Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
I was wearing a matching underwear set in fuchsia and acid green tie-die leopard print with the elven shoes when the Warlock Detective knocked on the kitchen door. That is, Winston the Warlock knocked on the door. He wasn’t an actual detective.
“Don’t move an inch, or I’ll stab you with all my pins. I swear on the soul of my dead grandfather the bullfighter,” Sebastian said through a mouthful of pins, some of which fell out at his words.
I didn’t move, just stood there with my arms out on either side of me while Sebastian draped the first rough layer of gauzy nothing. “I would never. Bones, would you let in the warlock, please?”
Bones made some moaning-sigh sound of death and walked stiffly to the door. He wasn’t entirely on board with letting another stranger into the master’s kitchen, but it was a character from the tv show, and he may have been under the impression that the warlock would spell my dress with some kind of protection spells. I’d had the idea while I was trying to convince him, and it wasn’t half bad.
Winston the Warlock wasn’t a disappointment. Most celebrities are much shorter than you imagined, with visible makeup you can’t see on tv. He wasn’t wearing makeup, but he was wearing a wizard’s coat with elaborate embroidery spelled onto every square inch. It wasn’t part of his costuming, but a real family heirloom that looked like it could use some patching.
“Welcome to Mercury’s mansion,” I said with a big smile.
He stared at me, at my underwear, for a second blinded by its brightness before his eyes snapped to my face and he gave me a very somber bow. “I hate to interrupt your…” His eyes darted to Sebastian, who bared his pin-enhanced teeth at the warlock, dropping more pins in the process. “Fitting, but he made it sound interesting.”
“Sebastian is always interesting. Would you like to sit? Have you eaten? I’m so delighted that you were able to make it on such short notice.”
“I’m sure I shouldn’t linger in Mercury’s mansion without him present. On the other hand,” he said with a large smile as he sat down at the table. “I believe I smell fresh bread.”
“Yes. Bones is getting very good at bread. Bones, would you mind cutting a piece for our guest? Would you like cheese or jam with it?” Not exactly high-class fare, but it was fresh.
“Cheese and a glass of milk, if you have any.”
I itched to do the serving, but a jab from a pin made me inhale sharply and hold very still. “Bones, would you mind? I’m stuck here.”
Sebastian snorted, and a shower of pins fell from his mouth. It was amazing that there were any left at all.
Bones slowly put together a plate with a glass of milk and a slab of thick bread and thick cheese while Winston looked around the kitchen with interest. It wasn’t modern or particularly functional, but it was cozy, with herbs hanging from the beams, the smell of fresh bread, and the bright and happy afghans on the couch and pinned to the walls.
“So, what is your connection to the Clarences?” he asked, then added when Bones brought him the plate, “Thank you, Bones.”
“I’m a distant relative,” I said, hating the lie almost as much as I disliked Sebastian poking me again. Now he was having fun. “I understand that you had a meeting with the three gemstones the morning of the fire. Could you tell me about it?”
He sniffed the bread and cheese, then took a large bite, considering while he chewed. “First of all, this bread is excellent. Bones, well done. You know, for an heiress, she was almost painfully sweet. The entire meeting was uncomfortable for everyone involved, except for Vilus, who was too obsessed with himself to notice anyone else’s feelings. His character was based on Mercury, you know.”
I froze while Bones started scowling at the warlock. “Mercury isn’t obsessed with himself.”
Winston waved a hand dismissively. “I mean, the character of Vilus is based on Mercury, not the actor, Tim, who has no character personally whatsoever. He’s an excellent actor and has captured that brooding, mysterious, evocative dark sorcerer vibe brilliantly. He has quite a fan following.”
“Yes, the goblins love him,” I said evenly, although Sebastian stabbed me again. Why did he stab me that time? He was making it hard to focus. “About the meeting…”
Winston smiled at me, showing even white teeth and a dimple in his cheek. He really was incredibly handsome, strong, manly, nothing like Philip, but extremely appealing. “You know Philip?” he asked. It’s like he could read my mind.
I nodded. “We’re acquaintances.”
