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“On the side nearest to his next-door neighbor.She has one on her outside wall too. I saw them when I walked across the yard to her house.”
“Could she be a Hunter?”
Conway shrugged. “Who knows? It’s possible she used to be, but she’s definitely not a half-blood. She could have some kind of religious background, maybe.”
Sigils were magic signs, usually representing various angels or spirits, even demons that the practitioner could summon if he needed to.The strongest sigil wouldn’t be nearly enough to keep out a determined vampire, but they did work against some half-bloods, younger vampires and lesser creatures like ghouls. Drawing them on walls or floors was usually meant for protection and was almost always done by a practitioner, usually a priest or a Hunter, though nuns, monks and others could certainly have knowledge of them.
The question was why. How would she be aware of Malone? She must be closer to the family than we realized. Hunters existed in every religion, and across every society in the world. We occasionally cooperated with them, sharing information and learning from them. We had investigated Jace and knew his neighbor was Chinese, and people from that ancient culture had been fighting evil for centuries, in various religions.
“You questioned her though?”
“I tried to. She didn’t want to answer many questions, and she looked angry when I mentioned Malone. She doesn’t like him, for sure, and seems worried about Jace. She told me several times Jace was a ‘nice boy.’ I got the impression she knew more than she said. And I definitely think she realized I wasn’t a detective.”
“Will she tell Jace?”
Conway grunted. “Who knows? But he won’t be a ‘nice boy’ for long if that bloodsucking vampire keeps coming after him. He’s already badly compromised, in my opinion.”
“Did you recognize the sigils?”
“Both were for Azrael, which makes me think she’s aware of vampires. She’s trying to protect herself and the people in this house with Archangels. There are more by her back door and a line of salt on the doorsill. No doubt on her windows as well. She’s definitely trying to ward off something.”
“You said there was one on Jace’s house? Was it by his room?”
“That would be my guess, though Malone has already been given permission to enter the house, so it would do little good now. The owner of the home would have to tell him to leave the house in a firm tone. Only then would he be compelled to get out.”
“Jace’s mother.”
Conway nodded.
I was quiet for a few seconds, thinking about it. “Did you notice Jace’s facewhen he saw the blood on the kid’s hand?”
“A vampire’s thrall afraid of blood? Yeah. But maybe he only wanted us to think he didn’t like the sight of it.”
I snorted. “So, he arranged for his kid brother to slice his finger open? I don’t think so.”
He shrugged. “You never know, though.” He angled a glance my way. “I think you just like the way he looks. And all that blond hair.”
“He’s definitely easy on the eyes, I’ll admit. And I do like blonds,” I said and winked at him.
“I know you do,” he said. “And brunettes. And redheads. You’re a total slut.”
I grinned at him and winked. “What’s your point?”
He barked out a laugh. I knew he was only looking out for me, because it was difficult for a Hunter to maintain a relationship with anyone not a half-blood, like us.
As for my sexuality, it was no big deal, or at least, not to me. Conway and my other friends all knew I was bisexual, and nobody cared. When you fought demons and faced death every day for a living, you learned not to pay attention to things that weren’t any of your concern.
I was attracted to Jace O’Neal, but it wouldn’t be a problem, because I wouldn’t let it be. He didn’t match the impression I first had of him after talking to Malone’s “friend,” Toby Baker, who quite obviously disliked Jace a lot, I knew Jace was a thrall and even if he survived this, he had a long road of recovery ahead of him. That didn’t mean he wasn’t attractive.
As for Toby, he was obviously another one of Malone’s blood thralls, though a more casual one and not one as deeply involved as Jace O’Neal. I personally thought it was fortunate for Toby that he was still alive. No doubt, he wouldn’t be as soon as Malone truly decided to move on to another feeding ground. From what we’d been able to find out, there were possibly a couple of others Malone might have been feasting on, all of whom he’d met through this Toby. We had all of them under surveillance, because Malone was going to need to feed again. Sooner rather than later, although that mark on Jace’s neck meant he’d been feeding on him,and it looked like quite recently.
This Toby obviously was jealous and hated Jace, painting the picture of Jace as some kind of devious, manipulative stalker, who was not only obnoxious but abusive to Malone, who—again according to Toby—only felt sorry for his ex-lover. He was trying to help him, Toby said.
This wasn’t unusual. Malone, like all half-bloods, could be extremely charismatic, with known powers of compulsion, though not as strong as a full-blood vampire’s ability. It helped that Malone was young and handsome, and that all contributed to keeping his thralls jealous of his attention.
We knew his so-called charisma was a lie, because we knew what Malone really was. The only question I had was, how much did Jace know? I could see he was deeply in thrall to his lover. But how deeply? How badly was he infected? Could he still be saved? The bite on his throat had been fresh, and yet he didn’t seem to really be that much aware of it until I’d brought it to his attention. That wasn’t a good sign.
He’d obviously lied for Malone in the past. Malone had joined in the vampire attack on Jace in New York City, and Jace had been extremely fortunate to have survived. Yet he still tried to cover for Malone when he was interviewed by the police. I thought it proved how dominated Jace had always been by the man.
