I looked at him warily. “Something? Could you be more specific about that something?”
“I do not know what I might need at a later date, so how can I specify?”
I thought about it for a minute. “All right. It’s a deal. But I have the right of refusal, same as you did. If I decide that the task isn’t something I want to do, then you can ask me for something else later.”
“It is a bargain, then,” he said, and he held out his hand to me.
I wondered if this was how Faust felt when Mephistopheles held out the contract. I was getting something I wanted, but what price would I pay?
I put my hand in his to shake, and instead he raised it to his lips. When his mouth touched my skin, I felt a little thrill of attraction deep in my belly, and again felt like I was somehow betraying Gabriel. I tried to pull away and his fingers tightened on mine.
“Remember, Madeline Black, you are my betrothed. There will come a day when you belong to me, body and soul. And then there will be no bargaining between us. I will be master in my own house.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and yanked my hand away, any hint of attraction doused by his attitude. “And you wonder why I dislike you.”
“You have lived too long on your own,” he said. “You will see my way is better, in time.”
I clenched my fists at my sides. I would not lose control and blast him back into the Old Testament, which was apparently where he had collected his notions of marriage. I needed him to help me now. If he wanted to believe that one day I would be a meek little miss who would cleave unto him without a word of protest, then he could have his fantasies. There was no guarantee that the marriage would actually happen in any case.
“Whatever. Listen, do you think that we could go back to the alley where Gabriel went missing and see if you can pick up anything that I didn’t? It seems like everything bad started there.”
“And what of your gargoyle? Do you believe that he was taken by the same creature that took your bodyguard?”
“I have to believe it,” I said. “Otherwise I have too many enemies to contemplate.”
“I am sure that you do,” he said. “Your lineage practically dictates that it is so.”
“Way to comfort, Nathaniel.”
We took off for the alley near the grocery store, the site of the second wolf murder, Gabriel’s kidnapping and my strange attack from Samiel. I felt like I might be pressing my luck going back there, since an assortment of bad things had already occurred at that site. But it was the only lead that I had.
Late-afternoon traffic backed up on Ashland below us as we flew. The sky had a gray, wet look and the air was cold and damp. I shivered under my coat. I was still wearing only a T-shirt and sweatpants, since I hadn’t really thought about dressing for the weather when I ran outside to search for Beezle. I couldn’t be seen when my wings were out, but I could still experience the elements. I was invisible, not indestructible. Nathaniel, on the other hand, seemed perfectly comfortable despite his lack of gloves and hat. Yet another reason to dislike him.
We landed in the alley just as it began to drizzle.
“Wonderful,” I muttered. “It’s so great when the weather obscures every possible piece of evidence.”
“The type of evidence that we are searching for would not be visible to the human eye in any case,” Nathaniel said. “You are looking for traces of magic, or the evidence of a supernatural being.”
“I thought you said that you couldn’t trace a power signature?”
Nathaniel huffed, clearly annoyed that I had reminded him of a defect. “I cannot trace a power signature, but I can sense the evidence of magic. You would be able to as well, if only you would concentrate.”
“So you mean that I don’t need you at all?” I said, but softly enough that he couldn’t hear. I hoped.
As Nathaniel walked around the area, I tried to focus my magic, to send out my will and look for the traces of other kinds of power. This wasn’t like casting nightfire, or even the kind of magic that I used as an Agent to break a soul’s binding to its body. It wasn’t about destruction. It was a softer kind of magic, and soft magic was not my specialty. I could barely control my powers at the best of times. Fine control was pretty much beyond me.
Still, I made the effort, because I was heartsick at the loss of Beezle and because I wasn’t about to let Gabriel disappear before I’d had the chance to figure things out between us. And, well, because I couldn’t let Nathaniel be right about me. I wanted to be more than a blunt instrument of force, too emotional to control my powers.
I imagined my magic like a veil, a shimmering wash of power that blew away from me with a whisper. The veil extended away from me, gently settling on everything around me. I held that invisible net in place, searching all along the fabric of my magic with my mind, and was surprised to find that I could “see” Nathaniel’s power inside the net. It was like finding a trace of heat on an infrared camera. I could clearly sense the pulse of magic and identify its source. Interestingly, Nathaniel seemed to feel my power settle over him.
“What is it that you are doing, Madeline?” he said. He was about five feet away from me.
I ignored his question. Emboldened, I pushed the veil away farther, trying to extend it over the breadth of the alley and then down to the T-junction where we had met the wolves. I felt beads of sweat break out on my forehead as it became much more difficult to keep the veil as light as a feather.
“Madeline, what are you . . .” Nathaniel repeated, but I held my hand up for him to stop.
I’d found something, and it was not at all what I’d expected to find. I’d expected to find traces of magical castings or, if we were lucky, an object that would somehow lead us back to Gabriel’s kidnappers. Anything but this.
“Nathaniel,” I said, breathing heavily from exertion. “There’s a portal in this alley, not ten feet from where we are standing now.”
7
“A PORTAL?” HE SAID BLANKLY. “THERE CAN’T BE A portal there. We would be able to see it.”
I could see it very clearly, a swirling vortex of magical power trapped inside my invisible net. As I watched, the portal began to pull at the edges of my net, trying to suck the magic inside. Since I had no idea where the portal went or who had put it there I thought not getting yanked in was a good idea. I quickly doused my will and the net disappeared.
“That was close,” I said.
“What was?” Nathaniel asked.
I explained about the vortex pulling on the edges of my power, and he shook his head. “This can’t be.”
“It can. I’m telling you that it’s there.”
“A portal does not operate in this fashion, like a secret door for club members only. It is always visible and always under the control of a master.”
I thought back to something Gabriel had said to me once. “I thought that some portals were naturally occurring.”
“Yes, but not in this plane. There has never been a naturally occurring portal on this mortal earth.”
“So it’s got to be under the control of a master, then,” I said thoughtfully.
Nathaniel’s lips pressed together. “Yes, it would have to be, if it were there.”
“Oh, it’s there,” I said, getting annoyed. “In fact, this probably explains how Gabriel disappeared. He stepped into the portal by accident.”
“In that case, why has he not returned?”
I glared at him. “Apparently when they were handing out the good stuff they forgot to give you brains to put inside that pretty head. How the hell should I know why he hasn’t returned? I’m assuming it’s because there is either something insanely dangerous on the other side of that portal or it’s a trap. Or both.”