“He’s stunning. Pity he won’t be a guest on the show now and then, but he’s strictly business. He’s been encouraging me very strongly to make Vilus even more diabolical and evil. Suggested that he kill our sweet Felicity Raven to show once and for all that he’s not redeemable. Seems to have strong feelings against dark sorcerers for some reason.” He looked around the kitchen again, eyes curious. “But that would end the show. Vilus can’t be killed and he can’t be pushed past the point of no return, or the viewers wouldn’t watch.”
“And the meeting…” I prompted again. It’s almost like he was hedging.
He smiled again, flashing that disarming dimple. “I watched Cassandra Clarence at work doing what she does, mediating between opposing forces to establish common ground for the greater good, while her so-called friend, Callie did the opposite, insulting Vilus by saying how she didn’t understand why a sorcerer should be so weak and lacking in virility, insulting Verity by saying how she must have slept with everyone to get her part on the show, and most telling of all, shamelessly flirting with Cassandra’s fiancé, Philip until he had to physically push her off his lap. Meanwhile, Cassandra followed up by smoothing over Vilus’s feelings, distracting Verity with talk about modeling for her company, and…hm. I’m not sure she noticed her friend’s shocking flirtation.” He eyed me curiously.
“Yes, Callie always liked to stir things up, and she did flirt with Philip to irritate him, but she meant nothing by it.”
His eyes gleamed. “You seem to be very well-informed about your distant relative’s friend’s characters.”
“I’m observant by nature. What about Breeann? Do you remember her?”
He winced. “I do. She wrote her number on my neck and down my shoulder as I pulled away. She’s a very quick writer. She’s also apparently my biggest fan and would like to have my babies.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. The pained look on his face combined with the image of my friend propositioning the warlock at such a disastrous meeting was absolutely hilarious. Pity I couldn’t remember it.
Sebastian jabbed me deep with a particularly long and sharp pin. I gasped, stopped laughing, and held perfectly still. Right. We were in the middle of life-or-death art.
“Sorry, Bas. It’s good to hear that her long-time dream of meeting Winston Warlock was fulfilled before she died,” I said, but my smile disappeared at the thought.
“Yes,” Winston said, his own frown in place. “I suppose it is. I’m sorry about your friends Callie and Bree. Have you considered asking Mercury to bring them back as well?”
Sebastian jabbed me before I could react in any physical way. I studied the Warlock for a long moment, knowing that he knew and knowing I had to acknowledge it in some way. “No. Mercury didn’t bring me back. I came on my own. He just helped the process along.” I glanced at Bones and the way he was frowning at Winston. I cleared my throat. “I was Callie.”
Winston the Warlock’s brows rose. “Really? Of all those three…” He squinted at me. “I suppose I can see it, but your characters are so…”
The kitchen door opened and in stepped Oswald Mercury, with his dark eyes and sleek hair, looking like a harbinger of doom, a black rat with glowing eyes on his shoulder. “Winston,” he said, hesitating on the threshold as he scanned the room, blinking at me in my glaring underwear and pinned sheer panels. “Miss Nova. I brought you dinner.” He held up a brown bag and then I smelled it.
“Is that Greek?” I asked, mouth watering.
He smiled slightly and opened the bag, taking out a carton that looked smelled like roast lamb and garlic. “Can you take a break?”
“No,” Sebastian answered for me, talking around his pins.
Mercury’s frown at Sebastian was more than slightly foreboding.
“That’s right. I’m going to be standing here until the dress is sewn on me. I don’t have much time, but I’m not that hungry.”
My stomach growled loudly.
Winston chuckled, but there was a thread of strain running through it. “Why don’t you feed her, Mercury?”
Mercury looked at Winston, and his frown dissolved into a slight smile. “Yes, why don’t I?” He immediately unpacked the carton and held a kebab to my mouth. I felt weird eating in the middle of a fitting, particularly with him standing so close to me when I was wearing so little, but I was one of his precious dead, only I was alive, and he was trying to remember to feed me. He stood close to me, barely letting Sebastian work, his back to Winston, who I was still questioning.
I swallowed a bite of rice and then asked, “Winston, did any of the cast or crew of the Warlock Detective die in the fire?”
“No,” he said, but I couldn’t see him past Mercury, who met my eyes with his own glimmering gaze.
“That’s good to hear,” I said.
Mercury put the kebab back to my mouth. I bit, tasting his thumb on accident. His skin was very, very sweet. He smiled slowly while I pulled away, embarrassed and wanting more.
“Sorry.”
