Zombies Sold Separately (27 page)

“The same senses I was just talking with you about earlier,” he said. “I can sense a lie from truth and the difference between the unbelievable and the believable.”

“Whatever it is,” I said, “I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I.” He reached out as if he was going to pick up the stone. “We need to figure it out.”

I grabbed his hand and kept it from getting any closer to the stone. “Remember what the Magi told Angel and me. We can’t touch it or it will draw the Zombies and the Sentients to us, wherever we are.”

“She was talking about the other stone,” Colin said, but he lightly squeezed my fingers and allowed me to bring his hand away. He didn’t let go of me, though, and he rested both of our hands on his thigh.

I met his burnished gold eyes. “Just the same, Colin, I don’t want to take chances.”

“We won’t.” He held my hand a little tighter. I wasn’t sure why, and I wasn’t sure why I let him. “I think you need to take this to your Sorcerer along with the other one whenever you meet with him.”

“My thoughts, too.” I finally tugged my hand away from Colin’s and he released me.

It had been far too intimate allowing him to hold my hand, even though I was certain he had only been attempting to calm me down in some way.

Had it worked? Was I any calmer?

I didn’t think so.

“The PTF agent said her name is Candace Moreno,” I said as I studied the woman.

“She prefers to be called Candy,” Colin said quietly.

I cut my gaze to him. “You never did meet her, plus she was in a coma. So how could you possibly know that?”

“Sometimes words form in my mind if a being is strong enough to project them.” He let out his breath and leaned his back against the couch again. “She’s human but she has a powerful presence of self that I can sense.”

“I need to call Rodán.” I reached for my phone on my belt. While I did, I couldn’t take my eyes off the woman. Same short dark hair, olive complexion. But she didn’t have a single scrape or cut on her face.

“Nyx.” Rodán answered on the first ring. “I just spoke with Karen and Sara about a fairly large Zombie massacre they assisted with. Apparently both you and Colin were involved?”

“I’m sorry, Rodán.” My heart pounded a little faster. I’d never failed to call in before. “I just—just—”

“Just what?” he said. “Did something happen after you left?”

“No.” I glanced at Colin and my skin burned hot. This wouldn’t sound good, but it was the truth. “I came with Colin to his place to wind down after the battle.”

He spoke in a soft voice. “Why didn’t you come in?” I had no idea what he was thinking from his tone.

I clenched my phone. I didn’t want to get into it right now, especially in front of Colin. “I’ll explain when I see you.”

Rodán sounded more like an employer than a friend. “You have something to tell me,” he stated.

I took a deep breath, then let it out. “I found a second stone at the scene.”

Dead silence.

“I think I should take it to the Sorcerer when Olivia and I meet with him,” I hurried to say. I looked at the stone and the woman. “This one is different, Rodán. Very different.”

“You are correct in that you should take it to the Sorcerer.” Every one of Rodán’s words was short, clipped. I’d never heard him talk this way and it made me feel strange, as if I didn’t know him. “But you were wrong in not coming directly to me.”

“I’m sorry.” I closed my eyes. “You didn’t want to touch the other one and instead sent me to the Magi—”

“Being immediately apprised of a significant situation is mandatory, Nyx,” he said and my face grew hotter. “Regardless of how you believe a problem or situation should be dealt with, if it is something like this, it is for me to be consulted with, and it is for me to judge. I am your Proctor.”

I didn’t want to look at Colin. My amethyst skin did look purple when I flushed.

“Yes, Rodán.” I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. “I understand.”

“Good.” The word was said with such brevity it felt like a slap. “Tell me about this second stone.”

I stared at it and told Rodán about everything that had happened that night. The image of Candace or Candy looked tired.

When I finished telling Rodán everything I could think of regarding the night’s activities, he said, “I want to see you at eight, before you meet with your team tomorrow night.”

“Yes, sir.” I don’t know why I tacked on the “sir.” I’d never called him that before. Ever. But then he’d never been angry with me like this.

“I will see you in my office then,” he said before he clicked off.

“That went well,” I muttered as I tucked the phone in my belt. “I really screwed up by not going immediately to Rodán. I should have gotten that over with—debriefing with him about tonight and about the new stone, regardless of whether or not he’d have wanted to look at it.”

I hadn’t wanted to see Rodán, but the choice that I’d made hadn’t been professional at all.

Colin placed his hand on mine and squeezed before releasing it. “How about another beer—on the house.”

“I think I’m all beered out.” I gave him a little smile. “I’ll just be collecting my woman-rock and get home to bed.”

I had told Colin about the other stone rather than bringing it out to show him. I hadn’t thought I could handle any more than I already had tonight. I let out a breath when both stones were secured in my pocket.

Colin walked me to the door as I left. I paused in the doorway and he reached out to me and brushed my hair over my shoulder. “See you tomorrow night.”

I nodded.

Then turned and ran.

TWENTY-FOUR

Wednesday, December 29

“About time you got your ass in to work,” Olivia said as I dragged said ass in through the door of the PI office at ten the next morning.

“You decided to make it.” I smiled then winced. My head ached thanks to the four beers I’d ended up having last night. I was usually only good for two. “Stay an extra day with the family unit?”

Olivia rolled her eyes and stood from behind her desk so that I could see her shirt.

SILENCE IS GOLDEN

DUCT TAPE IS SILVER

“Took sixteen rolls to shut all of them up,” Olivia said and I laughed.

“Lots of interesting things to tell you.” I plopped my purse onto my desktop, then pulled my hair back from my face and knotted it.

“Get going then.” Olivia leaned back in her chair and put her orange Keds up on her desk and crossed her legs at her ankles. “I’m ready.”

