Cormac shot me a look. “Stand back.”
I raised my hands in a gesture of innocence and backed away.
Cormac stood just outside the circle. The room was so quiet, I could hear us breathe—at least, those of us who did breathe. The moment demanded stillness. I was about to say something, unable to bear the tension of anticipation any longer, when the sometime-wizard flicked the lighter on and knelt, touching the flame to the map.
A spark flared on the paper, and a tongue of fire leaped a few inches high. Just as quickly, it vanished, leaving behind a wisp of smoke and the smell of sulfur. Cormac remained kneeling, his hand over the map, the smoke curling around him.
“Whoa,” Ben murmured. We all leaned forward for a better look at what had happened.
Cormac shook a layer of fine soot off the map and held it up to the light. The flame had burned a perfect pinpoint mark into the map. X marks the spot.
“Really? It’s there?” Grace said, moving to Cormac’s side to look over his arm at the image.
“I guess so,” Cormac said. I studied him, searching for a sign that it was really him, that he was back in control instead of Amelia. His posture seemed more like himself. He smelled like books and leather, a confusing mix that didn’t tell me anything.
“That seems too easy,” she said.
“Sometimes you just have to lay out what you really want,” he said.
“So what,” Grace said. “We go pick it up?”
“I doubt it,” he said. He began scuffing out the chalk marks with his shoe, erasing the circle and then the drawing, until the whole area was a vague red smudge.
She looked confused, and I explained. “We still don’t know who took the thing from the safe in the first place. I assume we’re going to have to take it back from them.”
Anastasia hadn’t spoken through the whole spell casting. The other vampires seemed interested and amused, as if we were entertaining them.
“We’ll have to move slow,” Cormac said. “Scout ahead and check it out before we go in. Make sure this is even right.”
That was Cormac. The hunter was back in charge. Grudgingly, I had to admit that they made a pretty good team, however weird I thought the arrangement.
“Part of the tunnel system goes there,” Grace said. “We should be able to get to it, no problem.”
“This time we stick together,” Cormac said. “Nobody gets lost.”
“That’s going to depend on what we find,” Grace said.
I turned to the vampires. “Anastasia?”
“I think it’s a trap,” she said.
“Just like last time,” I said cheerfully. “Shall we get moving and get this over with?”
Anastasia turned toward the door. “Yes.”
“Just like that?” Boss said after her. “You’re not going to ask me for help? For an army?”
“As if you would give it.”
Boss turned to his right. “Henry? You want to go with them?”
“Sure,” the vampire said, shrugging.
“Ah, so now you’re sending a spy,” Anastasia said, glaring at Boss, sneering at Henry, who actually wilted a bit.
“Yeah. But you don’t have anything to hide and he might really be able to help,” Boss said.
They couldn’t do a damned thing without arguing. I said, “Do vampires ever just help anybody out of the goodness of their hearts?”
“Didn’t you know, we don’t have hearts,” Boss said, and he and his minions laughed.
Cormac looked at me. “I hate vampires.”
“Yeah,” I muttered.
Boss shrugged. “If you don’t want Henry along, just say so and you can go on your merry way.”
“He can come,” I said before Anastasia could pitch a fit about it. “Thanks for the offer. I’m sure we can use all the help we can get.”
Boss inclined his head, the hint of a bow, and Henry winked at me.
Anastasia pursed her lips. “Fine. But you’ll listen to me.” She pointed at Henry.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
Boss sighed and shook his head. “I bet we can even find a shirt for Mr. Kitty here. You see how helpful we are?”
“Mr. Kitty?” Ben said, eyebrows raised.
“I may have to borrow that one,” Cormac said, smirking.
“Don’t even think about it,” his cousin said.
I butted in. “A shirt would be great.” We could argue about name calling later, though I had to admit I was hating Ben’s reaction. Seriously?
Henry went to fetch a shirt.
“Well,” Anastasia said to Boss. “At least you’ll learn how it all turns out.”
“It’s my city, after all,” he said.
“You never did thank me for that.”
“Is that all you really want?” he said. “Well then, Anastasia dear, thank you for helping me win San Francisco.”
She rolled her eyes and scowled. “Too late.”
“Oh, Anastasia, it’s never too late. We have all the time in the world.”
Of course they did.
Chapter 13
THE SPOT BURNED into the map was back in Chinatown, not far from where we’d originally met Anastasia. If the Dragon’s Pearl had up and wandered away, it hadn’t gone far. At least, not far in linear distance. What we couldn’t tell was if the pearl was accessible, resting on a shelf in a back room at street level, or if it was hidden in one of the winding tunnels that Grace and her strange key had access to. If that was the case, I couldn’t quite trust the spot on the map.
Henry borrowed the car and driver to take us that far. We crammed in and rode in silence until we reached the corner that Grace picked for us to begin quest part two—Stockton Street this time, a block over from Grant, and the not-as-touristy section of Chinatown. The traffic lights hanging above the narrow intersection glowed red, but there were no cars in sight. Old brick and concrete facades stood
