EVEN VAMPIRES GET THE BLUES

I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. 'Am I correct in assuming that you still do not know where the statue is?'

'If I knew that, it would be in my possession this very moment,' he said dryly. 'Should I find it, I will naturally excuse the debt, but as I have had no luck finding it thus far, I am forced to rely upon one of you to bring it to me.'

'Who is Pilar?' I asked, sitting next to Paen, my hand possessively on his leg. The muscles of his thigh were tense and tight, as if he was poised to spring. 'Or rather, what is he?'

'Pilar?' Caspar looked surprised by the question, he looked truly surprised. 'Pilar is a minion, a kung, a water demon of low caste. He should not concern you.'

He doesn't know Pilar knows where the statue is. Do we tell him?

No. We need it to fulfill the debt. There's no guarantee that he will consider it met if he finds the statue first.

There's something we're missing here—he's a demon lord, god of death, and who knows what else. But he can't find one little statue?

A slow smile curled Paen's lips. I was glad he wasn't smiling it at me. Caspar's smile might have taken a few years off my life, but Paen's promised retribution at any cost. He's weakened. That's why he's appearing in mortal form—I'm a fool for not realizing that. The statue must be a source of power to him, and without it…

Before I could read the intention in Paen's mind, he was across the room, holding Caspar off the floor by his throat. 'You will pay.'

'You cannot harm me,' Caspar choked out, the power crackling around him as it built up. 'All you can do is guarantee your mother will suffer as your Beloved has. Now release me, Dark One, before I lose my temper.'

'Let him go, Paen. Let's just get this over with so we can do our job.'

Paen released Caspar. I stood next to him, a united front. 'Right. Why do you want this statue so badly?'

Caspar adjusted his tie and brushed out the suit jacket that had been slightly wrinkled when Paen grabbed him. 'It is my statue, as I have explained. I commissioned it. It was stolen from me and given to the emperor. All I seek is to have my property returned to me.'

'You told Sam the secrets of the origins of the immortal races were held within it. Is that true?'

'I did not lie to her,' Caspar said with an evasive air.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I asked Paen.

That it's too much of a coincidence that the statue should contain the same information as the Coda?

Yep. I'm thinking there's more there than meets the eye.

'Where is Pilar now?' Paen asked Caspar.

The latter frowned. 'Why do you wish to know about my minion? He is nothing, a weak kung, of no relevance.'

'He's also murdered my Beloved. I have a score to settle with him,' Paen said.

'And yet she still lives. Would you waste your time on something so immaterial as revenge?' Caspar asked, clearly surprised.

'We also think he might know something about the statue,' I said, stepping lightly over the truth. 'We'd like to talk to him. He might give us a clue.'

'Pilar? Hmm.' Caspar closed his eyes for a moment, the dark power aura around him suddenly snapping out feelers, as if he was sucking in power from the surroundings. Paen pulled me backward, out of reach of them. Caspar's eyes opened, anger visible in them. 'He does not answer my summons.'

I didn't look at Paen, but my fingers tightened around his. Pilar has double-crossed him.

So it would seem.

'Where is he now?' Paen asked again.

'I do not know,' Caspar admitted. 'He is a water demon, so he must go to ground near the water, but I do not know his location at the moment. I will, however, have a few things to say when I find him.'

'Let's get out of here,' I said to Paen, my senses going nuts in the power-charged room. 'I can scry Pilar's location.'

'You have twelve hours,' Caspar said as we brushed past him. 'I must have the statue by the first hour of deep night, or your mother's soul will be forfeit.'

Paen's arm shot out so fast, I almost didn't notice it. Caspar did, though. Paen's fist slamming into his nose drove the Chinese god of death backward into the wall, the impact of his body hitting it sending several delicate china cups to the floor. Caspar slumped down the wall and joined them.

'Oh, that was smart—just break the nose of a demon lord,' I told Paen as we left the apartment. 'Like he's not going to get you for that?'

'It was worth it,' Paen said with a smile.

'Let's see if you're saying that later on tonight.' I looked at his watch. 'Oh, good, we're not late for the appointment with Owen Race. Let's hope the seer was right, and he does know exactly where the statue is.'

'I don't doubt that the seer was correct,' Paen said, getting into the car. 'It's what Race will want in exchange for that information that worries me.'

I slid in next to him, pointed out the side of his face was burned, and waited the few minutes it took for him to fade the burn away. 'As I see it, we have an excellent bartering point. And since it is a good guess the statue and the Coda are tied together, it seems to me he'd want to help us find the statue so we can figure out where the manuscript is.'

We drove the short distance to Owen's house without saying much more. Paen was apparently busy with his own thoughts, while I tried to digest the fact that Caspar had so deceived us. On the way there, I made a list of things we wanted to ask, but it was of little use.

'He's not here?' I asked the housekeeper as Paen and I stood in the hallway of the big old house. 'Is he going to be back soon? We had an appointment to meet him this morning.'

'He said nothing to me about that,' the housekeeper said, plainly wishing we'd go and leave her to her work. 'The last I heard from the professor he was in Barcelona, and wasn't expected to be back for several days.'

I looked at Paen as the door closed behind us while we stood on the front steps. The sky was black and sodden, rain falling in an endless misery. 'He's gone?'

'Evidently,' Paen said, turning up the collar of his coat. 'I think we should—'

He stopped abruptly, grabbing my arm in a grip that was almost painful.

'What? What is it? What's wrong?' I asked, a sudden chill brushing me.

He hauled me forward to the car, jerked the door open, and shoved me inside.

'Hey!' I said as he slammed the door and raced around to the driver's side. 'What gives?'

He started the car and jammed his foot onto the accelerator. 'It's Finn.'

'Oh? Are they interviewing the poltergeist?'

'They were,' he answered, his voice deep with anger.

What's wrong? What's happened? Why are you so mad?

Paen spun the car around an intersection, blithely disregarding both traffic safety and all applicable laws. It's Clare. She's been kidnapped. By a small, dark man with a monkey on his shoulder.

Chapter 18

'Where is she?'

Paen pulled up in front of a small, comfortable-looking bed-and-breakfast. Finn dashed from the protective shadowed doorway to the car, climbing into the backseat as I asked my question.

'I don't know,' Finn answered, his face bloodied and black with anger. 'The bastard grabbed her as we were