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“Are you paying attention?” Casanova demanded.
“Maybe when you stop insulting me, I’ll think about it,” I told him.
“Because Françoise won’t do anything about those women, and the pixie won’t do anything for anyone until she gets some rune she keeps raving about, and somebody has to!”
“What women?”
“We already tried that,” Pritkin said, starting to look worried.
“The Graeae!” Casanova said, throwing up his hands. “They helped Françoise get the kids out—I personally think they just like killing demons, or anything else that stands still long enough—and now she won’t even attempt to trap them. And they’re currently all three downstairs! Together! If you hurry—”
“Tried what?” I asked Pritkin.
“The counterspell. I cast it for you in France. Twice.”
I stared at him, Casanova momentarily forgotten. “That was a fake. It didn’t work.”
“It didn’t work,” he agreed, “but it wasn’t a fake.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that all three of them are together right now!” Casanova raged. “Who knows when we’ll get this opportunity again? Get up, get down there and talk some sense into that witch!”
I stared at Pritkin. “It has to work. We’ve already tried everything else!”
He just shook his head. “I cast it on you not only in France, but here in our time as well. It failed. That is why I have been searching for an alternative.”
“Well?” Casanova demanded.
“And?” I asked Pritkin frantically.
“Nothing. I do not understand why the geis is behaving this way. It shouldn’t still be there—it can’t still be there. And yet it is.”
“Are you even listening to me?” Casanova all but screamed.
“Yes!” I snapped. “The Graeae are downstairs, all together, and you want me to trap them before—” I stopped, staring at him.
“Yes. So let’s go.” He hauled me to my feet.
“My thoughts exactly,” I said, grabbing Mircea’s trap and Pritkin’s hand.
“Where are we going?” Pritkin asked, looking confused.
“To end this!”
We reappeared in Mircea’s suite at MAGIC. It was two weeks in the past, just after I’d dropped him off following our time in Paris. I’d concentrated on him instead of a place when I shifted, because I hadn’t known for certain where he’d be. But I hadn’t counted on catching him coming out of the shower.
“Dulceata?. Always a pleasure,” he said, unselfconsciously toweling himself off. He glanced at Pritkin. “Why?” he asked, obviously pained.
“He isn’t here to fight. We need to cast a spell on you,” I said quickly, and then realized that maybe I should have worked up to it a little more.
Under a lot of wet brown strands, an eyebrow raised in a sardonic arch. “You do not know magic, Cassie. Therefore I assume that what you meant to say is that he needs to cast a spell.”
Wow. Less than thirty seconds and we were already to the “Cassie” stage. I wondered how long it would be before we hit Cassandra. Before I could say anything, four large vampires rushed into the room, guns drawn and scowls on their faces. They stopped inside the bathroom door, and stood there, looking blankly from Mircea to Pritkin to me.
Pritkin drew a gun, but Mircea didn’t react, except to drape a towel around his waist. “Yes?” he asked politely.
“The wards,” one of the vamps said, a little awkwardly. He was taller and more muscle-bound than the others, but judging by the energy he gave off, also probably the youngest. “They indicated an intruder.” He scowled, his eyes on the gun in Pritkin’s hand.
