Even The Vampires Get The Blues

warn me at all. Pilar grabbed me just as I was opening the door. One moment I was there about to tattle on Pilar to his boss, the next a massive wave of energy slammed into me, so powerful it knocked me clear out of reality.

Chapter 13

Um… Paen?… Paen?… Helloooo?

Sam?

Oh, good, I was hoping you didn't have your mental voice mail turned on.

My what?

Nothing. Little joke.

Very little.

Yeah, well, you try making a joke when you're caught between realities, and see how well you do.

A pause filled my head. You're caught between realities?

Yes. I seem to be stuck here. I was wondering if there was something you could do to help me out?

His silence was telling. Where are you?

I don't think I'm anywhere, to be honest. I seem to be nowhere, caught in some sort of a web between reality and the beyond.

Then how do you expect me to help you?

We have to pass through this to get to the beyond. I was hoping you'd merge with me, and that would pull me out. Kind of a reverse of what I did with you earlier.

Or it might just pull me in.

True. I hesitated, hating to ask him for anything, but not seeing any other choice. I'd been stuck here for the last couple of hours as I tried everything I knew to get out, to no avail. Can you help me, please?

He didn't answer, but I knew the moment he merged with me, the two of us like separate pools of mercury forming into one glorious entity. Joined as we were, I could feel everything he felt, and what it was he was thinking.

And he could do likewise.

He had to know I was trying to avoid confronting the emotions that swirled around in me, a vortex of love and anger and pain. But he said nothing as the merging pulled me back into reality, separating us into two people again.

I found myself standing in my office at the window, blinking at the bright afternoon sun that poured in and spilled into a warm pool on the floor. Thanks, Paen. I appreciate that.

I wish to talk to you about what's happened.

Sorry, can't right now. Things to do, places to go, people to curse.

What?

Nothing. Another little joke.

Sam—

Signing off for now. I'll see you for dinner later. Bye.

I'm just outside your office—

La la la, my fingers are in my ears and I can't hear you!

You're not listening to me with your ears, woman. I'll be at your office in twenty seconds or less, and then we will discuss the situation.

It wasn't easy to tune him out of my mind, but I did it. I hurried out the front way so I wouldn't run into him coming in the back, my soul bleeding tears of anguish. I just about cried salty ones when I got to Diviners' House and discovered that the shoebox in my bag was empty.

'Sam? Are you all right?' Jake asked as I stared numbly at the inside of the empty shoebox.

'No, I'm not all right. I'm just about as far from all right as you can possibly get and still be alive. God damn it, Jake! Someone stole my statue!'

He gave me a thin-lipped look. 'After what you told me about being shot by that man Pilar, I'd think it would be a relief to have it off your hands.'

I narrowed my eyes as I thought back to the visit to Caspar's house. 'I bet it was Pilar who zapped me. I bet he stole the statue while I was immobile between realities. How on earth am I going to get it back?'

'Why do you want it back? It sounds to me like it hasn't brought you anything but bad luck.'

'It's mine,' I said, putting the empty box back into my bag. 'The demon gave it to me. Yes, by mistake, but both Clare and I were shot for it—that means I have the right to get to the bottom of what it is, and why Pilar wants it so bad. Thanks, Jake. Sorry to disrupt your day for nothing.'

He saw me to the door, stopping me briefly as I stood on the doorstep, soaking in the warmth of the sunshine. 'So, this thing with you and Paen—I can't tell you how happy I am that you've found someone at last. I wasn't sure about him, since Dark Ones tend to be a bit intense, but he seems like a nice bloke. I wish you both an eternity of happiness. One question—should I be buying a wedding present anytime soon?'

The sun went behind a cloud. Pain gripped my chest and didn't allow me to breathe. 'No,' I said, and left.

I was pretty much on autopilot all the way back to the office, finding my way to the correct bus, getting off at the correct stop, and walking the two blocks to the office without seeing, feeling, or registering anything around me. I was too caught up in my own misery to even notice the sudden bank of black clouds that started rolling in from the north.

'Life sucks,' I said as I opened the door to my office. Finn and Clare, back from wherever it is they'd gone off to, looked up from her computer, questions evident in their expressions. At my desk, Paen sat, making notes on a notepad. I noticed he was left-handed, as I was. It warmed my heart for a moment before I remembered that as far as he was concerned, my heart could take a flying leap.

'You look horrible,' Clare said, getting up to take my coat and hang it properly on the coat-tree. 'Did Brother Jacob not have anything helpful to say about the statue?'

'What statue?' I asked, pulling the shoebox out of my purse and handing it to her.

She opened it. 'I don't understand. Where is the statue?'

Grief built up inside me until I thought I'd break down into a good, old-fashioned elf-dirge. I'd lost Paen, lost the statue, and I wasn't the tiniest bit closer to finding either the Jilin God or the Coda. A big old pity party welled up inside me and whined to be set free. 'The statue was stolen from me sometime while I was held prisoner.'

It took only a few minutes to tell my startled audience the events of the last two hours, ending up with a brief rant against everything that had gone wrong of late. 'I can't believe this,' I said, storming around the office, waving my hands in the best drama queen fashion. 'I'm known for my ability to find things. It's what I do best! Nothing has ever stayed lost once I've tried to find it, and yet here I am, employed to find two simple items, and I'm no closer now to finding their whereabouts than I was when I was hired, not to mention losing a third item I wanted to keep!'

Clare popped a lilac blossom in her mouth, her eyes huge as she watched me emote.

'I think you're allowing things to get to you,' Paen offered, getting to his feet. He tucked his notebook away into his jacket pocket.

I pointed a finger at him. 'You're a big part of the problem, buster.'

He raised his eyebrows. 'I fail to see how our personal situation—'

'I'm not talking about your commitment issues—I'm referring to the fact that you didn't tell me everything you knew about the Jilin statue. You willfully withheld information about it, information that might have helped me if I had known it two days ago.' That wasn't strictly fair, but I was grasping at straws.

'What information?' Finn asked, frowning at his brother.