would be the most painful way to execute him. That’s why everyone’s crowded into the vamp section—they want to see the show.” Billy threw his hat up into the air jubilantly. “I wouldn’t mind taking a peek myself, if we had time.”
The only thing that saved me from falling was that I was already sitting down. Tomas was about to be executed and might already be under torture? I sat blinking at Billy as my brain tried to comprehend it, and whatever showed on my face he didn’t like. His grin faded and he started shaking his head violently.
“No. No way are you doing this! He deserves this, Cass, you know he does. He betrayed you—hell, he almost got you killed! For once, fate is taking a problem off our hands gratis. Let’s smile, say thank you and stay the hell out of it!”
My face felt numb. I wondered vaguely whether that was due to the night breeze or to horror. I was betting on horror. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.” Billy flickered like a candle flame in his agitation. “It’s easy. We walk into MAGIC’s nice, quiet halls, make our way to the portal and pass through. That’s it, that’s all. No biggie.”
“Yes biggie.” I stood up, wobbling a little, and Pritkin caught my arm. As usual he wasn’t gentle, but this time that was a plus. I barely kept my balance even with his iron grip. “Very much biggie.”
“What are you talking about? What’s going on?” Pritkin was talking, but I barely heard him. All I could hear was Tomas’ voice raised in agony, all I could see was him tied down like an animal, waiting for Jack.
If I closed my eyes, I could see a different scene. It was Tomas in the kitchen of our Atlanta apartment, frowning in puzzlement at the stove. It hadn’t cooked the brownies he’d intended as breakfast for me, possibly because he hadn’t known to turn the thing on. He’d been wearing one of my aprons, the one that said DOES NOT COOK WELL WITH OTHERS, over the smiley face pajama bottoms I’d bought to keep him from sleeping in the altogether. We’d had separate bedrooms, but just the thought of Tomas down the hall wearing only his skin had been keeping me up nights. I’d explained how the range operated and we’d eaten the whole pan of brownies before I went off to work, resulting in a sugar buzz that lasted most of the day.
That was the first time I’d let myself begin to hope that he might become a permanent fixture in my life. He’d already been my best friend for six of the happiest months I’d ever known. Against all odds, I’d actually started to create a more or less normal existence. I’d liked my sunny apartment, my wonderfully predictable job at a travel agency and my gorgeous roommate. Tomas had been a dream come true—handsome, considerate, strong, yet vulnerable enough to make me want to take care of him.
I should have remembered the old phrase about something that looks too good to be true, but I’d been too busy enjoying the gift fate had dropped in my lap. What followed had proven that the gift had been more of a curse, and the normal life only a mirage. All those rosy dreams had come crashing down around my head, leaving scars that hadn’t even scabbed over, much less healed. I realized with a jolt that the brownie incident had been only a few weeks ago. That seemed impossible; it had to have been at least a decade.
Pritkin was shaking me, but I barely noticed. I opened my eyes, but it was Jack’s pale face and crazed expression I saw. The Consul’s favorite torturer loved his work, and he was very, very good at it. He’d probably had plenty of firsthand instruction from Augusta. I’d seen him in action on one very memorable occasion, and no way could I leave Tomas in his hands. No matter what he’d done; no matter how furious I was with him. There was no freaking way.
It looked like I got to be the knight on the white horse after all. Only never in my wildest dreams had I planned on the odds being quite this bad. There was such a thing as a heroic challenge and then there was suicide, and I had no doubt into which category this fit. If Tomas’ death was being made into a public show, most of MAGIC would be there: vamps, mages, weres, maybe even a few Fey. And somehow we not only had to get past them and snatch him from under the Consul’s nose; we also had to battle our way to the portal afterward. It was worse than a nightmare. It was insane.
“We have a problem,” I told Pritkin, choking back an absurd urge to giggle at the understatement.
His eyes narrowed to pale slits. “What problem?” Since he forced the words past clenched teeth, it looked like he’d already figured out that he was going to hate this. That was good; it saved time.
“Billy says the halls are almost empty because every-one’s in the vampire area. They’re executing someone tonight, and it’s drawn quite a crowd.”
“Executing who?” Pritkin’s icy green eyes stared into mine and I smiled weakly, remembering the last time he and Tomas met. To say that they weren’t pals was missing the mark a bit. People don’t generally try to behead their friends.
“Um, well, actually . . .” I sighed. “It’s Tomas.”
I couldn’t keep myself from wincing slightly, but Pritkin barely reacted, other than to look slightly relieved. “Good. Then this should be simpler than I’d anticipated.” He noticed my expression and his frown returned. “Why does this constitute a problem?”
I swallowed. I’d have preferred a little more time to lead up to it, like a year or two, but I couldn’t afford to stall. Every second that passed was dangerous for Tomas. Jack liked to play with his victims before finishing them off, and no one would be happy with a short show. But it had been dark for well over an hour. Jack could do a lot of damage in that time.
I looked at Pritkin and worked up a smile. It didn’t seem to help, and I gave it up. “Because we, uh, sort of have to rescue him.”
Chapter 9
