Gabriel waited for me to continue.
‘‘Her trail was dusted with dragon scales, Gabriel.’’
I heard a brief intake of his breath. ‘‘You are certain?’’
‘‘Yes. I thought dragons didn’t like to use portals.’’
‘‘We don’t. We will if it is absolutely necessary, as it is now, but if at all possible, we prefer to use alternate means of travel. Go into the Dreaming, little bird. I will be there as soon as I can.’’
The portal shop Cyrene had visited was one of two located in England. Portals offered individuals with large amounts of money at hand the ability to travel across the fabric of reality in the blink of an eye. Portals were quirky things, however, and even the best of the portal masters had only a tenuous ability to predict exactly where the summoned portal would open.
I remained hidden in the shadow world until Gabriel arrived, Savian in tow. We wasted no time in querying the portalist, a weaver by the name of Jarilith, about Cyrene, but true to his kind, he refused to shed any light on where she’d gone.
‘‘Can you at least tell us if she was being forced to go somewhere?’’ I asked Jarilith, exasperated with his refusal to answer our questions.
‘‘It is illegal to portal anyone while they are under duress,’’ he said with a pointed look. ‘‘I could lose my license if I were to do so.’’
‘‘You’re going to lose a lot more than that if you don’t tell me where my twin went,’’ I said in a low, mean voice.
‘‘Mayling, please. I must insist that you allow me to be the bad cop,’’ Gabriel said as I slid the dagger at my ankle out of its sheath.
‘‘I have never subscribed to the sexist belief that women have to be good cop,’’ I said, twirling the dagger around one finger.
Jarilith’s eyes were riveted to it. He didn’t look unduly worried about me being armed, but his condescending expression had slipped just a little.
‘‘Nonetheless, you are far more suited to the good cop role,’’ Gabriel insisted.
‘‘I’m going to have to go against popular opinion and side with Mei Ling on this,’’ Savian said, watching us with a delighted twinkle in his eye. ‘‘She looks like she knows how to use that blade. What is that, a stiletto?’’
‘‘Sicilian castrating knife,’’ I said with a smile at the portal man.
‘‘She wins,’’ Savian told Gabriel.
‘‘Er . . .’’ Jarilith said, his expression starting to slide into worry.
‘‘I am a wyvern! I can do far more to this man than merely remove his genitalia,’’ Gabriel answered in an outraged tone, a little tendril of smoke emerging from between his lips as he spoke.
‘‘Eh . . .’’ Jarilith said, taking a step backward.
‘‘Hmm. He’s a weaver,’’ Savian said thoughtfully as he examined the portalist. ‘‘Those are immortal, aren’t they? So he could survive a castration, but the question is would a dragon barbeque be enough to finish him off?’’
‘‘Absolutely,’’ Gabriel said. He smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile.
‘‘Threatening a weaver is strictly prohibited by law,’’ Jarilith said indignantly, but the fight had gone out of him. His gaze was flickering back and forth from Gabriel to Savian to the dagger I held casually. ‘‘I could have the watch on you for what you’re saying!’’
‘‘Oh, please,’’ I said with a dramatic roll of my eyes.
‘‘Just about every thief taker in this hemisphere is after me. I’ve already been sentenced to banishment to the Akasha. You think one little murder is going to make that any worse? Not likely.’’
Jarilith’s eyes widened.
‘‘It’s true,’’ Savian said. ‘‘The price on her head has already gone over six figures.’’
The color washed out of the portalist’s face. ‘‘Erm . . .’’
‘‘Mate,’’ Gabriel said sternly. ‘‘I must insist that you refrain from slicing and dicing this man.’’
Jarilith nodded quickly. ‘‘Listen to the dragon.’’
‘‘It is
my
place to destroy those who stand in your way,’’ Gabriel continued, the pupils in his eyes narrowing as he turned to the now hastily backing away Jarilith.
‘‘Let’s not lose our heads, here,’’ the latter said in a rush.
‘‘I don’t think it’s your head the lady has in mind,’’ Savian said as he looked pointedly at the portalist’s crotch.
Jarilith’s hands hovered protectively over his fly. ‘‘Such an atrocity would constitute torture. You wouldn’t do that to an innocent man, would you?’’
‘‘What makes you think I’d stop at the castration?’’ I twirled the knife around my fingers again. ‘‘This little jobby fillets, as well.’’
