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Her body shook and sparked and flashed once, then twice. She was still for a moment that lasted entirely too long, and I’d have sworn my heart skipped several beats. Then she shook her head, blinked.
“Phew,” she said with a rather satisfied smile. “That was a good one.”
“You’re okay?” I asked, climbing to my feet.
“Well, sure. And fully charged.” And then Petra looked back toward where Rosantine had stood—at least until she cursed like a sailor on a very good shore leave.
“She’s gone,” Theo said, hands on his hips. “She’s fucking gone.”
“At least the animals are down,” I said. Without her beckoning magic, they’d frozen in place again. I closed my eyes, gave myself a moment to exhale, and then opened them again.
“We need to find video of Rosantine working her magic,” I said.
“Why?” Theo asked.
“Because she’s doing the sigil. That’s the hand flick.”
“Oh, my god,” Petra said, and dropped her head back. “Of course it is. How did I miss that?”
“Well,chaos,” Theo pointed out. “What are our video options?”
Petra whistled. “I can look into it, but I don’t think we have any surveillance from the warehouse that’s clear enough.”
“What about Hugo’s video from the warehouse?” I asked.
“There wasn’t any,” she said, “or at least not that was usable. Apparently the system hadn’t been upgraded in a while.”
Crap. We’d been close.
She must have seen the disappointment in my face. “I’ll get the day-shift folks on it, and they can coordinate with the CPD. Maybe there’s security footage from some of the other null spots we identified.”
“Good thought,” I said, and looked at Theo. “And speaking of Hugo, the CPD needs to put a guard on him. Not just the warehouse, not just the shed, but on him. She may not know who he is, but if she finds out, she might think he has knowledge about the Cornerstones.” Just like she had with us.
Sirens and lights flashed as CPD cruisers rolled up to the park. Officers emerged, looked over the broken sculptures.
“Some demon shit again,” one of them said.
I figured that summed it up pretty well.
***
I was soaked to the bone and went back to the town house to clean up. Connor, Alexei, and Lulu were all at the dining room table, poring over books she’d apparently brought from the loft. I was anticipating the day she brought Eleanor of Aquitaine with her so the cat (demon) could hate me in multiple locations.
Connor looked up, his smile fading to concern. “Why are you so wet?”
“Well,” I said, pulling off my boots, “it’s pouring outside. We tried to lure Rosantine into a trap, got attacked by the sculptures in Peony Park, and got rained on. And she got away.”
Connor rose, and I could see the fight in his eyes—concern for my safety and frustration that he hadn’t known I’d be taking the risk.
“Are you all right?” he asked, voice deadly serious.
“We’re all fine. It was a last-minute plan, and I just came by to change and recharge. Let me do that, and I’ll tell you everything.”
I threw my hair into a very untidy topknot and changed clothes,then came back down for blood of the drinking variety. I’d had enough fighting for the night.
I took a seat at the table while I drank, pushing aside a book of old prints of demonic creatures, and told them the whole story.
In the chair beside me, Connor rubbed a hand over his face, then leaned over to put an arm around me, kiss my temple. “Sometimes I wonder about your job.”
