Part 24 (1/2)

Elaine came to stand next to me and also glanced out. Her hand brushed mine when she lowered it from the blinds, and without even thinking about it, I twined my fingers in hers. It was an achingly familiar sensation, and another pang of half-remembered days long gone made my chest ache for a second.

Elaine s.h.i.+vered a little and closed her eyes. Her fingers tightened, very slightly, on mine. ”We thought he'd killed you,” she said. ”You started to crouch down, and there were bullets shattering the ice all around you. You went into the water, and the vampire... Madrigal, did you say his name was? He ordered the ghouls in after you. I sent Olivia and the others to the sh.o.r.e, and Thomas and I went into the water to find you.”

”Who hit me in the head?” I asked.

Elaine shrugged. ”Either a bullet hit your coat after you crouched down, and then bounced off your thick skull without penetrating, or you slammed it against some of the shattered ice as you went under.”

A bullet might have bounced off my head, thanks to the intervening fabric of my spell-covered coat. That was a sobering sort of thing to hear, even for me. ”Thank you,” I said. ”For getting me out.”

Elaine arched an eyebrow, then gave me a little roll of her eyes and said, ”I was bored and didn't have anything better to do.”

”I figured,” I said. ”Thomas?”

”He's all right. He had a car near the docks. I drove that clown car of yours, and we shoehorned everyone into them and got away clean. With any luck, Madrigal had a tougher time avoiding the cops than we did.”

”Nah,” I said, with total conviction. ”Too easy. He got away. Where's Thomas?”

”Standing watch outside, he said.” Elaine frowned. ”He looked... very pale. He refused to stay in the room with his refugees. Or me, for that matter.”

I grunted. Thomas had really put on his Supervamp cape back at the harbor. Under ordinary circ.u.mstances, he was surprisingly strong for a man of his size and build. But even unusually strong men don't go toe-to-toe with ghouls armed with nothing but a big stick and come away clean. Thomas could make himself stronger-a lot lot stronger-but not forever. The demon knit to my brother's soul could make him into a virtual G.o.dling, but it also increased his hunger for the life force of mortals, burning away whatever he had stored up in exchange for the improved performance. stronger-but not forever. The demon knit to my brother's soul could make him into a virtual G.o.dling, but it also increased his hunger for the life force of mortals, burning away whatever he had stored up in exchange for the improved performance.

After that fight, Thomas had to be hungry. So hungry that he didn't trust himself in a room with anyone he considered, well, edible. Which, in our escape party, had been everyone but me and the kids.

He must have been hurting.

”What about the Ordo?” I asked her quietly.

”I didn't want to go until I could be certain that I wouldn't lead anyone back to them. I called them every couple of hours to make sure they were all right. I should check in with them again.”

She turned to the phone before she finished the sentence and dialed a number. I waited. She was silent. After a moment, she hung up the phone again.

”No answer,” I said quietly.

”No,” she said. She turned to the dresser, gathered up her length of chain, and threaded it through the loops of her jeans like a belt, fastening it with a slightly curved piece of dark wood bound with several bands of colored leather, which she slipped through two links.

I opened the door and stuck my head out into the twilight, looking around. I didn't see Thomas anywhere, so I let out a sharp, loud whistle, waved an arm around a little, and ducked back inside, closing the door again.

It didn't take long for Thomas's footsteps to reach the door.

”Harry,” Elaine said, mildly alarmed. ”The ward.”

I held up a forefinger in a one-second kind of gesture, then folded my arms, stared at the door, and waited. The doork.n.o.b twitched; there was a heavy thud, a gasp of surprise, and a loud clatter of empty trash cans.

I opened the door and found my brother flat on his back in the parking lot, amidst a moderate amount of spilled garbage. He stared up at the sky for a moment, let out a long-suffering sigh, and then sat up, scowling at me.

”Oh, sorry about that,” I said, with all the sincerity of a three-year-old claiming he didn't steal that cookie all over his face. ”Maybe I should have told you about a potentially dangerous situation, told you about a potentially dangerous situation, huh? I mean, that would have been polite of me to warn you, right? And sensible. And intelligent. And respectful. And-” huh? I mean, that would have been polite of me to warn you, right? And sensible. And intelligent. And respectful. And-”

”I get it, I get it,” he growled. He got up and made a doomed effort to brush various bits of unsavory matter off his clothes. ”Jesus Christ, Harry. There are days when you can be a total p.r.i.c.k.”

”Whereas you you can apparently be a complete can apparently be a complete moron moron for for weeks weeks at a time!” at a time!”

Elaine stepped up beside me and said, ”I love to see a good testosterone-laden alpha-male dominance struggle as much as the next woman-but don't you think it would be smarter to do it where half of the city can't see us?”

I scowled at Elaine, but she had a point. I stepped out the door and offered Thomas my hand.

He glowered at me, then deliberately ran his hand through some of the muck and held it out to me without wiping it off. I rolled my eyes and pulled him to his feet, and then the three of us went back into the room.

Thomas leaned his back against the door, folded his arms, and kept his eyes on the floor while I went to the sink and washed off my hands. My coat hung on one of the wire hangers on the bar beside it, as did my s.h.i.+rt. My staff rested in a corner by the light switch, and my other gear was on the counter. I dried off my hands and started suiting up. ”Okay, Thomas,” I said. ”Seriously. What's up with the secrecy? You should have contacted me.”

”I couldn't,” he said.

”Why not?”

”I promised someone I wouldn't.”

I frowned at that, tugging the still-d.a.m.n black leather glove onto my disfigured left hand, and tried to think. Thomas and I were brothers. He took that every bit as seriously as I did-but he took his promises seriously, too. If he'd made the promise, he had a good reason to do so.

”How much can you tell me?”

Elaine gave me a sharp glance.

”I've already said more than I should have,” Thomas said.

”Don't be an idiot. We've obviously got a common enemy here.”

Thomas grimaced, gave me a hesitant glance, and then said, ”We've got several.”

I traded a glance with Elaine, who glanced at Thomas, shrugged, and suggested, ”Bruises fade?”

”No,” I said. ”If he isn't talking he has a good reason for it. Beating him up won't change that.”

”Then we should stop wasting time here,” Elaine said quietly.

Thomas looked back and forth between us. ”What's wrong?”

”We've lost contact with the women Elaine is protecting,” I said.

”Dammit.” Thomas pushed his hand buck through his hair. ”That means...”

I fastened the clasp on the new s.h.i.+eld bracelet. ”What?”

”Look. You already know Madrigal is around,” Thomas said.

”And that he's always sucking up to House Malvora,” I said. I frowned. ”For the love of G.o.d, he's the Pa.s.senger.” He's the one working with Grey Cloak the Malvora.”

”I didn't say that,” Thomas said quickly.