He shook his head slightly while his smile grew. “Don’t be, Miss Nova.”
Winston said, “That’s right. Mercury is used to being bitten, and you are a great improvement over his rats. As I was saying, we were having a meeting when the fire started. Afterwards, I thought Marie didn’t make it. She does makeup, and she wasn’t at the meeting, but she turned up a few hours later. She’d been fighting with her boyfriend.”
I frowned, trying to put the pieces where they fit, but was so distracted by Mercury. “Her boyfriend came to the conference?”
“I don’t know. He used to work on the show as a supporting actor, but his jealousy consumed him. He tried out for Vilus’s role, and always resented Tim, a non-magical narcissist for getting the role he felt suited him.”
“He’s a magic user?” Mercury asked, turning slightly.
“How do I put this? He has some small talent, but it only gets in the way of his acting ability. I wouldn’t ever hire you for the role of Vilus because I need an actor, not a Dark Sorcerer.”
Mercury turned completely to face Winston. “He’s a dark magic user? Is he registered with the Grand Sorcerer?”
Winston stood, and I saw a flash of his wary eyes before Mercury shifted, blocking him again. Was he doing it intentionally?
Winston said, “I don’t know. His magic is weak.”
“You should give his name to the Grand Sorcerer.”
“Eli Forwood. I’ll give his name to you and you can do what you like with it, if you’re feeling a sense of brotherhood and obligation. I’d better be on my way before you curse me with something nasty.”
“Why would I do that?” Mercury asked, voice languid. “Miss Nova wanted to interview you.”
“And Miss Nova gets what she wants? How delightfully open-minded of you. Perhaps you should tell her, since you’re so determined to protect her from my view, that she should probably conduct her interviews with less skin showing. Some men would be too distracted to answer when faced with such pretty?—"
Bones picked him up and carried him to the door, opened it, and tossed him out.
“Wait, I—” I turned slightly, Sebastian went to stab me with a pin, and then ended up dangling by his throat from Mercury’s hand instead.
“If you draw blood from Miss Nova again, you will lose a finger for each drop you take. Do you understand?” Mercury growled, nose to nose with the gnome.
“I understand,” Sebastian gurgled, and Mercury dropped him and then held out another kebab to me.
“Miss Nova, I do hope you heard something useful from the warlock.”
I didn’t take the bite. I was still in shock at Winston getting thrown out and Sebastian strangled. The gnome didn’t look the worse for it, just slightly irritated as he worked, being careful not to nick me with his pins.
“Mercury, you just threw Detective Warlock out. Literally.”
“Yes. I know that you wanted me to have a mage battle with him, both of us shirtless, but I think it would interfere with your dress fitting. Speaking of…Gnome, assure me that you have a significant other who consumes all of your lust.”
Sebastian gave Mercury an appalled look. “Sure. Nova’s a troll. And I don’t find trolls remotely appealing.”
“His name is Sebastian, not ‘gnome.’ And Sebastian…” I was going to say that I’d personally seen him hit on a troll, but thought better of it. Mercury was very protective of his pathetic dead, and I did feel more than slightly vulnerable standing there in my underwear. “That is, Sebastian doesn’t notice beauty when he’s captured by his muse. He’s completely captured by his muse, right, Bas?”
“Completely.” His eyes glimmered with something dangerous. “Who can think of anything else when one’s art sings?”
I smiled brightly at Mercury and then took the next bite he gave me, careful not to bite his thumb. Still, he was feeding me with his fingers and looking at me with those mesmerizingly dangerous eyes, and I couldn’t help enjoy every second of it.
The next day, it was hard to remember the good feelings as I stood, looking at my reflection.
“Your art sings? More like screams.” I stared in horror at the person staring back at me in my armoire’s mirror. The dress was a miracle of movement and emotion, but the emotion was absolute and utter lust. The dress was basically a strapless bra top with translucent panels, beading directly covering essentials but not much more. The back was worse, bared uncomfortably low, without any barrier of fabric, however psychological the sheer panels were. My skin was so pale, translucent, naked.
There was just enough fabric for me to not be naked, but I looked more naked than when I was naked. It didn’t make sense, but that was reality. Sebastian had taken Mercury’s warning about not lusting after me and created a dress that would make everyone want me in the basest way. The brat. Not that I was surprised. Sebastian was like that, but I’d gotten my interview out of him, and the dress was a work of art that would set off the Daphne jewels to perfection.
