Chapter 17
17
I wore a long black coat with the dress, fitted at the waist then flaring out around my hips. Sebastian had raised a brow at the coat, but I had ignored him. He could go to hell. It was a chilly night out, and I wasn’t entirely comfortable in the skimpy dress. I had left Ringo at home, curled up on his bookshelf. He’d had enough action for a lifetime, and my messenger bag really didn’t go with this outfit.
We walked past the vendors with their brightly lit stands just as the sun was setting. My stomach growled since I hadn’t eaten after my late first meal with Ringo. I had been too nervous, but now I was regretting it. “Tell me again what we’re doing here?”
Sebastian watched the growing crowd as we walked. “You want information on the pair who tried to kill you, and this is the place to get it.”
I recalled the amusement in the blond angelic’s eyes as he had attempted to send me plummeting to my death. “Can’t you just get the information and give it to me?”
He moved close to me as a gaggle of teenagers went laughing past us. “You are my employee, not the other way around.”
I shut my mouth. I was sure he had something to gain from this, but he was also helping me… I hoped . On the off chance that I might benefit, I could can the arguments, just for a night.
I looked up as we reached the glowing sign of the Circus, and my pulse kicked up a notch. “I’ve never understood gambling,” I muttered.
“I do not care for it either.” Sebastian rested his hand at the small of my back, escorting me inside. He looked downright dapper in slacks, a white button up shirt, and suspenders. We were both dressed to fit in with the gamblers on the ground floor, not in one of the private high roller rooms.
It was a small relief. At least in the crowds, it was easier to run away and hide.
“Are you forgetting how we met? You clearly understand gambling.”
He pulled me a little closer, and with the overwhelming din of conversation, I let him. Even though his slithering magic made my stomach flutter. “I understand the greed of mortals. And I know how to benefit from it.”
A wraith eyed us from a dark corner as we stepped inside. It was like stepping into a different world—the conversation, smells, and atmosphere so different from the more lighthearted environment of the streets.
Sebastian guided me past slot machines and dice tables, back to the more serious faces of poker players. Miraculously, there were a few empty seats for us at a table.
Or maybe not so miraculously, considering my company.
With another gesture from Sebastian, I sat between two empty stools. As Sebastian slid onto the stool next to mine, a woman took the seat on my other side. Sparing the woman a bored glance, Sebastian leaned in close to my side. One hand snaked over, gripping the edge of my stool behind me.
“Do you have to sit so close?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to look like you are alone in this place.” With his free hand, he placed several large bills on the table.
I glanced at the others seated around us, my eyes drawn to a blond man watching me with his chin lowered. As soon as I caught a hint of fangs behind his parted lips, I scooted a little closer to Sebastian. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
The dealer, a small woman with jet black hair and pointed ears, gave us each a nod as she exchanged our cash for chips. She lifted her deck, then the cards flew from her fingers with precise, expert efficiency.
I gathered my cards. I understood the basics of poker, but I definitely didn’t have the skills to play at the table. I could tell as much just by looking at the others gathered around us. Serious faces, not just drunk and having fun. I suspected the woman who had sat to my right had a bit of goblin blood, just judging by the feel of her magic. The tinge of purple to her skin was also an indicator, but now that I had been around Mistral and Gabriel, the familiar magic was the first thing I noticed.
She glanced at me as she peeked at her cards, then laid them facedown on the table.
Was that a hint of recognition, or was I just being paranoid? She tucked a strand of short silver hair behind an ear just as pointed as our dealer’s.
Sebastian’s arm wrapped around my waist. I drew my attention away from the goblin woman, noticing the vampire still watching me intently. I scooted my stool a little closer, leaning against Sebastian’s warmth and the feel of his magic.
You knew things were dire when you had to go to a devil for comfort and protection.
I bet and played to the best of my ability, winning far more often than I should have. I suspected Sebastian had something to do with it. I could never quite keep my eye on the cards in his hand, and it seemed like mine were sometimes changing without me realizing it. Sometimes a two would become an ace, or I would have more matching suits than I had recalled at last glance.
I was beginning to get irritated when Sebastian suddenly leaned in near my neck. His lips grazed my skin. “Eastern stairs,” he whispered.
Pretending to enjoy his nuzzling—okay who was I kidding, there was no need to pretend —I glanced at the stairs to see the blond angelic coming down them. He was with a petite woman I was pretty sure I had never seen before. Her long brown hair fell well past her waist, the glistening locks a few shades darker than her skin.
