Twice Dead (35 page)

Gil nodded. “I’ll have to prepare. Get this ‘Jomar’ inside. I’ll be right back.” She vanished.

Get him inside?
I crept out of the bathroom. Jomar still stood in the hall with his back to the French doors, his hands clasped behind him.
How do I talk him inside?
It wasn’t like I could invite him in for tea and scones.

I felt a nearby tingle of magic, and Gil poked her head out of the bathroom. She gave me a thumbs up, then pointed at Jomar and motioned that I should get him into the bathroom.

Great.
Not just
inside
, I had to get the nasty-tempered vamp to the tiny bathroom.
How can I convince him
—an idea hit me. I dashed across the room and flung open the door.

“There’s a spider.”

He gave me a dumbfounded look. “What?”

“A spider. On the ceiling. In the bathroom.” I pointed at the closed bathroom door.

“So?”

“So kill it!” I made my voice lift in tone, like I was close to hysteria, but I kept my volume low. I didn’t want anyone else coming to find out what was going on. “I have a major phobia about spiders.”

Jomar just stared at me. I shuffled my feet.
This isn’t
going to work.
I shot a quick glance at the bathroom, trying to keep my body language frightened.

Jomar sneered, his lip curling back.

“Fine.” He grabbed my arm and marched across the room.

“After you,” he said, still holding onto me and indicating the bathroom door.

Please let Gil’s aim be good with this spell.
She didn’t have the best reputation with magic. I jerked open the door and walked inside, Jomar following behind me.

He halted. “What the—?”

Magic cut through the air before the door had time to swing shut behind us. He hit the tiled floor with a thud, and Gil grinned so hard her face nearly split.

I glanced down at the vampire sprawled by our feet. He wasn’t breathing, but then, vampires didn’t need to.

“He’s still alive, right?”

“As much as he was before. I think.” She stepped around his limp body.

I squatted beside him, listening. It seemed a long time before I heard Jomar’s heart beat, but it sounded strong.

“How long will he be out?”

“Uh…” Gil’s smile faded. “I don’t actually know. The book wasn’t completely clear about that.” She sucked her bottom lip in her mouth and stared at the unconscious vampire. “We should probably hurry.”

I led the way out of the bedroom and down the hall. When we reached Akane’s door I stopped and listened. All was quiet. I didn’t knock, I just pushed open the door and ducked inside.

The room was dark. Empty.
Thank the moon.

Gil followed, and I shut the door behind her. She blinked, her hand groping along the wall.

I grabbed her wrist. “No lights.”

“I can’t see.”

Right, I kept forgetting that just because I had nearperfect night vision, not everyone else did. “Use your magic globe thing.”

She glared at me—which she might not have realized I could see. A small purple ball of magic appeared over her palm. She held it up like a lantern and glanced around the room. “What are we looking for?”

“Clues?” I wasn’t sure. A blood trail leading out of the ductwork would be good. Or maybe Akane’s castoff skin, with a big fist-sized hole in it, ripped by my claws.

Gil headed for the closet as I made my way to a dresser.

The drawers were empty, which, considering Akane was part of the Collector’s traveling show and not a member of Aphrodite’s city, didn’t surprise me. A long case sat atop the dresser, and I dragged it off. Setting the case on the bed, I flipped open the lid.

“Did you find something?” Gil asked, popping her head out of the closet. As she moved, her bubble of light reentered the room, and a purple glow bathed the red-velvet lining of the box.

Nothing was inside.

I shook my head, then stopped. There was nothing in the box currently, but the impression in the lining looked a hell of a lot like a sword.
If she used that sword to decapitate the
victims…
I leaned forward, all but pressing my nose into the velvet. The box smelled of the wood it was made from, a smoky fragrance like incense, and oil.

No hint of blood.

Frowning, I shut the box and returned it to the dresser.

There has to be something here.

Gil moved from the closet to the bathroom. Bottles clinked as she sifted through Akane’s toiletries. She gave no indication she was finding anything.
If I were Akane, where
would I hide something?

