I sat down and waved him to the other chair. "Well, yes, I have," I started. Some partially formed thought flashed into my brain and vanished before I could apprehend it. "I just spoke to the woman who had the information I asked you to authorize payment for," I said, trying to shake my brains back into their normal function.
"Ah. Good." Sergeyev sat very upright on the chair, not quite leaning forward, but stiff nonetheless. I wondered if the airline seats had hurt his back.
"I…" I trailed off, thoughts slipping sideways. The day and the night before were catching up to me; my stomach was clenching and my head throbbing again. Something flickered in the corner of my vision. I turned my head a little to find it, and Sergeyev vanished. "Huh?" I grunted and turned my head back toward him.
He was frowning at me. "Something is wrong? You do not feel well."
"It's nothing." I turned to my computer and tapped at the key-hoard a moment, buying time, feeling unsteady.
The thin world of the Grey flooded up in cold steam as I peered sideways at my client. He was there, layered on himself like a multiple exposure, the mist-world rippling around him. I yanked myself away from the flood, and it reduced to a trickle and a transient flicker. After last night, the figurative gum of the Grey must have been pretty thick on me, and I didn't want any more building up. And I wanted my unsettling client out of my office as soon as possible. "I have a further lead, which may be the last link in the chain of ownership."
"Then you know where is my furniture?" he asked. His voice rose with excitement.
"I might."
"Tell me." His voiced pushed on me, resonating in my chest and head. I pushed back against it. I'd been pushed on a lot lately, and I wasn't in the mood for it. I dug in my mental heels and resisted his demand for all I was worth.
"I want to be certain. It could turn out to be just another link and I don't want to get your hopes up for nothing."
He scowled and I shivered. "When will you know?"
I poked my computer, which showed me a picture of rolling static.
"I'll be blunt, Mr. Sergeyev. I can't do anything about your case until Tuesday. The party involved won't be available any earlier. Then I still have to confirm that it is the organ you want and see if the owner is even willing to negotiate on it. They might not be."
He seemed surprised. "They would not?"
"I don't know yet. Let me find out a little more, then we can discuss it. I'll do what I can. Trust me—I'll call you when I have something more to tell you."
"Ah, well. So be it," There was that push again, but I could taste anger and annoyance in it this time. "I expect hearing from you Tuesday evening." He rose to his feet like a piece of spring steel unbending.
I got up, beat him to the door, and opened it for him. He went out with a cold little nod to me. In the dim light of the hallway, he seemed bigger. The darkness swallowed him up as he descended the stairs. The bang on the back of my skull seemed to have rattled something loose in my head and I felt a little stupid. I went back to my chair behind the desk and stared at the computer screen.
The screen prompt asked if I wanted to view recorded video. I clicked on YES. I saw the room on the screen, the desk, myself at the desk, the empty chair on the other side. Maybe the last fifteen minutes had not been saved? I didn't like it. I'd have to call Quinton, but I had a feeling he wouldn't make me feel any better.
My head hurt, but the butterflies in my insides calmed. I wondered if I was just hungry. I trotted out for a bite. It was a little chilly and the evening breeze was kicking up, but I decided to sit outside for a few minutes while I ate, hoping to clear my head a bit. But I just got cold and wolfed my food, which made my stomach ache, and I wished I'd worn the jeans after all, instead of the skirt.
Cameron drifted into my office a few minutes before nine thirty. I noticed he didn't exude the halo and draining Grey effects of Carlos and Alice. Odd.
"How's it going?" I asked as he sat down.
"It's OK. Sarah and I worked out a sleeping arrangement at her house, but it's only temporary. I'm going to have to find something of my own before her boyfriend gets back."
"Any idea when that will be?"
He shrugged. "Not sure. Could be as early as June."
I gave him a faint, false smile. "We'll just have to work fast then. I told you I talked to Alice last night, right?"
"Yeah. How'd it go?"
"Scary. She thinks I should kill Edward, or incite the other vampires of Seattle to do it."
"Umm… you're not really thinking about it, are you?"
"No. But it did give me an idea. Alice mentioned that vampires have a pack mentality and they will attack their leader if they sense he's sick or weak. That's what Alice wants so she can step into the breach once Edward is down." "Oh, man… I thought she was my friend! That scheming—"
I interrupted. "Don't get too hot under the collar. A coup is fine for Alice, but for you to get anything out of this, Edward has to stay in charge. We can't trust Alice to do anything for you, but Edward has more to lose. So I'm going to stir up trouble, but not enough that it can't be allayed by the right sort of gesture—like showing that he's capable of being a nice guy by taking you back. Of course, anything else I can dig up which will help push him that direction, I'll take, but I'm not going to be handing it over to Alice."
"Did you stir up any trouble yet?"
"Not trouble, but something. After I talked to you, I met with Carlos. Alice sent me to him, but frankly, he frightens me a lot more than she does."
"Oh, yeah. Even some of the vampires are afraid of him."
"From the story he told me, they ought to be. And Edward, too. Carlos is willing to risk helping us because he hates Edward that much."
"He does?"
"Yes, and Alice hates Edward, too—though it's more an expression of ambition with her. Hate seems to be the point on which everything turns, so that's what I'll push on. But we have to be careful. I cannot risk losing control of the situation to Alice or Carlos, which means you have to disappear for a while."
"I'm not going to get in your way or do something stupid," Cameron objected.
"That's not the problem, Cam. I don't want you to get hurt if anything goes wrong, and I don't want you used against me. Once the mud starts to swirl around, Edward is bound to start looking for a person holding a stick. We don't want him to think that's you."
"But what about you? Won't he hurt you, too?"
"It's possible, but that's what you're paying me for."
"Man," he said, shaking his head, "maybe I shouldn't have asked you to do this. Maybe I should drop it."
"We can, if that's what you want… but one of the things Carlos told me makes me think you have no real choice."
Cameron looked at me askance. "What did he tell you?"
"There's a lot more to this vampire thing than just sucking blood. I don't understand it all, but the impression I got was that without the right training and without the right… diet, you'll just sort of waste away and die." I paused a moment, wondering if this was why Cameron didn't glow like the others.
I shook myself back to conversation. "Dropping your efforts to reconcile with Edward, or moving to another city and hoping for a fresh start, would be postponing the inevitable. And if you stay here, Edward will eventually have to deal with you as a threat to the community."
"I'm not a threat! I'm not doing anything to anybody."
"Your existence outside of the control of the community is, inherently, a threat. Think about it. And think about where to hide until it's safe to come out."
"I didn't realize this vampire gig was going to require a security expert." He stood up. "I can find a place. Don't worry about me. What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to stir mud."