She spoke with the angelic as they descended, her head turned just enough that I couldn’t see her face.
Sebastian’s mouth found the lobe of my ear, sending a tingle down my spine. Magic flared between us, surprising me and tightening things lower in my body. “Fold your hand, then go to the bathroom.”
I stiffened. He wanted me to walk off on my own? This felt suspiciously like being used as bait.
But the bet had come around to me, not giving me time to think about it. And I wasn’t sure if I could beyond the feel of Sebastian’s lips near my neck and the magic between us.
I folded, then excused myself from the table with a smile as Sebastian pulled away, breaking the magical tension. I felt eyes on me as I retreated, and glanced back to see both the vampire and goblin woman watching me. Sebastian’s attention was on his cards.
If he had brought me here to toss me to the angelics, I was seriously going to haunt him in the afterlife. Even if I had to go to one of the hellish realms to do it .
I walked past the slot machines, catching the eye of another wraith, but my attention was mostly on the angelic and the woman. They had reached the main floor, and were making their way through the crowd toward the poker tables. I lost sight of them as I reached the bathroom.
I went inside, squinting against the brighter lights. Their fluorescent buzz jarred my already hyper alert senses. There were a few laughing women at the mirror, but they barely spared me a glance. I went back to one of the stalls, wondering how long I was supposed to stay there.
Once I was alone, I pressed the back of my hand against my flushed face and shook my head. Usually I didn’t react to just a simple kiss on the neck so strongly.
I pushed up the sleeve of my coat and glanced at my watch. 9 PM. Still early, but it was dark outside. I looked up the number for Crimson Kisses and called. It was a slim chance I would be able to talk to Lilith, and even slimmer that she would tell me anything over the phone, but it was worth trying. Something felt entirely off about the night.
I recognized the elf’s voice on the other end of the line as she answered, and I asked for Lilith. When she asked me who was calling, I told the truth.
She was quiet for a moment. I heard footsteps, then a door creaking shut. “You shouldn’t call here,” she whispered into the receiver.
“Why? Why did those vampires chase me? It seems like everyone knows what’s going on, but nobody has the decency to tell me.”
“It’s really not safe for me to speak with you. I’m staying out of it.” The line went dead.
I frowned down at my watch. The fear had been winning out for a while, but now I was starting to get royally pissed.
I opened the stall door, walked to the mirror to straighten my hair and dress, then left the bathroom. I strode confidently past the slot machines, meeting the eyes of a wraith who watched me curiously.
I turned my attention forward and kept walking, looking for the blond head of the angelic since he was much taller than the woman. If they were anywhere in the crowd, she would be more difficult to spot.
I skirted the crowd, scanning the tables, but I didn’t see him anywhere. Finally, I neared the table where Sebastian and I had sat, but my seat was filled.
I hustled behind a decorative pillar, then glanced around it.
That damn angelic had stolen my seat, and he was speaking with Sebastian. They did know each other. The angelic had hidden his wings and looked almost normal at the poker table conversing with a devil.
Sebastian’s eyes were cold as he nodded at the angelic’s words. Then his eyes shifted, spotting me. They widened for just a heartbeat.
I darted back behind the pillar.
“Hello, Eva.” I jumped at the voice behind me .
I flung myself around, pushing my back against the pillar. It was the woman who had come downstairs with the angelic.
She smiled. Her makeup was minimal, accenting large features. Her shimmering white dress hugged her small body. “I was wondering when we would meet.”
“Do I know you?”
Her eyes shifted beyond me for a moment, then back to my face. “No, but I know your mother. She sends her regrets that you were almost accidentally killed. It will not happen again.” She flashed a smile. “At least not at the hands of Lucas.”
I pressed my back more firmly against the pillar. “You mean the blond asshole who tried to throw me from the fire escape?”
“Yes. You changed your name, and you were hidden from us. Your mother was not aware of that, else you wouldn’t have been targeted.”
Was she saying my mother was the reason I was almost killed? And maybe she targeted that other messenger too? And what did she mean I was hidden ?
I finally pushed away from the pillar and stepped toward the woman. There was no way I was letting her slip away. “Where is my mother? What does she have to do with anything?”
Her eyes flicked behind me again. “I fear our time is short. Now that your identity has become known, you are at the center of a very dangerous game. If I were you, I would find a boundary to hide behind, and I would stay there.”
