Spellcasters (99 page)

“Jaime?”

“Uh, right. Redhead? Necromancer? Hanging out in your hotel room right now? And hopefully not being pestered by Savannah …”

“Yes, I know who you meant, Paige. But Jaime isn’t here.”

“Did she leave? Damn it, was she trying to call us? We’ve been running around—”

“Slow down, Paige. Jaime hasn’t been here. Not since she left with the rest of you. Was she heading here?”

“Two hours ago. I know she was stopping by her hotel room first, but … two hours?”

“Have you called her hotel room?”

“No, I’ll do that now.”

“If she’s not there, check with the hotel front desk, see whether anyone saw her come in.”

I did as he’d suggested. No answer at the hotel room. No answer again on her cell. The desk clerk said he hadn’t seen her come in. When I suggested maybe she’d slipped past, he swore he would have noticed, and from his stammer, I guessed he’d been keeping an eye out for this semifamous, fully attractive guest. He offered to run up to her room, and left me hanging on the line before I could respond. Five minutes later he returned saying there was no sign of Jaime. He’d even checked inside her room, which was doubtless against company policy, but I wasn’t going to call him on it. I thanked him for his help, then relayed the news to the others.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Cassandra said. “The woman has the attention span of a gnat. She probably drove halfway to the hotel, saw a shoe sale, and forgot all about us.”

Lucas shook his head. “While Jaime may cultivate the appearance of flightiness, she has far more gravitas than that, and far more dedication. She’s stayed with us so far, despite some serious battering.”

“Lucas is right,” I said. “Jaime really wanted to help, and it would take something far more serious than a shoe sale to distract her from that.”

“Ladies’ Night at the strip club, perhaps?” Cassandra said.

“Mrrow,” Aaron said. “Retract your claws, Cass, before you cut yourself. I’m with Lucas and Paige on this one.”

“It’s settled, then,” Clay said. “Jaime is missing, so someone needs to look for her, and Elena and I are the best trackers. Aaron and Cassandra can stay here and keep an eye out for their fellow vampire. Lucas and Paige? Take your pick.”

I looked toward Benicio on the dance floor. “We’d better stay.”

“No,” Lucas said. “We’ll go. My father is well protected by his guards, and Aaron and Cassandra can handle Edward if he shows up, which I’m strongly beginning to doubt. We have a portal that must be reopened
using a necromantic ritual, and now we have a missing necromancer. I suspect the two are not unconnected.”

“Oh, shit.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

I
n the hotel parking lot, Elena picked up a scent. But it wasn’t Jaime’s. It was Edward’s. She trailed it to an empty parking space, where I found Jaime’s designer cell phone lying on the asphalt. Elena and Clay could detect traces of Jaime’s scent at the site, but no trail, as if she’d stepped from the car, but gone no farther. And, unless Edward had perfectly retraced his own path, he hadn’t gone any farther, either. The logical conclusion: Edward had surprised Jaime getting out of her car; she’d had time to fumble for her cell phone, but dropped it as he overwhelmed her. Then he’d driven off, in her rental car, with her in it.

I cursed myself for not seeing this coming. Yet as Lucas insisted, kidnapping Jaime wasn’t the obvious scenario. Reopening a portal was considered a necromantic ritual only because it involved access to the dead. Edward didn’t need a necromancer to carry it out. If he had the right victim, he only needed to slit that person’s throat over the portal site. Without that blood, he couldn’t open the portal at all, not even with a dozen necromancers helping him.

What we had overlooked, though, was the very real possibility that Edward had no idea how to reopen the portal. As Jaime had said, it was an obscure ritual. Edward might not have even known any necromancers to ask about it. Yet he did know where to find one. Given Jaime’s celebrity, her involvement in our case had to be all over the supernatural grapevine. Even John in New Orleans had probably known about it. And to find a photo of Jaime, all Edward had to do was run an Internet search, as Elena had done.

Did I think Jaime would tell Edward what he needed to complete the ceremony? Yes, and that’s no reflection on her character. What reason did she have not to tell him? She knew Benicio was safely under guard, and if she steered Edward in his direction, she’d be steering him into ours, which was exactly what we wanted. Our main concern was that, after Edward got what he wanted from Jaime, he’d kill her. We could only
hope he wouldn’t trust Jaime’s word enough to kill her before he had the portal reopened.

