“This ain’t right,” he drawled, clearly uncomfortable. I smiled. Good. Let him be the one in the dark for a change. “Don’t you have a rehearsal dinner to attend?” he finally said, sidestepping a fledgling anthill. How cute. Just like a Buddhist. “And a tulpa to kill?”
Or a Buddhist’s polar opposite.
I made a humming noise in the back of my throat but kept walking.
Our destination was a flat-topped single story, neither the nicest home in the neighborhood nor the least attractive. This was not only anticlimactic for Tripp, but probably a downright disappointment. As we halted before a sprawling patch of lawn, I knew he scented nothing of the Shadow or Light around this house. After all, great pains had been taken to keep anything related to that world away from the people inside this home.
I studied the simple residence, looking for a place not easily visible from the driveway and front walk, but not exactly hidden either. A place the vigilant would easily spot. The hose spout might do the trick, though the silver cassia planted before it would obstruct its view if someone were driving by in the dark.
Fuck it, I thought, pulling out the gun with the glowing green liquid vials. I needed a guaranteed reaction.
“What’re you doing, girl?” Tripp hissed, his natural instinct to run from mortal attention clearly warring with his need to remain next to me.
True, it was five-thirty, and people were headed home for dinner after a long day’s work-the perfect time to draw the attention of the Neighborhood Watch-but I might not get another opportunity to return before my next near death experience.
I fired at the living room’s giant glass window. Mortality didn’t affect my aim this time, and I hit the pane dead center. The tempered glass exploded into a million glass pebbles. A light flipped on, and panicked voices filtered through the curtains. A moment later one lace panel parted hesitantly. I kept watching.
“Come on!” Tripp was ready to bolt.
“Wait,” I said, eyes angled the other way. A woman yelled for someone to call the cops. Still, I stood in open view. “Wait,” I whispered again.
And there it was. A shifting at the window opposite the first, a wide parting of girlish curtains, then a bold, defiant stare. Locking onto a gaze similar to mine, I watched a little girl’s eyes darken. My eyes used to blacken in the same way.
Tripp gasped. “Holy shit!”
His nostrils widened as he scented the girl’s anger…and her heritage. He turned to me with eyes as wide as I’d ever seen them. “You’re baitin’ her. Darin’ Zoe Archer to come after you.”
“She’ll come after you too,” I said coolly. “Because that girl may not know who we are, but she obviously knows what we are. She’ll tell Zoe there were two people here.”
He swallowed hard as he realized I’d just bound him to me in secrecy. If something happened to Ashlyn, Zoe would have no problem finding out Tripp was the one standing next to me today. And if she knew it, so would her creation, the most powerful being in our world, Skamar.
Tripp whistled through his teeth, shaking his head as sirens sounded in the distance. “You best be careful, forcin’ that woman’s hand.”
It was about time someone did. “I’m just shaking things loose a bit. See how she reacts.”
Tripp blew out a breath and shook his head. “She’s gonna lose her God-given mind.”
Good. Because the days where Zoe could hold back, stay safe, and pull strings behind an impenetrable curtain of anonymity were numbered. If I had to be out here, actively risking my mortal ass for a world that wanted to crush me, then she could very well join me.
18
I was back at the Archer estate a half hour later. Tripp was right; I did have a party to throw-more specifically, a rehearsal dinner Olivia Archer would be thrilled to put on for her best friend’s mother on the night before her wedding. Despite the threat of Mackie’s attack, I still had to keep Warren from being suspicious, all while trying to draw the Tulpa in close.
So when my driver arrived, I’d shoved Tripp into the trunk of the Town Car, along with a paper bag filled with the incriminating weapons. He eyed the bag warily when I placed it next to him, but Kevin-getting a
“forgotten” bottle of wine at the store-would be back soon. Tripp also wasn’t happy about having to leave my side, but he’d never blend with tonight’s tony crowd, and we couldn’t be seen entering the mansion together.
I exited the car, using the gigantic front steps along with the earliest guests, already arriving. My rumpled appearance earned me a few surprised stares, but I just smiled and waved as I headed up the winding front staircase. I’d pop upstairs for a quick shower-or maybe a splash bath, since scenes from Hitchcock’s Psycho were winging through my mind-then pull my hair back into a slick chignon for the evening. Olivia Archer’s body was her weapon, and it didn’t take a whole lot to pull that trigger.
“Your friends are waiting.”
The voice came from behind, and I jumped so high I half expected someone to score it. Whirling at the responding chuckle, I saw a figure slip from the shadows. The smirk that met my gaze wasn’t a look any housekeeper should use on their employer.
Then again, Helen wasn’t just any housekeeper.
She also wasn’t really named Helen. Lindy Maguire was her given name in the Zodiac world, and she was the Tulpa’s most loyal, lovesick lackey. Placed in this household years ago to look after the Archer interests on his behalf, she’d contributed more than a little to Xavier’s death. Sure, he’d been mean-hearted, greedy, and got what was coming to him, but humans were walking squeaky toys to her. She’d have no problem sending me to an equally agonizing fate.
“You’re late.” She held a flat gift box in one hand, vaguely familiar. She was also dressed for the occasion in crisp black and white, an old fashioned kerchief holding back her hair. Her skin was still sallow, her face long, but there was something additionally off about her today, I thought, tilting my head. I inhaled, but scented only drugstore perfume, and cleaning supplies. Still, it was something aggressive and predatory, because even with mortal senses, I instinctively tensed.
She tilted her head from one side to the other, like an insect considering its next meal. I half hoped Mackie would strike tonight. Maybe cleave her in two on his way to me. Then again, if she knew he wanted to kill the Zodiac’s former so-called savior, she’d lay a red carpet at his feet then ask for his autograph when he was done.
“I brought this for you.” She held the box out, so close to my chest I had to take it. I shook it, straining for a rattler’s shake or a bomb’s tick. Nothing.
“What is it?” I asked suspiciously.
“Well, your little friends told me you had plans to reminisce about mothers and families. I thought you might want to join in the conversation.”
She smiled, sweet as saccharin, and I forced a smile in return. No doubt this was some item that would have Olivia tearing up. I merely inclined my head and tucked it beneath my arm. “Thank you.”
Helen frowned, obviously disappointed I wouldn’t be opening it now, then recovered, lifting her chin. “By the way, Xavier’s private consultant called here this afternoon. He said you have plans for a lunch meeting?”
She was fishing. The Tulpa had told her we’d met, and her job was to make sure we did so again as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the question marks stamping her retinas were jealous green swirls.
Schoolgirl crushes, I thought wryly, not just for schoolgirls anymore.
“Yeah, I might not keep that.” I shook my head. “Like, I don’t even know his name. ”
In my defense, I was screaming at myself inside to shut up.
“I’m sure if you take some of your precious time out of all-night keggers you’ll find he’s a font of valuable information.”