The skirt had so many layers, sheer varieties while interesting cut-outs in satin outlined with silver beads shone with an inner light, but those layers served to flaunt my legs, not to camouflage. The dress was beautiful if you were a nymph out to seduce the woodland glade. It wasn’t remotely appropriate for public. All the same, I’d wear it in public. If Miss Nova could make out at a funeral, she could wear this to an auction.
I called Sebastian up anyway.
“Didn’t I tell you that this was a respectable auction house?” I said when he picked up.
He chuckled evilly. “I’ve heard stories of the Dealer’s auction, and respectable isn’t a term they used. Wish I could see you with the jewels in place, but I’ve done my damage. The rest is up to you.” He hung up, leaving me with my reflection looking more exposed than at any other time in my life, and what I was exposing was so pale, thin, corpse-like. I was also incredibly striking.
I took a shallow breath and went into the bathroom and started working on my makeup. Water nymph was a legitimate look. There had been an entire collection based on that theme a few years back by one of my favorite Parisian designers.
After I had my lipstick done, I saw movement in the mirror and there was Mercury standing in the doorway, wearing a tuxedo in the darkest shades of silver and rich black, setting off his glossy hair. He stared at me lazily, leaning against the door frame, not seeming to notice the dress or the shocking skin underneath.
I wasn’t happy about going to the auction house to be publicly exposed in spite of my very real shame at whatever I’d become. Nope, because this was a job for him, the only job he’d given me, and somewhere there was a contract with benefits, so I smiled brightly and turned around to hold out my hands.
I said, “You look positively decadent. Is your suit edible? It looks like dark chocolate sprinkled with fudge.”
His low murmur ran down my spine like a caress. “Are you hungry? It’s probably time for you to eat again.”
I leaned against him, breathing in his scent and trying to wrap myself in his strength and safety.
“Miss Nova? Are you all right?”
“Of course,” I said against his soft suit jacket. “I only hope that I do the jewels justice. Sebastian’s muse tends to carry everyone away with it.”
He wrapped his arms around me, his warm palm coming in contact with my bare spine, making me shiver. “You’re cold. You should change into something more comfortable.”
I laughed and pulled away. That’s what seductresses say to the person they’re about to seduce, ‘I’m going to slip into something more comfortable,’ which is always ten times less comfortable. “It’s a beautiful piece of art that I’m lucky to wear. It keeps telling me so. I’m not used to wearing such opinionated clothing. Does your clothing talk to you?”
“Hmph. Your dress is honored that you would wear it.” He held out his arm, and I took it, letting him lead me out into the hall where Bones waited, wearing a black suit and holding the velvet tray.
“Bones, why are you wearing black?” I asked while Mercury took the first piece, a necklace, and put it around my neck, bending close as he fastened the clasp, then he adjusted it on my collarbones so it was perfectly balanced. Not that the thing wasn’t asymmetrical, but it was still balanced. Yes, that’s what I noticed, not his fingers grazing my sensitive skin in a way that sent a shiver of awareness through me.
Bones frowned. “Master requires me to wear clothing that doesn’t show blood during auctions.”
“Ah.” I stood there with my heart pounding, feeling so vulnerable and delicate while Mercury put on the elaborate bracelet, which was a silver cuff and twining fine chains that wrapped up my arm to the necklace. I closed my eyes while he put in the earrings, his face so close to mine, I could feel the warmth of his cheek as he fastened one and then the other.
When he stood back, I opened my eyes and gave him a confident smile and raised a brow. “Well? How do they look?”
“They look much better on you than on black velvet.”
I glanced down at the bracelet and the twining metal up my arm. It was warm, melting onto my skin like the shoes that I still had on my feet. “I hope you know how to take this all off after the auction. Particularly the shoes. Although the holsters would also be quite uncomfortable to sleep in.”
“Holsters?” he raised a brow.
I smiled and went back to my bedroom and to the armoire. I beamed as I turned around and then gulped when I found him right in front of me, his nose almost brushing mine as he gazed down at me, the silver in his eyes somehow soft and hot at the same time.
I said, “Guns went with the shoes. It might have just been the elf clerk knowing how to sell to a sucker.”
