“Good.” He turned on his heel and left. But his parting shot could be heard from the hall. “Have fun, kids.”
“All right.” Bruno turned to the others. “What did I miss?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Trudy gave a derisive snort. “The illusion was perfect. Your work is always perfect. The doctor must be psychic.”
I shook my head no. He’d missed something. The illusion was not perfect.
Bruno turned to me. “What?”
I gave him a little smile. “Your cologne. He could smell your cologne. It’s very distinctive.”
Jan laughed. “Of course.”
Bruno’s expression darkened. “Hmm. Smell … I’ll have to work on that.” He wandered over to his desk, where there was a hand mirror in a scrolled silver frame lying next to a razor-sharp knife. With a quick, deft movement, he picked up one of the blades and sliced shallowly into his forearm. There was a surge of power as his blood spilled onto the shining glass and was absorbed into it. The cut knit itself closed as I watched. Bruno hadn’t even winced.
“That is just so cool.” I hadn’t meant to say it out loud. I should be used to it by now. I’ve seen Bruno working often enough. But every time, it just gets to me.
I realized that Jan was glaring at me an instant before he shifted his gaze to the knife and then Bruno’s face. Both men looked stubborn, just short of angry, and I had the feeling I had walked into the middle of an ongoing argument. “I fail to understand why you would do this to yourself for her.” The blond man made a sharp gesture at me. “You yourself said that she allowed one of the knives you created to be ruined.”
“I told you”—Bruno’s eyes locked with Jan’s—“she used the knife to kill the überbat that attacked my brother. It’s not her fault that Lilith had been a spawn before she was turned.”
“She was?” That was news to me, but it explained why her death had been so weird. Normally, to kill a vampire you stake it, cut off its head and take out its heart, then have the parts cremated separately and spread over separate bodies of running water. When I stabbed Lilith with the knife Bruno had made for me, she’d burned to ash, from the inside out. It had been très creepy and totally unexpected.
“I’ve done the research. It’s the only possible explanation for Lilith’s ability to call a priest on holy ground … and for the damage to the knife.”
Um, wow. Okay. I didn’t even know that it was possible for a spawn to be turned. I mean, Spawn are the offspring of a mating between a human and a demon, so they’re already monsters. Wasn’t turning one into a vampire sort of … well … redundant?
“So you’ve said.” Jan obviously didn’t believe him.
“Jan,” Trudy said, sounding martyred, “just stop, will you? You just saw the curse mark, which you claimed couldn’t possibly exist on a living human. You’ve heard the stories about Celia’s fangs, read about her in the magazines. Now here she is … fangs, curse, and in daylight.”
“It isn’t possible for one person—”
“To be that unlucky?” Emma gave a derisive snort. “You don’t know the half of it. If the woman who cursed her wasn’t already dead, I’d kill her myself. Nobody should have to go through the kind of shit Celia puts up with.” She stood and gathered her things. “Now if you’ll excuse us, Celia and I have business.” She looked from me to Bruno and back. “Unless you’re planning on bailing on me?”
I gave a derisive snort. “Of course not.” I turned to Bruno, who was still glaring daggers at Jan. “You coming with?”
Tearing his gaze away from the other man, he turned to me. “Nope. You go see the house. I’ve seen it. We’ll meet at my place for dinner at … seven o’clock? I want to have plenty of time to get things ready.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” I collected another kiss before I left.
5
I wasn’t sorry to leave. I’d be seeing Bruno later and the tension in that little office had been intense. As we were on our way out of the building, I asked Emma, “What was that all about?”
“If by ‘that’ you mean my snarling at Gary—”
“No. That, I get. He pushed your buttons when he talked about demons. No surprise, considering your history.”
She nodded, her lips pressed in a tight line. “He just won’t leave it alone. Demons fascinate him.”
“And every time he brings the subject up, it chips away at the magical barrier muting your memories. Have you talked to him about it?”
She sighed. “I have. He’s trying to do better. It wasn’t his fault I walked in right then.” She pushed open the door to the outside and held it open for me.
“Just bad luck,” I agreed, then added, “Are you even supposed to park here?”
We were in the faculty lot and Emma was leading me to her father’s assigned spot, which was occupied by a big black SUV. “Normally, no. But since Dad’s in Cairo this year, he isn’t using it, and I needed to borrow his Suburban. I figured since you were coming to the house anyway, I’d get you to help me move Vicki’s big mirror. I don’t really trust the movers with it.”
That made sense. It was a full-length mirror in a big wooden frame, both awkward and heavy. She didn’t need to worry about breaking it, though. It had been spelled until it was pretty much impervious to anything. So the problem wasn’t with the mirror; it was human nature. Like my knives, the mirror was a major magical artifact and thus valuable as hell. People have killed for that sort of thing and many more would be happy to steal it. Emma had inherited the mirror from Vicki because she had been the only other person in our circle with clairvoyant abilities. Emma’s not that powerful, a level four I think, but the mirror has helped her focus, so she’s getting more control and better results, which is, in effect, the same thing as moving up a level or two.
“Do you mind?” she asked.
“Of course not.”
“Oh good.” Emma smiled, pointed the little black keyless remote at the SUV, and pressed the button. Beeping ensued, as did the popping of the door locks. She gestured to the passenger side. “Get in before you start burning.”
I waited until she’d maneuvered the SUV out of the tight parking space before I brought up Jan Mortensen. “What’s with him? Did he, like, not believe I existed?”
She groaned, then answered. “Jan Mortensen is very talented and is a complete and total ass. I don’t have any proof, but I’m pretty sure he’s sleeping with one of his undergrad students.”
“Eww.” I gave a low whistle. While not unheard of, that was completely unethical and a firing offense if he got caught. Which apparently he hadn’t … yet. Since Emma’s a by-the-books kind of gal, and her father’s one of the program administrators, I could understand why she was upset about it. “It’s one thing not to believe all the stories about me. But he actually seems to hate me. Why?”
“I’ve no clue, but you’re right. He’s practically irrational on the subject. He and Bruno don’t get along well because of it.”
I almost felt like I should apologize, which was just silly. Mortensen’s attitude problem was his problem, not mine. I’d never met the guy before today.
We chatted amiably all the way to Emma’s place. She caught me up on Dawna’s wedding plans and I told her about becoming Adriana’s maid of honor. Finally, I got around to bitching about my fight with John Creede.
Emma hadn’t heard we were on the outs. She paused for a long moment after I’d told the whole sad tale—up to the firefight and our escape through the tunnels. “You know,” she said, “I almost feel sorry for the guy.”