‘‘She went to Paris,’’ Jarilith said quickly as he dashed for a door to a back room. ‘‘I don’t see the harm in telling you that as you are related to the lady. Your portal is ready in room number three. Have a pleasant journey . . .’’
His voice trailed off as he bolted.
I turned a frown on Gabriel. ‘‘You really wouldn’t have let me be bad cop? I’m very good at it, as you can see.’’
‘‘I’m sorry,’’ he said, his dimples belying the grave look he was trying to maintain. He gave me a gentle push in the direction of the room containing our portal. ‘‘Wyverns have some standards to maintain with their mates, and one of them is always being the bad cop. Although I do admit that you have a particularly effective manner. Would you really have castrated him to get the information about your twin?’’
‘‘Would you really have burnt him to a crisp for not answering?’’ I countered.
Gabriel grinned. I smiled back at him.
‘‘Such a bloodthirsty little bird,’’ he said fondly, giving my butt a little pinch.
Savian stood still for a moment, giving us an odd, disbelieving look before shaking his head and following. ‘‘You two are the strangest couple I’ve ever met. And I have to tell you—I’ve met some real weirdos.’’
It was early evening by the time we made it to the house that Gabriel said was Drake’s home away from home while in Paris. The portal we’d taken had ended up dumping us in a slaughterhouse, which I am horrified to admit caused me to behave in a manner that no doubt embarrassed Gabriel by the quality of dramatics I felt necessary.
‘‘Ironic that you’d react so strongly to a little pig’s blood given that you just threatened to cut off someone’s balls,’’ Savian’s voice said over my head as I hunched over a railing and vomited up my last meal.
I heaved again, scrabbling at my ankle sheath, blindly waving my dagger in his direction.
‘‘Shutting up now,’’ he said. He laughed as he said it, though, the rat.
‘‘There is a mortal saying about those who live by the sword,’’ Gabriel started to say.
I wiped my mouth on a handful of tissue and straightened up enough to glare at him. ‘‘Not the time, dragon.’’
‘‘So I see,’’ he answered, his dimples trying hard to emerge.
‘‘I wouldn’t if I were you,’’ I told them with a black look.
He laughed and rubbed the small of my back. ‘‘Are you better now?’’
‘‘Moderately.’’ I looked down at myself. ‘‘Ugh. I’m covered in animal blood. I need a shower, a toothbrush, and a fresh change of clothes. I don’t suppose you keep a house here, too?’’
He shook his head as he escorted me away from the railing, Savian trailing behind us. ‘‘No. Our clothing will be at Drake’s house. We will go there and see what he has found out.’’
Luckily, it didn’t take long to get to Drake’s house. I eyed it as Gabriel paid off the cab that had dropped us at its door. ‘‘Are all you wyverns loaded like this?’’ I whispered as we entered the house.
Gabriel’s lips curled. ‘‘Do you fear I won’t have enough resources to keep you in the style to which you have become accustomed?’’
‘‘Hardly,’’ I said with a snort. ‘‘My apartment consists of one room, three bookcases, and a bathroom I share with two girls next door.’’
‘‘There you are. We’d almost given up on you,’’ Aisling said as she caught sight of us.
‘‘I don’t suppose anyone has heard from or seen Cyrene?’’ I asked once Savian was introduced and a brief explanation had been given of our past few hours.
‘‘No, we haven’t seen or heard from her. Do you think something happened to her?’’ Aisling asked.
‘‘All we know is that she left London for Paris in the company of a dragon.’’ My gaze flicked over to where Drake stood.
‘‘Kostya?’’ he asked Gabriel.
‘‘We do not know for certain,’’ he answered carefully. ‘‘Although it crossed my mind.’’
‘‘Why would Kostya want to come to Paris with Cyrene?’’ Aisling asked.
I shook my head and trudged wearily up the stairs to the room she had given us. I puzzled over that very question while I washed off the effects of the afternoon. It didn’t seem to make sense at all—even if Cyrene had done the impossible and caught up to Kostya after leaving Porter . . . or rather, Porter’s remains, why would he want to accompany her?
A thought occurred to me as I was brushing my teeth. I stared in surprise at the empty mirror as my brain chewed over the possibility that Kostya killed Porter.
‘‘It’s a tenuous connection at best, but it’s still a possibility,’’ I told the mirror. ‘‘Cyrene did set off to follow Kostya, and later, they were together at the portal shop. So who’s to say they weren’t together the whole time?’’
