been a formidable problem for us, but she hasn’t been.”
I wondered at his use of “she” but I didn’t want to derail my train of thought with that right now, and instead I said, “I think the deal between Limos and Hazzard is not just for their own profit. I think Purlis must have some stake—”
Carlos cut me off with a quick motion of his hand and a glance at the door. In a moment Stymak returned and sat down again, looking pale, smelling slightly sour and wiping his face with a damp towel. “Sorry. This thing is wigging me out.” He looked again at the transcript he’d started and at my photos. “Couple of these guys are kind of poetical, aren’t they?”
I gave it a thought and said, “A lot of these ghosts are from the early twentieth century—pre–World War I —and fairly well educated, so, yes, they might be inclined to be flowery.”
“Yeah, I can see that, especially if they’re victims of Linda Hazzard’s. But who or what the hell is that Limos- thing? It didn’t feel like a spirit, really. Some kind of demon?”
“A god,” Carlos suggested.
Stymak and I stared at him. Stymak turned his gaze aside quickly, but kept his attention on the vampire. “What makes you think so? I’ve never heard of him.”
“A distant memory . . . from my childhood.” Carlos gave me a sly grin. “Yes, I did have one, Blaine. Greek and fairly obscure, I seem to recall—Limos, the goddess of famine and hunger. However long forgotten, she has the ability to create or destroy—if she can access power.”
That explained his use of “she” earlier, but I said, “Why didn’t you mention this before?”
He bowed his head very slightly and cut his gaze down. I thought that might have been embarrassment, but it seemed unlike him to be abashed. “I’ve been teasing the memory from the back of my mind since she gave her name. But even I can’t dredge up everything I’ve ever known.”
I hadn’t thought about the depth of memory he must have, or how much work it might be to put all the pieces of a disused fact back together. “Do you think she’s going to do something more tonight?” I asked, casting a glance toward Stymak, who was looking worse by the minute.
Carlos shrugged. “I think not. She spent a great deal of energy to come here and try to overawe us. She wouldn’t do that if she was planning some other action tonight as well. You’ve annoyed her and she’s made a tactical error in attacking you two, wasting energy and drawing too much attention to herself. She would have been better served to let us believe Hazzard was the only spirit we needed to worry about.”
Stymak looked ready to scream or faint—I wasn’t sure which was more imminent—and I thought I’d better cut the discussion short before he lost it completely. “I think
Stymak stood up. “Actually, I think I just need to get away from both of you. I—I can’t do this anymore. Tell Lily I’m sorry. I can’t . . . touch this anymore. I feel sick . . . filthy. This is . . . this is not what I signed up for.”
He tore the page he’d been working on out of his notebook and dropped it on the table, then swept the remains of his materials into his bag and hurried out of the room with his head down.
I looked at Carlos, who returned an arch look.
“A delicate one, your Mr. Stymak.”
“Sensitive—isn’t that what a medium is supposed to be?”
“He won’t last long if he continues this way. He hasn’t learned to separate his feelings from what he is told by ghosts. He allows the horror of it too deeply into his mind and it will drive him mad. Or kill him.” He peered at me. “I assume that would not sit well with you.”
“Of course not. But I suppose
Carlos snorted. “You continue to think little of me after all this time, Blaine. I do not revel in the distress of others. Unless they deserve it.”
He was right and I was being unfair. I sighed. “I guess we’re out one medium.”
“For now. He may recover.”
“We may not need him now that we know what we’re looking for.”
“I doubt this will be so simple. We should, perhaps, arrange some help for Mr. Stymak. . . .”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What sort of ‘help’ do you have in mind?”
He chuckled and my stomach flipped. “Nothing of that sort. I’m concerned for him. He has overtaxed himself and is in distress. I’ll arrange for someone to look after him and keep him from harm. I doubt he’ll be paying much attention to the psychic realm right now, and that could be dangerous for him. Cameron’s attention to our wider community makes it in my best interest to ensure that people like Stymak don’t fall victim to their own powers.”
“Altruism just looks so odd on you, Carlos.”
He let out a full, rolling laugh that hit me like an earthquake. “You must work very hard to remain so cynical, Blaine.”
“It suits me.”
He grinned, but didn’t reply.
We left the pub together, seeing no sign of Stymak and getting a strange look from the owner as we went, but no trouble. I wondered if I would be allowed back in the next time I went to the pub. We walked toward the parking lot where I’d left the truck. The seance hadn’t lasted very long; it was only a bit past midnight. The sun comes up early in the summer so I knew Carlos would soon want to get to whatever safe place he hid in during the day.
“Where is Inman?” he asked.
“Huh?” I grunted, surprised.
“You promised me the location where Purlis has Inman. I’ve done your task and now I would like my half of this bargain paid.”
“I’m not certain that Inman is there,” I hedged. “I didn’t get inside.”
“But you know where Purlis operates. That will do. Take me.”
“Carlos, the sun will be rising in a little more than four hours. I’m not sure it would be wise for you to start on a rescue mission right now.”
“That is for me to decide. Take me.”
“No. This conspiracy of ghosts has to be broken before they do whatever they’re going to do. I can’t let people die because you want your pet dhampir back right this minute. And if Purlis is actively involved in my case, it would be better to let me do my job and undermine his position before you go after him.”
Carlos grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me to face him. The shock of his touch weakened my knees and drove black pain through me. I struggled against the despair and horror that invaded my mind, trying to push them back, but the closeness of his dark energy was pervasive and I could feel him concentrating on me, driving the sensations and thoughts that made me feel fragile and helpless.
“Don’t toy with me, Blaine. You can do no more tonight without my help. And what else you would do can be accomplished in daylight, where I cannot go. Time is short, yes—short for both of us.”
I was shaking in his grip, but I tried to break free. I was having difficulty concentrating enough to draw any power from the grid with which to oppose him and the push I gave against his mental weight seemed feeble to me, but he snatched his hands off my shoulders and backed away from me.
“I don’t wish to harm you any more than I wish to beg you,” he said. “Why must I remind you that you made a promise?”
“All right. I know. But I’m . . . I’m afraid.”
“You? Why do you hesitate to trust me now, when we have seen and done what we have together?”
I kept my chin up, though I would have preferred to look away. “My . . . mate is there as well as his father and whatever prisoners and assistants he may have.”
“Love is a strange thing. You worry that I’ll disregard the harm that would be done by killing your mate’s father. I assure you, my desire to mete out some punishment to the man who would enslave and destroy my creatures is difficult to restrain, but I shall. I wouldn’t
I almost laughed, as awful as that sounds. I steadied my thoughts before I replied, a little ashamed of myself. “I’m sorry. This situation bugs me as much as it does you and I can’t imagine how I’ll solve my case, and your problem, too, without you. I’m not thinking as clearly as I ought to where Quinton is concerned. I’m a fool to
