Siren Song

“The spell didn’t work.”

“Maybe she wasn’t in range.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. From what they tell me, anybody who’s anybody was here for the hearing.”

“But that doesn’t mean they stayed after the ceremony was over. I know a couple of them can teleport and there’s an airport on the west half of the island. If I was working security, I’d have gotten everybody important off- site as fast as I could once the demon showed.”

“Maybe you’re right.” He leaned back into the couch, looking tired and more than a little depressed.

“Speaking of Dahlmar, where is he?”

“He’s sleeping in and Bubba’s on the door.” Creede’s face darkened, his disapproval patently obvious. Well, yeah. Bubba was probably still drunk, but it wasn’t like the king was a . . . wait a minute. I abruptly realized what the problem probably was. “Creede, have you been guarding Dahlmar?”

“Well, of course. Somebody had to.” The implication being that I hadn’t. That’d I’d been screwing around while he did all the work. Um, no. Time to disabuse him of that little notion.

“Creede, before we met up at PharMart, did Dahlmar actually hire you? Sign any paperwork like, oh, I dunno, a contract? Give you any money?”

It took a full ten seconds for that to hit him. When it did, Creede’s face was a sight to behold. His eyes widened and he opened and shut his mouth two or three times as he tried to come up with something appropriate to say. Poor baby.

I let out a small chuckle. I wasn’t really laughing at him, but . . . well, yeah, I guess I was. But he’s been in this business a lot longer than I have. To make such a rookie mistake deserved a little teasing. “Of course not. Because he doesn’t have any money. If he did, would he be running around in a frickin’ Mickey Mouse T-shirt? Oh, he’s probably got money stashed somewhere, but unless he goes to the U.S. government and claims asylum, he can’t get to it—and the second he does, the opposition will be able to track him.”

Creede just stared at me, so I continued. “I came on board your little operation for one purpose: to introduce him to the sirens. I did it as a freebie because he pulled all sorts of major strings to keep me from being locked up. Now he’s here. He’s met the sirens. My job’s done. Don’t be thinking I’m your backup or anything. You’ll be disappointed.”

“So you’re not protecting him. He’s on his own?” Creede didn’t exactly sound judgmental, more curious and embarrassed.

I sighed. “Oh, I’ll probably help his ass. I like him. Besides which, the people he’s up against are using spawn and maybe full-out demons and are probably the same people who put a death curse on me. But he’s safe enough here. He doesn’t need me watching him. Queen Lopaka isn’t going to let anything happen to him. I need to get what information I can and rest up while I’ve got the opportunity. Question is, what are you going to do?”

Creede grew thoughtful. “People think they’re using demons, but it backfires and before long the demon’s using them—they’re an open door to our world.”

“Yup.”

“George Miller was my partner for years and my best friend longer than that. Somebody connected with this used him and destroyed him.”

I nodded.

“I’m in.”

“I figured as much. But why don’t you let Bubba go back to bed?”

“I’ll do that.” Creede grinned. “Poor man has a helluva hangover. You should’ve warned him not to try to keep up with you now that you have an unfair advantage.”

“I was drinking Coke and he was pretty far gone before I even got here. I’m not thinking he’s loving the whole lap of luxury thing.”

“Whereas you, Princess, seem to be doing just fine.”

“Don’t make me throw peanuts at you.” I pointed a finger at him in warning and was rewarded with a puzzled look. I laughed it off. “Never mind. Private joke. But you need to get out of here. I’ve got to dress and get something to eat. I went to bed late, but it’s been close to four hours—”

“Right. Wouldn’t want to wind up a snack. I’ll go.” He rose. “But if magic isn’t going to help us find our siren, how are we going to track her down?”

I sighed and stood, following him to the door. “Do you really think we’ll have to? She wants me dead, wants Dahlmar dead. I figure all we’ve got to do is stay in one place.”

“You think she’ll try again.”

I lifted one shoulder, mostly in defeat. “Don’t you?”

We stood there staring at each other for a long moment, him in the doorway and me with one hand on the door. Tension appeared between us, fully formed, like that moment when he pulled his hand away from my leg. There was fire in the back of his eyes—real fire. The strongest mages always have a flicker of magic that you can see when you stare deep. Bruno’s eyes had always sucked me inside until that flame surrounded me. Even as a human I could feel his magic, but when I was a vampire it had blown me away.

Creede’s magic wasn’t as powerful, but there was a weight to his gaze that had nothing to do with magic. It unnerved me. Not only because of the intensity of it but also because of the charm around his neck. He leaned closer as my hand froze on the door, my fingernails digging into the hard wood, not because I didn’t want him to come closer but because I did.

He was close enough now that I could feel his breath like heat on my skin. He might not have me in a total binding spell, but something had me frozen in place.

“Yeah. I do.” The words were powerful and full of meaning, but I’d forgotten the question. He closed his eyes then and I tensed. But he just took a deep, slow breath, as though smelling the air around me. A full-body shudder overcame him and he shook his head before turning without a word.

It was at least a full minute before I could move again, and when I shut the door I was shaking.

18

Dahlmar and Lopaka were in meetings again, so I had some time to kill. I spent it using the computer on my desk to catch up on stuff at home. I’d qualified for the loan. I’d need to swing by the bank when I got back. Mom was in detox. Apparently she’d gotten the DTs in jail. Gran was upset but hanging in there. The news that I’d be able to buy her house cheered her up quite a bit. Of course she wanted everything to happen now. When she found out I wasn’t in town and couldn’t take care of it immediately she got downright snappish. She was even madder when I told her I probably wouldn’t even be back in time to take her to church Sunday. I was glad to hang up the phone.

E-mails were plentiful and informative. Warren’s friend was okay. She’d had car trouble, but it was fixed. She’d invited us to come up to dinner next week. Unfortunately, the “us” referred to me and Bruno, which ripped the scab right off that wound. The next message only heaped on the salt.

Emma had arrived in New York. The apartment was amazing. The office was amazing. Irene was amazing. Everything was just . . . amazing. Emma’s boss was in and out of meetings the first day, but she expected Em to jump right in. In fact, she’d be flying out this morning on the corporate jet for a business trip. She sounded excited and incredibly happy, but I could tell she felt a little guilty, too. After all, my life pretty much sucked right now. I sent her a quick note telling her not to worry and that I was happy for her. That accomplished, I shut down the computer and went to take advantage of the spa-style bathroom facilities.

There were lots of mirrors, so I was able to check out every inch of my body. Good news, it didn’t look like I’d be getting any new scars from yesterday’s little adventure. Yay. Considering how bad the burns had been, that was pretty remarkable. I was vain enough to be relieved.

I’d poked around in the dresser before stepping into the shower. Someone (I was guessing Hiwahiwa) had gone to the west side of the island to shop for me, so when I was clean I pulled on brand-new everything. Of course whoever it was had based her choices on what I’d been wearing the first time she saw me, so it was a little more