We planned our attack from both ends, the first end being the gala, where Edward would find Benicio, and the other end being the portal site, where he had to return if his mission was successful. Elena and Clay would join Aaron and Cassandra at the gala; with that kind of supernatural firepower on the alert, Edward would find it nearly impossible to capture Benicio. But, just in case, Lucas and I would stand guard at the portal site.

Lucas drove us back to the neighborhood where the portal had been opened. On the way, I drew a map of the surrounding area, noting all the possible points of entry and all the best locations for perimeter spells. Then we considered places to lie in wait. We were still debating our choices when Lucas’s cell phone rang. He checked the call display, then passed it to me.

I didn’t even get a chance to say hello before Aaron cut in. “Lucas? Where are you?”

“Uh, it’s Paige, and we’re still heading to the portal site. Do you want to talk to—”

“No, not if I can help it.” His voice sounded strained, and a bit breathless. “Shit! I am so sorry, guys. We fucked up. Fucked up big-time.”

“What’s wrong?”

I tried to keep my voice steady, but Lucas’s gaze shot over the moment the words left my mouth. I mouthed, “It’s okay,” and pointed at the road.

“We were watching Benicio,” Aaron said. “Cass and I. He was on the dance floor. Couldn’t miss him with that mask. Then Cass saw his bodyguard leaving. The one with the freaky blue eyes.”

“Troy.”

“Right, and she wanted me to follow him. She said he sticks pretty close to Benicio, and if he was taking off, something was up. So I went after him while she watched Benicio. I caught the guy sneaking out the back. Tried to get him to talk to me, but he wasn’t in a talking mood. We scuffled and just as I took him down, Cass came running out. Said the guy on the dance floor wasn’t Benicio.”

My gut went cold. “Wasn’t—?”

“It was a stand-in. With the mask—Fuck! We saw that mask and we were sure it was him.”

“So Benicio’s go—”

I stopped myself, but it was too late. Lucas veered the car to the curbside and hit the brakes so hard the seat belt snapped me back against the seat. I passed him the phone.

“Aaron?” he said. “Let me talk to Troy.”

Within minutes, Lucas had the whole story, which he relayed to me as he drove hell-for-leather for the portal site. The Cabal researchers
had
found the ritual, so Benicio had always known that Edward could use Lucas’s blood to reopen the portal. He’d played along with us because it had seemed the best way to ensure Lucas would be at the masquerade, safely under Cabal guard. As a precaution, he’d brought in a look-alike, who could take his place with that distinctive mask.

When Lucas and I took off after Jaime, Benicio feared the worst. And he’d feared that calling in a full Cabal SWAT team could result in a California-like fiasco, which would only endanger Lucas yet again. This had to be handled delicately. Earlier that day Benicio had sworn to us that if his name was no longer enough to protect his son, he’d do so himself; that was what he’d decided to do.

Benicio had grabbed Morris, told Troy to stay behind in case we reappeared. Then he’d left for the portal site, knowing that was where Edward had to end up. Troy, though, hadn’t been about to let his boss take on a murderous vampire aided only by a temporary bodyguard. So he waited until Benicio was gone, then went after him. And that’s when Aaron had intercepted him.

Now Benicio was indeed headed to the portal site, with only Morris for backup. But not for long. We were only a few minutes from the site. Aaron, Cassandra, and Troy were also on their way, and Aaron was phoning Elena to tell her to turn around and head over to the portal. In half an hour, we’d have seven supernaturals ready to take on Edward. We only prayed we’d get to him before Benicio did.

We parked as close to the site as we dared. As anxious as we both were to get there, we had to be careful. And there was very likely no need to rush. Benicio might have arrived ahead of us, but if Jaime had told Edward who he needed for the sacrifice, he was probably across the city by now, heading for the masquerade gala. The greatest danger we likely faced was Benicio himself. As Lucas said, it had been years—if not decades—since
Benicio had needed to defend himself. If we came flying down the alley, we might find ourselves on the receiving end of a lethal energy bolt.

Once out of the car, we hurried to the café. I cast perimeter spells at the alley on either side, and across the rear door. That covered the east side. Now on to the west, on the other side of the dead-end alley where we’d met Edward.

We’d gone only a few steps when Lucas lifted a hand to stop me. I followed his gaze down to the ground. A fingerlike puddle snaked around the corner, moving almost imperceptibly, expanding. The puddle shone black in the darkness. Without even casting a light spell, I knew it wasn’t water.

