Part 22 (1/2)

Praying no one would find the arrangement odd enough to investigate, I left Sebastian with the intention of heading to work. The clock in the hotel lobby told me I had more than enough time to grab a quick breakfast in their overpriced restaurant. It was still o'-insanely-early, not even seven, so I drank several cups of bitter industrial coffee and fortified myself with a cheese omelet and several pieces of soggy,b.u.t.ter-soaked toast.

I started to feel vaguely human again, almost normal. The sun felt warm on my skin, and I whistled the chorus of a half-remembered Toby Keith song as I walked the few blocks to work.

I should have realized that was a bad sign.

The real estate agent was waiting for me when I reached the entrance to the magic shop. I recognized the ubiquitous cut of her fas.h.i.+onable, navy blue business suit a block away and nearly turned to run. But what was she going to do? Murder me on the streets of Madison? That seemed awfully public for a supposedly secret religious order.

Then again, hardly anyone was around. This might be the best time to leave a body out in public for the police to discover later.

Well, two could play that game.

I rubbed my belly to waken the beast within. Lilith twitched across my abdomen anxiously. I felt her strength settle into my bones. My pulse slowed to a measured, calculating, Zen-warrior pace.

It felt good.

Sebastian was right. I did know about the siren call of power.

What was I thinking?

This wa.s.so not okay.

Eighth House

KEYWORDS:.

Death, s.e.x, and Rock and Roll

I tried to settle Lilith back down, but she wasn't having any of it. With Lilith's calculating eye, my brain registered some new information about the agent. Taller than me by several inches, she carried herself loosely, like an athlete. Her soccer-mom fas.h.i.+on couldn't quite hide the bulge of muscles or the hint of a shoulder holster. I don't know how I'd missed the signs before, especially since those sensible shoes just screamed ”nun.”

Lilith hated her. So much, in fact, that I found the muscles in my arm twitching as She calculated the effort it would take to grab her and press my thumbnail into the hollow of her throat.

The image was so vivid that I had to turn away. To keep Lilith from killing her, I focused my attention on getting the right key in the door. The keys jangled as my hand shook.

”I'm not interested in any real estate,” I said, trying to sound casual. ”You're not feeling the urge to relocate?”

I got the key into the lock and twisted it instead of her neck. The key broke apart with a metallic rending sound as the lock clicked open. The agent had the sense to look nervous when I turned to say, ”Listen, Sister Mary Real Estate, I'm not running this time. State your business or get out of my way. I have a shop to open here.”

Lilith rumbled through my intestines, gurgling Her desire for a fight.

”I can save Sebastian,” she said.

The tension in my shoulders deflated slightly. She'd said the one thing I hadn't expected. Still. ”Why should I believe you? What do you get out of it?”

We stood under the awning of the shop. My fingers gripped the mutilated head of the key, which I pointed, somewhat murderously, at the agent's heart. She seemed to notice it, too, and took another step back.

Her mouth twitched, as though she were trying on several responses and not liking any of them. I waited, and as I did, I realized that the agent didn't have an answer, because anything she said would be a lie.

She was trying to play me and wasn't doing a very good job of it.

Something in my expression must have given away my thought process. She twisted her lips into anOh, screw it line and pulled a gun from her jacket.

”You will lead me to him,” she said, pointing the barrel at my chest.

I'd never seen a real gun so close. It wasn't anything like the toy revolvers the boys in my neighborhood used to pop caps. There was no Lone Ranger pearl handle, no gleam of silver. Matte-black and sleek-looking, it looked vaguely military, although I couldn't say why I thought so.

”Move,” she reminded me.

Lilith tingled with antic.i.p.ation of a fight.No way , I thought. G.o.ddess or not, I didn't trust Lilith to dodge a bullet. Besides, neighboring businesses had begun to go through the morning stretches of opening.

Bobby from the pizza joint across the street was setting plastic patio furniture on the sidewalk. Too many witnesses here.

I opened my mouth, and Lilith said, ”Follow me. He's hiding in the storeroom.”

For a trained a.s.sa.s.sin, she swallowed the bait easily. Carrying a gun can make a person overconfident.

The way she purposefully strode through the store, it seemed obvious to me she felt she'd bagged her quarry already. I wondered what rewards the Order bestowed upon her for her kills. Women didn't exactly get to advance in the ranks of the Catholic Church beyond nun. I supposed she could become a mother superior or something like that. Maybe she was simply greedy for monetary gain or fame or some other earthly pleasure given as dispensation for a job well done.

We snaked through the aisles of Witchcraft paraphernalia. Her nose crinkled slightly at the sight of a collection of tarot cards. ”The formula is magical, you know.” Despite the danger of the gun, I couldn't help but poke. ”You're going to have to go against everything you believe.”

”Not everything,” she said, brus.h.i.+ng her finger on the hierophant on an open tarot deck. The card showed a male figure sitting on a throne wearing vestments, a miter, and leaning on something not unlike the Christian cross. Though my previous a.s.sociation with the image was always of a high priest, when she touched it so lovingly, my first thought wasPope .

Christian magic. Catholics had a long history of it. Could most people even imagine hunting a vampire without such tools in hand? Holy water, cross, a wooden stake of oak, maple, aspen, ash, or whatever you believed to be the same wood as that of the Cross. You wouldn't dream of going near the undead without it.

Holy Mother, this agent could be a Catholic Witch.

Suddenly, I could far too easily imagine her higher-ups sending the good sister undercover. As a woman, she'd be much more easily accepted into a coven. Much of her Catholic magic could be explained away by the similarities between the G.o.ddess and the Virgin, some of which were nearly indistinguishable. h.e.l.l, her dying and rising G.o.d wasn't a particularly new idea for Pagans, either. In fact, we had it first.

She could fit into the magical community pretty easily without even having to compromise her faith too terribly much.

Just imagining that kind of personal betrayal caused Lilith to send a stab of pain across my gut. I stumbled with the effort to keep Lilith from slaughtering the agent right here and now.

Her hand touched my shoulder gently, ”Are you all right?”

Something in my eyes made her gasp and make the sign of the cross. I could only imagine what it was like to look the Queen of Evil in the eye. Honestly, I was surprised she had the chance to react. Lilith could have chosen this opportunity to push me away, like She'd done at Sebastian's place. Though, perhaps the planetary conjunction that gave Lilith such unusually powerful control over me had slipped its...o...b..of influence. Or maybe my warding against Lilith had worked better than I hoped.

Of course, if all that were true, I'd intentionally called up Lilith to the surface to do this woman harm.

That disturbed me.

As did the genuine look of concern that the agent's eyes had held when she saw me stumble. I never expected them to be nice. Not even a little bit.

I pulled myself upright, ”What's your name?”

”Rosa.”