“Are you a sucker for shoe and gun matching? I had no idea. Do you intend to shoot someone? If so, you should probably be sure it’s far enough you don’t get any recoil blood spatter. That dress is not black.” His eyes flickered at the mention of my dress. Had he noticed how sheer it was?
“It’s magic, though. I don’t think it would accept blood unless it thought it improved the look.”
“That’s a relief to hear. Shall we go, Miss Nova? Benefits and a salary await.”
“A salary?” I grabbed his arm and smiled at him in earnest. “I can almost smell my fake I.D.” I sniffed and the scent of him, the aftershave mingling with some kind of subtle cologne, was absolutely mouth-watering.
I resisted the urge to taste him and instead held out the guns and holsters to him. “Do you mind fastening them over the dress for me?”
He stared at me for a long moment, then inclined his head and with a gesture of his hand, the holsters came to life and slipped over my arms and secured tightly right beneath my bust. I inhaled sharply, even though he hadn’t touched me. His magic felt so different from Sebastian, so much more intense and rich.
“Now, Miss Nova, you look even more dangerous.”
I took a shaky breath and grabbed his arm again. “That’s the idea.” I felt like I was in danger, on the precipice of having my pride and self-respect demolished, but the gems were made to instill confidence. I could do this.
I glanced carefully past him at the armoire and saw a vision of water standing next to the alluring shadow of death. I was gut-wrenchingly enticing. It wasn’t about beauty but allurement. In my entire life, I’d never looked so naked, even when I’d been, in fact, naked. My pale skin and paler hair looked so raw and fresh born. Well, I had named myself Nova. All the silver beading worked beautifully with the jewelry, all of it shining, so I did look like some kind of star fallen into an aquamarine pool. I’d used metallic makeup on my eyes, only a bit so they shone, literally, and drew the attention away from the too-wide mouth, and the too-sharp nose.
Sebastian hadn’t tried to flatter this body. Nope, he’d just exposed it in the most attention-grabbing method possible. Was I actually going to pull this off? I really was. Ah, the power of magic.
We left the room and walked down the stairs in silence while my heart beat faster and faster.
“Miss Nova, are you hungry? It’s been hours since the Greek.”
I looked at him quizzically. “We’re about to go into the auction house where people are waiting, right? But you think we should take a snack break?” I shook my head and couldn’t help but give him another hug, inhaling his skin and soaking up his delicious scent until his hand came around me, molding my body to his strength, his hand splayed against my back.
I pulled away, but he didn’t release me right away that time.
“If you don’t want to do this…” he began, but I shook my head and pushed on his wrist until he released me.
“I do. I’ll do anything to serve my master, particularly if there are benefits and a salary involved.”
“Hmph. I am only master of the dead, and while you are drop-dead gorgeous, that doesn’t quite mean the same thing.”
His eyes twinkled before he opened the door and then took my hand in his and led me into the auction house proper. It was like a cathedral, stained glass windows, arched beams, and a shadowy ceiling high above that probably hid all kinds of Mercury’s monsters. We’d come out on a platform raised above a crowd of men and women who all had an aura of danger, power, and money, not necessarily in that order. Rats moved on the floor between each foot, glowing eyes extremely evocative. This wasn’t a human auction house, not even a little bit.
Someone whistled in the back, sharp and piercing, so I flinched a little and leaned into Mercury.
A man came forward, half of his face extremely handsome, and the other half a mess of burn and knife scars. He also had fangs, and he looked at me with rapt fascination that made my skin crawl. “I’ll give you five million for her. Forget the gems.”
Mercury held very still, but I could feel the tension radiating out of him. “She. Is. Mine.” His voice echoed ominously, and a shiver ran over my skin at the way he said it, also the way his hand gripped me so tight and intractable. He glanced at me with a slight frown, then returned his focus to the man. “That is, Miss Nova is my employee. I do not auction off live assets. Perhaps you should return to the depths you typically trawl, Farley. This is your only warning. Bones takes his duties to protect Miss Nova very seriously. Now, to begin the auction, we have a statue of?—”
“If she’s only your employee,” Farley the scarred vampire said, taking a few steps through the crowd and looking at me like I was a delicious piece of steak. “I would love the opportunity to court her. My pretty, I can give you far more opportunities for sport than Mercury. He’s a bit stuffy, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
It was one thing for this monster to leer and objectify me, but to insult Mercury was absolutely intolerable. I drew the ridiculously opulent pistol from my left holster and shot Farley before he knew what I was doing. The crack was loud, making everyone freeze while smoke rose from the tip of the barrel. I was tempted to blow it away, but that would be overly dramatic. Then again, I was on a stage. I blew the smoke and returned the gun to my holster.