As Lucas peered around the corner, I kept my gaze glued to his face, braced for a reaction I prayed I wouldn’t see. His eyes closed in a soft wince, and my breath whooshed out. I slipped over to him, and looked.

Morris sat braced against the wall. He was dead. His shirt was ripped apart, and his hands still clutched the bloodied missing half to his throat, a frantic final attempt to save himself. Over the cloth I could see long jagged holes where Edward had ripped at his throat. Then he’d left Morris to bleed out while he turned his attention to the secondary threat: Benicio.

Lucas darted around the corner, moving as quietly as he could. As I set out after him, the whisper of voices fluttered across the still night. We both froze and listened.

“… won’t help …” a woman said.

I looked up at Lucas and mouthed, “Jaime?” He nodded.

“You said … sacrifice.” Edward, his words clipped with anger.

Had Jaime betrayed us? Had she been betraying us all along? I told myself there was no motivation, nothing to be gained by this, but nor did I have time to think it through. If I did, maybe I would find a motive. For now, we had a far more pressing concern.

As we crept forward, the voices came clear.

“I’m telling you it
won’t
work,” Jaime said. “You can’t use him. It needs to be a very specific sacrifice. I was trying to tell you that—”

“You weren’t trying to tell me anything,” Edward snarled. “You said I needed a sacrifice.
Any
sacrifice.”

“Well, I lied, okay?”

“Oh, and now you’re telling the truth?”

Lucas motioned for me to pass him. I ducked down before peeking out, then cast a fast cover spell. Jaime knelt before a makeshift altar … bound hand and foot. Beside her, Benicio lay on his side, also bound. His eyes were closed. My gut went cold.

“Yes,
now
I’m telling the truth,” Jaime said. “Why? Because I’m scared
shitless, okay? Maybe I did lie earlier, but that was before you killed a Cabal bodyguard and captured the damned CEO.”

A humorless laugh. “So now you take me seriously?”

“Look, you can’t kill Benicio, okay?”

Beside me, Lucas exhaled and slumped against the wall. I stifled my own sigh of relief, for fear of breaking my cover spell.

Jaime continued, “It won’t reopen the portal.”

“Oh, but I could try … and I think I will. Just to be sure.”

Edward stepped toward Benicio. I broke my cover, a spell flying to my lips. Lucas started to swing around the corner.

“Wait!” Jaime said. “If you kill him, you can’t get Lucas.”

Edward stopped. Lucas yanked me back behind the wall.

“You need Lucas,” Jaime said. “You need someone who went through the portal.”

“And what does that have to do with keeping this bastard alive?”

“Think about it. What would happen if you called Lucas and said you have his dad? If you can prove you have his dad? The kid puts his life on the line for total strangers. You think he’s not going to come running to save his father?”

“Good,” Lucas whispered. “Thank you, Jaime.”

I nodded. This was, of course, the perfect plan. Edward wouldn’t kill Benicio until he had Lucas, and Jaime knew that when Lucas received that call, he would indeed come running—backed by a small army of supernaturals.

“My phone’s gone, but you can use his,” Jaime said. “I’m sure he has Lucas on speed dial. Probably right at the top.”

Lucas tensed, ready to dash back toward the café so he could answer his phone without being heard.

“In a minute,” Edward said. “First, I need to wake this one up … at least long enough to make that call for me. After that, though, I think I’ll test your word. Better hope you don’t fail.”

“W—what?”

“All I need him for is to phone Lucas. Once that’s done, he’ll have outlived his usefulness. And, if his blood does reopen the portal, you’ll have outlived yours. Believe me, if you are lying about that, I’ll take you with me to the other side. And if you aren’t? Well, then, the boy is in for a double surprise when he comes around that corner, though he won’t have long to grieve before he’s reunited with his old man.”

Lucas and I looked at one another. I cast a privacy spell, so I could speak without whispering.

“D—don’t answer the phone,” I said. “Just don’t answer it.”

He cast his own spell. “I wasn’t going to. If he can’t get through, it’ll buy us some time. But not long enough to wait for the others. We’ll have to handle this ourselves.” He laid his fingers on my arm. They trembled against my skin. He squeezed his eyes shut, pushing past the fear. “We can handle it. We have spells, and we have the element of surprise.”