For a moment I hesitated. How was I going to do this without telling her I had not only one, but two of the stones. But the memory of the Magi’s words was clear.

“I suggest you not even show it to your partner unless you have to.”

I paced back and forth in front of our desks as I started with the trip to visit my parents and the discussion about what had happened twenty-two years ago; my visit to Rodán and then to the Magi; my search for the Sorcerer Desmond; the Zombie and Sentient attack last night. I told her that we were supposed to watch out for stones and mentioned the Sentients had at least one, but I managed not to tell her that I had two of them with me.

“You were a little busy while I was gone.” Olivia looked thoughtful as she made the understatement. “Tell me more about the Sorcerer.”

I went around my desk and drew my cell phone out of my purse before setting it on the desktop. “I don’t know anything about the Sorcerer except that he’s an artist who shows his work in a gallery.”

“Desmond, right?” Olivia scooted her feet off her desk. “Does he have a last name?”

“Yes on Desmond, and for all I know that is his last name.” I pulled out my chair and sank into it. “That’s how he signs his work.”

She straightened in her seat and turned to her computer monitor. “Gallery name?”

“Sun Lee,” I said.

The click-clack of Olivia’s keys on her computer keyboard was loud as she typed. “In SoHo,” she said, apparently finding the gallery.

“You’ve got it.” I rubbed my forehead as I wished shifting from Drow to human could get rid of mild hangovers. “Hopefully Ms. Sun Lee will call soon with some good news.”

“If she doesn’t call you soon, maybe you should give her a little reminder,” Olivia said. “But for now, tell me more about the stones.”

I stared at my purse and thought about the Magi’s instructions again.

Why couldn’t I show the stones to Olivia?

The phone rang and I looked away from Olivia to glance at the identification screen. I didn’t recognize the number.

“This is Sun Lee.” The woman’s voice was quick and efficient when I answered. “Desmond will meet you at his studio at two-thirty this afternoon.”

“Can he meet earlier?” I asked. That wouldn’t give me much time to talk with him and then get back home to shift before sunset, which was close to four-thirty this time of year.

“It is the only time he has available, Ms. Carter,” Sun Lee said. “Desmond is a difficult individual to pin down for any kind of meeting.”

I’d just have to have the speediest conversation possible on Zombies, Sentients, Hosts, keystones, and women in stones, and hope he wasn’t late. I sure wasn’t going to be.

“Okay,” I said. “Two-thirty it is.” I grabbed a blank pink sticky note from a dispenser on my desk. “What’s his address?”

“Just one second while I look it up…” Sun Lee’s voice trailed off. “My apologies, Ms. Carter, I neglected to update my files with the address of his new studio,” she said. “I’ll let you know in time for your appointment.”

She hung up before I had a chance to respond. I scowled at the phone then rolled my shoulders.

“Where is he?” Olivia asked.

“Sun Lee is going to call me back with the information.” I looked at the time on the computer. “We have a little while before our meeting. I just hope that it’ll be enough time to get what we want and leave.”

Olivia frowned. My cell phone rang and I glanced at it. I smiled.

“Adam,” I said when I answered the phone. “Did you make it back?”

“Late last night,” he said. “Are we still on for lunch at one
P.M.
?”

“Can’t wait to see you.” My smile broadened. “Feels like it’s been forever.”

“I’m working up a few leads on a new case for Captain Wysocki,” he said, “so I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay.” Something suddenly felt a little strange. Off. Or maybe it had been there all along and I had just missed it. “Is everything okay, Adam?”

“Yeah,” he said. “See you then.”

An odd feeling made my stomach twist in the strangest way as he disconnected the call.

*   *   *

In Il Cortile, an Italian restaurant, I sat alone at a table for two, facing a tall alabaster sculpture of a woman with her leg bared, her skirt flaring away from her knee up to her thigh. It was a pretty sculpture, I thought. Sultry.

It was after one. Adam was almost fifteen minutes late, which was unusual for him.

“Nyx.” Adam touched the back of my shoulder as he came up from behind me. The warmth of his hand burned through my blouse to my skin. I tilted my head and smiled at him, and he gave me a light kiss on my lips. “Sorry I’m late. Accident on Canal Street.”

My eyes, head, heart, and soul were so hungry for him that I wanted him to wrap his arms around me and hold on tight.

Everything about Adam drew me to him. His smile, his touch, every intimate conversation we’d ever had. The way he cared for me. Accepted me. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed Adam until he took his seat across from me and I met his gaze.

I didn’t realize how much I needed him until then. Something I hadn’t recognized or acknowledged before. A need to be with someone I loved, and to be needed.

Then an odd sensation tightened my belly at the look in his eyes. The feeling I was getting from him wasn’t the excited thrill I usually felt when I was with him.

Like I had when we were talking on the phone, it felt off. Wrong. I wanted to ask him if something was bothering him, but it didn’t feel right to do so.

When the waiter took our order, I went with the capellini like I’d planned, even though I’d lost my appetite. Adam ordered bruschetta as our antipasti as well as gnocchi for his meal. I let him choose the wine and he went with a Barbera.

Adam asked me how my holiday was with my family, and I found myself avoiding anything that made it different. Like saying “Otherworld” or “Drow Realm” or anything magical. I talked about my trip as if they lived in another part of New York.

In turn I asked Adam about his visit to his family and I felt distanced from him when he talked about all of his relatives—his cousins, aunts, uncles, sister, her husband, and his brother.

It’s so different with Elves in Otherworld. It’s more like a large extended family, not broken down into smaller groups as humans do.