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I grimaced. “It’s kind of creepy that you can do that.”
He let out an exasperated sigh. “Come with me. It seems you must hear the truth for yourself, and perhaps you’ll change your mind. About the cold-blooded murder, that is.”
“That’s very unlikely—”
But Grimm had already started to walk away from me. Reluctantly now, I followed the ghost along a hallway until we stood just outside a slightly ajar door. I could hear Damon and Alicia speaking. I flattened myself against the wall and focused on their post-coital convo, which seemed to be about me.
“You shouldn’t have brought her here,” Damon said curtly. “It’s too risky.”
“Sarah is harmless. Compared to Thierry’s first wife, she’s a simple gazelle in a land of hungry lions.”
I frowned at the imagery Miss Moulin Rouge presented. A gazelle, huh? Maybe a kickass gazelle with really cool shoes. But if she was saying I was a victim-in-waiting, then she was damn wrong.
I moved a little closer so I could peer through the crack in the door, relieved that they were fully dressed. Damon drew the silver heart-locket from under Alicia’s blouse, holding it in the palm of his hand.
“I am impressed that you passed my test,” he said. “The Baba Yaga’s contribution was, by far, the most powerful component of this particular piece of magic. Another powerful witch’s hair would have sufficed, but it’s quite incredible. It proves to me that you are worthy enough to help liberate me from this prison.”
“And we’ll be together,” Alicia said eagerly. “In America.”
“It is the land of the free, isn’t it? And free is what I want to be. Free from all the mistakes of the past, and ready to begin anew.”
She nodded with enthusiasm. “Do you have the grimoire?”
“I do,” he replied. “It cost me everything I have, including part of my soul, but it was worth it.”
A grimoire. A witch’s spellbook.
Damon pulled something from the pocket of his jacket. I expected to see a leatherbound book, but this wasn’t anything like that.
Damon handed Alicia something that looked like a flash drive. She frowned at it. “So small,” she said.
He nodded. “Yet so powerful. Now here is what I need you to do. Return to America with Thierry’s young wife. Continue to be friendly with her and, most importantly, with him. When he is in close proximity to you, insert this into a computer. The spell within the grimoire will be triggered instantly, giving me passage directly to you. I will take it from there.”
Alicia took a deep breath and shakily let it out before she spoke again. “I can’t believe it’s finally happening. We’re going to be together. Forever.” She touched his face. “I will mourn this body of yours, but I know it’s the only way.”
“I forfeited this form when I got too greedy, when I reached too far into the darkness,” he said, shaking his head with annoyance. “There is a price to pay for magic. There always is. Thank you for finding me a powerful new identity. Even if he’s someone I utterly despise, Thierry is very strong and influential. And I know you’ll appreciate his body.”
“Only knowing that you are the one residing within it,” Alicia said, going up on her tiptoes to kiss Damon’s lips.
I think I’d stopped breathing about thirty seconds ago.
To recap: the flash drive was a grimoire that held a powerful spell. That spell would yank Damon out of this shop where he’d been trapped for who-knew-how-long, but it would also destroy his current body. And then he was going to take over Thierry’s body, like slipping into a shiny, new pair of shoes that just so happened to be a powerful master vampire with direct ties with the Ring.
I had a flashback to a time, only a couple months ago, when a ghost had stolen my husband’s body for a short but incredibly stressful time. I mean, Thierry had an amazing body, so I wasn’t overly surprised that everybody wanted it. But, still. This was ridiculous.
I met Grimm’s gaze, and he nodded at me. Grimly.
“See?” he said. “He’s evil.”
Oh, I saw. And then I heard a squeaking sound, kind of like the hinges on an old door. And the next thing I felt was a hand grabbing my upper arm and pulling me inside the room.
I spun around when Damon released me, and his eyes had gone dark red.
Proof right there that he was a warlock. While a hungry vampire’s eyeballs turned fully black, witches and warlocks’ turned red when they dipped into their arsenal of dark magic.
“Look who we have here,” Damon growled.
Alicia looked stricken. “Sarah, I wanted you to wait in the shop.”
