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I decided to let the matter go. If Carter was keeping his help a secret, there was a good reason. With a sigh, I glanced at the clock to my right. "Well, I'm still technically on leave, so I should probably take advantage of that and hunt down this seal maker."
"Good luck," said Carter. "But joking aside, I meant what I said earlier. You've got to be careful. At the very least, don't do this stuff alone."
"You sure you can't break the rules and come with me, then?" I asked a bit wistfully.
"Nope, but why do you need me when there are plenty of other candidates?" With a grin, he nodded at something beyond me.
I glanced back and saw Seth standing at the take-out counter. I jerked my head back toward Carter.
"Hey! How'd-"
Carter was gone.
Just then, the waitress set down the bill, which included Carter's meal. "Fucking angels," I muttered, fumbling for my credit card.
Turning back around, I studied Seth, feeling my stomach twist in that usual way. As though sensing me, he suddenly turned and made eye contact. Surprise registered on his face, and then he held up his hand in a hang on a second kind of way.
A few agonizing minutes later, he walked over to my table holding a take-out bag.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey."
"Is that lunch?" I was suddenly embarrassed by the fact that I had two plates in front of me.
"Yeah, I'm actually heading home to work. The café at the store's too crowded and noisy."
"I thought you could work through anything."
He shook his head. "These days I'm more...distractible than usual." His eyes studied me for a moment, and then he looked away. But in that moment, I'd felt a tingle run through my skin. Seth cleared his throat. "So...what about you?" He forced himself to look back at me. "You look...I don't know. Uneasy. Not as bad as yesterday but still troubled. More immortal intrigue?"
A good portion of my present uneasiness was simply due to his proximity. "Yeah, afraid so."
"So, you haven't found Jerome yet, and you're still..."
Now it was my turn to look away. "Yeah. I followed some leads on Jerome this morning, and it was kind of...um, well, it's not important. Let's just say it wasn't a pleasant experience, and I didn't find out anything anyway." I glanced back in his direction, making sure I kept my eyes on his Blondie T-shirt and not his face. "I've got one more thing to check into, then I guess I can call it a day."
"Well, that's good, I guess." He shifted uncomfortably, and that awkward tension that was so characteristic for us multiplied. I tried to think of something to say, but nothing came. "So..." he began at last. "I know what you said before...but I still have to ask. Is there anything...anything I can do?"
The retort was on my lips, to tell him I didn't need him, not anymore. But an image of Greg flashed into my mind, and I hated myself for the fear it invoked. I didn't want to be a damsel in distress. I didn't want to live in fear and need a man to watch over me. Greg's weight and element of surprise had shown that self-defense wouldn't always work. Sometimes it was hard to face danger alone. Carter's words repeated in my head: Why do you need me when there are plenty of other candidates?
I blurted out my question before I had time to reconsider. "Would you go with me?"
It was hard to say which of us was more surprised by this. "On...your errand?" he asked.
I nodded. "Yeah. But I mean, if you've got stuff to do..."
"I'll go," he said quickly. He held up his take-out bag. "Can I eat in your car?"
"You can eat right now," I said. "Seeing as I don't know where we're going yet."
Leaving Seth to eat at the table, I stepped outside to make a couple of phone calls. The first was to Dante. He answered, fortunately, but had no clue about what I needed.
"Someone who carves crystal?" he asked incredulously. "I don't do fluffy New Age stuff."
"Yeah. I found out more about demon summoning. Apparently there's some kind of seal involved that only a master artisan can make."
"I don't know anyone like that," he said. "As much as it pains me to admit a lack of knowledge about anything."
"Well, I guess even you have limits."
"You are so in trouble for that the next time I see you, succubus."
After we hung up, I tried Erik. He too answered, and in his usual way, he never bothered to ask why I needed the information. "There is someone," he mused. "I've acquired crystal jewelry from her before, carved into assorted sacred symbols-ankhs and crosses. I don't know if she works with the arcane or spellcraft, but she's the only one I know in the area who comes close."
I took down her name and address and went back inside. Seth had nearly finished his meal, rivaling Carter for speed. "Do we have a mission objective yet?"
I nodded. "Yup. Out to the hinterlands, even."
Okay, Carnation wasn't exactly the hinterlands, but it was well outside the Seattle urban and even suburban sprawl. It was one of several small rural communities that clung to western Washington's edge before giving way to the wilderness of the Cascade Mountains and the desert on the other side.
I made a Starbucks stop along the way so that I could acquire some caffeine. It seemed requisite to get through this. When Seth asked me to order him a mocha Frappuccino, I nearly crashed into the drive-thru window.
"That's got caffeine in it," I said.
"I know. But they're really good. Maddie got me hooked on them."
We drove in utter silence for ten minutes after that. If not for Jerome's summoning, I would have said this was the most astonishing thing to happen to me in the last twenty-four hours. Seth was drinking caffeine. It was unheard of. He'd abstained from it for years, and despite my clear addiction and coaxing throughout our relationship, he'd never shown any interest of cracking. Yet, Maddie- Maddie! -had somehow gotten him to change?
I don't know why I took such offense at that. Honestly, it was an inconsequential thing in the greater scheme of the universe. Still...I couldn't help feeling hurt. Well, maybe hurt wasn't the right word. Inadequate, perhaps. She'd gotten him to do something I couldn't. Why? Why her and not me? Was she more inspiring? Did he care about her more?
"Is something wrong?" Seth finally asked. My silence and death grip on the steering wheel had probably tipped him off.
"Nope," I lied. "Just worried about all of this."
"You are not."
"I'm not worried about all this?"
"Okay, you are. But that's not why you're upset right now. You're upset about this." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him wave the Frappuccino. After all this time, he still knew me.
"That's stupid. Why would I care about that?"
He sighed. "Because I know you. You're irritated that I did something I never said I'd do."
"Why should I care?" I replied stiffly. "I'm happy you're expanding your horizons." The look he shot me told me he knew better.
We reached the address Erik had given me without further argument, largely because we didn't talk. The house was an older rambler set on a huge yard that would have held an entire subdivision back in Seattle. Lawn ornaments-a deer and a gnome, to name a few-cluttered the grass, and wind chimes dangled on the porch.
We knocked on the door, and several moments later, a woman in her late forties or early fifties answered. She had hair dyed an unnatural shade of red that put me in mind of Tawny's current hue. Her tight-fitting top pressed a lot of cle**age into her scoop neckline and was also not that far off from something Tawny might wear, albeit a little less tacky. The look the woman gave us wasn't unfriendly so much as curious.
"Yes?"
"Hi," I said. "Are you Mary Wilt-"
" Oh my God! " she squealed. She had just done a double-take on Seth. "You're Seth Mortensen!"
Seth stiffened and exchanged looks with me. "Well, yeah..."
Her blue-shadowed eyes bugged as she practically drooled over him. "I can't believe it. I can't believe it! Seth Mortensen's on my porch! I recognize you from your website. I look at it every day. Every day . Oh my God. Oh my God ! I'm your biggest fan. Come in!"
Seth looked like he wanted to bolt then and there, but I nudged him forward. This turn of events was a bit unexpected-and creepy-but could possibly work to our advantage.
