“I have plenty of quartz,” Donovan replied skeptically. “None of it has shown the slightest propensity toward flashing like sunlight and scaring vampires.”
“Well, that’s my own touch, of course. They had to be stored in bright sunlight for a very long time. There’s a ritual that must be repeated daily to maintain their strength, and they have to be stored in a specially prepared elixir that preserves the energy from the sunlight.”
“How did you know to wear them tonight?” he asked her.
“A girl has to have some secrets, Donovan DeChance. Why in the world would men remain so intrigued if we started giving them away?”
It was Donovan’s turn to laugh, and it felt good, particularly since only a few short minutes before he hadn’t been certain he’d ever laugh again. One thing was true beyond a doubt; he’d been cooped up in his own little world for far too long. He’d made a serious error, and if the danger confronting him was even a fraction as intense as he believed it to be, that put him one mistake beyond his limit. He couldn’t count on being rescued, and the young vampires, for all their bravado, shouldn’t have been much of a challenge. He’d been careless.
“When I get a chance,” he said, “I’ll stop by and see how you did it. That was the most effective defense against the undead I’ve ever encountered.”
“I try,” she said. “And when you ‘stop by’ you’d better bring chocolate, flowers, and something pretty. I’m going to start thinking you have someone else hidden away if you keep ignore me. Now, what’s this all about? Cleo seemed pretty disturbed, but for all her talkative ways, I’ve never been able to get more than weak impressions from her.”
Donovan smiled, then grew serious and told her everything. He started with the break-in at Johndrow’s party, Vanessa’s abduction, and Kline’s death. She stopped him and questioned him thoroughly at this point. They both knew the implications of such a death. Kline had been powerful, cautious, and very good at what he did. Neither of them would have wanted to try and figure a way past his defenses, though both had done so once or twice in the past, and they knew that to have done so put their enemy in an elite and fairly small pool of possible suspects. Removing themselves from that pool made it smaller still.
“You said his familiar was a crow?” she asked thoughtfully.
“A crow, or a raven,” Donovan agreed. “It was big, and it was black, but it was in and out very quickly, and I wasn’t really able to concentrate on it. I had problems of my own with the face in the fireplace. Cleo got a better look than I did, but I left almost the second the thief was gone, so I haven’t been over this with her at any length. She nearly got the thing on the bookshelf. I got a couple of feathers. One was mangled, but I was able to use the other to search for trace. I need to go over it all more thoroughly.”
Amethyst nodded. “Then you contacted Johndrow?”
“Not immediately,” Donovan said, watching her face to gauge her reaction. “I was concerned about the particular book that was stolen.”
“Le Duc’s journal?” she asked. Her brow creased in a slight frown. “Why? What is it?”
“You may be hell with crystals,” he laughed softly, “but I see history isn’t your forte. Le Duc was an odd one. The journal he left is very thin, and concerns only a single spell — the Perpetuum Vitae Potion.”
“The Perpet…eternal life?”
Donovan nodded. “Le Duc never tested the potion, and because of certain tenets of the ritual, it’s now forbidden magic. Apparently someone has decided that the rules don’t apply to them.
“I remember now,” she said thoughtfully. “Le Duc was killed by a vampire, wasn’t he?”
“Yes. He was trying to acquire the final ingredient for his formula — the vampire’s blood.”
“Then Vanessa…” Amethyst’s words trailed off, and Donovan nodded.
“Yes, she’s going to be part of the potion.”
“But, why her?” Amethyst asked. “I mean, there were plenty of others at that party, older and more powerful. Why would he choose Johndrow’s lover?”
“I don’t know for sure,” Donovan replied. “She’s beautiful. Maybe our thief is something of a romantic? Maybe he likes the idea of having a beautiful, ancient, powerful prisoner to gloat over.”
“But, won’t he hurry to finish this? Surely he knows that you, or someone like you, will be on his trail? There are protections to prevent detection, but they can only work so well, and for so long. It’s just a matter of time until we find him…”
“Not we,” Donovan said. “I will do it. I’ve been hired to do it, and, as I told Johndrow, I’d have done it anyway. I don’t like having my things taken.”
Amethyst’s eyes sparkled again. “Yeah, you certainly had it all under control tonight. What was I thinking, offering my help to a big, strong cowboy like you?”
Amethyst looked up at him then, wide-eyed, and batted her lashes. If Donovan had had a drink he’d have tossed it at her. As it was, all he could do was laugh.
“You missed all the best parts,” he told her. “I don’t believe they’d ever seen an elemental summoned, for one thing.”
“You summoned an elemental in an alley?”
“Under it,” he corrected. “It was Pachacama,”
“Incan,” she commented, sipping her wine and watching him over the rim. He knew she was flirting, and he wished he had time to let her know how well it was working.
“Yeah — not the most powerful available,” he said, “but I didn’t have much time.”
“Why didn’t you have the elemental take them and then banish it?” she asked. “They’d have been stuck pretty well, I think, and they’d have had plenty of time to think on the error of their ways while they waited for the sun to rise high enough to hit the alley.”
Donovan stared at her. It was a use for the spell he’d never even considered, and the simplicity of it felt like a smack in the middle of his forehead. His surprise must have shown, because she laughed again and drained her wine, gesturing to the barman for a refill.
“Yeah, you have it all under control,” she teased. “I told you men were no good at this sort of thing.”
Donovan shook his head bemusedly. “Whoever took the book, and Vanessa, is going to more than he has so far to complete the ritual. There are ingredients he’s going to need. That’s why I wanted to see you. One of the things he’ll need is a matched pair of Timeline crystals, and they have to be very special. They have to be a perfect harmonic pair.”
Amethyst put down her glass and stared at him. All trace of humor had left her expression.
“There is only one matched set like that on this continent,” she said. “It’s mine, and it’s securely locked in my vault.”
‘”I know,” he said softly. “Like I said, that’s why I needed to talk to you. I know your security is flawless, but I’d have said that about mine, as well…couldn’t hurt to take some extra precautions. I know how rare it is to find both a timeline crystal and to have it flawless. How much less likely is it to find a matched pair?” He shrugged.
Amethyst was no longer paying the slightest attention to her wine. Her specialty was stone, crystals, and talismans. She had the finest collection in existence of all three of these specialties, and she was very protective of both the collection, and her secrets. Donovan has asked too much more than once and run into the stone wall of her stubborn streak, and he saw it boiling to the surface now.
“You think he can get them from me?” It wasn’t a question, but more of an accusation, and Donovan sighed.
“I’m not saying that, and I think you know it. I’m saying that he wants them, and that I know you may be the only source that exists in the world. He must have a plan for how he intends to get his hands on them when the time comes, or why go to the trouble to gather the other ingredients and get the dogs on his trail?”
She didn’t look impressed with his logic, but Donovan saw she was at least considering it.
“What else does he need?” she asked.
Donovan gratefully changed the subject. “He needs bone marrow dust from a particularly difficult to find Priest. There’s only one grave in the area — I did some research.”
He told her about his meeting with the collector, Windham, and what he’d learned from that exchange.
“So, no one has tried to collect it for him yet?” Amethyst asked.
“I don’t think so,” Donovan said. “I’m going after it myself.”
She stared at him in shock. “Why? Donovan, if you think that’s the only source locally, why not just destroy it, or secure it somehow? Why go out into the open like that and put yourself at risk?”