If I’d been able to cast a reflection, it would have been shaking its head at the last of my words. I’d forgotten that Cyrene said Porter had kidnapped her, which meant she couldn’t have been with Kostya then.
I didn’t have an answer by the time I trotted back downstairs, but I didn’t have much chance to mull it over before Gabriel whisked me away to Suffrage House.
‘‘You’re sure they won’t have some sort of spell to catch me shadow walking?’’ I asked Savian. He stood with Gabriel and me across the street from Suffrage House. Drake and Aisling and their two guards were already inside the building, doing their part to reconnoiter.
‘‘I’ve never heard of anything. People who could do damage to anything housed there would not have access to the beyond or shadow walking.’’ He grinned at me. ‘‘I guess they didn’t think about doppelgangers.’’
‘‘We’re not normally at odds with the L’au-delà," I pointed out, then shadowed and made my way across the busy street without being struck.
Gabriel and Savian strolled past me into the building ahead of me. I took my time to make sure that there were no traps or wards at the doors, but evidently Savian was correct—nothing stopped me as I made my way down to the basement. Our plan was simple—Gabriel and Savian would poke around the security offices as best they could. Drake, with an acute sense of smell when it came to treasure of any sort, would conduct an unobtrusive search for any locations other than the vault where valuables might be stored. My job was to assess the vault itself, which meant I needed to get past the security present outside it.
A half hour later, we were regrouped at Drake’s house.
‘‘Shall we start with the easy stuff first?’’ Aisling asked. ‘‘Drake and I hunted high and low, and there’s no secondary vault anywhere. Drake said the only thing he smelled was in the basement.’’
‘‘Which is where the vault is,’’ Savian affirmed. ‘‘According to my friend in the security office, the evening shift takes over at the onset of deep night. The shift change takes place then because it’s when most people are at their lowest energy, so they want fresh eyes on the job.’’
I smiled. ‘‘How nice it is that those of us who were born of shadow find deep night our peak performance time.’’
‘‘I thought you’d like that,’’ Savian said with a cheeky grin.
Gabriel, sitting next to me on the couch in Drake’s living room, narrowed his eyes at Savian in a show of jealousy that I’m ashamed to admit utterly delighted me.
‘‘So what about the big job?’’ Aisling asked, looking at me. ‘‘Is it doable?’’
I nodded. ‘‘Quite doable. There’s the usual run of electronic equipment, and two guards, one who roams the basement corridor, the other who wanders from above stairs to below. They may add a third for nighttime, but I doubt it. Between the guards and electronics, they seem to have everything covered.’’
‘‘What about the vault itself?’’ Gabriel asked.
‘‘Warded, with arcane spell protections and a couple of prohibitions. The latter concern beings of the dark powers, so I couldn’t get too close to eyeball the other wards, but they didn’t look like anything out of the ordinary. I assume you’ll be able to remove them?’’ I asked Aisling.
‘‘It shouldn’t be a problem at all.’’
‘‘The vault itself must be huge—it appears to take up most of the basement. But once the door is open, I should be able to shadow walk inside and disable any alarm systems within so Gabriel can enter safely.’’
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as Drake and Gabriel locked gazes.
‘‘I believe the decision of who will retain control of the phylactery has yet to discussed,’’ Drake said.
Gabriel’s eyebrows rose. ‘‘Do you have reason to believe I would abuse such an honor?’’
‘‘No.’’ Drake hesitated. ‘‘But Kostya will not be so certain, and he will not stop at anything to regain it if he knows it is in your possession.’’
‘‘I’m quite able to keep my treasures safe even from your brother,’’ Gabriel said dryly.
‘‘That is not my point. If you were to retain the phylactery, Kostya would continue to attack you and your sept to get it.’’
‘‘It seems to me he’s pretty much doing that anyway,’’ I said.
‘‘If he knows I have the phylactery,’’ Drake said, ‘‘Kostya won’t be happy, but he won’t have cause to continue to fight you. It might even do much to keep him in line.’’
Gabriel frowned. ‘‘You had it once, and lost it to him. I am not comfortable knowing that it could again fall so easily into his hands.’’
Drake’s eyes glittered emerald, but they were no match for the brilliant quicksilver fire that burned in Gabriel’s.
‘‘Do you imply that
I
cannot hold my own treasure?’’ Drake asked with a clear warning in his voice.