"What did he mean about you being able to keep ahold of me?"
"His mark is a giant target. Whoever possessesyou..." He frowned. "Possesses your allegiance is probably a betterway to phrase it, gains considerable prestige since you bear our liege's mark."
"Fantastic," I muttered.
"He did grant you considerable privilege, but aswith everything, it's got strings attached."
"Let's just go get Sabian and make this all worthit."
He nodded. "Very well." He opened the door. "Holdmy hand for your first time."
I took his offered hand and stared. "There'snothing there, mate." And when I said nothing, I meant nothing. There wasa wall of blackness. I don't know what I had expected, but emptiness wasn't it.
"The portal is opaque. I promise, there'ssomething on the other side."
"Will it eat me?"
He frowned, glancing at me. "Eat you?"
"Uh, not like that. I meant like, literally."
Ezra laughed. "If you were able to get this farand not been invited, possibly. You don't need to worry about that."
"What about Mayhem?"
"He's more than a match for anything on the otherside, and he knows his way through gates. He'll be fine."
That raised my eyebrows. "So, not everyone hashellhounds then?"
"No. They're fairly rare."
"I'm not sure I ever thanked you for him," Isaid.
"My pleasure, Chris. I'll tell you more about mybreeding program later." He squeezed my hand. "Let's go."
"Yeah. Okay."
I took a step forward, feeling like I was pressinginto frigid semi-liquid glass, as I plunged into blackness.
Chapter 13
Mal
Aaron and I worked through another sword form together.He really was picking it up very quickly, and I was enjoying getting back intopractice. I'd gotten up early so we could drill before Aaron went to work. I wasn'tmuch of a morning person, but I also didn't need nearly as much sleep as I'dbeen getting recently, so it wasn't a hardship. While vampires weren't actuallyallergic to sunlight, we definitely were nocturnal.
My phone going off startled me and I fumbled mymovement, nearly tripping.
"You okay, dude?" Aaron lowered the practiceblade I'd given him.
"Yes. I was not expecting anyone to call me thisearly. Especially with Chris out of touch." I lowered my sword and headedfor the house where I'd left my phone.
"Your hearing is amazing."
I shrugged and he followed me inside.
The phone had just stopped making noise when I reachedit. I unlocked the screen and sighed when I saw Billy's number. It was awfullyearly for the pizza parlor to need me.
Aaron glanced over my shoulder and I tilted the phoneso he could see.
"Wonder what they want?"
"I imagine I'm about to find out," I repliedand called Billy back.
"Hey, Mal. Sorry it's so early."
"Not a problem," I answered with my bestprofessional shop owner voice. Not that I ever had to deal with employees. Thatwas all Olivia. I liked Chris' people and I didn't want them to think I wasannoyed. I wasn't. Not really. "I'm surprised you're awake."
"Yeah, well, I've been up all night. Mandy wentdown to Albuquerque to visit her folks and didn't make it back for work lastnight. That's not like her, so I called her folks and they thought she'd comeback here. No one can find her."
A chill shivered its way down my spine. I did not keeptabs on Albuquerque, and it was entirely possible she'd found what she waslooking for and gotten herself into a lot of trouble. There were plenty ofother possibilities, too, that were just as grim.
"Can you do anything? Like, I don't know, usemagic to track her down or something?"
"I can certainly try. Do you know where shelives?"
"Yeah, she's got an apartment not far from the shop."
"Text me the address and meet me there in abouthalf an hour."
"Uh, yeah, okay. But I don't have a key."
"Does she have a roommate?"
"No."
"I don't need a key to get in but having youthere would be useful in case someone sees us." I could do a lot aboutthat, too, but since people were looking for Mandy now, I didn't want to raiseany suspicions if I could avoid it.
"Okay, I'll see you in a few. Thanks, Mal."
"Of course, Billy." I hung up the phone andlet lose a string of curses.
"What can I do?" Aaron leaned against thedoor frame and studied me.
"If I have to swing down to Albuquerque, you'llhave to be Billy's contact if something happens while I'm gone. Otherwise, Ithink I can handle this on my own."
"Sure. No problem."
"Let me give you Billy's number and you can sendhim a text, and Aaron...be careful, please. I'm not comfortable leaving youalone with the angels after you."
"Mandy is in more trouble than I am, at themoment. Get her safe and I'll stick to the property here or work or the pizzashop. Or my car." He listed off all the places I'd warded, except hiswork. I hadn't figured out how to manage that yet, but the chances of himgetting accosted at a government lab were a bit lower. I hoped.
"Okay." I shook my head and headed for Chris'room to change into street clothing. I'd swing by my place for a few of mytools that I hadn't brought over here yet, and then head over to the addressBilly had sent me. And then we'd see.
∞ ∞∞
"You're sure this is her apartment?" I askedquietly as I studied the plain white door.
Billy nodded. "We're kind of like family atPrices', if you hadn't noticed. I was over before when she had a bunch of usdown for her birthday last year."
"Okay." I glanced around and didn't see anysurveillance equipment. That didn't mean it wasn't there, but from the generalatmosphere, I suspected if there had been any, it would have been obvious. Ialso didn't sense anyone nearby. Most of the occupants were probably at work orschool. I still drew on some of my vampire powers to turn any attention awayfrom us.
Since I wasn't interested in damaging her property, Ididn't simply break the lock. I did, however, know a handy spell to unlockalmost anything. Pulling a knife out of my pocket, I carved the shape of thespell in my palm, willing my body to wait before it started the healingprocess, or this wouldn't work. I normally healed faster