I gestured at the bleeding, stunned vampire. “Oh, look at that. You do give me good sport. Bones, remove the savage who interrupted the master so rudely.”
Bones picked up the vampire and carried him out, bleeding, but looking at me like now I’d gotten really interesting. Hm. Monsters might consider being shot almost flirtatious. I turned to Mercury and took the small statue out of his hand, ignoring the squint he was giving me. What? Did he not like me taking the initiative? Was I really supposed to stand there modeling gems without doing anything else? For benefits, I’d certainly make myself as useful as possible.
I held the statue up and turned to the left and right, walking along the edge of the platform so that everyone could get a good look at the rather stumpy-looking man with one eye and a scorpion tail.
“As I was saying, the cursed statue of Badalwight is now up for bid. Who will give me the first?” Mercury said drily.
Wait, the cursed statue of what? I glanced at Mercury, and he gave me a slight, disapproving shake of his head. Ah. I shouldn’t have just taken a cursed statue like I was a sorcerer. Oh well. If the statue killed me, part of my benefits package would definitely include a relaxing death spa while I regenerated.
I stood very still, trying not to touch the statue any more than I already had, until the bidding ended and Mercury took the statue out of my hands and gave it to the shadows waiting behind him.
I flexed my fingers and dared look down to check if my skin had turned green or started to fall off. My hands looked perfectly fine. Maybe the statue was cursed with something innocent, like bad breath.
“Next up I have for purchase, the rare and precious lily of serenity,” he said, handing me a box no larger than my palm. He opened it and then I walked along the edge of the platform, showing the audience while he continued narrating. “Carved in jade by the legendary artisan Judga the Gnome, it was?—”
“Five hundred thousand,” a woman called loudly, interrupting his introduction.
“Six,” a man with dark blue skin on the other side said, frowning at the woman.
“Eight,” another woman in the back said, baring her teeth at both of the others. “I’ve waited eight centuries for the lily of peace. It is mine. If you bid on it, you die!”
“Miss Nova, shoot the one who threatens my other guests. Left thigh, if you would be so kind,” Mercury murmured.
I drew more slowly that time, grabbing my right gun, because I was still holding the lily of peace in my left.
I didn’t like shooting random people just because they were excited about the lily of peace, but I would earn my benefits. I shot her precisely in her left thigh, and she promptly collapsed. Directly afterwards, she exploded up in a cloud of dark smoke, but Bones was there to grab her throat and smash her against the floor before dragging her out, still a cloud of coalescing darkness floating around her.
“Nine hundred thousand,” the first woman said, continuing the bid as though there hadn’t been any interruption.
The rest of the auction was much less violent. Finally, Mercury raised my hand and turned it so my gems caught the light and shimmered splendidly.
“Finally, for our last auction, I have for you the Daphne collection of priceless jewels, long thought lost to time.”
“What about the blue diamond statue?” a man asked, stepping out of the shadows and shining like a golden beacon that made everyone else look particularly dark and evil in comparison. “I’d heard that it would be up for auction today.”
Philip? What was he doing here? I struggled to maintain my composure, but I was wearing the most shocking dress imaginable, and showing off a set of jewelry that I’d used to think nothing of buying if I happened to like, which I did. I felt poor, weak, and purchasable while he was a prince charming, above it all.
I swallowed hard. “Would you like me to shoot him?” I murmured.
Mercury’s hand tightened on mine, then he gave me a slight smile. “Very much, but he used to be a friend of yours, didn’t he?”
And he was a human in a crowd of monsters. What in the world was he doing here? I’d made a deal with him, trading information if I tried to convince Mercury to sell the statue.
“That’s right. Maybe you should sell the statue. It would be a much better finale piece than these gems.”
His eyes narrowed at me. “No, Miss Nova. This collection is worth far more than any cold and dead statue. We will continue the bidding,” he said, addressing the crowd. “Any more interruptions, and my lovely assistant will silence them.”