Thinking she was about to flee, I reached out to grab her arm, but then she wasn’t quite where I thought she was. The flash of her magic was enough to tell me the truth. “You’re a celestial.”
I was so shocked I reacted too slowly as someone came around the pillar and grabbed me. The vampire from the table pulled me against him, baring his fangs. “You’re coming with me.”
“I don’t think so.” I tried to shift, but he’d wrapped his arms tightly around me like he knew exactly what he was dealing with. I looked desperately toward the woman for help, but she was gone.
The vampire dragged me away from the column, further from the poker tables. I thrashed in his grip, knocking the back of my head against his face, but it was like having two iron bars around me.
A few people in the crowd noticed my struggle and started pointing at us, but did nothing. Then one of the wraiths stepped into our path, looking down at us coolly.
“I’m working for Ivan,” the vampire said to him, then to my horror and surprise, the wraith stepped out of our way and the vampire wrapped his arms tighter, lifting me from my feet.
We started moving faster as I kicked at his shins. “Who the hell is Ivan! ”
He didn’t answer. He was rushing me toward a doorway with an employees only sign.
The door opened, revealing the female vampire who had chased me the night before.
White wings spread behind her, then something came down on top of her head, knocking her to the floor.
She didn’t move, and my captor just stood there, holding me right in front of the blond angelic who had been at the poker table just a few moments before.
The angelic stepped toward us, his eyes on the vampire. “I’ll be taking that, if you don’t mind.”
Oh, like hell. I used the distraction to slam the back of my head into the vampire’s nose, making a sickening crunch.
He cried out and dropped me, and I fell to the floor.
I shoved to my feet and started running without thinking. My closest path of escape was up the stairs toward the high roller rooms. I tried to catch sight of Sebastian as I ascended, but I didn’t see him anywhere. That wretched bastard had left me to the wolves.
Knowing there were only closed off rooms in one direction, I ran down an adjacent hall, finding more stairs at the end.
I ran up them, but the other angelic who had tried to kill me waited there. He lifted his hands. “Just give me a moment. I only want to speak without your devil present.”
I turned on my heel and ran the other way down the hall, shifting as I did to make me more difficult to grab, but he didn’t give chase.
I ran into an empty room and looked out the window. I had only gone up two flights. I might be able to make my way down.
Sure enough, there was a fire escape outside. Of course, I didn’t have much luck the last time I had tried that. Glancing behind me for signs of pursuit, I slid open the window, then stepped outside.
The small metal platform groaned beneath my weight. Just two stories down . I could get to the bottom, then run out to the hubbub in front of the Circus. With my ability to shift, no one would be able to catch me there.
I started climbing, and was shocked when I actually reached the ground. It felt so good beneath my boots I could have kissed it, if it wasn’t filthy city asphalt.
I started running, my panic abating. Maybe I had actually lost them.
I neared the bright lights and the smell of junk food, just as three vampires stepped into my path. I recognized two of the men from the night before, along with the blond vampire whose nose was still bleeding.
I looked back over my shoulder to see more coming up behind me. Great, they had only let me go so I could walk directly into their ambush.
I looked around for an escape, then jumped as someone appeared behind me, wrapping a protective arm around my chest, partially pinning my arms .
“That will be all,” Sebastian’s voice announced near my ear.
I glared back at him. “Took you long enough.”
“I needed to see everyone who was playing the game. One must always take measure of one’s opponents.”
The game? I thought, turning my attention back to the vampires as they closed in around us. The celestial woman had also mentioned a game.
“You know Ivan is going to win,” the blond vampire growled, though he didn’t rush us. I was surprised. Even when facing a devil, six vampires were formidable. “Just let us question her, and we will be on our way.”
“Perhaps you will find Celeste, but it won’t be through Eva. She has a contract with me . You know what that means.”
“You devils and your contracts,” the blond vampire spat.
Sebastian tsked. “Would you violate the order of things? Would you label your master an enemy of devils?” He lowered his voice. “An enemy of all beings from the hells?”
The vampire looked reluctantly at his comrades, who had moved back a few steps while Sebastian spoke. The vampire aimed a final glare my way. “This isn’t over.” He turned with his companions, walking toward the bright lights out front.
I pulled free from Sebastian’s grip and turned to face him. “What. The. Hell . What is this game everyone’ s talking about? It has something to do with Celeste? And why were you talking to the angelic who tried to kill me?”
