Darkness & Discovery (The Bespelled Trilogy #2) (26 page)

“You
can’t,” Alastair told him, holding him up by his shoulders. “You’re not strong
enough.”

“I’m
not quitting,” Augustine said. “I don’t care what it does to me. I have to
bring Bryn back. There’s no one else that can do it.”

“Well,
that’s not entirely true,” I said, and all eyes turned to me. “I know one
person that could work this spell. And I’m going to go find that little jerk if
it’s the last thing I do.”

I
started to leave the room, but Joey caught my arm and asked, “What are you
doing?”

“I’m
going to find Jin. He’s an incredibly powerful warlock, he can do this. He can
bring Bryn back.”

“We
spent days looking for him and couldn’t find him,” Joey pointed out.

“Yeah,
but I’m done being subtle. I’m going to march into that hotel and scream his
name until I get results.”

I
started toward the door again, but Joey was still holding my arm and acting
like an anchor. “It’s still light out. Wait until dark and I’ll go with you.”

“So
will I,” Alastair said.

“I’m
not waiting. Augustine said the longer Bryn is like this, the worse his chances
for recovery. I need to go now. Never mind the fact you’re both wanted men. You
really can’t show your faces at that hotel without inciting yet another riot
among the masses that want to kill you.”

“Yeah,
you kind of have a point there,” Joey said.

“But
you’ve been seen with all of us,” Alastair countered. “The vampire hunters
probably are looking for you as a way to get to me.”

I
thought about that for a moment, then walked over to Bryn’s bed and pressed the
call button. “You’re right. Joey, get ready to do some compelling.”

The
young female nurse that appeared a few moments later was immediately pressed
into service. She took me with her to the employee locker room and helped me
wrap my hair into an up do. I put on her coat and big dark sunglasses, and she
handed me the keys to her car, explaining in her cheerful compelled state as I
put on her red lipstick that it was a brand new powder blue VW bug, parked at
the far end of the employee parking lot. And yes, I felt bad for the way she
was being manipulated, but my main concern right now was saving my friend’s
life.

I
thanked her and jogged back to Bryn’s room, sticking my head through the
doorway and declaring, “Ok, this disguise is as lame as Augustine’s was the other
day, but at least it’s something. So, I’m going to go do this, and I’ll be back
soon.”

Alastair
was in front of me in an instant, drawing me into a hug. “Are you sure this is
a good idea?” he asked.

“It’ll
be fine. Don’t worry,” I told him with a smile, displaying more confidence than
I actually felt.

“Do
you have your knife with you?”

“Yeah,
always. I can’t help but have it with me,” I said, patting the pocket of the
nurse’s coat and feeling its reassuring weight there.

He
handed me our room key. “Just in case you need it to get past security, which
is probably thick at the hotel right now after that riot.”

“Good
thinking.”

“I
love you, Luna. Please be careful,” he whispered in my ear as he held me close.

“I
love you too, Allie. And I’ll be back soon.”

The
powder blue bug was fun to drive, purring down the Strip as I headed to the
hotel. There were still news cameras out front, and I had to show a police
officer my room key to be allowed to pull up to the hotel. But despite the
police presence, it was still business as usual at the Bellagio, and I drove
right up to the main entrance and handed the keys to a valet.

I
tried to appear confident as I strode though the crowds in the casino, and
hoped my hair and makeup made me look older, so that I wouldn’t immediately get
kicked out for being under age. “Please let Jin be in here,” I murmured as I
arrived at the high roller section, cordoned off behind velvet ropes and behind
a couple disinterested casino employees. No way were they going to let me past,
I knew it was pointless even asking. And the fact that they didn’t immediately
wander away from me showed that these two hadn’t previously been compelled by
Joey.

So
I improvised.