I swallowed hard. Was he talking about shooting to kill? Philip? Just for wanting to buy a statue of me? I couldn’t do it. I looked at Philip and tried to communicate as hard as possible that he wasn’t to speak.
“Six million,” he said with a flick of his fingers.
I stared at him. Now he was bidding on these jewels?
Philip winked at me, very blatantly. “Seven,” he said without waiting for anyone else to bid him up.
“Eight,” another man said, his face impossible to see inside the shadows of his cloak.
“Ten,” Philip said with another ridiculously charming smile at me.
It was the most unnerving thing in the world to see that smile directed at me when I’d known his charming smiles so well. This one was different, though. It felt vicious, angry, like he wanted me to fall for him so that he could crush me thoroughly. Philip wasn’t like that, absolutely not, but the way he was using his charm like a weapon…
I pulled my left pistol, and shot him, grazing his ear while the bullet struck the wall behind him.
It was silent for a moment while he reached up and touched his ear, rubbing his fingers together on the red stain without looking at the blood.
“Fifteen,” he said.
“Fifty million,” a thin man with small demonic horns said, smiling at me with sharp, horrifying teeth.
I almost shot him just for looking at me like that, like I was part of the Daphne collection.
“No,” Mercury said coldly. “You aren’t allowed in my auction house. Leave now while you have the chance.”
“Come, Mercury. Surely you wouldn’t refuse such a generous bid.”
“Miss Nova, feel free to shoot him. Between the eyes or in his heart would be ideal.”
The demon’s eyes glimmered as he gave me a bow, then stretched his hands out, giving me a clear target.
“Leave now,” I said, frowning at him. “If you were banned from Mercury’s auction house, you shouldn’t have come.”
The demon cocked his head and studied me for a long moment. “If you wish me to leave, I will do so, Miss Nova. You don’t mind if I call you Miss Nova, do you?” The demon’s eyes glowed red and his teeth shone threateningly.
Mercury slashed a hand, and a portal opened beneath the demon, swallowing him with a crackle of dark magic that left everyone in a six-foot radius with hair standing on end.
“The auction has ended. Feel free to leave at your earliest convenience. Miss Nova, shall we?” he held out his hand to me.
“I’m not finished,” Philip said, walking towards the platform, like the surrounding monsters weren’t there. He shoved past a terrifying vampire woman like he didn’t notice her, and she bared her fangs at him.
I pulled my hand out of Mercury’s and jumped off the stage, landing in the crowd that parted automatically for me, like they knew the gems were spelled to only let the auction winner touch them. I reached Philip, who looked at me, bewildered, while I slipped my hand in his arm. He automatically took the proper pose, gentleman that he was.
“Why don’t I walk you out?” I said with a polite smile.
“Why would you?” he murmured, but he didn’t resist me subtly dragging him through the crowd.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” I murmured as I glanced up at a man with blue skin and tusks who was eying my jewels and my throat with a good amount of hunger.
“Shouldn’t I? Why is that? You don’t want your master’s auction disrupted? I’m afraid that’s impossible, considering his usual clients are the worst kinds of monsters.”
I gave him an exasperated look. “Because you’re a human in the midst of the worst kinds of monsters. You take more than your life in your hands when you come here. Do you want to wake up as a vampire? Maybe a werewolf?” I shook my head and continued my path towards the nearest side door. “Neither of those would suit you.”
“Wouldn’t they? How peculiar.”
I glanced at him, and then pushed through the door, still holding his arm. He covered my hand with his, securing our position as he stepped through the door and into a checkerboard hall.
“Pardon me for clinging to you, but Mercury’s house isn’t welcoming to my kind,” he said, glancing around at the nearest painting.
“Yes, well, he doesn’t like anyone living, so I wouldn’t take it personally.”
“No? He likes you, so you must not be living. How long have you known the necromancer?”
“A few weeks. Yes, we met when I was dead.” I winced after I’d said that, because who says those kinds of things to polite and respectable gentlemen like my former fiancé? Who I was walking through Mercury’s house with, looking for an exit.
“How interesting. And you were saving the innocent human from all the many monsters? That is the most tragic thing I’ve ever heard.”
I looked up at him, confused. “Interesting or tragic?”
