Dark Heir

Objects of power. Magical objects. Well. That was honest. For once. “She was Joses Bar-Judas’ what? Sweetheart? Honeybunch? Snack cake?”

Leo smiled this time and drew in a breath that he didn’t need. The last of his hostility drained away when he exhaled, so maybe breathing did play a part in vamp physiology, like releasing tension. What did I know? What did anyone know?

He took another breath to speak. “Snack cake, my Enforcer?” he asked, with heavy emphasis on the first two words. “No. She was his lover for a number of years. Some claim that she was present the night he disappeared, but she was with me that night, hoping to gain some favor. I don’t remember now what she even wanted, what she bargained for.”

Sex and blood for a favor. Got it. “Uh-huh. And the thing you wanted to take away from her? The thing you let her back inside HQ for? Did you get it?” I remembered the hints of gold at Joses’ neck and wrist. “Or did the Son of Darkness get away with them too?”

“Or perhaps you took them from him,” Leo said, his shoulders rising again, his pupils widening, his sclera going scarlet. Leo was over-reactionary tonight. That was interesting and dangerous. Very dangerous.

“I don’t have anything except wounds,” I snapped, as my intestines did a tight, breath-stealing curl. Gasping shallowly, smelling the stink of my burned skin, I said, “Joses was wearing things made of gold at his wrist and neck when he took off. You can check your surveillance footage.”

Grégoire drifted to his master’s side and placed two fingers to Leo’s waist, a calming gesture. I toed Adrianna again, seeing abrasions around her neck where a necklace had been wrenched off. A similar rip in her flesh showed at her right wrist. “Necklace? Maybe bracelet of some kind, ones he ripped off of her? So I can guess that once word started to leak out that you held Joses prisoner, Adrianna—and probably the rest of the fanghead world—decided he should be free and that they should be the ones to do him that favor. Get on his good side. So she brought the magical mystery jewelry here to set him free and join him on his golden throne to take over the world, right? ’Cause that’s what most evil villains want, though why anyone would want responsibility for this ball of dirt, I don’t know.”

Leo’s shoulders slumped. He ran his fingers through his hair, holding the back of his skull with both hands as if trying to hold it together. He scrutinized each of the bodies for a moment, studying their faces. Their peaceful faces. “I have miscalculated,” he said at length. “Badly.” He dropped his hands slowly and looked into Grégoire’s eyes, as if seeking comfort. “My people are in grave danger.”

“Nous sommes tous bien, mon cœur. Il n’y a pas de raison de s’inquiéter.” Which I thought a reassurance of some sort.

I decided Leo was in control enough for me to holster the gun, which I did before unlocking my knees and dropping them to the clay floor. With my good hand, I pried a pocket watch free. Clay, hardened into stone or brick, came with it. Holding my injured arm tight against me to prepare for the jar, I pulled a knife with a solid steel hilt and banged the butt on the watch until the half-melted lid cracked open.

Inside was the round iron disc, the magical part of the pocket watches, items that might—or might not—have been intended to alter time, to give the user a way to fold or bend time and reality, as I did, to give the user control over time, which translated to power over others. I hadn’t really figured out much about them and had been hoping I’d never have to. But whatever spell they held, Joses had used it to help him get away. The iron disc looked different from the others I’d seen before. This one looked like someone had burnished it with a metal tool, then polished it with oil and a soft cloth, bringing all the brightness to the surface. It shimmered. I found another pocket watch and opened it the same way. Ditto on the iron disc. There were more, and I collected the discs from them too, holding them all in my good left palm. I shook them like one might shake dice at a craps table.

In an undamaged state, the discs were magnetic, attracting others like them, and if allowed into close proximity, they latched together into a single unit, seamless, becoming a solitary oversized disc. Like magic. These, not so much. They didn’t react at all.

I remembered the way Joses had moved while I was in the bubble of time. Yeah. Time. That was part of the spell and part of what all the vamps wanted. If you could control time or act outside of it, you could do anything. And now Joses Bar-Judas had used a wyrd and parts of the iron from the spike of Golgotha to maneuver outside of time. And he also now knew I had the same ability, without the iron.

My life just kept getting better and better.

“My Enforcer?”

I dragged my thoughts back to Leo. “Yeah. Sorry.” I shook the discs again and forced myself to my feet. “He used whatever spell was in the discs. They look inert. He got away. And he’ll want revenge on you for holding him here for, what? Decades?”

“Yes.”

“And he’ll take it out on anyone he can get to, human or vamp.”

“Yes. You are to find him and bring him to me. Alive.”

I’ll get right on that, I thought. “I understand my duties, Leo.” Which didn’t say that I’d do exactly what he wanted. No promises on Joses being undead when I brought him back. I pocketed the discs and tapped my mouthpiece. “Alex. How long on the cameras?”

“Back up and running. I didn’t want to interrupt your tête-à-tête. Working now to find out if anything is left of the vid.”

“Thanks. I want to know how the vamps got down here. Who’s on coms upstairs? I need to talk to them, see footage.”

“Collating footage now,” Alex said. His tone implied that I was stepping on his toes, trying to tell him how to do his job. “Coms was supposed to be one of the new guys, name of Roman,” he said, “but he called in sick. His mother had a heart cath today.” I could tell I wasn’t gonna like whatever he said next. “Vodka Martini was on coms today. He’s dead, Jane. I have footage of Adrianna walking in and stabbing him in the spine at his shoulder blades. And feeding until his heart stopped.”

Shock spiraled through me, combining with the nausea already curdling in my gut. Martini had been with us a long time, as long as I’d known Derek, and had just come back after rehab following an on-the-job injury. Graying hair, ready laugh. Good with coms. Steady, reliable. A nice man killed because Leo had kept Adrianna alive.