didn’t… oh, my
Odysseus Grant was the only one to regard the corpse without horror. Instead, he wore the pursed lips and creased brow of concentration.
“Can you shed any light on this?” Anastasia asked him, the pointed lilt to her voice even more pronounced.
He said, “Only that it confirms what we already suspected. Though I’m almost impressed. I had assumed they set this up on behalf of someone else. But it’s all them.”
Anastasia collected a pile of odds and ends from Valenti’s person: a box of bullets, a rolled-up wire, a vial of clear liquid—Anastasia put this quickly away from her—and a walkie-talkie the size of a cell phone, turned off.
“Where’s Ariel?” I said to Tina.
“We put her with Dorian.”
I nodded. Wiped my eyes before the stinging got too bad.
“What do we do now?” Jeffrey said.
A horror movie was well under way, and I wanted it over and done with. But no end was in sight. They’d get us all if we didn’t do something. Other than run screaming into the night, at least.
I regarded the group gathered around the crumpled body of Ron Valenti. “The show was a trap. That’s clear. But they’re not just hunting us to kill us. They could have just blown up the house, or fired at us all when we went outside. This is a game. A challenge. They’re setting traps, a different one for each of us. I think they’re going to draw this out, killing us one at a time, because they think we can’t get away. And they think we won’t fight back. But this is a war now. When the others figure out what happened to him, they’ll hit us hard.”
“So what are we going to do?” Tina said.
“I’m getting out of here,” Conrad said. The look on his face was a bit—if I had to put a word to it—feral. Wide eyes, tight jaw, teeth nearly bared. Grant raised an inquiring brow. The rest of us were dumbstruck and silent. “I’m not putting up with this anymore. I’m out of here.”
He grabbed a flashlight and headed for the door. I blocked him. “Are you crazy?”
He shook his head and smiled, but the expression was wild, trembling with terror. He was acting out of panic and desperation. Always a bad idea.
“No. Getting away from here is going to save me. You—you all are
I blocked the door with my arm, keeping him from reaching for the knob. “You want to talk about stories? You know what happens to the guy who runs out into the woods all by himself, don’t you? We’re safer together, Conrad.”
His frown became a snarl. “Being together hasn’t been safe so far, has it?”
“You don’t know that they won’t go after you, too. They’ve already proven they don’t want witnesses,” I said.
“I’ll take my chances. Look, I’ve got my phone. I’ll hike to someplace where there’s a signal and call for help. Let me go.” He raised the flashlight like he was going to use it as a weapon. Maybe he expected me to flinch back. To feel threatened by his panicked little body.
I didn’t twitch a muscle. Stared him down like the monster I was. Between the two of us, I was the dominant one. I didn’t even have to work for it. He cringed, and his eyes went wide, as if some primal part of his brain understood the exchange of body language. He understood that I wasn’t going to let him past—but he didn’t understand why he couldn’t just barge through.
Anastasia touched my shoulder. I turned, drawing away from the door—and Conrad took his chance to swing it open and scramble out.
I called, “Hey—” But Anastasia held me back. And she was right—I really shouldn’t go racing outside with snipers around. But Conrad was gone, into the wilderness, alone.
I turned on the vampire. “What—”
“We’re better off not having to babysit him,” she said.
“Well, that’s damned cold.”
Her lip curled. “You pack animals, always trying to take care of the children.”
“Fuck you.”
She turned on me, dark eyes shining, lips in a thin frown. This time, I had to work to keep my spine straight and not look away.
“We need information,” Grant said, a calculated interruption.
“Too bad our only lead is dead,” Lee said, nodding at the corpse.
Grant regarded the body a moment and seemed to come to a decision. “I need space. Move these chairs out of the way. Tina, there’s a bag in my room. Like a briefcase, black, locked. Can you bring it to me? Don’t look in it, just bring it.”
She seemed like she was going to argue. Lips pursed, she hesitated. But Grant didn’t acknowledge her and wasn’t open to argument. She went upstairs. By the time she returned with the bag, we’d pushed back the chairs and coffee table, giving us a large space in the living room.
“Anastasia, help me with him.” He went to Valenti’s head and directed the vampire to his feet. Amazingly, she didn’t argue but did as he asked. They arranged Valenti on the hardwood floor in the center of the space. Anastasia quickly backed out of the way.
“Grant, what are you doing?” I said.
“Just watch. Tina, Jeffrey, stay right there, inside the circle. Tell me everything you sense, everything you hear.” He took the bag from Tina, and she seemed all too happy to get rid of it—she’d been holding it by her fingertips.
Pausing a moment, Grant looked at each of us in turn. “Don’t say anything. No screams, no words, nothing. You won’t like this. But we need information.”
“What—” Tina started, but Grant silenced her with a single shake of his head.
“Do you have a better idea? Is his spirit forthcoming enough to talk to either one of you?” They shook their heads. Tina inched closer to Jeffrey and took hold of his hand. They stood shoulder to shoulder.
Grant got to work.
He pulled out a red votive candle, set it by Valenti’s head, and lit it, bathing the body in gold light, giving it a false semblance of life. The dead eyes stared. Next he took a piece of chalk from the bag and drew a circle, starting at Valenti’s head and moving clockwise. The chalk circle encompassed the body and about five feet all around it. He enclosed Jeffrey and Tina within the circle, as well.
Next he sprinkled some powder over the candle, and a sharp smell, burning sage, drifted out. My nose itched, and I sneezed. I tried to hold it back. But it didn’t seem to interrupt the proceedings.
Chalk in hand, Grant drew symbols—at the body’s head, feet, left and right hands. This was ceremonial magic. I knew the signs, had seen similar rituals—a circle often meant protection or a barrier. Symbols, light, incense. I had a very bad feeling about this. I was standing at the wall; I couldn’t back up any farther.
The last item Grant drew from his bag was a round mirror. This he set on the floor by the candle. Light from the candle reflected off it, a spot of brightness.
Grant knelt by Valenti’s head and said, “Ronald Valenti. I need to speak with you.” A few moments passed, a few quickly thudding heartbeats. “Valenti. Hear me. You’ve been a very bad man, but here’s your chance to do something right. Speak to me, Ronald Valenti.”
Grant was right. I didn’t like this. But I didn’t interrupt.
The mirror fogged over. The light dimmed.
“Tell me what I need to know,” Grant said in a whisper.
The body’s eyes blinked.
Jeffrey drew a sharp breath. “It’s back. His aura’s back,” he whispered.
“What color?” Grant said.
“Dark. Muddy.”