I looked around. There was nothing in the room. Just the dresser and the bed. I dropped to my knees and peered under the bed. A small suitcase was shoved underneath. I squirmed under the bed and dragged it out. Several ornate kimono wrapped in thin paper were inside. Nothing else.

Useless.

A footstep sounded outside the door. My head snapped up and I listened, hoping whoever it was continued down the hall. They didn’t.

Crap.

Gil stepped out of the bathroom just as the doorknob clicked, twisted. I frantically waved her back. She vanished her light and ducked back into the dark bathroom. I crouched beside the bed, watching the door from around the footboard.

Akane stepped into the room, but her hand paused by the light switch. She tilted her head back, her nostrils flaring.

“I smell you, beast,” she whispered. She flicked on the light, her dark gaze sweeping the room. “Where are you hiding?”

I held my breath, not moving, as Akane stalked forward. If I could have reached Gil she’d have gotten us both out, but Akane was between me and the bathroom door. She reached under her kimono and drew her sword.

I held my breath.
I can’t just huddle here like a treed
raccoon—she’ll find me the second she steps around the bed.

I stood, and the skinwalker stopped short. She lifted her sword and dropped into a defensive stance in one fluid movement. I edged around the bed, not moving forward so much as sideways. I was stronger than her, and probably faster, but she had a sword.

We stared at each other, neither moving forward, both waiting, looking for an advantage. If I didn’t think of something, she was going to decide
she
had it.

“Why are you killing vampires?” I asked.

“I
hate
vampires.” She spat the words, like
vampire
tasted bad in her mouth. “I would rid world of them. But the vampire I hate most, she lives. If I killed, I kill her first.”

“The victims have been poisoned.”

She flashed teeth at me. It was almost a smile. “I know. I smell the blood.”

“You poisoned them.”

“No.” She stepped forward, testing me. I splayed my clawed fingers and she hesitated. “Not my poison. My sister’s.”

Her sister’s?
The Collector had mentioned the fact Akane had a sister—she’d also said the sister had died horribly when her transition to vampire failed.

“She’s dead.”

Akane nodded. “
Murdered
.” No sorrow in her voice. Just anger.

Is this about revenge?
Was she killing to avenge her sister? But she was right, the one vampire who she would have truly wished dead, the one who ordered her sister changed, was still alive. The Collector.

Whatever Akane saw in my face made her tip her head back and laugh, but there was no mirth in the sound. “You made deal with Collector. Agreed to betray your own for your freedom.
You
have no honor. My sister had honor.” Akane slid forward another step. “She also made deal, but she sacrificed self. She agreed to become vampire in exchange for
my
freedom. She die. Collector keep me. Now, my sister return. Seek vengeance.”

“A ghost?” I rocked back on my heels.

A few weeks ago I wouldn’t have believed in ghosts, but now? I’d met vampires, mages, necromancers, demons, and skinwalkers—who was I to dispute the existence of a vengeful ghost?

But I’d fought the snake, and it sure as hell had felt real to
me.

Akane’s muscles bunched, her center of balance changing, and suddenly she was moving. She leapt forward, her sword swinging in an arc toward my neck.

I dove to the side.

“Gil!”

The scholar popped out of the bathroom as I dodged a second attack. The tingle of her magic washed over the room.

I hit the ground, rolling from Akane. I didn’t know what spell Gil planned to use, but her magic didn’t always work as intended.

Akane whirled around just as the purple light of Gil’s barrier spell lit the room. The spell promptly imploded, and the backlash slammed into the skinwalker. She was hurled into the air, right over my ducked head. Then she crashed into the wall with a hard thud.

Once the purple light died, I looked up. Akane slumped on the floor, breathing, but dazed. Her sword was halfway across the room.

Gil gave me a sheepish look. I could have laughed. “You did that on purpose?”

She shrugged, her smile breaking through. “That stupid spell never works quite right. Always explodes on me.”

Akane stirred, and I pushed off the floor. “Let’s get out of here.”

With a nod, Gil tossed me into the void.