I
jumped up onto an unused blackjack table right outside the high roller section,
and yelled at the top of my lungs, “Jimmy Cheng! I need to talk to you, right
now! Show your face, or else I’m going to your mom, telling her you’re gambling
in Vegas and not on a year abroad program,
and
telling her that you’re
my baby daddy! Do you hear me, Jimmy? Or Jin. Or whatever you’re calling
yourself! I’ve been looking for you for days, and I’ll bet you know that. And
I’m fed up! So get out here and talk to me!”

The
handful of casino employees that had been missed during Joey’s rounds of compelling
gathered around me, trying to coax me off the table. “Come on down, miss,” one
of the guards said. “You’re going to get hurt up there.”

“No,”
I said. And then I yelled, “I’m not leaving until I find Jimmy Cheng! Jimmy,
you really want me to tell your mom you’re my baby daddy?”

“Miss,
pregnant woman really shouldn’t be climbing around on furniture and yelling,”
one of the guards told me. “It’s not good for the baby. Come on down from
there.”

“Not
until I talk to Jimmy Cheng!” A big crowd was gathered around by now. I bluffed,
“That’s it, Jimmy, I’m calling your mom! I have that big new house in Pacific
Heights on speed dial. You’re going to be so busted!”

“Telling
my mom on me? Really?” An amused voice to my left said. I spun in the direction
of the voice. An Asian gentleman of about sixty stood there with his arms
crossed over his chest, a grin on his face.

“Well
hey there, Jimmy,” I said. “You should return Tyler’s calls. He’s worried about
you.” And I jumped off the table, landing right in front of him.

 “Tyler’s
like an old lady,” Jimmy told me. “Always nagging. And call me Jin. Jimmy is so
five minutes ago.”

“
That’s
your baby daddy?” One of the guards asked, looking from me to the disguised
warlock.

“Don’t
judge,” I said, linking arms with Jimmy. “He’s a lot more youthful than he
appears. And I mean that literally.”

We
took a few steps away from the crowd and Jin said, “That was hilarious. I kept
waiting for you to do something bold to get my attention. But I never predicted
that you’d tell a crowd of strangers I knocked you up.”

“So
you did know we’ve been looking for you.”

“Of
course I did.”

“And
you couldn’t have made finding you any easier on us.”

“Why
should I? It was entertaining, watching you do lap after lap after lap. I
especially liked the part where the hotel staff were all compelled to stay away
from you, and kept being repelled like reversed magnets.” He was smiling
cheerfully.

A
man that looked about forty joined us then. “Mikey, I presume.” I stuck out my
hand. “Luna Harper.”

“It’s
nice to finally meet you, after playing mouse to your cat for days,” Mikey said
with a grin as he shook my hand.

“Yeah,
yeah, it’s all very amusing. Do you know why we were looking for you?”

“If
I had to take a wild guess, I’d say it’s because your tall, dark, and dead
boyfriend wants his memories back.”

“You
think that’s funny?” I said, hands on my hips.

“Nah.
I’m sure it sucks to be him. Although you know what? I got a look at his
memories when I was putting that spell in place, and believe me when I say, he
is
way
better off without ‘em.”

“We
were
looking for you to get the spell removed, but there’s something
more urgent that I need your help with. Yours too, Mikey,” I said to his
brother. “A friend of mine is in the hospital, and you’re one of the few people
on the planet that can help him.”

“What,
you need some kind of healing spell? Cuz I really don’t know how to do that,”
Jin said. “And besides, I know you run with that English warlock, Bryn Maddock.
How come you’re not going to him for help?”

“Because
he’s the one that’s in the hospital. Please, Jin? I really need you.”

“What’s
in it for me?”

“Gee,
I dunno, how about the chance to do the right thing and be a decent human
being?” I said. He scowled at me, so I added, “Or, how about the fact that Bryn
is three hundred and thirty years old, has been practicing magic all that time,
and could teach you to do things with your power that you’ve only dreamed of.
How about that?”

Jin
crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, you know what? I’m not Luke Skywalker,
and I don’t actually need Yoda teaching me to use the force and whatever.”

“You
wish
you were Luke Skywalker,” I countered.