“Both. Interestingly tragic.” He leaned forward and peered deeply into my eyes before he pulled away, shaking his head. “Remarkable. I can’t tell that you’re dead at all.”
“I’m not dead, currently. I’m not even undead, but the particulars are very confusing, involving demons and whatnot.”
He nodded wisely. “Demons and whatnot indeed. I should kill him, but he’s keeping you alive. What a monstrously difficult decision to make. I suppose I’ll have to let him be, and not rescue you from this hole of misery you find yourself trapped in. At least not this very moment.”
I laughed and shook my head. “That’s very kind of you to want to save me, but…”
“Only you’re allowed to rescue others. Yes, I remember that well enough.”
I stopped walking and stared at the checked floor in front of me while my skin got cold and weird. I glanced up at him, and he was also staring ahead, but at a painting.
“What do you mean?”
“Why else would you come to a funeral asking questions about the deaths? No one else was asking questions. It’s almost as though you were personally involved. And the way you shoot? No one else shoots like that. But the absolute clincher is running to the rescue of the helpless humans. That’s your family mission statement, and you had it engraved into the fibers of your being.”
I swallowed hard while his hand grew heavier and heavier against mine. “I am surprised to hear that. Mrs. Clarence couldn’t accept that I was more than a stranger. Why can you?”
He finally turned to look at me, and for a moment, I stared in wonder at the absolutely mesmerizing beauty of him. He was enchantingly golden, eyes of blue that sang to me of clear waters and serene skies, skin more flawless than mine had been, and a smile that was as sad as it was beautiful.
He raised his other hand between us, rubbed his fingers together and pulled a flaming rose out of nothing. It burned without consuming, just burned, and then hardened, solidifying into a gold bloom. He handed it to me, and I took it, staring at it then at him, in confused befuddlement. He was just so absolutely phenomenally glorious. I couldn’t look away from him, couldn’t think any other coherent thoughts until his brightness went out like he’d snuffed the candle of his magic, leaving me gasping and pulling away from him.
Of course, I couldn’t get away from him because he had a grip on my hand, the one I’d wrapped around his arm.
“I’m an enchanter,” he said as he started walking down the hall. “Tell me more about your death.”
I sputtered, heart pounding, hating the way I’d been entranced by him only a moment earlier. Enchanters were incredibly dangerous, capable of laying the subtlest spells of deception and enticement that you didn’t notice until it was too late. “Are you an imposter? What did you do with Philip?”
“I’m not an imposter. At least, no more than you are, Miss Nova. He must have taken your soul and put it into this body.” He looked down at my body, considering it objectively, which gave me the weirdest feeling of inadequacy mixed with disbelief. Now he was noticing me? He was too annoying.
“Actually, no, he didn’t. This is my body without surgery. It’s as shocking a betrayal as the fact that my former fiancé was a magic user all along, isn’t it? You know how important it was that I marry a human. And I suppose now we know how important perfect beauty was to both of us. Enchanters are notoriously superficial, and so are humans.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Impossible.”
“Mercury thinks I’m Callie, without all the surgery.”
He raised his golden brows in disbelief. “You? Callie? She wouldn’t care if her best friend was hit by a train. She’d never bother herself about the safety of anyone else, human or not.”
“Don’t talk about her like that! She’s dead.”
“Is she? Do you honestly think that you could look so much like that infamous cabaret dancer unless he collected her body in his sick and twisted way? Mercury is obsessed with you. That’s why he brought you back.”
“Actually, his rats found me in a sewer after I wouldn’t stay dead, after something cut off my nose, chopped off my fingers, and did a fine job thoroughly disfiguring the rest of me. I don’t remember anything past the train, but I know for a fact that this body regenerated out of the corpse of Cassandra Clarence, because I got to experience every moment of the magic.”
“You were sampled? But that means…”
I opened the kitchen door and shoved him outside into Singsong or Apple City, I didn’t care which. “Goodbye, Philip. Move on. The blue diamond wasn’t ever real, and neither were you.”
I slammed the door on his face, feeling like I’d fallen through a window of a building that had collapsed on me. This was us breaking up for real, permanently,
I slid down the door to the floor and sat there, heart pounding, stomach tangling, because not only had that horrible conversation happened, I’d failed to help Mercury sell the Daphne collection and had no way to get it off.