* * * *

The moment the dim light in the bathroom broke through the void, I knew something was wrong. The stench of blood coating the air was a big hint.

“Don’t go anywhere,” I told Gil as I pushed off the tile.

Ignoring my twisting stomach, I shoved the door open a crack. The scent of blood grew stronger. Whatever had happened, someone had been hurt, bad. And there was a sour stink in the blood.

The skinwalker?

I shoved the door open an inch at a time and scanned the room from the vantage point of my low crouch. Nothing moved. I crept out of the bathroom, staying low, making myself a small target. The
thwup
of Gil’s rain boots on the carpet followed me.

“Get back,” I mouthed at Gil. Something moved in my peripheral.

I whirled back around, my eyes searching. Nothing. Then it moved again. A dark drop of liquid dripped from the bed’s sodden coverlet, landed in an expanding pool of blood on the carpet.

Oh no.
Forgetting caution, I ran to the edge of the bed.

Jomar’s mangled body had been tossed in the center. His severed head sat on the pillows, staring down at the long gashes that had torn open his belly. Dark organs spilled out of the four long gashes.
It looks like an animal attacked him.

I froze, that thought catching in my chest. His body was in
my
bed, and it looked like someone had eviscerated him with claws.

“Oh crap.” This looked bad. Really, really bad. And majorly incriminating.

“What’s going on?” a voice yelled.

I jumped and whirled toward the doors. Ronco and the twins were there. Their eyes moved from me to the corpse and gore spread over the bed.

“I, uh—” I could not explain
this
.

Magic surged through the air, and the scene vanished.

“Take me back, Gil!” I yelled into the darkness.

The void didn’t answer.

I flailed in the nothingness and light pierced the darkness, making the world spin.

“Take me back,” I gasped again, pushing away from the dirty snow of some city alley. My limbs shook, but I climbed to my feet. “You have to take me back to the mansion. Now.”

“Kita, that was a dead body. In
your
bed.” Gil crossed her arms over her chest. “And those vampires looked none too happy about it. I’ve officially deemed this situation too dangerous for you.”

“And who are
you
to decide that for me?”

Her head snapped up, her chin jutting out. “You might remember that
I
am charged with keeping you from dying inconveniently while you bear the Judge’s mark? Besides, if they kill you, I won’t be able to finish my study.”

Oh, of course.
I stormed across the alley, pacing through the slush. I didn’t know where we were—I didn’t care. Only one thing was important. “They still have Nathanial. What do you think they’ll do to him now that I’ve disappeared?”

She dropped her gaze. “Just stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Here?
While stars-knew-what the Collector and her vamps could be doing to Nathanial? I paced faster, minutes ticking by.

Gil didn’t return.

I can’t wait any longer.
I headed for the mouth of the alley and glanced down the street. I didn’t recognize the location. I almost called Gil back, again.
But if she’d gone to help
Nathanial…
I turned away from the street.

A hulking, misshaped form stepped around the corner at the back of the alley. “Babe, you stood me up.”

Avin. Oh, crap.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“I’ve been patient, babe. Where’s my body?”

Avin lifted his mangled hand, the globe holding a drop of my blood appearing over his palm, and I flashed my fangs at him.

“So, what’s your plan?” I asked, bracing my hands on my hips and tapping my claws on the steel boning in the corset.

“Are you actually going to kill me or just threaten and torture me?”

His hand paused. Then he pushed back his hood. “Are you goading me? Not smart, babe.”

I saw the flash of lightning, knew the pain was coming, but my knees still buckled as it crashed over me. Fire melted my flesh. A scream tore through me. My stomach twisted inside out. The pain dug deeper.

Then it was over.

I blinked. Either I was dead—which, since I considered the option, probably wasn’t true—or I’d been right. He had no intention of killing me. I wiped a hand over my mouth and regretted the action immediately. I still had sour snake blood clinging to my skin.

Avin stared at my claws. “What
are
you?”

“You want the long list, or the short one?” I pushed off the sidewalk and summoned all the bravado in me so he wouldn’t know my insides shook at the idea of another flash of pain.