And
his brother piped up and said, “Yeah, he totally does.” That earned him a dirty
look from Jin.

“Did
you mean to make yourself look sixty?” I asked. “I’m guessing you didn’t. You
were probably shooting for, what, ten years older so you could gamble without getting
harassed? I doubt you were trying to wrangle the senior discount at the
all-you-can-eat buffet. Am I right?” Jin frowned at me and I added, “Are you
stuck looking like that? If so, you know who could help you: Bryn. He knows how
to manipulate appearances like nobody’s business. Oh, and he stopped his body
from aging over three centuries ago. Have you learned to do that yet? Because
if you haven’t, you can kiss immortality goodbye.”

“Immortality?”

“You
think it’s a fluke that Bryn is three hundred and thirty? He figured out how to
stop the aging process. Don’t you want to know how to do that? And can you even
imagine
what else a warlock that powerful could teach you?” I could see
Jin was thinking about it. “But the thing is, he’s dying. Right now, as we
speak. And if he does, all that knowledge dies with him. And you are never,
ever, not in a million years going to find another person that knows as much about
your power as Bryn.”

Jin
was quiet for a moment. And then he asked, “Why’s he in the hospital?”

“I’ll
tell you in the car,” I said, tugging on the sleeve of his suit jacket. “Come
on. We have to hurry.”

“Yeah,
ok,” he said as we headed out of the casino. “But you better be right about
your friend being willing to teach me. Because if he turns on me after I help
him, I’m gonna be pissed. And you
really
aren’t going to like me when
I’m mad.”

Chapter Seventeen

I burst into Bryn’s
hospital room with the warlock brothers in tow. “Everybody, Jin and Mike. Jin
and Mike, everybody,” I said by way of introduction.

Alastair
and Joey looked stunned, and Augustine got up and shook their hands, saying,
“Nice to see you both again. I’d say you look well, but I’d be lying.”

“It’s
time to get Bryn back, guys,” I said. “Joey, could you make with a guard at the
door again?” He immediately went and did as I asked.

“So,
what’s the plan here?” Jin asked. “I’ve never reunited anyone’s body and soul
before, you know.” I’d tried to explain what had happened to Bryn on the ride
over here in the little VW, which was now back in the employee parking lot. The
soul thing was Jin’s take on it.

“Repeating
this spell as we all join hands, combined with a bit of Alastair’s blood should
do it,” Augustine explained, turning the computer screen toward Jin.

“Yeah…uh,
I don’t read whatever the hell language that is,” the warlock said.

“It’s
a regional dialect of an obscure Slavic language,” Augustine explained. And after
a beat, he added, “I’ll write it out for you phonetically.” He grabbed the
clipboard that was at the foot of Bryn’s bed, flipped over one of the sheets,
and began writing quickly on the back of it.

“Um,
aren’t the doctors going to need that chart?” I asked.

“Not
if this works,” Augustine said. Then he turned to Alastair. “Would you mind
providing some of your blood again?”

Without
hesitation, Alastair nicked his wrist with his suddenly extended fangs, then
bled into a clean, empty bedpan. “Classy,” Joey said.

Alastair
shot him a look.“It’s never been used. And the cup already has old blood in it.
I figured fresh was the way to go.”

“I
think this time we should apply it differently,” Augustine said, sticking a
finger in the blood and smearing it over first one palm, then the other. “Might
make it a better conduit this way.” We all followed suit, applying some to
Bryn’s palms and forehead as well. When we joined hands, a little shock of
electricity zinged through us. “That’s a good sign,” he said.

“Alright,
let’s work some old school Slavic witchcraft,” Jin said with a lopsided smile.
And he began to read what Augustine had written, awkwardly at first, but then
he picked up speed after a couple run-throughs. His brother had been following
along, and after a minute began repeating the spell in unison with Jin. A
bright light ringed our group, linking us together. I could actually feel the
electricity flowing through my body, just the faintest tingle as the current
passed through me.