“I don’t think he’s here,” Ben said, after he and Hardin and I had made a circuit of the building. The door at the base of the stairs was locked.
I didn’t smell Roman. I smelled generic vampire, but the place was saturated with their bloodless chill. In daylight hours, the scent was muted. If he’d come back here after the rest of us had left, we couldn’t tell with our noses.
“I didn’t think he would be,” I said. “But we had to check.”
“You said you had a couple of other places to try?”
“Yeah. The Family owns property all over town. A lot of vampires make their money with property investments. The places I know about, it’s mostly by smell. But the guy’s got to spend daylight hours somewhere.”
“Well, let’s check it out.”
The first address was a small apartment building north of downtown. The upper floors were rented out to regular tenants, but the basement apartments were reserved for vampires. Again, we made a circuit of the building, smelling what little we could. Detective Hardin interviewed the on-site property manager to see if she’d seen anything strange, or what she knew about who lived in the basement.
I hadn’t intended on getting separated from Ben. We weren’t, really—I was at the back of the building, and he was just around the corner—just around the corner—while we studied the blacked-out basement windows. I might have been out of his sight, but I wasn’t out of shouting distance. We weren’t really separated.
I heard something, a snapping of fingers down the alley behind the building. Someone standing around being bored. I went to look, moving around the Dumpsters in the back of the lot to the alley fence.
The last person I expected or wanted to see was there, one hand in a pocket. Charles Lightman snapped the fingers of his other hand, then studied them as if trying to figure out how they worked.
I stared at him. “What are you doing here?”
He squinted up at the sky, as if he wasn’t used to the sun, and smiled like this was a joke. “I was hoping we could chat. It won’t take long.”
“This really isn’t a good time,” I said, trying to catch my breath, mind stumbling. “In fact, it’s a pretty damn awful time. I don’t know if you noticed, but there’s been an earthquake. And how did you know I was here—”
“Yes, I see, I understand. But I can’t sit on this forever, Ms. Norville, Kitty. You knew it wasn’t a standing offer. But I’m here now, I’m willing to negotiate. Do we move forward? Think of it—expand your influence, your empire. You’ll have the kind of success that brings stability. No more guessing, no more taking chances. You’ll get away from all this. The very fact you’re stalling tells me you’re interested. It’s a hard choice, I know, but you’ve had time to think on it. I need an answer.”
Was he serious? He’d followed me in the aftermath of an earthquake to demand an answer? I couldn’t believe it. “You know, right this minute, if you really want to make an offer I can’t refuse? You know what I really want? I want my pack back home safe, and I want Roman’s head on a platter.”
This should have been nonsensical to him. He should have been confused. Asked who Roman was, what my pack was. But his smile didn’t waver. The light in his eyes turned hungry.
“Ah, I’m afraid I can’t do that. I knew your pack would be a great bargaining chip, but my opponents got to them first. Protected them. And you, from being manipulated because of them. And Roman’s head? No, I need that right where it is.”
My limbs went cold, and I stared. Something was about to go very sideways, I could feel it. “Who—”
“The TV show offer—that was the standard rich-and-famous deal. I didn’t really expect you to say yes to it. Truth be told, I expected you
to say no right away. The fact you were tempted at all—I find that interesting. Ah well. You can’t win them all. This just makes it possible for me to move forward with the next plan. You know what they say about one door closing.”
“Ben—” I called over my shoulder, recognizing the need for backup, but it was too late.
A wind blasted me, like someone opened the bulkhead door of an airplane and sucked away the air. I smelled brimstone, fury, and darkness—
“Ashtoreth!” I called out, right as she appeared, stepping through whatever invisible portal had opened. I snarled, braced to fight or run, but the wind pinned me down, hunched over. If I tried to move or straighten it would sweep me away.
She hadn’t drawn any of her weapons. She stood before me, expressionless, the lenses of her goggles two depthless holes. Her arms reached for me, grabbed me, and everything vanished.
Chapter 15
I HAD A glimpse of something red hot, a powerful sun bearing down on me, and then darkness fell. We were flying, or falling. Ashtoreth had locked me in an iron embrace and I couldn’t catch my breath. A hurricane wind blew around us, sweeping us to somewhere. I might have tried to scream. I struggled, but I was trapped. Unable to make out any of the world around me, I shut my eyes. Even when I tried to open them again, I couldn’t see anything. Darkness, all in darkness.
Then the wind stopped, and the demon let me go.
I fell hard, like being dumped out of a fast-moving car. Rolled for a ways on rocky ground, scuffing my arms and face, and came to rest with a mouthful of dirt. I spat it out. Lashing out, I got ready for the fight I was sure was coming, a battle with the demon and her silver-tainted weapons. I swung, kicked, scrambled into a defensive crouch—but no one was there. Ashtoreth was gone; she’d thrown me away, then apparently vanished. I couldn’t see her, smell her. Then again, I couldn’t smell anything. A rotten egg stink overpowered me. I sneezed and tried to breathe through my mouth. Checked for anything worse than aches or bruises, and took stock of where I’d ended up.
The air reeked, concentrated sulfur in a thick miasma. Noises surrounded me: water boiling, steam jetting from vents. The sound of heat, power, and danger. The ground under me felt hot, but despite the heat my skin broke out in gooseflesh. The air was hazy, chilled. The ground around me was barren, stained and blasted with heat and chemicals. A wintry sunlight made everything seem faded.
Rather than kill me, Ashtoreth had taken me somewhere else—her home, her origin. Capital H hell. Killing wasn’t good enough for me, so she brought me here. She was gone now, and I didn’t know what happened next. There had to be a way out of here. I straightened, brushed my hands on my jeans, and looked around.