“There are some things you are better off not knowing.”
I stepped forward and shoved him, for what good it did. It barely moved him. “My life was almost normal before I met you. Then I saw you in that room, and now vampires and angelics are all after me. What is this game? What does it have to do with my mother?”
He studied me for a long moment, then finally answered, “We are searching for a female celestial, aptly named Celeste.”
I rolled my eyes. I had suspected she was a celestial once Mistral claimed she wasn’t in this realm. “Yeah, I got that. But why? Why do you want her? And what does she have to do with my mother?”
His jaw twitched. “There is a bounty on her head, but the reward is not monetary. The reward is an item many of us would greatly like to acquire. It has become a bit of a game, everyone searching for Celeste, trying to find ways to reach the near realms where she is likely hiding.”
“Okay, but what does that have to do with me?”
His eyes shifted to someone walking up behind me. I turned to see the two angelics approaching. Great .
I stepped back toward the wall, wanting to keep everyone in my sights.
“What he’s not telling you,” the blond angel—the woman had called him Lucas —drawled, “is that he recognized you the night of your delivery. Unfortunately, Celeste looks quite different these days. We did not comprehend the resemblance, nor did we realize she had a daughter.”
I threw up my hands. “What the hell are you all talking about!”
“Celeste is your mother,” Sebastian sighed, probably knowing the angelics were about to finally reveal the truth anyways. “I knew her long ago, thus, I recognized you, even though you changed your name.”
“Yes,” Lucas cut in while my mind reeled, “the name change was our folly as well. We would not have tried to kill you had we known.”
While my eyes were on the angelics, Sebastian moved closer, though I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to. I obviously couldn’t trust him either. “They are working for your mother,” Sebastian explained. “I was not sure of their plan until tonight, but they are killing any night runners that the rest of us might use to reach her. Any who can travel to the near realms.”
My pulse thrummed steadily in my throat. Of course this was about my mother. Of course she had almost gotten me killed, even from a distance. “Well I can’t go to the near realms. I can’t find my mother. Trust me, I’ve tried.”
Sebastian’s hand alighted on my shoulder. “Perhaps not, but you share her blood. Did you not once admit to an investigator that you would sense her if she was near?”
I inhaled sharply. That dirty rat. I had told Monroe that in confidence. “How did you find that out?”
“Once your identity was revealed, it was not difficult for me to find more information. Nor for anyone else. I will explain the rest to you later.” He glared past me at the two angelics. “If you don’t mind, I would like to escort her to safety before the vampires return with more of their minions.”
The angelics stepped apart from each other to spread their wings. They opened their arms, ready.
“I’m afraid we can’t let you do that,” Lucas said. “We have orders to bring her somewhere safe until all of this is over.” He looked at me. “I hope you will not be too dazzled by the opulence of the Silver Quarter.”
I tensed. To run and maybe learn more from Sebastian, or to be trapped with these two assholes in the Silver Quarter. What wonderful choices.
I pulled out of Sebastian’s grip and stepped away from him. “I don’t think I want to go with any of you. I want more answers. Now . Where is my mother? Why is there a bounty on her head?” None of my investigators had heard about it, but then again, it seemed she was going by a different name now, and had even changed her appearance. The only information they had was the information I had given them.
It was like no one heard me. The two angelics faced Sebastian .
Great, I had a feeling we were about to have the most epic pissing contest of all time.
I took a few more steps back, knowing I should run, but my eyes were glued to standoff before me.
Sebastian glanced my way. “Do not run, Eva. I will keep you safe.”
I took another step back as his attention whipped toward the angelics.
Lucas leapt into the air, spinning like a dancer, slashing his wings at Sebastian.
One moment Sebastian was just standing there, but then he wasn’t. Then he was behind the angelic. He flicked a card out of his sleeve. It sailed through the air, slicing across Lucas’ neck.
Lucas grimaced, lifting a hand to stem the blood flow, and the other angelic darted forward.
Someone gripped my shoulder from the darkness and I jumped, then looked back to see the goblin woman from our table.
“Mistral would like his report. I’m to escort you to the Bogs.”
The Bogs , now why did that almost feel like sanctuary? After a moment’s hesitation, I nodded, watching the three fighting in a flurry of white wings. The goblin woman gripped my hand and gave it a tug, and it was the only prompting I needed. I ran, leaving the angelics, Sebastian, and hopefully all of the vampires, behind me.